5/5 ★ – rutkoske's review of Sonic x Shadow Generations.

Sonic Generations has been a Sonic staple of mine since childhood, beginning when my best friend bought the game and we 100% completed it over multiple sleepovers. This package having a remastered Sonic Generations was more than enough reason for me to hop back into the white void and beat my old times running through iconic and beautiful classic Sonic stages. Generations is the best Sonic game there is, and now it has a new younger brother who also has earned it's reputation. I was not pleased with Shadow Generations. The controls and lack of momentum of Shadow felt too similar to Frontiers. this style worked for Frontiers, but was still a far cry from the great handling of Boost Sonic in Generations, with blistering fast speed coming from Unleashed in 2008. Shadow felt slow and too focused on cinematic gameplay, whereas Generations Sonic was all about blasting through every obstacle as fast as possible. I came back around to Shadow a month later, and embraced what the game did right, so I could eventually watch it shine. This game is cinematic, but also comes bundled with open, expansive level design, well hidden secrets, epic showdowns, a stirring emotional story, and action through and through. These levels and boss encounters require observation of when to use Chaos Control to slow down time, beat bosses quicker, and find "skips" in levels to get the S rank. It feels like this game is asking more of players, and that challenge felt palpable throughout. Sure, you can do the bare minimum and enjoy the game, and there's nothing wrong with that, but this game has depth should you choose to explore it further. Some say this game is short, and yes, the story is. But the journey to 100% for Shadow Generations alone took over 25 hours. I'd say that's a great length for an intense, non-stop action platformer such as this. Sonic Generations is my favorite Sonic game, and Shadow Generations is right behind with its own merit and reasons to come back. Akin to Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury, this is an incredibly polished package of two games that are well worth experiencing, as there really isn't anything much like it that's out now. Play these games.