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Review info

Platform reviewed: PS5
Available on: PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, PC
Release date: October 25, 2025

Sonic x Shadow Generations is somewhat analogous to Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury, packaging a remaster of a beloved series game with a brand new, decently sized campaign. And it’s that campaign, Shadow Generations, that alone makes this compilation of lightning-fast platformers worth checking out.

Shadow Generations is simply phenomenal, showcasing some of the best 3D level design the series has seen since Sonic Adventure 2 way back on the Dreamcast and GameCube. You’re getting 12 levels across 6 unique stages, all wrapped up in a compact hub zone packed with collectibles and optional challenges. And of course, having even more excellent remixes of fan-favorite Sonic tracks is always going to be a welcome addition.

Shadow Generations is such a high-quality experience from start to finish - so much so that it honestly makes Sonic Generations feel relatively weak in comparison. This is no fault of the 2011 game, of course (the port here is genuinely fantastic) but I had decidedly less fun revisiting what I once considered to be one of the best Sonic games in comparison to its new sibling.

That might be down to the fact that its remaster here has seen very few changes beyond the re-recorded voiced dialogue and an overall bump in resolution and image quality. Sonic Generations is still very much worth playing, but remains dragged down by the relatively poor Classic Sonic stages and largely boring side challenges required to unlock the boss fights.

That said, you’re still getting tons of great Sonic (and Shadow) content here, especially as it's not a full-priced game. Not only does that make Sonic x Shadow Generations much easier to recommend, but I can confidently say that your time and money are worth it for the Shadow portion of the game alone.

A Shadow of myself, just who am I?

(Image credit: Sega)

Let’s kick off with Shadow Generations, as I reckon that’s where most of you are going to start especially if you’ve already played Sonic Generations. Shadow’s campaign does take place alongside Sonic’s - instead of celebrating the blue hedgehog’s birthday, Shadow is investigating a disturbance on the Space Colony Ark from Sonic Adventure 2.

Back on Sonic’s side, the Time Eater thrusts him and his friends into a purgatorial dimensional rift as it does in the original Sonic Generations. For Shadow, the fluctuation causes him to come face to face with Black Doom, his arch-nemesis and main antagonist of 2005’s Shadow the Hedgehog. From here, Shadow attempts to escape Space Colony Ark, only to find himself in an empty hub world all of his own.

The story is fairly straightforward here and handles Shadow’s tragic past in a pretty safe and inoffensive manner. That’s not to say it’s ineffective - his reunion and closure with Maria and Gerald Robotnik is genuinely touching and the final scene is masterfully done (even getting me to well up a little bit) - but you shouldn’t go in expecting anything especially bleak. Personally, I think that’s for the best; Sonic Frontiers showed that the series can be capable of sincere, reflective storytelling, and you’ll find more of that in Shadow Generations.

All hail Shadow

(Image credit: Sega)

If you were disappointed by the short length of stages in Sonic Forces and Sonic Frontiers' Cyberspace segments, then you’ll be happy to know Shadow Generations’ levels are much lengthier and robust. On average, a single level will take you between five to six minutes your first few times through, and each has a plethora of alternate routes to explore and a handful of collectibles to find.

Best bit

(Image credit: Sega)

Shadow Generations is excellent from front to back, with highlights here being the Kingdom Valley, Chaos Island, and Rail Canyon stages. They showcase some of the best 3D Sonic level design in series history, and even the 2D sections impress with fantastic set pieces and clever usage of 2.5D camera angles.

The six stages in Shadow Generations are split into two acts. Act 1 is typically the more impressive one, given they are fully 3D from start to finish. Most of the Act 2 levels are broadly side-scrolling, but feel much more dynamic thanks to - once again - intricate level design and some super clever 2.5D camera work. These levels may play out in two dimensions, but they sure don’t feel like it.

Upon charging up a gauge by defeating enemies, Shadow can call upon the power of Chaos Control. This freezes time, enemies, and obstacles for around five seconds, and it can be used cleverly to reach new routes in a stage if activated at just the right time. Much of the fun in Shadow Generations comes from playing levels multiple times and learning the best moments at which to execute Chaos Control in order to discover shortcuts you had no idea were there. Level design in this regard is, overall, extremely thoughtful, and finding new paths and shortcuts is a satisfying reward.

Then there’s the open zone, known as White Space. This is a large map that Shadow can explore at any time when not in a stage, itself filled to the brim with collectibles and platforming challenges. By collecting music, artwork, and story emblems in each stage, you can spend them to unlock a treasure chest in White Space, which will in turn make a relevant piece of content available to view in the Collection Room. There are 96 of these chests to find in the overworld, giving you plenty of optional content to discover.

White Space is great fun to just run around and vibe in. While I do wish there was an option to listen to the music you unlock while exploring it, it’s nonetheless a place you’ll spend a lot of time in if you’re shooting for 100% completion. On that note, playing through all the stages for the first time will likely take you around four or five hours. But going for full completion could easily take you upwards of 10-12; there’s just that much to find and do.

Touching on Sonic Generations

(Image credit: Sega)

If you’ve never played Sonic Generations before, then you’re getting exceptional value for money in Sonic x Shadow Generations. The entire 2011 game is present and accounted for here. If you’re unfamiliar, that’s nine stages, broken into two separate acts - one for Classic Sonic and another for Modern Sonic. The former is a side-scrolling affair, while the latter is more akin to the 3D ‘boost era’ titles of the time like Sonic Unleashed and Sonic Colors.

Sonic Generations now has upscaled resolution and a more stable 60fps framerate by way of the new performance mode (a 30fps quality mode is enabled by default, though I strongly recommend making the switch to performance for better responsiveness). Voiced dialogue has also been re-recorded with the current cast of Sonic voice actors, and it’s much better than what we originally had with an overall stronger direction. There is also a new collectible in each stage in the form of Chao - adorable little creatures who’ll appear in the overworld once rescued. They’ll also unlock some bonuses in the collection room, too.

Besides that (as well as the addition of the drop dash for both Classic and Modern Sonic), very little has changed in Sonic Generations. While still an excellent game in its own right, the lack of changes only exposes its flaws even more, especially when stacked up against Shadow Generations. 

Sonic Generations - then and now - simply misses the mark on numerous fronts. The Classic Sonic stages just don’t feel very good to play, with awkward physics and momentum that are a far cry from the smoothness of the original Mega Drive trilogy. Level design is also very hit-or-miss for both Classic and Modern, the latter of which also has an abundance of side-scrolling segments that do not mesh well with Sonic’s ability to boost at high speeds. As for Classic, the field of view is a little too narrow for comfort, making running into unexpected hazards a common occurrence. 

Accessibility

There aren't a ton of available accessibility settings in Sonic x Shadow Generations, aside from a fairly robust amount of options for the camera. Here, you can adjust sensitivity and distance from the player character. 

There is also an option to adjust the deceleration speed in Shadow Generations, allowing you to set the momentum to your liking. Subtitles are present, too, as well as options for voiced dialogue in a variety of languages including English, French, German, Italian, and Japanese. I think an option to better highlight enemies, obstacles and potential pathways would be really beneficial here, especially given the high-speed nature of the game.

Should I play Sonic x Shadow Generations?

(Image credit: Sega) Play it if...

You’ve never played Sonic Generations before
If you’ve not played Sonic Generations, you’ve got two pretty substantial campaigns to play through, full of unlockable content and some fantastic levels. 

You love Shadow
Shadow Generations does the character justice, especially after years of being absent from the series canon or otherwise straight up being mishandled by Sega. He’s cooler than he’s ever been in this game, meaning Shadow superfans are going to be delighted with what Sonic Team has cooked up.

Don't play it if...

You’re not much of a completionist
There’s plenty to do in Sonic x Shadow Generations. But if you’re the type to finish a game once and move on, then you’re only getting around 4-5 hours of new content here with the Shadow Generations campaign. 

How I reviewed Sonic x Shadow Generations

I played Sonic x Shadow Generations for around 12 hours on PS5. That was enough time to finish both included games and get near to 100% completion in Shadow Generations. I also spent some time collecting Chao and filling out the collection room in Sonic Generations. I played the game with a DualSense Edge controller on my LG CX OLED TV, often making use of the JBL Quantum 910P gaming headset to listen to the game’s exceptional collection of remixed Sonic tracks.

First reviewed October 2024.

One of the most beloved vehicles of the 20th century returns as an electric family fun machine. The high price and the low range might raise some eyebrows, but this van delivers.

The UK’s National Health Service is going to attempt to be a whole lot smarter, with the aid of some of the best smartwatches, best fitness trackers, and even best smart rings it can afford to give out to patients to help them monitor their own health.

With the full plan set to be revealed later today (21 October), the UK Health Secretary Wes Streeting intends to roll out a scheme to distribute smart devices such as smartwatches and smart rings. Reports in the UK’s The Independent and The Daily Telegraph claim “millions” of the devices will be given out to patients to help monitor their own health independently.

Early reports claim these devices can help diabetes patients to track blood sugar levels on their phone, or high blood pressure sufferers to get regular updates on how they’re doing.

Smart rings like the Oura Ring 4 could be given out to cancer patients to monitor their vital signs, a scheme which has been trialed with success in Greater Manchester.

The move is part of a 10 year plan to modernize the UK’s NHS, which also aims to prioritise “community-led” treatment with new local clinics as well as updating the NHS’s technological infrastructure.

What devices will be up for grabs?

(Image credit: Shutterstock / Andrey_Popov)

It’s unclear right now, but there are several clues in these early reports. The use of blood pressure monitors makes me think of the Huawei Watch D, which is a smartwatch with a strap specifically designed to act as an inflatable cuff.

This method is generally more accurate than using LEDs to monitor blood pressure, which has historically been very inaccurate on smartwatches in the past. Although more modern devices such as the Samsung Galaxy Watch 7 can reportedly do it, we have yet to test them against inflatable cuffs. If the NHS were to strike a deal with Samsung, however, it would probably also give out Galaxy Rings to help cancer patients monitor their own vitals.

The use of blood glucose monitoring for diabetics makes me believe that continuous glucose monitors connected to an app, such as Lingo or Zoey, will be made available on the UK’s NHS too.

Smartwatches have tons of medical applications. The best Apple Watches, for example, can present medical information on your wrist, notify you if your heart is behaving out of its normal range, and notify emergency services during a car crash. Our senior entertainment writer Lucy Buglass rushed to the hospital after her partner received a high heart-rate alert, and you can read her story here.

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South Korean AI startup HyperAccel partnered with platform-based SoC and ASIC designer SEMIFIVE back in January 2024, to develop the Bertha LPU.

Tailored for LLM inference, Bertha offers “low cost, low latency, and domain-specific features,” with the aim to replace “high-cost and low-efficiency” GPUs. SEMIFIVE reports that work has now concluded, and the processor, designed using 4nm technology, is slated for mass production by early 2026.

HyperAccel claims Bertha can deliver up to double the performance and 19 times better price-to-performance ratio than that of a typical supercomputer, but it faces tough competition in a market where Nvidia’s GPUs are so deeply entrenched.

Facing challenges

“We are delighted to work with SEMIFIVE, a leading provider of SoC platforms and comprehensive ASIC design solutions, for the development of Bertha to be mass-produced,” said Joo-Young Kim, CEO of HyperAccel. “By collaborating with SEMIFIVE , we are excited to offer customers AI semiconductors that provide more cost-effective and power-efficient LLM features than GPU platforms. This advancement will significantly reduce the operational expenses of data centers and expand our business scope to other industries that require LLMs.”

Groq, an AI challenger headquartered in Silicon Valley and led by ex-Google engineer and CEO Jonathan Ross, has already made strides with its own LPU product, focusing on high-speed AI inference.

Groq’s technology, which provides cloud and on-prem inference at scale for AI applications, has already found a sizable audience with over 525K developers using the LPU since it launched in February. Bertha’s late entry might put it at a disadvantage.

Brandon Cho, CEO and co-founder of SEMIFIVE, is more upbeat about Bertha’s chances. He said, “HyperAccel is a company with the most efficient and scalable LPU technology for LLMs. As the demand for LLM computation is skyrocketing, HyperAccel has the potential to become a new powerhouse in the global processor infrastructure.”

Bertha's focus on efficiency could attract enterprises looking for alternatives to reduce operational costs, but with Nvidia’s dominance unmatched, HyperAccel’s product may find itself fighting for a niche in an already crowded space, rather than becoming an AI leader.

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It's been a rocky few weeks for digital library The Internet Archive, following a number of distributed-denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks which left the service offline and allowed hackers to access the data of up to 31 million users.

The stolen data was initially said to include email addresses, screen names, and Bcrypt passwords. Now, however, there seems to be some confirmation that email addresses relating to Internet Archive support tickets have definitely been stolen.

Numerous Internet Archive users have shared their experience of receiving replies from the info@archive.org support email that appear to have been sent by one of those responsible for the attack, who still maintains some level of control over Internet Archive systems.

API keys not rotated

An email received by The Verge from the Internet Archive stated:

“It’s dispiriting to see that even after being made aware of the breach 2 weeks ago, IA has still not done the due diligence of rotating many of the API keys that were exposed in their gitlab secrets.

As demonstrated by this message, this includes a Zendesk token with perms to access 800K+ support tickets sent to info@archive.org since 2018.

Whether you were trying to ask a general question, or requesting the removal of your site from the Wayback Machine—your data is now in the hands of some random guy. If not me, it’d be someone else.

Here’s hoping that they’ll get their shit together now.”

An application programming interface (API) key is a token used to authenticate an application or user to access an API. API tokens are unique and kept hidden to prevent unauthorized access, and typically rotated to mitigate the window of opportunity presented to a hacker who compromises a key. However, according to the author of the email, the Internet Archive apparently did not follow the best practices for API key security.

A blog post from Internet Archive founder Brewster Kahle published on October 18 said that “The stored data of the Internet Archive is safe and we are working on resuming services safely. This new reality requires heightened attention to cyber security and we are responding. We apologize for the impact of these library services being unavailable.”

“We’re taking a cautious, deliberate approach to rebuild and strengthen our defenses. Our priority is ensuring the Internet Archive comes online stronger and more secure,” Kahle’s statement continued.

Jake Moore, Global Cybersecurity Advisor, ESET, said, “The Internet Archive failed to replace the previously stolen digital keys which has left the platform vulnerable once again to persistent attackers. Failure to clean up any exposed vulnerabilities, such as breached tokens, can lead to further problems like what we are witnessing here. Threats actors, including both the original attackers and new groups testing their (if any) new security, will continue to target a platform until a full patch is delivered and working.”

“As a result of this latest breach, attackers were able to gain access to even more sensitive user information and once again have put their users at risk. This highlights the importance of quick reactions and protocol following a cyberattack. It is vital that companies act swiftly in a full audit as it is clear that malicious actors will come back time and time again to test their new defences,” Moore said.

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Apple Intelligence is set to launch before the end of October – and Apple’s CEO Tim Cook believes the AI tools have already changed his life.

In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Cook emphasized just how much he believes in Apple Intelligence, despite the messy launch of the technology, which sees new features rolled out to users in phases over the next year.

“We weren’t the first to do intelligence,” Cook told the WSJ. “But we’ve done it in a way that we think is the best for the customer.” At Apple’s WWDC keynote in June, the company claimed Apple Intelligence was “AI for the rest of us”, and in the interview Cook said that while Apple isn’t the first company to introduce AI tools to a smartphone, the company’s approach is “Profoundly different.”

He added that he believes the addition of Apple Intelligence will completely change the way people use the iPhone, iPad, and Mac in the same way the iPod’s click wheel or iPhone’s touch screen once did. “I think we’ll look back and it will be one of these air pockets that happened to get you on a different technology curve,” he said.

Cook said one of his favorite Apple Intelligence features is the ability to summarize emails and notifications, which had, he told WSJ, “changed my life.” He added, “If I can save time here and there it adds up to something significant across a day, a week, a month.”

Apple's AI approach

Siri's new redesign in iOS 18.1 activated on an iPhone 16 Pro Max (Image credit: Apple)

Apple Intelligence is expected to release on October 28, and while users who get to use Apple AI for the first time might find the limited features underwhelming at first, Apple is banking on small quality-of-life improvements like email summaries making a huge difference to the way we use our devices.

Initially, Apple Intelligence will launch with Writing Tools, Notification Summaries, Clean Up, and a redesign of Siri which emanates from the edges of your device. These features are similar to other generative AI tools we’ve seen on the best Android phones, including the Google Pixel 9, although this is with Apple’s polish and design.

It’s an incredibly exciting time to be an iPhone, iPad, or Mac user with Apple Intelligence’s arrival upon us. While we can’t fully predict the impact of Apple’s entrance into the AI industry, we anticipate that it's going to be significant. The first few months of Apple Intelligence might prove to be frustrating at times, with some of the best features held back until 2025, but if these features prove as life-changing as Tim Cook suggests, we might in time be able to forgive Apple for the less-than-seamless launch.

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As 2024 draws to a close it’s looking less and less likely we’ll get a base iPad refresh – a shame especially after last week’s surprise iPad Mini 7 reveal has left the base model as the only iPad to not get an update this year. The latest rumors now suggest it won’t arrive until 2025.

That means those of you desperate for an update will have to make do with an iPad Mini 7, or upgrade to an iPad Air (2024) or iPad Pro (2024) to get a new Apple tablet in 2024 – or wait a little longer. This is based on reports that Apple iPad display shipments are set to begin this month (via Ross Young in a subscriber-only tweet), which would line up with an early 2025 launch – the same time as when the next MacBook Air is expected.

Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman backed up these display shipment claims, and – in the latest edition of his Apple newsletter – has said that the iPad “will probably get updated” with Apple Intelligence features sometime next year adding further support to the iPad refresh being on the way. The current iPad model only uses an A14 Bionic chipset, which isn’t set to support Apple Intelligence, so a new model would need to be released to change this hardware deficiency.

This is far from a confirmation, but if the iPhone SE leaks hold true and it gets Apple Intelligence in March 2025 as expected, the iPad would remain the only main Apple product (except for the Apple Watch) to not have a model which supports the Apple AI. It seems unlikely Apple would want to leave it alone in this bucket for too long, so a 2025 refresh feels inevitable.

Why no 2024 refresh?

The iPad Mini 7 has the specs it needs for Apple Intelligence (Image credit: Future / Apple)

Unless Apple comes out and explains precisely why a new iPad didn’t launch in 2024 we’ll never know for sure, but Apple Intelligence is likely one key factor.

As we started to highlight above, Apple wants Apple Intelligence to be a major feature of as much of its tech as possible. However, because it needs to rely on as much on-device processing as possible for user privacy reasons the hardware required for the software has to be fairly powerful – limiting it to the most recent A17 and later chipsets.

However the iPad usually lags a little further behind with two year old iPhone Pro chips. That’d mean it would boast an A16, which Apple says doesn’t have the juice to deliver Apple Intelligence – as it has confirmed it’s skipping the base iPhone 15 and iPhone 14 Pro models.

If Apple wants to maintain this release gap and launch an iPad with Apple Intelligence then it can’t do so before 2025. And we know this does all sound rather silly as Apple is sticking to arbitrary limitations it has kinda imposed on itself, but when you also factor in the iPad is designed to be an entry-level gadget (and older tech costs less, helping to achieve that goal) as well as the fact the iPad Mini 7 just launched with an A17 chipset (eating into Apple’s supply) it makes some sense why Apple might want to delay its next iPad launch a little longer.

As with all leaks, rumors and speculation, we should take these details with a pinch of salt. However given the tablet's popularity, an iPad launch is a matter of when, not if. We’ll be keeping our eyes peeled over the coming months and year to be ready when a launch finally comes our way.

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Netflix has released another intense trailer for its upcoming horror thriller Don't Move and if I wasn't already paralyzed with fear after the first trailer, I certainly am now.

The best streaming service dropped the first trailer as part of Netflix's Geeked Week and now the second trailer coincides with some exciting streaming announcements at New York Comic Con. With legendary Evil Dead director Sam Raimi producing Don't Move, it's understandable that there's been a lot of buzz surrounding the new Netflix movie and has the potential to become one of the best horror flicks.

A lot can happen in 20 minutes, but fighting for your life while being chased by a killer deep in the forest certainly isn't something you would expect to spend your day doing. Unfortunately, this is exactly the case for Iris (Kelsey Asbille) in the new Don't Move trailer (see below). The trailer opens with a 20 minute countdown as the killer (played by Finn Wittrock) tells her: "You have about 20 minutes before you’re completely paralyzed,” while a terrified Iris asks: “What did you do to me?”

“Just a special relaxant to make things easier on both of us,” he replies. As I witness the horror unfold of Iris' body gradually shutting down and begging a stranger for help, it's just another reminder that I would never be able to survive a serial killer chasing me.

What is Don't Move about?

Don't Move, which is set to be released on October 25, focuses on grieving mother Iris and her desperate fight for survival as she's injected with a paralytic agent by a stranger in the forest. With only 20 minutes until her entire nervous system shuts down, she must run, hide and fight to escape a killer hellbent on murdering her.

The new trailer accentuates the horrifying fact that Don't Move unfolds in real time. The potential best Netflix movie takes place around the same amount of time as the characters are experiencing, so the audience feels like they're living through the nightmare moment by moment.

In my exclusive interview with Don't Move directors Adam Schindler and Brian Netto, they revealed why this makes the suspense movie even more harrowing. Netto shared: "It's pretty close to real time. The three things we said we didn't want to do are: we did not want to do voiceover, we didn't want to live entirely in her head, and we wanted to tell it as linear story. But I think for us, that's what made it more harrowing, because we always knew the idea of slowly losing mobility again. If this is something that is fearful for you, if whether it's people are afraid of deep water or claustrophobic or afraid of heights, you want to milk those moments. I think suspense films are about milking the moments, so we wanted to live in it as much as possible. That's what I think induces the sweaty palms and makes you fidget in your seat."

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It seems as Spectre still haunts Intel and AMD processors after cybersecurity researchers found new working speculative execution attacks.

To improve their performance, modern processors try to “guess” what tasks to do next. Speculative execution attacks abuse this mechanism to trick the computer into leaking private information, like passwords or other sensitive data, while it’s working ahead of time on the wrong guesses.

The most popular attack was called Spectre - first observed in early 2018, together with a sister vulnerability called Meltdown. At the time, it was said that most computers were vulnerable to Spectre and Meltdown, and the subsequent rush to fix the flaws made an even bigger mess, with some computers completely bricked as a result.

8BASE and Everest

Now, cybersecurity researchers Johannes Wikner and Kaveh Razavi from ETH Zurich claim that years after Spectre, there are multiple similar attacks that can work around existing defenses.

Among them are two methods that work on Linux, and affect a wide range of Intel processors (Intel’s 12th, 13th, and 14th chip generations for consumers, and 5th and 6th generation of Xeon processors for servers), and many AMD chips (Zen 1, Zen 1+, Zen 2).

The attacks undermine the Indirect Branch Predictor Barrier (IBPB) on x86 processors, it was explained. IBP is pivotal in defending against speculative execution attacks.

In the meantime, the researchers notified both Intel and AMD of their findings, and both companies have acknowledged the existence of the vulnerabilities. In fact, both said they already discovered them and are working on a fix. Intel is tracking it as CVE-2023-38575, and AMD is tracking it as CVE-2022-23824. Intel fixed it with a firmware update released in March, but according to BleepingComputer, the fix has not yet reached all operating systems.

Via BleepingComputer

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