Sonic Generations + Bowser's Fury

[gruglas]

Sonic x Shadow Generations was one of my most anticipated games this year, however SEGA found a way to disappoint yet again. Despite receiving critical acclaim, Shadow Generations is little more than a ploy to get ignorant consumers to buy Sonic Generations again for full price. I can just imagine the SEGA executives sitting at a table trying to think of the best way to scam their fans out of $50. Shadow Generations clocks in at just under 3 hours, despite being advertised as a completely new game; just as long as the original Generations. The game only has 6 levels, 5 of which have the 2nd act ENTIRELY in 2D, this is confusing because the final level’s 2nd act is a 3D level. Why they thought it would be a good idea to give Shadow stages a “Classic Act” when Classic Shadow doesn’t exist is beyond me. The classic sonic stages existed to recreate classic and modern stages as classic sonic stages, since there is no Classic Shadow the 2D levels have no place. All of this just further proves how they cut corners in every possible way for this release.

Although the game is less than 3 hours to complete, the game is still full to the brim with filler content. Player’s are required to backtrack through the Open-Zone hub ripped straight out of Frontiers. Somehow they thought people actually LIKED this horrible excuse for an open world. The hub is just as nonsensically designed as Frontiers, with springs that shoot you in any which way and floating platforms everywhere. Everytime the player has to fight a boss they must collect 3 keys to fight the boss. This means the player has to play SIX filler challenge missions that completely break the flow of the game. The stages themselves feel closer to Frontiers cyber space than Generations levels, with random generic assets and linear platforming paths everywhere. One thing SEGA did right this time was adding branching paths to each level, this is definitely worth commending however the negatives far outweigh the positives this time around.

This game hardly even feels like a “Shadow” game, there are many forced references to Shadow’s past that really just feels like the developers didn’t play the original games. This is further proven by the lack of a stage from Shadow’s OWN GAME. Yes that’s right! There isn’t a single stage from the original Shadow the Hedgehog 2005. Sure there is the space colony ark, however this stage has more in common with the SA2 version; having the same level gimmicks and general layouts. Instead of including a level from Shadow the Hedgehog they decided it would be great to have a Sonic Frontiers level, you know the game Shadow ISN’T EVEN IN! This just further connects this game to the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ that is Frontiers. SEGA cut corners in every possible way with this release, even the music isn’t that great. Fan favorite tracks like supporting me have been gutted of their lyrics and All Hail Shadow just has a lazy orchestral remix in the final boss. That brings me to my next point, the final boss is just lame. Not only did they not include “I am all of me” as the theme but it just flat out isn’t used in the game at all besides extra content.

Even super shadow doesn’t make an appearance in this game. Instead they opt to give Shadow random gimmicky powers that are both unintuitive to use and feel completely alien to Shadow’s identity. Every power besides the wings are used in near-scripted scenarios where the player must use the power or they cannot progress. This came to a head when I reached the gate to the 2nd boss, since the game is so short and I hadn’t yet been accustomed to the powers yet; since frankly the game never demonstrated them in an intuitive way; I had no idea how to open the gate. I ended up just waffling around the hub world for 30 minutes until I finally noticed the buttons you’re supposed to hit with the demon spears.

While being a more personal, subjective complaint, I really don’t like how the true ending of Shadow the Hedgehog is 100% canon now. None of the games ever fully acknowledged whether or not Shadow the Hedgehog was canon, leaving freedom of interpretation for which ending the player liked the most. Now Shadow is reduced to nothing more than a generic anti-hero Vegeta clone and I hate it. Not only that but Black Doom is also reduced to a generic antagonist, his speeches to Shadow during this game serve no purpose because the player no longer has the option to side with him. I hate when games do this in the first place, why even bother?


As a massive fan of the original Shadow the Hedgehog game from 2005 I was completely let down with this “celebration” of Shadow’s past. This game is comparable to Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury, a short campaign that doesn’t stand on its own at all. If you were considering buying Sonic x Shadow Generations just to play the Shadow campaign then you will be disappointed. Once again the 3D stages ARE good; however, it isn’t enough to justify buying Sonic Generations again at full price. I can only hope that this game's success causes SEGA to create a real Shadow game instead of this Forces/Frontiers tech demo.

Full video review:
https://youtu.be/4RpeDnogI-k?si=W4y645OZz12Nb8K1

[The-Mighty-Lulnut]

They also pointlessly censored the original Generations in this release, which is odd because nothing needed to be censored in the first place.

[Moo Mew]

Womp womp

[ｃｏｏｌｄｏｗｎ]

This is not a let down at all. Definitely way better than og Gens.

[gruglas]

6 stages vs 9, take your pick because they're roughly the same quality. Doesn't help that 1 of the 5 is from Frontiers, lol.

Originally posted by ｃｏｏｌｄｏｗｎ:

This is not a let down at all. Definitely way better than og Gens.

[gruglas]

Originally posted by Children of the Omnissiah:

Originally posted by ｃｏｏｌｄｏｗｎ:

This is not a let down at all. Definitely way better than og Gens.

Am I missing something? I'm playing right now desperately looking for a reason not to refund as I have the original, this doesn't seem to be worth the price so far.

Same thoughts here, I refunded it myself. Just waiting for a response from steam support as higher value games tend to take more time it seems.

[The-Mighty-Lulnut]

Originally posted by gruglas:

Originally posted by Children of the Omnissiah:

Am I missing something? I'm playing right now desperately looking for a reason not to refund as I have the original, this doesn't seem to be worth the price so far.

Same thoughts here, I refunded it myself. Just waiting for a response from steam support as higher value games tend to take more time it seems.

Higher value games tend to probably take longer due to an influx of refunds caused by said popularity.

[gruglas]

Originally posted by The-Mighty-Lulnut:

Originally posted by gruglas:

Same thoughts here, I refunded it myself. Just waiting for a response from steam support as higher value games tend to take more time it seems.

Higher value games tend to probably take longer due to an influx of refunds caused by said popularity.

Makes sense, I'm sure a lot of people got this game after all the gassing up it's been getting. Just for it to be mid and overhyped.

[Verax]

This is an outright lie.... the Shadow side of the game is its own full game.

Sonic X Shadow Generations includes a full remastered version of Sonic Generations, and an entirely separate Shadow Generations game with newly redesigned zones, a reimagined hub world done in 3d instead of 2d (and it's pretty great ngl), and a combination of better, longer zones and then also many smaller challenge zones used to unlock boss zones. There's a lot of game here and a lot of it is NEW.

[ｃｏｏｌｄｏｗｎ]

White Space is infinitely better. Better than the open zones in Frontiers imo. You actually have to use your brain in the 2d acts, it's not just hold X/Square and blast past the whole level. You don't have to deal with horrifically terrible classic sonic physics. The challenge acts are actually fun this time, not like in og, where you only did them to progress. I can actually see myself going back to replay them. The keys for the collection items are way more fun to collect than the red rings. imo getting most of the red rings is exhausting.

OG Gens levels are kinda hit and miss, least for me. Just my opinion, but I only really liked about half of them. It has a 1:1 copy level in it. Rooftop run is exactly the same. Planet Wisp is also a drag, when it becomes 2d for most of the level.

Only thing I actually really don't like is the changes to og gens. As it's unnecessary and retroactively changes character's personalities. Doesn't help the voice acting is much worse too, but Shadow Gens doesn't have the same problem. Also the drop dash feels really half-baked. It should be at least as fast as a boost/spindash.

[Kibōchen]

Yeah, there is no excuse for the game being this short. Even though Shadow appeared in only a few games, much less a playable character, they could've brought stages from Sonic Riders, Rivals, Black Knight, etc. It'd be interesting to see a stage from those titles re-imagined with the franchise's current game design.

OR, include more than just one stage for each title. This wouldn't be as interesting, probably, but it'd be cool to play Green Forest and White Acropolis alongside ARK and Kingdom Valley respectively instead of relying on modders to eventually port them exactly as they appeared. I know Shadow Generations was technically announced earlier this year, but I don't feel like it was really worth the wait.

Also, why isn't Rouge in the Collection Room??

[Titan]

Originally posted by gruglas:

6 stages vs 9, take your pick because they're roughly the same quality. Doesn't help that 1 of the 5 is from Frontiers, lol.

Originally posted by ｃｏｏｌｄｏｗｎ:

This is not a let down at all. Definitely way better than og Gens.

6 Stages that are all longer than any of the stages from OG Generations and also feature some of the best level design Sonic Team has ever produced (much better even than the already good design from generations)? Yeah that's a pretty solid deal. Especially considering the 2D acts you complained about are also all incredibly well designed too.

This is the best 3D Sonic game and it isn't even a close competition. There isn't a huge amount of content here (not that generations was ever known for being a long game in the first place) but what's here is the absolute best quality we've seen from the series.

[Verax]

Originally posted by Children of the Omnissiah:

Originally posted by Verax:

This is an outright lie.... the Shadow side of the game is its own full game.

Sonic X Shadow Generations includes a full remastered version of Sonic Generations, and an entirely separate Shadow Generations game with newly redesigned zones, a reimagined hub world done in 3d instead of 2d (and it's pretty great ngl), and a combination of better, longer zones and then also many smaller challenge zones used to unlock boss zones. There's a lot of game here and a lot of it is NEW.

The game is graphically indistinguishable, I only ended up play for 45 minutes to find out I am halfway done with the shadow content, what a horrifically disingenuous appraisal of the game.

Literally every Sonic game can be beaten in a matter of hours, probably less if you're a perfect speedrunner. I don't think your estimate is honest here though tbh. Although I messed around redoing a few stages for S ratings-- I mostly went through the zones one after one without failing or wasting much time otherwise. So far I've played the game like 4 hours, mostly just Shadow side.

[Kibōchen]

Originally posted by Verax:

Originally posted by Children of the Omnissiah:

The game is graphically indistinguishable, I only ended up play for 45 minutes to find out I am halfway done with the shadow content, what a horrifically disingenuous appraisal of the game.

Literally every Sonic game can be beaten in a matter of hours, probably less if you're a perfect speedrunner.

Or... just good at the game? I beat this in less than 4 hours, and I was slow lmao

[Titan]

Originally posted by Verax:

Originally posted by Children of the Omnissiah:

The game is graphically indistinguishable, I only ended up play for 45 minutes to find out I am halfway done with the shadow content, what a horrifically disingenuous appraisal of the game.

Literally every Sonic game can be beaten in a matter of hours, probably less if you're a perfect speedrunner. I don't think your estimate is honest here though tbh. Although I messed around redoing a few stages for S ratings-- I mostly went through the zones one after one without failing or wasting much time otherwise. So far I've played the game like 4 hours, mostly just Shadow side.

Yeah lots of people complaining that you can beat the game in 2-3 hours if you just rush through all the main acts once as if that isn't exactly the case with OG generations. Both games are short individual playthroughs extended by collectibles and great replayablity.

[Renos]

man OP must hate colors then
that game is 2 acts then 4 filler levels per zone.