Sonic Generations: The Modern Demonstration

Sega
released the second demo for Sonic
Generations a short while ago (well, in America at least), a game that
supposedly combines the best of Sonic games from two generations — hence the
name. The first demo released back in June, and featured Classic Sonic along
with his retro-inspired Green Hill Zone level. The new demo features Modern Sonic
with a new twist on Green Hill Zone, but also
features the Classic Sonic level in case you missed the previous demo
(which was only temporarily offered). The catch here is the latter has the
added feature of a Chao assisting Sonic with a voiced tutorial throughout the
level. That’s bound to piss of quite a few people, so hopefully there’s a way
to turn that off.

Modern Sonic
has a level that plays out exactly like the last few Sonic games, Sonic Unleashed to be most specific. He
has all the functions younger fans of the franchise have come to love and many
older ones have hated since they were originally unleashed (ah ha ha) Sonic Adventure. The automatic speed-up
function and a homing ability help him hit enemies and springs easily. His
version of the Green Hill Zone, is labeled “Act 2”, is entirely in 3D but goes
down a straightforward path; it also has a remix of the music you
loved, but that’s not to say you’ll love this one.

I don’t hate
the modern Sonic games as much as many of the franchise’s particularly fervent
fans, so I didn’t hate the playthrough. Some of its sections were irksome,
though: the speeding parts felt automatic, requiring the player to do nothing
but hold right on the analog stick. There weren’t many sections in the demo,
thankfully. Though you can hold the square button to speed through some
sections, which will take out any enemies in the way in the process, I
recommend not using it your first time through because you’ll miss many of the
secret paths if you’re blazing through the entire thing. Part of the point of
Sonic games is to zoom through levels really fast, but not too fast.

Besides,
you’ll also miss plenty of rings if you don’t stop to see the sights. Rings
aren’t as plentiful as they are in Classic Sonic’s Green Hill Zone. You don’t really
need them considering how short and
easy the demo is (it will take you five minutes at most to finish), but you
might want to challenge yourself to see if you can obtain many of them before
reaching the end of the stage. Well, unless you really hate Modern Sonic.

Both demos
provided an incredibly small taste of what the final product will offer. The
question is whether the final package will have enough content to satisfy gamers
who only intend to play through as one Sonic. And if both Sonic quests are
pretty short, hopefully the game’s good enough to give it some replay value. We
won’t have to wait long to find out, as the game releases everywhere next week.
Well, except for Japan, who won’t get it until December 1st.