Review: Sonic Generations

Platform: Xbox 360 (also on PS3, Wii)

Developer: Sonic Team

Publisher: Sega

# of Players: 1

ESRB Rating: E (Everyone)

Official Site

Score: A

 

The Sonic Team (and Sonic) renaissance continues with another solid and hugely fun to play Sonic the Hedgehog game. While not flawless, Sonic Generations does a mostly stellar job of recapturing the nostalgia of the blue hedgehog’s early days while also giving gamers a Shake ‘n Bake of pretty much every major Sonic game (and a few minor ones) that’s come along since. Those well-versed in Sonic lore will be grinning ear to ear at the presentation, looking for references all over the place as they play through the game. Like the classic games it cobbles its levels and characters from, the overall experience is somewhat brief. However, just like the old days, this is one game you’ll blow through once and go back to over and over until you’ve aced every challenge and scored “S” ranks across every single map. Continue reading

What’s Old Is New…

So, my copy of Star Odyssey arrived today, interestingly enough on a nice and quiet (but busy) Saturday. I spent a few hours playing it and yup, it’s definitely old-school goodness. Not the best RPG on the Mega Drive/Genesis, but a great deal of care went into the game and it’s one of those “lost” games that was well worth the long wait to finally play. For the heck of it, here are pics of the game one of my Mega Drives consoles and the original Japanese release, Blue Almanac. Enjoy!

Yakuza: Dead Souls US/Europe Bound in 2012

Thanks again, Sega! Known as Ryū ga Gotoku OF THE END in Japan, this offbeat (and more action-oriented) side story to the long-running franchise known as Yakuza in the west will be hitting the PS3 in March 2012. The game uses the same engine and locations found in the PS3 Yakuza games, adds plenty of zombies to the mix and lets players take on the roles of four characters as they try and put an end to the undead plague. No doubt Sega of America will get this out with as few changes as possible, as the US version of Yakuza 4 was a more solid game than the thanks to the wise decision to NOT chop out some of the more, shall we say, “controversial” content. I’m guessing this may show up at a press event at some point. If it does, I’ll get a hands-on preview up.

Aliens: Colonial Marines Gameplay Footage (Link)

I’d posted this Aliens: Colonial Marines E3 gameplay demo trailer over on the other DAF blog on Saturday, but forgot to link to it from here (oops). I need an assistant to keep track of this stuff, that’s for sure. The clone I’m looking at costs way too much and is out of my time zone by about 80 years. Feh. Anyway, Go Gearbox! Go Sega!

Sega Offers FREE Rise of Nightmares Comic Download

Sega’s campy/scary Kinect horror game Rise of Nightmares is generating a decent amount of interest among gamers (warts and all) and now there’s even a comic book tie-in to pore over. You can download it HERE if you’re interested in the game ad want a bit of cool back story.

Writer Al Ewing and artist Marc Olivent’s “The Lost Tapes of Roland Childs” tells the tale of the private detective whose tapes and experiences players can collect as they explore the world in the game. As I don’t currently own a Kinect, I’ll have to hope Sega brings the game over to the Move at some point. I kind of need a bit more room in my place for a Kinect as well as that Nyko Zoom add-on so I can actually play some of those games and not knock all the air out of the room in the process.

Please note: This comic contains adult language and scenes. Reader discretion is advised.

Sonic Generations Dreamcast Era Trailer Brings Back Memories…

I remember seeing screenshots of Sonic Adventure and being blown away by how great the game looked. Sega’s upcoming console had definitely opened the door for developers to start creating console games that actually looked closer to CG trailers of the period and the DC was home to quite a few spectacular-looking titles, a few of which still stand out as solid genre classics. My review copy of Sonic Generations is on the way, so I’ll be taking time out from reworking the blog to post my impressions. Stay tuned…

The House of the Dead Overkill EC Gets Eye-Popping (and Retro) 3D Modes

Gallery

This gallery contains 8 photos.

Nice. Now Sega can add “Retro-ier” to that “Longer, Harder, Gorier!” tagline for its upcoming M-rated arcade shooter. The company is really going all out with this super-enhanced HD remix of the Wii sleeper hit. In addition to PS Move … Continue reading

New Aliens: Infestation Trailer (Yes, There’s Still Life Left In That Nintendo DS!)

WayForward and Gearbox’ upcoming DS exclusive is probably going to be the best thing to happen to the DS in terms of licensed movie titles and definitely the best portable Aliens game I can think of. Of course, it IS coming from one of the best developers of 2D games working today, so it’s pretty much a given that it’s going to be a solid game. October 11 is rushing up really fast, so put this one on your to-do lists. Thank you, Sega!

TGS 2011: Anarchy Reigns Trailer

PlatinumGames’ outstandingly quirky and dynamic PS3/Xbox 360 brawler is looking good to go and absolutely spectacular. I’m still not 100% sold on the multiplayer-only aspect of the game, but if anyone can make me reconsider my stubborn ways, it’s this team and this particular fighter. Go Sega!

Super Monkey Ball Coming To PS Vita

Get it through your skulls, people: unless they can turn back time, Sega has NO plans to make a Dreamcast 2, period. Too much money down the drain in R&D plus the sad fact that the industry isn’t going to support standalone home consoles in this rush to enforce digital evolution, which is a bad idea at the end of the day. Trust me, when there’s a service outage along the lines of this year’s PSN debacle spread across whatever set top “cloud” box is in your house, you’ll be wishing you had a few consoles and physical games to fall back on while you’re waiting for service to be restored. THAT said, those cute as hell monkeys are back, this time on the Vita. Sega may not be cranking out consoles these days, but they sure as heck know how to produce and publish some great games. SO, focus your attention and gaming dollars on cool titles like this and help Sega thrive where it’s doing its best. That is all…