11-05-2011, 07:47 AM
(This post was last modified: 11-08-2011, 09:49 PM by Lee_Stricklin.)
Version Reviewed: Steam
Also available on: PS3 and ekzbawkz 360
Score: 8.2 out of 10
tl;dr: pros and cons at the end of the review, game settings and system info at the bottom
If you've been following Sonic for the last ten years, then you'd probably know that almost every main series game released after the Dreamcast died has been absolute garbage. Well, supposedly this cycle was broken in Sonic Colours, but most serious gamers don't really screw around with the Wii, so most of us haven't gotten to touch it. We however got another game, Sonic Generations, and damn it's a fun game. Sonic Team really got their shit together with this one and went back into Sonic's 20 years of history and did some interesting things to previous games levels, spanning the Genesis, Dreamcast, and Modern eras. One of the more interesting aspects of this game though is that you are given a classic Sonic with his old appearance in tact as well as the current Sonic. Both are pretty fun to play to, with surprisingly modern Sonic probably having the best gameplay variety of the two. There's also a TON of bonuses locked in the form of artwork and music (which can be switched out on any of the stages) as well as a skill shop that allows you build sets of skills and assign them to each of the two Sonics. The level design is top notch too, there are A LOT of different ways to get through each map on here and each time I've replayed them, I did something different to get to the end. The game isn't without it's flaws though, for starters a PC version was OBVIOUSLY a last minute decision as shown in the presentation and the key mappings (you have to map keys to match a 360 controller, including assigning a start button), the lack of a full screen option (widescreen or letterbox only), and it's short length (I did a single playthrough in less than 3 hours). The good outweighs the bad though, the length of the game especially gets overshadowed by the sheer amount of replay value this has and I've only had a minor slowdown here or there running it on my PC so there's nothing game breaking as far as bugs are concerned. Overall I'd say this was a pretty good attempt by Sonic Team to restore Sonic back to his former glory and for the first time in a long time, I'm actually looking forward to future Sonic games.
Pros:
FUN!
Extremely high replay value
No major bugs or hiccups
Variety, especially when controlling modern Sonic
Tons of nostalgia value for those that were around since the beginning
Very playable for the hardware requirements listed
Freakishly huge maps with MANY paths through
Cons:
PC version was obviously a last minute decision as shown in it's presentation
SHORT (3 hours for my first playthrough, though I missed a helluva lot)
While some of the maps are remakes of Dreamcast ones, at no point does Sonic actually control like he does in SA1 or SA2
No 4:3 display, letterbox or widescreen only
Other:
YOU NEED A GAMEPAD TO PLAY THIS, Keyboard sucks for this game
Rig:
CPU: AM2+ Socket Phenom II X4 3GHz
GPU: Nvidia Geforce 9800GTX, 256 bit, 1GB
RAM: 4 GB (2 X 2GB) DDR2, 1066
Settings:
Resolution: 1600 X 1200 @ 85Hz (Letterbox)
Reflections: High
Shadows: Low (Unnoticeable anyway)
Also available on: PS3 and ekzbawkz 360
Score: 8.2 out of 10
tl;dr: pros and cons at the end of the review, game settings and system info at the bottom
If you've been following Sonic for the last ten years, then you'd probably know that almost every main series game released after the Dreamcast died has been absolute garbage. Well, supposedly this cycle was broken in Sonic Colours, but most serious gamers don't really screw around with the Wii, so most of us haven't gotten to touch it. We however got another game, Sonic Generations, and damn it's a fun game. Sonic Team really got their shit together with this one and went back into Sonic's 20 years of history and did some interesting things to previous games levels, spanning the Genesis, Dreamcast, and Modern eras. One of the more interesting aspects of this game though is that you are given a classic Sonic with his old appearance in tact as well as the current Sonic. Both are pretty fun to play to, with surprisingly modern Sonic probably having the best gameplay variety of the two. There's also a TON of bonuses locked in the form of artwork and music (which can be switched out on any of the stages) as well as a skill shop that allows you build sets of skills and assign them to each of the two Sonics. The level design is top notch too, there are A LOT of different ways to get through each map on here and each time I've replayed them, I did something different to get to the end. The game isn't without it's flaws though, for starters a PC version was OBVIOUSLY a last minute decision as shown in the presentation and the key mappings (you have to map keys to match a 360 controller, including assigning a start button), the lack of a full screen option (widescreen or letterbox only), and it's short length (I did a single playthrough in less than 3 hours). The good outweighs the bad though, the length of the game especially gets overshadowed by the sheer amount of replay value this has and I've only had a minor slowdown here or there running it on my PC so there's nothing game breaking as far as bugs are concerned. Overall I'd say this was a pretty good attempt by Sonic Team to restore Sonic back to his former glory and for the first time in a long time, I'm actually looking forward to future Sonic games.
Pros:
FUN!
Extremely high replay value
No major bugs or hiccups
Variety, especially when controlling modern Sonic
Tons of nostalgia value for those that were around since the beginning
Very playable for the hardware requirements listed
Freakishly huge maps with MANY paths through
Cons:
PC version was obviously a last minute decision as shown in it's presentation
SHORT (3 hours for my first playthrough, though I missed a helluva lot)
While some of the maps are remakes of Dreamcast ones, at no point does Sonic actually control like he does in SA1 or SA2
No 4:3 display, letterbox or widescreen only
Other:
YOU NEED A GAMEPAD TO PLAY THIS, Keyboard sucks for this game
Rig:
CPU: AM2+ Socket Phenom II X4 3GHz
GPU: Nvidia Geforce 9800GTX, 256 bit, 1GB
RAM: 4 GB (2 X 2GB) DDR2, 1066
Settings:
Resolution: 1600 X 1200 @ 85Hz (Letterbox)
Reflections: High
Shadows: Low (Unnoticeable anyway)
ECKZBAWKZ HUGE LIST OF ACHIEVEMENTS GOES HERE....
Oh wait.
Oh wait.
