Hey, guys, it’s ‘bout that time again. And by “bout that time,” I mean ‘bout time another Sonic game came out. Now, we all know about the Sonic Cycle, right? If not, the basic synopsis is that a Sonic game is announced, it sounds awesome, then it tanks harder than the Titanic because Sega gets a little (read: very) overzealous in design. Enter the last few games they’ve released, where they were hoping to change this. Did Sonic Colors make the cut? Read on to find out! This review will cover the Wii version of the game.
The premise of the game is pretty straightforward and Sonic-y. Dr. Robotni— er, Eggman has turned over a new leaf, and in apology for his past transgressions, built an incredible interstellar amusement park complete with rides, epic eats, and shopping. Sonic and Tails, of course, know better than to trust anything with the good doc’s name on it, so they head on up to investigate, where they end up finding two of Robotnik’s bots chasing after some strange creatures. After making short work of them, the aliens thank and reward Sonic… by phasing into his body and giving him an insane burst of power! The aliens are revealed to be named Wisps, and they’re jam-packed full of energy called… ‘hyper-go-ons.’ Okay, whatever. In any case, it’s later revealed that Eggman has a devious plot (Oh noooooo!) to capture the Wisps and harvest their power to create a mind-control ray to brainwash the galaxy. Harsh. The story’s presented in a pretty easy to follow way for children, and it’s riddled with horrid puns, cheesy jokes and snappy dialogue from our hero. The majority of the Sonic cast got voicelifts not too long ago, and this is the first game to use them, so expect a difference from everyone but Eggman; Sonic sounds older and even more Cartoon-Network-main-character, which is overall great and only annoying sometimes. Tails is spot-on, however.
On to gameplay! This game handles almost exactly like Sonic Unleashed’s day stages from the 360/PS3 version, tweaked for a bit more precision. There are 3D and 2D sections in most stages, and there are both straight running sequences and platforming sequences that make a good balance of styles. Sonic’s basic moveset is still intact: he can run, jump, short-hop over bumps, slide under short clearances, and use the Homing Attack to bust up his enemies. He also retains his stomp from Unleashed, allowing him to break through blocks to drop to lower areas. New to this game is the Double Jump, which lets you add a second little hop in midair, and your Quick Step and Drift have been reallocated to just the Control Stick, letting you simply flick left and right for the former and curve more naturally in the latter, adding even more precision and smooth transitions. They’re only activated at certain times, however, denoted by symbols that pop up when you hit a section that requires them. Overall, it’s a much tighter control scheme that’s loosened in all the right places (usually) and works with multiple setups, including your Gamecube controller. Yes, you can relax now. There are 6 main worlds, each with a whopping 6 Acts and a Boss, making it much longer than initially expected. However, some of the stages are frightfully short, designed to test your platforming skill or critical thinking with Wisp powers. Scores are comprehensive this time, judging on speed, number of lives used, and rings collected, among other things. In addition to this, there’s also a “Sonic Simulator” mode, made for multiplayer, which lets you play through simulated stages with a buddy. More on that later.
The Wisps come in several flavors: White Boost, Cyan Laser, Yellow Drill, Orange Rocket, and the Wii-exclusive Pink Spikes, Blue Cube, Green Hover, and Purple Frenzy. As you play through the game, you’ll find each Wisp in one of the stages of each world, sometimes more. The Cyan Laser turns Sonic into a (gasp) laser, letting him fire forward and in angles to slam into enemies and be refracted and redirected by gems and telsa coils to reach new areas. The Yellow Drill lets Sonic bury into soft ground and swim underwater to find new areas, hidden items, faster travel via pipes, and other such things. Orange Rocket fires Sonic straight up into the air, then lets him free-fall back down, catching any items he might find on the way. Pink Spikes is essentially Sonic’s spin dash technique, with a twist: Sonic’s quills let him cling to walls, traveling up and down ‘em, and also breaking normally untouchable blocks in the process. Blue Cube is an interesting power, letting you turn certain rings into boxes and back for a short time. This is mainly used for platforming puzzles which are always simple in premise, but take some thought to maneuver quickly, making it one of my personal favorites in terms of creativity. Green Hover lets Sonic float freely in an area, and perform a Light Dash-esque boost along trails of rings. Finally, Purple Frenzy turns Sonic into a wild, hard-to-control monster (no, not the Werehog) on an eating binge, nomming pretty much anything that gets in his way. The more you eat, the bigger and faster he gets, and the easier it is to tear through to new areas.
All of these powers are presented pretty straightforwardly, and it’s difficult to not know what you’re supposed to do with what power in what area; visual cues such as rings leading straight up for Rocket or in specific angles for Laser are prevalent, letting even a novice know where you’re supposed to be going and activating and using them. They’re sometimes a little gimmicky, yes, but much, MUCH less so than other forays into new territory, and they’re integrated very, very well into the gameplay, making them only responsible for a few headaches in the more complicated puzzles.
A big criticism I have for the game are the huge difficulty spikes. There are points in the game where the little bit of slack put into the controls becomes incredibly glaring, making a certain precision jump incredibly difficult or making a quick boost incredibly dangerous for no good reason. These feel like ‘cheap death’ generators, thrown in for fake difficulty rather than trying for a slightly different tweak to physics, and it can make a set Act very frustrating very, very fast. What’s worse is that while you can go back and forth to Zones and clear them in whatever order you like, if you’re stuck on an Act, you’re going to HAVE to clear that Act to move on in that Zone. UGH. The game gives you plenty of lives to compensate (assuming you’re capable of getting A and S ranks under the game’s now very harsh rating system, or if you’re really good at breaking the letter and numbers on the Result screen), but that doesn’t help any when you’re losing 5 or 8 on one Act. They did this before, I recall, in Sonic Unleashed. It certainly wasn’t fun then. It isn’t now, either. Thankfully, this issue comes up a lot less often in Colors than it did in Unleashed, and once you’re past that rough patch, you’re set for another little while.
Alrighty, graphics time! You’re in space, so naturally, that gives Robotnik the ability to think big, and Sega uses that excuse to create some absolutely gorgeous backdrops. There’s almost always action going on in the background; blinking lights, waving robots, machines boring and drilling, you name it, and the Wii handles it all without flinching, which is excellent. Every park is designed with a unique style—Sweet Mountain’s towering burger platforms, Asteroid Coaster’s oozing acid waterfalls, Starlight Carnival’s particle light trail… it all just oozes style, and it’s infinitely fun to look at, even as you’re zipping by at breakneck speeds. The enemies haven’t really gotten a facelift, but they are modeled a little differently for each zone, which is pretty cool. Other than that, the Sonic crew looks pretty much the same: Sonic is still blue, Tails still has two tails, Eggman is still fat, etc. The Wisps are hit and miss—some of their designs (Laser, Spikes) are really unique and cool, while others (Rocket, Drill) are blatant shoutouts to their namesakes. They all look neat floating about, however, and overall the designs stick and fit in to Sonic’s colorful world well.
Miscellaneous notes about the game! First things first: this game’s going to make Sonic vets feel a little nostalgia. You’re going to see a lot of Sonic 2 and 3’s badniks return, and that’s because this takes place in Sonic’s realm, above Mobius, rather than the Pixar-y human world we’ve been getting. The soundtrack is what we’ve come to expect of Sonic: beauty in audio form. If there is nothing else about this game that deserves praise, it’s the soundtrack; tunes like Tropical Resort and Terminal Velocity will get your blood pumping, while Planet Wisp and Aquarium Park will soothe and pulse warmly, giving each world its own ‘feel’ and life. Each Zone has at least 3 variations of its theme, keeping the same song from getting annoying, even for short loops. For those of you wondering “where’s obligatory Shadow the Hedgehog or Big the Cat or other arbitrary characters,” let me reassure you: only Sonic and Tails make an appearance as main characters, and only Sonic is playable; even in multiplayer mode, both players control robo-Sonics (not Metal Sonics). No one else shows their face in the game, period, though a few are referenced by name. Speaking of the multiplayer mode, while it’s fun, it’s also going to take some coordination between you and your buddy to get through unscathed: without a split screen, it’s much, much too easy for one Sonic to get left behind, and the players can target each other with their Homing Attacks, leading to more stunkills per second than cockroaches taking bodyshots of Raid under a strobe light. Simply put: one screen + two Sonics = not gonna work well. On the plus side, the combination color attacks are awesome, and definitely something that heightens the gameplay. The tracks are reminiscent of Lego bricks, and the music is all 8-bit versions of all the Zone themes, which is a nice touch and totally awesome.
In the end, despite its few flaws, this is definitely a step in the right direction for Sonic. The gameplay is solid and fun, except for times where IT’S REALLY NOT because of fake difficulty spikes. If you still consider yourself a Sonic fan, you will love this game. If you once called yourself a Sonic fan, this is the game you’ve been waiting for. If you’ve been leery because of the recent Sonic games, then this is the one you need to play. The Sonic Cycle has been broken, for now… let’s see if Sega can let this success keep it that way and keep Sonic on the road to recovery.
