A little look at Superstars

Say hello to Sonic's little friends!

Last year saw the release of what could go down as Sega's most bizarre entry to the Sonic franchise yet. Following actual decades of the Sonic Team, Team Sonic, retreating to the exact same formula of the first four games time and time again in a wild desperation to try and capture that magic- something finally snapped. Someone finally stepped forward and decided they had an idea that was different, would move the world of the games' onwards, and wouldn't resort to the gimmick of 3d to do so. And that hero went on to make the Sonic Advance games. But we're not talking about those today. We're talking about the comparatively insane modern counterpart of that man who snorted half of Bolivia, swirled it down with shots of Lean and decided to pitch Sonic Superstars. And then actually got the money to make the thing, the mad lad!

Sonic Superstars is what I imagine happens when you take the basic concept of a Sonic game and try to squash it into the party game format of Modern Mario. Which is a funny enough comparison given that Mario also published the most party-party game they've had in a decade in the same release window- cutting deeply into Superstar's sales. It's almost as though Sega thought that could both ape and compete with Mario by developing a game around co-op play, with gimmick powers and colourful stand-out levels that aren't just 'Chemical Plant Zone' repeated for the umpteenth time. Even Mania relied on a lot of call backs and old levels or even just old game references just to make the game feel of the right blood. Superstars makes absolutely wild references with no connection to past Sonic, because it is a game I'm mostly sure was created by an escaped Arkham inmate. 

A lot of what Superstars proposes to 'add' to the Sonic formula feels genuinely incongruent to the franchise in question and the standards already set and maintained by the games. Take the new special abilities for example, that allow players to give themselves the ability to make really situational bursts of ability buffs, like the ability to launch yourself like a missile in a chosen direction, or to travel up background waterfalls by turning into a liquid squid-kid. None of it really makes sense given the franchise that focuses on constant movement, the perpetuation of momentum and slowing down as little as possible. There's a freakin' radial menu to select all the powers! Imagine if spin dashing and drop dashing had to be chosen between in a radial! But it feels like the kind of thing that a Mario game would and therefore- chuck it into Superstars! No questions asked!

But by that same merit, Superstars does actually borrow some of that party game atmosphere to solid effect, creating a hop-in multiplayer Sonic that can finally cater to the 4-person dynamic that every video game TV AD tells me I'm supposed to have. We have four playable characters now with Sonic, Amy, Tails and super slow glide boy who is the absolute worst. (I mean 'Knuckles'.) Each character has their own special movement quirk which makes them play just that little bit different, from Tails' flying to Sonic's Drop dash to Amy's double jump and Knuckles suicidally-slow glide. (I don't like Knuckles.) And rather curiously, it seems that not every part of this game was balanced for all of these abilities, so certain bosses can be absolutely destroyed by Amy's Double jump before they even have a chance to retaliate. (Way to finally bring Amy to the fold and make her a boss-slaying demon, SEGA! That's representation for ya!)

Some of Superstars' levels borrow similar ideas to previous Sonic Games, but brings them back to life in different implementations. Most significantly in my mind would be the idea I lovingly dubbed the 'terrorism gimmick'. wherein a ticking timer is present in the background of the level- forcing Sonic and his friends to keep close to reset buttons scattered across the level or risk being blown to pieces. This idea originates in the Hyudoro's from Sandopolis; (or 'Mystic Haunt Zone' if you're a real one!) sheet wearing ghosts that hone in on the player should they fail to keep the lights on throughout the level, again powered by reset panels scattered throughout the place. And, of course, Mania borrowed a similar mechanic in it's 'Oil Ocean Zone' with the clouds of choking poison that needed to be vented out of the level. Superstars is the only one that presents an instant-death twist on this idea, however, which somehow makes it seem that much more pressing- kind of like the classic 'drowning theme' anxiety.

They've also honed in on the bizarre tendency for Sonic Special Stages to sometimes (usually in their best iterations) feature a unique 3d playstyle totally distinct from anything the base games has to offer. Just like the infamous 'Blue Spheres' level from Sonic 3 & Knuckles, or the 'Half pipe' from Sonic 2 with that horrendous render distance that made the original nigh-on impossible, or even Mania's own track-based UFO minigame- Superstars has a swing-based 3d-set minigame so bizarre I haven't seen anyone come up with a nickname for it yet. Fraught in a star of rings and geographical floating shapes, the player has to guide themselves towards an inexplicably retreating Emerald and hit it. I'll be honest, I have vaguely any clue what the strategy is to making it work, but at least it's different. Which counts for something, right?

It is only a shame that the powers offered by actually completing these minigames are so... underwhelming. Honestly, I wonder if it would not have perhaps been a better use of the team's time to code back in elemental shields and had these new powers be the way in which players access them. Dynamic and useful, but balanced and not over-powered- selectable elemental shields that get recharged at every checkpoint would absolutely become a go-to must have for every Sonic fan! As it is, super powers often go ignored in most virginal playthroughs. (I'm sure the experts will find a use for them.) And whilst we're on the topic of 'missed opportunity'- why is there no traditional lives based way to play through the game? I totally get the idea to have such a game-mode not be the default way to play- especially in a more party-focused Sonic game where team death is part of the play rhythm- but what about traditionalists who like a little bit of challenge? It's a pointless omission, as far as I'm concerned.

I'm no great Sonic game lover and I'm not sure I've ever actually finished one of the classic originals, and therefore I'm not quite entitled to give a grade taking into account the best of the franchise, how this holds up and where Superstars drops the ball. I can say this was a challenging and creative Sonic game that took risks, not all of which paid off, but is still something of an actual game- which is more than I can say for some modern Sonic outings. (You know what you did: Forces!) However, this blog just happens to be edited by my brother who very much is every bit the Sonic superfan with all the plaudits to assign such a grade in this mini-review of Superstars which he'll do right here...A- . So that's it, what a grade, huh? I sure defer to his judgement on this over my own!