Gaming Reviews & Previews
- Thread starter Suckio Andretti
- Start date
Blue_London
OG
I must be old I don't understand buying "looks" that's don't impact how you play a game.
Agree with everything need more maps, and the ability to veto maps like halo 3
I appreciate this so much Sion thank youSonic Mania Review by Sion
I picked this up for $30 and as a huge fan of the original Sonic games for genesis and the series as a whole, I wanted to be transported back to childhood to enjoy these games. Sonic made is just as good if not a better all around game than it's 2D predecessors of which it's inspired by. The game has multiple modes: Mania, Encore, Time Attack, Competition. Mania mode is the general storyline where you select between Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Sonic & Tails and if you downloaded the DLC you also get Mighty The Armadillo and Ray The Flying Squirrel. What's a bit more unique is that in the Genesis games, Sonic, Tails and Knuckles had the same speed, this is changed in this game, in addition to their specific abilities some characters cannot jump as high as others or are noticeably slower. Knuckles and Mighty cannot jump as high as the cast and are much slower than Sonic and Tails. Encore mode allows you to use all 5 characters and switch between them during the levels by either jumping on a "switch box" or "?" Box (which will randomly tag in another character). The bonus stages are also quite different, in Mania mode you play blue spheres (just like in Sonic 3 or Sonic & Knuckles) and as you complete each stage you get a medallion which enables you to unlock various modes, abilities and more. In the Encore bonus stages you do a pinball game to get items to help you or other characters who aren't already in your party. The time attack game mode is exactly as the name suggests and Competition allows you to compete online against others to see who can finish the stage the fastest. Each stage is quite long and there's about 13 zones but each may have 2 or 3 additional acts meaning there's at least 30 stages. You almost dont even realize it. This game is stacked and that's a good thing.
This game serves as an enormous homage to the older games and blows it out of the water. Each level is beautifully crisp, there's new stages and some of the levels are classic OG stages such as Green Hill Zone, Hydrocity, Chemical Zone and Lava Reef. Complete with the OG soundtrack and a remixed version. The stages also have additional add on stages or "Acts" which was similar to Sonic & Knuckles, these stages are completely new. Just like Sonic 3, each stage is quite long and only some characters can access certain parts for bonuses or chaos emeralds. The boss stages are also remixed some familiar and others different. In addition, you may collect all 7 chaos emeralds for all 5 characters to unlock their super forms. For such a simple game there's a lot to unpack and a lot to do and the replayability factor is quite high.
The best parts of the game are the beautiful stage visuals, soundtrack and multiple characters you can use and overall tremendous fun factor. There are also multiple game modes including a debug mode where you can do virtually anything you want. This debug mode can be obtained via a button code at the title screen or by simply unlocking it. The cons of the game would be that the end stage bosses are too easy with the exception of maybe 3 being very difficult. I'd also say that like the older Sonic games, it does sort of get redundant "just go right".
Overall, I would highly recommend it especially of you were a diehard Sonic fan. If this game was released 25 to 30 years ago, it would probably be hailed as the greatest Sonic game of all time. I would say it's far better than Sonic 3 & Knuckles and the other 2D Genesis games. I finished each mode and they're still loads of fun to play again.
I rate this game 8.5/10
I read everything and you really sold the experience of enjoying this game