[Review] Sonic x Shadow Generations

System: Switch
Release date: October 25, 2024
Developer: Sonic Team
Publisher: SEGA

The original release of 2011’s Sonic Generations felt as much like recompense as it did celebration. The unsteady gait that Sonic had developed since his switch to 3D was slowing him to an unwieldy crawl, and developer Sonic Team felt it was time to earnestly look back at their legacy to plot a path forward. The result was about the best a 2011 Sonic fan could have hoped for – lashings of nostalgia without being overly condescending to the long-term fan, and with just enough tongue-in-cheek, self-referential humor to disarm the stern melodrama that had worked its way into Sonic’s latter outings. Sonic Generations was intended to serve as a launch pad for the next 20 years of Sonic, however, its mechanical jitteriness and saggy latter half dampened its appeal to fans old and new. Sega and Sonic Team are now back for another crack at it, with Sonic x Shadow Generations seeking to tighten up the overall experience and inject a jet-black dose of edge into one of Sonic’s more memorable recent outings.

Much like the game’s cover art, Sonic x Shadow Generations is an experience that is very clearly split down the middle by the presence of our stalwart anti-hero. You can play Sonic Generations as a standalone game from the main menu, and Shadow Generations as an entirely separate campaign. Even though both games take place concurrently, this clear dissection has allowed Sonic Team to unshackle Shadow’s outing from the mechanics and progression of the base game. Both campaigns see you skip and hop between traditionally Sonic-esque stages from a liminal, ghostly overworld – however, Shadow’s rest-stop takes its cues from Sonic Frontiers and its “open-zone” gameplay – which translates to “it’s 3D now”. As you progress through Shadow’s story, you unlock new traversal mechanics that open up this overworld in new and interesting ways, allowing you to obtain unlocks and secrets previously left tantalizingly out of reach. Chipping away at this over-arching meta-game was one of Sonic Generation’s more appealing aspects back in 2011, and it’s great it meaningfully expanded here.

As for the stages themselves, you’ll be in very familiar territory if you have so much as glanced at a 3D Sonic game over the last 20 years. You blitz your way across partially on-rails 3D environments, darting between enemies and obstacles with an apprehension that I could only ever apply to modern Sonic games. Far too often, much like every 3D Sonic game before this one, I found myself scared to so much as nudge the analog stick in a way that might adversely impact Shadow’s current trajectory. That same jittery, unwieldy sense of momentum that has plagued this franchise for over two decades has yet to be remedied in Sonic x Shadow Generations. Dedicated individuals the world over have poured their efforts into making fan games that have managed to make Sonic and Gang fun to control in 3D – why can’t the series’ official stewards manage the same?

Instead of reworking the entire formula of Sonic-in-3D for this augmented re-release, the developers have instead – and perhaps, rather knowingly – tacked on as much flashy extra content as they could within the development timeframe. Between the extra challenges, collectibles, and the break-neck pace of Shadow’s campaign, the surprisingly meaty runtime of Shadow Generations passes by with all the subtlety of a hissing fuse. Particular commendation needs to be given to the kaleidoscopic visuals on show during some of Shadow’s gameplay setpieces. For story reasons that will go unspoiled, the entire world often tends to warp and twist around Shadow mid-stage in a surprisingly fluid and eye-catching ballet of colors. Once you regain control, the stage will have shifted in ways that affect your path to the finish line. It’s impressive stuff and is no doubt an iteration of the visual effects seen previously in Sonic Frontiers.

Speaking of visuals, the game’s performance is perhaps the biggest caveat when it comes to the Switch version of Sonic x Shadow Generations. The original Sonic Generations campaign looks and runs about as good as it did on the Xbox 360 back in 2011 – with the frustrating addition of some stuttery frame times. Every second or so the game is punctuated by a lurching stutter that tarnishes an otherwise solid presentation. Switching over to Shadow Generations and its updated engine, however, and the problems quickly accrue. Playing in docked mode, the game struggles to maintain a solid 30 FPS throughout most stages. In addition, the rendering resolution of the game can nosedive considerably at points. The less-than-ideal image quality takes a further hit in handheld mode – in fact, I felt that Shadow’s portion of the game was nigh-on unplayable in handheld mode thanks to this resolution deficit. Far too often I was blind-sided by an enemy or environmental obstacle that I simply could not see, which eventually strong-armed me into playing the game exclusively on my TV. Switch Lite owners take heed!

While we’re talking negatives, I should also touch on some of the frankly baffling changes that have been made to Sonic Generations. The original game was a goofy, often self-deprecating salute to Sonic’s past endeavors – this was reflected mostly in the game’s dialogue, which was charming and straightforward. For reasons known only to Sonic Team, the game has been mostly rewritten, with a swathe of changes made to the characterization of our colorful cast. It feels as though the intention is to tell a more cohesive story, one that almost takes into account the fact that the fanfare associated with celebrating Sonic’s history – Generation’s original intent – is old news. The end result feels dour and overly serious, once again falling into the melodramatic trappings that thread themselves through the likes of Sonic ‘06. So much of the light-hearted fun we attribute to Sonic has been discarded through these changes, and that feels a little sad.

The Verdict

Despite these issues, we can still partially recommend Sonic x Shadow Generations based on the sheer scale of the game on offer here – it’s just not the home run that the franchise once again feels in desperate need of. The width and breadth of Sonic Generations is almost doubled by the addition of Shadow’s story, and although his escapades are overly serious and sap some of the light-hearted charm away from the Generations that came before, the additions that Sonic Team have made to the base game just about merit the price of entry for the yearnful Sonic fan.

Sonic x Shadow Generations copy provided by the publisher for the purposes of this review.