Sonic Generations

Everything about Sonic Generations oozes excellence and while some of the traditional annoyances remain, it is hard to deny the crazy speeds and pure enjoyment Sonic's latest adventures reveal.

Every time I boosted as modern Sonic or sped through an area as classic Sonic, I had a smile on my face. The game is fast, colorful and downright fun. That's the best way to describe it.

It's fun and it's frustrating but at its heart, Sonic Generations is the perfect game for those that players that want something a little different as opposed to the overcrowded first person shooter, sports and racer market.

The music is tight, the game's easy enough that newcomers can quickly get the hang of it, the visuals are downright beautiful, and, overall, I'd say buy this game.

The excellent game Sonic has deserved for years, that although doesn't evolve the gameplay formula, adaptates it better than ever to the 3D, although with some flaws. A game that will make fans smile.

Sonic Generations delivers what fans have been looking for with a successful combination of classic and modern gameplay, both of them polished and highly replayable, making this latest Sonic game the path to follow for future releases.

It feels refreshing to be able to say that Sonic is good again. His upward trajectory over the last year continues and he's only gaining momentum. Sonic Generations is largely a game for the most hardcore of Sonic fans, but for the millions who have fond memories of narrowly dodging spikes, grinding on rails, or even that time he was a pinball, Sonic Generations is a game made for you.

Sonic Generations takes the player on a voyage through 20 years of Sonic history. Pairing 2D-Levels with 3D-Stages Generations offers the best of both worlds and provides fans of the franchise with tons of unlockable art, music and gimmicks. Hands down one of the best Sonic games in the last 10 years.

You won't be disappointed by the changes that have been made to make this a great experience.

It's somewhat short and the boss battles are truly awful, but otherwise Sonic Generations is a solid platformer. Revisiting old levels is nostalgic and having two Sonics to control is a nice touch. [Dec 2011]

Sonic is back again with a successful combination of classic and modern gameplay. One of the best Sonic games in the last few years.

It's a far better game than any of the modern day Sonic titles I've played so far, and the classic Sonic stuff is enough to sell me on the game, even if the modern Sonic side isn't always my cup of tea.

A few hiccups here and there stop Sonic Generations from being a classic, but it's definitely a huge step in the right direction for Sonic Team and Sega, especially considering how cluttered the previous titles were. It's a throwback to the carefree days of Sonic platforming fun, while still packing the kind of modern components that will keep you gazing at the screen in sheer delight.

With tons of unlockable content, you'll most likely play each stage several times.

Sega finally appears to have learned from its mistakes. Sonic Generations' thoughtful mishmash of the hedgehog's distinct incarnations delivers the best of both worlds. Though it's a bit on the short side, the fundamentals are undeniably well executed. Sonic hasn't been this good in years.

While Sonic Generations is far and away the best Sonic game in a long time, there are still enough niggles to put off new players who will not have the same love for the hedgehog and his blend of twitch reflexes and level memorisation. As a standalone title Sonic Generations is a fun, if short-lived, platformer that is great while it lasts, but will probably not captivate you in the same way its forebears did.

For every one thing that works, there is another that feels like it could have been done better. In saying that though, the overall package is one that Sonic fans have been waiting for and the first for a long time. Classic Sonic gameplay is there and it could well be the game that breaks the series' rot.

Sonic Generations is the best game in the series in years.

Sonic Generations proves that two Sonics are way better than one.

A good Sonic game, enteraining and fresh, with great 2D levels and a not so great 3D ones. Suggested to every fan of SEGA's hedgehog.

Sonic Generations is simply the best Sonic title on HD consoles.

If you go into the game expecting a rush of nostalgia backed by solid gameplay you will not be disappointed.

Visually, Sonic Generations is impeccable: bright, colourful and universally appealing. At last, after well over a decade, Sonic has been given a starring vehicle that doesn't make a mockery of his glorious heritage, but instead celebrates it.

A combination of the best of Sonic, Sonic Generations reinvents, while staying true to the myth, and serves the fan well, whatever its generation is. It's an anthology of the musics, the pictures, the bosses, characters and levels we loved the most during those past 20 years of Sonic games, and one that, while not perfect (some gameplay imprecisions do subsist), remains a must-have for the Sonic lovers.

It could do with a few more levels, a bonus stage, more bosses, slightly tighter controls and a load more playtesting.

Fans might have preferred compilation of Sonic's 16-bit greatest hits, but a career-spanning retrospective is what ended up on the track list. And you know what? Against all odds, Sonic Generations feels adequate.

It isn't perfect by any stretch of the imagination, and a couple of levels and challenges see Sonic slipping into some of his bad habits, but largely this is an enjoyable, breezily compelling platformer that captures some of that old magic that made us all fall in love with Sonic 20 years ago.

It's the same recipe as in its predecessors: speed, Sonic and style. Although the handling is not exactly great, there's lot to find in Sonic Generations. Variety, challenges and a nice skill system do Sonic justice.

Easily the best Sonic game since the hog's Sonic 2 glory days. Surprisingly, modern Sonic's levels are the more impressive and fun and, while low-speed control is still clumsy, the wealth of quality action scenes cherry-picked from the past two decades make the overwhelming majority of Sonic Generations an absolute blast.

As positively nostalgic as all of this is, it's not surprising to find that Sonic Generations' emulation of past greats extends to its duration. Despite the fact that there are nine main stages per Sonic, seven bosses and ten side-missions per Zone, it will take an experienced fan just a few hours to blast through to the main ending.

While it's not quite the stunning triumph that many had hoped for, Sonic Generations is a truly great game that provides some of the best Sonic action ever seen and pays fitting tribute to Sonic the Hedgehog -- highlighting both his successes and his failures.

With Sonic Generations, SEGA delivers a decent game. The campaign is very short but well worth your time if you are a Sonic fan. With a little more tweaking, the series will be lifted to new heights.

There's a great deal of game here, which speaks to just how smart Sega is in iterating on a small collection of stages, rather than going the usual route of wasting valuable HD assets on a series of sprawling (and typically unplayable) levels for Sonic to get lost in.

Sonic Generations hits its target well - with the genuinely bruising qualification that it can frequently be difficult to look at.

Our favourite little blue hedgehog's sneakers don't have quite the traction they used to. [Issue#79, p.78]

Sonic Generations is five hours of fun. The gameplay has more excitement than most other games I've played this year, and it sets a template that future Sonic games will hopefully pay attention to-it's just a shame that Sonic Generations, like Sonic himself, goes by very, very fast.

An excellent representation of the best the series has to offer and is sure to make Sonic Fans drool from nostalgia. Sadly, lack of innovation, stagnant problems in the gameplay and quality-inconsistent stages, hinder it from reaching new heights.

It is the best Sonic game we've had in years - though that's hardly saying much. Flawed at times, Sonic Generations is an enjoyable game and one that's easy to like. The failings of Modern Sonic bring the quality down, yet some moments also show what can be done well with a 3D Sonic game.

Not bad. Sonic's 20th birthday comes with a pretty decent platformer.

Quotation forthcoming.

Unfortunately, only a third of the game is dedicated to re-creating Genesis-era stages, and classics like Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and Sonic 3D aren't represented at all. Even worse, the game's beatable in five or six hours, with little incentive to reach 100% completion. Hopefully, Generations can spawn a sequel that fixes these flaws.

While the first half hour of Sonic Generations is jarring, it's really worth sticking with. There's a lot of fan love here, from showdowns with your rivals - Metal, Shadow and Silver - to revisiting some familiar but excellently reworked levels. But it's a scarring shame that the Sonic 1 emulation reminds you how smooth Sonic should be. And he isn't.

A great 20th anniversary gift for Sonic fans and although it can never make up for all the series' low points it at least helps draw a line under them.

The last half of the game serves only to remind you of how far the series has fallen from its original form. I felt smothered by Sonic Team's insistence on shoehorning recent Sonic games, no matter how awful, into the 20-year timeline.

There's good in here, but too much mediocre or just plain bad moments to recommend paying full retail price for the game.

Sonic Generations lets you play as two different Sonics, one from the present and one from the past. The first levels are fantastic, but the level design soon gets dull. The time trials and the music is good though.

Sonic Generations is a great history lesson about the series descent from greatness. It starts off fantastic and the 2d-part is good overall, but the 3d-versions of the tracks are filled with the same problems the series has had in the later half of its lifespan. On top of that there are way too few levels and the quality of them is anywhere between great and horrible.