“Fur” blue, white gloves, sneakers, furrowed eyebrows. It’s Sonic. The little hedgehog, who thinks he’s a pinball, finally invests again a 2D platformer, like in the blessed days of the Megadrive console and the first episodes. We don’t mean it when we’re 12 or 13 years old, and back then someone really complained about these releases that were in direct opposition to their favorite little Mario. Games that, at the time of the console war between Nintendo and Sega, seemed to confirm such a desire for technical vertigo, a kind of silent power.
Back then, we couldn’t imagine that the Sega consoles would disappear, that Sonic would make a comeback in games and send Mario to the Olympics, or that Sonic would turn to the 3D world. Ah, there have been attempts to play games from this perspective with the hedgehog. We tried this very regularly. The universe always has more, its dynamics and its colors. But it was difficult to find his Sonic there. The last attempt was a year ago. Sonic Frontiers or the open world Sonic. Why not ? But Where Sonic had room to run around, there was no room to “appreciate” the size of an open world. Which sometimes didn’t have much taste…
The visual thrill of the first works
This time we forget about 3D and start again in 2D (of course with the same solid elements, the year is 2023). And we bring together the entire cast, the superstars. All of the hedgehog’s friends, from Tails to Amy, have followed him, giving access to multiplayer modes where you have to have a strong heart. The game’s title may well highlight this group effect, but multiplayer in platform games remains difficult even today when we’re trying to add rhythm and fluidity to a game. The camera focuses on the main player, the lagging dilettantes and the slower players. The errors that we encounter even in the latest Mario are also present here, even more troubling.
Because to enjoy the game, you have to have your hand on it, your hand on the accelerator. So it’s better to play it alone. And for now, Visually, the game lives up to its exciting claim: the thrill of bright colors reveals that special work has been done on the graphic side. We find decorations reminiscent of those of Megadrive games. But performance increases the sharpness and credibility of every element of modern media.
Still a lack of charisma
Scrolling speed, another hallmark of the Sonic series, is also present. So many joyful things piling up without giving in to the retro style of homage games of recent years. For now, those who have not experienced the 16-bit episodes because they are still too young can experience the same pleasure as those who have discovered them! And like back then, they sometimes plunge into 3D levels where they have to recover an emerald, unfortunately quite often by moving from one hover point to another in search of the jewel.
The levels offer welcome gameplay variations, such as the pursuit of a thieving fox, small secrets in the locations and visual innovations. And yet we don’t always keep up with these crazy cavalcades. The general lack of charisma of the enemies, the often expressionless robot character, as well as some inaccuracies in maneuverabilitywhich detract from the exciting aspect of the hedgehog’s crazy race and darken the picture a little.
Let’s not talk about Mario
The comparison with the very recent Mario Bros. Wonder is particularly damaging. Its success is already not comparable to the new Sonic, but the observation that the plumber has pushed all the creativity controls even further, with enemies that almost all have a new look and function in the game, levels that sometimes seem to come together Ideas A world where Sonic doesn’t serve the superstars at all in his five universes. There are often ideas in Sega’s latest releasefor example, in bonuses that allow your character to develop useful skills against bosses.
Sonic Superstars trade the more sculpted return of the hedgehogbut also his discrepancy compared to Mario, who no longer fights with the same weapons.
WE LOVE :
The scent of modern retro graphics
Good ideas developed at certain levels
It goes fast!
WE LIKE LESS:
Not perfect processing
Overall there is a lack of charisma
Irritating multiplayer modes
THE RESULTS: 15/20
A Sega game on Playstation, Switch, XBox and PC, around €60. 3 years and older.