Sonic the Hedgehog.
What can I say about him? He’s super popular? He’s Sega’s Mario? All of these things have been stated already! If there is one thing about Sonic that is fluctuating, it’s the love people have for him. You either love him or hate him. Personally, I love him. Which brings me to… Sonic Mania! It’s the well known and highly praised return to 2D gameplay for Sonic and friends! It’s said to bring Sonic back to the glory days of the Genesis and in spectacular fashion too. Not to mention, it was made by fans of Sonic!
HOWEVER! I am here to see if this is all true! Let’s see if this game is as cool as the character Sonic himself!
Story:
Insert ending to Sonic 3 and Knuckles here!
Sonic and friends have recently defeated the evil Dr. Robotni… Eggman, and have saved Angel Island and the Master Emerald. Everything is back to normal.
...OR ARE THEY?
Eggman is back, and this time he’s found a new toy. The Phantom Ruby is an immensely powerful tool Eggman has in his possession, and now he plans to use it for diabolical deeds… again. It’s up to Sonic and friends to stop Eggman, collect all 7 Chaos Emerald, save the day, the usual stuff.
New adversaries called the Hardboiled Heavies appear!
Story isn’t the focus of Sonic games, so it doesn't need to be deep. What is nice though, is that we do get cutscenes from time to time to help tell the story. It’s a simple, but great touch.
Gameplay:
SSSSSSSSSSSSPPPPPPPPPPPPPPEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEDDDDDDDDDDDD.
That’s the short version. Allow me to give you the long version.
Sonic Mania is a 2D platformer. The goal in Sonic is to reach the end of the stage with the best time possible. To help you accomplish this, you have several abilities you can perform. You can jump, spin dash to get a boost of speed, and of course, run really fast! Items also exist on the stage to help you, like speed shoes, shields, and invincibility. You can collect rings across the stage, which not only help your score, but keep you alive when you get hit. Get hit with no rings, and you lose a life.
You have 3 characters you can play as, Sonic the Hedgehog, Tails the Fox, and Knuckles the Echidna, each with their own unique abilities. Sonic can use a special effect with shields, and has a new ability called the drop dash, which allows him to gain a boost upon landing from a jump. Tails can fly, allowing him to maneuver across the stage with ease and reach high places. He can also swim. Knuckles can glide in the air and climb up walls. Each character plays similarly normally, but their extra abilities makes them stand out from each other, making each character unique and fun.
Zones are great too. Each one plays differently from one another, and have individual platforming gimmicks like bumpers and lava. Old Zones returned in what I’d like to call a remixed version of the zones, as they play and look much differently from their past counterparts, enough so that they feel fresh and new.
Check out this new bouncy jelly from Chemical Plant Zone!
New zones are awesome, and are arguably better than the old zones honestly! In fact, I wish we had more NEW zones than old zones. The old zones ARE good, trust me. I just wished I saw more new.
A few, but very fun modes exist. There is Mania Mode, the main game mode. Time Attack Mode is an addition I LOVE. Nothing like getting the best times on your favorite stages and saving them! Plus, it’s just fun to replay your favorite zones over and over again obtaining the best time in each of them. 2P competition mode is 2 player mode similar to previous entries 2P modes. It’s quite fun racing a friend of yours to the finish line.
Sonic Mania’s greatest strength is how artfully it balances out platforming with going fast. This is a problem most modern Sonic games have, but Sonic Mania has the right mix of standard platforming, and speeding past everything! Platforming is solid, and going fast feels great as well. Controls are spot on, more so than older Sonic games, having just the right acceleration and speed moving your character for going fast, and well done jumping mechanics for platforming.
Graphics and Sound:
Sonic Mania attempts to replicate the good ole’ days of the Sega Genesis when it comes to graphics. Safe to say it succeeds by a mile. Menus looks crisp, but the sprite graphics are even crisper. They look sharp, bright, colorful, and pop out more than a bunch of balloons in a needle factory. Characters animations look smooth and fantastic while running, and the zones are no different when it comes to looking good. Each zone manages to stand out and are super memorable at that. It’s great running through green hills, a studio, machines, and more.
GAMBLE TIME BOIS
The music… is god tier. This is Sonic we are talking about, so music is 9.9 times out of 10 going to be excellent, and Sonic Mania delivers in SPADES. Each zone and act sound so different from one another, tackling so many different styles of music while still staying funky fresh throughout the whole game. It’s ridiculous. Sonic Mania’s soundtrack is so good the original games are eating their hearts out.
Price: Sonic Mania costs around $19.99 on PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC. Sonic Mania is comparable to a full game package on the Sega Genesis, so it's a really nice price overall.
Conclusion:
Sonic Team, take notes.
This is one of the best Sonic games ever made. It’s near perfect, but even if it isn’t, it’s still a superb game and a brilliant Sonic game. Best part about it is that it’s only going to get better with the release of Sonic Mania Plus! I’ll be reviewing that too when it comes out, but for now, let us enjoy Sonic Mania!
Score: 9/10