Game for your Buck: Sonic Generations

Sega has had a nasty habbit of placing Sonic into games that... well, aren't really Sonic games. You know, "Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games", "Sonic Unleashed" and many others. "Sonic Generations" actually plays out like a Sonic Game. That almost sounds like an insult, although with Sega's recent history I'd consider that a huge compliment.

Intro:
This is the best intro I've seen for Sonic in a while. The voice acting does make me cringe a little at some points, but the fact that Sonic is eating a chili dog makes me forgive them immediately.

Gameplay as Classic Sonic:
Ever played classic Sonic? Well, it's exactly like that-- except smoother, faster and much prettier than the original. The 3D art flows beautifully within the two dimensional sidescroller gameplay. He even has the same moves and animations. Nostalgia, anyone?

Gameplay as New Gen Sonic:
Ever played Sonic Heroes? The gameplay is incredibly similar but without the two other characters following you around. You can't spindash, but can do a pure speed boost that's charged from rings. Whenever Sonic jumps up next to an enemy, spring, crane, or other interactive objects, you'll get a lovely homing attack to dominate obstacles with. New Gen Sonic's dimensions flow seemlessly. Meaning he'll switch from 2D sidescroller style to 3D Sonic Heros style gameplay without much warning and without much hassle.

General Gameplay:
Each of the Sonics get to play a single act per stage. They're infinitely replayable so that you may beat your own times and find hidden red rings to unlock stuff like concept art and sketches. Aside from the beautiful design of the levels and wonderful music, the stages are simply fun. Yes, fun! What we play games for in the first place. Trucks, giant fish and huge boulders will chase after your character giving, Sonic a reason to run instead of him being in a meaningless hurry and having a heart attack when the clock reaches 0:00.

Bosses:
Some are fun and some are frustrating. They do, however, keep true to their tradition of having the first boss be nearly unbeatable, then the second one being incredibly easy. I'm not sure why they do this as it tends to be a bit of a letdown. Oh well.

Pros:

Great gameplay
Stays true to the Sonics' and other's personalities
Art & music are beautiful
Reasonable stage difficulty curve
It's a Sonic game. Not some other genre game featuring Sonic.

Cons:

Minor glitches
PC version is nearly impossible to play without a controller
The story is a little cheesy
Horrible boss difficulty curve
The game is very, very short

Overall:

Great music (though recycled), great levels (2 or 3 are recycled), wonderful art, comical adaptation of a classic and modern character version interacting with one another... and most importantly it's entertaining! This game is what Sega should have been doing all along. It's how Nintendo makes a living. Remaking their old games-- but better! Instead of adding in dozens of useless characters and underdeveloped gameplay mechanics, they've remapped and recreated their old legends. That is exactly what Sega has done with this gem.

Game for your buck?