Sonic X Shadow Generations thread, movie level out now

Shadow Generations is easily one of, if not THE most consistent and fully realized 3D Sonic game, period. Say what you want about the game’s length, but just about everything in it is quality and feels cohesive.

Desperately hoping Sonic Team learn from this game and create something of the same quality, but on a grander scale.

 

While I like Gens Planet Wisp for how large and expansive it is with so many possible paths you can take, it still leaves a sour taste in my mouth playing it. It's also extremely anti-climactic as a final stage, and I would have rather the Colours choice be Asteroid Coaster.

 

I agree, Classic Planet Wisp is worse, but I meant that overall both levels of Crisis City make for the least amount of fun in Generations.

Planet Wisp right above it only because I think the Modern level is actually a really great stage

 

They picked Tropical Resort for the 3DS version haha. While the remix there IS very good, it's a terrible final stage.

 

Sonic Generations 3DS is just a neat album with a game as bonus.


I like how we got a monitor in a boost (ish?) Sonic game. Also, last time we got a monitor in a 3D Sonic game (without counting Classic Sonic stages in Sonic Generations) was in Sonic 2006.

I appreciate as well both 10-rings ring and 10 rings monitor are coexisting, lol.

 

Lost World, actually. The HD version just only used them for that wing skip thing, though the 3DS version had the real deal. Before that was also Unleashed Wii/PS2.

 

Couldn't agree more I love how act 1 is 3D and then act 2 plays in 2D. Also have to say Doom Surf is awesome LOL

 

I agree. The only thing in Planet Wisp that gives off final level vibes is the factory and sawblades, really. Asteroid Coaster would be such a good choice, also it would be the only space level in the game (not counting the Shadow fight). Even though I would have loved Aquarium Park to be the Colors level here, Asteroid Coaster makes more sense. Also, Planet Wisp looks a bit too much like a Green Hill level, which we already have the actual Green Hill, and Seaside Hill. At least we did not get four grassy hill levels, which I can't say the same for the city levels.

 

wouldn't be an issue with Naganuma (otherwise we'd have no Rush tracks anywhere), but I strongly suspect issues with the rightholders for the samples. Especially since I heard that supposedly Naganuma didn't clear said samples before using them in his tracks, which tends to piss a lot of music lawyers off lol

like, in electronic music you'd be surprised how often demos are changed between then and the final due to being unable to clear samples for legal use, or how many samples aren't actually taken from source but are re-recorded and are thus legally distinct.

Pendulum's Slam is an example of the former - it originally had a completely different structure that was taken up by this neat audiobook sample that they just couldn't clear - and Knife Party's Resistance is an example of the latter - the "THIS is a knife" is not a sample from Crocodile Dundee but someone they had paid to re-enact the line read for the song.

 

Around 4:40

And 10:51

and 12:46

 

I don't mind Planet Wisp being the final level. I understand the sentiment that the atmosphere is too unusually serene for a last stage, but for an anniversary game it was the most iconic level from Colors in my mind. I really just loved Planet Wisp's whole vibe, from the concept to the music. Asteroid Coaster was for sure the most sinister level theme in Colors but it was also the least memorable for me by a long shot. I often forget it was in the game at all, actually. What really just bums me out about the Gens Planet Wisp is just how hard they leaned into the wisps. After the long road of the game it doesn't feel like a culmination of your skills, but a bunch of new ones clumsily thrown at you.

 

I thoroughly enjoyed Shadow Generations. Absolutely the most I’ve enjoyed 3D Sonic levels since the Adventure series.

Some things I liked:

The white space hub world is great! I love this as a concept going forward with Sonic games. I do wish it had more of a theme/direction though instead of just a lifeless void (I get that the intention was to match the white space theme of Sonic Generations and that this was the whole point, just personally not a huge fan of the theming). I think in future games, a hybrid of this and the Adventure hub worlds would be awesome. i.e. actual city/forest/etc to explore with NPCs living and moving around but with actual platforming challenges scattered throughout

The level design is great, it seems like I always get rewarded for jumping in any direction, and always have some object/enemy/rail or something to lock onto to continue to launch forward in the level. The replayability potential here is enormous.

The moments of spectacle/automation didn't overstay their welcome, and looked really awesome (some parts of Sunset Heights especially). I think it added to the overall feeling of exhilaration this game provides.


The main gripes I have with this game are more just rooting from the overall tiredness I have from some of the mainstays of the boost formula, such as:

Slidey/imprecise controls and physics - The more open level design and hub world sort of expose how difficult it is to precisely land on a platform, or simply get to a certain area in general unless I’m taking the exact predetermined path that was built for me to get there. A prime example of this is how slippery it can be to get some of the bolts in the hub world, as they’re placed in areas that a spring/rail/ramp won’t drop you exactly on.

Rail jumping - I’m personally just tired of the mechanic. The general gameplay mechanic of hopping horizontally between 3-5 parallel paths to avoid obstacles is getting stale to me. Not only has it been in most Sonic games since ’08, but it’s also used in so many mobile games (think Temple Run, Subway Surfers, Neon Drive, etc.). I think of this as filler. Rail Canyon is the exception to me, because it’s the literal theme of the level and there’s some interesting gimmicks used, but it seems arbitrary in the other levels.

I could go on longer about how tired I am of boosting in general, and not being able to use the level environments to gain momentum and speed, etc but that’s not unique to this game, and I think this game actually made a lot of strides forward.


Misc observations:

I love how fluid it feels to launch into the air after bouncing off the balloons in Chaos Island (similar to the balloons in Rooftop Run). Would gameplay feel be improved if these physics were applied to most badniks and targetable objects in the game? Curious what others think

I’m conflicted on the 2D acts. Part of me thinks we should be able to expect a fully 3D game in 2024, but I actually had a lot of fun with the 2D acts in this game. Also curious what others think.

 

I think SEGA was sleeping at Starlight Carnival, but okay.

 

So I'm at Chemical Plant 2 on the Sonic side and I actually get why reviewers were docking points for the package including this game. Holy shit is it tough going from Shadow to Sonic. Everything is stiff and the degree of precision needed in light of that is unreasonable. I have already lost count of the amount of times I've restarted trying to get the first shortcut and this just wouldn't be a problem if this game controlled the way Shadow Generations does.

Also I want to strangle whoever decided on the button mapping setup for this game. Mapped quick step to the right stick for a more ergonomic experience and apparently that just deprives me the ability to end trick combos since you need to press both quick step buttons simultaneously to do so...something I clearly can't do.

 

Not being able to air boost backward unless you do a jump dash beforehand is really annoying especially in 2D, Frontiers and now Shadow Gens made the right call in effectively merging them together into a more versatile move.
I’d say one of the worst things about the Sonic Gens’ physics is how you’ll slide against walls, this makes sense for sides of corridors and is fine there but you’ll easily get slid off into bottomless pits when they apply to anything else that’s forward facing.

It’s neat seeing them back in homing attack chains too, always seemed silly that the boost games avoided using at least using them that way.

 

For the life of me I don't understand how they expect you to quickstep while boosting when boost is on the right trigger. I've been thinking, if they're going to continue with this gameplay style/control scheme for the next game, they could change quickstep to just one button where you hold the left bumper to go into "quickstep mode" and from there you use the analogue stick to move left or right. I think this is kind of how the Wii version of Unleashed did it when you used the Wiimote. Maybe that might just end up feeling clumsy in execution.

 

Sonic Frontiers and Shadow Generations have proven there’s no need for a quick step if you just have tight character handling instead. It’s honestly baffling that it took 14 years for that to be figured out.

 

Middle finger on the trigger, index finger on the bumper?

 

That sounds really annoying. What's the issue with having left and right be bumpers being quick step? That's pretty intuitive.

 

Quick step on the analogue stick isn't a good fit. Colours and Forces both do it, and the analogue stick is too slow and imprecise for the job. But the reason for wanting to move it quick step off the bumpers is because it's difficult and uncomfortable to quick step whilst also boosting with the right trigger.

Solution: Get rid of the boost and the quick step.



Ahem... Boost is far better being on a trigger that it is on any of the face buttons, and I don't want to move it back to the west face button as in hands before Frontiers. But the quick step being awkward to use is a real issue now. ShGens is the game since the quick step was introduced to actually do something interesting though. You can now hold the quick step buttons to slide in the respective direction far more precisely than the old fashioned lane-switching use it's been limited to previously. I'd be lying if I said that I didn't like the move this time around.

I'm not sure what the ideal solution is, but I'm genuinely inclined to say just get rid of the fucking boost already. It's slower than ever in ShGens anyway, and to me only feels like a hindrance to other potential design. What purpose is the boost serving now?