Sonic Superstars came out of the blue when it was announced at this year's summer game fest, but it was a pleasant surprise. As a massive Sonic fan I will always buy a new game day one. What made it even more appealing was that it was going back to its 2D roots. Unfortunately, Superstars is a good game that never reaches its potential.
Superstars begins with a well made animated introduction, where Doctor Robotnik enlists the help of Fang to cause mischief. That's about as much as you get from any story here, this is not a game like Sonic Frontiers where there's an intriguing narrative hanging over the gameplay. The story mode gives you the choice of four characters, Sonic, Knuckles, Tails and Amy.
Each of them play a little different to one another, Knuckles allows you climb up walls, Tails can hover and Amy has a double jump. Whichever character you pick you will get more or less the same experience, but it's a positive that the game gives this choice right from the start unlike most other Sonic games I've played.
The chaos emeralds also give you super powers, these powers can range from invincibility, revealing secrets and being able to jump to higher places, etc. It's a neat addition to the classic Sonic formula but I generally found them to be a bit superfluous outside of the boss battles. But they do give the game a little replay value as you can go back to completed zones and see how they can be beaten in different ways as you look for secrets.
As with the previous classic games, you can collect these in special stages scattered within the zones. The special stages are a bit mediocre to be honest, you have to swing from one ring to the next as you chase the emerald within a strict time limit.
There are ten zones in total, some of these have just one act, and the game starts with a typical Green Hill clone, which is called Bridge Island. This first zone kicks things off in a good way with bright, flashy colours, and a decent combination of speed and basic platforming. But the Zones gradually become inconsistent in quality, with some being downright awful.
One of the biggest misconceptions about the classic Sonic games was that they focused on Speeding from point A to B. This might have been true for the first few zones or so, but from then on the speed dialled down and the focus was on sophisticated platforming. Because of this the difficulty curve spiked, but it was never unfair. The big issue with Superstars is that the zones become messy with incoherent design.
All but one of the zones in the latter half of the game feel like the enemies have been thrown in at random places. And some of the design choices are odd, with far too many zones heavily reliant on pinball springs. The first five zones are decent, while none of them would appear in my top ten sonic levels list, they were worthy of being included in the game. I really liked Speed Jungle and Lagoon City. Not only are they visually impressive, they tie the theme of the zone into the gameplay loop. For example in Speed Jungle you have to pull onto hanging tree vines to reach higher places.
Lagoon City is my favourite of the entire game, it's that rare water level in a sonic game that's actually fun. It also helps that it has the best and only memorable music track in the game.
Another aspect that I liked about the game was its visual elegance, it has a bright, cartoony look to it that is a far cry from last years Sonic Frontiers. The character models are also top notch and the best I've ever seen in a Sonic game, the visual presentation is crisp like a modern animated movie.
Aside from the inconsistent level design, the biggest gripe I have with the game are the boss battles. To put it bluntly they are some of the most unfair and drawn out in the entire series. The early bosses are not too much of an issue but from the mid point onwards they become intolerably frustrating and cheap. There have always been these kind of bosses in the Sonic games but they were the exception not the rule.
What makes them so bad is that a lot of them involve you chasing the boss while trying to avoid incoming missiles, or avoiding environmental traps. One example is the boss at the end of Act 2 of the Golden Capital Zone. Not only do you have to avoid the boss's electric projectiles but you then have to avoid flames coming out from the walls, many of which appear onscreen about a second before you approach them.
In the classic Mega Drive games the majority of the bosses were set in contained spaces with environmental hazards. To beat them was just a question of learning their patterns, there was some trial and error but it was never unfair. It does not help that Superstars follows Sonic Mania in having a boss at the end of each act rather than just act two.
Outside of the story mode there is a battle mode that can also be played online. I tried this once and never went back. There are four rounds, these range from racing to the end of a zone, or avoiding cannonballs being fired from the background. To be frank there was nothing much here and it kind of felt a little tacked on, but I can see kids having some fun with friends or family.
Sonic Superstars is close to being excellent but its bosses almost ruin the experience, and the lack of genuinely memorable levels hold it back. Any Sonic fan needs to get this game but for anyone else only mildly interested, it's a hard to sell for the fifty pound price tag. And I think young kids will struggle with its unfair difficulty spikes. I can see the game being heavily discounted when the Christmas holidays come around, so it might be worth waiting until then. In the meantime I look forward to seeing what the next Sonic game is.
Verdict: 3/5
