I found you, Faker!
I've for the most part, considered myself a Sonic Enjoyer. Not a fan, but an enjoyer. I look at the series through the window; I listen to the music, I enjoy the characters, I listen to one of my best friends talk about the comics, I have fun! But I don't play the games. I have only ever played one Sonic game, that being Sonic CD, but that was back when I was in middle school, so I don't remember much. I... don't think I ever beat it? But I do remember enjoying it. But that should show you what my very limited hedgehog related past involves.
Flash forward to 2024; I spend a Lot Of Time watching a man play Sonic games, a Sonic movie comes out, and a rerelease of a game with bonus content of the character I have designated as my favorite comes out; It's time to play a Sonic game. So here I am!
This game is a 2 package deal, so I'm essentially gonna do 2 posts in one. I'm writing this first section after I finished the first part of the game, and will do so again with the second, just for fresher out of the oven thoughts.
Admittedly not the top reason I picked up this game, but I'm very glad that it came with it so I could experience what I IMAGINE is a good overall feel for Sonic games, with its combination of Classic and Modern.
It's. My feelings are complicated, I feel. From moment one, thrown into Green Hill Zone, I was... lost? It's very hard, for me at least, to get my bearings or to see enemies and obstacles. I often felt like I would get hit or die, and there wasn't really anything I could have done about it. There's a similar difficulty with controls. Like, why didn't my lightspeed dash work. Why did my homing attack send me Over There. Why can I not just MAKE THIS JUMP AAGH. I can't say for sure how much of this is the game's fault, though. I'm notoriously not a platformer guy, and I did not grind the game out to REALLY get good with it all. So it's hard to say what's the game's fault and what's my fault. I'm choosing to put more blame on the game though lmao.
I did like parts of it though, shown by the fact that I didn't just drop the game; I really enjoyed the boost and drift mechanic in 3D. Were they hard to control? Yes. Did I run into things and off cliffs? Yes. Did I have fun? Yes, and that's what's most important. When you really get a groove going and you're going fast and jumping right and it all comes together, it feels GREAT, which I think is what Sonic is all about; grind a level until you can get that full combo smoothness. It's like a rhythm game in that vein, just a lot harder to sight read. I also feel like in each level, you're Always moving forward. You're not really stuck or falling behind for the most part (unless you die, of course), you just either get to do The Fast Path or the Not Fast path, and I love that. In a game of speed, it sucks to lose progress. It sucks less to just be slower than you could be. The level design is honestly magic, I don't understand how there's so many paths that connect into each other.
The level selection (white space) being its own level was really cool. Platforming to different challenges, chasing down the bells, and having 2 control schemes to move around it was awesome. Speaking of;
I like the separation of 2D and 3D. It makes the game easier to play through, having a change in a level here and there, rather than the same thing the whole way through where I might get burnt out. Especially when you need to do some of the challenge levels to progress the game, it lets me choose which gameplay style I prefer to fill the requirements for each level; I don't want to do Crisis City in 3D again, so I'll do it in 2D. It's great, and a wonderful concept to build the game around.
The boss fights were hit or miss. On one hand, I appreciate that slow build up, learning mechanics until you can get a clear, like an MMO fight. On the other hand, sometimes I'm running in circles, literally, and can't progress properly, or I'm struggling to figure out what to do. It's not like, a flaw, necessarily, but it IS a frustration. I think Metal Sonic and Silver were my two favorites; Shadow and Egg Dragoon were a little much for me. The final boss was visually very cool, but it felt... very nothing. It had a cool mechanic with switching perspectives, reminded me of Paper Mario, but it didn't have too many attacks, I couldn't see when rings were happening, and I didn't feel like I was actively making progress.
Reminds me of a Kirby story. It's there, it makes sense, it's not that deep in the slightest, and it's more of a vehicle for gameplay. Something I can respect, especially in a game like this, but of course my personal taste wants more out of something, maybe just a little more character dialogue.
I like Sonic characters. I think most people do. Here, they really just served the purpose of "hey look at this character you like and their 5 lines of dialogue." They're not deep at all, which does stink, but it's always nice to see this cast. Also, Classic Tails is adorable. I want to hug him.
I did find out they rewrote a lot of the dialogue for this port, and after going back to watch it, I do think they made good changes overall. Sonic feels like less of a dick, especially now that he responds to his friends instead of being silent; and overall the cast seems a little smarter, especially since they recognize things.
This is the real strength of the game, and what I enjoyed most out of it. Sonic music fucks. It always has, they never miss (they missed a couple times. I'm aware.), and this game being essentially a "greatest hits" OST was very welcome. I loved the remixes of songs between Classic and Modern, and it felt like they fit their era; Rooftop Run is a good example of this. Classic doesn't feel like as much is going on, some of the instruments feel a little more bitcrushed, while Modern sounds more like a well recorded band playing. It's really nice; I also liked the string covers in white space. Sonic music is the part of the series I am most familiar with, so I got a smile every time I heard a song I knew. Also, having the ability to choose a track from more than is represented in levels is an AWESOME feature. I'm not going for 100%, but if I were to, unlocking more songs would be the part I look forward to the most.
Speaking of the vibes, there's just something about Sonic, man. It's stylish, it's colorful, it's really pleasant to look at... when I can tell what I'm looking at, and something about the energy of this game, and really Sonic as a whole, makes me want to keep moving forward and see more of the world given to me. There's just something so fun and addicting that I cannot comprehend.
My feelings on Generations are so complicated. I don't think Sonic as a game series is really made for me; I just don't vibe with some of the things that it IS. But like... somehow, despite that, I still enjoy it. I really don't understand; they got some kind of dark magic in this shit. I get frustrated that I just CAN'T GET THIS LEVEL TO START RIGHT, and that this final boss feels nothing, yet I still have a big dumb smile on my face at seeing Super Sonic(s), or listening to the music, or seeing all these levels from the past come together. It's got a certain magic to it. I think if I was gonna rate this game alone...
6.5/10. Doesn't fully jive with me, but it has a lot of charm, and reason to enjoy it despite the flaws (which again might not necessarily be flaws with the game it could just be me).
But it's not alone. I got some Shadow to look forward to.
This is the real reason I considered getting this game. I like Shadow a lot; I would consider him my favorite character (beyond just the edgelord stuff I promise), so having "new" Shadow content and redoing old not good Shadow content was very appealing.
This part of the game jived with me a LOT more than Sonic did, for a few reasons.
So right off the bat; the game was a LOT more understandable to my brain. I feel like I could see where I was going, I felt more in control, it wasn't a blinding mess of stuff where I didn't think I could react to things properly. This alone was huge for me liking the game. Shadow also has a lot more moves than either Sonic did, which I think helps the gameplay flow a lot more. An action speed game is better and more engaging when you have more options. Not to say that it didn't turn into quick time events and lots of homing often, but just the slight differences were really nice (also helps that my homing attacks didn't feel bullshit and my moves for the most part consistently worked).
Map design keeps that same concept I liked from Sonic, where it always feels like I'm moving forward. Something about this one just feels like the shortcuts were more attainable. Was the game easier? Was I just a better player? Were they designed better? I can't say; but my experience was improved.
I loved the world map. Sonic Generations' was nice, adding in actual gameplay to reach levels; but Shadow's being 3D and more open world style was REALLY fun on top of just being a little more than menus. Finding secrets, having mini levels everywhere with the music notes and chests, even just running around; I had fun.
Shadow's moves were, for the most part, very enjoyable. I loved how Chaos Control actually paused the level timer, and I think some levels were designed around it very well. I forgot about Chaos Spear for most of the game, but eventually I was kinda forced to think about it and fit it into the gameplay flow; fun for quicktime events. Doom Blast was nice to change up the button mashing for a bit, as well as giving alternate pathways, Doom Surf is a little unwieldy, but the levels are well designed around it and it lends to fun boss fights. I didn't care much for Doom Morph (Shadow Splatoon), as I couldn't really get the hang of it, but conceptually it's cool and I think someone could be sick with it. Doom Wing is fun, but also frustrating to get going; certainly not as bad as Squid though. The boost, the double jump, the stomp; everything together really tied together the experience.
I'm not super sure what it is, but something about the boss fights were more enjoyable too. Maybe it was the health bar? Maybe it was the bits of mashing that actually mattered? Could have also just been presentation and overall improvement of game feel. The final boss felt like I was actually doing something, which is awesome.
I mean, overall, just the ability to feel like I'm in control of the game helped immensely. I also recognize that this content is 13 years newer than what it came packaged with, so naturally there's going to be improvements. I'm really happy with it, though.
There's more of it! Which, I mean, there better have been. Shadow's story is why I like him so much, so there's gotta be more content here. First off, characters get so much more dialogue, there's bits after every single level, and it's awesome. Sure, it's not "story", but just to see actual character interactions made me really happy, especially with the chosen cast; Omega was hilarious, and I loved reading Gerald and Maria's stuff. (Big was there.)
The story was still simple, compared to what I'm traditionally used to, but I enjoyed how it fit within Sonic Generations' plot, yet still feeling more driven. Black Doom was an active, in your face threat from the start, rather than vague monster that ended up Eggman(s), and on top of him, there was Shadow dealing with having Gerald and Maria "back" again, and there was the bit with the fake emerald actually used as a plot point to fully have it make sense within the context of the original game; I think it was executed well, for what it was. It was really nice seeing Shadow be able to Show the people he loves how he could fight not just for anger, when he couldn't before.
One thing I really liked was Gerald's Notebook, story you pieced together from collectables in the overworld. It gave more background on the family, plus Chaos stuff which I didn't know (I guess it was known, but I didn't know it). An excellent way to get me more involved in the overworld, as well as giving me that sweet, sweet lore that I crave.
I mean, I said it before. I'll say it again. Sonic music fucks. This is an unchangeable rule of the world. It still had that separation of genres like Sonic Generations had between the 2D and 3D acts, but leaning more into heavy and serious styles of music, befitting Shadow perfectly. Plus, I get that good Crush 40 buttrock that heals my aching soul (that final boss remix of All Hail Shadow FUCKED)
The game was covered in that classic Shadow edginess, red and black everywhere, alien tentacly bits, and even more gothic designs in the overworld (I think? I'm not a designer) with the grand castles and golden trims. It still had that same base that Sonic Generations had, but themed it perfectly to Shadow. I also really loved the fucked up Doctor Strange dimension Radical Highway, even if the level design of it was really frustrating.
Overall, Shadow Generations left a MUCH better impression on me than Sonic Generations did. You can really feel the improvement of game design they went through over the years. I was much less frustrated and uninterested in this game; sure, there was bits I got annoyed at, but every game has that; the bits aren't in the actual dna of the game, so my experience is greatly improved.
It makes me really happy to see the parts of Shadow's past stuck in infamously terrible games actually be able to shine, and hopefully Sonic can continue on the upward trend. It might not be the closest series to my heart, but I think it deserves to thrive. Anyways, this half of the game feels like...
8.5/10. A much more solid experience than the game it was packaged with, almost like it's a redemption of everything it contains.
This leaves us with a total average rating of 7.5/10! I'm glad I finally have a complete Sonic under my belt. It feels like it filled a gap in my gaming resume.