as someone who genuinely likes modded FNF gameplay and has a sort of spectator-sport type interest in creepypasta, this project’s release, popularity, and cancellation feels like it was a Pandora’s Box that can never be closed, and that makes actually analyzing the game itself sort of difficult. what i know for sure is: it’s stuck with me since its first version, Triple Trouble’s chart is somehow still fun to replay, i’ll never get Endless out of my head, Starved is honestly the best horror Sonic content out there and Fight or Flight can still give me chills; and despite its shortcomings and the many questionable or outright bad people who worked on it, this thing has inspired incredible art and introduced thousands to creators they otherwise wouldn’t have ever considered. so idk i think it’s at least okay

[Disclaimer: This replay was done on a restored version of the V3 edition of this mod done by someone rather controversial in the FNF community. I do not endorse their actions, and for this specific game and similar other drama-related projects, I prefer to separate the art from the artists and look at them for what they are. With that cleared up, let's continue.]

Hey you wanna know something really funny? It's actually super easy to ruin your reviewing credibility on this site. Don't believe me? Watch this: 3, 2, 1...

I genuinely like Friday Night Funkin': Vs. Sonic.EXE 2021...

Jokes aside however, I've seen most people direct a certain distain towards this mod specifically. Most of it comedic in nature obviously, which I take no issue with, but I don't see pretty much anyone talking about the actual game this whole or deal came from 100% seriously, which is what I intend to do for a change.

Friday Night Funkin' is admittedly not my thing. I think parts of it are cool, but I personally find BF's voice somewhat annoying and the fact that you can win most songs by doing something as simple as spam the four directions on your keyboard makes the gameplay loop unappealing imo.
What I am however, is a massive Sonic fan, and Sonic.EXE, while I'm a lot more selective as to which aspects of it I choose to consume, doesn't fall far behind from that tree.

Presentation and aesthetics wise, this still holds up. All of the different character weeks having their own style is wonderful and the way that they're animated makes them all look fluid and alive. It's commendable that so many different aesthetics were picked and yet they all flow cohesively through the lens of FNF's main style shining through inspite of it.

Music is an aspect that I'm fairly mixed on. Some songs like Endless and Prey are absolute bangers, while others like Sunshine and Round a Bout are...not. Most of it falls somehwere in the middle for me of still being good songs, but not amazing or anything, although then again that might just be due to my own personal bias against BF's voice, since the covers of these that don't have him are much more enjoyable for me.

Now all that's fine and dandy for a rhythm game, but the main question still remains, how's the gameplay? And...well it's better than the base FNF I'll give it that.

Okay maybe that's a bit unfair. I still find doing the songs without constant note spamming to be a really fun challenge in it of itself, Prey specially feels frenetic but never outright unfair and a lotta the joke songs are like nice little fun strolls...but that doesn't really matter when the option is still there and accounted for, and doubly so when there are multiple instances where the notes move so lightning quick that unless your the flash (like most frequent FNF players), it's pretty mcuh your only option for survival.

That being said however, there are SOME measures taken to prevent note spam here and there. You Can't Run and Triple Trouble will punish the player with health drained if they go to overboard on their misses, which is bound to happen as a consecuence of said note spam, and Fight or Flight takes it one step further by making it so that any mistakes put you slowly at more and more risk until the fear meter starts draining your health like lightning or Eggman kills you because of your constant misses, which actually works pretty well and leads to it being my favorite song gameplay-wise (inspite of the fact that logically Tails should've just stabbed the guy with the fucking knife he's holding the entire song).

Overall, I find VS. Sonic.EXE has actually aged fairly decently for it being an early mod of a game I don't really care for. It's nothing outstanding and it carries the same issues I find in the base game, but it's looks and sounds are enough for me to give it a pass.

This review is for the V2 Update of Vs. Sonic.Exe that released on the 25th November 2021.

Solid mod, definitely shows it's age though. Whether it be through weird charting or lag spikes.

Highlights of the mod:
Music: You Can't Run is still a solid song to this day, same goes for Triple Trouble. Cycles, Endless (Now called Endless US), Sunshine, Chaos and Faker all stand out as well.
Art: The background work in every song is good. The best sprite work probably goes to the 16-Bit section in You Can't Run though. All of Triple Trouble's sprites still hold up though! Same with the 3D models in Sunshine.
Mechanics: This mod doesn't have too many mechanics, however the one that really stands out is the Health Drain system in Black Sun. It makes the song unique when compared to the rest of the mod, and it's a mechanic that hasn't really been seen much afterwards.

Complaints:
Some sprites look off and don't match well with Boyfriend and Girlfriend. There are a surprising amount of Lag Spikes in the song Chaos and the charting on Too Slow feels spammy and unfair, along with the scroll speed on Too Fest feeling too fast and unplayable.

Just a decent mod overall. Doesn't hold up the best to today's modding standards, however still a fun time to play.