Sonic Superstars: A New 2D Sonic Game (Fall 2023)

I played the first two zones because I have no self control. Here are my non-spoiler thoughts:

• This game really wants you to explore. The levels are large, expansive, and have tons of nooks and crannies to find stuff in. There's also a healthy amount of collectibles, contrary to other Classic games. Both of these makes exploration more worthwhile - I actively stopped multiple times in the levels just to explore and look for rings/medals.
• This game isn't afraid to trial-and-error your ass. Even in the second zone, I encountered parts where I was nearly blindsided by a cliff or an enemy. It didn't feel unfair, though.
• The physics are not quite 100%, but they're like RIGHT there. Most of the time it feels identical. The air drag feels slightly too strong, but that may just be placebo. The Spin Dash is also a little weaksauce.
• The special stages are very good. It's less memorization, more thinking-on-your-feet and adapting to the current situation. It helps that the gameplay is relatively slow, so you have plenty of time to react, and it feels good to chase down the Emerald. You can get a certain rythym going.

 

This sounds great.

How does it stack up to Mania in level design and gamefeel? Mania had a great flow to it.

 

Possible strong air drag and a weak spindash don’t sound great to me but I’m not surprised. Hopefully we get a good demonstration of all this soon.
I’m assuming variable rebound off badniks and monitors bounces isn’t in right?

 

It's a true classic Sonic game confirmed

 

Everything I've seen confirms this. I'm taking back my earlier neutral/negative impressions. The game seems to play well even without the day 1 patch... at least in single player.

Your mileage will vary on how much you like some ideas in the game, but I'm now of the opinion that this is the real thing. Skilled classic players will pick up and understand it very quickly, despite very minor differences. The only obvious weakness now seems to be the Jun songs, but they aren't the majority and they seem to fade into undistracting background noise pretty quickly.

It's not exactly the genesis games, but it does feel like a reasonable evolution of them. I'm now leaning towards saying "buy it", if you've been waiting.

Also...

The marketing material for this game is... interesting in Japan.

 

A BIT TOO STRONG air drag. If I could compare it to something, the air drag is like Generations classic Sonic, but not nearly as bad. It is noticeable, but I got used to it by the second zone. Badnik bouncing exists too.

The only thing I'm not keen on is the weaker spindash, but it still serves its purpose - you just can't use it to get yourself out of every tight situation.

It's way too early to tell. Personally I think Bridge Island zone is a very strong start. It's pretty simple but will punish you if you aren't paying atention. Lots of secrets, plenty of paths, but not so much that it becomes overwhelming. It flows rather nicely, and the gimmicks are good fun, if a little mindless.

Speed Jungle zone is where your mileage may vary. This level is FAST as hell, and with that comes the same trappings as levels like Stardust Speedway. It can be kind of hard to tell which direction is the right direction. However, to me, the level is a blast. It's mostly blistering speed intermixed with tighter platforming, especially in Act 2. There are lots of opportunities to get massive air jumping off of the grind vines (and many secrets/alternate paths found because of it).

This game certainly does NOT feel like Mania, or any of the other Classic games for that matter. This is its own beast, in terms of level design, structure, and general game direction. Don't go into this expecting a classic Sonic game as you know it.

EDIT: I forgot to mention I got stuck in this tube. That may be due to the emulator being extremely stuttery. (That's another thing - I have good things to say DESPITE playing it on a very unstable emulator. Nice!)

 

Still no code for the Amy skin in my inbox, not have I seen any updates that the social media team/SEGA are even aware of the issue…I’m just some schmoe on Twitter (who I’m pretty sure has been shadow banned for criticising Muskrat anyway), so there’s not really any more that I can do to make this known but man it’d be nice to be able to claim this thing that I’m being told we can get.

 

"We'll email a code to your inbox with instructions on how to download the in‑game content after the game launches on October 17th, 2023."

 

Well dang you think they could’ve bolded that or something.

 

So it's been pointed out that Denuvo is no longer mentioned on the steam page.

Word is that because Denuvo doesn't work well with Unity, it may be gone now. That would certainly be welcomed if true, and we should still encourage SEGA to remove it from other titles ASAP.

 

We finally get to listen to the demo version Jun Senoue made for Bridge Island!

 

Holy shit PLEASE

Mr Senoue, I am on my hands and knees BEGGING you to please stop trying to make your music sound like FM Synth. I love you but this just isn't working and your sexy guitars and rock organs want you to go back home to them.

 

ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

 

Makes me wonder if Jun initially composed a good chunk of the OST in that style then the other artists repurposed those tunes, but just didn't have the time and/or budget to redo all of them.

In other words, the remaining s4 styled tracks are literally unfinished beta tracks...

In all fairness, this is far from his worst work in that style. It's actually still kind of catchy.

I think I'm just mentally triggered by the old snare drums now.

 

It’s just so frustrating to see such a phenomenal composer and musician wilfully compromise his work time and time again. I think Jun’s contributions to Colours Ultimate were solid, and I particularly love his arrangement of the first boss theme, but whenever he’s doing classic music, it’s like a switch flips in him that causes him to self-sabotage as much as he possibly can.

 

Review embargo has dropped. Currently sitting at 78 on Metacritic

4/5 stars from VGC
4/5 stars from GamesRadar+
4/5 stars from TechRadar
4/5 stars from Sonic Stadium
7/10 from IGN
6/10 from PushSquare
Game Informer isn't scoring until they do co-op but overall think it's a good time

Current verdict seems to be it's much better than Sonic 4 and comes closer to the classics than any non-Mania attempt, but isn't quite Mania-tier. So about what we expected. The short length and co-op seem to be the primary aspects of criticism.

 

Many reviews cite the difficulty and co-op as negatives. Game Informer's stance is an interesting one.

 

Sonic fans are going to see these 7/10 review scores as a cause for celebration.

This is a contrast from Zelda fans, who see a 10/10 review score as a reason to bitch and moan about how the new game ruined the franchise

I would have it no other way.

 

It's 71 on Metacritic at 16 critic reviews. Sonic Frontiers on PS5 has a 71 at 94 critic reviews so we're here for a while.

 

So it's being reviewed like any other Sonic game then.