Sonic Generations
For: Xbox 360, PS3, PS, DS
From: Sega
1. I tell the children there is a new Sonic The Hedgehog game in the house and they look at me with blank faces.
2. Within five minutes, they are better at playing the game than I am.
Yes, the famous blue hedgehog is back and entertaining a whole new generation of gamers.
The appropriately titled Sonic Generations marks 20 years of Sega's iconic character, and the game is an interesting mix of the old and the new.
The story is that Sonic is celebrating his birthday - though, like Bart Simpson, he has not really aged - when a strange new enemy shows up, kidnaps Sonic's mates and scatters them across time.
Sonic must return to levels from his previous life (that is, the dozens of video games in which he has appeared) and rescue them all.
It sounds naff, but it is actually quite a neat concept.
The game features the original 2D Sonic levels, where you simply run left or right and jump and collect rings, and some of the newer 3D stuff, where the controls are a bit more varied and the tasks are slightly more complicated.
This old gamer found some of the newer levels a bit manic, but the younger ones were right at home.
Classic power-ups, such as invincibility and super-speed, are included, along with newer stuff (skateboards and "wisp" powers).
And along with the main levels, there are all sorts of challenges, upgrades and unlockables to prolong the game's longevity.
New Sonic sure looks a lot different from old Sonic. The graphics are smooth, and some of the sequences are spectacularly vibrant. It is an impressive way to mark 20 years of one of gaming's great characters.
