Sonic Generations - Demo Review.
So the other night I decided to jump on the nostalgia band wagon and ride it’s glowing trail all the way back to when I was 3. It was then I discovered the joys of gaming, and to be more precise, SEGA. One of my first, (if not my first) game was Sonic. I used to love running through those early levels happily spin dashing through rings and past numerous enemies. So with the word of a release named ‘Sonic Generations’ well of course I was interested. With promises of ‘the old sonic’ just revamped. Well viva la sonic.
So I sat down in-front of my PS3, with a can of pepsi and I was all set to play.
Sadly I was interrupted by the need for a frickin’ update to allow me to use the PSN. After downloading the perpetually never ending updates I finally got around to ANOTHER perpetually never ending download that was the demo itself. Okay putting the rage face away (for now). Much to my delight, the promise of ‘Old Sonic’ was brought to life, sure he’s now an eye screeching high contrast colour of blue now... but hey whatcha’ gonna do?
I started off with ‘Act One’ which was the ‘Old Sonic’ version of the game where its the classic 2D side scrolling platformer. Grassy Hill was the levels name, and it couldn’t be more on mark, because if nothing else... there was ALOT of hills and the grass was also a high contrast colour, as was everything else. My poor eyes were watering after a few play throughs. So it’s the typical, you’re sonic get to the end of the level, collect rings and try not to die type thing. I can’t really criticize. It was very enjoyable, I had fun and the mechanic was good as it always has been. So ‘Act One’ was great. My problems start when I tried ‘Act Two’ with ‘Modern Sonic’.
So I booted up Act Two and I swear I hadn’t even moved my analogue stick before the colours and the speed at which sonic was moving (yeah I know he’s fast but this was... no) made me feel dizzy. I genuinely felt nausea from this level. Which is much to discredit it. Also the fact that I felt like I was watching Sonic lead himself around this 3D level in gaudy colours without any need for my input. Other than pressing the analogue stick forward and pressing ‘x’ a few times... There really wasn’t much to it. It was so easy. Almost like a QTE (Quick Time Event) for the WHOLE LEVEL. Again, I can’t understand why they messed with the classic Sonic mechanics. It worked. We loved it. They screwed it up.
So whats my conclusion?
Well, it’s fun. I think I’d need to play the WHOLE game before giving any ‘final judgement’ on the game. I definitely admire what SEGA had tried to do. Emphasis on ‘tried’ because it’s definitely a step back in the right direction away from all that spin off crap. Sonic is classic and I think if they just toned down the colour a bit and gave the player more to do in the modern sonic levels.
