My generation grew up in 2D.
My generation didn’t have to worry about shaky, wildly-panning camera and perspective
shifts.
My generation was happy with running to the right, really really fast, grabbing rings
and chaos emeralds on the way.
My generation knew - or thought it knew - what blast processing was.
My generation may have been kinda stupid in this regard.
My generation was left behind by the shift of the Sonic the Hedgehog series to a 3D,
three-quarter overhead view.
My generation has been complaining ever since.
But I’m only talkin’ ‘bout my generation.
There’s been a whole generation for whom this style of gameplay is fine and dandy,
and for those who grew up in this generation, any vestiges of the last generation are unacceptable
and archaic.
So what’s a blue hedgehog with ‘tude to do?
Simple.
Encounter a time-consuming demidiety being controlled by his archnemisis, which shatters
the very fabric of spacetime and collapses all points in the Sonic mythos into one flat
white plane, thus bringing together two separate iterations of said hedgehog, all Back-to-the-Future-style.
Rather than creating a paradox, though (as presumably the entire game happens within
paradox space, or at the very least some time-compressed world a la Final Fantasy VIII) the two are
able to coexist, and in fact are the key to restoring order to the chunks of temporal
debris littering the “hub” plane, if you will.
By being very fast, and presumably introducing relativistic distortion into the nine areas
displaced from their native chronologies, color and vibrancy are returned and the tangent
characters - ranging from Tails and Knuckles to the C-list of the Sonic pantheon like Vector
the Crocodile and Charmy the Bee - are rescued from the state of stasis left in the wake
of this... thing.
… Wow.
That’s a whole lot to swallow.
Let me try to simplify things...
even faster.
Each of the game’s nine zones are split into two acts: the first of which is an old-school
2D Sonic experience, with none of the broken jump physics that plagued Sonic 4 Episode
1.
If you haven’t played a game in this franchise since Sonic and Knuckles - and you wouldn’t
be wholly unjustified in that regard - you will be immediately at ease with this reinterpretation.
There are 3D elements involved, mostly having to do with foreground-to-background shifts
and some shiny camera effects - but the net result is exactly the same: You run to the
right as fast as possible and try not to die.
The second acts, though, explore the same terrain through the lens of a new era - the
Sonic Adventure-style, “camera behind the runner” model.
As such, these acts play by that more recent rulebook, including homing jumps, 3D platforming,
and the occasional confounding viewpoint or unexpected turn that flips your controls around
at a moment’s notice and poses the most vicious threat to your survival.
The sense of speed is greater, it’s true, but with great freedom comes great possibility
that everything could break down at a moment’s notice if you fail to hold the control stick
in the correct direction following a particularly ambiguous camera angle.
Upon completing both acts, the zone is liberated and the color - and animation of your emprisoned
cohort - are restored.
Complete the three zones in each sector, and that sector’s challenge stages - five to
a zone - are unlocked.
You must complete one challenge in each zone, in either 2D or 3D, to obtain entry to the
boss’s domain, thus allowing you to give preference to your more comfortable mode of
gameplay.
The three major boss battles - as well as “rival” competitions against Metal Sonic,
Shadow, and Silver - Each yield a chaos emerald apiece, as these gems are no longer the sign
of a thorough and dominant playthrough but a mere plot point.
From one side to the other, original canon to Sonic Colors, the game feels like a concession
to the bifurcated nature of the series itself.
Rather than placate one constituency at the cost of another, Sega have managed to combine
both styles into a middle road worth travelling, if only for a short time.
The story itself tasks veteran speedsters for a mere sitting, though there’s much
more to explore and every time can be improved, if only by a fraction of a second.
Despite the frequency at which you may find yourself travelling faster than it, though,
the sound is impeccable.
The whole experience has a veneer of classicism, from the heavy leaning on a more refined violin
sound to the “Why didn’t we think of this before” flute showcase that is the new Chemical
Plant zone.
And in a rare - if unprecedented - twist for a US release, the game not only includes a
competent English dub - save for the mute Classic Sonic, of course - not only a bilingual
release, but an all-out, hexalingual vocal performance, bundling in the French, German,
Spanish, and Italian dubs as well.
Sonic has seen its ups and downs throughout his storied heritage, from being the first
to pose a threat to Mario’s dominance to his later status as beleaguered, washed-up
icon with a rabid and unpleasable fanbase.
Sonic Generations represents an attempt to merge these two factions with one big s-s-sensation
that everyone can get behind.
And when it’s travelling that fast, there’s plenty of room behind it.
Put down your hate and enjoy it...
I’m gonna go pass out.