EMBRACE THE CHAOS

SONIC X SHADOW GENERATIONS is a blast from the recent past

- By Matt Poskitt

Sega continues its remaster treatment of the blue blur’s varied catalog, now turning its attention to one of the most popular in Sonic Generations. Originally released back in 2011, the platformer sees classic 2D Sonic team up with modern 3D Sonic in a time-traveling adventure. This time an all-new campaign starring Shadow the Hedgehog has been bundled to entice returning fans and undoubtedly promote excitement for the character’s big-screen debut.

Running parallel with Sonic Generations, Shadow Generations is a similar time-twisting tale that sees the Ultimate Lifeform confront an old foe, Black Doom. It’s a very cookie-cutter story about aliens wanting to take over the world, nothing groundbreaking but some interesting details flesh out Shadow’s backstory. The main draw is the levels themselves, providing fantastic fluid gameplay through cities, space stations and ancient ruins. Midway through, a Doctor Strange-like kaleidoscope sequence breaks up the pace to great effect, overall delivering four to five-minute bursts of brilliant adrenaline.

Leaning closer towards the 3D aspects than the 2D, this is the best Shadow has felt since his first appearance in Sonic Adventure 2. As someone who prefers this style—the 2D levels in