Sonic Mania is a blast in the past that just falls just short of pure excellence
Playing the old Sonic Mega Drive games brings back fond childhood memories, I used to play them to death before and after school, and it is no lie that Sonic 2 is my favourite game of all time. But I still had my doubts about Sonic Mania when it was first revealed, was going back to the past really the way forward for the franchise? So I kind of kept my eye away from the game until its release, and having completed it I can safely say that it was a worthwhile endeavour. Sonic Mania is a very good game, but it's not without some flaws.
The game is headed up by Christian Whitehead, who created the successful Sonic mobile games, it's best described as a semi greatest hits, with eight levels taken from the original classic 2D Sonic games and four new ones built from scratch.
Aside from a few deviations, Mania plays like a traditional Sonic game, you have to get from point A to B with familiar tropes such as robot enemies, high loops, plenty of speed dash, and inventive boss battles.
The levels are wonderfully colourful and vibrant, and set on numerous themes. We have the Green Hill Zone of course, arguably THE classic Sonic level. It's also the only one that is particularly linear, because all of the levels branch out far more than I expected, which not only notches up the difficulty level but it also means that the game doesn't just rely on pushing the right button as you speed from one end of the level to the other.
My favourite level is the Mirage Saloon, a wild west themed level that hasn't been done in a Sonic game before, it also helps that it has the best music. It's one of the four new levels, all of which are surprisingly better than the remix levels, it might be because they are brand new but not only they do have a visual oomph, they also introduce innovative ideas that change up the gameplay formula in surprisingly subtle ways. One of the best examples of this is in the Metallic Madness level, where at various points Sonic changes from the foreground to the background.
Studiopolis is another of the impressive new levels, it's kind of reminiscent of the Carnival Night Zone in Sonic 3. The least impressive of the new levels is the very last one, Titanic Monarch, seeing as it is the last in the game it's the hardest of the lot, and one in which the new ideas added don't quite gel as well.
However, as fun as the levels are there were times when the enemies don't mesh well with the design. On most levels there will be at least one moment when you'll waltz right into an enemy that you were either too slow to see on the screen or its colour design simply clashed with the background. But these are just minor gripes.
There is one negative I find almost unforgiving, and that's the boss battles, which are inconsistent in difficulty and rather frustrating. Smart but challenging boss fights have always been a staple of the franchise, each new boss would require a different strategy to beat them. In Mania it is almost impossible to beat bosses without getting hit and losing your rings, and beating them requires as much luck as skill.
They are much easier on repeated playthroughs, but on first encounters some of the frustrations with the boss fights were nigh on close to game breaking and certainly infuriating. Why for the life of me they decided to put bosses at the end of both part one and two of the levels is beyond me.
Special stages include the Blue Sphere from Sonic 3, which is challenging but fun. Completing these stages will get you a chaos emerald, if you get all 7 you'll be able to play as Super Sonic. But believe me it will take multiple goes before you get the hang of them. The other special stage requires you to chase after a UFO under a time limited challenge, which I didn't play much because it was a bit dull.
**
Graphics wise it is nothing more than a souped up 16 bit era game, but this doesn't take away from the heart of the experience, in many respects it gives it a powerful charm and a sense of timelessness. The game does have new animations that were not in the classic Sonic games, they don't change anything but it gives Sonic a bit more character and updates the power up visuals in a nice way.
**
With numerous sittings I think I completed the game in the 3-5 hour mark, it might have even be a bit more, I can't be certain. But it does have plenty of replay value with the inclusion of a multiplayer (which I haven't played admittedly), and the choice of not just playing as Sonic but with Knuckles and Tails too. The levels are slightly different if you play as knuckles.
**
This was a hard game to give a final score on, I loved it for the most part and it gets better on repeated playthroughs. You'll want to keep coming back to master the levels, the bosses become a bit more forgivable, and the soundtrack is brilliant and chimes perfectly with what we expect from an old Sonic game.
But I would have liked to have seen more original levels because they are the best that the game has to offer, and as a lifelong fan of the franchise I think the choice of the old levels they've remixed is a bit dubious. I personally would have chosen differently.
But with such a low price tag (£15.99 in the UK) I would recommend this game in a heartbeat, for those who have never played a Sonic game, there's no better chance to get stuck in. And for fans of the franchise this is a no brainer.
8/10
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