To start, a link to my other Sonic R/LTTPs:
Sonic Adventure
Sonic Adventure 2
Shadow the Hedgehog
Sonic Heroes
Sonic 06
Sonic and the Secret Rings
Sonic and the Black Knight
Sonic 4: Episode 1
Sonic 4: Episode 2
Sonic the Hedgehog Game Gear
Sonic 2 Game Gear
Sonic Chaos
Sonic Blast
Sonic Labyrinth
Tails Adventure
Tails' Sky Patrol
Sonic Spinball Game Gear
Sonic 3D Blast
Sonic Spinball Genesis
Sonic CD
Sonic Unleashed Wii
Sonic Colors DS
Sonic Generations 3DS

So yeah, since Sonic 4: Episode 2 was pretty short, my group and I actually started up Generations HD as well. I think we got about halfway or so (we just restored Holaska's temple/emerald, which I think was the fourth). Since this one's still in progress, I'll just go ahead and give my initial thoughts.

I actually watched the pokecapn let's play of this in the past, and of course I've played the Wii version. But it definitely is a little bit of a different beast than I expected/noticed before, which caught me a little off guard. Probably the weirdest things (in a definitely crappy way) were the loading screens and the oddly terrible frame-rate in the hubs, which I recall also existing in the level selects from the Wii version, interestingly enough. Probably the biggest thing that irks me is the way the town and level select hubs are separate, and if you want to go back to the world map from the level select you have to first go back to town, then the map, increasing loading further. Oh, and the game seems to send me back to Professor Pickle constantly, which is a pain.

Other than that, the complaints are kind of similar to those I had with the Wii version, only everything has a ton more polish so it's been a decent time (though the night stages are crazy long). I can say the pole controls (IE the ones you can grab on and rotate around in four directions) feel weirdly stiff, and the fact that they mapped the homing attack to the boost button still seems lame to me.

At the very least, I've been pleasantly surprised that the game does in fact feel like a different experience from the Wii game. The level themes, bosses, and plot are the same, but they're definitely different games.

Hated the werehog and the medal system. Good thing there hasn't been a worse Sonic game since then.

Beat the game last night, and man did the ugly flaws of the game flare up. Even though I was being cautious and trying to get as many medals as possible out of the night stages, we still needed to do some serious grinding to get into the last couple of levels. And the whole Level Select area-> Village -> World Map -> Village -> Level Select area with the loads in between thing got really old, really fast (I realize you can jump right into levels you've already found, but those weren't the ideal places to look for medals, nor the way to advance plot.) Empire City's night stage also treated us to our first night stage game over, through a combination of those stupid, stupid tightrope girders you can't fall off of or you'll die (but mostly the camera for that part) and the unholy stupidity of that ground-pounding big enemy on a rooftop, allowing you to get stuck in a double hit and flung to your doom with nothing you can do about it. Oh, and going back to Professor Pickle all the time seriously sucks as well.

The biggest issue, though, was freaking Eggmanland. Holy crap. I had heard tales of its terror, but jeez. I got through a LOT of the level and then got to the spot where they seriously throw the faces that pop out at you (it starts with an alternate path up that I couldn't manage to reach), and that ate through my surplus of lives way too fast. The fact that you can get instakilled by the one that comes out SIDEWAYS just by touching it is baffling to me. Anyway, after hitting the point just after the QTE cannons and the spinning pink blades... I got a game over. Over 30 minutes into the level! I was beyond frustrated, but my rage propelled me forwards. This time around I noticed the extra 1-up if you hang onto the teacups, but jumping off those things is TERRIBLE and I couldn't do it without dying. However, since there's another 1-up between that and the checkpoint, it at least buffed my life count a little. Combined with my increased skills I was able to make it through the level. But DAMN at those big guys in a room with wizards right before the end. Things can just hit you like crazy. The worst was in the room with two of them, they got me caught in a ground pound loop that was inescapable and ripped through my life, bit by painful bit. But I beat it! The total time was just over an hour, though, which is insane.

The Eggman fight afterwards is easy and not so bad, but the Golem part afterwards is LAME. The actions are just so slow to react that I didn't find it even worth trying the punch. And then it ends in QTEs, and if you screw up slightly you're thrown back. Seriously, if there's one thing I hate about this game it's the constant QTEs (and the weird doorbell sound effect that accompanies them). I actually gave up on the critical attacks for the werehog because they just weren't worth the risk of screwing up the QTE. Needless to say, I definitely preferred the Punch-out knock-off from the Wii version myself. And then... I got a game over on the last stupid running part. Mostly because the boost occasionally glitched up in the first segment and had me running through the gap between the boost pad and the wall at the start, meaning I had a net loss even with the 1-up in that segment. Oh, and screw those super homing bullets at the end. Got SO CLOSE multiple times only to get smacked down twice by those things. I was pretty annoyed I had to do the Eggman fight again, but whatever. And then came the Super Sonic fight, which was... eh. I kind of like the weird concept of skating around a dome instead of the usual flying sequence, but trying to locate those dumb dragon heads on it wasn't very fun. Nor was Chip's additional counter, which was what earned me my only death in this segment. But I beat it.

So yeah, I appreciate the game for setting the foundations for the actually good Sonic games to come after it, and I may even go back to it and play some more day stages in the future, and it's definitely the best of crap-era Sonic but... it still wasn't a good game. Way too much frustration with the Werehog, and the medals, and the constant loads, and the terrible, terrible framerate in the hubs for whatever reason, and the entirety of Eggmanland. Oh, and I never figured out what to do with the stupid food objects.

At least I've now finished the full set of crappy Sonic games, so all that's left is a replay of some of the odds and ends that I haven't played in a while.

Game had so much bullshit, but I really enjoyed the game after I beat it. Playing through levels at will was a lot of fun. But the medals and Werehog sucked so much ass.

Also Eggmanland is fucking legendary. Think it took me 76 minutes the first time around, so fucking brutal.

Zalman said:

Good thing there hasn't been a worse Sonic game since then.

Click to expand...

They certainly tried with lost world though.

I actually enjoyed Unleashed HD. I lost my save file long ago so I actually started replaying it a week ago. I know it's flawed but I like it. It's not a trainwreck like Sonic 06 (...which I also managed to enjoy, partially due to the AMAZING soundtrack). Generations was alright, Colors was excellent, and I liked Lost World. Sonic's in better shape now than during the Heroes- 06 - Shadow the Hedgehog era