8/10

I have regularly replayed this game but never to completion. The levels and bosses are fun, especially the music ones, I just never find myself compelled to fully complete it. I love the ability to pick various characters and appreciate the wide variety of locals, it is honestly up there with some of my favourite platforming games. Also, for some reasons this game gives me same vibe as Donkey Kong: Country Returns (one of my favourite platformers) probably due to the variety of said locals and strong, fast-paced, gameplay. Overall a very solid game.

6/10

For a free game it’s pretty amazing. However, that is about the best compliment au can give as although the character designs and setting are pretty good to be honest, the game lacks any challenging content and never really innovates on its self. Once you’ve played the game for five hours you’ve basically played in for 100 hours. All you’ll do is grind new artifices to do the same Spiral Abyss, and as for the story while it’s not awful a lot of it is meaningless dialogue interactions that don’t force the player to engage in anything.

8.5/10

Personally, I still love a lot of the 3D Sonic games but I appreciate the ‘return to form’ that a lot of 2d fans wanted for so long . The OST is the standout for me in this game - the remix of chemical plant, metallic madness and Stardust Speedway are all bobs that complement the high speed energy of the gameplay!

Glad to have you back sonic!

I’ve played this game at 3 different but pivotal moments in my life, and what I love most about it is that it offers me a new perspective on the events. For instance, when I originally played the game although I loved the art style - I felt I lacked an emotional connection as I was 15 or 16 and couldn’t relate to Mae’s problems. However, after playing this game during and after university where I also felt overwhelmed it grounded me in new experiences which is something few other games have done for me.

8/10

I love the first and second act of this game - the characterisation of Harry and Peter’s friendship felt really believable to me and the Black-Suit arc felt satisfying if a little rushed. However, my problems mainly appear in the third act - Venom and Anti-Venom feel incredibly rushed and misunderstood which is disappointing as Tony Todd does such a good voice. To explain, Venom is treated as the symbiotic itself instead of the shared animosity of Eddie or in this case the host and the Symbiote creating Venom. Yet Insomniac’s Venom is just the symbiotic this removes a lot of Venom’s characterisation and a deeply hurt and conflicted idea and is replaced by just a purely evil Suit that has no nuance. They don’t even try to hide this - multiple times throughout the game it’s made explicitly clear that MJ as Scream and Harry as Venom aren’t in control (which is fine) and don’t remember what they are doing/saying (which is not fine). The suit is meant to heighten the wearer’s feeling and develop an already existing conflict like Peter’s feelings of inadequacy of fear of Aunt May being unable to pay rent in the 1997 show instead the symbiote creates the problems and this is what I take issue with. As for Anti-Venom, I understand the gameplay reason to give the player symbiote abilities back but it happens so soon after losing them, it doesn’t feel like this deep metafiction look at drugs that Insomniac promised it feels like a cop out. If it seems like I hate this game I don’t but I love the Black-Suit as a concept and as a story element and Insomnaic drop the ball a bit here; luckily the gameplay has somehow been even further improved with web wings.