For me, anything following the incredible game that was Sonic Mania coming from the Sonic Team, I would be disappointed. However I was highly surprised when I started my first playthrough of Sonic Superstars, which made me LOVE this new path that the Sonic games are going. Four initial playable characters, all with unique paths to take during the levels and a number of new, and returning mini-games which all add in to the brilliance that the Sonic Team have brought together for Sonic Superstars.
I’m going to break this review down by the different scoring points, as I could go on for ages about this game due to the mostly sheer brilliance, and yes I will be nit picking to get some negatives!
The storyline to this takes things all the way back to basics in terms of a Sonic game, which is just what the series works best with. Eggman is being a douche and Sonic & Team need to save the day. Super simple, with no dialogue, which to me brings Sonic back to it’s core and therefore scoring highly for me!
Gameplay wise, it’s the tried and tested method which works well for Sonic, however some new elements have been added which can drag the pace down at times. Unlike some of the very early titles in the series, you can’t just hold right and get to the end of the level, there’s a lot more elements to it within Superstars that fill in a platforming hole. Does this change it in any way? Yes, it slows down the gameplay. Is that such a bad thing? Not in this case. There’s a lot more to explore in these levels than before, such as finding the Giant Gold Rings to get the Chaos Emeralds. However in later levels, this slow down, alongside a huge difficulty increase (for me anyway!) leads to much frustration. I can only say I have played as two of the characters for the full game, and three of the others have made appearances for single levels, so I can’t divulge fully on how they play, but Sonic will always be my go to!
I won’t spoil anything here, but one character in particular even starts the game with a large difficulty spike over the others, and it only gets harder from there. For this character, their levels need to be taken at a much slower pace as the platforming is much more difficult.
A big difference that separates this entry from previous ones, is the Chaos Emeralds. To progress through this game, you WILL need to gain some of them or face blocks in your path. Why? Each emerald now has a unique power you can activate throughout the game, such as the ability to slow time temporarily. This is dealt with through a simple radial menu to select your chosen power. These also refresh at each check point, so using them is really useful and can get you out of some tricky situations. Other than this radial menu, the controls are as simple as ever, with a single button doing most of everything you need to get through the game.
Currently I’m around 10 hours in, with all Chaos Emeralds collected, and I’m still not 100% done with the game, but I also like to take my time. All in all, this is a solid Sonic entry and if this is the future of 2D Sonic Games (if they’re not going to continue Sonic Mania urgh) then I will be content in its future and look forward for what is to come.
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| Criteria | Scores | Our Score |
| Storyline | 1 – 5 | 5 |
| Gameplay | 1 – 5 | 4 |
| Value/Cost | 1 – 5 | 4 |
| Controls | 1 – 5 | 5 |
| Length | 1 – 5 | 4 |
