I watched a demo of Sonic Generations today, where Sega showed off the game’s dual personalities. Players will bounce between two versions of Sonic, classic and modern, and he’ll race through levels tailored for the era from which he’s from. The odd thing was that the person giving the demo kept referring to a certain bad guy, who she wouldn’t name. Really?
During the Q&A portion, I asked if classic Sonic would be calling Dr. Robotnik his actual name instead of that lame Eggman thing. The response? Feigned surprise and a little chiding for making assumptions about the game. Apparently, Sonic Generations could very well be the first game in the whole franchise to not have Dr. Robotnik/Eggman as an adversary.
Yeah, right.
If Sega is keeping this a secret for a later reveal, this will rank among the worst secrets of all time. Dr. Robotnik is round and has goggles and a huge mustache. He drives stupid contraptions that float around and explode. That’s how it always is, and that’s how it always will be. Unless he’s a werewolf now or something.
Anyway, Sonic Generations’ 2D sections look gorgeous, and they feature some clever level designs. It seems as though Sega completely gets what made old-school Sonic great in these sections, with multiple paths and interesting environments. Speed has certainly been a huge part of the series, but it used to be a solid platformer as well. At least half of Sonic Generations is a step in the right direction.
The levels with modern Sonic look terrible in comparison. The gameplay isn’t fluid like 2D Sonic, but is instead a constant grind of overwhelming speed and then dead stopping as the hedgehog slams into a wall or other obstacle. If you’re a fan of this kind of jerky gameplay, then maybe you’ll get a kick out of these portions.
I understand that people might think it’s unfair to directly compare those two different gameplay styles. The thing is, Sega is jamming it in our faces, practically daring us not to. Sonic even has to navigate the same levels twice, though they’ve been redesigned to take advantage of their respective Sonic’s strengths. For modern Sonic, that means speed boosts, midair slides, and the solace of knowing that if you keep pressing up it’ll be over soon enough.