Tech-Gaming Technology, Gaming, and Culture
In 1991, I was 6 years old. Georgie lived at the end of my street, and his parents got him a SEGA Genesis for Christmas. It was the most incredible thing I had ever witnessed, and I couldn’t get enough of it. By the time I got a Genesis of my own and a copy of Sonic 2, HedgehogMania had taken the nation by storm, and I was just the right age to be in the center of it all. I slept in Sonic sheets with my stuffed Tails doll and my cheap, Korean knockoff Sonic alarm clock played reveille to get me up in time to watch both Sonic cartoons. Sonic the Hedgehog defined my childhood, as I’m sure it did for a lot of kids my age and younger, and most of us outgrew it once we got to high school, but Sonic Generations gave me a nice glass of warm milk and put me right back into my Sonic slippers.
By now, you’ve heard the premise: stages from both classic and contemporary Sonic games have been remixed and remastered to play out in multiple play styles, but like most hard-nosed journalist types, I was skeptical after playing through the sluggish Sonic 4. After experiencing through 6 different demos (4 of which were admittedly variations on Green Hill Zone) I can say that both the classic and contemporary levels feel good and the “Sonic Cycle” is in full force: get excited. Also, being an anniversary package, the soundtrack does a great job at tugging at your nostalgia strings, as every theme in every level is remixed twice to match the tempo of each play style.
For those of you who are nervous that the modern levels will sully your experience, you are in luck: Sonic Team has already thought about that. In the campaign mode, you will only have to play through the stages that are based on newer games in the new play styles – so if you never want to play Green Hill Zone in the Post-Sonic-Adventure style, you don’t have to (I recommend trying it though, because it’s actually a lot of fun!). And if you aren’t happy with any 3D platforming in your Sonic games, then you’ll be happy to know that the 3DS game uses Sonic Rush as its template for the new-style mechanics, so all of its unique Rush-themed stages stick to one plane.
Sonic Generations is due out this holiday season for the PlayStation 3, XBOX360 and Nintendo 3DS.
Finally, the E3 news come trickling in.
SeanNOLA is a youngun.
Hopefully, the will finally be the Sonic I’ve been waiting for.
I was 4 when Sonic came out in 1991, so no…
Any sighting of Tails, Dr. Robotnik, etc?
Like every Sonic game, I’m sure I’ll get this.
Did you see anything more than GHZ?
Sounds cool, but SEGA always managed to muck up their Sonic games somehow. I can’t get too excited.
Georgie isn’t the kid with the shark teeth, right? 😉
Sounds and looks good so far.
So the same levels are in 2D and 3D? Wouldn’t in make more sense to have different levels?
So the same levels are in 2D and 3D? Wouldn\’t in make more sense to have different levels?
” as every theme in every level is remixed twice to match the tempo of each play style.”
Hell yeah!
Gran any Sonic swag? Or any good swag at all?
After seeing how some people at E3 acted (I saw one guy carrying two overstuffed bags and a backpack plow into three people while trying to get to a Nexon giveaway) the last thing you want to do is look like a swag whore. Some of the things were cool and all, but you just didn’t wanted to be remotely associated with the people acting like jerks.
I did get a Natsume llama, though.
thats pretty pathetic. I saw a couple of other sites say the same thing. Was this the same guy (from Gamepro)
“Just plain rude assholes: I really can’t tell you how many times people jumped lines, used their elbows to get a better view, barged their way through people, threw garbage on the floor, grabbed things out of people’s hands (when swag was being thrown into the crowd). I saw some poor woman get knocked over by some fat arse with a giant backpack and three bags of swag because he was rushing over to a booth that had a crowd. For an industry event there seems to be a lot of people who think it’s some kind of free-for-all.”
Well, some people aren’t used to all the hype and fun and they get caught up. The jaded journalists who have been there for years act different.
I’m not sure if I think that’s true. It was my first year there, and I only got a few things that were from games which really meant something to me. i think some people are just greedy, and greedy for attention; so they grab as much stuff as they can so they can brag that they were at e3 and got a bunch of shite. I think basically anyone who is actually there as part of the industry is pretty respectful, and the swag whores are the people who got in just because they think it’s a big deal, but not because they care about the content of going. It’s like people flipping out when they see a movie star. They care more about the glam of being able to say they went and saw than the actual content. IMO.
Wow, I would expect more from people. I guess not.
One time a guy grabbed the last clearence copy of SOCOM out of my hand at Target. Just snahced it from me. Total dick-move.
Look forward to it.
BTW- Shouldn’t “Reveille” be capitalized?
I’ve always thought the Sonic games were overrated. Doubt I’ll pick this up unless it gets great reviews.
Day one purchase for me.
Thanks, SNola good write up.
Looks like it could be cool.
Way too much Green Hill Zone being shown…
That’ll change soon. We got to see one of the stages themed after a modern game, and I thought it was a much cooler stage – not sure if I’m allowed to talk about it though.
Was it the Escape from the G.U.N. Federation level from SA2? Did they give him his snowboard back?
Yes and Yes. Also, there were 2 different remixes of “Escape from the City,” and both were spiffy.
So how did it look play in 2D?
Mind blown.
No pics? What gives?
In Classic mode, you aren’t running away from the truck so much as you are racing it:
Basically, there are certain points in the level where the truck will crash through the planes that Sonic can occupy and destroys some of the terrain. If you are fast enough, you can beat the truck to those points and you’ll have more options as to how you want to run through the stage. Otherwise, the truck might destroy a platform and funnel you onto a different path.
How many levels will this have in all?
Ok, that actually sounds like a cool idea. I just take one more chance on a Sonic game.
I swore Colors was going to be the last time.