Played the game with a few of my friends. I don't own the game but we decided to get from the beginning to the end in one sitting. As a multiplayer experience, yeah this game is exactly what I thought it would be. To be honest, 2D Mario can be hit or miss for me depending on the game, but this game really does a lot to keep it from being anything like the same old formula with the new power ups and the creative Wonder Flower gimmicks. I don't really like the Elephant power up, but the Bubble and Drill are really cool and some of my favourites (though nothing beats Propeller Shroom for me). One thing I want to point out in terms of creativity is that while the game has a lot of great diverging aspects, I can't help but feel slightly disappointed in the fact that the cliche level themes from NSMB still feel pretty prominent here. Yes, all the areas are brand new visually, but it's still a desert, still a water level, and especially the lava themes. I was kind of hoping that we could get something that diverges from those themes even if it has a twist, but it can't be helped I guess. Regardless, the levels in this game are still really good and provide quite a bit of challenges with the Wonder Flower features (with the exception of one in the final world that I felt was pretty bad). I think the break time levels (the really short ones that just show off a gimmick) are pretty neat and, as the name implies, is a nice break from the longer levels and lets you collect Wonder Seeds more easily. The badge gimmick is also really cool. My friends and I preferred the Parachute Cap of course, though a lot of other badges had really good uses at times and I appreciate that Parachute is a one-size-fits-all that has good or better alternatives depending on the situation. Anyway, the only real negative I can think of is the boss battles. All of them were pretty disappointing except for the boss of World 6 because it feels like the same thing from the NSMB series and those bosses are extremely boring. In a game that's supposed to be super creative, I thought the bosses really didn't fit that theme at all, especially the final boss which felt more like a mini game than a real battle. Overall, I would say this is definitely one of the best 2D Mario platformers just behind World for me, and I think it's definitely worth playing.

Sonic Frontiers was the first Sonic game I've ever bought on release date, and as someone who first got into Sonic around the time Generations was the newest game and Lost World's trailer soon dropped, I was excited to have the chance to play a Sonic game on release. I missed my chances with Lost World and Forces (luckily for both) since I didn't have a Wii U at the time of the former and I didn't have the money at the time of the later, and when I heard of the bad reviews I decided I didn't want it. This game though? I played it one launch and loved it to death, and it became my favourite Sonic game of all time. Recently on my quest to play every mainline Sonic game (which turned into doing it within 2023) and ranking them, I can say it's not my favourite, but it's damn close to being there. I think open world Sonic is just such a good formula, and while it may not be perfectly executed, I still had a blast. Finally playing a Sonic game with a good story since when I became a Sonic fan feels really good. Everything from Generations to Forces was really lacking in the story department, which sucked because I grew up with Unleashed (and Generations but kid me didn't care for story). I really like how the characters were portrayed and their relationships with Sonic felt really organic, something that hasn't been in the series for quite some time. The controls are fine for the most part, but not the best in the boost formula. I'm mainly talking about the turning, which is really highlighted in The Final Horizon, but I'll mention that in my review of that mainly. I'll mainly talk about the base game and not The Final Horizon, but my only critique of the main game is that Ouranos Island feels super rushed and you can tell. Kronos Island was a decent introduction that I enjoyed exploring, but Ares and Chaos Islands were the highlight, especially the former. I normally don't like desert themed levels, but Ares Island (along with Shamar/Arid Sands in Sonic Unleashed) is easily one of my favourites and it's impressive that a theme I usually hate was executed so well enough here. Chaos Island can be a little confusing to navigate at times, but I really like the overall theme of the area aesthetically. Rhea Island was really good because I love the platforming challenges, and even though that and Ouranos are aesthetically just Kronos Island, Rhea has the excuse of being a mini challenge section. Ouranos is underwhelming as a result and the amount of Memory Tokens you need is quite a bit as well, which slowed down the pacing for me. I love the new combat system, while the Guardians can be a little annoying to fight if you don't know their gimmicks, the new moves make combat so much more fun (as opposed to something like the rooms in Sonic Rush requiring you to kill x amount of enemies with the two moves available). The Titan battles are the highlight of the game and are some of my favourite moments in the series, which amazing music to go with it and it gives me chills with each boss going forward. I would be super excited to go through the next island to get to the next boss in my first playthrough, and I still love them now. I'll talk about updates 1 and 2 here so I can dedicate The Final Horizon to that page on here, but I adore jukebox mode not only for the great song choices, but also for adding a lot of additional exploration, especially in Rhea Island which desperately needed it. As for update 2, I actually did this run on New Game Plus, which made leveling up Sonic a lot easier and made beating up enemies super satisfying since I was an unbeatable force to be reckoned with. I still need to put more time in to check out some of the other features that I didn't use in my rush to get to The Final Horizon, but other than that, I'm really satisfied with the final product.

Edit: Forgot to mention the Cyber Space levels. While they probably are nostalgia bait since they take parts of previous existing levels in the series, I think it gets a pass (as opposed to Forces) because not only is there a lore explanation as to why these are returning, but I feel like considering this game is basically a tie in to literally every other mainline game, I think this actually works in favour of the game and its themes. The callbacks to other games are great, though some feel like reaches (mainly the Dark Gaia one which was kind of weird, but appreciated). I only wish they used more themes for the levels instead of the same four especially since most of those are pretty overused.

Overall, I would say while Frontiers is not a perfect game, I would say that this is easily one of my favourites in the series, working well to create a baseline for what could be the perfect Sonic formula in my eyes.

I feel like at this point everyone knows this game sucks and why, and honestly I'd say it's much worse than '06 because at least that game is held back not by it's story or level design (at least, from what I've seen before I dropped it), but by all of the bugs that make it unplayable for me. This is playable, but fails in literally every other aspect. Since it's short and I can shut my brain off, I could get through it, but if this game was buggy as hell or went on longer than two hours, I don't think I could do it. Overall, major disappointment as expected.

When I think of the perfect Sonic game, Sonic Mania is one of the very first games I think of and is easily my favourite 2D Sonic platformer of all time. It's not often that I play games and immediately play it after finishing it, but the Encore DLC was half off and I got it. I ended up being so engrossed in the game that I basically played it twice in one day, the 18th I beat Green Hill and Chemical Plant with 5 Chaos Emeralds while the 22nd (and a bit of the 23rd going past midnight) I beat the rest of the game and Encore mode. Coming out fresh from the game, I can say both versions are great in their own ways. Mania mode gives the original default experience which is catered more towards Sonic's kind of playstyle (unless you play Knuckles) while Encore slightly adjusts levels for each character to get their own times to shine. While I do like going through with the default Sonic and Tails combo in Mania mode, having to be extra careful of the replacement system for lives with the different characters makes for a much more challenging experience for those who got familiar with the game. The level choices for the returning remixed stages are all great, and while there are a few Zones I would've liked to see return, I think the final roster is honestly the best we could've gotten. Act 1 familiarizes us with the original stage, making a similar level layouts to their original sources with some changes, while Act 2 adds new gimmicks that can even make some stages I didn't like in their original games so much more enjoyable. For example: I didn't really care for Oil Ocean in Sonic 2, but Mania's version is much more enjoyable, especially with the toxic fumes of Act 2 or going inside the submarine for powerups. The maps are super large and expansive, meaning there is no proper way to beat levels and lots of secrets are to be found. Tee Lopes absolutely killed it with the music as well, I don't think there's a single bad track. For the new levels, all of them are really unique, especially Press Garden which is one of my favourite Zones. The sprites are absolutely gorgeous and the animations are smooth, making the game super visually appealing in every way. I think what makes Mania so good for me is that it takes the best parts of all the Classics and puts them into one, from the challenging platforming from Sonic 1, the crazy speeds from Sonic 2, the exploration from Sonic CD, and the lengthy but unique and gimmicky levels from Sonic 3 and Knuckles. You can tell really feel the passion from the developers and it results in such a beautiful game that has so much replayability and really is one of the best iterations of Sonic to date. Overall, I would say Sonic Mania is one of the most enjoyable games I've ever played and is one of the most worthy games of a 5/5 status, creating such a perfect Sonic game that everyone should try.

When I was a kid, I remember seeing the trailer for the new Sonic game. I really wanted to play it, and while I was visiting my cousin around 8 years ago? (it was pre-Mania I can say that) I was able to play it for a little bit, and got halfway through Frozen Factory. When I was a kid, I loved this game, but now, that doesn’t hold true. I have so many issues here that I honestly don’t even know where to start. The gameplay honestly isn’t the worst, but it feels awkward at times, especially turning. However, we should get the elephant out of the room: Having to hold a button to immediately reach Sonic’s top speed is absolutely ridiculous. The Adventure formula allows for lots of free movement and exploration where you earn those top speeds by utilizing the skills you have. The Boost formula requires you to collect rings, perform tricks, collect White Wisp Capsules, or a combination of those in order to either continuously speed through levels as long as you can (Unleashed, Generations) or save it sparingly for moments where you’re able to reach your best speeds (Colors). This game instead takes the approach of holding down a singular button to immediately reach top speed. While this could be said is similar to the Boost formula, at least the Boost formula not only let you earn those top speeds, but actually incorporates the Boost formula into its levels well. By making Sonic immediately reach top speed, inclines and hills feel awkward and slow, and as a result makes the platforming feel really stiff, especially in 2D. The 2D in Colors and Generations wasn’t my favourite, but it definitely felt playable. Some of the 2D segments in this game feel absolutely abysmal since there’s no momentum meaning that you immediately lose speed when you double jump for example. Not only that, but the parkour elements they implemented don’t really get a chance to shine at all. There’s only a few segments where you could actually try parkour and even then it can usually be skipped, like how the penultimate level skips an entire parkour segment by letting you use the Hover Wisp. Speaking of, why are the Wisps back? The end of Colors established that the Wisps went back to their home planet, but the Lost Hex couldn’t possibly be it because weren’t the planets in Colors their main planets? What happened to Planet Wisp for instance? As for how the Wisps are used in game, they’re absolutely horrid. All of the returning Wisps play about the same except Rocket which is better than in Colors and Generations, but like the other three, it has a very niche use for a level or two. Laser appears more often, but you could genuinely never use this Wisp and nothing would change. As for the new Wisps, they all suck. Indigo Asteroid is the same as Violet Void from Sonic Colors DS but controls worse, Crimson Eagle I didn’t even know existed until Sky Road (the sixth world) and it’s just a copy of Hover, Magenta Rhythm took a bit to understand and by the time I did, it was gone, and Black Bomb and Grey Quake I didn’t even encounter once, mainly because the former is a reward in item capsule form, and the latter is exclusive to the two player race mode. Icing on the cake is I can count how many times I used all the new Wisps on one hand. It genuinely feels like they retconned the end of Colors just to make levels have a gimmick since they didn’t know what to do with their level design. Speaking of designs, every single level theme is a copy of the New Super Mario Bros. formula: Grass - Desert - Beach - Snow - Forest - Sky - Lava. This game genuinely feels like they’re trying so hard to be Mario, but it doesn’t work at all, especially since the concept is just Super Mario Galaxy but worse. One thing I love about every other Sonic game, from the good to the bad (except Sonic 4 Episode I) is that they tried to make unique Zones and level themes that you couldn’t find anywhere else. This is the same series with such unique areas like Chemical Plant, Hydrocity, City Escape, even areas based off of countries like Sonic Unleashed with the World Map. This game feels like it’s so devoid of creativity and it’s such a shame because Sonic Unleashed, Colors, and Generations were so good and you’d think they’d continue to be unique but they ultimately failed to do so. They don’t even end up following the themes most of the time, since Silent Forest has an ice level, Frozen Factory has a casino level, Desert Ruins has Honeycomb Highway AND a dessert themed level, etc. Funnily enough, I don’t even think that’s the worst part of the game. The worst part is easily the absolutely revolting excuse for a story I’ve ever seen in not just a Sonic game, but any game in general. The run down is that Sonic and Tails need to team up with Eggman because Sonic was careless and threw away Eggman’s control of the Deadly Six. The further this game goes, the more tonal shifts there are, with each character getting more and more angry at one another and resetting the status quo by the next cutscene. It honestly starts to feel edgy, but not in the funny bad way that Shadow the Hedgehog presents itself. Instead, you’re left with terrible moments like Sonic making a cold pun in the ice level’s cutscene, to Eggman ruthlessly insulting the Zeti (Deadly Six’s other name) saying he’ll strangle them alive (and this takes place in the same cutscene!). The worst part has to be Eggman’s betrayal at the end, because it’s been shown that Eggman is pretty loyal to those he teams up with, like how he teams up with Sonic and co. during Cannon’s Core of Sonic Adventure 2, or even just Dark Story in general. All of the so called drama the game sets up feels so artificial and it makes it more of a pain to sit through cutscenes to the point where I had to skip some. The Deadly Six are also very uninteresting characters, since all of them are supposed to represent one of the Seven Deadly Sins (including Eggman for some reason), but they end up coming off as characters with one punchline that get really annoying fast, especially since you hear them taunt Sonic during the second and fourth levels of each world. Speaking of annoying, this game requires you to grind a bit if you don’t defeat enough enemies or open enough capsules, since the last level of each area is locked behind a certain number of animals you need to rescue to open the level. My review of Sonic Rush Adventure described how I absolutely despised the idea of needing to grind in a Sonic game, so you can only imagine how I felt when I didn’t have enough animals rescued in Frozen Factory, Silent Forest, Sky Road, AND Lava Mountain. I had to constantly replay Honeycomb Highway since it was the only level where I can easily get a large sum of animals quickly. While I actually like that level and it was the only level I’d be okay with replaying, having to fight Zomom each time was tedious. Apparently the Zelda and Yoshi DLC’s help for getting animals and lives, but these aren’t available on PC without mods. All of the bosses can be defeated in two hits since you can charge up your homing attack, and as a result these become more boring than hard or anything else. The worst part is that after beating Lava Mountain Act 3, they play the cutscene for the final boss, but I didn’t even have enough animals saved, so instead of going directly to the fight, I had to replay Honeycomb Highway once again. If I was actually immersed in this game, that would’ve completely shattered that, but honestly this game sucks too much for me to actually feel anything but relief when it was over. Honestly, there isn’t much I can say that’s good. I can sum it up in three points: The graphics were nice, the game is polished, and the music is good. However, this doesn’t say much when Sonic games usually look nice, are usually polished, and usually have good music, the sole exception for all of these being Sonic 4 Episode I, but what Episode I has that say, Shadow the Hedgehog, and this game don’t is that it’s so short that you can numb your brain for an hour and be done with it. The other three are extremely long because you need to replay each time with a different character, but this game tries to extend it’s game time with levels locked behind animal count. I think it’s safe for me to say that this is easily the WORST 3D Sonic game where he is the only playable character, which makes this so much more disappointing. Overall, I would say unless you’re really interested in trying it for yourself, I would say you could make much better use of your time by playing something actually worth playing instead of this pitiful wasted potential of a game.

I mean, it's a step up from the first game. That doesn't really say much though because almost everything is a step up. Won't be going too in depth for this one but basically it looks better, has better music, and plays better. Other than that, the controls on iOS are terrible because the screen is small and the game is mid. Overall, pretty much the definition of mid and while slightly better than the original, that doesn't say much.

Edit: I changed my score to match Episode I as this doesn't have enough going for it to be on a higher level than the first, let along with other games in the next tier.

A very solid entry in the franchise, while not completely perfect, it has a lot of great things about it and it's one of the Sonic games that a majority of people will say is good. It's a pretty short game, completing it at 4 hours, but replaying it after clearing every other mainline Sonic game before feels pretty rewarding. The Classic stages can be a little meh sometimes, but they're still pretty easy to breeze through and the Modern stages make up for it for feeling a lot smoother and faster, though they have quite a bit of 2D elements despite the Classic and Modern differences being 2D and 3D. The game is also really easy, which is fine, but makes me less likely to replay it compared to something like Unleashed or Adventure 2 which can be challenging at times due to it's gimmicks or level design. This can be excused because this game should be easy, it's a celebration of the 20th anniversary of Sonic and all of the games that came before. The soundtrack has pretty decent remixes, though I prefer a lot of the original songs a lot more. The Classic remixes are alright at best and not really for me, though the Modern remixes are a lot more of my style even if they aren't better than the original. Overall, I'd say this game is pretty solid and does what it needs to best for a great celebration of Sonic's 20th year.

I honestly wish I played this version before the DS version because in short, I prefer the DS version more. Not that this was a bad game by any means, on the contrary I think it's a solid entry in the franchise, but I feel like the DS version is the better way to go for this one. I have two main critiques that bring the game a bit down for me. First of all, while the 3D sections are strong and very fun, the 2D sections are really stiff and slow paced. There are many points where the game goes from a fast paced segment to a slow waiting based segment where you need to hit switches to make obstacles move or stand on a slowly moving platform while waiting for it to get to the other side. Second, the levels feel way too short for something like Sonic. In fact, there wasn't really a lot of 3D in this game, sort of felt like the 2D was more of the focus. That wouldn't be too much of a problem if the platforming and camera's felt stiff. I like how Sonic Unleashed handled 2D segments, where they would constantly switch back and forth but also incorporate the fast paced speeds into the platforming rather than forcing the player to come to a complete stop in order to do some vertical platforming. Other than that, very solid game with a great soundtrack, unique environments, and a great mechanic with the Wisps. I like how Wisps make the Boost formula feel more controlled unlike other games where you can Boost to win. The comedy didn't really age well but it doesn't take away too much from the game. Overall, while a safe entry in the series with some flaws, it still holds up to this day and provides a good amount of fun for how short it is to complete (~4 hours).

This review will be more of a justification of why I'm giving it a 2/5 rather than a 0.5/5. Let's get the actual review out of the way first. The game is playable, but the theme of the levels is extremely lazy and the gameplay is honestly boring. Splash Hill and Lost Labyrinth are just Green Hill and Labyrinth Zones from Sonic the Hedgehog (1991) while Casino Street and Mad Gear are just Casino Night and Metropolis Zones from Sonic the Hedgehog 2. Casino Night is really the only justifiable zone to steal from because Green Hill is overdone (though that's due to future titles after this) and both Labyrinth and Metropolis are some of the most hated Zones in Classic Sonic titles, which makes it more baffling that they ripped straight from those Zones instead of more loved Zones like Hydrocity (then again we don't want that to be tainted by this awful game). So far, this is the first mainline game to have a bad soundtrack. Every other game I've played so far from the very first to Unleashed had either an extraordinary soundtrack or just above average, but this game has basically nothing to it and the music gets annoying fast. Also, this game has no story, which you could argue is fine since it's a 2D platformer, but this is the sequel to Sonic 3 and Knuckles, which has very good visual storytelling, especially in the last part of the game with Hidden Palace and Sky Sanctuary. It just feels like the "Sonic 4" title doesn't really fit this game and was just tacked on to make money, which wouldn't be far from the truth since this game feels like a soulless cash grab. So why am I giving it a 2/5? Well, the quickest answer is: there's worse. When deciding a score, I base it off of other games in the rating and the ones above and below.

Edit: My opinions on most of the games that I said were worse have changed, so that part of the review didn't hold up well. However, while this game bores me, the rating I gave it basically means "it's playable start to finish, short enough that I could get through it and not care, but still frustrates me due to ____".

Now the thing that makes this game better than those is that the other games are much longer than this. While this game is pretty bad, at the very least it's an hour and fifteen at most as opposed to Shadow which was extremely long due to the developers expecting you to play ten times to get the True Ending. Here, you can just speed through and get to the end. You don't even need the Chaos Emeralds because nothing changes (unless you want to play as Super Sonic, then sure). I would honestly rather play a short and boring game than a long and tedious game with an unsatisfying ending. Overall, I would say while this would still be in the "do not play" category, I think the length of the game being extremely short makes this not as bad as other bad Sonic games, and you can quickly check this off your list if you plan to play it.

I loved this game back when I played it almost ten years ago, and I'm happy to say I still love this game now. I've been playing through the mainline games and after playing back to back games I don't like, mainly Shadow the Hedgehog at least, this really feels like a breath of fresh air. Both levels are fun in their own ways: The Day stages want you to get to the goal as fast as you can with a high score to get the best rank as possible while the Night stages want you to slow down and explore the area and beat up as many enemies as you can. This set up works well considering the setting of the game, which is based off of different countries you travel to while putting the planet back together. I honestly don't mind the Night stages, I know they're very infamous but it's a welcome and unique change of gameplay that I find to be fun. The levels get progressively harder and harder and the game does a great job at ramping up the difficulty to the final level, which is one of my favourite levels in any Sonic game. I like the difficulty in this game because the earlier games sometimes felt unfair with their difficulty due to either the physics or length of the levels but the difficulty feels just right here. The soundtrack compliments each level very well, the Day stages have more fast paced songs while the Night stages have slower themes that you can vibe to out of combat. The combat theme does pop up a lot, but I feel like it would be out of place (with the exception of the final level). The hub worlds are very charming and I like being able to interact with NPC's and their mini stories and quests, especially since the dialogue and mini arcs progress as you complete levels. The actual main story is also very good, it has charming one off characters like Chip and Professor Pickle and while it focuses mainly on the overarching story, it has moments that are very heartfelt such as the scene in Adabat before the final level. I do know some people have an issue with collecting Sun and Moon Medals to unlock the stages, but honestly, a lot of them are in easy spots and you can progress through the game just fine so long as you put in a little effort to look. I beat this playthrough using my memory but I managed to collect 130+ Sun and 110+ Moon Medals. Getting good ranks is a little harder early game, especially in the Day stages since you don't get all of the upgrades until Shamar, but to me it feels more like the game encourages you to look around for the collectables, so definitely look out for them when you play. I'll be trying to get the remaining achievements I haven't gotten those years ago, so I'll have more time on the game I won't be logging on the journal as I'll be focusing on playing new games and logging more. Overall, I'd say this is easily my favourite 3D Sonic game that will always hold a special place in my heart, and luckily, it lives up to how much I praise it over the years.

This game was so close to becoming one of my favourite Sonic games, but the grinding at the end of the game really made it worse for me. Don't get me wrong, this is still a great game. As you can see, I've given it a 3.5/5, which is deserved. The level design is much better than it was in the original, with less death pits and more diverging paths you can take. One thing about this change is that it's more of a boost to win game than the original, but due to one of the biggest flaws in the game, I honestly think that's a good thing. What I strongly dislike about this game is getting to and doing the special stages. Sonic's requires you to beat the game in order to have a chance to do a majority of them since you need upgrades for your ships, and you need two to beat the last special stage. This would be fine if you could upgrade the desired ship, but you need to upgrade the other three ships before you can get the second upgrade for the ship you use to race, and that's only the Chaos Emeralds. While the original Rush game makes you play the campaign twice, the Sol Emeralds were obtained through just playing, no special stages involved. However, in this game, you need to do various missions that are unlocked by either fighting a boss and doing a slightly harder rematch, or finding a Hidden Island and replaying the level. This wouldn't be a problem if it wasn't for the fact that WHICH islands you need to find aren't specified, meaning I had to use a guide to find them, same thing is with the Johnny races. It's also a bit frustrating that the game doesn't tell you about the boat upgrades, meaning you could be replaying a special stage for hours on end and not even know you can't do it yet. You can run into Johnny whenever so long as you get to the right spot, so it should at least be locked out without the upgrades. Other than the special stage content, again the level design is very good and much better than the original. The bosses are a lot more fun too since they don't have instant kill moves like the original did. Bosses also have more openings which means that the battles don't get dragged on for too long. The ship minigames are alright, I like some more than others but I don't hate them, just wish they could've been shorter since they start to slow the pacing of the game near the end. If the grinding wasn't there and the special stages were more fair instead of being extremely time consuming, it could've been one of the best games, but it's still a really good game. Overall, I would say if you're patient enough to get the true ending and don't mind a bit of grinding, this game is definitely worth checking out.