Played through the Silver release (the most recent version), which means all the major levels for the three main characters and none of the boss fights, finale stages, town stuff, or any of the connective tissue that makes Sonic 06 whatever it is.

My thoughts on 06 go back and forth, which is kinda funny considering I used to love it as a kid and it was the reason I persuaded my family to get us an Xbox 360 back when it came out. Last time I played it was nearly a decade ago, and my thoughts were more or less that it was alright enough, but that fixing any of the technical issues wouldn't magically change it into an amazing game.

This is my first time playing P-06, which is basically that entire concept come to life. Most of the bugs and technical issues are sorted out, character control is hugely improved especially for the side characters, and there's lots of little details and polish added to make for a cooler, more dynamic experience. I particularly dug the in-level cutscenes that add some extra storytelling and the unique times of day added to certain stages like Tropical Jungle and Wave Ocean.

It's a nice enough way to revisit the main stages of Sonic 06, though playing them back to back made me realize how little the levels tended to differ between campaigns. I like (in theory) how the cast plays largely identically, but the linear design of stages means that I'm often replaying the same levels just in a different order. Occasionally you get unique segments (Sonic's entire run of Tropical Jungle occurs in areas only he visits) or you'll get characters who play differently enough that you explore the space in entirely unique ways (Rouge and Silver in Tropical Jungle, wow I keep mentioning that stage).

But it doesn't happen often enough and it makes checking out those stages feel less interesting than they should be. Shadow's campaign in particular feel like a slog with its numerous mandatory combat encounters, in contrast to Sonic's speedy excursions and Silver's psychic platforming and fighting.

Obviously, this project's still in the works (at the time of writing ChaosX is sorting out the boss fights), so I can't quite say this is the best way to play 06 because - as I alluded to up-top - there's still a lot about the game that isn't here yet. That's perfectly understandable, and it's equally impressive and wild that ChaosX and everyone else has managed to get the bulk of the game working with this degree of polish and improvement.

For folks who wanna revisit the main stages without the rigmarole of getting 06 up and running (via original hardware or emulation), it's worth a shot. But like how the Sonic Generations Unleashed Project doesn't adequately replace Sonic Unleashed for all the stuff it leaves out, I can't (currently anyway) consider this worth trying over Sonic 06 if you want to experience the full package.

Hopefully that'll be different in the future, if everything works out. I hope it does, and I wish all those involved the best of luck.

Genuinely shocked I was able to beat this, considering how crazy challenging it tended to get. I played this once or twice previously but I don't think I even managed to get past the second stage, so it's wild that I overcame that hurdle and managed to experience NGII in all its manic and insane glory.

Enemies keep coming at you, folks who can individually deal some real damage if you're not careful, so you're always encouraged to stay on your guard, adapt to whatever nonsense gets thrown at you and keep pushing. I played this on the lowest difficulty level, but it's by no means the easy mode and I experienced an appropriate amount of challenge.

Something I really appreciated is that there's often enough wiggle room, in your moves, the weapons, the items you can use and whatnot, that I never felt truly stuck. If I got my ass handed to me, I just needed to take a different approach and that would usually be enough to tip the scales in my favour. Admittedly using my best friend the eclipse scythe at more or less every opportunity helped with that, it's an excellent enemy shredder.

Couple of my favourite moments from the third act: fighting that army of ninjas up the staircase, where there's so many of them that the framerate slows way the heck down. It's genuinely beautiful to see the game struggle to render its ambitions, almost acting like a dramatic slo-mo fight scene, and the way it just kept going made me smile to no end.

An unexpected surprise came in the chapter where you return to the Dragon Ninja Village, and gradually make your way out through the woods, until you reach the ninja fortress that was the very first level of the 2004 Ninja Gaiden. I first played that game 18 years and, as someone who wasn't very good at it, replayed that opening level many times, so it was so strange to be exploring that ninja fortress - only now in ruins with most places unexplorable. It felt so oddly melancholic to revisit this place after a much longer gap in time than the original release (just under 4 years if you were playing these at launch), and such an unexpected walk down memory lane.