It was cool at it's time but it really hasn't aged well. I was very excited to finally try the original after playing the DS version for so long but I struggled with the controls so much. And some missions are just really confusing i couldn't even figure them out on the DS version I used to play. So many people act like it's the holy grail of 3d platforming. Or an untouchable masterpice.

While it's just ok. It's got this neat sand box aspect. You can trick the game and get some stars in ways that were not intended. That's always super fun to do. when I watch someone else play I always learn a different way to get a star. There's few games that are this old that still have so many things to discover. But then there's also many bad aspect like some confusing objectives or the obligatory boring "3 hits and it's done" boss fights every Mario game needs for whatever reason

Buckle up! This game made me learn a very valuable lesson. If you give up very easily and you're not very fond of difficult games like me then this might be perfect for you.

I'm glad I decided to give it a shot. I saw it on steam. It was on sale. Didn't look that good. But it was still on sale so I got it anyways. I liked it so much that I genuinely felt bad after I beat it. Because I bought it on sale and the devs deserve way more money for it.

I'm just going to assume you have seen the trailer and you know the basic plot. It's important for later in the review but I don't spoil any big encounters and nothing that isn't obvious.

It's such a well thought out game. I beat it 4 times once with Boki on normal. Then on hard witch has altered level Design and some completely different bosses. And then another 2 times as Savant who plays way different. It feels like a new game. And Same thing here. The level Design is altered in hard mode and some bosses are different from the ones you fight with Boki. I think calling it a Hard mode is so Missleasing. What it actually is, is a Continuation of bokis story. And the savant story is kinda like a prequel to bokis story were he tests the levels he made for boki together with a mysterious character. The ending of a Boki playthrough on normal already seams like a good conclusion for the whole thing. At first she had a lot of doubt in her abilities and now she feels unstoppable. And that's were the hard mode starts. Now it's time for boki to show what she learned. And same thing goes for you, the player. Through out the whole game I could relate to Boki. And as corny as that sounds my confidence grew just like with Boki. I can genuinely relate to this cartoon cat. There were quite a lot of road blocks for me. Believe it or not hard mode can be pretty hard. But the game gives you new dialogue when you die a lot. Dialogue with hints on how to beat the level. If it wouldn't be for those hints i would have probably quit the game. I thought I was really bad at the game and doubted my self whenever I barely dealt any damage to the boss but through the hints from the dialogue I realized Im not bad at the game. I can do this. I'm just not using the right approach. I should be experimenting more instead of giving up so easily. The game even inspired me to do the same with other things. For example I would draw a lot as a kid but I never liked doing it in school. And once I reached 6th grade I completely stopped doing it outside of school because I would always get bad grades. But now I have the motivation to try again. And I'm having a great time improving and finding out new tricks just like with the game. Some day I will also get every star in the game. You get them for not taking damage. one time I had taken 1 point of damage too much. But the game still gave me the star and the result screen text said something along the lines of "eh. Good enough". Thought that was super funny. The game really knows how to make you chuckle. I love how Boki just says meow at the end of some sentences or sanvants obsession with spherical penguins. And the mysterious character from his story. I had a big grin on my face while playing through his story.

I was kinda sad when it ended but then it didn't. I unlocked something cool I'm not going to spoil for you. And there's also the endless mode and fan made levels. Or you could always make your own in the level editor. This game just has it all.

This is very underrated. The level Design is a big step up from rush and the bosses have gotten way better too. It's a shame it will forever live in the shadows of the original sonic rush
just because people don't like the boats. The boat driving is not even bad. Most people over react to it. Theres even multiple ships so you won't be doing the same mini game each time you want to discover a new island. It's also very easy to find the island. Just look at the darker spots on the map. The boat aspect of the game is so well thought out and deserves more credit. Another complaint I heard is that you need to replay levels to farm materials. And I don't see how thats a bad thing. It's a sonic game. These are designed around the idea of replaying until you've mastered them. And guess what? the better the rank the more materials. In a recent play through I only had to replay stages 3 times. Because I would get the S rank most of the time. It doesn't happen often but I actually like the material farming. It encourages you to replay the levels and get better at the game.