I'll join in.
Green Hill - No, the one in Generations is too much of a tutorial stage and manages to be even more basic than the original.
Chemical Plant - I'd say they're pretty even. I like things about both of them and they're pretty balanced in what I do and what I don't like.
Sky Sanctuary - Fuck yes, the original level was just a lame transitional level with a boss rush. I'll take an actual stage over that ANY day. This is actually a (well designed) level.
Metal Sonic Boss - I'd honestly say yes. Yes, the original is more "challenging", but the laser, spikes and Metal Sonic all together screamed "frustrating" rather than "difficult". I'd take the easy-ass battle over it any day, because it's more interesting.
Death Egg Boss - Fuck yes. The original was the cheapest piece of shit in my experience with Sonic game bosses. The collision detection was fucked to all hell and made the lack of rings in this stage frustrating to deal with. The new one may be much "easier", but to me, that makes it better. I'd even take the S4 version over the original, even though in some ways it's shittier (like having too many goddamn hit points).
Speed Highway - I'd honestly say yes. The original level was rather linear in some aspects, and the Generations version has even more paths, some being really awesome alternate paths, like switching from grinding on a rail to running on the side of a building. Some of the alternate routes are therefore really clever and fun to go through and find.
City Escape - Yes, the original version of this stage was a bit more linear. The new one has more open areas and quite a few interesting alternate routes, like the Mono Beetle homing attack chain that you have to time right to get by.
Seaside Hill - Yes, the original stage was full of linearity and stop-and-go gameplay where you were forced to switch team members, break obstacles, fly up to higher areas or across gaps, or kill a bunch of robots or destroy walls to proceed. The generations version is actually a consistently fast-enough-paced stage filled with interesting alternate routes, including skipping a whole bunch of the level by boosting over the water areas.
Shadow Boss - Yes, the original was rather badly done if you ask me. It took me YEARS to find out the strategy that works best in the original fight, because I thought I was supposed to light dash through him with the right timing to win. Iirc if you stayed far enough behind him (but not too far) he'll slow down and use his special move, which was the best opportunity to attack. With the new fight, I knew what I had to do: Boost, keep my ring count up, and get to the orbs before Shadow. Much better executed in terms of knowing what the hell you're supposed to do.
Perfect Chaos - The original had a bit more of a randomized challenge element, what with dodging the lasers, while the only thing that will probably kill you in the new one is bottomless pits, I thought it was much better executed and a lot more fun, much less dull too.
Crisis City - Yes, there's no contest here. The original was a glitchy mess that required the use of a broken homing attack, and springs didn't lock your movement so if you moved at all during a jump you tended to fall into a bottomless pit. The grinding and rail switching was also shitty in the original, and the boarding part was badly done. The mach speed area was the most frustrating one in the game, with the worst offense being the camera, which changes abruptly. The new version of the stage doesn't have as many grind rails (which is a good thing), the homing attack actually works in this game, and there are a bunch of interesting alternate paths to boot. Still a bit bottomless pit heavy, though.
Rooftop Run - Yes, the original stages of Unleashed all shared the same problems for me basically, and Generations Rooftop Run fixed those problems. I love how they sacrificed length to add more depth to the stage. There was more routes, and less linearity/boost areas. And of course, no QTE boosters, ramps, no sun/moon medals, and Sonic's controls being fine-tuned for easier control all helped make the stage much better for me. I also loved how they added the flying blimp to the end of the stage.
Planet Wisp - Well, honestly, there are things I like and hate about both stages. They're pretty even, but I like them both.
Silver Boss - FUCK YES. I don't even need to explain how shitty the original was. My only problem with the new one is that if you're out of boost at the end of the fight, it's harder to catch up to and homing attack Silver, making the fight much harder to win at the worst possible time.
Egg Dragoon - Yes, I fucking hate the werehog and QTEs in games, so the Generations version is infinitely superior in every way. It' actually a fight, for one god-damned thing! The original was a button-masher followed by a movie that you press buttons to get the good ending to!
All in all, Generations was very much an improvement over almost everything for me. I bet my opinion will be controversial and be mocked. "o u suk @ teh original boss fights ur so bad u have 2 have it ez to win" for example.
This post has been edited by Shade Vortex: 13 February 2012 - 01:42 AM
