We almost waited. After two successful films and a lackluster open world episode, the blue hedgehog is finally preparing to return to his first love with a 2D game. Sonic Superstars was a bit of an unexpected surprise this summer and it seems to follow in the footsteps of the much-loved Sonic Mania.
The studios seem to want to strike a nostalgic chord at the end of the year. After Assassin’s Creed Mirage and its famous return to basics, it is Super Mario Bros Wonder and Sonic Superstars who will try their hand at the exercise. Both the plumber and the blue hedgehog will return this October with a 2D episode which each promises their own little batch of new features. Enthusiasm is at its peak among their respective communities and after a divisive Sonic Frontiers, this new episode could well be the one that will reconcile fans of the SEGA mascot.
The marriage between retro and modernity
It’s almost the big day. Sonic Superstars will take players by their feelings from October 16 on all consoles and PC. The anticipation for a new 2D episode was palpable, especially after the lackluster launch of Sonic Frontiers. Opus Mania still continues to leave its mark today, having established itself as a blessing as it managed to perfectly capture the spirit of the pioneering games. The next opus in the saga seems set to follow in its footsteps. A few days before its launch, we were able to approach Sonic Superstars for a generous hour spread over four levels. Without getting too involved, we can already confirm that it should follow in the footsteps of the much-loved episode. Just like Mania, it is well on its way to successfully combining retro and modernity by offering a decidedly fun and nostalgic experience.
Its pretty 2D face clearly adds to its charm, Sonic Superstars being as beautiful as anything. It’s clean, neat and all the iconic elements take us straight back to all those afternoons spent in front of the Mega-Drive. From sound design to the aesthetics of the most emblematic objects, nothing is left to chance and it works immediately. The Bridge Island level alone is enough to sell the game as it oozes nostalgia. Its shimmering meadows and iconic enemies look like a remake of Green Hill Zone. A pure success visually but also in terms of feeling. The sensations of speed are there, the loops follow one another, the controls… everything is done to remind us of the good old days. The handling and return to the past are instantaneous. Sonic Superstars, on the other hand, shouldn’t just play with our feelings.
The power of Emeralds
SEGA wants to bring a touch of modernity to it with some new powers to unlock throughout our explorations: the famous Chaos Emeralds. From the avatar which allows you to create an army of doubles of the character played which cross the entire screen and attack enemies with blows, to the fire which allows you to move like a flaming ball in several directions, the game seeks to bring some new features . The change between each skill via the radial menu did not seem as instantaneous as we wanted, but it was difficult to express yourself with confidence on it in just an hour. In any case, it seems quite promising on the first levels, each power being able to be used to tame the different branches and levels of verticality of each zone. It is therefore also in its level design that Sonic Superstars will bring some touches of modernity by pushing even more for exploration.
The powers are in fact hidden in the famous Emerald zones which house some mini-games. Some should clearly play on nostalgia as we have seen in the various trailers. Unfortunately, the only one we were given to try was far from successful: we swing from circle to circle to reach the precious stone before the time runs out. It wasn’t smooth or fun. We hope this is an isolated case for the rest of the levels. In fact, the other three that we were able to survey were clear successes. The casino reminded us of the good old days, when the cyberpunk zone was distinguished by its more marked aesthetic sometimes veering towards the pixel.
The jungle clearly stood out, both for its ingenuity, its enemies and its bosses. Without saying too much to maintain a minimum of surprise, the blue hedgehog and his comrades will play Tarzan by sliding from tree to tree, but they will sometimes be plunged into darkness, with only a small source of light to illuminate them. It doesn’t look like much on paper, but it works really well. Sonic Superstars clearly shouldn’t revolutionize the recipe, but it is well on its way to adding a few ingredients and why not new flavors. That’s all we hope for.
We’re waiting for it…at full speed
Sonic Superstars promises to be a delicious cocktail of nostalgia and modernity. A more elaborate level design, more verticality, replayability, a cast of complete characters and new powers… the title should not skimp on new features. It now remains to be seen whether he will succeed in erasing the faults of his predecessors and staying going over time. With even more complete levels, varied boss fights and guaranteed replayability, it’s off to a good start. Hoping the minigames have more flavor than the one we tried.