PAL copy played on an Xbox One X.

Over ten years later and it's a shame that Generations remains to be the last consistently solid Sonic title - and even then it feels like a "just" at times. The main series of levels feel solidly designed and while the bonus missions feel like padding at the best of times, the game has an overall solid presentation with good art direction and song remixes.

My main complaints relay to the length - easily a 5-6 hour game if you're not going for a completionist route and the lack of a third, "Adventure"-era Sonic with the more exploratative level design feels like a missed opportunity. It also feels a bit rushed with a number of features feeling entirely underbaked such as the bonus anniversary features and the final boss being a bit of an anti-climax. Thankfully it doesn't reach the disappointing lows of the 15th anniversary celebration with '06 but with this being only 5 years and several games later it does feel like Sonic Team should have maybe been allowed more time.

This is overall a fun game and perhaps the truly last "great" Sonic title whilst being a decent summation of the franchise's then 20 year history, but it's not without its flaws and they feel more evident as time goes on.

EU copy played on a Xbox 360.

After experimenting with the gameplay gimmicks of Unleashed and Colours, Sonic Team decided to (almost) ditch all that in favour of pure focus on tthe boost mechanics. But then they threw Classic Sonic into the mix and Sonic games were never the same.

I like the Classic segments just fine to be honest although it's a weird addition, especially since the Modern stages feature 2D sections too due to the use of Unleashed's Hedgehog Engine. The boost stages' inclusion of these sections always felt like an appeasal for the fans who couldn't stop yammering on about how Sonic never had good 3D games, so to carry on with that design philosophy as well as include the Classic stages was just an inbalance that never felt right to me. This also went on to have ripple effects in the franchise's future with the split between Classic and Modern as "separate timelines" or some other Zelda nonsense, as well as using the Classic Sonic character as a crutch in the future installment of Sonic Forces, largely led to the slump in quality during the 2010s period.

But anyway, this is 2011 - it's Sonic's 20th anniversary and as a celebration of his history it's easily one of the best. Sonic Team got the formula right for both gameplay aspects as well as mixing up the level design and soundtrack to keep old fans pleasantly surprised and exposing new fans to a highlight reel.

The bonuses are nice too but to be perfectly honest I never went for them - it felt like they offered to change up the gameplay more than providing more of a history lesson for the franchise which is what I would have personally preferred.

Overall a really solid Sonic game - uncertain if I'd call it the best title in the franchise's latter half, due to some contextual grievances but it's certainly a strong contender.