It’s been a long, long time since we could say this, so brace yourselves.
SEGA have made a Sonic game worth buying.
We know, we know, gaming journos have said this before – through the dark days of the werehog (Sonic Unleashed) through to the throwaway party fun of multi-coloured minigames (Sonic Colors), but this time SEGA have truly gone back to their roots, distilling Sonic into his purest, most fun essence and then adding a 21st century technological sheen that makes the whole thing run as smoothly as his 16-bit predecessors.
The story, obviously, is fairly inconsequential – just know that due to Evil Villain A and Magical Maguffin B, two versions of the same Sonic are bound together, racing against time and space to save the world. The two Sonics you’re in charge of – ‘old school’ Sonic and the up to date 3D model – are obviously parts of the same coin, but neatly refined to function best in different situations. There’s a fluidity to the younger Sonic and a zippiness around the refined and reimagined 2D platformer sections that sit distinctly separately from older Sonic’s powerhouse, skateboarding juggernaut.
While the 3D sections are glorious to behold, they do intermittently flip back into a 2D point of view, allowing you to play around with older Sonic’s aggressive new powers in a familiarly old school setting – the best of both worlds.
The platforming works solidly across both ‘Hogs, but the real longevity comes from the Escher-esque layout of the courses and the multi-track runways on offer. While you can get from Start to Finish with little hassle, getting there in the fastest time demands numerous replays and experimentation with the myriad interwoven trackways.
It’s fitting, really, that its downsides also hark back to the niggles of old as the boss battles are consistently underwhelming, and there’s the occasional technical hiccup when hopping between 2D and 3D, but as a package, it hits the right Sonic notes – it’s big, bright and blisteringly fast.
In reality, it’s baffling it’s taken us this long to get to this point. It’s natural to expect the odd mistake in the transition from 2D to 3D but finally, after almost 15 years, Sonic’s as fast, furious and downright addictive as he’s always been.
[Rating:4/5]
Sonic Generations is out now and available on Xbox 360, PS3, PC and 3DS.
