Anyway, Sonic Colors. It came out just last year, and before its release, people were expecting yet another typical phone-in Sonic game, complete with buggy platforming and camera controls. It wasn't that hard to get on this bandwagon, as Sonic had pretty much devolved into nothing but a public joke.
The environments were a step up, but I guess they might have to be if your setting is going to be an interstellar amusement park built to capture and exploit tiny wisp creatures. Speaking of which, there were tiny wisp creatures. They acted like Mario power-ups in a way that gave Sonic powers like digging through the ground or rocketing into the air or sticking to surfaces with spikes. They were definitely more interesting than holding a sword or turning into a werehog, but they were more like "level themes" instead of proper power-ups, only having one kind around at a time, a lot of the time.
Fast forward a year to this past November and the release of Sonic Generations. This was the first Sonic game that I have personally bought in the past six years, and I'm glad I did. Sonic had turned 20 years old, and to celebrate, a game was made that featured 9 different past levels of Sonic games, each with a 2D and a 3D version featuring an appropriately chronologically accurate Sonic. There were also a couple things from Colors there too, like the red ring collecting and the ever-present boost meter, and there was even unlockable concept art and even more music from past games. They couldn't have put together a better nostalgia bomb if they had tried.
Or could they?
Yeah, Sonic Generations is awesome, and it deserves all the praise it gets, especially my own for drawing me back into Sonic games and believing that the hedgehog is back from the grave. However, there are just a few nitpicks that were commonly voiced among fans. Even though Sonic's popularity is kept up to this day mostly because of the Genesis era games, only 3 worlds were featured from them, with the others being from the more noticeable 3D games. There were far many more 2D levels that are fondly remembered than 3D ones, and they could have made many, many more than just 9 worlds solely based on that, let alone picking 3D levels for two-thirds of the game, and including a Sonic Colors level, which only came out last year. Still, it was interesting to see how a 2D level would look in 3D and vice versa, and the gameplay was impressive if not perfect at recapturing what made Sonic awesome to play in the first place. His friends were still there and annoying as ever, the plot was still dumb (though cool if you enjoy a twist ending), and the game was kind of short, but overall, I enjoyed the game a lot not only because of the nostalgia, but because Sonic was finally fun to play once again.
That's about all I have to say honestly. Sonic the Hedgehog, one time famed gaming mascot, devolved into ridicule and back, is becoming better. Who knows? We might even see some kind of renewal of mascot wars of years past. Could you imagine if today Sonic and Mario games were made to combat each other again just like in the early 90s? Wow...
I'll leave you with this, as I'm sure you're sick of me talking about Sonic now. If you do end up playing Generations, good on you, and you'll be listening to this little piece of nostalgia during the credits.
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