i had higher hopes than most. i don't mind the visuals (most of the time), the bosses or the chaos powers. what i do mind is the sheer lack of energy that carries this whole game
superstars is the negative extreme of what a sonic detractor perceives the series as. there's little to no thought or challenge throughout. you're just constantly going with the motions and holding right - sometimes left - occasionally making some precise jumps - but then it's back to going through the motions
almost every zone bleeds together design-wise. the camera really doesn't help - it's too damn close. i have no desire to revisit and explore the majority of these zones because:
a.) i have no fucking idea where i'm going in them half the time
b.) spatial awareness is unimportant anyway because there's no real upside to being on the skilled path vs the baby road
there's stage gimmicks everywhere, but they largely amount to wasted momentum. the game's constantly moving onto new thing after new thing at a pace more rapid than the tiktok algorithm, but for every attempt at variety there's little to no commitment or follow-through. almost every idea feels half-baked. case in point: one of the final stages being a half-assed shmup segment; or THE final act just being the second-to-last but backwards
ironically the bosses were the highlight for me. they're the only points throughout where you're forced to stop and think for a moment. there's a few annoying ones, but generally they reward efficiency and offer more opportunities for damage than they initially let on. i'd say that's a success as far as sonic fights go
what kills me here is i don't think that sonic team's heart is really in the wrong place - trip's a great newcomer and it's nice to see mostly original zones, but i really hope the next outing isn't so painfully safe. this series is always at its best when it's being bold and confident - neither of which i can call superstars in any capacity
also ditch that garbage ass soundfont pronto
superstars is the negative extreme of what a sonic detractor perceives the series as. there's little to no thought or challenge throughout. you're just constantly going with the motions and holding right - sometimes left - occasionally making some precise jumps - but then it's back to going through the motions
almost every zone bleeds together design-wise. the camera really doesn't help - it's too damn close. i have no desire to revisit and explore the majority of these zones because:
a.) i have no fucking idea where i'm going in them half the time
b.) spatial awareness is unimportant anyway because there's no real upside to being on the skilled path vs the baby road
there's stage gimmicks everywhere, but they largely amount to wasted momentum. the game's constantly moving onto new thing after new thing at a pace more rapid than the tiktok algorithm, but for every attempt at variety there's little to no commitment or follow-through. almost every idea feels half-baked. case in point: one of the final stages being a half-assed shmup segment; or THE final act just being the second-to-last but backwards
ironically the bosses were the highlight for me. they're the only points throughout where you're forced to stop and think for a moment. there's a few annoying ones, but generally they reward efficiency and offer more opportunities for damage than they initially let on. i'd say that's a success as far as sonic fights go
what kills me here is i don't think that sonic team's heart is really in the wrong place - trip's a great newcomer and it's nice to see mostly original zones, but i really hope the next outing isn't so painfully safe. this series is always at its best when it's being bold and confident - neither of which i can call superstars in any capacity
also ditch that garbage ass soundfont pronto
8 Comments
dude the backwards final act RULES.
your whore ass followers are going to give this review 10000 likes and my positive review will be drowned yet again.
omgg the girls are fighting
@shamaboy11 i don't really agree with this at all in the context of frontiers. i think going open world with purely sonic-based gameplay and jarringly difficult dlc is very bold. where frontiers lacks is in the presentation department - it's obviously low budget, but the ideas are still there
it's definitely safer and more meditative narratively, but given the previous nick jr-ification of the franchise, i'm okay with that. it's the first game where eggman's been allowed to be a character in god knows how long - over two decades? i'm also generally more hopeful because that game tends to feel almost self deprecative towards its budget. like, sonic literally addresses that the area he's in is a nice playground to run around in but that it's oddly desolate and depressing. not that it dismisses anything, but it at least tells me that sonic team's ideal game isn't going to be weirdly empty spaces with rails floating around them
i like frontiers a lot and think there's a lot going for it. i don't see much at all going for superstars beyond maintaining a status quo that isn't worth keeping
it's definitely safer and more meditative narratively, but given the previous nick jr-ification of the franchise, i'm okay with that. it's the first game where eggman's been allowed to be a character in god knows how long - over two decades? i'm also generally more hopeful because that game tends to feel almost self deprecative towards its budget. like, sonic literally addresses that the area he's in is a nice playground to run around in but that it's oddly desolate and depressing. not that it dismisses anything, but it at least tells me that sonic team's ideal game isn't going to be weirdly empty spaces with rails floating around them
i like frontiers a lot and think there's a lot going for it. i don't see much at all going for superstars beyond maintaining a status quo that isn't worth keeping
I agree the sonic status quo isn't worth keeping, but imo superstars is the first game in a long time that doesn't feel like it fits the status quo. It's the only one that's actively putting out new levels, the only one that's not completely mindless in its design. The more decisions made that make sonic fans upset the better, and superstars is full of those kinds of ideas.
I think Sonic Team's just got an impossible job. People say they want more experimental and engaging games. But the general opinion is that Mania and Frontiers are some of the best games in the series. The game that's just a collection of old levels with all their depth sucked out of them, and Forces 2 with a D-list ubisoft open world slapped onto it.
Dunno, I'm just projecting at this point but I'll never understand the universal success of Mania and the middling reception this game got. Almost makes me feel like if this game was called Mania 2 and had the artstyle to boot, that would inherently make its average score go up.
I think Sonic Team's just got an impossible job. People say they want more experimental and engaging games. But the general opinion is that Mania and Frontiers are some of the best games in the series. The game that's just a collection of old levels with all their depth sucked out of them, and Forces 2 with a D-list ubisoft open world slapped onto it.
Dunno, I'm just projecting at this point but I'll never understand the universal success of Mania and the middling reception this game got. Almost makes me feel like if this game was called Mania 2 and had the artstyle to boot, that would inherently make its average score go up.
@poefred
"the only one that's actively putting out new levels"
i think we're giving a little more credit than what's due here. they're all distinct names at the least, and there's certainly some new concepts - at the very least it isn't riding so heavily on the coattails of previous games - but the zones themselves aren't created equal. even bridge island just feels like another green hill. and press factory is just another take on the whole "eggman factory zone" with an uninteresting gimmick to boot
i do agree that mania isn't worthy of extravagant praise - i've attempted to play it multiple times and i just don't get what's so great about it. but i don't agree with you in any capacity that superstars boldly makes decisions that upset sonic fans. much the opposite. i feel this game is insanely safe. all of its experiments are committed to so lightly as to not be offensive, level design is extremely all over the place, automated and not really too clearly thought out - it just generally feels like a mess that doesn't know what it wants to be
say what you will about frontiers - i don't agree with you on it at all. i think your reductive description of that game's design just goes to show how experimental and "upsetting to core sonic fans" the game is in the first place. frontiers isn't perfect, but it's an original concept for the series with a level of exploration that hadn't yet been seen in the series. it sold well, but the consensus on it is plenty mixed
sonic fans are at odds with each other because the series actively does different shit and that upsets people who live and die by the genesis games. on the flipside, appeasing that purist audience alienates the ones who prefer the more off-the-wall nature of the 3d games like adventure 1 and 2. mixing the two pretty much never works, and half-committing to either idea also doesn't work. sonic team isn't in a desirable position any way it's sliced, but i think frontiers' willingness to actually be its own thing is a commendable achievement that superstars does not compare to
"the only one that's actively putting out new levels"
i think we're giving a little more credit than what's due here. they're all distinct names at the least, and there's certainly some new concepts - at the very least it isn't riding so heavily on the coattails of previous games - but the zones themselves aren't created equal. even bridge island just feels like another green hill. and press factory is just another take on the whole "eggman factory zone" with an uninteresting gimmick to boot
i do agree that mania isn't worthy of extravagant praise - i've attempted to play it multiple times and i just don't get what's so great about it. but i don't agree with you in any capacity that superstars boldly makes decisions that upset sonic fans. much the opposite. i feel this game is insanely safe. all of its experiments are committed to so lightly as to not be offensive, level design is extremely all over the place, automated and not really too clearly thought out - it just generally feels like a mess that doesn't know what it wants to be
say what you will about frontiers - i don't agree with you on it at all. i think your reductive description of that game's design just goes to show how experimental and "upsetting to core sonic fans" the game is in the first place. frontiers isn't perfect, but it's an original concept for the series with a level of exploration that hadn't yet been seen in the series. it sold well, but the consensus on it is plenty mixed
sonic fans are at odds with each other because the series actively does different shit and that upsets people who live and die by the genesis games. on the flipside, appeasing that purist audience alienates the ones who prefer the more off-the-wall nature of the 3d games like adventure 1 and 2. mixing the two pretty much never works, and half-committing to either idea also doesn't work. sonic team isn't in a desirable position any way it's sliced, but i think frontiers' willingness to actually be its own thing is a commendable achievement that superstars does not compare to
I will say I need to play superstars more. My opinions on sonic games are very iterative, as replay value is make or break when it comes to this series. Maybe the more I play it the more I'll find the level design to be lacking. Perhaps I only think well of it relative to how much I don't like Mania and Frontiers. Hecc I was just happy superstars existed at all, I was ready for frontiers to waste a whole year on its updates after wasting 6 years of dev time. I also need to give Frontiers another fresh look now that the updates are done, said updates looking quite good ngl. Currently Frontiers is the rock bottom of video gaming for me and more of a last straw "I've been waiting 10 years for them to stop making this same game and they won't stop" than anything new. But I'll save it for my own review instead of going on for 10 paragraphs here lol.
At least your views on mania line up here. A lot of people insist mania is something special while dunking on superstars which feels actively contradictory to me.
At least your views on mania line up here. A lot of people insist mania is something special while dunking on superstars which feels actively contradictory to me.
Shamaboy11
30 days ago
I know I’m going off-topic, but reading your review on this has made me realize that thought.