DLC doesn't have to be a bad thing, but when it's bad it's really bad. Normally with DLC, there are extra characters and stories you can buy, perhaps some cosmetics to give your hero a makeover. If you pre-ordered Batman: Arkham City you would be able to unlock Catwoman and leap from building to building and play her missions and story. The same with Goro in Mortal Kombat X, and Shao Khan in Mortal Kombat 11.
But the way Sonic Origins set up its DLC feels like a money-grabbing mess. The collection contains four different games, Sonic The Hedgehog, Sonic CD, Sonic The Hedgehog 2, and Sonic The Hedgehog 3 and Knuckles. All those are playable, and the bundle also comes with missions you can play outside of the games themselves. Each game in the collection has its own list of missions to complete.
The big issue is they are locked away as part of the game's Premium Fun Pack DLC. These missions do not contain any story, nor do they carry any effect on the main games in any way. They're just extra things you can do on the side like the Riddler's Batmobile race tracks in Arkham Knight. The stripping of these missions from the standard edition is uncool and unnecessary.
These are just missions like reaching a goal while dodging falling hazards and popping 20 balloons within 90 seconds. That's it! There is no reason for this DLC to exist other than to squeeze more money out of people. Only full versions of physical and digital copies were needed. If Sega wanted to save money, they could have just made the game digital-only, then later perhaps added other remastered Sonic games, like Sonic 3D Blast, to the bundle for a reasonable price.
I've played these harder missions (the privilege of getting a review code for the Digital Deluxe Edition). The missions work nicely as little mini-games, but they're hardly DLC-worthy. Not only that but if you only buy the standard edition you will not get 10 additional letterbox backgrounds, see character animations in menus, or have full camera control over the different islands in the game which act as hubs for each title.
You can move from island to island but you won't be able to fully move around them. All of these basic features missing from the standard edition are inexcusable. Just when you thought DLC couldn't get worse than Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion's horse armor, or the 1989 version of the Batmobile not being able to be used in Arkham Knight's main campaign, Sega rolls this out.
Sonic Origins is a great game - I said as much in my review. It's everything Sonic fans could and should want from Sega and the Sonic Team because it goes back to the basics of what made the franchise great while giving it an upgrade in visuals. It's just sad knowing these missions and features could've been easily added to the main game.
The video game industry is a big business, and the bottom line of companies matters dictates a lot of decisions. It's one thing for games like Destiny to add meaty new expansions, it's another for a company like Sega to think 'Hmmm, what if we removed these 11 harder missions and the ability to fully use the camera in the main menu, then turned that into paid DLC?'
Sega removed animations and borders, missions, and camera functions from a game instead of giving lifelong fans and newcomers to the series a full experience to gain their support. It was a bad move, and while the Sonic Origins collection deserves its success, I suggest steering clear of its 'add-ons' to send Sega a message.