Sonic X Shadow Generations (2024)

Rating: 6.5/10

My review of Sonic X Shadow Generations differs slightly from most others. While many have given it four or five stars, I personally think it’s closer to a three-star experience.

The game essentially offers two campaigns in one: Sonic Generations and Shadow Generations. That sounds generous, but both can be completed in about 12 hours. While not necessarily too short, I found myself wanting to finish the game just to get it over with at times. It didn't consistently hold my attention, and parts of the gameplay felt repetitive.

The platforming could be frustrating. Mistiming a jump or pressing the wrong button often meant falling off platforms. Yes, it's partly my fault, but it felt unforgiving and unintuitive in places.

That said, the game nails the sense of speed you’d expect from a Sonic title.. I enjoyed the Sonic pinball part (that was well-made). Shadow's story in particular stood out to me, it added some emotional depth and wrapped up beautifully. This ending bumped my rating up slightly from a 6 to a 6.5.

Overall, I’m glad I played a new Sonic game, especially on the Switch 2 (this being my first Switch 2 game which I beat and reviewed), which is a very promising system. But I don’t see myself returning to this game or trying to 100% it.

I am a big DEFENDER of the Sonic boost formula I think its the best gameplay style for 3D Sonic by far and by god it feels so cool to zoom and boost through levels and with my experience in the sonic generations segment finishing each and every level in under 2 minutes.

As for the Shadow campaign I absolutely adore the story for it especially the Dark Beginnings animation that accompanies it and level are fun if a little played for you in certain areas. But Sonic Generations is my favourite Sonic game so it automatically gets 5 stars just for that

I've revisited the original Sonic Generations several times over the years. I've always enjoyed it, but never enough to stick around past the main story.

But this playthrough was different! I found myself happily improving ranks, collecting red rings, tracking down chao and completing challenges long after credits rolled.

Why? Two small but impactful changes:

• The removal of lives (or "challenge tries") by default. I felt way more empowered to experiment and try new paths without the looming threat of a Game Over.
• The performance. This runs a lot smoother at a much higher resolution on PlayStation 5 than on my PS3 or Steam Deck.

With these improvements, I'm finally able to fully appreciate Generations' stage designs. They pay homage to a surprisingly diverse range of Sonic's history while standing on their own thanks to some really clever routes, stage-specific gimmicks and exciting set pieces.

It isn't perfect: I find Planet Wisp tedious, a few challenges are still pretty dumb, and the final boss still underwhelms. But overall, this and Sonic Frontiers are easily my favorite 3D entries after the original Sonic Adventure .

But wait! What about Shadow Generations?

I'll be honest, I think this section was a bit overhyped. Don't get me wrong, it's quite good: It's fun to experience Shadow's perspective with, y'know, fewer firearms, and his stages feel really epic in scope. I was particularly impressed by this iteration of Kingdom Valley, outshining the Sonic 06 original by leaps and bounds. But I've never loved Sonic's color powers, so I'm never gonna love Shadow's doom powers. And the hub world's open layout felt mostly cosmetic to me given the linear stage progression and more stringent challenge gates.

But the brand-new side story's inclusion certainly upgrades the overall package from "best version of Sonic Generations" to "one of my top ten personal favorite Sonic games."

(Between this, Epic Mickey and Beyond Good & Evil, 2024 really spoiled me with some excellent remasters!)

WE ARE SO BACK CHAT.

this game was absolutely amazing. I loved the level design, I loved the bosses. Story wise it was ALSO AMAZING. we got to chat with maria and gerald, getting more lore. We also got to see BLACK DOOM AGAIN?? HELLO??? I loved the doom powers, but using them was kinda a pain. could be a skill issue tho. (i hate you squid form) THE ENDING. I CRIED. poor shadow :( but i'm glad they are finally addressing shadows trauma, instead of just blowing it off.

Sonics Section:

tbh, I haven't finished it yet but theres not much changes? nothing to comment on. this was SHADOWS GAME

overall, my new fav sonic game. giggl even tho it is technically shadows. i throughly enjoyed it!!

Have played a few hours of this (via preorder early access). It's fun. Sonic Generations seems to be a solid port (haven't noticed any issues), and Shadow Generations is turning out to be a much meatier bonus game than I expected. Controls and physics feel a tad stiff compared to Sonic Generations, but I think they're going off of Frontiers for that content (the hub world is definitely just a new Frontiers island basically). But the levels are really big and well-designed, and even Shadow's new special abilities have been incorporated in some clever ways. (I think a lot of 3D platformers are getting a lot of mileage out of time-stopping powers lately.)

Still have a ways go to I think, but I think this'll be a win for the hedgehogs?