Sonic the Hedgehog seems to be in the middle of a streak of good luck, since his most recent releases have been a success, so much so that they have inspired movies and more. Today Sonic remains one of the most iconic characters in the world of video games and today a new member joins the list of Sonic’s successes, we are talking about the great Sonic X Shadow Generations.
Sonic and Shadow surprise with the great Sonic x Shadow Generations
Sonic x Shadow Generations is undoubtedly a remaster of 2011’s Sonic Generations, but now, to celebrate the character a bit as well as having his first big screen appearance thanks to the upcoming Sonic the Hedgehog 3 movie, Sega has added an all-new campaign for Shadow the Hedgehog that can be played side-by-side. As well as releasing DLC to tie in with the movie, though it won’t be available until December.
For starters we have the classic Generations a game that many of us have already tried, the truth is that there are not so significant changes, but the work that went into making this remastering was certainly extensive and is appreciated, since deep remastering work. There are new additions such as new sketches and illustrations to unlock and the possibility of doing Drop Dash (accelerate when falling), the ability that since its debut in Sonic Mania has been added retroactively to every blue hedgehog game.
On the other hand, we have Shadow Generations, which maintains a very similar gameplay style to the great Sonic adventures, but Shadow’s world is very different, with a darker tone and several very familiar enemies and bosses that match the environment, in particular the great villain, Black Doom. The big difference between the games is Shadow’s Doom powers, which are unlocked as you progress. These include such useful features as a quintuple explosion, the ability to throw enemies, and much more.
The other major difference in Shadow’s playground is its central world. Instead of a classic 2D game, which is apparently inspired by the great Sonic Frontiers, it offers a place to play around with those new powers as you unlock them and also to get some useful bonuses in chests over time.
Both games offer different ways to play, that’s more than clear, so speed will be everything in these games, well up to a point, as you can slow the pace down to often uncover some of the more ingenious setups and hidden joys of the level designers. While Sonic Generations drew on 20 years of nostalgia as a celebration of the series up to that point, Shadow doesn’t have that same luxury, with only a handful of starring roles, its campaign is more of a character reintroduction that adds to an existing game.
Sega may feel that Shadow simply wasn’t strong enough on his own to carry a full game, but thanks to the love and eagerness to see him on the big screen, it was certainly a wise move to add him to this new release of our blue friend.
Sonic X Shadow Generations is a sure bet for anyone who loves Sonic.
It’s a great value package that offers two challenging games that look stunning, and while we’ve seen one of them before, we’ve never seen it look this good or play this well. There was a time back when the blue hedgehog’s games went off the rails quite a bit, but in recent times, Sonic Team and their trusted allies have really gotten the career of our beloved blue friend and his friends back on track.