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.

Getting the Re-Boot

When a series gets close to the end of it's life span it's usually gone for good right?
WRONG the developers decide to reboot it! Get all that was good about the series and throw it out the window.

Most peoples views to a reboot are different depending on their love of the series and what has actually changed. For example the new Devil May Cry game, DmC has been getting quite a few rough remarks from fans of the series. At the time of writing this the E3 trailer for the game on the Ninja Theory Youtube page has only 927 likes compared to 2,050 dislikes, with fans complaining of the lack of crucial DMC elements like his sword Rebellion. This is before actual game play has been shown, and much of the story is still unrevealed. This could be the story of how Dante came into contact with rebellion, and you may spend half the game with his trusty sword.

However I do see where people are coming from,and I have felt similar hatred towards games that have been rebooted. Two that I know from the top of my head are Spyro the Dragon and Crash Bandicoot, Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure has completely redesigned Spyro.

What I don't understand that this is obviously a kids game, so it obviously isn't intended for me, But wasn't Spyros original design suitable for kids? Now he just looks like a lizard AND they removed Sparx! Admittedly the game is pretty clever using toys to bring into video games, but it's hard to work out that with 32 characters, is it a Spyro game? Or is he just thrown in because producers know people liked Spyro? Crash has gone through a similar change, a similar monstrous change, where they removed Crash's spin attack, meaning he now knows how to punch and kick, and now has to rely on other monsters to do his work. Not to mention the Spongebob style voice work annoys me. I'm sure if you gave any child the original Crash Bandicoot, any of the original 3 Spyro games they would have as much fun as I did.

However I have just proved my first point, because I grew up with these series i have a very different view to them, then someone who has grown up with the modern style of the games. So this is where we reach a standstill, is a reboot a good idea? Should some series just be laid to rest? I'm guessing as technology changes, as we age everything ages with us, and if our current generation play what was once a loved series, but is now a horrible mess we'll just have to let them get on with it... And then when they get older they will have the exact same hate towards the reboot of that game.