Review: Sonic Colors

System: Wii
Genre: Platformer
Developer: Sonic Team
Publisher: Sega
Release: Nov 16, 2010 (USA) / Nov 12, 2010 (EU) Nov 11, 2010 (AUS) / Nov 18, 2010 (JPN)
Players: 1-2
Rated: E (Everyone)

There's a firm belief that the Sonic franchise has fallen from grace, having not seen a good game since the 16-bit Genesis days. This notion is of course, false. The Game Boy Advance Sonic Advance trilogy did the blue streak justice, and there was also success on Nintendo's DS with the Sonic Rush series. Heck, even both Sonic Adventure titles weren't bad games. Unfortunately, many fans either forget or flat out fail to acknowledge Sonic's handheld triumphs and any good 3D Sonic games are overshadowed by the awful ones. Shadow the Hedgehog was a disaster and the less said about the 2006 version of Sonic the Hedgehog the better. Sonic Unleashed caught a lot of flack for it's abundance of Werehog stages, which ruined an otherwise good game for quite a few players. If you're a bit weary on whether you should buy Sonic Colors or not, jump off the fence. Not only is Sonic Colors a splendid 3D Sonic game, it's one of the best games that Sega's mascot has ever stared in.

Sonic and Tails are checking out Eggman's new amusement park in space. The theme park was built in atonement for the doctor's past evil deeds. Unlike Mega Man though, Sonic is certain that his old foe is full of horse manure, believing the park to be part of some sinister plot that he'll have to clean up. And of course, Sonic is right. Like the aforementioned Mega Man, the game doesn't even try to hide the fact that Eggman is up to no good. Eggman is using creature's called Wisps to power his latest invention, which happens to be a mind control device, which will help him to surprise, surprise, take over the world. If nothing else, the doc is persistent.

Unlike a lot of other 3D Sonic games, there aren't any real gimmicks here. Like the Sonic games of old, you run through the level, collecting rings and trashing robots to get to the finish. The homing attack from the previous games returns and Sonic also has a wall jump and double jump, but it only gives you a slight boost. While Sonic Colors is primarily a 3D game, there a plenty of 2D segments. When the game switches to 2D, often times you'll have to slow down and time your movements carefully or fall into the abyss. It hearkens back to the older Sonic games where just holding right to blast through a stage was not enough. Like the older Sonic titles, Sonic Colors is about precision platforming just as well as it is about speed.

One of the most aggravating foes in the game. To make
matters worse, he shows up more than once. 

The usual assortment of springs, dash panels, and rails for grinding are all present and accounted for in Sonic Colors, and it's a mostly on-rails platform game. A good portion of the on-rails bits take place in the 3D perspective and sometimes require super fast reaction time. Unfortunately, the heads up that you need to react isn't all that apparent most of the time and can lead to cheap deaths. Regrettably, this is Sonic Color's biggest fault and it occurs in a majority of the areas you'll explore.

The majority of  the Wisp powers are fun to use and don't
overstay their welcome.

Despite the game taking place in space, there are still plenty of down-to-Earth environments to zip through. In fact, one wouldn't be too far off in thinking that it drew some of it's inspiration from some of the galaxies in Super Mario Galaxy 2. Sweet Mountain, the candy themed stage is filled with so much cake and sweets that you'll probably have an enormous sweet tooth by the time you're finished playing it. Aquarium Park, the obligatory water area is surrounded with H2O, and yes, you can drown here if you don't get air bubbles or make it to the surface in time. There are seven areas in total, but after clearing Tropical Resort, the first area of the game, you've actually got a few options of which area you wish to explore next. It's not totally nonlinear, as some areas are still blocked off, but it's still a nice change of pace in a Sonic game. With the exception of the last area, each area of the game has 6 acts and take place on their own sub map screen. The game automatically saves your progress after a level is completed, so you don't have to finish an entire area all in one sitting. Like most 3D Sonic games, you're ranked based on how long you took to complete the stage, the amount of rings collected, special rings collected and so on. There's a good replay value in going for higher scores to increase your rank.

Just like loop-the-loops, it wouldn't be a Sonic
game without rails to grind on.

As you go through the game's areas, you'll gain access to Wisp powers, which let Sonic take on some pretty cool forms and use new abilities such as the drill, hover, and frenzy. Unlike the Werehog from Sonic Unleashed, the Wisp powers are only with you for a very short time and add to the gameplay rather than detract from it.

Above, we already touched on the cheap deaths as one of the game's shortcomings. Sadly, that isn't the only one. Sonic Color's bosses leaving something to be desired. Yeah, the look cool, but most of them are simple to defeat and even worse, they get used over again in the same way that the bosses from both Super Mario Galaxy games did. For as much as Sonic Colors has going for it, it's a shame that it's boss battles are rather disappointing.

The story of Sonic Colors is much lighter than what gamers have come to expect of 3D Sonic games. It's very much tongue in cheek and after far too many serious Sonic story lines, it's a breath of fresh air. Surprisingly, the plot was written by the writers behind the Wii's MadWorld and the flash cartoon series Happy Tree Friends, if you can believe that. Many of the game's cut scenes are chuckle-worthy to laugh out loud funny. Each cutscene is a joy to look forward just to see the interaction between Sonic and Tails or Eggman and his flunkies.

Most of the game's trickiest platforming takes place in 2D.

You might be too busy running around to really take it in, but Sonic Colors is jaw-dropping in it's visuals. Even by Wii standards, the game looks every bit as good as the best looking platformers on the PlayStation 3 and 360. Even Sonic's less than stellar 3D titles have had amazing scores and Sonic Colors is no exception. Tropical Resort is a fantastic first level jam, but it's just the tip of the ice berg. The later areas like Aquarium Park and Planet Wisp are sure to be fan favorites. Like Sonic 3 & Knuckles, each area has a remixed tune of the Act 1 theme, two remixes, to be precise. It all adds up to giving Sonic Colors one of the best soundtracks of the whole series. The voices are also up to par with the music. Tails actually sounds like a kid, but not an annoying one. This probably has something to do with him being voiced by Kate Higgins, who has done a number of anime roles. Sonic is voiced by Roger Craig Smith, better known as Chris Redfield from the Resident Evil games resulting in one of the best voices Sonic has ever had. But if English voices aren't your thing, you can switch the audio to Japanese with English subtitles.

In 2D or 3D, Sonic Colors shines in any dimension. 

In every 3D Sonic game and the later 2D games in order to fight the game's true boss you had to collect all the Chaos Emeralds and become Super Sonic. That has thankfully been placed on the back burner here. The Chaos Emeralds can't even be collected in the main game. Instead you have to collect all the Special Rings (those red rings with stars) in the single player mode so the Chaos Emeralds can be obtained in each third act of the stage in the Sonic Simulator, a game that can be played single or co-op with a buddy. Once all the Chaos Emeralds are gathered, you can play through the single play mode as Super Sonic.

Occasional screwy level designs and some bland boss fights aren't enough to keep Sonic Colors down. The wealth of good overcomes the bad and Sonic Colors is a game with more heart, thought and care than most of Sonic Team's past efforts. The 3D sections are fun to barrel through, the 2D sections require your best platforming skills and the Whips are a welcome addition to the Sonic world. If you want to play one of the best games that the hedgehog has to offer, do yourself a favor and pick up Sonic Colors.






LIMITED EDITION SONIC COLOURS
European and Australian gamers were treated to a limited edition of Sonic Colours. The limited edition was packaged with a Jazwares Sonic figure and three of the Wisps from the game. Gamers outside of the aforementioned region were left ouf in the cold. The upcoming Sonic Generations is also getting a special limited edition release but on a much grander scale. Once again, it looks like Sega will be giving the finger to gamers outside of Europe.