camera and perspective shifts. My generation was happy with running to the right, really

really fast, grabbing rings and chaos emeralds on the way. My generation knew - or thought

it knew - what blast processing was. My generation may have been kinda stupid in this regard.

My generation was left behind by the shift of the Sonic the Hedgehog series to a 3D,

three-quarter overhead view. My generation has been complaining ever since. But I’m

only talkin’ ‘bout my generation. There’s been a whole generation for whom this style

of gameplay is fine and dandy, and for those who grew up in this generation, any vestiges

of the last generation are unacceptable and archaic.

So what’s a blue hedgehog with ‘tude to do?

Simple. Encounter a time-consuming demidiety being controlled by his archnemisis, which

shatters the very fabric of spacetime and collapses all points in the Sonic mythos into

one flat white plane, thus bringing together two separate iterations of said hedgehog,

all Back-to-the-Future-style. Rather than creating a paradox, though (as presumably

the entire game happens within paradox space, or at the very least some time-compressed

world a la Final Fantasy VIII) the two are able to coexist, and in fact are the key to

restoring order to the chunks of temporal debris littering the “hub” plane, if you

will. By being very fast, and presumably introducing relativistic distortion into the nine areas

displaced from their native chronologies, color and vibrancy are returned and the tangent

characters - ranging from Tails and Knuckles to the C-list of the Sonic pantheon like Vector

the Crocodile and Charmy the Bee - are rescued from the state of stasis left in the wake

of this... thing.

… Wow. That’s a whole lot to swallow. Let me try to simplify things... even faster.

Each of the game’s nine zones are split into two acts: the first of which is an old-school

2D Sonic experience, with none of the broken jump physics that plagued Sonic 4 Episode

1. If you haven’t played a game in this franchise since Sonic and Knuckles - and you

wouldn’t be wholly unjustified in that regard - you will be immediately at ease with this

reinterpretation. There are 3D elements involved, mostly having to do with foreground-to-background

shifts and some shiny camera effects - but the net result is exactly the same: You run

to the right as fast as possible and try not to die. The second acts, though, explore the

same terrain through the lens of a new era - the Sonic Adventure-style, “camera behind

the runner” model. As such, these acts play by that more recent rulebook, including homing

jumps, 3D platforming, and the occasional confounding viewpoint or unexpected turn that

flips your controls around at a moment’s notice and poses the most vicious threat to

your survival. The sense of speed is greater, it’s true, but with great freedom comes

great possibility that everything could break down at a moment’s notice if you fail to

hold the control stick in the correct direction following a particularly ambiguous camera

angle.

Upon completing both acts, the zone is liberated and the color - and animation of your emprisoned

cohort - are restored. Complete the three zones in each sector, and that sector’s

challenge stages - five to a zone - are unlocked. You must complete one challenge in each zone,

in either 2D or 3D, to obtain entry to the boss’s domain, thus allowing you to give

preference to your more comfortable mode of gameplay. The three major boss battles - as

well as “rival” competitions against Metal Sonic, Shadow, and Silver - Each yield a chaos

emerald apiece, as these gems are no longer the sign of a thorough and dominant playthrough

but a mere plot point.

From one side to the other, original canon to Sonic Colors, the game feels like a concession

to the bifurcated nature of the series itself. Rather than placate one constituency at the

cost of another, Sega have managed to combine both styles into a middle road worth travelling,

if only for a short time. The story itself tasks veteran speedsters for a mere sitting,

though there’s much more to explore and every time can be improved, if only by a fraction

of a second. Despite the frequency at which you may find yourself travelling faster than

it, though, the sound is impeccable. The whole experience has a veneer of classicism, from

the heavy leaning on a more refined violin sound to the “Why didn’t we think of this

before” flute showcase that is the new Chemical Plant zone. And in a rare - if unprecedented

- twist for a US release, the game not only includes a competent English dub - save for

the mute Classic Sonic, of course - not only a bilingual release, but an all-out, hexalingual

vocal performance, bundling in the French, German, Spanish, and Italian dubs as well.

Sonic has seen its ups and downs throughout his storied heritage, from being the first

to pose a threat to Mario’s dominance to his later status as beleaguered, washed-up

icon with a rabid and unpleasable fanbase. Sonic Generations represents an attempt to

merge these two factions with one big s-s-sensation that everyone can get behind. And when it’s

travelling that fast, there’s plenty of room behind it. Put down your hate and enjoy

it... I’m gonna go pass out.