RipTen Review: Sonic Generations (3DS)

We recently spoke at considerable length about Sonic the Hedgehog’s latest outing, the 20th anniversary celebrating Sonic Generations. As such, that makes covering the Nintendo 3DS version a little bit easier (and probably less wordy, but we’ll see).

Traditionally speaking, there are two ways to bring a console title to a portable platform: one is to essentially try to bring the exact same experience to the latter, lopping off any extraneous parts or limbs as necessary due to technological limitations. The other is to all but forget what has gone into the console version, and essentially build something new from the ground up which delivers the same basic idea, but in a form better suited to the less-powerful hardware.

Sonic Generations hits somewhere between the two ideals, though closer to the latter– at least where gameplay is concerned. The story is the same as the one seen in the console version, and much of the dialogue is replicated verbatim, though without the voice acting of the console version. There are little sound bytes as each character’s sequence of word balloons begins, but much of the dialogue falls comparatively flat without the voices to deliver them.

Hey, say what you want about Sonic and the rest, but Mike Pollock’s Eggman is an absolute joy to listen to. You can tell that he must be having a great time voicing the role, and it’s a shame not to have it here, especially when we’re certain the Nintendo 3DS could more than adequately handle it.

Way Better Than English

As we were saying, the story is mostly the same, only now, none of Sonic’s friends appear, save for Tails. Well, Shadow and Silver appear, too, if one were to include their appearances as bosses– but more on those later.

The cutscenes used to tell the story also lack the… well, everything of the console version. If there is one thing SEGA can do well with Sonic, it’s computer-animated cutscenes. But instead of those, or even stills from the console version, the Nintendo 3DS version basically has the characters standing and talking against static backgrounds which they don’t even look like they are able to interact with.

This is worsened when the scene in question involves more than just talking; it would be all but impossible to guess what the characters are doing if not for them telling you. And even then, near the end of the game, there is at least one event which happens that we’re still not entirely sure of what happened– that one does differ from the console version, and they don’t really bother to explain, though you still get the general idea of what went on.

Heck, you don’t even get a cool transformation sequence for Super Sonic (no, that’s not a spoiler… not if you’ve ever played through most any Sonic game before).

It’s disappointing because we’re pretty sure SEGA can do better than this. Shoot, get the guys at Archie to draw up some cut scenes next time.

Anyway, despite this disappointment– which may not even matter to you, and is easily skippable for those who don’t care why a blue hedgehog needs to run really, really fast through colorful stages– the game is actually pretty good. And, depending on your view of the frequently over-the-shoulder Modern Sonic style presented in the console version, this version could even surpass it.

The reason for that is because, for the most part, gameplay in the Nintendo 3DS version is entirely 2D, or at least 2.5D in some parts. Ironic, given the system, we know. But Classic Sonic plays as the Blue Blur did during the heyday of the SEGA Genesis, and Modern Sonic feels like a cross between the side-scrolling portions of Modern Sonic on the console, and the gameplay of Sonic Rush, minus the mid-air stunts.

That said, there are some 3D portions, but they are exceedingly rare. These are relegated to some rail-grinding, special “escape” sequences, such as where Sonic runs towards the player as a giant totem pole comes falling down behind him, and the Sonic the Hedgehog 2-styled (or more accurately, as we’ve more recently been told, Sonic Heroes-styled) special stages.

These special stages appear after both Sonics clear their respective portions of a zone, and there are seven in all (as there are seven Chaos Emeralds to obtain). If you want to see the end of the game, then you must complete them.

Fortunately, these special stages are not nearly as difficult as those seen in past Sonic titles. At first we thought they would be, as we believed the goal to be to collect as many colored orbs (in lieu of rings) as possible to get the Chaos Emerald. Instead, these actually fuel your boost meter, with which you must keep up with the Chaos Emerald in order to get it.

Special stages have always been the bane of this reviewer’s Sonic experiences, and he has never succeeded in gathering all seven within any game; one or two, at the most. But this time out, he was able to acquire all seven with ease, and had a blast doing it. And like other stages in the game, you can improve your score and rank by going back to them and doing even better.

As for the main portion of the game, things have been streamlined considerably. Rather than a large, interactive hub, you select your stages from a menu, while other features– challenges, unlockables, etc.– are separated into their own game modes.

The lineup of stages differs from the console version as well, though not in the way many had hoped. Being a handheld title, there were fans who had hoped that this version of Generations would take its stages from Sonic’s Game Gear, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, and PlayStation Portable appearances. But, for the most part, that isn’t the case, and the majority of stages come from console titles.

Though both share unique versions of the Green Hill Zone, that is the only one they have in common. Sonic 2‘s Chemical Plant Zone is replaced by the Casino Night Zone, Sonic & Knuckles‘ Hidden Palace Zone is replaced by the Mushroom Hill Zone, and once again, Sonic 3 is left out entirely, unless you’re willing to count it and Sonic & Knuckles as one game.

Things continue with Sonic Adventure‘s Speed Highway being replaced by the Emerald Coast and Sonic Adventure 2‘s City Escape being replaced by Radical Highway. After that, though, things veer wildly away from the pattern established in the console version.

Gone are the remakes of levels from Sonic Heroes, 2006′s Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic Unleashed, and Sonic Colors for the Wii; in their place are a humble two zones, with Water Temple representing Sonic Rush and Tropical Resort representing Sonic Colors for the Nintendo DS. It’s an interesting trade-off, to say the least, though it is unfortunate that the number of stages seems to have been dictated by the number of Chaos Emeralds.