The Sonic franchise has been thriving, hasn’t it? With the newSonic 3 movie coming out this Decemberand Keanu Reeves joining the cast as Shadow the Hedgehog, you may’t help but feel excited about the franchise’s resurgence.
I grew up playing Sonic games on Game Boy and NDS.Sonic Rush,Sonic Battle, andSonic Adventure,you name it, and I was there running at top speeds. However, despite my love for the whole gang, Shadow has always been one of my favorite characters in the franchise.
Brooding, edgy, and unapologetically badass, Shadow’s nuanced backstory stands apart from the rather happy-go-lucky vibe of Sonics ensemble, and that, in a nutshell, is why the prospect of Sonic x Shadow Generations drew me in.
Filled with shifting 2D and 3D platforming sections and a myriad ofcallbacks to Shadow’s history, not to mention Sonic’s standout moments, this game is a high-octane experience that made my inner child jump in glee.
But the question remains: is this yet another game that solidifies the consistency of modern Sonic outings, or one that flatters to deceive through nostalgia? We found out in ourSonic x Shadow GenerationsReview, conducted on PS5.
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Putting The ‘Edge’ In Hedgehog
The game’s story occurs simultaneously withSonic Generations, opening with Shadow investigating an anomaly in a derelict Space Colony ARK before he gets sucked into the White Space like Sonic and Co.
Separated in this strange dimension outside of time, Shadow discovers new hidden powers and finds out that an old enemy, Black Doom, is grooming him to become a perfect vessel so that he can take over the world again.
The narrative is one of my only few nitpicks with this game. Everything feels a little too convenient, with little explanation given as to why these strange events keep happening. I can only assume it’s because further explanation would have only offered more ways to poke holes in this rather inconsequential story.
The villain has vague motivations, there is never any sort of narrative explanation as to how Black Doom has returned to cause havoc once again despite being defeated long ago, and due to the rather cartoonish nature of the content, it’s a little hard to take things seriously despite Shadow’s gruff tone begging you to do so.
But the only saving grace is that this dark and traumatic side story explains Shadow’s lack of involvement inSonic Generations. Shadowhas his side adventure, and much of the plot revolves around him revisiting his trauma of not just losing Maria but his purpose as the Ultimate Lifeform. But even still, it would have been nice to see a little more cohesion and crossover.
Sonic games have never been known for groundbreaking narratives or consistent timelines, and I sincerely doubt deep storytelling or introspective character arcs are the top priorities for most Sonic fans. But we can only rate what we see before us, and while it’s fun, kitschy, and bombastic, it definitely is a little lacking at times.
Rolling Around At The Speed of Darkness
Like most mainline Sonic platformers,Shadow Generationsboasts incredibly fast-paced movement and dynamic camera angles that really sell you the sheer intensity of Shadow’s speed, and unlike Sonic Generations, this game relies pretty much exclusively on 3D gameplay.
Sonic Team knocked it out of the park by curating every moment in the game with a specific camera angle to show off the scale of the stages you play on, emphasizing Shadow’s power and speed in a way that feels supernatural.
Those moments shine especially well when you’re grinding on a rail at Mach 5, and the camera pans to the massive skybox in the distance. During those moments, you can just take a few seconds to appreciate the work put into the level design.
Speed is one of the hardest things to portray accurately in games. The average person’s brain isn’t built to process that much information in such a short span, so making snap decisions while you’re hurtling down a path is a skill that you have to develop throughout the game.
Eventually, you let your instincts take over, and finding a better path becomes second nature. If you’re already used to 3D Sonic games, then this shouldn’t be a problem for you.
Strafing also becomes much harder when you’re zipping through the environment, too. Moving as Shadow feels slippery, and overshooting a platform or target is a recurring problem when trying to be precise.
Going fast can be really fun, but at some point, everything just becomes too blurry to make sense of what’s going on, and before you know it, you’ve bumped into a wall and completely killed any momentum you have. Getting hit and losing your rings is also really frustrating. Who knew super-speed was hard to master?
No Tickets To The Gun Show
Sorry,Shadow the Hedgehogfans, but there are no guns for Shadow to shoot this time. Instead, Black Doom bestows him powers that manifest as dark goo, ranging from transforming into a sticky tentacle monster to soaring on menacing wings.
Much of the game revolves around you mastering these abilities and navigating the world with ease. Almost all of these abilities aren’t gimmicks, either–almost every map allows you to make good use of these powers to better navigate your way along the tracks.
It’s a moveset that leaves you with little doubt that Shadow is Sonic’s equal in every single way. The movement while he skates in his jet boots makes it seem like he’s gracefully hovering in the air, and each homing attack makes Shadow teleport instantaneously, as if to say, “Nothing personal, kid.”
Yet, even without his pistols akimbo, Shadow is still a certified badass in every way. Whether it’s beating up a boss or stopping time with Chaos Control, Shadow is a force to be reckoned with.
These moments are largely played out as quick-time events, but this brief respite, in which the game allows you to sit back and drink in the chaos, is a welcome use of this nefarious mechanic.
I was, however, a little disappointed that you don’t get to fight Sonic when you cross paths with him in the middle of the story. I get that you canonically have to lose the fight, but there was still definitely some scope for a good tussle before inevitably falling to the famous blue hedgehog. But hey, I suppose you may’t have it all.
Eat, Sleep, Rings, Repeat
Like every Sonic game, every stage has a grading system (D to S) that ranks how efficiently you cleared each stage. This metric is decided through your ring count and time taken as you would expect, and makes each stage a puzzle to solve.
However, almost every stage also has three secret collectibles that you can use to unlock chests scattered across the White Space hub. which encourages you to revisit these levels, not only chasing that high of breaking your record but finding other things that you might have missed in your first few completions.
Even thoughShadow Generationsonly has around 6 hours' worth of story content, its challenges and Online mode encourage you to keep coming back time and time again. And if you’re a fan of the franchise or a completionist, each collectible is a tiny morsel of dopamine that rewards your dedication and skill.
That being said, no matter what way you look at, six hours is hardly a cavalcade of content, and if you were on the fence about forking out for this new outing, I imagine this might be the jumping off point for many, and I wouldn’t blame them.
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Blink And You’ll Miss It
The game’s graphics expertly balance the art style of its characters with the stylized realism of its level design. Each skybox is carefully rendered to show off the graphical capabilities of the modern gaming system.
One could argue that Sonic Generations' remastered brilliance shines a little brighter from a graphical perspective due to the more joined-up and cohesive 2D meets 3D gameplay, but credit where it’s due: Shadow Generations nails the gloomy and apocalyptic vibe it shoots for, and then some.
The soundtrack in this game is also filled with absolute bangers, fast-tempo tracks mixed with EDM and rock elements. Any Shadow fan would also instantly recognize Crush 40s music and all the other nostalgic tracks from previous Sonic games.
This contrast between the guitar riffs and heavy beats of Shadow’s outings compared to, say, the Green Hill Zone theme only further cements that Shadow is his own, more mature and serious entity. But that being said, there’s no shame in headbanging along to these tunes and letting your hair down, even if Shadow won’t.
While it’s clear that the artists behind the game’s designs did a wonderful job,Shadow Generationscan sometimes be hard on the eyes, especially in the early stages of the White Space, where your screen is blindingly bright. I had to take a few breaks while playing the game due to sensory overload from the game’s brightness and details.
This is a problem that sort of bleeds into the main game experience. Due to this attention to environmental detail, the player almost has to absorb too much information when they come zooming past at breakneck speeds, to the point that you aren’t quite sure which aspects are part of the interactable environment and which are just for show.
It often means that until you clear the stage and know the main beats of the level, there is little hope of acing it the first time around, which I suppose gives you a certain level of respect for each level, but equally, only serves to pad out the already short experience at times.
Closing Comments:
Alongside a lovingly remastered Sonic Generations showcase, Shadow Generations is a dark and broody triumph that not only pays homage to the cult classic outing of yester-year for the troubled hedgehog, but also irons out all the aspects that fans didn’t quite take to, effectively giving Shadow the do-over they deserve. It’s a fast-paced and fluid Sonic title with great new mechanics, a tonne of replayability, and just the right amount of challenge. The fact that this is a short experience will irk a few, as will the lack of crossover between the two games, but all in all, Sonic x Shadow Generations is yet another strong Sonic outing that proves the dark days for the franchise may well be behind us.
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