Sonic X Shadow Generations Review

Sonic the Hedgehog is in a strange place. On the one hand it’s arguably more successful now than it’s ever been. With a successful movie series that is releasing its third entry later this year and the game series still selling well, it’s still going strong as a series.

On the other hand, those games aren’t exactly killing it like they used to. It’s almost a crapshoot over whether a Sonic game will be good or not. But that wasn’t always the case. Only a few years ago things were looking promising for the series.

For a good time, Sega struggled with Sonic in 3D. The Adventure games were generally well received when they came out and are still beloved by fans, but they haven’t aged the best, and retrospective reviews have been a bit harsher towards them.

The 3D games that came after those also seemed to get worse and worse. Culminating in the utter disaster that was Sonic the Hedgehog 2006; a game so terrible it permanently scarred the series reputation.

After that, Sega course corrected. With the next game, Sonic Unleashed, they would introduce the boost formula that had previously been successful with the handheld Sonic Rush titles.

While Unleashed received mixed reviews, mainly due to the tacked-on combat sections, the boost gameplay was widely praised. It was the fastest Sonic had felt and was immediately satisfying while still having a learning curve to master. Plus, it was just fun as hell.

Sonic Colours would continue to refine that formula, and while more people are split on it these days it’s still generally considered a good game. With most of its modern criticism coming more from the tone and writing more so than the actual gameplay.

They had found a new formula that worked for them and would continue to refine it even further with Sonic Generations. Which is considered by many to be one of Sonics best games, as well as the best 3D game.

Originally released in 2011 for Sonic’s 20th anniversary (which was 13 years ago now, good God I feel old) Sonic Generations was a celebration of all things Sonic. Acting as a crossover between the Classic Sonic from the Mega Drive and the Modern Sonic of today, it featured both the boost style gameplay and classic 2D platforming on the original Mega Drive games.

It was a great game that showed that the boost formula was the new way forward for the franchise. Then they abandoned the formula entirely for Lost World and it sucked, went in a radically new direction with Sonic Boom which really sucked, and went back to the formula with Forces only then to find a way to make it suck.

Yeah, things post Generations have been a mixed bag to put it nicely. Mania was fantastic, but everything else ranged from mediocre to outright shit. So I guess now is as good a time a time as any to re-release it and show people that 3D Sonic can still be really good.

But there’s another reason they’re remastering Generations. The third Sonic movie is set to release later this year, and it’s going to feature Shadow the Hedgehog as a prominent character; voiced by Keanu Reeves too which is awesome.

So, to tie into the movie, this remaster features an entire second campaign focused on Shadow. I was already interested in a Generations remaster given I love the game, but this new Shadow content was what really intrigued me.

I’ve always liked Shadow ever since I first saw him in Sonic Adventure 2. He was a dark opposite of Sonic, featuring that same attitude but with a darker backstory that made him a bit more interesting, and he made for a great rival character. He was like the Vegeta to Sonics Goku; he was awesome.

Sadly, Shadow kind of became a joke in subsequent appearances. They upped his edginess a lot to the point where it became almost a parody of itself. Even in his own spin off game which… I’m just going to show you the cover for that.

Look at that cover. It’s like the entire edgy phase of the early 2000’s videogame scene distilled into a single image. This idea of Shadow being an utter edge lord started here, and it has never gone away since.

When I saw Sonic X Shadow Generations, I was hoping they would bring back a lot of what made Shadow so endearing in the first place. I mean they fixed Knuckles with the second movie so there’s no reason they couldn’t do the same with Shadow.

Sonic X Shadow Generations is essentially two games in one. You get a full remaster of Generations with the new Shadow story acting as an entirely new game. It’s very similar to how the Super Mario 3D World + Bowsers Fury pack handled things.

So, like I did when I reviewed that, I’ll split this review into two parts. First we’ll cover the Sonic Generations Remaster to see how it holds up, and then we’ll look at Shadow Generations and try to determine if it warrants double dipping for people who own the original game.

Fair warning, this is going to be a longer review since I’m going to be doing two reviews in one. If you want to skip ahead to the Shadow Generations part, since I think most will be more interested in that, you can go right ahead.

I’ll have a summary at the end if you want the short version of what I thought about the remaster. But I would be remiss if I didn’t cover that first, so let’s not beat around the bush any longer and jump straight into this.

Sonic Generations

Even after all these years Sonic Generations still ranks as one of the best Sonic games. From its fan service to its excellent mix of old and new gameplay styles, to it’s fantastic level design and music, Sonic Generations is just as good now as it was back then.

If anything, it’s better. Considering we’ve now seen games like Forces completely screw up the formula. It only makes Sonic Generations shine brighter for everything it did get right.

That said, it isn’t perfect. It always had its issues, and this remaster doesn’t do a lot to fix any of them. The biggest one being the story or lack thereof.

The premise of the game is it’s Sonic’s birthday and all his friends have gathered for a party. But before they can cut the cake a giant time eating monster shows up and sucks everyone into strange portals into a timeless void called White Space.

So now Sonic has to travel through time with his past self to save all his friends, and Charmy, and stop the Time Eater from destroying the timeline. There really isn’t much to the story beyond that. It’s little more than a device to explain why you’re going through these past stages.

Which is perfectly fine. This isn’t a story heavy game to begin with, it’s all about the gameplay and the nostalgia of seeing past stages again. And considering how bad the writing was for Sonic during this time, that’s more of a blessing than a curse.

So, why did they rewrite it? For some reason they decided to rewrite and re-record the entire game. I can understand the latter due to the changes made to the voice cast, but why rewrite the script?

You could argue it was to expand on the story, except no, that’s not what they do. The only things changed of any substance were references to past games now being there, Sonic now having an actual dialogue whenever a friend is rescued, and changes to certain dialogue to better match the modern characterisations of the cast.

None of these are bad changes, but nor are they good. They’re just sort of there; neither enhancing nor detracting from the overall experience. They don’t even change any of the animations which makes some changes a bit awkward.

They changed Knuckles dialogue with Classic Sonic, so he doesn’t call him chubby but keep Classic Sonic rubbing his belly after. Despite there being no reason for it. You can tell the writers weren’t given a lot of freedom with this.

The changes just come off as pointless. I know the writers are different, and there are changes made that do show how the new writers understand the franchise more, but it doesn’t do much to change how little story there is.

But it is what it is. If you want a Sonic game with a story, go play the Adventure games. This is a game that is purely about the gameplay and nothing more. And on those terms Generation still rules.

Firstly, the game looks excellent. By this point Sega had cracked the code on making Sonic stages look as good as they could in 3D. The level of detail in the backgrounds are superb, giving a good sense of scale to the levels despite the limitations in the gameplay.

But with Generations being comprised of classic stages from past Sonic titles, this meant we got to see old stages done in this new graphical style. To say the visual upgrade is substantial would be an understatement; these stages look fantastic.

Green Hill and Chemical Plant have never looked more detailed than they have here, and levels like Crisis City, Sky Sanctuary, and Planet Wisp all received visual upgrades that help better sell the theme the stages were going.

But despite the graphical overhaul they still retain a lot of their original visual identity. The Mega Drive era levels still have that natural/surrealist vibe they had previously. The 3D stages contain a lot of the visual iconography associated with them. In short, they still look like the levels you know, they just got a massive visual upgrade.

The animations are great too. The cutscenes aren’t much to write home about, but the characters are still very expressive and have a lot of personality in their animations during gameplay.

Sonic has some great end level animations that get more elaborate the higher the rank you get. Sonic as a character is supposed to have a lot of personality and they definitely captured that here.

Then there’s the soundtrack. Sonic is usually pretty good when it comes to music; with rare exceptions the soundtracks are absolute bangers. So, when you take a bunch of classic Sonic stages that means you’re also going to get some iconic tunes to go along with them.

Each stage has two remixes for each act. One for Classic Sonic and the other for Modern Sonic. These remixes stay true to the original songs but has their own flavour that makes them distinct.

Although with the Mega Drive levels they just rip the original songs for Classic Sonic. Not that I mind this since the original songs are awesome, they just sound out of place when played with the new graphics.

I’m surprised that they didn’t do that for the whole game, give Classic Sonic the original track and Modern Sonic the remix. It would have at least been consistent.

But I’m glad they didn’t because the remixes are all excellent. Each fits the Classic and Modern versions of the levels perfectly with each being catchy as all hell. I think the Modern Sonic remixes sound better overall, but both sets are great so it’s all a matter of preference.

Even the music outside the levels like the menu themes are great. There are also some remixes exclusive to the side challenges that I love. Those are all based on some of the more obscure songs from one of the Sonic spin-off games. It’s always nice to see those get represented.

And that’s not enough there’s even a collection of songs from past games you can listen to, including some of the vocal tracks which are always a highlight for me. Sonic Generations is filled to the brim with fan service and the music selection is one of the best examples of that.

The sound effects are also spot on, even getting the classic ones down perfectly, and the voice acting is decent. The re-recordings do sound a little off in places, but it’s generally pretty good.

In terms of presentation there isn’t a lot to complain about. It both looks and sounds great; the only major flaw I can think of being the weak looking cutscenes and that has more to do with the lack of story than visual fidelity. Everything else is fantastic. But as great as the presentation is, the gameplay is even better.

Sonic Generations was the third game in the series that used the boost formula. Following Unleashed and Colours, though Its structure is more akin to Colours in that it has no overworld and is just a selection of levels.

There is a hub, but it’s a simple 2D space that lets you access the various levels and side challenges. You won’t find anything like Unleashed or Adventure styled hub worlds with secrets to find, or anything like Frontiers massive open zones.

Considering the conceit of the game is going back to previous zones from past games, this works perfectly fine. It gets you into the main draw quickly with no faffing about in between. Just get to the level you want and you’re golden.

The game splits these levels into three distinct sections; each representing a different era of Sonic. You start out with the classic era with levels based on games from the Mega Drive, the Dreamcast era featuring levels from the Adventure games and Heroes (despite that not being a Dreamcast game but eh it’s close enough), and the modern era featuring levels from the most recent Sonic games at the time.

Each section has three zones each with two acts, so that’s about eighteen levels total. I know that doesn’t sound like a lot, and it isn’t. If you’re just looking to get through the levels the game is incredibly short.

But here’s the thing, Sonic games on average aren’t very long. Even the Adventure games clock in under ten hours if you just focus on the story, and those consist of multiple campaigns. Hell, remove a lot of the filler and Adventure 1 is probably only 6 hours, and that’s being generous.

Sonic games longevity comes from their replayability. The series is all about trying to beat the levels as fast as possible, but doing so requires you to learn the levels to find the fastest routes through them.

Thing is, it isn’t easy finding those faster routes as they’re usually found in very tricky locations. Requiring a lot of skill and memorisation of the levels to reach. For as easy as Sonic is to pick up and play there is a learning curve to them.

Which is why every good Sonic game rewards you for exploring the levels. Sonic levels are designed with branching pathways to reach the goal, with each routes having it’s own sets of hidden secrets to find.

Sonic Generations is no exceptions. Every level has plenty of different routes to uncover that not only change how you approach them but also contain hidden collectables. Either rings, extra lives, or a Red Ring.

The latter of which is a rare collectible that unlocks some fun bonuses like artwork or music. There’s five hidden in each level and they’ll take you a few tries to get them all. Either because they’re easy to miss or because they’re across different routes.

It depends on the level though, for example in Crisis City Act 2 I got all the Red Rings on my second run simply because I missed one at the very end, while Sky Sanctuary Act 1 has 3 at the end but they’re locked behind different routes; meaning you’ll have to replay that level at least three times to get them all.

I know that sounds annoying but going through the alternate routes does feel like a different experience. One thing I appreciate about Sonic games is that you always find something new when you back to them. Going through the different routes can make the levels feel, well, like a completely different level. It’s one of the reasons the replay value is so high.

Aside from the Red Rings, there is one other collectible in the form of the Chao. These are a new addition to the remaster, with three hidden in each act. They unlock anything, they’re simply there as an extra thing to go for.

That’s fine I guess; it gives you another reason to replay the levels, and it’s nice to see the Chao back again. Now if only we can get the damn Chao Garden back. Seriously Sega, you’re sitting on a gold mine with that. You could make an entire game on the Chao Garden alone. Get on it.

As for the level design itself, it’s great across the board. With every level being from a past Sonic game they did a good job of representing what made each level so memorable across both acts.

For example, one of my personal favourite Sonic levels is City Escape from Sonic Adventure 2, which is in Generations as the representation of that game. Act 2, the modern Sonic version, is a pretty good recreation of the original level, featuring a lot of the same set pieces.

However, those set pieces are expanded on in interesting ways. The opening segment where you’re boarding down the city streets now has a lot more areas to reach. In the original it was just a fun opening set piece that had a few ramps to jump off and cars to ram through. Here the ramps allow you to reach grind rails on electrical wires that can take you to the rooftops.

Then there’s the final chase with the truck. It was a cool set piece in the original, but it’s much more chaotic here. Not only is it longer but you also run sideways across buildings, and the truck now has buzz saws you need to avoid. Both set pieces are a lot more energetic which fits the faster pace of the boost formula.

In Act 1, the Classic Sonic version, both are built into the entirety of the level. The skating section is now a power up you can pick up (which is based on a power up that was cut from the Mega Drive games) and the truck that chased you at the end now chases you throughout the entire level. It’s insane how much this truck wants you dead. It’s like the movie Duel.

Both Acts take the set-pieces and ideas of the originals and remixes them in logical ways to fit both styles of the gameplay. Every level does this and as a fan who has experienced most of these before it was fun seeing them reworked in a new yet familiar way.

There are levels that are so close to the originals you’d swear they were pulled directly from them. The Classic Sonic levels from the Mega Drive era are pretty close to the originals, same goes for the Modern Sonic stages for Rooftop Run and Planet Wisp.

None of these are exact copies, but they are very similar. I guess that’s inevitable considering the styles these levels were from. Though they do at least add a few new things in to make them a little different.

The level selection is solid. These feel like the best selections for each game, though there are obviously a lot of alternative picks that I would have liked to see.

I love Chemical Plant Zone, and it is one of the more memorable stage from Sonic 2, but I also think Casino Night Zone would have been a great choice too. Although it was included as a pinball table if you pre-ordered the game, which the remaster includes for everyone, so at least it’s here in some way.

Speed Highway is a great choice for Sonic Adventure, but there’s also three other city-based levels in the game already. It would have been nice to see something like Windy Valley or Twinkle Park to add some variety.

And I like Seaside Hill, and I think Sega does too considering how much they use it but Hang Castle and Mystic Mansion would have been a lot more interesting. They’re Halloween based stages, there’s a lot you could do with them.

Everything else I can’t argue against. Green Hill, Sky Sanctuary, City Escape, Crisis City, Rooftop Run and Planet Wisp are all perfect picks that represent some of the most memorable stages in Sonics history. Even the ones I argued against aren’t bad picks in the slightest.

There’s always going to be arguments about which levels they could have gone with; in a game like this it’s impossible to please everyone, but I think we can all agree that the levels we did get are pretty great. With one exception.

I like pretty much all the levels except for Planet Wisp. That’s the one level they dropped the ball on, for both acts. They’re way too long for a Sonic level, the Wisp gimmick is not as interesting as the original, and there’s a little too much slow platforming that don’t fit a Sonic game.

It’s a shame that the final level is a bust, because everyone up to that point was great. Some of the finest we’ve seen in the series. Then again, it’s not uncommon for Sonic games to leave the worst stages for last. Remember Metropolis Zone? Pretty sure everyone got PTSD with that one.

So, they got the level design down, but what about the actual moment to moment gameplay. You know the controls and the overall feel. Those are vital to get right in a Sonic game.

Both gameplay styles handle pretty damn well. Classic Sonic is very close to how he handled in the original Mega Drive games. It’s not quite one to one, but it’s close enough that most people probably won’t know the difference.

Classic Sonic’s move-set is kept to a minimum; only having his jump and the spin dash. No instashield which is a little disappointing, but the remaster does include the drop dash from Sonic Mania. I love how that’s become standard for Classic Sonic now.

Though strangely it’s locked behind Generations Skill System. This lets you equip different skills on the different Sonics that affect their abilities, with each skill having a cost. You only have 100 skill points, so you have to think about what combination of skills you want.

On the surface I do like this system. The abilities themselves can be very useful, and the cost of each is balanced so you can’t become too overpowered. On the other hand, a lot of these skills feel like something that should just be in the game by default.

The shields are now just a skill when previously they were a power-up you could just get in the level. It’s great seeing the elemental shields return and their unique moves, but why lock them behind this system. Especially since they’re already treat as power-ups in the challenges you unlock them in.

Maybe they felt they would make the game a bit too easy, which is somewhat true since the levels aren’t designed around them, but if that’s the case then why not just make them rare. Or just hide them in more hidden locations. I don’t know but there’s got to be a more elegant way of handling this.

Modern Sonic doesn’t really have this issue. Most of his skills are just buffs to his already existing abilities. The reason being that Modern Sonic has a lot of moves to begin with.

Modern Sonic boost gameplay is easily the most refined it’s ever been. While Sonic Unleashed felt a bit too stiff, and Colours too loose, Sonic Generations is just right. Not perfect, precision platforming can be somewhat awkward in the 3D sections, but that feeling of blasting through everything at high speed at a moment’s notice is still immensely satisfying.

Modern Sonic also has a ton of different moves. Boosting, the homing attack, stomping, wall jumping, sliding, all the moves he had in the boost games up to that point basically. A lot more than Classic Sonic, but that doesn’t make it more complex.

Most of these moves are fairly situational and it doesn’t take long to learn them all. Sonic from the outset was designed with a one button set-up, it’s supposed to be extremely easy to pick up and play.

Really the only complicated thing about Modern Sonic’s gameplay is reacting to what comes next. Because you’re moving so fast in Modern Sonic’s stages nearly all the time, you’ll need to learn to react to what comes next to avoid damage, or reach an alternate route.

Modern Sonic is all about the boost after all. It’s less focused on building momentum and more about going fast as much as possible. Of course, when learning the levels you’ll want to boost less so you can learn the layout. Once you do you’ll be able to boost with more frequency.

Classic Sonic is all about the momentum though. With him it’s less about going fast all the time and more about learning to build speed up and maintain it. Granted the spin dash negates this somewhat by being a bit overpowered, but the general idea still stands.

I think both gameplay styles are handled very well. Classic Sonic harkens back to the originals with a good approximation of their feel, and Modern Sonic’s gameplay remains the best take on the formula.

Neither are perfect though. Besides the clunky skill system there’s also a few hitches with the physics and collision detection that can cause some minor frustration. Nothing to ruin the game, but they can leave you scratching your head wondering what just happened.

But the gameplay is solid. It still is one of the best Sonic games to play purely on its gameplay and level design strengths. As an overall package though I do have a few gripes.

For one, the game is a bit too easy. While trying to get all the collectibles is a decent challenge, beating the levels isn’t all that difficult. The platforming isn’t too demanding, enemies and obstacles pose little threat, outside of getting careless or a few sections that screw you over (looking at you fire tornado in Crisis City Act 1) it’s really not that hard a game.

Even getting the S ranks wasn’t too difficult. I was getting them without even trying half the time. All you need is to get an A rank, which isn’t too hard, and beat the level without dying. This is one of the easiest Sonic games to get the best ranks in. It makes getting the A rank Sonic Adventure 2 look like Dark Souls in comparison.

Another issue is the bosses are a bit of a mixed bag. There’s seven of these in total, with a rival fight and a main boss fight to represent each era. What’s cool about this is that the main bosses are one of the final bosses from the games, makes sense since you want the big bads to get some representation.

Some of these fights are great. Perfect Chaos and Silver being the highlights for me. Silvers was especially good considering what a big upgrade it was from his fight in Sonic 06. Granted that’s not saying much, but it is a major glow up nonetheless.

And Perfect Chaos is a fantastic recreation of his Adventure fight. Without Super Sonic they have to get creative with how you reach him, and it leads to a really fun platforming challenge of a boss. Also, that Open Your Heart remix is an absolute banger.

Everything else is only just ok. Egg Dragoon is fun but way too long, Shadow is a good take on his original fight but it’s over too quickly, and Metal Sonic and Death Egg Robot are just a bit too easy so a lot of the intensity you want from a boss fight is lost. Although I like that Metal Sonic is here just to get some Sonic CD representation.

And the final boss against the Time Eater is just awful. One of the worst final bosses in Sonic history. The controls are incredibly awkward making it hard to move, and trying to hit him is more of a test of patience than a test of skill. Why do the final Super Sonic fights nearly always suck now. I used to be excited for them, now I dread they might have one.

But my big issue is with how much padding there is. Outside of the main levels, there’s sixty challenge levels for each of the zones; ten for each split across the two hedgehogs.

The missions themselves are fine. None of them are especially bad, except the Vector fight, and some of them incorporate Sonics friends in some fun ways, except the Vector fight. But even at their best they come across as unnecessary and a lot of them are repeated.

The most egregious example are the races. Every level has a mission where you race a Sonic doppelganger which is basically just a glorified time trial. These aren’t bad, I mean the levels are great and I don’t mind playing them again, but they don’t serve a purpose. I technically already do a time trial for the S rank, so why have me do them again?

It’s just padding for the sake of it. Sega still struggle with getting longevity out of Sonic, look at how bloated Frontiers was for god’s sake, but there’s got to be a more elegant solution then putting in a bunch of unnecessary side missions.

Now fortunately these are optional, mostly. You only have to do one for each zone to get a key to reach that area’s boss, but you’re free to choose which of them you do. You can just tackle a short easy one and be on your way.

You do get a reward for doing them. You get some concept artwork and extra music. Nothing important, but a nice little reward for those willing to put the time into them. So while unnecessary they’re ultimately harmless. A fun distraction if nothing else.

I don’t have many complaints with Sonic Generations. It’s still a tightly designed Sonic game with great level design that pays tribute to past adventures while also showcasing what Sonic is still capable of. It looks great, plays great, and has an awesome soundtrack. Outside of a lame story and the end game being kind of a drop off there isn’t a lot to dislike about it.

I think what draws me into Generations though is just what a celebration of Sonic it ends up being. It pays tribute to all of Sonics past games, if not through the levels then through the different music you can unlock. Nearly every Sonic game gets some representation here, even the ones that aren’t so good like Shadow the Hedgehog or 06 get some kind of call back.

And why shouldn’t they. Sonic is a series of many highs and lows. There are some truly great games in the series but also some utter trash and both are important to the series identity. When looking back on a series it’s important to look at the bad as well as the good because it makes the good shine brighter, and as Generations showed you can still get good things out of them.

So as anniversary games go, this is one of, if not the best. It’s a great tribute to Sonic as a franchise that any fan of the blue blur should love. Whether you’re a new fan or a diehard Classic Sonic fan, Sonic Generations is a game that is still worth checking out.

So the remaster part of the collection still holds up, but now let’s look at the other side of this package.

Shadow Generations

Shadow Generations is the best Sonic game in years. Yeah, I’m just coming right out of the gate with this one. Shadow Generations is not only a worthy add on to Generations, but it might also be better than it.

The story takes place parallel to the events of Sonic Generations and details what Shadow was up to behind the scenes of that game. Turns out he was busy in a different part of White Space dealing with another threat; Black Doom the alien creature he was created from.

Despite being destroyed in Shadow’s last solo outing he’s returned and now plans to use the space time rift to rebuild his forces and try to conquer the world once more. Shadow also starts unlocking powers from his alien DNA, and even encounters Gerald and Maria who have also gotten caught up in this whole thing.

Like with the main game, Shadow Generations doesn’t have much of a story. It’s a straightforward plot and doesn’t have a lot of interesting twists, but it still winds up being a far, far better story than what Sonic got.

For one it actually feels like it has a story. It has character moments, things develop, and it has events that affect what is going on. While Sonic Generations story was little more than an excuse to explain why we were going through old levels, Shadow Generations story attempts to expand on and even give some closure to Shadow’s character arc.

In a lot of ways this is the game that Shadow the Hedgehog, the game not the character, should have been. That game also attempted to bring Shadow’s story to a satisfying conclusion but introduced so many weird ret cons and was such a structural mess that it satisfied no one.

But Shadow Generations does provide a satisfying conclusion. And it does so by embracing everything that makes Shadow who he is, even some of the weirder stuff. I never thought I’d ever see Black Doom again but he’s here and it makes sense.

They could have just as easily come up with a new bad guy, or just use a variation of the Time Eater but they didn’t. They knew this was Shadow’s story and needed to use the villain most connected to him.

Instead of ignoring the alien thing, which to be fair is what a lot of the fans do, they embraced it and found a way to make it work. Black Doom is a much more effective villain here. Before he looked like a bumbling idiot who tried to look like he was in control of everything but kept making the dumbest decisions.

Here he does feel like he’s in control. He’s much more intelligent and calculating and feels like a genuine threat. I’m still not that fussed on the character, and his design doesn’t fit the series that well (though given he’s an alien that could be intentional), but he’s a much better foe now.

Even Shadow’s new powers are a cool extension on his weird alien origins. That was such a bizarre addition to his story, but they built on it in a cool way. Expanding not only the lore but also the gameplay too.

I hate it when series will just abandon plot lines and ideas simply because of criticism. To me it comes off as lazy, a cheap cop-out to gain some kind of good will. It’s like how Scrappy Doo is mocked in Scooby Doo now; yeah, it’s easy to do because of how hated he is, but that’s the problem it’s too easy to do.

I find the sequels that work with those elements and try to get something good out of them to be more interesting. Don’t abandon lore because people hate it, look at it, see what works about it and build on it; use it to tell a more satisfying story. That’s what Shadow Generations did and it’s much better for it.

It also has a lot of emotional moments between Shadow, Gerald and Maria. Those two were always at the heart of his story but this is the first time we actually see them interact with one another, at least outside of flashbacks.

This is great as a long-time fan, but even if you’re new to the series the scenes are written and acted so well that the emotional resonance still carries over. The ending in particular was very emotional, it got me choked up I’m a little embarrassed to say.

Gerald and Maria aren’t the only characters Shadow interact with. There are a few other characters he can talk to. There’s also Rouge and Omega which make sense since those are his teammates in a few games, but also Orbot and Cubot, and Big the Cat.

That last one is a bit of a wild card pick. On the one hand it is weird since he has no prior connection to Shadow’s story, but on the other hand this is the first time we’ve seen Shadow and Big interact. There is some novelty to that.

Honestly though I think they just wanted to include characters that weren’t included in the original Generations. Now it feels like everyone got included, well everyone that matters anyway.

Some of these interactions also lead to some interesting and fun lore details. For example, this game confirms that all Big's cameos in Adventure 2 are canon; they weren’t just weird random appearances they were him going on his own adventure. That’s kind of hilarious, I want to see that game now. Make it part of the Adventure 2 remaster when that eventually happens. I see you delisting it Sega I know what you’re planning.

There’s a lot of little lore details like that here, and one thing I appreciate about this game is how it attempts to unclutter the Sonic lore. it tries to explain things that weren’t previously and make things somewhat coherent.

I love Sonic but the lore is a mess. Seeing this and Frontiers try to address this issue and bringing some sense of continuity back is one of the best developments the series has seen. I guess that’s what happens when you hire people who care about the franchise to manage this kind of thing.

So, despite how simple it is I wound up really enjoying the story. There isn’t a whole lot of it, there’s not many cutscenes and the some of the more interesting details are told in optional dialogue or hidden lore notes, but they use what little time they had effectively and the results are compelling.

I think a big reason for that isn’t just the writing but also the presentation. The in-game presentation is great. It looks about on par with Sonic Generations if not a little better, and features fidelity and performance modes if you want better graphics or performance. Though given this is a Sonic game I don’t know why you would pick the former over the latter.

But it’s the cutscenes I want to focus on. One of the issues with a lot of Modern Sonic stories is they aren’t presented in a very engaging way. A lot of the cutscenes are little more than characters standing around and talking, which was pretty much how Sonic Generations handled it.

This isn’t necessarily a bad way of telling a story. It can work if the dialogue is well written and engaging. That’s how most RPG’s get away with it. But for Sonic it really doesn’t work.

Sonic is an energetic character; he’s supposed to be flashy and in your face. When you have characters stand around talking it sucks out all the life and energy from it. I liked the writing in Frontiers, but it was let down by some very boring cutscenes that dampened a lot of appeal the story could have had.

Shadow Generations, in this regard, is a huge step up. While there are still plenty of scenes of characters talking, they have so much more energy to them. The characters move around more, they have a wider range of emotions, they physically interact a lot more, and there’s even little flash backs that show more of what they’re talking about.

It’s more engaging visually which makes it easier to get invested in the story. But that’s not all, there’s also action sequences to add more energy to things. They’re brief, but they are fun to watch and it’s just nice to see some actual action sequences in this action-adventure series again.

The cutscenes in this have a similar vibe to the Adventure games, Unleashed and even 06 to an extent. Not only in the somewhat serious tone for the writing but also in the fun set pieces they have. Even the levels have these brief little story moments that add to the energy of the levels without getting in the way.

This is the first time a Sonic story has been engaging on both a writing and a visual one. Honestly the last time we had this was Unleashed and that was 16 years ago. Yeah you feeling old yet. It’s refreshing to say the least, and I hope it’s a good sign of where Sonic stories can go in the future.

The voice acting is great too. Kirk Thornton is finally given a chance to shine as Shadow and he nails the character perfectly. Nailing his anger and prideful arrogance, but also his caring side when it comes to his friends.

Mike Pollock is also great here as Gerald. It’s nice see him play a character who is a bit more put together. Frontiers already showed the range he has as an actor and I’m glad they’re continuing to let him show that off.

Stephanie Sheh is easily the best Maria, which saying much considering how bad the acting for her in the other games but still. She not only captures the tender side of the character but also her cheerful and upbeat side as well. It creates a bit of a sombre tone considering we all know what happens to her.

Really the only issue with the voice acting isn’t the acting but the sound mixing. They’re mixed too quiet in comparison to the music that makes it hard to make them out. Thankfully the game has subtitles so you don’t miss anything, but you’d think they’d have learned proper sound mixing by now. Especially after how bad it was in Adventure 2.

That said I don’t mind hearing only the music because the soundtrack slaps. Like in Sonic Generations it’s mainly comprised of remixes of past songs, but like there the remixes are great. They all capture the spirit of the original tracks while given them their own unique flavour.

I especially like the track for Chaos Island since it not only keeps the ambience and soothing tone of the original but also has more energy to it to make it match the faster pace. Despite the contradiction it works in a surprisingly perfect way.

The hub world theme is also phenomenal. Mixing motifs from Shadows old themes together in a song that fits the character and makes for a pleasant audio experience when exploring that never gets old.

And of course, there’s What I’m Made Of. One of the greatest boss themes in the series returns here and it’s just as epic as it was in Heroes. What’s funny is the remix isn’t all that different from the original. the vocals are taken directly from the original, and even the music is very similar just with a bit more energy. But hey if it ain’t broke don’t fix it right.

There’s also plenty of unlockable songs to find that can be played in either the sound test or the levels themselves. It’s a strong selection too. It even includes every song from Shadow the Hedgehog, I’m not kidding it’s got that game’s entire soundtrack which is a pretty cool bonus.

The music player goes way harder than it has any right too. Besides what I just mentioned it even includes a whole bunch of the vocal themes across the series, and unlike Generations these are the full renditions. I’ve always had a soft spot for these and having them be available to listen to was a nice treat on top of everything else.

Much like the original Generations, Shadow Generations goes hard on the fan service. On top of the story having several references to past games, including some of Shadow’s most memorable quotes, and all the old stages, it’s got a ton of artwork to unlock.

And because this game is themed around Shadow, all the artwork is from games that feature him in some capacity. It’s even got a ton of concept art from the Shadow the Hedgehog game.

One of my favourite bits in the game is how you read the recaps from Shadows past adventures, which are unlockables for some reason but never mind that, you do this by sitting on Shadows motorcycle. I love how that has recently become Shadows thing recently, even the third movie is doing it.

It’s funny because back in the mid 2000’s it was called cringe, now it’s become sort of endearing. Like it’s ridiculous and a little try hard, but they know it is and they just embrace it for what it is.

That’s what I love Shadow Generations. It embraces everything that makes Shadow who he is. It tones down some of it like getting rid of the guns, but that’s fine. It still revels in a lot of his edginess while also showcasing the true heart of his character. They finally grasped what makes us like the guy again.

Structurally the game is very similar to Sonic Generations. It still has Shadow going through classic stages from past games in both 3D and 2D styled stages. Though since there’s no Classic Shadow the gameplay style doesn’t change all that much. With the 2D stages now feeling closer to Sonic Rush than the Mega Drive games.

To make up for this, the 3D levels no longer have 2D sections. Before the boost formula levels were done with a mix of 3D and 2D sections, but now it’s entirely done in 3D. It helps make the two-level styles feel a bit more distinct.

Though unwittingly, I think doing the levels this way showcases that Sonic works best when it’s either purely 3D or purely 2D. While I like the mix of 3D and 2D in the boost games, it did somewhat limit the level design. Despite those games having branching paths in the levels, the need to have 2D segments always meant they had to bottle neck them.

I know all Sonic games do that, but the best games always disguise that fact. With the boost games it was pretty obvious. By removing the 2D segments it opens up the levels a lot more. These are some of the most open 3D Sonic levels we’ve seen in quite a while. The first level alone had a huge room halfway through that had tons of different ways of getting through it.

It makes the levels super replayable. Much like sonic Generations it makes you want to go back in and find all the alternate routes to try and get the best time. With the only damper to the replay value is that there’s fewer collectables.

There’s only 3 per level, and the lack of lives means there’s no extra lives to find since there’s no life system exploration feels less rewarding. Finding the alternate routes is only useful if you want to get the best time or score in the level. Which is how a lot of Sonic games handle this to be fair, but having some more things to find would help.

Especially since these levels are pretty long, at least by Sonic standards. Most taking around 3-4 minutes to complete and most Sonic levels take around 2-3 minutes to beat if not shorter. Having some more collectables would have helped fill these levels out.

Thankfully the levels never overstay their welcome. Nothing ever gets too long like Planet Wisp, and each has plenty of set pieces and ideas to throw at you. These are some of the best 3D levels the series has had since, well, Sonic Generations.

They all have things that make them distinct, and much like the original Generations they all retain their original set pieces in remixed ways. The first level is a good example of this, it’s based on the Space Colony Ark which wasn’t a stage originally but a theme that was done across multiple stages.

In Shadow Generations they take elements from a lot of them. Act 1 has elements of Crazy Gadget with the anti-gravity wall running, while Act 2 is based more on Final Chase with the anti-gravity cylinders. It’s space there’s not much gravity you know this.

So the levels still resemble the originals, but still feel like their own thing. There’s plenty of big spectacle moments during them that are fun to look at but never become too obtrusive. In short, they’re everything you could want out of a 3D Sonic level.

The 2D levels aren’t quite as good, but they are still very enjoyable. Again, they feel like modern versions of Sonic Rush style levels, minus the two screens. Think the 3DS version of Generations but with better level design.

They still have a lot of high speed action, and they have a faster pace than Classic Sonics stages. I still prefer that style due to the focus on momentum-based platforming, but I have a soft spot for the Rush games to. If you enjoy those games, you’ll definitely enjoy the 2D levels here.

The level design is great, but there’s a lot more to Shadow Generations than just going through throwbacks to classic stages. Well, ok there isn’t that much beyond it, but there is a greatly expanded hub world.

The hub world in Sonic Generations was merely a way to access all the levels, now the hub world is a massive place where you can run around, find collectables and do side activities. There’s a lot of things to do that make it feel like a level in and of itself.

And it’s when you get to the hub world that you realise that Shadow Generations is less a sequel to Sonic Generations and more of a follow up to Frontiers. No really, in a lot of ways this is the follow up to Frontiers.

The White Space hub world is very similar to the islands with all the collectables, a lot of the spectacle Frontiers had is here, and even the way it controls and feels is very similar to Frontiers.

I guess it makes sense since Frontiers is the most recent game in the series. it’s kind of like how Bowser’s Fury took elements from Odyssey while still retaining a lot of 3D World’s identity. I guess my comparison to it before was more apt than I realised.

I wasn’t the biggest fan of Frontiers. While far from awful and showing a lot of potential, it also had a lot of problems that held it back from being a true return to form for the series. No, that honour goes to Shadow Generations because it improves on absolutely everything.

Firstly, it controls significantly better. In Frontiers it felt like I was fighting against the physics, but I never felt that in Shadow Generations. Barring the occasion where I would zoom out into oblivion due to the speed bugging out, which is rare, I always felt like I was in control.

The turning could be a little tighter, and side stepping still felt a little off, though that’s down to the new slide move they added that I only learned about after finishing the game so that’s an oopsie on me, but compared to the dumpster fire that was Frontiers game feel it’s a huge step up.

It’s looser than the original Generations but also a lot less restrictive. It’s the closest the games have felt to the Adventure style controls in recent years. It’s still a boost formula game, but the Adventure influences are apparent when you play.

Like with Frontiers though I don’t think it fully commits to either formula. I like both the boost formula and the Adventure formula, but both are very different. The Adventure formula was much more about momentum, building it up and using it to get through the levels by skipping past chunks of it. While the boost formula was more about blasting through with high speed and focused more on reacting to obstacles.

Both work but require different approaches. The Adventure style needs a different kind of physics engine to work than the boost formula, trying to do both simultaneously results in you compromising both.

But credit where it’s due, Shadow Generations does find a happy middle ground. So, while I do think they should just choose a style and stick with it, if this is how it’s going to be for the foreseeable future then I’m perfectly fine with it.

Shadows move set is largely identical to what Sonic had, though there are new additions exclusive to him. he has access to Chaos Control and Chaos Spear, which are nice to see return and be used in game and not in cutscenes or in the vs mode.

Chaos Spear is a projectile that doesn’t kill enemies but stuns them briefly. You only really need it for enemies you can’t homing attack right away or to hit switches. There’s no projectile combat like in Shadow the Hedgehog, which I’m fine with. That always felt out of place in a Sonic game.

Chaos Control is a lot of fun. Being able to stop time is useful when trying to get a good time on the stage and there’s a lot of fun shortcuts you can find with it like stopping missiles and using them as a platform. You need to build a meter to use it but that’s fine, it would be broken if you could use it all the time.

The rest of Shadow’s move set is tied to his new Doom Abilities. Some of these are just upgrades or additions to existing moves, like the Doom Spear is just Chaos Spear only you can lock on to more targets, and Doom Blast is an add on to the Homing Attack that lets you knock enemies away and teleport to them to reach area’s you can’t normally.

The others are a little more interesting. You have Doom Surf which lets you surf on any water surface, the Doom Morph turns you into a squid that can swim through purple slime and swing on floating slime ball, and the Doom Wings that let you glide through the air for a surprisingly long time though it costs rings to keep it active; making it the closest thing to a Super form in this game.

Of the three the Doom Wing is easily the best one. It breaks the game with how far you can go with it, which is why you don’t get until the very tail end of the game. Doom Surf and Doom Morph are ok but they’re situational and a little slippery to control.

I also have a beef with Doom Morph. You can use it to launch yourself upward through the floating slime balls to reach higher places, which is awesome; the problem is the game doesn’t convey this very well. I didn’t even know you could do that until I did it by accident.

This isn’t an isolated incident. I already mentioned the slide that I knew nothing about, and some of the finer points of the controls aren’t explained that well. They aren’t hard to figure out to be fair, but the tutorials aren’t as concise as they should be.

Regardless I like a lot of the new additions to Shadow’s move-set. The new moves make him feel like his own distinct character and not just a carbon copy of Sonic. Even his teleporting Homing Attack is a little different in a cool way.

The hub world is also a big improvement over the Islands in Frontiers. For one it has actual level design now. It isn’t just a series of haphazardly placed floating platforms and grind rails; it feels like actual effort was put into it. Combine that with much better draw distance and recognisable iconography and it makes navigation so much easier.

The hub itself is also a lot smaller than what we saw in Frontiers. There’s a lot less empty space with a more condensed design. Less ambitious? Perhaps, but I’ll take better design over ambitious design any day.

Exploring is made a lot easier due to these changes, and more rewarding. Though it accomplishes the latter by making all the collectables completely optional. Let me explain.

One of the biggest problems with Frontiers design was it had too many collectables required for progression. You would eventually have so many of them that at some point going for them was entirely pointless. With how interlinked some of them were it made certain parts of the game completely worthless. You could beat the game entirely through the fishing mini game which is funny as hell but not good design.

But in Shadow Generations, not only are the collectables balanced so there’s just the amount you need, but they’re also not required for progression. They’re only for extras like artwork, music, or recaps of past games.

In Frontiers they stopped being rewarding because you had so many they became worthless, here they’re always rewarding because you always get something cool out of them. Sure, them being worthless for progression makes them entirely skippable, but that just means players who want to get into the action right away do just that.

The collectables are there as a bonus for those who want to go for them. I personally love this kind of thing so I 100% the entire game, but I understand if you would want to skip them since it can be annoying trying to get some of these. Especially the rocket parts, those are a pain in the ass.

One thing I like about the collectables is that they kept the interlocking nature of them from Frontier. Only, you know, it’s actually balanced well now. You see the collectables in the hub world are chests, while the ones in the levels are keys you use to unlock the chests. So, you need to find the keys by playing the levels to unlock the chests in the hub.

Admittedly they could have just made the collectables in the levels artwork or something and just have the chests be something you open right away, but I like how it incentivises people who want to explore the hub world to learn the levels to find the keys they need.

This is more of what I want to see out of a Sonic hub. Something that has a decent size and has lots to do but condensed and refined enough that it never feels bloated. If they can take this idea and improve on it, maybe incorporating elements from Adventure and Unleashed you’d have a perfect Sonic hub world.

The last improvement I want to touch on is its use of spectacle. I already touched on this briefly but let me go a little more in depth. Sonic games are known for their spectacle; those big moments where you slide down the bridge in Radical Highway or the truck chase in City Escape or the countless moments where you run through a loop de loop.

These kinds of moments are littered throughout the series. They’re mechanically shallow but visually impressive, mostly it depends on if the game itself looks good or not. Frontiers had it too, mainly in the boss fights.

It had some very visually spectacular bosses. They were big, epic, and had plenty of visual splendour, on top of amazing music, that made them one of the more memorable parts of the game.

But mechanically they were as shallow as a puddle. They didn’t test you on any of the skills you learned, and most were little more than glorified quick time events. So while they were memorable I hesitate to call them good.

No such hesitation exists with Shadow Generations’ bosses because they’re awesome. They still have a lot of visual spectacle but are much more interesting mechanically. Each one offering new ideas that test the skills you used throughout the game. To the point that each boss is centred around the different powers you get throughout the game.

Biolizard is all about using Chaos Control and the Doom Spears, Metal Overlord is all about the Doom Surf, Mephiles is all about the Doom Morph, and the final boss against Devil Doom uses all of them.

Each of these are great boss fights. There isn’t a bad or even middling one, though I will say Mephiles is a little too easy for a late boss. But even that fight was a lot of fun and even explained a plot hole from the original Generations.

My favourite though is easily Metal Overlord. Not only is it great to look at and listen too, again What I’m Made Of is a godlike theme, but it’s also the best use of Doom Surf in the entire game. it’s funny though, the beset boss fights in Generations are the water themed ones. You’d think they’d be the worst but it’s the exact opposite

As far as this being a follow up to Frontiers, this is superb. This is the game Frontiers should have been. A game that pushes the series in a new direction while also retaining the elements people liked about.

And as an add on to Generations, it’s just about perfect. It keeps the same spirit as it with it paying reverence to past titles but goes in its own direction with its focus on Shadow. Both in gameplay and story it can stand on its own as a great Sonic game, the fact it’s an add on is just icing on an already sweet cake.

I only have two problems with it. The first is it has the same padding problem that Sonic Generations had. It still has you needing to do side challenges to progress. It isn’t too bad since they treat these as mini levels with their own collectables, and the challenges themselves are fun on their own.

But they still shouldn’t be mandatory, and you need to do more this time so that makes it worse. Admittedly if they weren’t here the game would be ridiculously short. If you ignore all the side content, then it’s only about 2 hours long.

There’s also a little repetition in the side content. In the late game they add a bunch of new harder challenges that are simple variations of ones you’ve already done. Considering there’s already plenty of side content already it comes off as superfluous. None of it is bad, but none of them add much to the experience other than being another thing to do.

The content of Shadow Generations can be seen as lacking. If you aren’t into doing everything there isn’t much here, and while what here is excellent there’s not a whole lot of it. I guess that’s why the game is sold as part of this remaster rather than being its own game.

The other issue I have is with the selection of levels. The game sticks to levels from games that featured Shadow as a playable character, which makes sense considering it’s all about him and some of the choices make perfect sense.

The Space Colony Ark and Radical Highway from Adventure 2 are must haves given how iconic both are to Shadow, and the fact that their positions are reversed in Generations makes for a fun twist.

Rail Canyon is a great pick from Heroes as it best fits the character, and Kingdom Valley from 06 is probably the only choice they could make as it’s the only level people remember from that game besides Crisis City. Well, fondly remember anyway.

But then you get Sunset Heights from Sonic Forces and Chaos Island from Frontiers. The former makes some sense as Shadow did have a short DLC act in that level, but the latter was from a game that didn’t feature Shadow at all.

I get they wanted to include levels from the most recent games, but they don’t fit the theme of the game and stick out like a sore thumb. It’s especially weird considering there’s no level from Shadow’s first spin off game.

I know the game sucked, but so did 06 and you made gold with the levels from that game. it would have been nice to see a level from it considering a lot of the games story is a follow up to it, and there’s a lot to pick from. I would have loved to have seen a cyberspace level, those were one of the few bright spots in that game.

Still, I can’t find much to fault with Shadow Generations. It’s a short game but it was never billed as anything less. We were told up front that it would be a shorter experience and that’s exactly what we got. And when an experience is this sweet, complaining that it’s short is just me saying I wish there was more of it. Which isn’t a complaint at all.

Conclusion

So what do I think of Sonic X Shadow Generations? It’s fantastic, what more can I say about it. Sonic Generations was already a great game and this is a good version of it with new content and graphical enhancements, and Shadow Generations is a phenomenal add on that does Shadow’s character justice and shows where the series can go.

I will say that there isn’t that much new added to Generations, and while Shadow Generations is great it is still a very short experience. If you were thinking about buying this solely for Shadow Generations I’d say wait for a price drop.

But as a full package it’s worth the asking price. You’re getting two great games in one, and I do think this is the best way to play the original Sonic Generations now. It has a more stable frame rate, and unlike the backwards compatibility version n Xbox the higher frame rate doesn’t screw with the game.

It also runs great on Switch from what I’ve heard. So if you want a handheld version then you can pick it up for that. If you already own a copy on PC I understand hesitating, but if you want it for other platforms it’s absolutely worth it.

There’s also some extra DLC added to the remaster like retro skins for Sonic based on Sonic Jam and Sonic Adventure and a Shadow skin based on one of his original designs. There’s also an upcoming level based on the third Sonic movie, complete with a movie skin for Shadow with Keanu Reeves doing the voice.

At the time of writing I haven’t played it, but just the idea of that is awesome. I hope we see more weird crossovers like that in the future. Image a level based on the old Sonic cartoon with Jaleel White voicing him. The fanbase would explode if that happened.

So, whether you’re new to Generations or looking to play it again I highly recommend it. It’s the definitive version of one of Sonic’s best games, and considering how bad his other remasters could be that’s damned impressive.

Sega recently delisted some Sonic games from the Xbox store and Steam, which leads me to believe that more remasters/remakes are probably due in the future. The director of this game has even said he wants to remake Sonic 06.

Do it! That game sucked it deserves a second chance. Hell do Heroes too while you’re at it, that has areas where it could be improved. What about the Adventure games, I love them to death but they have aged and there’s so much more you can do with them. Maybe Sonic Spinball… ok that’s where we’ll draw the line.