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you put it into words i couldnt for shadows part

The level design critiques are so bad, they are nothing like cyberspace, like at all. You actually have to be arguing in bad faith to act like they do Let's go over the og cyberspace levels (which aren't many due to how lazy the game was) but what do they consist of ? - 1 minute length as you mentioned - no alternate paths - felt like autopilot sim with the automation Shadow Gens actually has branching paths, the most a boost game has ever had with tons of speedrunning potential even without the insanely fun spear gliding technique that relies on you moreso being good at the game than shitty automation. I'm sorry, I respect opinions usually but when these critiques are this poor and the fact you didn't even bother looking for your video on the fact Radical Highway has different remixes or even that Black Doom return isn't even cos of the time eater.. tells me a lot. It's not "oh they mad at different opinions" is why a lot are disagreeing with the vid, yeah sure.. some are whiny children who at the drop of a hat lose their shit when Frontiers gets insulted for being well.... frontiers. But the reason people take issue is these big issues you mention really aren't from a game design perspective. They are at *most* nitpicks and aren't valid criticisms of the game, and no "it's just my opinion" isn't a valid defense, if you make shoddy critiques, then yeah those points will be criticised. You make good points with the colours esc padding and powers being like colours which yeah... kind of proves my point personally regarding the serious problem with double standards with the fandom but other then that, just really bad critiques on the level design that aren't even true in the slightest.

Dude if you think this game does not live up to the hype even tho there were somethings you said that are not true then keep it to yourself and move on.

Now that I think about it, your right Shadow Generations is litteraly just a slightly better Frontiers and honestly most Cyberspace OST's were better than the ones in Shadow Gens, excluding Kingdom Valley & Rail Canyon Act 1

I think this guy was the intended choice for IGN's review on this game. Thank goodness IGN chose the wrong person instead.

9:45 Watch him contradict himself

In a nutshell: SA1 & SA2 = Good physics + Good controls. Unleashed, Colours and Generations = Very Good physics + Bad controls. Frontiers and Shadow Gens = Bad physics + Very Good controls.

I know I am a bit late on this, so I apologize (Merry Christmas btw as it is Christmas at the time of me writing this) but addressing the level design of this game I honestly don't feel this is as bad as people make it out to be. I mean it doesn't really have as many traps as the classic games did. Spike traps are basically cheap in every classic Sonic game and don't really see what makes them any worse here and as for enemy placement and pits, these aren't really issues until you get to Egg Rocket and Cosmic Angel Zone. And even then its still nowhere near as bad as its sequels with this. I do want to preface by saying, yes they are problems. But I honestly don't feel they are that bad outside of Cosmic Angel. I know people point to Angel island when the level design gets bad, but honestly outside of beginners traps I don't agree. I can see the level being a tad unfriendly toward beginners (especially if you use Sonic) but unlike its sequels Advance 1 does give players subtle hints of bottomless pits. Like in Angel Island act 2, it starts you off by taking a couple steps into some bouncy clouds, why would these clouds be bouncy if it weren't hinting at a bottomless pit below? For characters like Tails and Amy, they have no problem. Tails can fly through it and Amy can flip jump onto the topmost cloud and bounce over to the other side, meanwhile Knuckles can glide. The level is also set in the sky where in most cases the objective is to go up, even other games like Superstars had this where the higher paths lead to less danger and bottom paths are where the BS happens. It favors verticality more than any level and with proper utilization of character abilities (Amy's ability to hit springs with her hammer, which becomes super useful here and Ice Mountain and Tails flying) you can reach the top and with act 2 in particular it can be beaten relatively quickly if one utilizes the abilities. I also think you aren't giving the level design credit in regards to utilizing the characters abilities, because despite the faults it can be fun. Again, this is pretty much because I am use to the game, so bias is at play in some of my arguements. And to be fair the game isn't above cheapness it is a Dimps Sonic game after all. Really I truly felt the game's level design feels bad at Cosmic Angel, with Egg Rocket the main issue is the enemy placement and spikes. (because even though final zones in Sonic games have lets place too many spikes, Egg Rocket does it a bit too much) as the point of progressing vertically is literally more apparent here given the fact its a rocket and your progression is literally given to you to go up. But yeah, I can't ignore the enemy placement here its pretty egregious. Especially the one right at the end with the moving block. Even if Tails and Amy have an easier time getting past it. (Tails can outfit skip an entire section of the level)

That was the funniest shadow gens review I've seen in and that is NOT a complaint AT ALL

I love this game tbh. Hard disagree, and i didn't really like frontiers. I love your vids tho, so I'm not too upset

i like when people be critical about games

as soon as i saw shadow generations will double the playtime as generation. i def knew i had to wait for a sale. thats like 10-11 hours of gameplay out of (technically) two games which is kinda bad. tho while i disagree mostly with your opinions and such (ian flynns rewrite for gens was annoying as hell), i find it interesting how you think about the game. regardless, a well crafted video.

To be honest, the rewrite with references make sense, this is an ANIVERSARY title, if there should be references anywere, it should be here

I DEMAND that you leave a list of all the music you use in videos, either in the description or at the end of the video! Your choice in music in several are amazing, and it's pissing me off to much that I don't know where to find them! >:( Great video though! I have to agree with most things here. Even though Generations clicked with me better this time round, that title has a number of flaws that arguably could've been fixed e.g. not being able to face the direction you press when in midair, 70% of challenges being boring and frustrating af. Shadow's levels are exactly as you say, but I don't think you put enough emphasis on how much boring they become when you consider that they're also 2-3x longer than Generation's. I get the feeling that Shadow's portion of the game is Sonic Team testing fan's feedback for the next game. Under this logic, it makes sense why it feels like Frontiers 1.5. Small changes here and there, as opposed to their often approach of throwing the baby out with the bathwater whenever a game doesn't land correctly.

Wow, it's been a while since respectfully disagreed with a video to that level. Most of your complaints I see them as qualities, like the lack of slippery controls, for me and a lot of people it's clear that they're leaning more and more for a boost/pinball physics hybrid, I mean look at the level design, boost games always had branching paths but never to that level, because the controls didn't allow it. I also heavely disagree with your take on chaos control, it's not just a "make the game easier button" it's used to solve micro-puzzles both in level and hub, rewarding good use of it with shortcuts, a timer frozen either way and for the bosses there's a cool cutscene that allows a free hit, balanced by the fact that said cutscenes can only be used in specific parts of the fights. You also made a mistake when you talked about final chase, while it uses the music from the sonic version of the level, in shadow gens it's simply labelled as "the ark" and seem to be an amalgam of all versions of the ark: Sa2 Sonic's music, in act 2 sa2 shadows gravity gimmick In act 1, shadow 05's gravity pannels One of the challenges acts is even a reference to one of shadow 05 mission, where you have to destroy the artificials chaos (this level being a flashback in the original game). Of course the game isn't perfect, the music, while not horrible is not as good as in other games, doom morph is not just hard to master, it's cluncky and badly explained, and the lack of shadow 05 level is criminal, especially when everything else from this game is here.

Dont like the way shadow was written. You'd think a character like Shadow, who has already faced black doom and moved on with his life, would be more relaxed and chill. But no, he lets Black doom get on his nerves to the point Maria gets freightened.. When mephiles tried, Shadow didnt go into a fit of rage now did he???.

Peoples must prefer better controls overall if everyone likes it. Since the level design is pretty good, peoples won't care as much about little details most aren't going to see. Or they can overlook it since it's not that much of a big deal. It doesn't end with a bad final boss and level unlike sonic generation and the end for any game is really important. Like the beggining

I didn't understand your take about the level design. Why exactly is it bad? It's better than any boost game til now, and ima say it, its better than the adventure games.

I really don't think referencing past Sonic stuff is an issue in this game, it's an anniversary game meant to reference the series in general. You literally play past levels, so referencing past stuff isn't a big issue I find. Also I wouldn't put all the blame on Ian, he isn't the only person who has something to do with dialogue. He can't just write whatever he wants and then poof it's in the game. It has to be approved by Sega, looked over by editors and the lore team. To me it's a bit disingenuous to place all the blame on Ian. That's just my thoughts on the dialogue. I don't mind Shadow's music, it's alright. Not my favourite but it doesn't bother me and I don't dislike it. I don't think it's bad.

Fortunately for u u're not the only 1 who feels the ost was surprisingly weak. It's become a somewut common talkin point for this game. Me personally while there were tracks I like & have fun wit there were only 2 tracks I genuinely LOVED from the game. A lot of it is competent but also somehow forgettable. Pretty sure they didn't even remix what I'm made of & thx to this game I officially hate all hail shadow. I hated the "story"(like u could call it that) but if u want to point the praise to wut u liked I'd point it more to ST as (like I assumed) they were confirmed to clearly be more on Flynn's ass over wut they wanted in comparison to frontiers & even gave him lines to use in the eng version like the stuff mephiles says in his boss. This comes off more like they wrote it themselves & even their "lore team"(hate that that exists) contributed till they got wut everyone was satisfied wit. It's like they cared way more over wut to do wit shadow in comparison to the rest in eng which is kinda frustratin & still makes me want them to jus get off their asses & write it themselves but wutever. I agree on ur point over how the boost is handled beein weaker in this compared to the other good boost games & not bein preferable. It's a not as good colors in every way. Which leaves me unsure how to feel to a degree cus Colors is not only my 1st but still in my top 3 fav sonic games ever. I adore it. I also agree on the rewrites bein horrible but I also jus ethically have strong distaste over doin this to a remaster. Remasters improve & add to the experience but DO NOT change the experience so them not only doin the rewrite but also those horrendous animation changes & alterin rouges model the way they did(which also looks horrible) makes the whole thing incredibly conflictin to me along wit the issues I got wit Shadgens cus for all intents & purposes this should've been an easy slam dunk & 1 of my personal dream games. But they had to find a way to fuck it over as they usually do. I will NEVER forgive not havin an 05 stage till it's rectified. This is such a shitily weird release that aggravates more than it pleases edit: I forgot to mention they didn't even change the lines in jp & only added the for the new voice lines sonic had in the animations which makes this MORE stupid cus that tells me they did this to appease the wrong crowd & know it's stupid to do this. The only thing they did outside that was have the new eggman va redo the old lines cus the old va passed away around forces iirc. I feel like that is an odd thing to do that I don't completely get but the rest of the content is the same so I can sorta overlook it.

This video is so real. Game is good but I was not a fan of many aspects of it so seeing people glaze it and say its 10/10 is so tiring. Its good and thats it, 7/10

Dude, you put the perfect picture of why I dont like the difference in controls between frontiers and gens. The slipperiness of the early boost games make the character feel almost existing in its own world and weighty. But in frontiers and shadow gens, the tightness of the controls make it feel like you are as light as paper and a basic video game character controller plopped into the world, instead of feeling like the character is apart of the world.

I actually think that all stages apart from Radical Highway being mostly sonic stages is an intentional choice. If you think about it, the white space that sonic and shadow are in is sonic's white space since eggman's goal with white space was to remove all the losses (past and future) with SONIC he had and change time as he pleases. That's probably why there aren't any shadow 05 stages since the main villain of that game was Black Doom. Radical highway is the only exception since it takes place inside the Black Moon which is seperate from white space and Black Doom has complete influence over it

I understand what you’re saying about the comparison of the movement from Sonic Gens to Shadow Gens. I personally enjoy playing the old engine more, Unleashed and Generations. As I’ve played those games very often. The old engine felt more freeing and slippery as you mentioned. I also miss using the drift and the air dash as those were good for maintaining speed and platforming. While the drift in Frontiers is pathetic. The current engine is a lot more precise in its movement. I don’t mind the change in the engine as the level design in Shadow Gens benefits from it, along with the new mechanics. However, it sucks that it took over 3 games for the new engine to be improved upon.

Yeeeaaahhh, no. Just because it's your opinion doesn't mean it's valid.

Black Doom wasn’t brought back by the Time Eater. The Time Eater just accelerated his plans. The game is bad at explaining this and I think you need to watch the animated shorts, that for some baffling reason aren’t integrated in the game’s gallery. One of the enemies from Shadow 05, is now called a larva. And it appears that the one that Professor Gerald used to make Shadow, was still alive on the Ark and Black Doom used it to reincarnate. This also explains why everything started on the Ark.

He thinks it’s okay? It must be great!

rouge got censored for no f-ing reason if i ever play this game its getting pirated and modded to be sexy and no i dont care if you take issue with that

special stage tierlist S tier: CD and 3&K A tier: 1 B tier: C tier: D tier: F tier: 2

I prefer the tighter controls tbh plus level desighn wise i feel like shadow gens builds levels around the tighter controls enough to be really fun

haven't watched but i'm 99% sure it's complaining about runtime and the doom morph

Firstly, Merry Christmas! I generally agree with the sentiment here, but for different reasons. I feel the Sonic Generations remaster was very underwhelming, making several unnecessary changes that only serve to damage the overall experience. The story rewrite is particularly bad, and it has effectively killed any interest I have in future remasters. Could you imagine if they had Flynn rewrite Adventure, Heroes, or Unleashed? It would be a disaster for sure. As for Shadow Generations, I enjoyed the game way more than I thought I would've. It's honestly the most fun I've had with the series since Mania came out, and maybe since original Generations came out back in the day. My only real problem with it was that it should've had more content, mainly from Shadow 05. The story does have some oddities that should've been ironed out, mainly the forced references and the stuff about Maria visiting Earth. The Doom Morph also sucks, especially because its niche could easily be filled by the Spindash or something. Despite my enjoyment of Shadow Generations, it does just make me wish Sega would just drop the boost already. The best parts of Shadow Gens was when de-emphasized the boost and focused on its new mechanics to open new routes.

Sonic fans hate S...Shadow? Huh.

Tbh the think I really like about your videos is that your videos and opinions is that even when you disagree with the majority you explain your opinion,most of people/reviewers will just drop their opinion unexplained and acting like the "new wielder's of the truth" and "everyone is wrong about this". Keep good man

tbh i really love the game but it's only fair to say that it IS worth it but MAINLY (or only) if you like the frontiers style and like shadow and basically want sonic generations but can't get the og

Looking back on it, I find Shadow Generations slightly weaker than Sonic Generations. Shadow Generations has slightly more padding than Sonic Generations since you have to go to the boss gate in order to spawn the challenge acts rather than having them appear after clearing all of the levels in that era and you have to clear all challenges acts to beat the game rather than only having to do 3 of them for each boss gate. I also find myself playing the fully 2D levels less than Sonic Generations since you have a completely different game style for Sonic Generations with the broken Spin Dash giving the levels more depth. Shadow Generations 2D levels are just way more restrictive since the Chaos Spear boosting isn't any near as effective in them.

For me Sonic X Shadow Generations is fantastic, loved every second of it. I hope the next new game will be similar in a larger scale. Also I loved Sonic Frontiers, one of my favourite games. And Merry Christmas everyone

What makes the Classic Sonic's Drop Dash being a skill is that equipping the Super Sonic skill still gives him the Drop Dash.

Although I agree that it is a bit too different from Sonic Gens, open level design and more precise controls vs linear level design and slippery controls are just preferences, I and more people like to have more control over the player character and having more pathes to take because of replay value, it's okay that you personally don't like that but that's just an opinion, it's still a boosts game just a little bit different, and if Sonic Frontiers 2 has side levels like this then that's perfectlly fine

Amazing review. Yeah, the doom morph can take time to get used to. Especially the crappy tutorial for it. The tutorial doesn't tell how to spring jump accurately.

About the references, why did you call it reference humor? You took those to be jokes? The way I took it, it seemed like a correction to point people in the direction of the older games. Like the time stone thing, people would be like "I wonder what those are" and then play Sonic CD. Aside from that, I felt pretty much the same about the whole package

I hope that a new game can capture what all of us love from Sonic. As for me Shadow Gens is a 8.5/10, I really think you should play it more. I can respect your opinion even though I disagree with it.

16:49 you would rather shadow’s most iconic and common ability be left out the game? this goes for the doom abilities as well, by removing the unique abilities shadow has access to whats differentiates him from sonic?

Wait, this isn’t Busty Babe simulator 6900. 0/10

5:07 proud to say that I started singing the jingle when this came up and having the song play as a joke feels validating

Thank you for putting this into words at 13:33 I was wondering why the game feel never clicked for me

I can't believe you can't drop dash in the hub world.

I think you just dont like fun

sxs gens was my first boost game ever so i don't have much bias at all i think and i have to say the controls on shadow gens just feel so much better, atleast to me. sonic usually felt pretty bad whenever he wasn't boosting. also shadow having a double jump felt so much better than the weird little freak airdash sonic has so that's a big reason as to why i think shadow controls better

I think you've got to give the 'spear gliding' trick a try to get why this game is hitting hard for some of the more hardcore players. Really brings in some of that frantic hard to control but powerful aspect that you are missing from OG Generations. It's really fun. Might need to remap your controls for it though... I swapped chaos control and chaos spear to make it work for me. That said, I have a lot of trouble going back to Generations because the sloppy control in that game just kinda feels assy to me now. I totally agree that boost needs to go, but sloppy controls are sloppy controls regardless of whether or not you like the challenge of wrangling them.