Shadow’s campaign offers some of the best 3D levels in the series, but it also comes with an outdated and unnecessary remaster. It would be nice if Sega went all out for the future.
After years of experimentation, Sega has now created two types of 3D Sonic levels. The first is Sonic Frontiers’ open areas, which give the hedgehog the space and freedom to unleash his speed, an open design that’s only possible on modern hardware (just now!). The second is a highly focused, mostly linear stage that evolves the side-scrolling original game into a 3D roller coaster with dizzying changes in perspective, a design first popularized in the Sonic Adventure games.
Sega is definitely embracing the latter style with its new Shadow campaign in Sonic x Shadow Generations. These are probably the best 3D levels in a Sonic game to date – and the blue hedgehog is barely visible.
Sonic Sonic the Hedgehog ” has launched a new campaign, which is based on Parallel Lines. It’s also releasing DLC related to the movie, but that won’t be available until December. Just as Sonic was sucked into white space in the original version to relive his past in both classic and modern forms, Shadow is in his own, completely separate story.
This means that Shadow will face Black Doom and his tragic origin story, thus repeating plot points from previous games (mainly Shadow the Hedgehog and Sonic 06). But more importantly, it is an excuse to revisit and strengthen the maligned phases of the past in a modernized form.
These new levels are intense, thrilling rides filled with set pieces and constant action that never stops. One moment, Shadow is riding rails in space, swatting away missiles, and the next, he’s flying down a waterfall, being chased by a killer train, and spiraling through a twisted metropolis of curved skyscrapers. As always, the stage is divided into two acts, with the first being fully 3D and the second being side-scrolling (albeit without the classic shadow model, unlike Sonic), the latter of which is better than last year’s Sonic Superstar and It’s a huge step forward in trying to capture the glory of the past.
However, beyond the spectacle of both performances, the design of the stage is also crucial to maintain momentum and flow, if you have the skill, of course. Shadows rarely stop moving. He’s always running, either jumping to the next grind rail or dashing towards switches or enemies. Enemies are also strategically placed to keep the pace going, rather than being offbeat distractions. While focused, level design features multiple paths that reward exploration and experimentation with Shadow’s new move set.
These actions are powered by the bad guy Black Doom and are gradually unlocked throughout the campaign story, but can be used in previous levels. Shadow gains the ability to surf on water, fly through the air, or fire a spear to stun enemies. My personal favorite is the Doom Blast: a dramatic uppercut that not only allows Shadow to launch enemies, but also teleport to them, often opening up new shortcuts. These are in addition to his signature Chaos Control move, which slows down time and is used to dodge enemies and form paths with moving obstacles. Additional side challenges also provide the opportunity to practice these abilities in remixed stand-alone stages, although these quick hits can be frustrating at times. All in all, Doom powers are mostly optional, but they add extra complexity associated with Shadow’s character, raising the required skill level and giving him an edge over his blue counterparts.
What’s more, Shadow’s basic moves are fun to do. Sega made the smart decision to give Shadow a double jump and move its tracking attack to a separate button. This may seem like a small change for Sonic, but it gives players a lot more control over the character, plus plenty of lock-on, eliminating sloppy aiming and annoying confusion between jumping and attacking. For Sonic fans, Shadow is a dream to deal with – and after so many flops, it’s such a relief to be able to write here. it’s just Feel Correct. For the first time in a long time, I didn’t feel like I was fighting against control or glitching out of the environment. Sega’s idea finally seems to be coming to fruition.
Not all is linear level, though. Paying homage to the open areas of Sonic Frontier, Shadow’s version of White Space is a fully explorable hub world that is slowly revealed as the story progresses. It doesn’t offer quite the same sense of speed, but it does add platforms and tracks without all the pop-ups. What’s more, it’s filled with treasure chests unlocked by icons collected in each level, adding art, music, and more to the collection. At times, reaching these chests and collectibles requires careful platforming that the controls don’t really adapt to, but that’s forgivable when the main stages are so stunning.
While Sonic Generations capitalized on 20 years of nostalgia to celebrate the series’ run thus far, Shadows doesn’t have the same luxury, with just a handful of starring characters (in fact, one of the levels is based on Sonic Frontiers 》, in which he did not appear). As such, his campaign is more of a reintroduction of additional characters from existing games. Perhaps, after its previous failure as a headliner, Sega felt Shadow wasn’t powerful enough to complete the entire game on its own. So while Sonic Team made a great addition to Shadow, his campaign still only exists alongside Sonic’s campaign. He deserves more.
This is where Sonic x Shadow Generation starts to fall apart as a complete package. Comparing the two campaigns side by side, Sonic can’t compete, frankly. Sonic Generations started out as the pinnacle of the games that came before it, but now it’s just a detrimental reminder of a past I don’t want to go back to.
For a remake, Sega took it easy with Sonic Generations . Visually, everything is sharpened for modern standards, but textures and character models lack detail. Just compare Shadow’s boss model from Sonic Generations to his character model from his own campaign, and the difference in quality is pretty obvious. By comparison, Sonic Generations’ cutscenes were also stiff, with clunky dialogue delivery and repetitive animations, whereas Shadow’s scenes are vibrant and exciting. Sonic is very lively and cheerful. Shadow is all grunts, grim expressions, and action hero poses. He’s more fun to look at, more fun to play, and… cooler! It’s no wonder Keanu Reeves voices Shadow in this year’s movie.
At the same time, diving deeper into Sonic Generations’ levels brought back all the old frustrations that Shadow had traversed. Aside from its striking recreations of Green Mountain and Chemical Plant Districts, Sonic’s levels also fall into the same old traps of instant failure, poor aiming, annoying enemy placement, and clunky camerawork. But of course they do – they’re old! I remember playing these levels before and loving them, but now they leave me cold. Shadow’s levels were ones I played over and over just to enjoy the action, while Sonic’s levels were ones I blasted through just to complete the missions. The more halfway through Sonic I play, the more I start to question: is this just bad in comparison, or is it just good to begin with?
It’s dated, and it’s surprising that Sega has merged these two activities into such an inconsistent package: a reminder of an infuriating past and a future that seems so noble, if purely juxtaposed. With this two-in-one approach, Sonic Team is shooting itself in the foot while unnecessarily looking back and proving just how far it has come in the last 13 years. At least Sonic makes Shadow look good.
Even as a standalone, however, Shadow’s campaign does deliver on the pure promise of a Sonic game, with high-speed thrills and level design that ensures a sharp sense of flow. After the success of Sonic Frontier, Sega is finally moving on to something new – as long as it keeps its forward momentum.
Sega provided a copy of Sonic X Shadow Generations for review.