Sonic is officially 20 years old, Sonic has come a long way since 1991. Whilst the first ten years of Sonic games have been great, sadly the latter has composed of mainly forgettable titles which have devalued the brand but Sonic’s recent outings in Colours and 4 Episode 1 have brought a much needed positive reception to the Sonic brand. To celebrate Sonic’s 20th Anniversary, Sonic Generations is coming to consoles in November and incorporates two different game play styles of Sonic. Modern Sonic which utilizes game play of the 3D games such as Sonic Colours, Unleashed and Adventure and Classic Sonic which brings back the 2D nostalgic fast speed platform game play of the Mega Drive games. The demo released last week focuses on classic Sonic in a re imagined version of Green Hill Zone.
Green Hill Zone looks vivid, it’s colourful, blessed with an arrange of the original music and beautiful surroundings which pay a great homage to the original Green Hill Zone. As for Classic Sonic himself, his return brings back his renowned attitude crossing his arms when your not moving as well as keeping faithful to his appearance with his pot belly and lighter shade of blue. This also leaves out the Homing Attack rubbish from the recent games and giving him just the Jump and Spin Dash in his arsenal. Sadly, I can’t say the same about the controls.
Just like Sonic 4, Classic Sonic in Generations still doesn’t quite have that same feel as the Mega Drive games. Sonic Generation’s runs at 30fps which right there lacks the smooth feel. The controls feel stiff which doesn’t replicate the physics and controls of the Classic Sonic games. There is also no indication wherever Special Stages will be accessible within the levels which if not will be very disappointing and will definitely feel like a crap linear experience as I felt with the demo. Thankfully, there is platform game mechanics with Classic Sonic level but with the vast majority of the demo, I found myself running from A to B and managing to complete the level in 1 minute and 21 seconds.
The demo doesn’t sell the game to me despite being able to play classic Sonic levels in HD. The demo only gives you the Classic Sonic experience which is one part of the game. This demo was released to coincide with Sonic’s 20th but other than being less than 2 minutes long, there isn’t much to comment on other than hoping that isn’t all that Generations has to offer with regards to Classic Sonic. There isn’t much details available on Generations but I hope Sonic Team has much more up their sleeves for this game than the demo does come it’s November release.
Special Stages need to come back desperately. I am sick of having to find Super Sonic make a late appearance in previous games in order to save the day as a result of Dr.Eggman’s screw ups. Acquiring Super Sonic during a play through of Sonic 2 and Sonic 3 & Knuckles are sorely missed and earning all the Chaos Emerald would reward you with extra content such as Doomsday Zone in Sonic and Knuckles. I find this a lot better than Super Sonic at the end of the game because your rewarded with extra content relating to the game’s story for meeting criteria rather than in recent games being rewarded with story progression.
If the controls are fixed and the final game offers a competent volume of content, this could be a game both old and new Sonic fans can enjoy. Sonic Generations will be released this November on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Nintendo 3DS.
