I played the PS3 version of Sonic Generations back in 2017 and I didn't get very far because of the forced challenges needed to unlock bosses and to continue the game. I did play it again in 2021 and finished it however apart of me found it to be a miracle since the later stages got so challenging that I was like, "how was I able to do all that with limited continues?" I mainly played this again because of the recent Shadow Generations release and the best part, this version of Generations has no lives system meaning a replay of the game sounds much more appealing.
As a whole, Generations is a solid game even if much of the nostalgia the game tries to envoke is lost on me since I never grew up with the series. Classic Sonic for some reason reminds of Kid Goku. I did find him to be cute and adorable with the faces he would make. I do like Sonic music so hearing City Escape and Live Learn from Adventure 2 was nice. There's barely much story which I don't mind. Not even familar enough with the overarching Sonic narrative to be attached.
The game can be summed up like this, you do the same stages twice one as Modern Sonic and one as Classic Sonic. There's some challenges you need to do on each of the stages(mercifully it's just one on each stage to get the boss key) and there's 2D and 3D variations of all of them. Fight some rival battles to get the Chaos Emeralds and bosses.
Sonic Generations is a pretty short game but I don't mind, most of the length however especially if you aren't 100%ing it is finding which of the stage challenges is easy enough for you to complete. This could be the first one you attempt or it could multiple ones. I was lucky to finish most of the first ones I tried. This is going to be the biggest hurdle for many first time players of the game.
An issue I notice upon playing Generations again is that the Modern Sonic stages are supposed to be in 3D but they aren't or at least not 100% of the time. There's sections of his levels that are in 2D. The thing that bugs me about this is that the Classic Sonic stages are already in 2D anyway. If you want to play 2D Sonic, that's what the Classic stages are for. It can make the Modern Stages seem misleading. Shadow Generations would improve this since the 3D portions of Shadow's stages are in 3D and no random 2D transitions.
Another issue is that Modern and Classic Sonic have moves specific to them. Modern Sonic has boost, slide, stomp and the homing attack while Classic Sonic has different jump physics and the Spin Dash. Due to this, you may have to get reaquainted with playing as either Sonic. It's not bad but it's yet another improvement Shadow Generations made where 2D and 3D Shadow stages have the same move set and controls.
Still in spite of all might compliants, Generations is a solid game and these aren't overly big issues, for the most part Sonic Generations is fun to play in the moment. However, the later stages can be a problem and it always seems that a lot of Sonic games, they get hard due to some really unpolished and unrefined platforming. Everything past the Dreamcast era feels like I'm messing up due to the homing attack not always working or just how much longer later stages can feel. Planet Wisp in particular can feel especially jarring considering it took the Wisp mechanic from Colors and just has that very gimmick be featured for one level only and never pops up again. The platforming on the Wisp stage is more challenging than any other in the game due to this on top of being very long too. How I was able to do this with limited continues I'm still trying to figure out.
The bosses are pretty enjoyable especially the rival battles. They feel like high speed set pieces where you need to dodge their attacks and wait for an opening to attack them. Silver's battle was my favorite of the bunch.
Overall, Sonic Generations out of all the games in the series I played is one of the better games in the series. Shadow Generations does overshadow it since it feels more refined and consistent by comparison.
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