14 DAY TRIAL // 
How long can a series get by on sheer exploitation of nostalgia intermingled with an appreciation of speed? If you believe that respecting the pat and repackaging it for a new generation is OK and you have good reflexes you will probably enjoy Sonic Generations, the new platformer from publisher SEGA and the developers at Sonic Team. If you believe that what’s old should be left for the past and video games should always innovate then you’d better skip this game, which basically takes all that’s good about Sonic and bundles it in a neat little anniversary package.
Story
A mysterious force attacks Sonic and his friends, in their modern incarnation, just as they are celebrating his birthday (he does not look a day older than in previous games) and despite the hedgehog’s efforts all his friends get sucked into different time and space sequences.
Sonic and his Classic self-meet and decide that they need to run through all the areas together in order to restore order and find out who is behind this mysterious attack.
I don’t think anyone will see as a spoiler the reveal that Dr. Eggman is the villain that has managed to trap the two speedsters and that as Sonic Generations progresses his power diminishes before a final battle that pits two Sonics against two Eggmans.
Normalcy is restored and the Sonic’s friend group is restored, probably to the chagrin of most fans, although the end of the game suggests that intriguing possibility that SEGA might be ready to deliver an Eggman powered Sonic adventure.
Gameplay
The essence of all Sonic titles is easy to identify: accelerate to top speed as fast as you can and maintain it throughout the level while dodging both environmental challenges, negotiating some complex courses and destroying enemies that stand in your path. This is not a game for those looking for sophisticated systems and deep worlds, this is just about moving fast, collecting rings and avoiding death.
And all of it works beautifully in the Sonic Generations incarnation, with the nimble protagonist reaching speeds that seem to rival those of jet fighters and some of the courses apparently designed by designers that also served as architects in some warped and super bright reincarnation of the real world.
The game offers stages taken from the history of the character, split into three distinct eras: Classic, Dreamcast and Modern. Each of them can be played as the Classic Sonic or as his modern counterpart. There are significant differences between the two and it is often a challenge to quickly complete the same level as both characters because the shift in perspective can sometimes feel disorienting.
The old Sonic (a pretty fat dude by modern standards) runs in classic 2D and is slower while his modern counterpart (supermodel lean) gets shifts in perspective and an enhanced sense of speed.
I died a lot in the beginning and was growing frustrated with my inability to do a level in just one go but I then understood that this is not a game where you can play once and get a good result. The character is just too fast and some of the progression too complicated so Sonic Generations is a game that challenges the player to get through a level once and then learn it with every new run, picking up new ways of making it across both faster and with more rings collected. Repetition really breeds perfection in Sonic Generations and, although some players might naturally pick up the subtleties of the game, I don’t think anyone can do perfect scores on the first try.
The entire process of failure, discovery, understanding and mastery can get a little bit annoying and there are some truly challenging sections in Sonic Generations but whenever the game stressed me too much I just put down the controller, took five minutes off and then replayed one of the earlier levels to see what the end point was.
Another problem is that as Sonic Generations progresses the levels seem to lose heart and become simple exercises in delivering yet another twist, yet another weird change of pace, yet another jump and roll sequence that is harder to complete than the last one, a decline that seems to reflect the way the franchise itself tended to lose quality during its last few outings.
Another incentive to go through the game multiple times is created with the collectable items, which includes everything from power-ups to artwork and movies, although some of them might only matter to those who are long term fans of the series and the character.
The leaderboards SEGA included offer two ways to compare performance: one built around time spent and coins collected in each level and one that compares how far into a level gamers can get within a 30-second time limit.
Graphics and audio
Sonic Generations looks very good, brightly lit, full of primary colors and with a lot of on-screen help to guide the player through his adventures. It’s beautiful in the same way that cartoons can become beautiful when any sort of link to the real, physical world has been removed from them and even though the on screen areas are recognizable as the results of human creation there’s no actual humanity to them.
The movement is also smooth and quick and despite the sense of speed that permeates the entire experience there’s no point where it becomes unclear where the player need to go and how he can reach his goal. Clarity is very important for a platformer that relies so much on chaining moves without any stops and Sonic Generations is clean and well put together, both when it comes to the old, recreated levels, and to the modern ones.
The one downside when it comes to the sound design is the voice work, which might be well suited for young Sonic fans but does nothing but abuse the ears of older players. It might be a good idea to cut back on the “cute” quotient for the hedgehog and his buddies and add some maturity to their interactions.
The feeling of speed that Sonic Generations delivers is unmatched in gaming, even if at times it can feel overwhelming to a gamer like me, who long ago has given up on relying on his reflexes to get him through games. The game fulfills its main aim: to celebrate the 20 years history of the character by emphasizing the innovative features it has promoting while sweeping under a virtual rug those elements, like the extended cast, that tended to drag the entire franchise down. Just look at Sonic Generations more as a tribute than as a sign of how the future will be. The biggest problem with Sonic Generations is how it affects the future of the main character and his game universe. SEGA have managed to show that, at the moment, the only way to make a successful Sonic game is to bet heavily on nostalgia, both when it comes to the character and to the levels, which might make for a big headache for the team that is now working on the next Sonic game and must do without using the past of the series as the basis.
The Good
The Bad
Conclusion
