Sonic X Shadow Generations
(PlayStation, Xbox, Switch, PC, £44.99)
Verdict: Enjoyably chaotic
Slow up a second. Is this the best Sonic release in years?
There might be some who prefer the Zelda-esque expansiveness of 2022’s Sonic Frontiers. Or others who go in for the retro-perfection of 2017’s Sonic Mania.
But, for my money, Sonic X Shadow Generations is a better exploration of where our blue erinaceous friend has come from – and where he might go in future.
Let’s start with the past. A full half of this game is a remastered version of the 13-year-old Sonic Generations, which was itself mostly a redo, in both 2D and 3D, of classic levels from hedgehog history. Playing through it again, this time on modern systems, is a joy.
GAME: Sonic x Shadows: Generations.
GAME: Sonic x Shadows: Generations.
GAME: Sonic x Shadows: Generations.
But what of the future? The other half of Sonic X Shadows Generations is, as its name suggests, an entirely new campaign focussing on Sonic’s radder, badder, more complicated counterpart, Shadow.
The gameplay here takes place in great, twisty-turny, almost psychedelic levels in which Shadow gets to show off his fabled ‘Chaos powers’. He cuts through monsters with missile-like projectiles. He soars through the air on oily-looking wings.
And, most especially, he slows time. Unlike Sonic, who is all about going faster, faster all the time, Shadow can sometimes arrest his own forward momentum to take on the challenges ahead at a less blurry pace.
It all adds up to a game that’s not just looking back at its past – but is in active conversation with it. The future is not, it turns out, blue. The future’s shadow.
Until Dawn: Remake
(PlayStation, PC, £59.99)
Verdict: Needless things
What am I actually reviewing here? Is it the game or the remake?
Because if it’s the former, the actual game known as Until Dawn, then we’ve known that it’s pretty good since its original release in 2015. And this version, in all the important respects, is still the same.
This is still one of the most important games in the modern choose-your-own-adventure genre – which also includes the Life is Strange series, The Quarry and As Dusk Falls – in which you mostly make progress through conversational choices. There are branching paths on branching paths.
GAME: Until Dawn: Remake
GAME: Until Dawn: Remake
GAME: Until Dawn: Remake
This is still a slick and cinematic experience in which recognisable actors, such as Hayden Panettiere and Rami Malek, lend their voices and likenesses to a bunch of kids staying – perhaps unwisely – in a cabin in the woods.
And it is still an enjoyable piece of horror hokum, featuring almost every threat and monster in the book. Who, thanks to your choices, will live through to the morning?
But if we concentrate on the remake itself, that’s where the story takes a less encouraging turn. It certainly looks better than the original game, particularly when it comes to the moody lighting – but the original didn’t exactly look bad.
And the camera perspective is slightly different. And now it’s on PC. And… that’s basically it? It’s hard to believe that this upgrade was really necessary. Or that it couldn’t have just been released as a free or near-free update for people who already own the original, rather than as a new release with an RRP of £59.99.
Except I haven’t mentioned another new addition: a couple of post-credit scenes that hint at the possibility of a sequel. Ah, a new Until Dawn. Perhaps that’s why Sony wants people to pay for the original all over again.
***
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