Sega is gradually revealing the levels it will offer shadow generationa new game-within-a-game released as part of a wider Sonic pack. The latest leaks reveal the highlights of one of Shadow’s most ominous outings.
In addition to the previously fatal Google search, Sonic Basically a supercharged remake. The bulk of the pack is a tight, beautiful remaster of 2011’s Sonic Generations, a game that offered a barnstorming journey through Sonic’s entire history.
The set includes the same new bonuses as Shadow – a selection of levels that retell the antihero’s story over the years, starting with his 2001 debut in Sonic Adventure (which, by the way, remains the gold standard 3D Sonic game) to this day. I’ve played the preview version once this year and I really enjoyed it. I’m already hooked on this game.
That being said, playing levels from 2006’s Sonic the Hedgehog doesn’t really make me happy. That game was…something.
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My memory of Sonic 2006 is a flawed, unfinished mess. NPCs make inhuman sounds when they gesture with their robots. It’s the damned Silver the Hedgehog who trapped me in an endless throwing loop during a boss fight, essentially soft-locking the game as he repeatedly screamed “It’s not working!” Sonic has been involved in some of the greatest games ever made , but unlike Mario, he’s also given his name to quite a few truly nasty bugs. Sonic 2006 is undoubtedly one of the worst offenders. To put it mildly, it’s a trap. I didn’t even start the kiss.
However… I found something magical happening in this preview. Playing Sonic 2006’s Kingdom Valley game…I miss this rotten game that nearly smashed my Xbox 360 to pieces. Quickly flicking through the levels, I’m reminded of what’s truly lovely about this game: the wonderful soundtrack, the delightfully realistic-meets-fantasy art design, and its intoxicating ambition to deliver a truly exciting sense of speed and adventure .
Most importantly, it reminded me that given more time and money, Sonic 2006 could very well have been a Sonic Adventure 3 worth looking forward to. A sense of loss – because Shadow Generation itself feels like Sonic Adventure 3.
My sense of nostalgia was exciting, but when I spoke to the developers later, they were very keen to point out that while the game is undoubtedly driven by nostalgia, it’s not just about nostalgia. Quite the opposite in fact.
“This is a ‘generational’ game, and because of that, the whole Shadows part of the package needed to make sure it looked back at all the important key moments in Shadows history. If we just recreated the old ones, that wouldn’t be enough. ,” “Sonic X Shadow Generations” director Katsuyuki Shigihara told me.
“So we really need to say, hey, we know and acknowledge that this stage or boss fight did exist in the past. We need to give people a sense of nostalgia and let them remember the old gameplay, but just give players the same old stuff. is not enough.
“We need to bring excitement into the experience. We need something to feel fresh. In order to do that, we need to balance some of the old and familiar stuff, but also make sure we’re exciting players by showing them something new. .
This is most evident in the boss battles of Shadow Generations. Battles with games like Sonic Adventure 2’s Cyborg and Sonic Heroes’ dramatically named Metal Overlords bear a passing resemblance to their original versions in many ways – instead, we’re aiming is dazzling with new mechanics and cinematic styles that are sure to rival anything Shadows has hit the silver screen. at the same time, Feel It’s there – it’s reminiscent of those games, although it’s certainly far more polished than the (admittedly charming) junk of twentieth-century Sonic games.
Part of the feeling also comes from the power of shadow. Shadow has done a lot over the years. In fact, I remember him being the best in Sonic 2006 because his speed was lower than Sonic’s, which meant he didn’t run into the speed and world flow death bugs as often, and he didn’t have the issues that Silver did part of the puzzle. But in that game, Shadow also drove a car equipped with a giant rocket launcher. Of course, in his own game of the same name, Shadow wields a Heckler & Koch MP5A3, a gun typically found in the hands of soldiers, law enforcement officers, or dissidents. Of course, he won’t let it linger on this more family-friendly trip.
But the developers are very smart. The new abilities and cinematic moments given to Shadow are intended to evoke the overall feel of the various things he’s done over the years, even if he won’t pick up a Glock again.
“We needed to really ask ourselves, ‘Who is Shadow, and who does Shadow need to be?’. That was really the first question, in order to make it work and make it feel like Shadow,” said producer Shun Nakamura. “What we really boiled down to this is: Shadow is a character who will do whatever it takes to get the job done and achieve his goals, no matter what they are.
“He’s always been like that in all of our games, but we really made it the unifying thread of Shadow Generations. So the question is, what does he do? How does he get through this game? His What are the new capabilities?
“The ultimate answer is we’re going to give him these apocalyptic powers that will feel very Shadow-like and dark and cool. That’s something only Shadow can do, and these powers will allow us to get him through the game and make something very Shadow-like. action, thus unifying the experience of the Sonic the Hedgehog story from beginning to end.
The results feel dramatic. Like I said, it gave me warm feelings about Sonic 06, and I’ll tell you, that’s not going to happen without a passing appreciation for some of its soundtrack. This is nostalgia done right.
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