The Sonic Generations Stages:Then and now

[WarioBone]

The only problems I had with Generations was the (mostly) awful stage roster, lack of rep for 1 and 1/2 of my favorite Sonic games, and the lack of self-deprecating humor. I was so excited about Sonic jokingly saying that the whole city was on fire like twelve times in Crisis City; no luck there. We get one reference to "tornado's carrying a car" in one of the achievements, but that's it.

But, whatever, that's neither here nor there. If I had to compare Classics to Act 1's, the Classics would win. Even Sky Sanctuary, which was stretched out into a full level, lacked the epic, penultimate-feeling of the original, not to mention the complete lack of any Mecha Sonic reference.

Act 2's to Dreamcast, Generations wins, except in City Escape, but City Escape is a LOT to live up to: it's one of the best damn stages in the entire franchise.

Act 2's to Modern games, I'd say Generations takes the cake, except Planet Wisp.

Bosses were mostly all inferior, either for gameplay reasons or lack-of-intensity reasons.

Metal Sonic was easy as balls and the fight had HIM trying to attack YOU, instead of YOU trying to outrun HIM. You were playing on your terms instead of his, which made the fight lose all feeling of the original, frantic race.

Death Egg Robot is obvious. Just doesn't strut its stuff like the original. Also, this should've been the Great Eggman Mecha from 3&K, considering it was pretty much the final boss of the entire classic series.

Shadow's is actually better, since there's some semblance of a challenge there and Shadow's not spouting stupid one-liners the entire fucking time. The only thing that's worse is the music.

Perfect Chaos loses on all accounts except the "Perfect Chaos: Revival!" reorchestration. Takes a shit all over the original moment in which Super Sonic uses the positive energy of the CEs to disperse the negative energy of the same, and instead the guy just beats on Chaos in normal form for a while. Lame.

Silver isn't broken to hell anymore, but not a single "It's no use!", Sonic Team? Really?

Egg Dragoon sucked. It just sucked big, hairy Werehog balls, despite looking like a cross between the original Dragoon, the Egg Viper, and Big Arm, this boss is just annoying, uncontrollable, and stinky. The music is also, for some reason, a downgrade of the original.

[SilJeff]

Green Hill- I wish it were a different stage, but it is the most famous S1 stage... Kinda boring imo, but it is the first level in the game

Chemical Plant- i really enjoyed it, especially the modern

Sky sanctuary- i really enjoyed it

Speed Highway- great stage, i just wish the at dawn was there (even if was just the last part of the level taking place during the morning without it playing drastically different)

City Escape- great stage, though like said before, the boarding and the GUN truck take up too much of it.

Seaside Hill- amazing stage! Thought the classic level sucked, but the modern is almost perfect IMO

Crisis City- pretty cool, but even a bad stage beats the sonic 06 version

Rooftop Run- enjoyed it

Planet Wisp- I dont get the hate towards it, I thought it was cool, especially the modern one

Metal Sonic- eh, it was ok

Death egg robot- mediocre. I wouldn't play it again and again

Shadow- horrible. I can never figure out what the crap you are supposed to do.

Perfect chaos- awesome. I liked how the boss was almost a stage in itself

Silver- good. Much better than the crap from sonic 06

Egg dragoon- mediocre, but I don't know anything about the original to compare

Time Eater- pure sh!t.

Edited August 27, 2012 by Mr.Snarf

[JezMM]

Ooh I have time to kill. Let's do it!

Visuals

Unlike the HD version, this one went for a much more open, coastal appearence, unlike the original which seemed to be more in-land. It's still pretty nice looking but a lot more blocky and retro than the HD version's very "natural" appearence.

Music

Same as the HD version, go read the OP! Lol.

Gameplay

Obviously Act 1 is a direct copy of the original game. I think this is fairly forgivable. It's a well known stage and the fanservice is appreciated. Act 2 is VERY boost to win, and ridiculously short too. However it does have some fun speed running potential with some crafty not-so-obvious secret routes. Unfortunately once you know them though, there is literally no more experimentation to be had.

Visuals

Pretty nice, the main textures are very faithful, although the city looks a lot closer than in the original, with lots of close-up buildings in the background.

Music

Standard fare for Act 1, and Act 2 is a REALLY catchy full-length jazz band version (of course, what else?). The song even goes into completely it's own thing for the second half which is a nice touch.

Gameplay

This is where things get a bit awkward for Act 1. Including the original first stage untouched is one thing, but this is the point where you just have to cry "lazy". Act 2 is decently fun and there's a lot more to it than Green Hill. The roulette mini-game half way through is pretty fun, albeit confusing at first.

Visuals

Very nice! It's faithful to the original but clearly expands further than that too. The fact that they bothered to make Act 2 autumn, just like the original, is a nice attention to detail. The background really gives a vibe of being in the dead center of a vast forest. The cavern section of Act 2 is also very swish.

Music

Act 1 again stays very faithful, while Act 2 is super rockin' and really made me like Mushroom Hill's music more than I used to. It's very Jun Senoue though so if that's not your thing, tough luck.

Gameplay

Certainly the best of the classic levels. Act 1 is again a copy-paste job, but Sonic 3 & Knuckles did have some really great level design at least... Act 2 is one of my favourite Modern Sonic levels personally, it has a lot of alternative routes and very little cheap difficulty. The final segment, while completely simple, is also nice and adrenaline pumping.

Visuals

Really rather barren. This is mainly due to the translation of a believable open 3D space being put into the "infinite background", surreal style that comes with the 2D levels. Unlike the HD version there's no weaving on any memorable set-pieces, with the general 2D visual style basically being like a traditional 2D Sonic game... but in 3D. If you get what I mean. There's no sense of world. It's just a level.

Music

Are you rather fond of this track by any chance Jun? Rather than have a Classic and Modern remix, Jun literally just remade the tracks with some minor tweaks. They're still great tracks, and since each Act is far longer in this than in the original, you get to hear much more of them, but still, a little boring, and considering how unspectacular the levels LOOK, the fact that the music is so standard doesn't help.

Gameplay

Eeesh, this is where Classic Sonic and Modern Sonic really start to become very similar. Classic is slower but otherwise there really isn't much difference between the levels. Slow and clunky. Some smile-inducing 2D translations of moments from the original game but otherwise, all quite bland and uninspired. Both levels have a LOT of different routes, but pretty much all of them are "blink and you miss it" moments that REQUIRE prior knowledge and/or going dead slow to even notice, and every single one of these routes require utter perfection and quick reactions or you're dumped back on the main path in a heartbeat. Modern Sonic's whale chase, while stupid easy, sure was entertaining though.

Visuals

Not bad at all, since this was a highway-in-the-sky level to begin with, not much is lost from the translation to "infinite background" 2D style. More could have been done though. The always-side-on camera really doesn't do much to take you on a nostalgia trip to the original's sweeping moments of adrenaline. The camera really could have done with mimicking the original for the spring tower bit, as well as the suspension bridge grinding, or following Sonic around the helixical highways.

Music

Cash Cash's Classic remix has become a fan favourite. It follows the same style as Speed Highway but obviously with the dark edge of Radical Highway's theme. It's almost oddly TOO pumping for Act 1 but who cares, it's a great song. Act 2 is a lot more love it or hate it. Personally I like it just as much as Act 1 for totally different reasons. It still keeps the pace, while being a lot more intense despite the less pumping-style. It's a true action song for a stage set on a desolate highway under construction on the very lonely edge of the city.

Gameplay

Oh boy, this has become rather infamous hasn't it? Probably the worst stage in the game. Super flat, blocky platforming, tons of cheap enemy placement that punishes you for daring to not literally walk through the stage, and loads of completely unSonic, precision platforming above pits for both hedgehogs. There's no way to get any enjoyment out of this stage without knowing it by heart to avoid all the cheap stuff.

Visuals

Near enough a 1:1 recreation of the stage with 3D graphics. You can tell Dimps have a soft-spot for their most well-recieved game. It all looks rather nice and swish, and is instantly recognisable as Water Palace.

Music

Act 1 re-uses the album version of Back 2 Back, which is a bit lazy though still technically a "new" piece of music in terms of what has appeared in the actual games. Act 2 is a pretty swish remix by Cash Cash. Still evokes the original style but with some new twists that really reflect Modern Sonic's carefree, daredevil style.

Gameplay

One of the best stages, if only because it more or less manages to perfectly mimic Rush's original level design style. There's a lot of memorable set-pieces for fans of Rush, and the giant Egg Fighter in Act 1 was a neat little bit.

Visuals

Considering the 3DS is capable of Wii level visuals, rather a disappointment. Many many memorable locations are completely absent. It doesn't even resemble the DS version, which was chockful of (completely static, but still there) background buildings, nor the Wii one which had all manner of pretties and features in the background. This new version seems to be set over an inexplicable giant chasm of a pit, with just the occasional ferris wheel to remind you it's a theme park. More suffering of highway-in-the-sky syndrome than any other translation.

Music

Considering Act 1 is based off the DS version, you could stretch to say that Act 1's music is technically a beefed up version of the original DS' Act 1. Except it's still lazy as hell. Ah well. Act 2 does a pretty great job of upgrading the song to befit a final stage. Really upbeat and driving ever-forward.

Gameplay

Act 1 homages the DS version, while Act 2 takes heavy inspiration from the 2D levels of the Wii version. Smart decision indeed. Both are pretty fun, and decently sized stages. Act 1 heavily rewards dangerous play with some super time-cutting routes (that are still fun to play in their own right, rather than just being shortcuts), and Act 2 has a great mix of difficult final stage play and a last bit of Modern Sonic flair. I personally really like both stages, though it is one hell of a mind-screw that the previously ridiculously easy Tropical Resort is now a considerable challenge to get through unscathed.

Obviously the 3DS has a load of general problems compared to the HD one so I tried to treat it with the little bit of respect I think it deserves. Not much, but, you know. I think they did what they could considering what was obviously a ridiculously tight time/money budget.

[WarioBone]

Music

Cash Cash's Classic remix has become a fan favourite. It follows the same style as Speed Highway but obviously with the dark edge of Radical Highway's theme. It's almost oddly TOO pumping for Act 1 but who cares, it's a great song. Act 2 is a lot more love it or hate it. Personally I like it just as much as Act 1 for totally different reasons. It still keeps the pace, while being a lot more intense despite the less pumping-style. It's a true action song for a stage set on a desolate highway under construction on the very lonely edge of the city.

How you can call Radical Highway - Modern music is beyond me. It is clearly someone farting into a microphone while playing an autotuned accordion.

[Your Vest Friend]

You know what makes the levels in Generations 3DS go from decent to a pain in the fucking ass?

Timeholes. Seriously, why did they need to add them, racing each other is challenge enough.

[Chaos Warp]

I'm sorry but this has to be said. You enjoy SONIC '06! You of all people can't complain about physics!

Ummmmmmmmm....cool it?

Anyway, I honestly like all the stages in Gens, classic and modern alike. Sure, there's definitely weaker stages and stronger stages, but I at least liked each one and don't dread playing any of them. Yes even Planet Wisp. Honestly I love the challenge of that stage.

Edited August 27, 2012 by Zero

[Spooky Mulder]

Green Hill, despite it's mediocre level design, is still my favorite stage to look at. It's absolutely gorgeous because the artistic design is phenomenal. The stage is so bright and full of detail. I absolutely love it when Modern Sonic takes the path closest to the foreground in the 2D section and you can see the other path with that awesome corkscrew behind him. From a visual and creative standpoint, this is what Sonic games should feel like.

It's too bad that beyond its appearance Green Hill is actually a bore.

[KHCast]

Sheesh. Quite a lot of stuff stirred up while I was sleeping. Whatever. I still personally love RR modern more than the original. Much more to do. Planet wisp to me is garbage. Speed highway is okay and seaside hill I found to have lots of openness and paths.

But, whatever, that's neither here nor there. If I had to compare Classics to Act 1's, the Classics would win. Even Sky Sanctuary, which was stretched out into a full level, lacked the epic, penultimate-feeling of the original, not to mention the complete lack of any Mecha Sonic reference.

Perfect Chaos loses on all accounts except the "Perfect Chaos: Revival!" reorchestration. Takes a shit all over the original moment in which Super Sonic uses the positive energy of the CEs to disperse the negative energy of the same, and instead the guy just beats on Chaos in normal form for a while. Lame.

Egg Dragoon sucked. It just sucked big, hairy Werehog balls, despite looking like a cross between the original Dragoon, the Egg Viper, and Big Arm, this boss is just annoying, uncontrollable, and stinky. The music is also, for some reason, a downgrade of the original.

I think the reason why Sky sanctuary lacks that is because it was only the third level. Trying to put that climax feel into one of the first stages is pretty hard I can guess.

As for PC and the Egg dragoon, I whole heartedly disagree on those two, but i'll explain that when I do the bosses.

Modern GHZ, Chemical Plant, Rooftop Run see above

Rooftop Run Modern is a boost to win stage?*Looks at the original* Are you sure your not mixing those two up?

Anyway Good Job Jezmm! Loved it. It was a good read.

[MachSpeed]

that's all the game is, Nostalgia, and Solkia is right, it is just crap.

doesn't matter if the stages got wider and less linear because the gameplay Modern Sonic has isn't suited for open terrain, it's an on rails boost-a-thon, further proof of this is entering the park area in modern City Escape, you turn in long arcs or use the masses of barriers & grind rails to careen into rather than having Adventure/SA2 gameplay when at low speeds, for such an agile character Sonic handles like a fucking tank and no its not fun.

i'm still bitter as fuck about how much modern roof top sucks compared the original Unleashed version, the only thing i like about RR in Generations is the festival theme, everything else has been broken and nerfed incredibly especially the quick step section in the alleys, is severely broken to the point that sonic doesn't even need to quick step because he just bounces off the walls like rubber bands, and the boost-a-thon ending is boring and lacklustre due to the lack of robots to smash.

The boost part at the end was boring in both versions. But I love both Rooftop Runs. He may lol bounce if you boost without quickstepping but it's better than instantly stopping and standing still like in Unleashed xD

[Sarah Jane Smith]

One thing I loved about the classic stages in Generations is that they actually were designed for speed for the most part. The levels in the original Sonic trilogy had some stupid design decisions, like random rocks littered around the ground for no apparent reason other than to slow you down. In a game about speed why have random waist-high roadblocks?

The modern levels also had something very nice - solidness. In Adventure 1&2, among others, it seemed like half the floors and walls weren't solid and you'd fall through 90% of the time if you tried to do anything. Corkscrews? Don't even bother. Loops? Better hope you don't accidentally hold the control stick in the wrong direction or jump at a bad time. In Generations all the floors were solid like they should be, even in some background-ish objects - for example, in modern Chemical Plant I was pleased to notice you could actually jump on the paths on each side near the beginning, and even on the big useless platform off to the right. The same level if it were in Adventure would probably have none of the other paths work.

Edited August 28, 2012 by cosmictruffle

[YeppersPeppers]

I'm still upset that Sky Sanctuary got turned white instead of it's original yellow, but it's an amazingly gorgeous stage either way. Gameplay wise, every stage was fun and cool except for Planet Wisp, which threw that all out the window (especially with the Classic act). Wasn't a big fan of the songs for Classic Speed Highway and Planet Wisp. Everything else is heaven to the ears though.

[SilJeff]

I'm still upset that Sky Sanctuary got turned white instead of it's original yellow, but it's an amazingly gorgeous stage either way. Gameplay wise, every stage was fun and cool except for Planet Wisp, which threw that all out the window (especially with the Classic act). Wasn't a big fan of the songs for Classic Speed Highway and Planet Wisp. Everything else is heaven to the ears though.

It would have been nice to see SS in yellow, but I think seeing the Death Egg in 3D more than makes up for it

[Sonictrainer]

Modern Rooftop run is better than the original in almost every way.

I disagree.

I didn't enjoy the fact the level was mostly reused bits and pieces of Day Acts:

-the Quickstep and Drift sections were taken from Rooftop Run Day Act 1 and were put in backwards

-the 2D sections are taken from Rooftop Run Day Act 1 and Day Act 2

-that Shuttle Loop before the Egg Chaser section is taken from the Rooftop Run Day Act 4 DLC

-the giant row of Spiked Traps were taken from the Windmill Isle Day Act 4 DLC

While the Aero-Cannons and Egg Launchers make sense, I'm surprised there are no Egg Shooters, Little Fighters, or Egg Fighter Knights that come with various types of shields. Also, didn't the original Egg Chasers have more weapons besides lasers?

It's bad enough that the Wall Jump is nerfed.

[KHCast]

Okay time for the Bosses. By the way, Not counting Time eater due to the fact that it is an original boss. I will also be going over the levels they are in.

Stardust speedway/metal sonic

Visual: Remember when at first we all assumed it was Chemical plant mixed with some aspects of Stardust speedway? Well it definitely made itsef known that it wasn't! Graphically it's stunning. Yes it shares certain traits that chemical plant has(like the crimson sky)But overall it has a completely different feel to it. It looks like Stardust Speedway Bad future. All those little pieces that made up the original, like the ferris wheel, the instruments, the clock posts,etc., all are there! It's amazing how much detail was put into this. I just wish Classic Amy made some appearance in this level....

Music:If I had to say one word to describe this music. It would be Eargasm. Seriously. The Piano in this is outstanding. I love the way the music starts all radio like. It has got to be one of the best songs in the game!

Gameplay: Metal Sonic in this compared to CD was overly simplified. Part of me is kind of mad because of this. I mean where's the challenge, Where's eggman, where's all the traps that made it a race for life? It was kind of disheartning. But...another side of me is fine with it. This is the first boss after all. And making him super hard would have pissed people off anyways. If not sonic fans, casual players or other gamers. It's also not a race anymore. Which can be seen as a good thing. It's finally a battle between Sonic and his double! So I guess I'm undecided about what I should think about this boss fight.

Death Egg Robo

Visual: I'm going to talk about the Death egg itself before I talk about the area. It is so good looking! No lie. It's so detailed and shiny! I mean in Sonic 2, I had thought nothing of the boss. it looked like a Eggman Mech.Okay. But this honestly made me think otherwise. It looked like THE eggman mech. Now about the area. It definitely is busy. Outside in space you can see a ton of vehicles transporting who knows what. It kind of reminds me of the vehicles in Tropical resort. The area around Sonic and the Mech. is very high tech looking. I mean your on the death Egg. It wasn't gonna look barren.

Shadow/Final Rush

Visual: Feels very techy and neon lit. The stage is brought to life by it’s stunning detail that can be found throughout the stage. Definitely a improvement to the original.

Music:It is very unintersting and messy sounding compared to the original. I don’t get the appeal of this version that some see. The original and even fan remixes seem to do a better job.

Gameplay: The stage has lots to do in it while remaining to be in the traditional linear boost boss fight. There are many paths to take, trick panels to do tricks on and Grind rails to grind on. This boss has a interesting take on it. You have to collect 3 orbs to obtain a power that sonic can use to defeat Shadow. Should Shadow get all 3, you have to avoid this attacks. It definitely gameplay wise beats the original, which was bland compared to this.

Perfect Chaos

Visual:It looks like Crisis city just with a water theme instead of a fire one. I mean the water graphics are cool looking in this stage, but it doesn’t stand out.(probably due to it using lots of assets from speed highway and Crisis city.) It’s a good looking stage, but crisis city takes the cake when it comes to getting that destroyed city look down.

Music:Next to Live and learn, Open your heart is probably THE Sonic song with lyrics that Sonic fans know and love. So getting Crush 40 to do a remix for this was a dream. The remixed did deliver. It sounded so rockin! It had that “Adventure” feel that I knew and loved! It gave that badass atmosphere as well. I was never a fan however of the phase 2 music in SA1. It was Bland and Generic to me. And while Generations makes it more interesting and less generic, it still sounds boring to me.

Gameplay:Perfect Chaos, Adventure and Generations from a gameplay perspective is pretty mixed. Some love the original more than the generations version by pointing out that there is no super sonic making it disappointing, it seems to take the focus away from PC until the phase 2 and that it was oversimplified. I along with others however think the opposite. Generations seemed to have more to do compared to the Adventure incarnation. I mean in adventure, Perfect chaos was a boost hallway with few obstacles. and it felt more buggy. In generations ir felt more fine tuned, There was more to do other than hold the forward button, it felt more challenging, and I could tell the freaking difference between his Phase 1 and his phase 2. Overall I believe that Perfect chaos in Generations is a hell ton more fun.

Silver The Hedgheog

Visual:Ugghh.....This boss fight takes place in Crisis city....wait. Hold up. All the other bosses up to now have been fought in their original locations you fought them. So....why is Silver being fought here? I honestly would have preferred Soleanna to this place again. I mean they could have spiced up the location to be more Cartoony venice looking. Whatever. The level is Crisis city see my thoughts on the visuals of Crisis city. Aside from that, The level loops so the visuals get boring to look at over time.

Music: I got literally little to say about this. I like the Rival battle song remix. I really do. I just never paid attention to the original in 06 to compare the two. And after hearing it again....the remix hands down is better. no question.

Gameplay:The boss is again a chase battle, but I'd take it over the original. I actually found this pretty fun. Silver throws stuff at you and you basically have to avoid it. but he does it in different ways that keep you on your toes. The final section is what made this the kicker for me that had me laughing. Silver attempts to throw a huge ball of trash at you,wait for it....AND IT FALLS ON HIM! Yes folks, he gets beat by his own crap. If that's not all, the achievement makes me smile as well."Silver got served." On a silver platter?

So yeah, better, WAAY better, than the original.

Eggmanland/Egg Dragoon

Visual: The Egg dragoon looks pretty. Probably the most beautiful out of all his mechs. I love that they mix other mehs in. The area around you looks good, but it gets pretty boring to look at over time. Yeah were inside another base and everything looks techy. cool. The area outside is supposed to be the center of the earth, but you'll rarely look to even pay attention. And it looks pretty ugly out there. I would have preferred you'd be going around actual EGGMANLAND instead. I mean going through a carnival that's being destroyed by Eggman because he's trying to kill you. Come on, you want to see that. So this round goes to the original.

Music: I like this version a lot. I mean It's not better than the original but it's dynamic and climatic. The original just seemed more intimidating and dangerous. This one has the epic, just not those things that made up the original. Oh and it seems lighter on instruments...:/ Although playing endless possibilities while fighting this I will admit is awesome!

Gameplay: And here's the controversy. This boss is said to be the most glitchiest boss in the game and most repetitive. I can understand the repetitive, Just not the glitchy. I've never experienced any of that. It also felt like a very fun boss. It felt like a better Final boss than the Time eater. I will admit though if your not that good, you'll spend quite some time in this boss. It gets repetitive((EGGMAN WE GET IT! IT'S FINALLY TIME FOR THAT CHANGE OF PACE!) but if you know what to do you can kill him pretty quickly. The reference to the werehog was also cool! It definitely is the longest of the bosses to kill, other than the time eater. But I found it to be a epic conclusion down memory lane.

Also I'd like to say that the Hub mixes of al the themes were amazing. Not a single one got old.

Edited August 28, 2012 by Hedgehogs Boost

[Phos]

I was scrolling through those pictures wondering what you were on about when I noticed the smiles stuck here and there and realized you're using white text for some reason. I played them once and thought they were kind of half baked. Sonic Team seems to have a hard time making boss fights where you are't running forward, I guess because their controls don't really work for much else. The Death Egg Robo was such a problem for all the wrong reasons. What the heck was wrong with the Egg Dragoon fight? Could barely move sideways in that one, felt broken.

Edited August 28, 2012 by Phos

[PerfectChaos]

Genarashuns isant fun coz da fisicks isant pefect an got bootst in.

[Megabox!]

I love this game! I personally think every single level except for Classic Green Hill and Classic Chemical plant were better than their original counterparts. Now if only SEGA would finally make some DLC for this damn game then I can truly be happy again

[KHCast]

I was scrolling through those pictures wondering what you were on about when I noticed the smiles stuck here and there and realized you're using white text for some reason. I played them once and thought they were kind of half baked. Sonic Team seems to have a hard time making boss fights where you are't running forward, I guess because their controls don't really work for much else. The Death Egg Robo was such a problem for all the wrong reasons. What the heck was wrong with the Egg Dragoon fight? Could barely move sideways in that one, felt broken.

Moving sideways? That never seemed to be a problem for me. Mainly I would use the quickstep mind you, but whenever I naturally moved to the side it never seemed broken. Also I had to use the white text because for some reason the text came out black. and nice to know you took the time to read.

Mind explaining the death eggs problems by the way?

[Semi-colon e]

I actually agree with Phos in regards to the Egg Dragoon, that movement became really awkward for some reason and caused me to die a surprising amount of time. I enjoyed the Egg Dragoon other than this, but it quickly became tedious and drawn out. It feels like they didn't know what to do so they just made it really tedious. I did really enjoy the sky diving though, but it might have worked better as an arena boss battle, which need to come back btw.

Metal Sonic was interesting because it took the abilities and setting of the original battle and made it into a normal fight rather than a race, and benefitted for it. I felt Stardust Speedway Bad Future wasn't as vibrant as it could be, but the music remixes are both really cool.

Death Egg Robot was just kind of boring to be honest, I wish they'd used something else. The music was fucking amazing though. It just didn't really play much like the original and was over much too soon (neither did Silver but that was necessary to make it not a complete shit heap).

Shadow was very weird in terms of boss battle but the whole orb thing added variety and a different way of beating him. They also added a few level elements into the Final Rush arena, which was nice. I appreciate the attempts to not make it a typical running and hitting them battle like Metal Sonic and Silver are.

Silver was really fun, Crisis City was an odd choice but I think it benefitted the whole running battle and the shit he could pick up ended up with it making more sense to use that and waste less time creating resources for the crappy Soleanna. Technically this means Crisis City is the only level where you've got the two acts and missions, but also a boss, which means Crisis City is represented the most out of any one level in this game. U MAD etc.

Perfect Chaos was my favourite boss here, it's really fun playing it like a level, and it's the closest we'll ever get to a level that is Crisis City but with water in this series I suspect. The remix to the second part was also really good, and the platforming section there was like doing the original Crisis City Tornado platforming in 3D, so they technically gave that to Modern Sonic here while Classic had it in the actual level. It didn't really look particularly special but it was very cool, the Speed Highway segments were nice detail which was also in the original fight.

And this leaves the Time Eater... I don't want to talk about it in much detail. I'm just gonna say that as much as I love this game and defend it, even defending Planet Wisp, that this is totally the worst part of the game and is flatly not fun in any way. It's manageable once you know what you're doing and is reasonably brief though, so I'll still put it above Perfect Dark Gaia which is borderline unplayable. The only thing I liked about it was the fact you changed between Sonics and each had their own mix.

With that exception though, I enjoyed these bosses more than the bosses in any other 3D game, in terms of overall. Certain bosses in certain games are better, but they don't seem to be consistently better, imo. Like I loved Egg Nega Wisp in Colours but the rest of the bosses weren't great. Many of the 3D titles suffered from constantly repeating bosses (yes, even Unleashed's Day bosses which were all almost identical apart from setting), which I'm glad is less of an issue here.

Edited August 28, 2012 by Semi-colon e

[KHCast]

I honestly just don't Understand why they couldn't have just used Soleanna. the debris he threw at you. Sure it made sense, but What was stopping them from making them from making him throw lightposts, cars, boxes, stuff from soleanna? I mean they could have made it still a chase battle. Sonic running through the city section, the Highway,the forest,Train area, etc. I mean it just seemed like it would have made more sense than just re-using CC.

[Semi-colon e]

I guess they decided they didn't want to spend more time on resources from 06

Another thing about the Egg Dragoon that pissed me off is that sometimes the reticule appears and you get so god damn close to him but for some arbitrary reason you can't hit him and it's just annoying. Same with the Time Eater really, but it stands out less there as it's already a shitty boss with poor controls.

[Sonictrainer]

I don't understand why 4 of the levels were reserved for Rival and Boss Battles instead of making full Acts for them.

[KHCast]

I guess they decided they didn't want to spend more time on resources from 06

Another thing about the Egg Dragoon that pissed me off is that sometimes the reticule appears and you get so god damn close to him but for some arbitrary reason you can't hit him and it's just annoying. Same with the Time Eater really, but it stands out less there as it's already a shitty boss with poor controls.

Yeah, I guess I wouldn't want to dwell on that game to long either.lol well.

Yeah that is something I noticed about the Egg dragoon. Were you boosting on the rails when you were attempting to attack him?

[Semi-colon e]

Yeah, I guess I wouldn't want to dwell on that game to long either.lol well.

Yeah that is something I noticed about the Egg dragoon. Were you boosting on the rails when you were attempting to attack him?

I had few issues with the rails, it was when it changed to the 2D section, sometimes I get lucky, sometimes I don't.

Also I strongly suspect the bosses were picked first, then the arenas designed around that, rather than thinking "we'll use this level just for the boss".

[KHCast]

I had few issues with the rails, it was when it changed to the 2D section, sometimes I get lucky, sometimes I don't.

Also I strongly suspect the bosses were picked first, then the arenas designed around that, rather than thinking "we'll use this level just for the boss".

Yeah the 2d sections Were pretty weird. Like you sometimes I could lock on and attack, but sometimes he would jerk away before I got the chance to attack. It was annoying as hell.

also @trainer like Semi-colon said, They probably were picked before the levels. Although I would have used that as a opportunity for dlc.

Edited August 28, 2012 by Hedgehogs Boost