PS5/PS4 Review: Sonic X Shadow Generations

A Tale of Three Hedgehogs…

Shadow the Hedgehog is back and teaming up with Classic and Modern Sonic in Sonic X Shadow Generations, an all-new collection featuring two unique experiences! Play as Shadow the Hedgehog in a brand-new story campaign, and tackle iconic 2D and 3D stages as Classic and Modern Sonic in a newly remastered version of Sonic Generations.

The original Sonic Generations was a superb trip down memory lane for Sonic fans with 2D and 3D levels inspired by older games from the series. It’s great to see it get the remaster treatment, running at a smoother framerate and looking more crisp. I honestly would have been happy with just this, but then SEGA decided to go above and beyond by giving us Shadow Generations….

It’s an entirely new story mode featuring the Ultimate Lifeform, as he returns to the Space Station ARK to confront an old foe. You’ll play across levels based on  more modern Sonic games like Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic The Hedgehog 2006, Sonic Heroes, Sonic Forces and even Sonic Frontiers.  The hub world that was in 2D in Sonic Generations is now a fully open 3D space full of hidden collectibles and challenges to overcome.

Shadow will gain new abilities like being able to surf across water and glide through the air. These can help you reach new areas, either for new collectibles or to access new levels. Each level has 3 collectibles to find, as does each Challenge stage and these unlock chests that are scattered across the open area known as White Space, which give you items such as artwork, music and story background about past Shadow games.

There are also pages of Gerald Robotnik’s journal to be collected from random flying balloon robots, these detail the creation of Shadow and are definitely worth a read. If you picked up the Day One version physically, then you’d get a copy of this anyway…but for those who got either the standard digital or Digital Deluxe Edition copy, this is the only way you’ll be able to read it other than scans that have been published online. I would have loved to have the physical journal, but the allure of early access with the DDE version was too hard for me to pass up.

Each level is superbly designed and honestly, I think the best that Sonic Team have done to date. The leap of difference in both design and visuals from Sonic Generations to Shadow Generations is huge and you’ll honestly think they could have released it separately as they are worlds apart in this regard. I still love Sonic Generations, don’t get me wrong…but Shadow Generations is undoubtedly superior.

It feels more refined in its controls too and with the new abilities, Shadow really does shine here. If I had one complaint, it’s that I felt it was over before it begun. But there’s still a good amount of content here and nabbing the Platinum trophy won’t be easy as you will need to collect everything possible, as well as doing both final bosses without taking damage.

Like I said, the visuals are nicely improved for the original and the new campaign is the best looking Sonic game to date. The soundtrack is brilliant, voice-acting is impressive as well. The PS5 version runs and looks sharper than it’s PS4 counterpart, as you would expect, load times are shorter too. But if you get the digital version, you get both and can earn two Platinum trophies!

The Verdict

Sonic X Shadow Generations improves the visuals and performance of the original game, while adding in Shadow Generations, which is vastly greater in all areas. This truly is the Year of Shadow and I cannot recommend this enough.

Score: 9.5

 

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