Sonic Superstars, Sonic Origins & Sonic Frontiers

I'm with you boys
I've definitely mucked about on Sonic 2 multiple times during the period the first God of War has been sat on my PS4 unplayed.

I guess the secret's out: I was indeed the Creative Director for Sonic Frontiers.

The whole game has leaked online but it's difficult to get a proper gauge for what folk think about it. The review embargo is up on the day it comes out, and that's almost always a bad sign. Being a 3D Sonic game is almost always a bad sign in all fairness.

I've got it pre-ordered all the same. Anyone else?

I actually quite like the look of it. I kind of get the vibe it will be slated by certain parties for not delivering on something they made up in their heads, but for folks who just want to run fast and jump it will actually go down well.

I opted for the angry dad game in the end but I'm still well up for this, might be a post Christmas purchase I think. I managed to get some enjoyment out of 06 and unleashed and I'm sure it'll be better than those at least.

You mean angsty teen game now

Sonic is the angsty teen game and has been since Adventure 2.

Buskalilly wrote:

I actually quite like the look of it. I kind of get the vibe it will be slated by certain parties for not delivering on something they made up in their heads, but for folks who just want to run fast and jump it will actually go down well.

...same. I'm not a Sonic boy and still probably won't get this, especially since reviews seem to have been divisive - but as somebody who thinks most of the games in the series look unworkable from my ivory tower, I think it looks alright!

I played this for a couple of hours last night, and while I'm not quite sure how everything works so far I'm decently impressed all the same! This has got a lot of potential.

I read that apparently whatever you think of the game, it's a bit duffer on Switch than it is elsewhere. A slight shame, albeit not an unexpected one.

There's no game yet that's convinced me more that it's time for a Switch Pro. Graphically it's extremely poor, and on handheld it's almost unspeakably bad. It would have looked very inadequate as a Wii U launch game, and I'm certain that stuff like Skyward Sword and Xenoblade Chronicles on the Wii would stand up better technically. The pop-up is genuinely the all-time worst I can remember experiencing.

As for the non-visual aspects of the game, I honestly can't make my mind up about whether I truly like it or not. It certainly has lots of potential like I said, but it's maybe not fulfilled that potential this time around.

Think pop in on most of the versions but hearing how it does run why I went for the Series X version to be on the safeside.

I'm waiting to hear more, be it from Cappa or the podcasts I listen to, to decide if I want to play this. Cappa has convinced me that if I am playing it, though, it'll be on PS4.

Get hyped

I'm happy to see the return of a rounder, pudgier Sonic.

I know this had been rumoured for ages but I was still really surprised to see this pop up on my Twitter feed this morning. I wasn’t sure what to think on my first two thousand viewings of the trailer. It looks nicely animated and they’re presenting many new ideas which is grand. It doesn’t portray much of sense of speed though, and there’s footage of quite a few sections where control looks like it’s taken away from you and you move along automatically.

With the exception of Sonic Mania it’s been more than fifteen years and several console generations since anybody’s got the ‘feel’ for a Sonic game – the physics in games such as Sonic 4 and Sonic Colours don’t suggest anything like those Mega Drive games. Crucially though, it seems that Sonic Superstars is Christian Whitehead approved:



If they're involved in the development - and if Tee Lopes is involved with the soundtrack - then I think Superstars could almost be the next best thing to Sonic Mania 2.

The Cappuccino Kid wrote:

it’s been more than fifteen years and several console generations since anybody’s got the ‘feel’ for a Sonic game

I was going to argue with you but Sonic Rush was 18 years ago.

This is how you do modern Sonic give it to me now!!!

Arzest being confirmed as Sonic Superstars’ lead developer has shook me to my very core. Well, not really. But it’s disappointing news all the same. Dismiss Arzest’s Balan Wonderworld here, that was just an unmitigated disaster where there’s probably lots of folk to blame. Arzest’s Yoshi’s New Island and Hey! Pikmin have many of the same qualities that Sonic Superstars appears to, in that they’re colourful, well-animated and control very well. Where they both fail though is in their unsurprising and uninspiring level design. Too afraid to take chances and do anything that hadn’t already been done a thousand times before, they’re simply as formulaic as it comes.

The announcement blurb says that there’ll be all-new locations, but if it’s just Lime Hill Zone, Biological Plant Zone and Ladbrokes Night Zone then it doesn’t matter if Sonic Superstars is colourful, well-animated and controls very well – you’ll be too bored to care.

At least those who have played Sonic Superstars have provided good feedback on it though, and least that’s some hope to hold on to.

Still excited for it, but not enough to bid on it now for Fantasy Critic

Sonic Central happening Friday (tomorrow) at 4pm, maybe Superstars gets a date which I hope isn't too close to Mario.

Hopefully they announce Sonic is being added to Fortnite too.

Oct 18th it seems for Superstars, I can only see the logic is SEGA is hoping people want to play Mario Wonder and don't own a Switch.

Today is the day! My new best friends at Hit.co.uk posted my copy on Friday and it was delivered yesterday. It's been years since I've received any game before the launch day and I'm very happy it was this.

I've played through two zones so far and my early impressions are very positive. It's a great looking and great sounding game where the physics feel just like they did in Sonic Mania and on the Mega Drive's games. I've not gained enough of the emerald power-ups that they've heavily marketed the game upon, but they seem like they could be more fun to use than those annoying Whisps that were in some of the Sonic games ten years ago.

Disappointingly, in completing two zones I've encountered four boss battles, and three of them have been overly-long and pretty boring. The one at the end of the second zone's second stage took me longer than the whole act and it's bonus area, which I hope isn't a sign of things to come.

I've seen adverts here and there and it's making me very hyped for it, it's still down the pecking order after Mario Wonder but as ever with Sonic it'll probably be on sale in the a month or two so I'll bite then, glad to hear it's good fun though.