Review – Sonic x Shadow Generations

With the exception of Mania, there’s no Sonic the Hedgehog game I’ve been excited for more than 2011’s Sonic Generations. An anniversary celebration that brought both classic and modern gameplay styles together, its greatest strength was its inherent understanding of what made the series fun. Rewarding momentum based gameplay, roller coaster like exhibitions of speed, multiple routes to explore, and some eye-catching visuals paired to exceptional music. Tack on a light story that’s more an excuse to get to these familiar locations, and you have a recipe for success that Sega… just kinda stopped cooking. 

That’s what made Sonic x Shadow Generations so appealing. They were finally returning to that template with both a remaster of the original and an all-new time-turning adventure. Instead of two needle mice, Shadow the Hedgehog is put into the spotlight for the first time since the mid-2000s. His previous outings haven’t been nearly as extensive or revered as the bulk of Sonic’s tenure (with the possible exception of Sonic Adventure 2) and yet what we have here isn’t some edgy, angst-driven affair. It’s a continuation of the character, and possibly the best Sonic game in years. 

If there’s one thing I’ve wanted from the Sonic series, it’s exactly this — more Generations. ‘The Shadow’ half of this experience isn’t just worthy of that subtitle; it eclipses it to become a new high point in stage design for the series. From the first grind on the Space Colony ARK to the end credits roll, I was continually impressed by what Shadow Generations threw at me in its core stages.

 

 

Some of this is just understanding the assignment from the first time, but a lot of the strength actually does come down to Shadow’s capabilities when compared to Sonic’s. While they’ve been indistinguishable in the past, Sega saw fit to lean into the faker’s potential in strong ways. The biggest and most present addition is Chaos Control. On the surface it’s a time stop, letting you pause enemies and stage elements to give yourself an easier time. It’s when you realize that you can access unique routes and freeze the in-game timer that the true potential of it shines through. 

The other edge is his Doom Powers. These all expand on Shadow’s skill set in ways that seem, initially, to be best suited to traversal of his White Space open zone hub world. Often they’re the key to shortcuts and more rewarding routes, particularly Doom Blast (where Shadow whales on specific enemies before kicking them skyward and using them as a warp point) and Doom Morph (which I’ll get to in a minute). These generally uplift the boss fights in Shadow Generations as well, making them more dynamic affairs than Sonic’s “wait for your chance to homing attack” affairs. 

 

 

They aren’t universally great though. Doom Surf’s utilization in stages is fairly minimal, and controlling it in White Space can get particularly frustrating when you need to turn around or maneuver carefully. And then there’s Doom Morph. Turning Shadow into a squid makes an impression visually, but its wall crawling/grabbling mechanics can get frustrating. Some of that is legitimate “gotta get used to it” reasons, but it’s glaring that the game doesn’t teach you one of its essential elements (that you can shoot “through” grapple points with a second button push). 

Even that’s not enough to weigh down the core of this. The return of challenge stages (the original Sonic Generations’ “gates”) doesn’t weigh this down due to them being more rooted in Shadow’s skills vs. one off gimmicks. There’s a smaller number of them as well, though as a result they all technically become mandatory eventually. 

I also feel it worth mentioning that there’s one aspect of Shadow Generations that can’t really be remedied even with smart design and dedicated throwbacks to past games. Sonic Generations was built around recreating iconic stage elements and set pieces, a true best of for the franchise. Shadow’s campaign doesn’t have nearly as many of those “I remember that” moments. They are there, but I don’t know too many fans that would call Sonic Heroes’ Rail Canyon “iconic” the same way City Escape is. 

 

 

That observation out of the way, I have to give credit where credit is due. Despite Sonic 06 being the eternal punching bag for the series, its Kingdom Valley stage managed to be a huge standout within Shadow Generations’ lineup, giving that game another opportunity to get it right. The frequent intrusions from Sonic Adventure 2’s Radical Highway are also welcome, being the closest thing Shadow has to his own Green Hill Zone while also getting enhanced by surreal effects and more abstract traversal. 

While the stages feel like the next natural step for the Generations/Boost “style,” it’s the hub that gets the biggest improvement. Sonic Generations’ was a 2D progression of platforms and gateways. It worked at the time and gave the game a way to really showcase the collection of games influencing things there. Shadow Generations instead takes from Sonic Frontiers’ playbook and gives us an open playground to boost and Doom through, leaning harder into the ideas of the previous White Space while giving a handful of other, optional challenges and collectibles. 

One note on that front — the “robot part” collection side quest, where Shadow has to track down 80 scattered nuts and bolts, ends up more of a chore than anything. Unlike pretty much everything else in the game, there’s no adequate way to “track” which you’ve already gotten or where the remaining ones might be. It leads to the inevitable “guess I’ll just roam around everywhere again” moment around the 60 mark while also having a really lackluster payoff relative to the amount of effort. 

 

 

As one final criticism here I should mention that Shadow Generations is fairly brief. My first full run ended at around the five hour mark. With exploration, optional challenges, and completion in mind that can get bumped up to around eight or nine. That’s largely on par with my first run of Sonic Generations back in the day, but at six total stage themes having two acts each, plus a few boss fights and the smaller challenges, it’s definitely a short time — but a great one.   

Half of this package is a retread of what ranks among the best Sonic games ever made. Despite being nearly 15 years old now, Sonic Generations still holds up well on its own merits, specifically its core 18 acts. Sega has revisited its style of boost-based platforming a few times, yet no game since has managed to strike the perfect balance of thoughtful zone design and tight control over the high-speed hedgehog. 

I’d argue Generations is at its best in the Modern stages matching that description, with the Classic half lacking the timelessness of the Genesis titles and Mania’s own throwback to them. There are some great moments, but they haven’t aged as well as their faster counterparts. Some measure of that success comes from this being a “Greatest Hits” package, revisiting acts and ideas from nine other Sonic games. If you’ve appreciated the highs and lows of the franchise, there’s an inherent appeal to a game that celebrates that history while being pretty darn fun to play. 

 

 

A younger me ate this one up on PlayStation 3, rolling through its entirety in a single sitting. Count that as praise towards the game’s ability to hone in on the essence of everything blue and blurry that came before and a knock against its brevity. Still, I’ll take a collection of acts ranging from solid to excellent versus a more erratic affair unnecessarily drawn out.

Speaking of unnecessarily drawn out, there are a few low points to this package. I’ll sing praises to the core stages plenty, but the additional “challenges” that come along with them are nowhere near as tight. I don’t mean finding red star rings or (new to this version) lost Chao either — I’m talking “bounce a music note back and forth with Vector the Crocodile” and “stomp through a bunch of boxes.” Some of the boss fights can be a chore as well, with the final encounter deserving special mention for its tedium.

Still, the good outweighs the bad here. The main oddities come down less to the gameplay experience and more the rough edges in the remastering process. Lives have been removed, which is definitely welcome, but their presence in the game wasn’t erased. You can still buy them from the in-game skill shop, and you can’t grab an S rank unless you manage to clear without losing a life. That last point is fine, but it creates some odd moments where you might die at the start of a run (maybe you miss the jump for Chemical Plant’s alternate opening route) and have to pause and restart rather than carry on with your attempt to “reset” the run. 

 

 

The other sticking point (and maybe this won’t be an issue for new players) is in the redubbed story cutscenes. There have been some changes to dialogue for the sake of broader consistency, awareness of elements the original Generations neglected (Sonic would be familiar with time travel thanks to Sonic CD, wouldn’t he?) or seemingly just because. That’s all fine. What became distracting was how the characters’ mouths didn’t line up with the new lines, or delivery occasionally fell flat compared to the original. That could be a matter of taste more than anything, but I’d still count it among the rerun’s stumbles.

Sonic x Shadow Generations manages to succeed just like the original release did back in 2011. I’d have loved to see even more of this, like a Generations treatment for Mania’s Studiopolis, to keep the time bending tribute theme going. Without additions of their own, the Sonic half can feel less fully realized or comprehensive than Shadow’s, but there’s no denying the breadth of quality and reverence for the sources on display. 

While Sonic’s adventure embraces set pieces and iconic visuals, Shadow’s frames its excellent stages with an examination of the character. Unlike the Blue Blur, he’s been allowed to grow and have a continuous arc, and Generations stands more as a tribute to that story than to where he’s been or how he ran through it. It’s something that Sonic inherently can’t do, being a relatively static character, and it’s great that Sega was able to recognize the main distinguishing strength of his rival. It’s not some masterclass in storytelling, but it is the perfect tribute to the Ultimate Lifeform. 

 

Leave a Comment