Gamescom '11: Hands-on with Sonic Generations on Nintendo 3DS

Sonic Generations excites me far more than it should. That's because I'm one of those moany people who wax lyrical about early Sonic games while complaining bitterly about recent ones.

Since Sonic Adventure on the Dreamcast, Sonic games have gradually had the fun sucked out of them. The poor blue hedgehog has no idea who he's supposed to be entertaining any more.

Sonic's 20th anniversary, then, is pretty exciting. We're getting a new game full of remakes of classic Sonic levels. Most importantly, half of the levels will be trying to recapture that 2D action we all fell in love with over 15 years ago.

Pocket Gamer sat down at this year's Gamescom with the first two zones of Sonic Generations on Nintendo 3DS, and came away thinking that Sega may finally have decided to listen.

Before we begin, it's worth noting that Takashi Iizuka, one of the key members of the original Sonic Team, is now back in full swing. You can really feel his presence, too.

The first section of the game we tried was Green Hill Zone. The level starts off just as the original Mega Drive version did, but quickly evolves as extra areas and secret passages begin to pop up.

There's still that sense that the higher paths are the most difficult and the most exciting, with crazy runways to twist around and extra lives in abundance.

Here's where older Sonic fans can breathe out - the levels feel just like old Sonic games, with no stupid physics or silly out-of-place additions.

When Sonic Generations does try to do something different it's surprisingly refreshing.

At one point, after bouncing on a spring Sonic vaults away into the background rather than up into the air, landing on a platform behind the main action and running along on that before finding another spring to vault him forwards again.

It's a real 'wow' moment thanks to the 3DS's stereoscopic 3D effects. We're hoping to see more sections like that in the full version.

The first level of each zone is a classic Sonic level. The second level is dedicated to 3D Sonic - although, unlike the console version, all of these are 2D side-scrolling too.

These don't feel so great. Sonic controls in an odd way, doing extra jumps in the air and the like as in modern Sonic games. Fortunately, they're not unbearable, and the classic Sonic levels definitely make up for them.

The other zone we got to see was Mushroom Hill. All the classic elements of the zone are there, from the bouncy mushrooms to the lifts that you need to pump up and down, and the weights + scales that you can jump on to propel you into the air.

The final product will feature seven zones in total, with six different zones from those found in the console version (both versions include Green Hill Zone).

We're excited to see what other classic zones will be thrown in. Hopefully we'll see more classic zones, rather than levels from flops like Sonic Heroes and Sonic Unleashed.

We'll find out when Sonic Generations arrives on November 4th.