Sonic X Shadow Generations Review: A Good Remaster, A Fantastic Remake (2024)

Sonic X Shadow Generations is a strange game to review. It’s both a fairly straightforward remaster and a new game entirely, in that the Sonic portion of the game is more or less exactly what we got in 2011, and the Shadow half gives us a glimpse at the future of the series.

Much like the characters themselves, it almost feels like Sonic Generations and Shadow Generations are competing against each other. The basic outline of each half is much the same - beat some stages from the character’s past, then defeat some bosses - but the vibe of each one couldn’t be further apart. And if there’s one thing that this series has always put at the forefront, it’s feel.

That brings me to where I landed on Sonic X Shadow Generations after I’d beaten both stories - I really, really wish this was just a Shadow game. It almost feels like it wants to be, in fact. Shadow Generations borrows much from Sonic Frontiers, rather than taking us back to the 2010s era, and this is the best decision Sega could have made.

Shadow’s story opens up with him returning to Space Colony Ark, forcing him to confront his past. It’s something the series has shied away from since the ‘00s, and has been worse off for it. Now, Shadow is back, with a story that doesn’t get lost in the over-the-top edge of his spin-off game but doesn’t back down from his dark backstory either. The vibe of Shadow Generations is immaculate.

Without getting into specifics, the story is something fans have wanted for years. In this regard, it’s something that once again had me wishing this was a full-length game, but that isn’t to say it’s handled poorly, just perhaps without the scope we’d been hoping for.

But this smaller scope fits the gameplay just fine. As I mentioned before, this is a mirror of Sonic Generations, so it’s the same set-up: clear three stages, and go after a boss. Rinse and repeat until you take on the main bad guy. It almost feels like a remake, only this time, the levels feel much more open and more ambitious. This only becomes clearer the more you play, as later stages make the most of Shadow’s new Doom Powers - one of the first of many gimmicks in the series that I think actually works.

Case in point, my biggest gripe with the original Sonic Generations was its overreliance on (sometimes inconsistent) homing attacks in its 3D levels. Now, since Shadow has other abilities to play around with like projectiles, surfing, a higher jump, and eventually, flying, the maps can open up more than ever before, to the point where I never found myself getting stuck. If I was struggling with one path, I could find another that was more my speed and used a different skill, like one of the new Doom Powers, rather than dashing repeatedly into the same problem and cursing the homing attack for not kicking in when it looked like it should.

If you want something more punishing, there are the Challenge Acts. These return from Sonic Generations, although there are different types this time around. What hasn’t changed, however, is that they need to be completed in a very particular way before you can advance the story. It’s not a bad way to break up the usual level structure, but some do prove frustrating, and have to be beaten before you can get back to the regular stages.

Even in the more tedious Challenge Acts, however, something kept me going: Shadow is just really fun to play. It’s something I felt with Sonic Frontiers too - as the series increasingly embraces open-world game design, it’s just become more satisfying to roll around at the speed of sound, which is admittedly something the series should have nailed long ago.

Sonic Generations Is Still Good, But A Step Down From Shadow's Story

Ultimately, when the story was over and Shadow’s trauma had come to a close, it was a satisfying end. It’s hard to say I wanted more when it fits its seven-hour run time so comfortably, but it does have me hoping that Sega doesn’t keep Shadow benched for so long again. This could easily serve as proof of concept for a full-length game, and after this, I certainly hope we get one.

On the other hand, this made the jump back to Sonic Generations all the more jarring. Whereas Shadow Generations represents the future, Sonic Generations is, once again, all about celebrating the Blue Blur’s past.

So it’s no surprise that Sonic Generations plays exactly how it did in 2011, just a little prettier. For many, that’s fantastic news. The original release is often held up as one of the best games of the 3D era, so I can hardly fault Sega for remaining faithful to the source material here.

There are a few minor changes, like the odd piece of rewritten dialogue (although the writing still won’t be winning any awards), but otherwise, this remaster sticks to the original. That made going back to it a step down after Shadow Generations, which just felt more polished, confident, and experimental.

Even if a faithful remaster is what many were after, some changes could have been made without compromising its integrity. Many agree that the original’s boss battles are its weak point, and there’s no effort to address this in this new version, so these can prove as lacklustre as ever.

I understand little could be done without turning this remaster into a remake (to which I would say, “Why not do a remake?”), but small grievances could still have been addressed. The final boss, in particular, could have done with some improvements, like not having classic Sonic be largely useless, or the supporting cast repeating the same lines of dialogue throughout the whole fight.

There’s also some old Sonic jank which could have done with some polishing. More specifically, this era of Sonic sometimes called for a level of control that I’ve always felt the controls rarely accommodate. This means that if you don’t play the level exactly as intended (i.e., homing attack your way to the finish line), you’re being sent off flying in the opposite direction you meant to head in. And when that all-important ability doesn’t work super consistently on the more complex levels, it’s clear that some fixes would have gone a long way all these years later.

I knew no such frustrations in Shadow Generations. No death felt out of my hands, with all the moving parts working exactly as intended. And there are a lot of moving parts, considering all the Doom Powers. With some more attention, it would have been great to see this in Sonic Generations too, but as it stands, we’re largely playing the same game we did in 2011.

Sonic X Shadow Generations Should Lead To Shadow Getting His Own Game

Sonic X Shadow Generations isn’t a remaster with some Shadow levels slapped on - it’s a Shadow game with Generations slapped on. Shadow Generations is the Sonic Generations remake I was hoping for, with tighter controls, better level designs, and superior bosses.

It frustrates me that few of these improvements trickled down into Sonic Generations, but as a whole product, it’s hard to fault a package that gives us a faithful remaster of one of the most beloved Sonic games, and a great Shadow game to boot. I only hope now that Sega trusts itself to look to the future some more, and keeps moving ahead with the new formula that Sonic Frontiers - and now Shadow Generations - promises us.

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4.0/5

Sonic X Shadow Generations

Played on PS5

Sonic X Shadow Generations is a double package of a remastered version of the 2011 title Sonic Generations, alongside an all-new campaign featuring Shadow the Hedgehog and both 2D and 3D levels.

Pros

• Shadow Generations steals the show, giving us a great new campaign full of fantastic levels.
• Shadow's new Doom Powers are a great addition, adding more variety to his levels.
• The Shadow story sticks the landing, giving us closure we've been wanting for years.
• The Sonic Generations remaster is faithful to the original, fan-favourite release from 2011.

Cons

• Sonic Generations could have used some polishing, as it's an noticeable step down from Shadow Generations.
• Shadow's story is occasionally held back by awkward, unnatural dialogue.