I was itching for a new playthrough of sonic adventure 1 or 2, I was enamored with both of those games in Most every way from the sound design to the level design and the characters and story.
Spark the electric jester 2 is (obviously) Not the sonic adventure 2 of indie platformers.. But it is a D A M N good video game and a masterful evolution of this newly bud series that ive had a slow-roll of affection for

I think the biggest elephant in the room with this game is that there is the main character of this franchise isnt even actually in this game. Spark previously had more inspiration drawn from things like genesis sonic and kirby esque powers to equip and use on command, but even That wasnt 1:1 homage and tried and true copying.. ill run down why you needa get on this shit NOW
-the music is fucking awesome
-the levels are so varied and bright and colorful that you wouldnt guess that its this dev's first 3d outing at all
-the story thrusts a character that on the surface level looks like the most By The Numbers rival character for the main hero ever, even their name being that of "Fake Spark"
I love Fark because even though this character doesnt say entire volumes of dialogue during this game, his journey is so Different compared to Sparks
A character thats trying to find their own reason for identity and reason to persist and carry on that isnt just fighting for thrill or saving people or being better than their contemporary

It's a 3d platformer that has that same attention to rewarding the player with secrets and goodies and other shit that you just wanna keep getting better at discovering... unfortunately theres also some snags.
Like
ok so killing enemies that arent bosses is almost NEEEEEVER encouraged at all, which is so weird because the combat is overhauled with a few of my favorite weapons from the first game and a new one that reminds me of a kamen rider outfit. There is a parry function that is SO fucking good
any game that has a parry in it is Atleast the shit with a lowercase t if not The Shit
buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut you really dont see any of that other side to the gameplay shine through aside from your jester dash
The bosses are SOOO FUCKING COOL THOUGH oh my god especially the final few bosses will knock the rest out of the water for ya

There's also the case of some story beats being stronger than others, there's clear setups for plot threads to come full circle in the third game.. but there's also a moment of pause you get where the things with a character thats linked to all of this makes you stop and realize..
it doesnt matter
it doesnt matter that they set-up for the future because from the perspective of the character it keeps you questioning where the sequel will take things next
it makes you think about the here and now and showing Freom what youre made of and its about pounding your head through 3 inch glass and wiping the sweat and blood off your forehead gritting your teeth and walking through the shards of what Was your reflection that was asking you "Are you a pale imitation" "Are you a copy" "Do you have an identity"

And spark 3 totally does, its more than an inspired sonic franchise
It's more than just a throwaway 3d platformer
The craziest thing is this isnt even one of my FAVORITE games ever rn, but I'll be damned if something like this just goes under the radar
Now the third one, if they tweak some of the shit going on with the combat.. one of tha best games ever made probably
I'll wait and see ig, but im very impressed with what I saw
Even got me salty sometimes when I couldnt pull off some of the more reaction time demanding moments of the game

it didnt scratch me wanting to play sonic adventure, but it was a good ass platformer at a decent length