A very solid Sonic experience overall. Despite me being more of a 3D Sonic fan than I am a 2D Sonic fan, I still really like and respect the 2D entries, and this is another great addition to the catalogue.
The game feels great, love how the characters control in this. And it's great to see Amy playable in another classic 2D Sonic game too, they made her pretty fun in this game. Solid and fun zones all around, with some really cool concepts too. In particular, my favorite zones in this had to be Lagoon City and Egg Fortress, they had really nice gimmicks that I really enjoyed. Lagoon City with its neat water elements and pleasant aesthetic, and Egg Fortress---while pretty difficult, was pretty damn fun, and I HELLA loved what they did with Act 2 for it... man that was so cool. Quite the fun final zone, I always love when a final level in Sonic gives me a really great time. Although, while the game plays great, the camera did leave me feeling conflicted at times. I was confused as to if the camera was a bit too zoomed in or not for me, but eventually I kind of just got used to the camera, so it didn't bother me as much. I can totally understand people not liking the camera being a bit too zoomed in though, they could've zoomed it a bit more out honestly.
Also, loved the Chaos Emerald abilities in this, and I also love how they didn't require you to get them or need them for any of the levels (during the normal campaign anyway). Getting the Chaos Emeralds in Sonic games with special stages was always treated as a side option for you to do, so I liked how they didn't force you to get them if you didn't want to. I do wish they didn't make it so that you could only get one Chaos Emerald per zone though. I much prefer how they did it in the earlier games where you could get all the Chaos Emeralds much quickly if you were good at finding their special stage locations. But eh, that's only a nitpick really, nothing too bad. But yeah, I loved abusing the abilities in this, especially Burst and Slow, those were my two favorite ones to use for sure. Although... I'm positive Slow is just... Chaos Control, right? I mean, the ability to manipulate time and space is what Chaos Control is all about, so... uhhh... was that the precursor to Chaos Control in the time line, or was that always Chaos Control...?
Erm, anyway, the bosses! The bosses in this are... middling to say the least. A lot of them operate on the waiting to attack structure, and you're often waiting a while for a single hit. I feel as though the bosses in this could've definitely been better if they took less hits, especially the boss of Golden Capital, which has the boss go in the background three whole times as you do an autoscrolling section. And there are some bosses in this I do genuinely like with cool ideas, but they could've definitely been better had they been refined, took less time, and less hits. And as for the final bosses... whew... they are cruel. Firstly, there is the normal campaign's final boss which was something else, what with its annoying missiles and the like, and then there is the second campaign's final boss which is... true evil. I never want to see that purple rat bastard near my Trip again lmao. What he put that poor girl through was cruel, and it took like three hours of my life away lmao. Also, there should really be checkpoints between the final boss phases. Especially with how long they take and such, that was definitely something that was incredibly frustrating having to deal with. And then the true final boss (yes, this game has three final bosses lmao), was definitely frustrating too. Admittedly, probably the boss I liked the most of the three, and is probably the one I took the less time with compared to the other two bosses. As a Super Sonic boss fight, not my favorite, but I don't think it was too bad, but definitely could've been less frustrating at parts though. And I feel like they could've definitely guided you more on what you had to do during certain sections, which I feel could also be said for the other final boss fights too honestly, because sometimes it really did feel like unfair, trial and error sort of stuff tbh.
The soundtrack in this game is definitely erm... controversial, haha. Personally for me, while there are tracks in this I didn't particulary care for, I honestly think there are a lot of tracks I ended up liking more than that I disliked. A lot of bangers for the level themes, with my favorites being the Bridge Island Zone Act themes, the Egg Fortress Act themes, and Pinball Carnival Zone Act 1. I even liked a few of the Jun Senoue tracks, even though clearly his best work is in the 3D titles rather than the 2D ones. And then the final boss themes ABSOLUTELY SLAP, LIKE INCREDIBLY SO. Both for the normal campaign, and the second campaign. And like, out of all three final bosses, the second campaign's final boss frustrated me all to hell. But I have to say, the theme for that final boss went unbelievably hard though, it's become one of my favorites from the soundtrack for sure. Whoever the composers were for the two final boss themes, I really want to know. Because they go absolutely CRAZY, like seriously. It's just too bad when I was playing them, I wasn't really paying attention to them too much because I was way too focused and frustrated on trying to beat them lmao.
Story and characters in this are great! Love the return of a classic character like Fang, and it's cool to have another antagonist added to Sonic's rogue gallery. Though I want him to stay far away from final boss territory now after him traumatizing me lmao. And then Trip is a wonderfully precious new addition to the cast. I really hope she gets to show up in the modern continuity. Despite this being more of a show don't tell story much like the other classic Sonic games, I enjoyed the small narrative and lore bits this had to offer, especially when they revolved around Trip and her interactions with the other characters. The animation sequences that play in the intro and ending cutscenes for these also look absolutely stellar, I hope they keep doing that for these games, they're really great.
In all, loved the game, despite the gripes I did have with it. If I had to place where I'd put this game when ranking the classic Sonic games, I'd probably put it at fourth, below 3&K, Mania, and CD for me. But yeah, if you're a fan of the classic titles, would totally recommend trying it out (but perhaps wait for a price drop). Honestly, I'd love to see them continue making more classic 2D Sonic games like this, especially if they expand upon this title and such, that'd be really cool.
The game feels great, love how the characters control in this. And it's great to see Amy playable in another classic 2D Sonic game too, they made her pretty fun in this game. Solid and fun zones all around, with some really cool concepts too. In particular, my favorite zones in this had to be Lagoon City and Egg Fortress, they had really nice gimmicks that I really enjoyed. Lagoon City with its neat water elements and pleasant aesthetic, and Egg Fortress---while pretty difficult, was pretty damn fun, and I HELLA loved what they did with Act 2 for it... man that was so cool. Quite the fun final zone, I always love when a final level in Sonic gives me a really great time. Although, while the game plays great, the camera did leave me feeling conflicted at times. I was confused as to if the camera was a bit too zoomed in or not for me, but eventually I kind of just got used to the camera, so it didn't bother me as much. I can totally understand people not liking the camera being a bit too zoomed in though, they could've zoomed it a bit more out honestly.
Also, loved the Chaos Emerald abilities in this, and I also love how they didn't require you to get them or need them for any of the levels (during the normal campaign anyway). Getting the Chaos Emeralds in Sonic games with special stages was always treated as a side option for you to do, so I liked how they didn't force you to get them if you didn't want to. I do wish they didn't make it so that you could only get one Chaos Emerald per zone though. I much prefer how they did it in the earlier games where you could get all the Chaos Emeralds much quickly if you were good at finding their special stage locations. But eh, that's only a nitpick really, nothing too bad. But yeah, I loved abusing the abilities in this, especially Burst and Slow, those were my two favorite ones to use for sure. Although... I'm positive Slow is just... Chaos Control, right? I mean, the ability to manipulate time and space is what Chaos Control is all about, so... uhhh... was that the precursor to Chaos Control in the time line, or was that always Chaos Control...?
Erm, anyway, the bosses! The bosses in this are... middling to say the least. A lot of them operate on the waiting to attack structure, and you're often waiting a while for a single hit. I feel as though the bosses in this could've definitely been better if they took less hits, especially the boss of Golden Capital, which has the boss go in the background three whole times as you do an autoscrolling section. And there are some bosses in this I do genuinely like with cool ideas, but they could've definitely been better had they been refined, took less time, and less hits. And as for the final bosses... whew... they are cruel. Firstly, there is the normal campaign's final boss which was something else, what with its annoying missiles and the like, and then there is the second campaign's final boss which is... true evil. I never want to see that purple rat bastard near my Trip again lmao. What he put that poor girl through was cruel, and it took like three hours of my life away lmao. Also, there should really be checkpoints between the final boss phases. Especially with how long they take and such, that was definitely something that was incredibly frustrating having to deal with. And then the true final boss (yes, this game has three final bosses lmao), was definitely frustrating too. Admittedly, probably the boss I liked the most of the three, and is probably the one I took the less time with compared to the other two bosses. As a Super Sonic boss fight, not my favorite, but I don't think it was too bad, but definitely could've been less frustrating at parts though. And I feel like they could've definitely guided you more on what you had to do during certain sections, which I feel could also be said for the other final boss fights too honestly, because sometimes it really did feel like unfair, trial and error sort of stuff tbh.
The soundtrack in this game is definitely erm... controversial, haha. Personally for me, while there are tracks in this I didn't particulary care for, I honestly think there are a lot of tracks I ended up liking more than that I disliked. A lot of bangers for the level themes, with my favorites being the Bridge Island Zone Act themes, the Egg Fortress Act themes, and Pinball Carnival Zone Act 1. I even liked a few of the Jun Senoue tracks, even though clearly his best work is in the 3D titles rather than the 2D ones. And then the final boss themes ABSOLUTELY SLAP, LIKE INCREDIBLY SO. Both for the normal campaign, and the second campaign. And like, out of all three final bosses, the second campaign's final boss frustrated me all to hell. But I have to say, the theme for that final boss went unbelievably hard though, it's become one of my favorites from the soundtrack for sure. Whoever the composers were for the two final boss themes, I really want to know. Because they go absolutely CRAZY, like seriously. It's just too bad when I was playing them, I wasn't really paying attention to them too much because I was way too focused and frustrated on trying to beat them lmao.
Story and characters in this are great! Love the return of a classic character like Fang, and it's cool to have another antagonist added to Sonic's rogue gallery. Though I want him to stay far away from final boss territory now after him traumatizing me lmao. And then Trip is a wonderfully precious new addition to the cast. I really hope she gets to show up in the modern continuity. Despite this being more of a show don't tell story much like the other classic Sonic games, I enjoyed the small narrative and lore bits this had to offer, especially when they revolved around Trip and her interactions with the other characters. The animation sequences that play in the intro and ending cutscenes for these also look absolutely stellar, I hope they keep doing that for these games, they're really great.
In all, loved the game, despite the gripes I did have with it. If I had to place where I'd put this game when ranking the classic Sonic games, I'd probably put it at fourth, below 3&K, Mania, and CD for me. But yeah, if you're a fan of the classic titles, would totally recommend trying it out (but perhaps wait for a price drop). Honestly, I'd love to see them continue making more classic 2D Sonic games like this, especially if they expand upon this title and such, that'd be really cool.