Sonic X Shadow Generations Review – Live And Learn

Back in 2011, Sega and Sonic Team celebrated the 20th anniversary of Sonic The Hedgehog with a game to remember: Sonic Generations. It combines both the classic 2D gameplay of the first three numbered Sonic The Hedgehog games and the 3D gameplay of modern Sonic games introduced by Sonic Adventure. It’s one of the more well-received titles the blue blur has had for a good while at that point in time.

Fast forward 13 years later, Sonic Team is bringing back Sonic Generations again for this generation of consoles. It’s not a major remaster, though it certainly is not just a port. Rather, this is Sonic X Shadow Generations, a new version of Sonic Generations that comes with Shadow Generations, a new game starring Shadow The Hedgehog.

Sega is pulling an Atlus special with Sonic X Shadow Generations: releasing new versions of games with more content that could’ve been delivered as DLC.

If Sonic Generations is a more recent title, it’s hard to swallow having to buy the same game again just to experience the new content this release added. But as a 2-in-1 package of a new port for a game that hasn’t graced the 8th-9th generation of consoles yet with new content made with the current iteration of Sonic Team, it’s worth it.

For the rest of the review, Sonic Generations and Shadow Generations are treated as separate games. There are two different games, two console generations apart, developed by more or less the same team. For scoring purposes, it will take into account both games together as Sonic X Shadow Generations.

Presentation

Sega describes Sonic X Shadow Generations as a remaster of Sonic Generations. Because frankly, I couldn’t tell. It’s the same Sonic Generations game, all in tact. The cutscenes still run at an odd framerate with stilted animations.

The way subtitles are handled doesn’t fit modern best practices. The text font is too soft and small, with way too big of a subtitle box, if you can call it that. At the hub world, music changes based on where Sonic stands, and regularly the music doesn’t quite change to the supposed music it should be playing.

That all being said, there are just as many aspects of Sonic Generations that still hold up well today. Or they could have been subtly tweaked for the better as part of the remastering.

The UI is full-on Frutiger Metro with its bright, colour shapes layered on top of each other. It hearkens back to the UI design of Sonic The Hedgehog (the Sega Genesis ones, not Sonic ’06) while also adapting to at-the-time modern aesthetic styling.

The gameplay performance is smooth, so you are 100% moving fast consistently with no framerate drops on the PS5, as my eyes can tell that is. The music, featuring many remixes of iconic Sonic tracks, is simply evergreen. Just like the Sega mascot himself.

Sonic Team may have done much to spruce Sonic Generations up (if they did, I certainly couldn’t tell), but they certainly took notes when they made Shadow Generations. The UI still carries that Frutiger Metro-y feel, now using Shadow’s more darker colour palette.

The UI during gameplay, however, looks closer to Sonic Forces’s style (but not a carbon copy). Subtitling is up to modern standards. The pre-rendered cutscenes look nice, but there are also plenty of in-game cinematic moments with cool set-pieces.

The new music, including some new songs by Crush 40, is on the edgier and more doomier side, but they are great listens. Except the hub world music—too much gloomy orchestra, that one. Despite the changes, Shadow Generations feel right at home as an extra campaign that sits along Sonic Generations. The two games blend together cohesively presentation-wise despite being two console generations apart.

I felt that keeping Sonic Generations as intact as it is was a deliberate choice. The developers want you to see how that game holds up today. And we can also see how far the team has grown since that game’s release with Shadow Generations. Going back and forth between the two campaigns, I definitely got to appreciate the minute differences between a 2011 Sonic game and a 2024 Sonic (Shadow) game.

Gameplay

In Sonic Generations, a surprise birthday party for Sonic has gone wrong as a mysterious force has sucked Sonic and his friends into a white void. And to rescue them again, Sonic teams up with his past self.

Sonic Generations is a game of two Sonics. Levels are split into two acts to be played as Classic Sonic (2D side-scrolling) and Modern Sonic (3D movement), each bringing a different flavour of high-speed platforming. The 2D side-scrolling levels have more roots in traditional platforming. While the modern 3D high-speed platforming gameplay is all about being in the zone, and hitting all your marks with timely button presses like it’s a rhythm game or a time trial racing game.

As for Shadow Generations, this is a new story starring Shadow The Hedgehog that happens concurrently with the events of Sonic Generations. Shadow is also trapped in this white space, though his story will see him beefing with an old nemesis, Black Doom.

Shadow Generations takes a more refined approach to Sonic Generations’ 2D and 3D split. The levels are still available in two acts, but if a level is a 3D level, it will not have any side-scrolling gameplay, which can be disorienting as seen in Sonic Generations.

All of Sonic Generations’ levels are throwbacks to familiar zones from past Sonic games, including Green Hill Zone, Chemical Plant Zone and City Escape to name a few. Shadow Generations continues this with levels that pay homage to past games, including levels from Shadow The Hedgehog, Sonic The Hedgehog (yes, this is Sonic ’06), and Sonic Forces to name just a few.

In Sonic Generations, you can only navigate the hub world in two dimensions. It seems odd at first, but after completing enough levels, more platforms start to appear, and now you have a lot more to do in what seemed at first to be just an elaborate level select screen.

Shadow Generations improves on this by having the white space hub world be a full-on 3D overworld with collect-a-thon platforming elements. The world will slowly grow larger as you progress and unlock new abilities, allowing you to further explore and complete your collection of collectibles to collect.

The last Sonic game, Sonic Frontiers, went way too experimental by going full open world, but this restrained aspect of that style of gameplay, which makes it play more like a traditional platformer rather than an open world game, is a pleasant break from the fast-paced levels and challenges you need to do to progress. If only the hub world music was just as pleasant.

The gameplay of Sonic Generations still holds up well enough today. Though it has its quirks. Controlling Modern Sonic feels stiff and lumbering, and you just don’t feel like you have enough control of where you’re going. Making sharp turns using L2 + direction feels so, so bad (Shadow Generations doesn’t have this feature).

But it’s still perfectly playable today. I have no notes about Classic Sonic, mostly because I’m not as intimately familiar with the specific quirks that make Classic Sonic games tick, but as a regular gamer playing this, I find the side-scrolling levels most pleasant to play in Sonic Generations. Having to unlock skills and define a loadout is such a 2011 invention.

And if you play the Modern Sonic levels and then switch to Shadow Generations, you’ll feel the many slight improvements the 3D gameplay has gone through. Homing attacks are snappier. The level design flows just a bit better while still allowing you to easily switch to different routes and paths. Shadow doesn’t move as sluggish when you lose all momentum and have to start running again from a full stop.

It’s these little things that add up to make the controls feel better. And I wouldn’t have appreciated it if Sonic Team touched up Sonic Generations to play more like Shadow Generations.

Rather than a skill loadout like Sonic Generations, Shadow Generations has a more traditional system. You just unlock new abilities as you progress through the story.

Some have wonky controls and gimmicky. Its version of a swinging power is not intuitive, in particular. It’s technically a launcher; the swing arc determines the aim of where you will launch. Very peculiar.

Some are game-changers. One of them changes the game so much there’s a separate leaderboard for using it.

Some are Sonic Team looking at another game and giving it their own spin. 

At the very least, these new Doom Gear abilities are fun gimmicks. Though I reckon only a few should be kept as part of Shadow’s ability kit moving forward. All of these abilities just so Shadow won’t hold a gun and shoot at people anymore.

Overall, Sonic X Shadow Generations has two good games. Sonic Generations remains to be one of the better games in the series, even if it has aged a bit. But Shadow Generations, a new game designed to fit in side-by-side with Sonic Generations, shows how much Sonic Team has upped their game over the decade since. Both equally as fun. You could say they took the lyrics at the end of Sonic Adventure 2 to heart. Sonic Team lived and learnt from the works of yesterday.

Content

Sonic X Shadow Generations is a 2-in-1 game bundle by all means. Shadow Generations could’ve been a DLC, but it’s actually similarly sized content-wise with Sonic Generations. Each game takes about five hours to finish; add a few extra hours for repeat plays to collect and unlock everything.

Sonic Generations’ story is nothing to write home about; it’s fine. But I do find Shadow Generations’ story to be interesting. It fits all snugly as a tale running concurrently with the events of Sonic Generations while also being the latest chapter of Shadow The Hedgehog’s own tale. There’s care being put into making this antihero more than just an angry edgelord without being too phoned in. Those narrative threads from Shadow The Hedgehog have been untangled into a proper canon, and it’s nice to see Shadow getting another character arc.

There are online leaderboards for level speedruns in both Sonic Generations and Shadow Generations. The collectibles are art pieces and music from past Sonic games, so Sonic X Shadow Generations is a treasure trove of behind-the-scenes content.

I wouldn’t say Sonic X Shadow Generations has a lot of content to offer, but it’s also the kind of game where you simply cannot stretch it out. So it’s a good thing the quality of the levels, especially the new ones from Shadow Generations, are great.

Personal Enjoyment

I wouldn’t consider myself a Sonic fan, but I am by no means a stranger to the series. I just happened to play the less celebrated titles: Sonic The Hedgehog 3, Sonic Heroes and Shadow The Hedgehog. Those games are by my account, mid. Okay games that I would’ve scored in the 7 range if I reviewed them today.

Finally getting a chance to play Sonic Generations for the first time, I get why it’s so celebrated. Of course the game itself is a celebration of the series’ 20-year run at the time, but not only was it Sonic’s Greatest Hits album, it is on its own merit a great hit of a game. I love the duality of the 2D/3D gameplay it offers. And the controls were good enough—much better than my memories struggling to get around at full speed in Sonic Heroes.

While I still feel a tad disappointed that Sega is walking back a bit by not giving Shadow a gun anymore, they have more than made it up by giving Shadow badass shadow-themed powers, one of which functions more or less like a gun.

Shadow Generations does feel like a smaller game in isolation, enough to fit as a DLC if you ask me. But it clearly spares no expense to make it as over the top as the budget allows it to be. The cinematic sequences during gameplay are hype, and the boss fights are a spectacle without being too obtuse on how to actually fight them.

While I don’t think the story is amazing, yet it’s being treated with care and respect to the established lore and narrative, and building on top of it.

I enjoyed my time with Sonic X Shadow Generations. I don’t rate it that high; my standards for what a good platformer is are unreasonably high, and I still don’t like some aspects that’s built into Sonic’s gameplay DNA, but I cannot deny that Sonic Team has made immense effort in refining that gameplay DNA, ever closer to its full potential.

Verdict

Sonic X Shadow Generations bundles one of the most loved recent entries to the series with a new, refined take of that formula. Sonic Generations is barely a remaster, but it still holds up today. And it serves as a good comparison to the new Shadow Generations game included in this package.

Even if you played Sonic Generations already and are not interested in double-dipping, Shadow Generations should make you reconsider. It’s a proper new game that doubles the length of content available and brings new gameplay gimmicks to the high-speed platformer.

If Sonic Forces and Sonic Frontiers saw Sonic Team swing for the fences (to mixed results), Sonic X Shadow Generations is them batting it a little safe. But make no mistake, they still brought out their A-game here. They lived and learnt from the works of yesterday. And it’s clearly seen in how good Shadow Generations is, which hopefully means there’s more of good Sonic games to come.

Reviewed on PS5. Review code provided by the publisher.

8

Sonic X Shadow Generations

Sonic X Shadow Generations bundles one of the most loved recent entries to the series with a new, refined take of that formula. Sonic Generations is barely a remaster, but it still holds up today. And it serves as a good comparison to the new Shadow Generations game included in this package.

  • Presentation 8.5
  • Gameplay 7.5
  • Content 8
  • Personal Enjoyment 8
  • Design 8
  • Design 8

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