The first level in Sonic Generations is just like the original Sonic games, except it is now in 3d. You travel along through a lush green level with familiar controls that allow you to jump or launch yourself in a fast ball. The level is short, but based upon the original sonic levels and it shows throughout. There are tons of different paths, secrets and a bunch of annoying enemies strategically placed in your path. Unfortunately, the level ends without you fighting any epic old school boss fights against Robotnik. The second level starts out the same in a lush green environment except you quickly find that it turns fully 3d as you launch yourself down a spiraling ramp that is exactly like the race levels from Sonic Adventure, except now they flawlessly move between side scrolling and third person. The high speed racing even changes up the gameplay mechanics to be more like Sonic Adventure, making it so you lock onto enemies and can launch into them in succession. You also build up a boost by destroying enemies and the boost makes things go from very fast to insanely fast. The level goes by far too quickly but all of racing elements are very enjoyable, especially for fans of Sonic Adventure.

This is the first Sonic game in a very long time that is getting anything better than awful reviews, IGN even gave it a 8.5, so I have a lot of hope for this. My girlfriend and I both enjoy Sonic quite a lot and I love the feel of Sonic Generations, it meshes the new and old so well. The game looks to be fairly short, but it has a lot of unlockables to make up for it. You can also play the game through with new sonic or old sonic, which can be seen on the main website. My one big grip about the game is the lack of co-op, something that most of Sonic games contained, especially the older great ones. You can check out the short demo on XBLA or PSN and the game will be coming out tomorrow for consoles. Check out the gameplay video and screenshots.  Thanks for reading, I'm off to go power through the last three chapters of Uncharted 3 so I may bring you a review by it's release tomorrow. 

Main Website: http://www.sega.com/games/sonic-generations

IGN PS3 Review: http://ps3.ign.com/articles/121/1211001p2.html
Videogamer.com Review


-Written by Sean Cargle