Monday, October 28, 2024

2024 Games I Played: Sonic X Shadow Generations

Despite being a massive Sonic fan, there are two really important games I've sadly never gotten the chance to play, Sonic Unleashed and Sonic Generations. Unleashed getting re-released is pretty much a pipe dream at this point, but Sonic Generations just got a port complete with an entire second campaign focused around Shadow. I actually really like Shadow The Hedgehog, the game, so seeing him get another spinoff is really cool, and since I haven't even played the original Sonic Generations, this package is basically going to be two new Sonic games for me. Will Sonic Generations live up to all the hype? Will Shadow Generations be better than the last few 3D Sonic games we got? And most importantly, will it all run well on Switch?

Sonic Generations came out in a renaissance era for the Sonic series, when it finally seemed like the games were starting to "get good" again with the release of Sonic Colors. Of course, nowadays, games like Black Knight, Unleashed, and to a lesser extent Shadow 05 are being held up in a greater light challenging the whole concept of "Sonic's dark ages", but Colors and Generations really were the games we needed at the time. Polished, smartly designed, and focused experiences that proved Sonic Team knew what they were fucking doing. I still love Sonic Colors to bits, despite how divisive it's gotten lately, so I felt primed to like Sonic Generations and I'm glad to say that it still managed to surpass my expectations. That being said, let's quickly get the weakest aspect of both games out of the way. Because yes, the story is pretty weak. It can be a bit cute in the way it subtly references the series without doing a straight-up reference, but its minimal approach to dialogue and characterization also stops it from being a true celebration of Sonic as a series like the rest of the game is. This remake does actually include rewritten and re-recorded dialogue that tries to flesh out the narrative in whichever ways it can, but since they kept the animations the same, the bad lipsync only ended up taking me out of the story more. It would've been nice if Sonic Team bothered to at least add an option for the original cutscenes so I can experience the game as it was intended, but as Sonic Colors Ultimate indicated, I guess they're afraid of customization in their remakes.

But hey, not every Sonic game needs a great story. I'd take a Sonic game with a weak story but great gameplay over the reverse any day of the week, and I'm pleased to say Sonic Generations has absolutely incredible gameplay. Generations has you visit nine areas from the series' past and play through them both as a boost-style Modern Sonic and a Genesis-style Classic Sonic. I went in expecting the Classic Sonic bits to be the easy lesser half and... well, that's not exactly wrong, but I was surprised at how much I enjoyed these parts regardless. Classic Sonic's gameplay in Generations is not a pixel-perfect translation of the way the Genesis games played, but that's not something that necessarily bothers me, I love the Advance games after all. Instead, Classic Sonic's gameplay is mostly focused on the spin dash, which lets you go a lot faster than in most other 2D Sonic games. You're told very early that you can spin dash up ramps to gain some serious height, and it's not very long until you're actively required to use this move. It lets you take shortcuts, completely break certain stages, and it's generally really fun to do. The game even adds a dedicated spin dash button so you don't even have to crouch to pull off this move off. Sonic X Shadow Generations also adds the drop dash, and I don't think there's another Sonic game better suited to this addition.

That being said, Modern Sonic is easily the highlight here. Most of my experience with boost gameplay has been with Colors and Frontiers, so I'm used to having a double jump, automated drift and quick step sections, and needing to collect capsules to boost. It was a bit of a learning curve at first, particularly the lack of a double jump, but after playing for a bit, I really clicked with this gameplay style. Modern Sonic controls incredibly well in Generations, he's tight, responsive, and handles impressively well at high speeds. It's a joy to get better at his stages, and learning when and how to use every move in his toolkit. The drift in particular is shockingly easy to control in Generations considering how much of a reputation this move tends to have for being really slippery and over-sensitive. I have seen a fair amount of criticism towards the controls here, some saying that it compares negatively to Shadow and that the game is "poorly aged". First off, can Sonic fans stop turning against the most beloved games just as I play them for the first time? It happened with Colors too and I'm still not over the sudden switch-up on that game. But beyond that, I guess I'm just not someone who tends to think of games as "poorly aged" a lot of the time. If a game was well-received or even beloved when it came out, it was obviously liked for some reason, and maybe I need to take the game on its own terms to find that reason rather than expect it to show up the moment I press start. Like I said, Sonic Generations has a learning curve, like most Sonic games. Once you get past that curve, it feels incredibly natural.

That being said, I do kinda see where people are coming from, Sonic doesn't have the same freedom of movement as Shadow in his campaign, but that's because they're two different gameplay styles. Shadow's gameplay is primarily derivative of Frontiers, and as such has to accomodate both an open environment and linear level design. Sonic's gameplay is purely focused on linear obstacle courses, so it's more focused on allowing you to quickly react to the stage. The levels in Sonic Generations are designed with Sonic's controls in mind, so Sonic controlling differently than Shadow in a vacuum doesn't really matter to me. You know, with as much as I've raved about the Adventure era games, you'd think I'm not huge on the boost formula but that couldn't be further from the truth. I actually really like the boost gameplay, at least in concept. It's this unique blend of platforming and racing game that feels unlike most other platformers on the market. At its best, it blends this really visceral sense of speed and spectacle with that classic Sonic depth of slowly mastering a level and learning its layout, and it fits the character really well. Of course, this all depends on the execution. Forces has all the spectacle but none of the depth because of its linear level design, and Frontiers has more sprawling levels but a pitiful sense of speed. But when done well, there is a lot of merit to this approach to game design. And thankfully, Sonic Generations is an example of a game that executes on this formula very well.

Sonic Generations's level design is absolutely stellar. Dare I say, it has some of the best designed Sonic levels I've ever seen. Like, for starters, they're incredibly dynamic and well-paced. Each stage flows from each memorable setpiece to the next impressively fluidly, and it helps them all feel like real tangible places. Classic Sonic's stages implement a lot of fun 2.5D elements from skewed camera angles to multiple layers, and Modern Sonic's stages do an incredible job at taking iconic stages from series past and realizing them to their absolute greatest potential. There really aren't many weak stages in the game, I can think of so many standouts across both Sonics. Chemical Plant Modern gives a much darker edge to an tried-and-true stage, both versions of Speed Highway extend one of Adventure's best stages in some really creative ways, the City Escape stages play around with the iconic truck setpiece in some very silly ways,  Crisis City's stages perfectly blend speed and challenge, and Rooftop Run is just... perfect. There's no other way to put it, these are perfect Sonic stages in terms of their layout, pacing, and joyous atmosphere. But on top of that, Generations' stages are absolutely sprawling. Each stage is filled to the brim with shortcuts and alternate routes, even the 3D ones. The brilliance of this game is that the first run of each stage is probably going to be pretty rough, but you'll be constantly seeing other routes that you missed out on taking. You decide to play the stage again trying to take those routes, only to find even more alternate routes. The cycle goes on and on, you start to realize how every enemy is perfectly placed to help you gain some speed, you notice the way all the different paths intertwine, and you find all the various collectibles hidden around until finally, you've mapped out the perfect route through each level out of pure curiosity. No other Sonic game I've played feels so meticulously designed to encourage the player to speedrun, and Generations had me replaying stages over and over again solely to get a better time. It's the perfect balance between the twitch-based platforming and the complex routing that boost style Sonic games should ideally be built upon.

The only element of Generations that has me a bit unsure are the boss fights, as per the usual. Sonic games don't tend to have the best boss fights in general, and to give this game credit, it's got one of the better lineups out there. Generations' boss fights are flashy and dynamic, often having multiple phases and cool, unique mechanics exclusive to each fight. At their best, you get fights like the revamped Perfect Chaos fight and the frenetic encounter against Silver. However, I feel like most of Generations' boss fights also have something preventing them from being truly incredible. The Death Egg Robot has a great first phase but getting its arms to hit the mines without blowing yourself up in the second phase feels pretty finicky, Shadow's fight has a cool concept but his inconsistent speed just screams of rubberbanding, and Egg Dragoon is mostly an incredibly fun and challenging fight except for the fact that you don't seem to be able to turn properly. And then there's the Time Eater. Frankly, it seems Generations' endgame as a whole is the most criticized part of the game but I really don't think it's that bad. Planet Wisp is one of the weaker stages for its length and lack of 3D, but it's still as well-designed of a stage as all the others and a solid final challenge. If it's the lowpoint of Generations, it just shows how stellar the rest of the game is. And the Time Eater, while way too short and boasting some unclear attacks, honestly can be pretty fun if you know what you're doing. Emphasis on if because the biggest issue with this fight is that Generations doesn't bother explaining at all how the Super Sonic mechanics in this game work, I had to look up a guide to actually have a shot at beating the guy.

Another criticism people have with Sonic Generations is that it's fairly short and yeah, that's also true. With only 18 stages and seven bosses, you can easily blitz through this game in 2-3 hours if you want to. That being said, Sonic Generations also has a solid amount of side content that pretty much tripled that playtime for me, and a lot of it is genuinely worth doing. As usually for the Boost games, there is a bunch of collectibles like the Red Star Rings that encourage you to replay stages and try out different paths. This port adds in another collectible in the Chao who are also fun to seek out. The real meat in terms of the side content, though, are the challenge acts. Each area has 10 meaning there's a total of 90 challenge acts, and a vast majority of them are really fun. Many of them have entirely unique level arrangements which helps them feel fresh, and there's a few varied mission types like races and tutorials for certain skills. But my favorite missions easily are the character missions, which have you partner up with one of Sonic's friends and use their abilities. It's not the same as actually playing as them, but hey, it's still fun to have characters like Rouge, Blaze, and Espio hang around for a stage. Beyond that, my other favorite bit of side content is the unlockable library of music tracks from across the series that you can play in pretty much any stage, almost like in the Smash Bros games. It's such a fun addition and being able to swap to a different music track helps to make repeat attempts at perfecting a stage feel a lot more tolerable.

So yeah, I absolutely adored Sonic Generations. It quickly became one of my favorite 3D Sonic games of all time, probably second place to the first Sonic Adventure. It has a level of polish in both its design and its presentation that feels pretty unparalleled within the series, and it left a high bar for Shadow Generations to beat. I'll be honest and say that I was a bit skeptical for Shadow Generations, even with all the genuinely promising footage that was being shown, it all just felt a bit too much like Sonic Frontiers, which was a game I didn't particularly love. And yeah, mechanically, Shadow Generations is very much more of a sequel to Sonic Frontiers than a sequel to Sonic Generations. That being said, it's also a far better game and a genuinely great 3D Sonic entry in its own right. It definitely surpasses the original Shadow 05, that goes without saying, but does it top Sonic Generations? I'm not too sure.

But once again, let's start with the story which is obviously and handily better than the ones in Sonic Generations. Like with Sonic, Shadow gets wrapped up in the Time Eater's shenanigans and has to relive his own past, and meeting with choice characters that didn't show up in the original game like Omega or Big. Of course, Gerald and Maria also show up here which gives Shadow the perfect opportunity to finally reckon with his past. And on top of that, Black Doom has returned and is trying to train Shadow to become his weapon. It's a darker and more emotional story than Sonic's and is generally a lot better written, and while I have a few gripes like the fact that Shadow dealing with his past isn't an especially original plot at this point, but the Time Eater/Generations connection still helps it feel pretty fresh. The real highlight story-wise though is easily Shadow himself, whose characterization is on-point. Kirk Thorton gave easily his best performance as the character so far, bringing back a lot of his best character traits from SA2 that kinda got lost in the shuffle, like his more pensive and collected side and his more cocky and competitive side which really shows when he starts relentlessly trashtalking every boss he faces.

As far as core gameplay goes, Shadow does control pretty much exactly like how Sonic did in Frontiers, but a lot more refined. I guess the best way to describe it is that it feels a lot faster, tighter, and looser, especially compared to Cyberspace Sonic who almost controlled like a tank. There's no artificial limitations, no sudden halts in momentum, no absurdly wide jump arc, I always feel completely in control especially at top speeds. And these are the default settings, none of that "you make the physics" bullshit that Frontiers had. The addition of a vastly better quickstep is also great, and what's even better is that you can essentially go a goofy wavedash with them that lets you go faster. I do have a few minor gripes here, though. Like in Frontiers, I do kinda get the sense that Shadow controls slightly differently in the levels than in the overworld. This is most apparent when moving slowly as it feels like in the stages, your acceleration is extremely low which can make tight platforming a bit annoying. On top of that, the air boost is kinda pitiful compared to how it is in Sonic Generations, it can't take you really far which is a bit of a shame. Otherwise, though, yeah, Shadow controls pretty great and all the additional movement options you get from the Doom Powers only add to it. The Chaos Control letting you stop time is an especially fun addition as the stages get a lot of mileage out of it, the Chaos Spear is a solid long range attack that's also the center of arguably the game's greatest exploit, the Doom Blast is a more situational move that similarly boasts a lot of speedrunning potential, and the Doom Surf, Morph, and Wings all do a solid job of keeping the gameplay varied without slowing things down.

Being based on Sonic Frontiers means Shadow Generations has a dedicated overworld in the form of its own White Space, and to my complete and utter surprise, it's actually really good. It's smaller than the open zones in Frontiers but it's also a lot more densely-packed, filled with hidden nooks and crannies, structures to climb, and optional challenges. It also actually feels like a more fully-realized place, all the platforming is built into the geometry of the area and as a result, the floating platforms don't stick out like a sore thumb. The rampant pop-in that plagued Frontiers is also completely gone here, even on the Switch. It's just a fun overworld to explore and get familiar with. And on top of that, even the progression is better here. You're not randomly running around doing basic fetch quests, you scout the overworld to find levels, beat the levels to unlock more moves, and use those moves to explore more of the overworld almost like a metroidvania. This is how you do an open zone structure, and while I wouldn't say this game redeems Frontiers, it does justify its existence a bit more. I feel more comfortable believing that game was a step in the right direction when Sonic Team actually took the right lessons from it to make this more polished iteration of the formula.

That being said, I have one pretty major gripe with the overworld and it's probably my biggest issue with the entire game. So instead of red star rings, you find these collection keys that you can use to unlock the many chests scattered around the overworld. There are a few collectibles you can find without the keys like the Machine Parts, but for the vast majority of them, you need these keys. And I think that's really stupid, because it feels like I'm being discouraged from exploring unless I have enough keys to. There were so many cases where I do a tricky platforming sequence only to run into a chest I can't open, so I groan because I know I'll have to do the platforming sequence again. Finding the chest should be enough of a reward, and I'd much rather be able to explore when I want on my own terms. I get that Sonic Team probably wanted to slowly dole out collectibles rather than allow the player to get a ton of them at once, but the progression of how the Doom Powers open up more of the overworld already solves this issue, we didn't need the keys on top of that. It's not enough of an issue to really drag down the game for me since it is all optional content, but it did make the opening hours feel a bit slow going in terms of the overworld exploration.

Sonic Generations left a pretty high bar in terms of the level design, but I'm pleased to say that Shadow Generations almost manages to meet that bar. Everything I said about Sonic's stages pretty much apply here. They're dynamic, lengthy, and manage to flesh out iconic locations like Rail Canyon and Kingdom Valley in interesting ways. Barely any of the stages are bad, with even the entirely 2D Act 2s being generally pretty fun, and the stages brought back from the weaker games like Sunset Heights and especially Chaos Island are done some serious justice here. The occassional segments where Black Doom comes into to drag you to a warped Radical Highway are also really fun and chaotic, boasting some seriously trippy visuals and fun setpieces, even if it is a little weird that he only ever sends you to Radical Highway for whatever reason. These stages are also quite sprawling and are filled to the brim with shortcuts and alternate paths that encourage replaying, even if their increased length makes them a bit less replayable than Sonic's stages in my opinion. Once again, I'm very pleased to say that these are some of the more well-designed 3D Sonic stages I've played in quite some time. My only gripe is that you can see a bit of the blocky, floating platform syndrome that plagued Frontiers and Forces occasionally, though this very much depends on the stage. The more naturalistic stages like Kingdom Valley and Chaos Island can definitely stack up with the Sonic Gens stages visually, but the more mechanical ones like Space Colony ARK, Radical Highway, and some of the Act 2s can definitely feel a bit copy-paste.

As for the bosses, there's sadly only four of them, but they are all absolutely incredible, combining the inventive and readable attacks of a Sonic Generations boss with all the style and flair that Sonic Frontiers tried to introduce to its boss fights. With the large scale of these fights, you can tell Sonic Team was using what they learned while making the Titan fights, but unlike those, these fights actually feel challenging, well-telegraphed, and visually polished. The addition of a dedicated health bar along with numerous ways to attack most bosses really helps to add replay value to them as well, striking a perfect balance between allowing the player's skill to dictate how quickly the fight goes while still allowing for multiple phases, fun gameplay shifts, and flashy finishers. Pretty much every fight in Shadow Gens is fantastic, though the highlight for me is definitely the propulsive on-water fight against the Metal Overlord (I freaked out when he used my own Chaos Control against me). And while I liked the Time Eater more than most, yeah, there's no denying that Shadow's final boss is a lot more satisfying and well-designed. Outside of that, most of the side content is actually kept fairly similar to Sonic's campaign. There's once again a collection room to fill out as well as a number of challenge acts which are just as fun if not even better. There are less challenge acts per zone here, but they're also a lot more varied so it feels like Sonic Team took a quality over quantity approach here.

Now, time to talk about the presentation. My biggest concern with this collection was whether or not it would run on the Switch. Sonic Generations is still one of the prettiest and most colorful games in the series and hits some pretty blisteringly fast speeds, and Shadow Generations even manages to up one its predecessor in some ways. Shadow Generations is the first Hedgehog Engine 2 game that I actually think looks genuinely really good, everything looks super crisp and some of the Black Doom segments where he's messing with the environment make for some of the most visually trippy scenery I've seen in a Sonic game. I was so unsure the Switch could even run it considering how rough the Switch ports were for Sonic Colors Ultimate, Sonic Frontiers, and even Sonic Superstars which did manage to hit 60fps but had some pretty rough texture downgrade. Thankfully, and miraculously, I'm pleased to say that this is an incredible Switch port. Both games are locked to 30fps, but they run incredibly consistently, and while the resolution is obviously worse than on the other consoles, both games still look really sharp and the textures don't seem downgraded at all. The only compromise I noticed is a weird motion blur filter at points but it's never been bad enough to bother me. Compared to the rampant pop-in, blurry textures, muddy visuals, uneven framerate, and possibly jankier physics of Frontiers' Switch port, this is a gargantuan improvement. Even the aforementioned Black Doom transitions look completely seamless on the Switch which stunned me because Sonic Team somehow managed to get the console to load in entirely new areas with barely any wait-time. Sonic X Shadow Generations is the first time in over a decade that a new 3D Sonic game felt like a truly next gen experience, and the fact that Sonic Team managed to get it running as well as it did on the Switch is very impressive.

As for the soundtracks, well, it's Sonic, what did you expect? Being a seventh generation Sonic game and following three of my all-time favorite soundtracks in the series (06, Unleashed, Colors), Sonic Generations's OST manages to keep up that momentum with a fantastic selection of remixes that either vastly surpass the original (Sky Sanctuary Modern, Seaside Hill Modern Crisis City Modern) or bring something new and exciting to the table (Chemical Plant Modern, Rooftop Run Classic, Door Into Summer). Shadow Generations' soundtrack isn't quite as stellar, though that's mostly because Sonic's half is such a high bar musically. Most of the remixes here are good and they're of really great tracks, but there aren't many I can shout out that manage to stand out compared to the original. Space Colony ARK Act 1, Radical Highway Act 1, the Supporting Me remix, and Chaos Island Act 1 (yes, seriously) are probably the highlights and even then, they don't quite blow me away like Sonic's best remixes. I also feel like we have the same issue with Superstars' soundtrack where Sega has amassed way too many composers and it leaves the OST feeling less cohesive. As cool as it has to see people I recognize like TORIENA or RichaadEB working on official Sonic soundtracks, and as good a job as they did, I'd much rather have a soundtrack with like 2-3 composers max if it meant it would be more focused overall. Still, though, even with these criticisms, Shadow Generation still has a pretty solid soundtrack regardless.

Overall, Sonic X Shadow Generations is absolutely incredible. It's the first time in so damn long where a 3D Sonic felt polished, thoughtful in its design, and professionally produced. It's just a good-ass game, a game that I could wholeheartedly recommend to others with zero qualms or caveats, just as I've always wanted from Sonic. Sonic Generations somehow managed to surpass my lofty expectations thanks to its stunning spectacle, refined boost controls, impeccable level design, and addictive speedrun-focused replayability. And Shadow Generations is really great too, easily the best 3D Sonic since... well... Sonic Generations. It's got one of the best Sonic stories in years, solid movement, strong level and boss design that can actually stand up to the high bar that Sonic Generations set, and it manages to improve on Frontiers's formula in all the best ways. I'm not sure how well it stands as its own game, it feels like the Bowser's Fury to Sonic Generations' 3D World, but it's still an incredibly fun experience that, when combined with Sonic's campaign, makes for some of the best 3D Sonic I've ever played and one of my favorite experiences from this year.

5/5 Stars

I don't think I've ever ranked the 3D Sonic games I've played but here's my list as of right now:

  1. Sonic Adventure
  2. Sonic (X Shadow) Generations
  3. Sonic Adventure 2
  4. Shadow Generations
  5. Sonic Colors
  6. Sonic Heroes
  7. Sonic Dream Team
  8. Shadow The Hedgehog
  9. Sonic & The Black Knight
  10. Sonic Lost World
  11. Sonic Unleashed Wii
  12. Sonic Frontiers
  13. Sonic Lost World 3DS
  14. Sonic 3D Blast
  15. Sonic Forces
  16. Sonic Frontiers: The Final Horizon
  17. Sonic & The Secret Rings
  18. Sonic Boom: Rise Of Lyric

This obviously isn't set in stone, I'm still not especially sure if I like Shadow Gens or Colors more, and I feel I still need to play a bit more of UnWiished and Lost World 3DS to really cement my opinions on each. But for now, just assume that everything from UnWiished and above are games that I consider at the very least good (though I actually really like 3D Blast's director cut mod, we're just talking about the originals here). But yeah, all I really have left to play out of the 3D Sonic games is HD Unleashed and... 06. I have no idea how I'll be able to play them now, but I'm sure I'll be able to eventually.

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