Sonic X Shadow Generations Review: More of a Good Thing

Sonic X Shadow Generations at a Glance

Sonic Generations is weird to look back on. At the time, it felt like a new beginning for Sonic following the solid duo of Sonic Unleashed (the daytime levels, at least) and Colors. Succeeding it, however, we endured a run of Sonic games (arguably) worse than ever before with Lost World, Forces, and the disaster that was Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric (not the TV series, that ruled). Fortunately, 13 years later, Sonic Generations is still the highlight of the series, and Sega has made it even better this time around.

Rather than an extended port of the original game Sonic X Shadow Generations is effectively two games in one. Think of it as Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury. Once you boot the game up, you’ll be given a selection menu between the two games; there’s no connection between the games. Our full Sonic X Shadow Generations review goes over all you need to know about this hotly anticipated remaster and expansion.

Blue Blast From the Past

Fundamentally, Sonic Generations is the game you remember from 2011. You take versions of modern and classic Sonic through a total of 18 levels from Sonic’s history (nine per character). These are split into three eras: Genesis with a level from the first three Sonic games, Dreamcast with the Adventure duology and Heroes, and, finally, the then-modern era consisting of Sonic 06, Unleashed, and Colors.

Sonic Generations’ biggest talent at release was creating chicken salad out of the rest of that analogy. Given that it was pulling levels from all of Sonic’s history, it meant that some of the rougher entries had to be represented. And yet weaker Sonic games like Sonic Unleashed and Sonic 06 ended up having the best levels in the game.

The stage curation itself is fantastic, too; obviously, you’ll need to have Green Hill Zone, Chemical Plant, and City Escape from the first two games and Adventure 2, respectively, but the other games have fantastic pulls like Speed Highway from Sonic Adventure, Sonic 06’s Crisis City, and the standout of the game – Rooftop Run from Sonic Unleashed. The only stage I would object to is Sonic Heroes’ Seaside Hill, as it felt like one too many opening levels, but that’s still a banger.

Just like before, Sonic Generation’s weakest point is not only how short it is (you could probably finish it in about 3 hours) but that it doesn’t stick the landing. The final level – based on Planet Wisp from Sonic Colors – feels like a massive step down in quality from the rest of the game and is a massive slog. Meanwhile, the final boss (The Time Eater) is atrocious. Sonic games have a checkered past with boss fights, but this one feels like a definitive low point.

All of this still applies to the remaster; the only real differences are extremely minor. Both Sonic iterations now have access to the Drop Dash move introduced in Sonic Mania, and the controls have been changed around to more closely resemble Sonic Frontiers, but that’s it for mechanics. There are other small changes, like differences in the script (Knuckles no longer comments on Classic Sonic’s weight) and music changes (Metal Sonic now uses the original version of Stardust Speedway rather than the Generations remix). Plus, there are now three hidden Chao to save in every level to make that 100% completion a touch longer.

All Hail Shadow

The real meat of this release is, of course, Shadow Generations. This story takes place concurrently with Sonic Generations as you take on the role of Shadow, who has been sucked into the white space at the same time as Sonic. However, since he wasn’t on earth at the time, he ends up in a different part of it. Once he’s there, he discovers that Black Doom (from 2005’s Shadow the Hedgehog) is inhabiting this world and is looking to take control of Shadow once more.

The core of the Shadow Generations gameplay is very similar to that of Sonic Generations. As Shadow, you’ll go through six levels based on previous Sonic titles, with Act 1 playing in 3D and Act 2 playing in 2D (although there’s no Classic Shadow, you’ll have the same abilities in both). These are primarily based on games that Shadow featured, like his debut in Sonic Adventure 2 and supporting roles in Sonic Heroes and Sonic 06 (once again the highlight with the excellent Kingdom Valley stage). However, Sega has decided not to leave out the games released after the original Generations, with levels based on Sonic Forces and Sonic Frontiers also included.

Sonic Frontiers is the biggest head-scratcher, however, as Shadow didn’t appear in that game at all. I’m not complaining that it’s in there, but it opens up the question of why Sonic Team didn’t go further. Why not add levels from games that missed out on the original release? Outside of the Metal Sonic rival fight, there’s no representation from Sonic CD and nothing from the likes of Sonic Mania (Studiopolis would’ve been so cool).

[Su_note] Strangely, there’s no level from Shadow the Hedgehog, which is a bit weird considering the premise of this borrows heavily from that game. We could have gotten an incredible stage based on Westopolis, Iron Jungle, Lethal Highway, Cryptic Castle, or Death Ruins, but this didn’t happen. [/su_note]

Shadow’s biggest change is that he has access to his own moveset. You’ll start out with his iconic Chaos Control, which allows you to stop time. This works well for combat as you’ll be able to stop enemies from attacking, but its real strength lies in its utility. In Space Colony Ark, for example, you’ll be able to stop time to use the incoming missiles as a platform to reach a new area of the level.

Shadow also gains access to new Doom Powers as the adventure progresses, such as Doom Surf, which allows him to travel across water, and Doom Blast, which allows you to launch enemies into the air and open up new shortcuts and pathways by launching them across the level.

The most surprising part about Shadow Generations is the White Space hub itself. While in Sonic Generations, this was just a 2D plane with nothing to it, Shadow Generations opens it up to be a full playground. To bring back the Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury analogy for a second, many commenters assume that Bowser’s Fury acted as a bit of a test for what open-world Mario could be. This feels like the exact same thing for Sonic, except Frontiers already came out. The White Space, of course, has the level gates we’ve come to expect, but Sonic Team has stuffed it with secrets and platforming challenges, so even when you aren’t playing the levels, there’s something to do in Shadow Generations.

Having something else to do is a good thing, as just like the original game, Shadow Generations is pretty short, too. It follows the same formula: beat the stages, get boss keys, fight the boss to unlock more of the world. However, unlike Sonic Generations – which only required you to do one extra challenge per level to get a key – in Shadow, you’ll need to do two extra challenges per act. Thankfully. these are generally fun spins on the level and nothing as tedious as the Knuckles challenges from the original – and you don’t have to play Ping-Pong with Vektor, either.

Plot-wise, Shadow Generations isn’t afraid to dig into fanservice. Just like in Sonic’s story, you’ll save characters each time you complete both acts of a level, with those who missed out on the original release making an appearance this time (like a certain big character).

The Bottom Line

Sonic X Shadow Generations is a remaster of one of the best Sonic the Hedgehog games ever made, so on that merit alone, it’s already a winner. However, the Shadow Generations portion of the game surprised us. It could’ve been simply more Sonic Generations, and we’d be happy, but it’s a surprisingly ambitious pseudo-sequel to the classic Sonic game that probably could’ve been released by itself if it wasn’t as short as it was.

However, the issues found in the original Sonic Generations, like the length, Planet Wisp, and the bad bosses, still persist. Plus, it would’ve been nice to get a few extra levels thrown in there for good measure.

Sonic X Shadow Generations release date is scheduled for October 25, 2024, so there isn’t long left to wait until you can play the game on PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PC. However, if you really can’t wait, you can buy the Digital Deluxe Edition to get access tomorrow (October 22, 2024).

You can get a Sonic X Shadow Generations pre-order through PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo eShop, Steam, and the Epic Games store. The standard edition will cost you $49.99 with the Deluxe Digital Edition retailing for $59.99.

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