If you haven't seen it yet, they just put out a fantastic Shadow the Hedgehog animation to drum up hype for Shadow Generations, and oh my god it's good???
Not just in terms of the visual quality, voice acting, and overall presentation, but the writing feels very focused and polished so far from what little we have. This isn't just dangling keys in front of baby entertainment with flashy effects and stuff, there is purpose and intent behind this story, it feels like it was actually written by people who know what they're doing, to a degree I haven't ever seen from this franchise truth be told.
From the very first scene, they play with your expectations, making you think we're seeing the moment where GUN invaded the station and then you know what happens... but instead it's just an innocent scene of Maria showing Shadow the aurora borealis... at this time of year? at this time of day in THIS part of orbit? Localized ENTIRELY within your window?... (sorry)
Also I can unfortunately relate to Maria becoming fatigued from over exerting herself. Disability is a bitch, and they handled it well here... a little too well, but man is it effective.
Speaking of effective, Kirk Thorton is KILLING it here with Shadow. Never once before have I enjoyed his portrayal of the character, he comes across as very tryhard and douchey. But here? This is quintessential, dare I say PEAK Shadow. Finally we're once again seeing the true Shadow. A protector, a gentle soul. The sort of person whose answer to failing to protect his loved ones is to lash out at those he feels deserve judgement. But in the end, he'll always correct himself by doing the right thing, he is not evil, he is not edgy. Sorry if that is inaccurate, I haven't played all of the games but to me this is Shadow.
I'll be honest, I know nothing about the character EMERL, I never played Sonic Battle (that's what he's from right?), and I haven't seen Sonic X in a very long time which I believe he shows up in. But the part where he shows up and the intensity kicks in, it is palpable. Masterful presentation here on all accounts.
I'm a sucker for fight scenes without music and nothing but PUNCHY (pun intended) sound design. Very immersive. Masterful use of keyframing and dynamic poses here. Pausing this fight at any moment you're guaranteed to get a well composed shot. This sequence alone must have taken weeks if not months to complete, it's fucking bonkers good.
The sequence succeeding the fight is nothing short of haunting. I genuinely don't think I've ever seen something from the SONIC THE HEDGEHOG universe give me pause quite like this did, at least not since I was a kid playing SA2 and Heroes.
If this is indicative of the series moving forward sign me the EFF up, even if they keep doing the boost stuff which I'm not a fan of.
I didn't really like Frontiers' story truth be told, but from what we're seeing from Shadow Gens it feels like it has a ton more focus and consistency not just with itself but with the series as a whole.
Quick aside, I think the Sonic franchise needs to ditch having lore and a consistent universe and just do what Batman does and have multiple iterations of the story. Sure, we do have that to an extent but I just think Sonic needs to be more loose and stop trying to justify reasons for certain things not showing up anymore or trying to explain retcons.
From what I've read from Ian Flynn's writing in the past, I get the sense he has a hard-on for fan service and lore callbacks and being very tongue-in-cheek which I'm not a fan of. But this Shadow stuff we're seeing which is written by him feels very unlike his other stuff.
I've been wondering if maybe his writing had the quality it did before because of mandates from higher ups. It's clear that he's a fan of the franchise, I just always felt like he didn't have a great sense of telling meaningful stories with any strong themes and just wanted to have the Sonic characters do cool stuff for the sake of it, which I feel is woefully underestimating the potential of these characters.
I've not read all of his IDW stuff though, only a fraction of it, but that's because I wasn't liking what I was seeing... except Whisper and Tangle, I love them.
Anyways, I think that's all I have to say. I've been on the fence about buying Shadow Gens just for the fact that I really don't like the boost gameplay, but I might have to pick it up just to see what else they have cooking narratively... 👀
Are we about to start getting GOOD Sonic stories again?