Sonic Generations (Platinum Hits) - Xbox 360

The first game that I got with my SEGA Genesis was Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and my love for the blue ball of speed began. This enjoyment of fast paced platforming lasted all the way through the ill-fated and fondly remembered Dreamcast (may it rest in peace). If you would have told me that Sonic wouldn't have a good game for years after the Sonic Adventure series I would have called you nuts - among many other colorful metaphors - and went back to playing. 3D Sonic has been a truly hit-or-miss affair at best, and 2D Sonic has not been his old self for quite some time. I'll confess I didn't want to buy this game at first. I just didn't know if I could handle disappointment again.All of this has changed though. Is it perfect? No. But it is so close that it's a miracle! This is the most fun I've had with the blue hedgehog since Sonic Adventure. They've stripped Sonic of all (or at least most of) the stupid gimmicks and went back to what made it fun to begin with. Learning the levels and then blazing through them at the speed of sound. This is a truly awesome trip down memory lane.They've went back through 20 years of Sonic titles, picked the best levels; revamped them a bit; and then let us play through them in 2D and 3D in beautiful high-definition. This game is fast and gorgeous, (so much so I would actually stop and just look at the beautiful artwork) it's something to behold.If you liked any of the Genesis or Dreamcast Sonic titles you owe it to yourself to pick this up. It's totally renewed my faith in the franchise.With that said; I noticed that sometimes there are some control issues. For instance: Sonic isn't always the most responsive. This of course is not an all the time event, but I've died several times while completing the game because my commands simply didn't reach him at all. Also of note is the fact that some of the challenges; and the last boss battle in particular; seems more like luck than player skill.I'll give two quick examples. First: when playing a level you may go through it several times and be able to perform a sequence of actions to get - let's say - to a shortcut. Well the next time this may not work. Once you've got a level layout down to muscle memory and you find out that what you've been doing all of a sudden drops you to a stand still because of some random oddity it's a little frustrating.Secondly: During the last boss battle going for the "Can't Touch This" achievement; which involves completing the boss battle without being hit; I must have played through it about two dozen times getting S ranks galore but something would always happen, or due to the autonomous nature of the fight Sonic wouldn't lock on and I'd be hit. Several times I felt cheated by seemingly random variations of the boss's actions. If you've played this boss you know that a lot of it is out of your hands as a player and so it was just aggravating.At any rate the game is not too tough not too easy, if you have kids get this for them so they can see what a real Sonic game can be. Plus it includes the original SEGA Genesis Sonic the Hedgehog! That's right the FULL GAME. Too Cool!P.S. There's a grammar mistake in one of the achievement descriptions for anyone who's looking for it. :)

Wife and kids love this game. Wife plays more than kids do. Case was broken but game works fine. Would recommend to any hedgehog fan.

I've been a huge fan of Sonic ever since I first played the original games on the Sega Genesis. So when I heard about Sega bringing back side-scrolling Sonic along with some classic levels I with very excited. You'll be glad to know Sonic generations doesn't disappoint.Gameplay:Sega did a fabulous job at with designing the levels in this game. You can speed right through most of them if you want but if you go too fast you'll miss jumps and alternate routes that may get you special items of even get you to the finish line even faster. There is a great balance in the game of speed and a skillful timing. You can even use points you earn in between levels to buy power-ups, from shields to extra rings, to give you a little extra edge in beating different stages.Content:I was worried at first that this was going to be a short game because of how fast sonic can plow through levels but wow did they pack this game with a lot of content. You have nine normal levels, all inspired by classic stages, which you play through as both 2D and 3D Sonic. Then each of those Stages has 5 red rings to find and 5 bonus mini-games to play for each sonic. Finally, you have some rival characters to compete with for chaos emeralds and a couple of bosses to take down.Story:At last we have the story. I think Sega did a fabulous job keeping the short and simple. Its quite an amusing tale of sonic trying to rescue all his buddies from this mysterious dark time traveling foe.In the end, I can honesty recommend this game to any long time Sonic fan. Both two 2D and 3D sonic play well and there is plenty to do with all the content they have packed into this game. I hope you enjoy this game as much as I have.

This game has the excellent 2D gameplay of the classic games, and Sonic the Hedgehog 4, but also the very fun 3D gameplay of Sonic Unleashed (which I actually thought was a great game). For how cheap this game is, I would say it's one of the best values you can find as far as Xbox 360 games. You can probably get better games at the forty to sixty dollar mark, but for so much less you can get this excellent homage to all the previous Sonic games.The music is so awesome too. When you're in the overworld area to select a level, as you pass by the levels you hear an amazing arrangement of the level's theme song redone as a Lindsey Sitrling-esque violin rendition. I would love to have the soundtrack with the full versions of these songs on them.I won't spoil anything, but the very last boss is kind of dumb. But the other bosses and other levels are all pretty great. There's plenty of replayability with mini-games/challenges and red stars & other collectables. You can even unlock a Genesis original version of the first Sonic the Hedgehog game.Finally, if you have a 3D TV, the 3D mode on this game is FREAKIN' SWEET. If nothing else, it was worth the purchase just to show off what gaming in 3D is like. Most games do not support this, and many that do are boring and barely worth playing, so it was a welcome addition to be able to use my TV's 3D feature on more than just Disney Blu-rays. Buy this game.