For the Blue Blur’s 20th birthday, we get a tale of two Sonics. Fittingly, this trip down memory lane, starring Classic Sonic and Modern Sonic, showcases the best of the series, and the worst of it. Like the film “Star Trek Generations,” which staged a meeting between the captains from “Star Trek” and “The Next Generation,” “Sonic Generations” brings together the mute, black-eyed, almost squat Sonic we met in 1991 and the longer-spiked, green-eyed, trash-talking Sonic he grew into. Their time-bending meeting is enough to warm any gamer’s heart, and the doppelgangers team up to blaze through levels from previous games. What’s more, each level can be played two ways. Classic Sonic runs from left to right in the manner of a traditional 2-D side-scroller, while choosing Modern Sonic for a given level lets you explore it in 3-D.
The prospect of a Sonic retrospective is indeed exciting, but its curators made some odd decisions. For every slam-dunk level, like the skateboard-powered City Escape from “Sonic Adventure 2,” there are glaring omissions. Seemingly as a ploy to get you to make multiple purchases, Sega put the definitive levels from “Sonic 2” and “Sonic Adventure” exclusively on the 3DS version.
More fundamentally, “Generations” reflects a paradigm shift every bit as essential as the transition from 2-D to 3-D. At some point in the series, the folks at Sonic Team decided running and jumping weren’t enough, so they inserted multiple paths through each level. This adds some replay value as you memorize the secrets to rerouting yourself, but it converts the whole affair into a sort of Choose Your Own Adventure platformer. Like with the books, you get a modicum of authorship, but are left feeling cheated, wondering what you’re missing out on. It’s bad enough that this approach rules the later levels; what’s worse is that earlier levels, like the Green Hill Zone that kicked off the first game, have been “converted” to this splintered standard.
| ‘Sonic Generations’ |
| » Systems: PS3, Xbox 360, PC, 3DS |
| » Price: $49.95 ($29.99 PC, $39.95 3DS) |
| » Rating: 3 out of 5 stars |
“Sonic Generations” is valuable as a sort of Sonic 101 for newcomers, and a nostalgia kick for old-timers — you can even unlock the Genesis original — but last year’s “Sonic Colors” for the Wii remains the best Sonic of the modern era.
