Summer of Sonic (7.5): Sonic Generations Unleashed mod + Dolphin style Sonic Colours

Modding and emulation have been facets of the computer gaming world going back as far as I can recall. I can remember emulating the original Pokemon and playing modded levels of Doom at least two decades past, and I'm sure they existed long before that. But with the advent of the internet, also like two decades past, they crystallized into something even more pervasive. Through the wonders of these tools, it is possible to play Sonic Colours on PC, and through the 3D levels of Sonic Unleashed modded into Sonic Generations, so also on PC.

I'm going to preface this with the statement that in both cases - the GMI driven Unleashed mod and running Sonic Colours through Dolphin - I have both an uneasy feeling about blatant if benign piracy and a lack of willingness to really tinker under the hood to optimize the experience. Playing both of these games, or rather a mod and a game, has much less to do with coming to a fair evaluation of the individual game and more to sort of acknowledge the Sonic cycle.

I had to talk about the Sonic Cycle somewhere in here, and I feel like we're at the point where we can address it, given we just passed by what is subjectively - and maybe objectively, I don't know - the best Sonic game in recent years until mania strikes next year. I also sort of hoped to do it away from the depressing horror show that is Sonic 4 Episode 2, which is coming up next, unfortunately.

This is review 7.5 of 9 reviews in The Summer of Sonic! We're almost done. The previous review is here and the next review is here.