I started playing video games quite late in my life, I got the PS1 when the PS2 was released and got the Xbox 360 about 2 years after release. However when I did get the Ps1 I spent a long time playing platformer games like Crash Bandicoot and Spyro the Dragon, but this is a genre that I miss now being a 19 year old student. The video game industry is dominated by first person shooters and war simulators, perhaps it is just because I am no longer the target market for these video games, or that it is a genre that has slowly died out.

I watched a video today of Double Fine studios Tim Scafer talking and Ron Gilbert discussing the adventure genre, and how it has not necessarily died out, but is shadowed by the huge sales that some games can get now a days.

When I was playing games like Crash I remember my whole family playing it, me, my brother and my dad would play it, it is what started my Dad on video games, I feel now a days video games can embrace such wide audiences, and that there is games designed for people that perhaps 10 or so years ago would perhaps be ridiculed for playing video games. The platformer genre is not dead, it just has a much smaller player base than other titles that can attract other players, but to me it still feels like a genre that will be very close to my heart, it is the genre that got me, and I'm sure a lot of other people into video games. The last platformer game I played was Sonic Generations, and as I've gotten this far without a real purpose I think I'll do a quick run down of how I feel about the game.

Sonic Generations is the celebration of 20 years of Sonic the Hedgehog, bringing the best (and what others may say the worst) of his 20 years in video games. The game consists of 2 levels designed around a video game in the series, one designed in 2D and played with "classic" sonic, and the other is the 2D/3D hybrid which has been used in Sonic Unleashed and Colours (Colors if your American). Everyone will have the level they will automatically love playing, due to the nostalgia associated with playing this game in your childhood, the music the level design, even the enemies from the specific game. The game is just a love letter to the fans, concept art from the past and a soundtrack of 50 of the best songs from the games, and remixed songs for modern interpretations of old levels and vice versa. This is what I love about the game.

I have a huge gripe with the boss battles and the story both felt rushed, and considering there is usually about 7 bosses per Sonic game they should of added more boss fights to the game, there never felt like there was an overarching threat in the game, no big boss that needed to be defeated, if you are getting this game for a amazing story, your buying the wrong game. The Rival battles are a much better experience than the boss battle, the fight against Shadow in particular, a one off race on the Space Colony Ark, it seems as if a lot of work just for music/level design just for one small fight made the whole thing actually seem like a much more intense fight, and was the one I went back to and played multiple times out of all the boss fights.

The hub world is split up into 3 sections, classic, dreamcast, and modern, personally I preferred the Dreamcast levels as this were the ones that got me into the sonic games to start with, so I automatically had a bigger nostalgia feel towards them, but most of the levels are well designed, and are not just copy and pasted reskins from the original games. As with the bosses it would be nice to have more than just one level per game, especially as classic zones like Ice Cap zone and Casino Nights (Not including the DLC) could of been included, there is such a wide catalogue they can choose from it would be nice to see more of the levels from the past reinvented (Sonic Heroes SkyFleet Zone please!) Obviously not everyone will be pleased with the level choice and perhaps they could of chosen a better level from Sonic Adventure as Speed Highway and City Escape play straight after each other, and perhaps another level would of provided a more distinct difference. It would be nice for future DLC to add new levels but unfortunately I do not see this happening.

Overall if you are a Sonic the Hedgehog fan I would recommend getting this game, but if you are you probably already have! If you are not a huge fan, but you do want to pick it up I would say get it on PC, it was dead cheap on release, so now it may be even cheaper, it is a good nostalgia ride, just ignore the pathetic story and have fun in the main levels.