Sonic Generations -- All-In-One.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas. A really good Mario game, and a great Zelda game, now a great Sonic game? What year is it anyway? I've fully completed Sonic Generations for the Xbox 360. Sonic Generations was developed by Sonic Team and published by SEGA. Sonic Generations ultimately sets out to bridge the divide that exists between fans of classic Sonic and those that are fans of modern Sonic. You'll play as the classic short, potbellied, black eyed, voiceless Sonic from the Genesis games through nine stages of 2D based gameplay. You'll also play as the modern lanky, lean, green eyed, fully voiced Sonic from the Dreamcast era and beyond through 3D interpretations of the same nine stages. The stages are broken up into three eras. The Genesis era features stages from Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, and Sonic & Knuckles. The Dreamcast era features stages from Sonic Adventure, Sonic Adventure 2, and Sonic Heroes. The Modern era features stages from Sonic the Hedgehog (2006), Sonic Unleashed, and Sonic Colors. Both the 2D and 3D stages look phenomenal. The game is just pretty. Everything is bright and colorful and lush with detail and it's all in crisp and clean HD. The sound design is even better. Every classic Sonic sound is there sounding amazing and clear. The soundtrack is arguably one of the best soundtracks in a long time. The game features fifty tracks to unlock from original versions of classic tunes to new arrangements and remixes. Once you've completed a stage you're able to select any track you've unlocked for replays. If you've always had the insane desire to race through Green Hill Zone to Super Sonic Racing from Sonic R the game allows for it. On the 2D side Sonic controls damn near close to perfect. On the 3D side Sonic is by far the most stable and responsive he's ever been. The level designs for both the 2D and 3D sides are great. It's really cool seeing 3D takes on Chemical Plant Zone and Sky Sactuary Zone for example. It's just as cool seeing 2D takes of 3D levels like Rooftop Run and City Escape. The game also offers up ninety challenges to complete. I found myself impressed with how creative these were. They really altered some of the stages to create a lot of these challenges. It's clear a lot of effort was put into the challenges. I essentially went in to Sonic Generations for the 2D classic side of things but I came away as equally impressed with the 3D half of the game. Sonic Generations is a high quality product from top to bottom and I had a whole lot of fun with the game. I'm giving Sonic Generations a 9.

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword -- All-In-One.

I have fully completed The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword for the Wii. By fully completed I mean that I completed all the side quests, collected all the crystals, and found all the hearts on my way to completing the game. The game was developed by Nintendo EAD (Entertainment Analysis and Development, for those who may have wondered) and published by Nintendo. Much like Majora's Mask before it requiring the Expansion Pak and its 4MB of memory for the Nintendo 64 to be able to play it, Skyward sword requires Wii Motion Plus and its enhanced motion control to play. The game has been built from the controls up. The gameplay has been designed entirely around the controls. The Wii Motion Plus allows for 1 to 1 tracking of motion. Meaning wherever you move the Wii Remote Plus, the on screen image of Link moves his sword. Right down to the tilt of the blade's edge. Whether the edge is facing the ground or the horizon can be controlled. You'd think with this much degree of control that the sword play would be rather complex. It's really not. You essentially have forehand and backhand slashes for the horizontal and diagonal strikes. You also have the top to bottom and bottom to top vertical slashes as well as a stabbing thrust. Your shield is essentially turned on with the shake of the nunchuck. And you can perform a shield thrust with a further shake of the nunchuck. You also have Link's trademark spin slash for lawn care and some combat use. The enemies play into these controls. The humanoid ones especially tend to defend themselves so you'll need to pay attention to how they're blocking. If they're blocking for a vertical strike a horizontal strike will normally be able to land. The more advanced encounters will require you to shield bash their attacks which will stun them for a second allowing you to get in a sword combo. All of the game's tools also use motion control and for the most part the motion controls are a success. They will still fail from time to time. And especially in the tool usage, the controls will become misaligned. Nintendo has that covered this time around. You merely need to point the Wii Motion Plus at the center of the screen and hit down on the D-pad to realign the controls. It's a built in hot fix. Something Nintendo really isn't going to advertise as it really says, hey we know our motion control crap doesn't really function a hundred percent of the time. Graphically the aesthetic of Skyward Sword is a mix between Twilight Princess' supposedly more mature style and the cartoon look of Wind Waker which results in a decidedly watercolor look. I like the graphic style. It's a shame that the graphics will depend heavily on how your high definition television deals with standard definition input. Mine doesn't especially like working with the Wii so all of the seams are clearly visible for me. None of this would be there on a standard definition television and the game would look great. The sound design of Skyward Sword fairs much better. The game uses more than a few fully orchestrated tracks and the sound quality is great. The main themes are especially well done. It does take a while to get used to the classic treasure get fanfare being done with real instruments. At first it sounds a little weird. I felt the need for voice acting this time around. I think it would have helped with the emotional impact of the story they were going for. Skyward Sword is the first game in the time line, such as it is. You're getting a lot of origin story with this one. There aren't any great surprises and everything fits rather well. I liked it a lot for what it is. Although I will say I was a little surprised at how heavily Nintendo borrowed from Lunar: The Silver Star and Lunar: Eternal Blue. I'm being polite with the use of borrow. There are a couple of things I really liked about Skyward Sword. One of those is in how thorough the developers were in pulling aspects from every other game in the series into Skyward Sword. There are shades of every single game in the series baring the CD-I titles in Skyward Sword. It results in twinges of nostalgia whenever one of these nods are recognized and that plays into the feeling of playing through a great Zelda adventure. Some of them are as blatant as 'It's a secret to everybody' and some are more obscure as the shape of certain headgear having the similar design as Midna's headgear from Twilight Princess. Another aspect I liked is the game feels full. The original Zelda, and A Link to the Past essentially had a secret on every screen. The games felt packed with content in that regard. The 3D Zelda games have lost that feeling. It's back with Skyward Sword. While not quite as true as a secret on every screen, Skyward Sword is as close to that as you can probably get in a 3D title. The game doesn't feel empty or small. Even when it doesn't really have a true overworld anymore. The dungeons and puzzles are great. The dungeons are large and varied with interesting new concepts and packed with puzzles. The game's bosses are also a treat. A lot of them break free from typical Zelda concepts and they make use of the tools and Wii Motion Plus in interesting ways. I really enjoyed my sixty-five hours with the game. Like a most great games, I didn't want it to end. I'm giving The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword a 9.5. Now bring on the Zelda games for the 3DS and the Wii U.

Saints Row: The Third -- All-In-One.

I've earned the full thousand points on Saints Row: The Third. The game was developed by Volition, Inc., and was published by THQ. Saints Row: The Third was my most wanted game this year. It's the one that I knew was going to be a sure thing and deliver all the fun of Saints Row 2 and more. Saints Row: The Third turned out to be my most disappointing game of 2011. Is that to say it's just an awful game? No, it's not an awful game. This entry isn't late even though I finished the game a week ago. I needed to think about if I was actually giving the game a fair shake or not in the terms of was I judging the game for what it is or was I judging the game on what it wasn't compared to Saints Row 2 and if that's even fair. I decided it was fair as it's how I honestly reacted to the game. I've noticed all around the Internet people have been commenting and saying things like Saints Row 3 is the most fun they've had all year but that line has almost always been qualified by saying the game is their first experience with the series. If I had not played Saints Row and Saints Row 2 would I most likely have been blown away by Saints Row: The Third? I think it's safe to say yes. But I did play Saints Row and Saints Row 2 and I know that something is off when it comes to Saints Row: The Third. Saints Row 2 was grounded by some more serious content within its story. Saints Row: The Third isn't grounded by anything. It feels that Volition noticed how the wilder aspects of Saints Row 2 were received and decided that's what fans want. And that's all you get in Saints Row: The Third. The wild and wacky, with no grounding. So it's just wild and wacky for the sake of being wild and wacky. The result actually makes the game feel dumbed down and sort of hollow. Another more tangible aspect of why I get the overall feeling of disappointment is because the game feels rushed content wise. The city design, the gaps in story missions, the activities, everything just feels slapped together. It feels unpolished, unfinished. The new clothing system feels less than from Saints Row 2 as well. You no longer have the options of wearing clothes open or closed where applicable. It may sound like a minor quibble but when you spend enough time saying I wish I could do this or that, and you used to be able to do it in the previous game, it comes across more glaring. It's not all bad news though. The game controls great and it looks much better than the previous titles and it does provide you with fifty plus hours of co-op fueled mayhem. I just can't help but feel that this is less than and overall a disappointment. I've giving Saints Row: The Third a 7.5.