The driving feels good, the overall art direction and aesthetic in this game gives it a sense of identity I have been desperate to see back in NFS for years, and the customization is better than it's been in a long time.

The story and writing are way better than I expected. Aside from a handful of cringey lines of dialogue, I don't really get the complaints. Rydell, Yaz, Tess, and even us the player, are engaging enough characters that play their roles well. In addition to that, when you give fellow racers rides at night they talk to you about their background and things like that and it makes the world feel more alive.

I have a few gripes with the game though. For instance, I feel like the game is too stingy with money for a game that actively wants you to drive more than one car at once. The exaggerated collisions are cool to see back, but they are too easy to trigger - to the point it often feels like they shouldn't have. The soundtrack is garbage, and brake to drift feels a little inconsistent for me. Lastly, don't fucking bother playing this online. Just don't.

This doesn't overshadow the positives though, and overall, Unbound is a step up from Heat, and definitely the best NFS since the 2010s.

I think Sonic Superstars' story mode is quite fun. The level design is just as good as any 2D Classic Sonic game, the physics are on point, the art style is super appealing, and it's very refreshing to have Fang back, and to have a new character in Trip. I was hoping she would be playable, so the fact they gave her her own story mode was an awesome surprise.
While Sonic Superstars isn't groundbreaking, it delivers on the most important aspects of Classic Sonic games and is simply a fun platformer.

Unfortunately, I have three huge issues with the game. Chief of them is the music. A handful of tracks are bangers, and most of them have catchy compositions, but so many tracks are ruined by the insistence of using that god awful soundfont that just sounds like a dying Genesis trying to fart. It's so grating to listen to, and given Jun Senoue's track record, I don't understand why he continues to lead the charge on Classic Sonic music when his work on it is continously poorly received.

My other big issue is the multiplayer. First of all, co-op in a 2D Sonic game was never going to work, and it never has, because it's a shit idea that inherently doesn't work, so it still baffles me that they made it a big focus.
However, I had hopes for Battle Mode, given similar modes in other platformers like Mario vs Luigi on the DS which was a blast. Sadly, the execution is pretty shit. Firstly it takes so long to find a lobby, and when you do, most of it is bots, which is embarrassing considering the game is merely days old at the time of writing. You wait to then be greeted with a handful of mediocre, barebones minigames that needed fleshing out. Races? Excellent idea for a 2D Sonic game... as it's own mode. Here it's just one okay stage that gets boring quickly. The other three minigames could have just been combined into one and been more fun that way. They all feel like fragments of an experience, and not in a way that benefits the game.
Then there's the robots you customize and play as. Neat idea, except they ruined it by making you need to both unlock AND buy parts, and making dumb shit like paint single-use purchases. Even worse, instead of using rings as currency, they opted for the medals you find in stages. So, you have to grind special stages and explore for medals which only serve the purpose of letting you buy parts for a very half-baked multiplayer mode. Cool 👍🏻

Finally, the price tag. This game should not be $60, and no, it's not because of its length. In addition to my two other problems, it's just that it's really lacking in polish in terms of its presentation. The animations for things like the bosses and stage elements look so stiff and slow in a way that comes off really cheap, and a lot of the scenery in a lot of stages could have used some more detail. The UI is also really barebones and minimal in a way that comes off like the absolute minimum was done. A lot of AAA games do this, but they also don't have the other issues I brought up. This game FEELS like a budget title, yet it has the price of a blockbuster AAA game. While not entirely fair to compare, Super Mario Bros. Wonder completely devours Sonic Superstars in this aspect, so when your asking price is the same as that, it becomes a problem. For a more fair comparison, Sonic Mania does a fantastic job at making itself look and feel grand, and on top of being an amazing platformer, I would have gladly spent $60 on it and been fully satisfied. Superstars should have been $30 or $40.

So... yeah. In summary, I think Sonic Superstars is a good 2D Sonic game in terms of gameplay with quality level design, spot-on controls, fun platforming, and cool moments, and I still enjoyed my time with it. But it's one that's dragged down by severely hit or miss music, pretty bad multiplayer, and a questionable price tag.