This review is spoiler free aside from what has been shown in official media (trailers, interviews, etc) or information that has already been mentioned in a previous installment.

Easily one of the greatest games in the franchise. The Sonic Generations part is mostly unchanged, but oh my god does the Shadow Generations part go absolutely crazy.

[SONIC GENERATIONS]
Not much to say about Sonic's side, as like I said it goes largely unchanged. Most of (if not all) of the dialogue has been rewritten to make the game feel more charismatic. People like to rag on Ian Flynn for his over-use of references, but they really seem to sit well here, considering that this IS an anniversary game with it's entire premise being to revisit previous titles. But, they aren't too on the nose either. Not to mention Sonic actually talks back to the NPCs he saves instead of just...emoting. All in all the interaction between characters seems to have some more "glue" and weight to them than just some slightly cheesy dialogue. Gameplay wise it's basically the same. Modern Sonic has an updated control scheme to match Frontiers, but you can change it back to the OG Generations control scheme if desired. Classic Sonic is also pretty much the same, with the inclusion of the drop-dash as a 30p skill. I do wish the drop-dash was actually implemented into his default moveset though, since it can't be used in the challenge acts because it is a skill, and also takes up room in your limited amount of skills. That's just nitpicking though, it's not too bad. There are some portions that Classic Sonic doesn't seem to do what he is intended to do, often times with to do with propulsion. For instance, there is a large wall to scale in Planet Wisp Act 1 where you're seemingly supposed to use a red spring to go up, but you don't get enough momentum to carry you all the way. You can just use a fully charged spindash though, and it won't cost you any S-ranks. Other than that, some of the red rings have been moved around, mostly to make the levels more "replayable". Rather than being able to grab them all in one go, or having to "backtrack", you have to actually take the other branching paths to get to them, which is a nice addition and gets you to explore the levels more. Speaking of collectibles, there are now 3 Chao to rescue in each act, and are rather creatively hidden sometimes. That's pretty much it though, nothing drastic has been changed. I guess they sort of "censored" Rouge by altering her model/animations to not show as much cleavage, but, like, you gotta be a real gooner to care about that lmao.

[SHADOW GENERATIONS]
It's peak. If this is what we can expect from future titles we are beyond "so back" we are in "best ever" territory. Maybe I'm glazing, maybe I'm biased but this game is insane. Before you start the actual game, there is an option to watch a prologue of Shadow's backstory, which essentially catches you up on the important events relevant to Shadow Generations, mostly the story of Shadow, Maria, and Gerald we saw in Sonic Adventure 2 and Shadow The Hedgehog (2005) that we already know. Jumping into the main game, the cutscenes are really well done. Shadow's voice actor, Kirk Thornton, has stepped his game up too. He doesn't feel quite so straight-forward anymore. Shadow actually has depth depending on his emotions in this game. To be fair, this doesn't really seem like it was a problem with Thornton as much as it was the information on the character given to him prior, but in this game Shadow feels a lot more like how he should. No longer just "edgy to be edgy" but the way he speaks has motive.

Gameplay wise, this is some of the best level design. Ever. I'm not joking. It's so good I'm giving it it's own paragraph. To start, the levels are larger than Sonic Generations. The levels are longer, closer in length to what you would get from Sonic The Hedgehog (2006) or Sonic Unleashed. Each stage is about 3-5 minutes with an S-rank. But I don't just mean longer. The stages are just bigger. There's more branching pathways, and there's more ways to go between those branching pathways. The levels do somewhat follow the tradition of "the top path is the fastest path", but often to get that sweet S-rank you actually have to maneuver wisely rather than blindly follow the top. And, similar the the red ring situation mentioned earlier in the Sonic Generations review, the collectibles for Shadow Generations are placed in a way where you typically have to replay the level to get them all. However, due the to the larger nature of this game, I would argue you could take the "collectible path" so you could sacrifice being faster to instead get all the collectibles without the need to replay or backtrack. And before I continue, without spoiling the actual level gameplay, we all know Sunset Hills is in this game, and it has received the glow-up of the century. We can actually call a Sonic Forces level good y'all. That's all. Back to the game, the bosses are just as good. Each boss has been chosen, in some way, to "mirror" Shadow in way. The 3 you see in the trailers are Metal Overlord, Mephiles the Dark (this one is amazing btw), and the Biolizard. The dialogue in game will allude to you how each boss specifically relates to Shadow or adds to his character. This goes for the level choices as well. Then there's the hub world, which as you saw is 3D, unlike Sonic's. The way it's constructed is very Frontiers-esque, but more tightly knit and fleshed out. It fixes one of the larger complaints about Frontiers, and that is that the islands feel kind of empty. Everything is kind of far away from each other in Frontiers, and a lot of the time spent on the islands is kind of just running around trying to find something. Shadow Generations hub world is actually quite small, but feels big. There are obstacles and things to interact with, along with hidden goodies, all over the place in the hub, without feeling too chaotic. It's fun to go from destination to destination, or to try and find secrets. Everything in this game is just so well put together and clearly crafted with love. Oh, and there is post-game content. Have fun!

[TL;DR]
Sonic Generations is, largely, still Sonic Generations, with some quality of life stuff put in there. Shadow Generations is truly one of the best games in the franchise. At the time of writing, I have almost 100% completed it and I can't really say anything negative about it. I wouldn't call it "the perfect game" but there is ZERO things I have to complain about as of this moment. Everything is fantastic. The gameplay and story has taken all of the good DNA from previous titles and smashed it together to make one of the best pieces of Sonic media ever conceived.

This review is spoiler free aside from what has been shown in official media (trailers, interviews, etc) or information that has already been mentioned in a previous installment. Easily one of the greatest games in the franchise. The Sonic Generations part is mostly unchanged, but oh my god does the Shadow Generations part go absolutely crazy. [SONIC GENERATIONS] Not much to say about Sonic's side, as like I said it goes largely unchanged. Most of (if not all) of the dialogue has been rewritten to make the game feel more charismatic. People like to rag on Ian Flynn for his over-use of references, but they really seem to sit well here, considering that this IS an anniversary game with it's entire premise being to revisit previous titles. But, they aren't too on the nose either. Not to mention Sonic actually talks back to the NPCs he saves instead of just...emoting. All in all the interaction between characters seems to have some more "glue" and weight to them than just some slightly cheesy dialogue. Gameplay wise it's basically the same. Modern Sonic has an updated control scheme to match Frontiers, but you can change it back to the OG Generations control scheme if desired. Classic Sonic is also pretty much the same, with the inclusion of the drop-dash as a 30p skill. I do wish the drop-dash was actually implemented into his default moveset though, since it can't be used in the challenge acts because it is a skill, and also takes up room in your limited amount of skills. That's just nitpicking though, it's not too bad. There are some portions that Classic Sonic doesn't seem to do what he is intended to do, often times with to do with propulsion. For instance, there is a large wall to scale in Planet Wisp Act 1 where you're seemingly supposed to use a red spring to go up, but you don't get enough momentum to carry you all the way. You can just use a fully charged spindash though, and it won't cost you any S-ranks. Other than that, some of the red rings have been moved around, mostly to make the levels more "replayable". Rather than being able to grab them all in one go, or having to "backtrack", you have to actually take the other branching paths to get to them, which is a nice addition and gets you to explore the levels more. Speaking of collectibles, there are now 3 Chao to rescue in each act, and are rather creatively hidden sometimes. That's pretty much it though, nothing drastic has been changed. I guess they sort of "censored" Rouge by altering her model/animations to not show as much cleavage, but, like, you gotta be a real gooner to care about that lmao. [SHADOW GENERATIONS] It's peak. If this is what we can expect from future titles we are beyond "so back" we are in "best ever" territory. Maybe I'm glazing, maybe I'm biased but this game is insane. Before you start the actual game, there is an option to watch a prologue of Shadow's backstory, which essentially catches you up on the important events relevant to Shadow Generations, mostly the story of Shadow, Maria, and Gerald we saw in Sonic Adventure 2 and Shadow The Hedgehog (2005) that we already know. Jumping into the main game, the cutscenes are really well done. Shadow's voice actor, Kirk Thornton, has stepped his game up too. He doesn't feel quite so straight-forward anymore. Shadow actually has depth depending on his emotions in this game. To be fair, this doesn't really seem like it was a problem with Thornton as much as it was the information on the character given to him prior, but in this game Shadow feels a lot more like how he should. No longer just "edgy to be edgy" but the way he speaks has motive. Gameplay wise, this is some of the best level design. Ever. I'm not joking. It's so good I'm giving it it's own paragraph. To start, the levels are larger than Sonic Generations. The levels are longer, closer in length to what you would get from Sonic The Hedgehog (2006) or Sonic Unleashed. Each stage is about 3-5 minutes with an S-rank. But I don't just mean longer. The stages are just bigger. There's more branching pathways, and there's more ways to go between those branching pathways. The levels do somewhat follow the tradition of "the top path is the fastest path", but often to get that sweet S-rank you actually have to maneuver wisely rather than blindly follow the top. And, similar the the red ring situation mentioned earlier in the Sonic Generations review, the collectibles for Shadow Generations are placed in a way where you typically have to replay the level to get them all. However, due the to the larger nature of this game, I would argue you could take the "collectible path" so you could sacrifice being faster to instead get all the collectibles without the need to replay or backtrack. And before I continue, without spoiling the actual level gameplay, we all know Sunset Hills is in this game, and it has received the glow-up of the century. We can actually call a Sonic Forces level good y'all. That's all. Back to the game, the bosses are just as good. Each boss has been chosen, in some way, to "mirror" Shadow in way. The 3 you see in the trailers are Metal Overlord, Mephiles the Dark (this one is amazing btw), and the Biolizard. The dialogue in game will allude to you how each boss specifically relates to Shadow or adds to his character. This goes for the level choices as well. Then there's the hub world, which as you saw is 3D, unlike Sonic's. The way it's constructed is very Frontiers-esque, but more tightly knit and fleshed out. It fixes one of the larger complaints about Frontiers, and that is that the islands feel kind of empty. Everything is kind of far away from each other in Frontiers, and a lot of the time spent on the islands is kind of just running around trying to find something. Shadow Generations hub world is actually quite small, but feels big. There are obstacles and things to interact with, along with hidden goodies, all over the place in the hub, without feeling too chaotic. It's fun to go from destination to destination, or to try and find secrets. Everything in this game is just so well put together and clearly crafted with love. Oh, and there is post-game content. Have fun! [TL;DR] Sonic Generations is, largely, still Sonic Generations, with some quality of life stuff put in there. Shadow Generations is truly one of the best games in the franchise. At the time of writing, I have almost 100% completed it and I can't really say anything negative about it. I wouldn't call it "the perfect game" but there is ZERO things I have to complain about as of this moment. Everything is fantastic. The gameplay and story has taken all of the good DNA from previous titles and smashed it together to make one of the best pieces of Sonic media ever conceived.