Sonic X Shadow Generations thread, movie level out now

I highly recommend diving into our own Frontiers thread, scrolling back to fall 2022 when it came out. Chaos Island isn't devoid of cool stuff, it's just that the layout and progression are confusing and the thing is covered wall-to-wall in invisible, linear 2D section triggers that are annoying to escape from if you enter one accidentally, and even if you don't, it means you have to deal with Frontiers' 2D controls, which are very not-great. It's just not where Kronos, Ares or Ouranos are in terms of solid core gameplay and structure, which can make it a drag. Like Blue Blood said, Shadow Generations worked magic with the setting to craft a fun linear stage

 

General consensus seems to be yes, Chaos Island is not liked in Frontiers. It's an arse to navigate because it's never clear how to get from A to B and it frequently forces you into 2D sections for no good reason.

Look up any commentary or discussion on the game and you'll see complaints abouts that section.

 

Chaos Island Generations gets my award for “most improved” level. I’m glad they used it. It also covers the volcano trope.

 

Hmm. I get the complaints, but I thought that the part that was the most pain in the ass to traverse was the second island, there's a bit that's far away from the rest of the map that's very annoying to get to. And the different elevations in the canyons were also annoying to deal with. Pretty much every island after the first one has their frustration points, but I thought Chaos was where the game was really hitting its stride with fun platforming sections. Was Chaos the island with the weird big bridge that's pulled up and for a long time you don't know what to do to unlock it? I guess that was probably my biggest frustration with it.

Curiosity saciated without a big derail, thank you!

 

While I do think Chaos Island was a very weird choice, it was the best choice to pick from Frontiers.

Three islands are just grass and one island is just sand. They worked in Frontiers, and I played that game a lot, but I'm not sure they would have worked in Generations.
Chaos Island is, at least, more visually interesting.

 

Chaos Island, in both name and aesthetic, fits Shadow more than any other area from that game. If their goal was to repurpose assets, that was probably the best choice lol

 

I feel like boiling down Ares to "just sand" is a disservice to the locations and features it contains. You have a billion choices of specific canyon formations, an explosive cactus garden, oasis areas, the site of an ancient war, various shrines and inverted architecture (aesthetically shared by Chaos) and your choice of Eggman equipment and all the other platforms and such. It's my favorite for a reason.

Even the other islands have specific biomes and villiages and gravesites and flower gardens. Even if they share a lot there's still unique stuff. (I don't even think they ended up using everything for Chaos either, I don't think we went to the ice caps or fighting a bunch of the different enemies like Spider or the Bird which would have been really cool to see Shadow fight.)

 

It is weird that there isn't a single sand level in either Generations game, when there are a few options for it. Especially when we get like three tropical levels and five urban levels.

 

They were saving it all for Sand Hill

 

Technically, Mephiles' boss fight takes place in Dusty Desert, but I get your point. Though I'd say there's still plenty of sand to be found in both games (beach sand, volcanic sand, etc.)

 

https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:bhqrrxt7yyfpwguioa7rwa7x/post/3lioxq6xkoc2w?ref_src=embed

Sonic game at top 10 for 4 months in a row in the US, this is unprecedented.

 

Nice! Happy to see it a success, it’s a great game.

 

Shadow haters in a shambles

 

Really happy to see it do well.

First "great" Sonic game in a long while in my eyes.

 

Nuts that it’s better than just about every other 3D Sonic game, period. I stopped playing it for a while but the levels really are a treat to go back through. They have more depth and are more interesting than the original Generations.

 

This game is in my top 3 3D Sonics: SA1, Unleashed, and this, and they're all so different that I wouldn't even really rank them.

 

I haven't gone back because other games (and other stuff) are keeping me busy, but the levels are just really really good.

I think even Chaos Island, while probably my least favourite, is still really good, especially after getting used to Morph. I really like the shortcuts there.

I really really want a game with this good level design (and control), but with original levels that also have some personality beyond "grass level", "sand level", "vulcano level".

I think this game (specifically Shadow and Sonic Gens) is also in my top 3 3D Sonics: SA1, Sonic/Shadow Gens, SA2.

 

This is a weird take, but when Shadow smiles at the end he looks more like Sonic to me than he ever has before.

 

Just 100% the whole package including achievements, and looking at mods, I'm surprised no one's attempted a Right There, Ride On restoration yet. Guessing it's just relative freshness of the release or maybe that darn HE2 (or whatever engine) audio stuff again or something. FWIW I don't know jack about the modding situation.

 

I don't think people care enough about the new Generations version to even swap out one of its audio tracks. (It might also be possible the replacement file is shared with Shadow Generations too?)