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.