On release in 2011, Sonic Generations was roundly praised as one of the best modern Sonic games. It arrived after a string of middling, experimental spin-offs, and helped to return the series to its roots, in its snappy, breakneck speed platforming. Remastering the game for a modern audience just makes sense – and adding in an entirely new Shadow the Hedgehog-starring side plot is a wonderful cherry on top.
As a complete package, Sonic X Shadow Generations is a fantastic successor, and one that goes much further beyond the original game. For those who played Sonic Generations, rest assured, this is a strong remaster of the original adventure, complete with shiny new graphics. The original game holds up well, thanks to its cartoonish art style, but here you’ll find more expressive faces, crisper environments, and a host of performance improvements that significantly enhance gameplay.
For those looking for something new, Sonic X Shadow Generations also delivers that in spades, with its Shadow Generations chapter being an absolute blast. This side chapter is very robust, and provides an entirely separate campaign of multiple levels and major boss fights to travel through. It’s essentially the “B-Side” to Sonic’s adventures, and tells the story of what exactly Shadow was doing for most of Sonic Generations.
Read: Sonic the Hedgehog 3 trailer spotlights Shadow, Maria, and Gerald Robotnik
The action kicks off with an incredibly funny cutscene of Shadow the Hedgehog brooding on a space station, while Sonic and his friends are enjoying a birthday party. Shadow is on a dark and serious quest, you see – and he must be left to his brooding. Of course, then the Time Eater appears, the entire birthday crew is sucked into a black hole, and Shadow is confronted by his greatest nemesis: Black Doom.
Shadow Generations is actually a light sequel to Shadow the Hedgehog (2005), and continues the struggle between Shadow and Black Doom, as they fight across multiple dimensions inspired by past Sonic games (one particular level appears to take notes from The Black Knight).
Shadow the Hedgehog controls similarly to Sonic, but with some flashy twists that enhance his dedicated levels. For one thing, Shadow can stop time – leading to all sorts of shenanigans with fast-moving obstacles and enemies. Needing to think about the flow of time, and how best to optimise Shadow’s movements, adds new stakes to each level.
You can’t just grind and jump your way to victory, speed-boosting past everything. You really need to plan your next steps, consider Shadow’s abilities, and then artfully dodge everything thrown your way.
In the later stages of Shadow’s journey, you will also unlock additional abilities, as Shadow “mutates” throughout the story in body horror-adjacent segments. It’s a very funny contrast – in the A-Side story, Sonic encounters his adorable younger self, and goes on a journey through various dazzling realms. On the B-Side, Shadow is absorbing living darkness and having weird limbs sprout as he screams in pain.
There is a vast different in the journeys of Sonic and Shadow in this adventure, but it’s in this difference that both tales are so compelling. Shadow the Hedgehog has always been part of darker, edgier adventures, and this tradition continues in Sonic X Shadow Generations.
Focussing on darker subject matter means Shadow Generations has a unique and compelling flavour – and one that certainly serves fans of the titular hedgehog. As Sonic deals with matters of time, Shadow is confronting eldritch god-beings, travelling illusionary worlds, and confronting an array of science-twisted monsters in towering boss fights.
Sonic Team have done an excellent job of expanding the bounds of Sonic Generations here, taking key principles from the original campaign, and creating new levels that stretch their imagination and creativity. From the opening moments of Shadow Generations, you’re greeted by eye-catching sights – including kaleidoscopic worlds that seems to take cues from the reality-shifting, mind-bending Doctor Strange franchise.
There’s also a more cinematic lens to these worlds, with the camera frequently taking time to circle Shadow and shout to audiences, “He’s so cool! Look at the cool hedgehog! He’s doing a flip!” It really is cool, at least, and Shadow has earned the spotlight he gets here.
In remastering Sonic Generations, Sonic Team and Sega didn’t really need to go so hard – but they have, and we can all thank them for it. The original game was already good, and in enhanced form, it’s even better. Shadow Generations is a very worthy addition here, and it’s great to see Shadow getting a new chance to shine, in levels that serve him, and the wider game, incredibly well.
Four-and-a-half stars: ★★★★½
Sonic X Shadow Generations
Platform(s): PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PC
Developer: Sonic Team
Publisher: Sega
Release Date: 22 October 2024
A PlayStation 5 code for Sonic X Shadow Generations was provided by the publisher for the purposes of this review. GamesHub reviews were previously rated on a five-point scale. As of 29 July 2024, they are rated on a ten-point scale.
