• Hey Guest. Check out your NeoGAF Wrapped 2025 results here!

Dear GAF, buy Sonic Generations. ...no seriously.

Friend brought it ove the other day. It's ok, but don't like that i have to replay levels via challenge stages to get a key to unlock the next set of areas... when its $20 in February I'll pick it up.
 
I got it for $20 when Green Man Gaming was having a promotion, put the key into steam... Probably my favorite Sonic experience since SA2. And I think it's technically much better designed than that, with no often annoying mech and treasure hunting sections. Also, bear in mind I think SA1 is pretty mediocre, even though I loved it in 1999.

Even without the nostalgia factor of the Genesis/Dreamcast levels I would enjoy and recommend this game if it were this well put together. Even the cutscenes are charming without being overbearing and trying too hard to be cool like most Dreamcast games forward. Sonic Colors and to a lesser extent Unleashed were pretty well written for a mascot game, so it's not just a fluke, which is a relief.

The bosses need a little work, but even those are better than previous games, in my opinion.

I really hope Sega realizes what they've done here and continue making Sonic a worthwhile franchise.
 
ShockingAlberto said:
Ehhh.

One of the worst things the Sonic community can do is overhype small victories the games have as massive ones.

Crisis City is, at it's best, competent. At it's worst, it's full of bad platforming scripting and wonky enemy hitboxes combined with an aesthetic that only serves to remind you of the lowest, incredibly recent, point in the series. And also makes very little sense story-wise. "Oh yay, we restored this city to being a post-apocalyptic wasteland where everyone is dying! WE'RE SO AWESOME."

What are the examples of bad platforming in Crisis City? I Think it has some of the best in the game. It gets appropriately hardcore and starts to get the most out of the improved movement controls in Generations. Also those rock chunks suspended by lava you had stomp on to bring down and get off at the right elevation, were cool platforming mechanic.

I also don't understand what you mean by wonky enemy hit-boxes, I always hit the enemies with the homing attack, never had a complication unless they attack me with a projectile or something. Unless you're talking about Act 1 and there's something I missed in it, only played Crisis City act 1 like twice.
 
Classic is awesome, modern is glitchy but fun when you acomodate to it.
Its an 8 game, the thing is sonic could be a 10 game competing against Mario in the right hands, and that makes me sad. Also fans overhyping the game are not going to make the game any justice, yeah, is better than any sonic game since genesis days, but that doesnt make that the game has some big faults.

I Sega doesnt bring fat sonic back im going to kill Iizuka, I fucking mean it, he is a fucking disgrace to gaming.

The PC version an is awesome 1080p 60fps graphical beauty. Also the soundtrack is really catchy.
Having bought that version for 20 dollars thank to green man gaming has helped to overlook more some of its faults.
 
WrathOfOtaibah said:
No, the classic section was kind of cool but the modern version was awful. That, Perfect Chaos and the final boss are truly terrible moments that bog the game down.
I don't know what to tell you, I enjoyed Crisis City modern. Did you have issues playing it? I blasted through with no problems and enjoyed it.

I also loved Perfect Chaos. Did a perfect run of that boss on my first attempt.

I agree with you on the final boss, though. The only bit of the game that I really don't like.
 
dark10x said:
I don't know what to tell you, I enjoyed Crisis City modern. Did you have issues playing it? I blasted through with no problems and enjoyed it.
The beginning had a terrible ring placement. You can't seriously collect those rings and and be able to use the homing attack on the first enemy over the pit for some odd reason (a random occurrence glitch?). And there were sections where I can easily overshoot my jump and fall into a pit. Then there's that asshole enemy that always hit me while I'm in midair. All of this happened within the first minute of the level. The rest of the act from the 2D section and onward was alright. I like the whole lava geyser platform section, I thought that was neat.

I don't know, it might be a fun level on the 2nd playthrough. But it definitely gave me a lousy first impression.


dark10x said:
I also loved Perfect Chaos. Did a perfect run of that boss on my first attempt.
It's a pretty decent boss fight, I like it too. Only issue I have with it is that it's a bit hard to tell from an actual death pit and a platform that's underwater (but you can always jump over the water, you just need to be careful). Good fight still though.



dark10x said:
I agree with you on the final boss, though. The only bit of the game that I really don't like.
Hahaha, I agree. Fuck that final boss. We have a great game going and then they pulled this.

THAT LOOKS LIKE A HOMING SHOT
PRESS TRIANGLE TO SWITCH SONIC
THAT LOOKS LIKE A HOMING SHOT
WATCH OUT, YOU'RE GONNA BE CRUSHED
THAT LOOKS LIKE A HOMING SHOT
THAT LOOKS LIKE A HOMING SHOT
YOU CAN SWITCH
THAT LOOKS LIKE A HOMING SHOT
THAT LOOKS LIKE A HOMING SHOT
BE CAREFUL
THAT LOOKS LIKE A HOMING SHOT
THAT LOOKS LIKE A HOMING SHOT
THAT LOOKS LIKE A HOMING SHOT
THAT LOOKS LIKE A HOMING SHOT
THAT LOOKS LIKE A HOMING SHOT
THAT LOOKS LIKE A HOMING SHOT
THAT LOOKS LIKE A HOMING SHOT
THAT LOOKS LIKE A HOMING SHOT
THAT LOOKS LIKE A HOMING SHOT


What were they thinking?!?!?!
 
Alright GAF, you've convinced me. I'll pick up the PC version when it goes on sale, hopefully during the Steam Holiday Sale.
 
No.

I saw a friend playing it this weekend and it looks like a slightly less horrible version of the previous dumps Sonic Team has taken (although, yeah, the 60 fps of the Steam version did look nice). It really seems like it's an average game being propelled into the stratosphere by Sonic fans that haven't been able to let it go despite over a decade of gaming punishment. In six months or so when the hype dies down, it'll be picked apart like Sonic Team's other lackluster efforts (even if to a far less degree).

Meanwhile, Rayman Origins, which looks to be a legitimately awesome 2D platformer, will be largely ignored.
 
Princess Skittles said:
In six months or so when the hype dies down, it'll be picked apart like Sonic Team's other lackluster efforts (even if to a far less degree).
Did that actually happen? I always see Sonic games getting picked apart since release date aside from Colors and this.
 
Generations getting picked apart is already happening.

It's not quite there just yet mainly because the game isn't crap/completely broken like Heroes & 2k6.

Though to be honest I'm having trouble figuring out what the issues worth discussing are...aside from being rough around the edges(and that frame-rate on the console versions).

Oh, Generations doesn't have something similar to the Werehog nonsense in Unleashed either, unless you're the type whose eyes turn blood red at the very thought of Modern Sonic.

But eh..not like it matters to me. My favorite entries in the series are Sonic 1, Sonic CD, and then ????????????????
 
qq more said:
Did that actually happen? I always see Sonic games getting picked apart since release date aside from Colors and this.
I don't know, really. I just meant that once the initial bliss of having a not completely shit Sonic game clears away a little, it'll probably have all of its issues picked apart like the other games have had, whether at release or not.
 
Princess Skittles said:
No.

I saw a friend playing it this weekend and it looks like a slightly less horrible version of the previous dumps Sonic Team has taken (although, yeah, the 60 fps of the Steam version did look nice). It really seems like it's an average game being propelled into the stratosphere by Sonic fans that haven't been able to let it go despite over a decade of gaming punishment. In six months or so when the hype dies down, it'll be picked apart like Sonic Team's other lackluster efforts (even if to a far less degree).

Meanwhile, Rayman Origins, which looks to be a legitimately awesome 2D platformer, will be largely ignored.

Here is pretty much all I can say:

1) Classic Sonic is the closest we've come to that classic Sonic feeling since the Genesis era. It's not a flawless recreation, but it is close enough and they do advance the design in nice, inoffensive ways. If you can, visit your friend and play these levels. You'll see why even jaded, former Sega kids like myself like this game.

2) This is the best Modern Sonic has ever been. Take that for what it is worth. I still don't care for it, but they've slowly won me over to some of it. A lot of the frustrating elements still exist though, so don't let someone sell you the game on this alone.

3) You have to give credit to Sega here. Unlike Ubisoft, they've handle Generations much better than Ubisoft has handled Rayman Origins. The biggest advantage: a PC release using Steamworks, priced fairly. The game is $30 outright on Steam and I easily got it from Green Man Gaming for $23.
 
Princess Skittles said:
I saw a friend playing it this weekend and it looks like a slightly less horrible version of the previous dumps Sonic Team has taken (although, yeah, the 60 fps of the Steam version did look nice). It really seems like it's an average game being propelled into the stratosphere by Sonic fans that haven't been able to let it go despite over a decade of gaming punishment. In six months or so when the hype dies down, it'll be picked apart like Sonic Team's other lackluster efforts (even if to a far less degree).

Except it's not.

It's a fantastic game.
 
Princess Skittles said:
No.

I saw a friend playing it this weekend and it looks like a slightly less horrible version of the previous dumps Sonic Team has taken (although, yeah, the 60 fps of the Steam version did look nice). It really seems like it's an average game being propelled into the stratosphere by Sonic fans that haven't been able to let it go despite over a decade of gaming punishment. In six months or so when the hype dies down, it'll be picked apart like Sonic Team's other lackluster efforts (even if to a far less degree).

Meanwhile, Rayman Origins, which looks to be a legitimately awesome 2D platformer, will be largely ignored.
XD

So this game, a game that is easily the best Sonic game in years (though the argument could also be made for Colours) is slightly less horrible than the actually broken, borderline unplayable Sonic 06?
 
Princess Skittles said:
No.

I saw a friend playing it this weekend and it looks like a slightly less horrible version of the previous dumps Sonic Team has taken (although, yeah, the 60 fps of the Steam version did look nice). It really seems like it's an average game being propelled into the stratosphere by Sonic fans that haven't been able to let it go despite over a decade of gaming punishment. In six months or so when the hype dies down, it'll be picked apart like Sonic Team's other lackluster efforts (even if to a far less degree).

Meanwhile, Rayman Origins, which looks to be a legitimately awesome 2D platformer, will be largely ignored.

nah its actually pretty good

not great

good
 
It really seems like it's an average game being propelled into the stratosphere by Sonic fans that haven't been able to let it go despite over a decade of gaming punishment. In six months or so when the hype dies down, it'll be picked apart like Sonic Team's other lackluster efforts (even if to a far less degree).

Meanwhile, Rayman Origins, which looks to be a legitimately awesome 2D platformer, will be largely ignored.
Bullshit. It's an incredible game. Did you even try it? It's, perhaps, my favorite 3D platformer of this generation at this point.

I'm also there day 1 with Rayman Origins. I've been waiting for a game like that for years.
 
dark10x said:
Bullshit. It's an incredible game. Did you even try it? It's, perhaps, my favorite 3D platformer of this generation at this point.

Considering he said that he's making his judgement based off "watching" I'd say no.
 
dark10x said:
Bullshit. It's an incredible game. Did you even try it? It's, perhaps, my favorite 3D platformer of this generation at this point.

I played this on the weekend, and it seems to be worth the $20 on PC so I may pick it up on Steam... but favourite 3D platformer of the generation? :S

For the 1.5 hours I played, I liked the classic sonic portions way more than Sonic 4, but the modern elements didn't seem as well-crafted as Colours.
 
Princess Skittles said:
No.

I saw a friend playing it this weekend and it looks like a slightly less horrible version of the previous dumps Sonic Team has taken (although, yeah, the 60 fps of the Steam version did look nice). It really seems like it's an average game being propelled into the stratosphere by Sonic fans that haven't been able to let it go despite over a decade of gaming punishment. In six months or so when the hype dies down, it'll be picked apart like Sonic Team's other lackluster efforts (even if to a far less degree).

Meanwhile, Rayman Origins, which looks to be a legitimately awesome 2D platformer, will be largely ignored.

This is clearly not a "slightly less horrible" "dump".

-The presentation is good, and the hub is stylish and fairly intuitive. Compare that to the "Adventure Fields" in SA1 and 2006 that were just attempts to pad the game out.

-The controls are tighter than any 3D Sonic before Colors (still not Mario Galaxy levels of solid control, but a huge step over the "OH GOD EVERYTHING IS COATED IN TEFLON and now I fell into a pit and died" slippy crap from SA1, 2006, and to a lesser extent SA2).

-There are several jokes in cutscenes that are clear respectful nods to their fans (Tails not remembering Green Hill because he didn't exist in Sonic 1, Tails being made nervous by water, I'd even argue Eggman calling Sonic's newer friends "insignificant" was intentionally a reference to some fans' distaste for them).

-The level designs are interesting, varied, and have well done branching paths. I've gone "Oh hey! I didn't even see this section last time." several times. Gives more incentive to experiment than a lot of 3D Sonics.

-And the MUSIC. Holy SHIT the music. A lot of effort went into the soundtrack for this game.

It is a good game. Not exemplary, not amazing, not my favorite platformer this generation. Good. It's not a polished turd that everyone will regret playing in 6 months like you're claiming. If Sonic isn't your thing, that's perfectly understandable. But this is a genuine effort on Sega's part. For what it is, it's a good game. It has its flaws (namely the boss batlles and challenges), but Sonic has never been flawless, in my opinion.

And I'm a Rayman fan and think Origins looks fantastic. I'll be buying that, as well.
 
StevieP said:
I played this on the weekend, and it seems to be worth the $20 on PC so I may pick it up on Steam... but favourite 3D platformer of the generation? :S

For the 1.5 hours I played, I liked the classic sonic portions way more than Sonic 4, but the modern elements didn't seem as well-crafted as Colours.
I was thinking of writing up impressions in a few days for the OT... I've finally decided that Generations complements Colours rather nicely. There are a few things I didn't like about Generations (and to be honest, after going back and playing a bit of Colours and then Generations, I like Colours a little more for reasons I'll get to later this week). But all-in-all, Generations is a pretty good platformer. The Classic level designs and Modern level designs work very well with their multiple pathways and platforming elements. Not to mention the fanservice with the cutscenes, attention to detail in the levels, the music, and the included levels.

After replaying many levels for red rings, I think that the Modern levels' fun comes from trying to memorize and discover newer and faster routes in order to attain the best time and rank (plus get red rings). The levels aren't as balanced as Colours' levels, but after you try to work on perfecting the Modern Sonic levels' playthroughs, I've started to ignore the imbalance with regards to platforming and behind-the-back play (what I mean by "imbalance" is the fact that some of the behind-the-back sections felt somewhat like filler while in comparison to Colours, there was a reason for the behind-the-back play even though the majority of stages were done in 2D perspective in that title). The Classic Sonic portions, I suppose, were to complement the behind-the-back perspective of the Modern Sonic portions, but I guess what the game lacked was cohesion and fluidity in comparison to Colours. However, Modern Sonic's drifting in Generations is way better than the Colours' drifting, that's for sure.

As I finish up the plat, I'll probably think about the game's mechanics a little more, but overall, I really enjoyed it! I thought it was a must-play. It's a very good effort on SEGA's behalf. It isn't crappy like Sonic 2006 or Shadow the Hedgehog. It's legitimately good like Colours was.

Princess Skittles said:
Meanwhile, Rayman Origins, which looks to be a legitimately awesome 2D platformer, will be largely ignored.
I am definitely getting Rayman Origins; I budgeted so that I can get it from the States so I can have the lovely artbook. :3
 
TemplaerDude said:
I'd prefer to not have my money go to make Sega think Sonic is still relevant in some way. Let him die, already.

Sonic Colors, also a fun game, sold 2 million.

I think it's relevant.
 
Princess Skittles said:
Meanwhile, Rayman Origins, which looks to be a legitimately awesome 2D platformer, will be largely ignored.

If Ubisoft wants me to buy a game they need to make sure there's a PC version, especially when it's on every single other platform other than my toaster and electronic bidet.
 
jim-jam bongs said:
If Ubisoft wants me to buy a game they need to make sure there's a PC version, especially when it's on every single other platform other than my toaster and electronic bidet.
To be fair, if Ubi did bring it out on the PC it'd have horrible DRM and be a shockingly bad port more than likely.

At least it's coming on Wii so I can play that version on my PC.
 
Zomba13 said:
To be fair, if Ubi did bring it out on the PC it'd have horrible DRM and be a shockingly bad port more than likely.

See I thought that too until Clash of Heroes came out. It doesn't use UPlay, and the port is solid enough. They seem to be relaxing somewhat, at least with the budget range.
 
jim-jam bongs said:
See I thought that too until Clash of Heroes came out. It doesn't use UPlay, and the port is solid enough. They seem to be relaxing somewhat, at least with the budget range.

Nah, it would definitely happen with Rayman. Always online bullshit or something else they've been pulling for ages now. They want it to fail.
 
jim-jam bongs said:
See I thought that too until Clash of Heroes came out. It doesn't use UPlay, and the port is solid enough. They seem to be relaxing somewhat, at least with the budget range.

That's because Ubisoft only has a publishing deal for that game. The developers got to choose what they wanted as far DRM and Uplay.
 
Zaraki_Kenpachi said:
Nah, it would definitely happen with Rayman. Always online bullshit or something else they've been pulling for ages now. They want it to fail.

Which sucks, because I would love a SMB Wii style game to play with my flatmate. Between this and all the WB release date cluster-fuckery recently I'm starting to wonder if publishers aren't all involved in some type of Illuminati conspiracy to get me to stop wasting my time playing video games.
 
Zaraki_Kenpachi said:
Nah, it would definitely happen with Rayman. Always online bullshit or something else they've been pulling for ages now. They want it to fail.
I will never understand why Ubi's releasing it on the same day as Assassin's Creed, and sandwiched between Skyrim, MW3 & Mario, and Zelda.

Very unfortunate because the game looks really fun and gorgeous.
 
Princess Skittles said:
No.

I saw a friend playing it this weekend and it looks like a slightly less horrible version of the previous dumps Sonic Team has taken (although, yeah, the 60 fps of the Steam version did look nice). It really seems like it's an average game being propelled into the stratosphere by Sonic fans that haven't been able to let it go despite over a decade of gaming punishment. In six months or so when the hype dies down, it'll be picked apart like Sonic Team's other lackluster efforts (even if to a far less degree).

It's an enjoyable game, and there really is no alternative to the kind of gameplay Sonic offers. We all know that Sonic Team have been incredibly MISS AND MISS over the past decade, but this is a legitimately good game, and a lot of people were quick to write it off (understandably)

Meanwhile, Rayman Origins, which looks to be a legitimately awesome 2D platformer, will be largely ignored.

Blame Ubisoft for giving it such a dire release date.
 
Princess Skittles said:
No.

I saw a friend playing it this weekend and it looks like a slightly less horrible version of the previous dumps Sonic Team has taken (although, yeah, the 60 fps of the Steam version did look nice). It really seems like it's an average game being propelled into the stratosphere by Sonic fans that haven't been able to let it go despite over a decade of gaming punishment. In six months or so when the hype dies down, it'll be picked apart like Sonic Team's other lackluster efforts (even if to a far less degree).

Meanwhile, Rayman Origins, which looks to be a legitimately awesome 2D platformer, will be largely ignored.

Nah, it's fun. Rayman will be good, too.
 
dark10x said:
I don't know what to tell you, I enjoyed Crisis City modern. Did you have issues playing it? I blasted through with no problems and enjoyed it.

It involves too much trial and error and is pretty badly designed. I got an S-Rank sure but that doesn't mean that it was a great level.

I also loved Perfect Chaos. Did a perfect run of that boss on my first attempt.

I did too, didn't stop it from being frustrating a lot of the time, with most of the mistakes due to Sonic's controls clashing with the level design.

I agree with you on the final boss, though. The only bit of the game that I really don't like.

Yeah it was like it was impossible for Sonic Team to not disappoint you at some point, they just had to.


Princess Skittles said:
No.

I saw a friend playing it this weekend and it looks like a slightly less horrible version of the previous dumps Sonic Team has taken (although, yeah, the 60 fps of the Steam version did look nice). It really seems like it's an average game being propelled into the stratosphere by Sonic fans that haven't been able to let it go despite over a decade of gaming punishment. In six months or so when the hype dies down, it'll be picked apart like Sonic Team's other lackluster efforts (even if to a far less degree).

Meanwhile, Rayman Origins, which looks to be a legitimately awesome 2D platformer, will be largely ignored.

Thank you very much for that wide assumption about a large and split audience, would you care to tell us what games we should and shouldn't like?
 
Dark Schala said:
I will never understand why Ubi's releasing it on the same day as Assassin's Creed, and sandwiched between Skyrim, MW3 & Mario, and Zelda.

Very unfortunate because the game looks really fun and gorgeous.

So they can go back to releasing raving rabbids games probably.
 
OldJadedGamer said:
Got to Egg Dragoon and he is pissing me off so time to stop. Paid $0.85 cents for the Redbox rental and worth every penny.
What do you think of the game aside from Egg Dragoon overall?
 
qq more said:
Hahaha, I agree. Fuck that final boss. We have a great game going and then they pulled this.

THAT LOOKS LIKE A HOMING SHOT
PRESS TRIANGLE TO SWITCH SONIC
THAT LOOKS LIKE A HOMING SHOT
WATCH OUT, YOU'RE GONNA BE CRUSHED
THAT LOOKS LIKE A HOMING SHOT
THAT LOOKS LIKE A HOMING SHOT
YOU CAN SWITCH
THAT LOOKS LIKE A HOMING SHOT
THAT LOOKS LIKE A HOMING SHOT
BE CAREFUL
THAT LOOKS LIKE A HOMING SHOT
THAT LOOKS LIKE A HOMING SHOT
THAT LOOKS LIKE A HOMING SHOT
THAT LOOKS LIKE A HOMING SHOT
THAT LOOKS LIKE A HOMING SHOT
THAT LOOKS LIKE A HOMING SHOT
THAT LOOKS LIKE A HOMING SHOT
THAT LOOKS LIKE A HOMING SHOT
THAT LOOKS LIKE A HOMING SHOT


What were they thinking?!?!?!
I dread playing through that stage again for the trophy (which I plan to do last).

Dread it. It's a poorly-executed boss and the audio/visual/mission objective mess really didn't help. It felt like a rushed part of the game. This is a very small part of what I mean by the fact that Generations doesn't seem to have the cohesion and fluidity of Colours.

Zaraki_Kenpachi said:
So they can go back to releasing raving rabbids games probably.
That's too bad. I'd love to see another Rayman game using that artstyle or a variation of it. Impressions from GAF members who tried it out at events seem to be quite positive too. :/
 
Top Bottom