From what I played this game would have been alright, if it wasn't for two things.

One, the targeting of the auto-homing attack is far too wide and it will target things off-screen. Causing Sonic to get flung around the screen and into a hazard or pit because of how disorientating it is.

Two, it is far too easy to start doing parkour when you don't want to. Causing Sonic to get flung around the screen and into a hazard or pit because of how disorientating it is.

As someone who has played a lot of Classic Sonic it was nice to have a game that really challenged me. It took me a few attempts to beat but I definitely enjoyed my time with it. Sure the difficulty doesn't always feel the most fair, with some questionable enemy and hazard placement, but for the most part it feels reasonable.

This game does a good job of taking the foundation of Sonic 1 and remixing it via clever reuse of existing artwork and music to make something that feels both fresh and familiar.

I really wanted to like this game. I lived the premise, story and it's presentation, artstyle and music. I even think the controls are a step up over Secret Rings, but the combat is a real let down.

First of all it is an absolute pace breaker with most encounters making you come to a complete stop, couple this with slow acceleration and by the time you get back up to speed you are likely right back into combat again.

And sure individual enemies are easy enough to deal with, with well telegraphed attacks. But they would put so many together that half the time I got hit because an enemy behind the one I was currently fighting would blindside me.

And this was me playing with a normal, button based control scheme. I would hate to think how rough this is with shaking a wiimote.

This game is wonderful (please laugh).

This game is a breath of fresh air for 2D Mario. Now I'm not as hard on NSMB as most people are (I think they are solid and well made 2D platformers), but this game is on a whole other level. Everything just feels so fresh, both the new stuff and returning elements. And no aspect of the game overstays it's welcome, but unlike some games it doesn't go too far in the opposite direction. If a mechanic is fun enough it will turn up again in a later level.

And then there is the topic of the Wonder Seeds. Before we even get into the main gimmick just having some of the collectaphon elements of 3D Mario is a great way to spice up the more linear 2D offerings of the series. And as for the wonder effects themselves, they are a brilliant way to add variety to the gameplay. A lot of them end up altering the game in ways that go beyond what a mere stage gimmick or power up can offer.

And on the topic of power ups each one is a joy to use. The fire flower obviously returns and is the typical offensive move it has always been. But all of the new ones go a long way to making the game stay entertaining. Surprisingly the game is lacking the now traditional flying power up, a welcome change in my opinion as I believe they can sometimes be a bit too OP.

But power ups aren't the only way to change up your moveset. New to Wonder are the badges. These alter how the player controls in various different ways. From extra moves like a glide, more passive abilities like the higher and floaty jump usually reserved for Luigi (all characters except for Nabbit and the Yoshis have the same moves and physics), helpful perks that make the game easier like getting a free super mushroom when staring a level/respawning or challenge badges, such as constantly running without being able to stop.

All that is to say don't pass on this game if you think 2D Mario has been getting stale.

On it's surface this game looks a lot like the investigation sections of Ace Attorney mixed with Picross/Nonograms. And as far as the gameplay goes that is pretty much the case.

Where this game really shone for me is the story and the characters. Everyone felt well written and meshed well together and the story, whilst short, felt perfectly paced for the story they were trying to tell.

One thing this game also does is that it leaves things open for a sequel without making the story feel incomplete. Normally this would be great, but that is where capitalism rears it's ugly head.

You see this game was made by Mediatonic, the developers of the popular F2P game Fall Guys. Who eneded up getting purchased by Epic Games.

Now if you had asked me a few months ago I would have thought that a Murder by Numbers sequel wasn't gonna be likely any time soon but was still possible, but now I'm not too sure.

Recently Epic have practically gutted Mediatonic in the name of cost cutting. So anyone there is likely too busy with Fall Guys to work on a sequel, and even then that depends on the people behind this still being with the company.

Maybe we will be lucky and the people who brought Murder by Numbers into the world can go independent and that they can somehow get access to the IP. But I'm not gonna hold my breath.

What started out seeming a bit bare bones has ended up as a product that is leaps and bounds beyond that descriptor.

Now that the complete package is out I can safely say that this is a must have for any Mario Kart 8 Deluxe fan, hell any Mario Kart 8 fan in general.

I don't think there is a single track that I don't enjoy. And what they have done with some of the retro tracks is outstanding, I hardly even recognized some of them.

Now there are rumours that the Switch's lifespan is coming to an end next year. And if that is true it will probably bring Mario Kart 9 with it at some point in the coming years. So should that be the case then this pack is a brilliant swan song for what is, and will likely remain, the Switch's best selling title.

This game is amazing, it feels like a great follow up to Sonic 3 & Knuckles. The physics and level design are on point, no Dimps pits here.

The Zones all feel unique, even when they are using themes that we have seen previously. And the gimmicks feel fun and work well when it comes to maintaining flow.

The bosses feel like a little bit of a weak point but I still enjoy them. They can have a bit of an issue with waiting to attack them but I find most have attack patterns that are interesting enough to counteract that.

My biggest problem with the bosses come down to two things. First are any that have insta-kill attacks, with how few rings you can get when respawning it just feels like padding. Same with my second issue, if you die on a boss with multiple phases you go back to the first phase. In a game with infinite lives I don't feel this really adds much challenge and after a while redoing the first phase to reach the second can get kinda tedious.

I have seen some talk about the final boss being a bit too hard but I honestly don't see this as a problem. They felt no more difficult than my first time with any of the Sonic 3 final bosses (Giant Egg Robo, Knuckles' Mecha Sonic and Doomsday) and felt appropriate for the finale to the story.

The last thing I want to mention is the music. I enjoyed all of it but just wished it had a more consistent style.

First and foremost Sonic is a game for kids. So you would think that it wouldn't ask too much of the player when set to easy. Let's just get straight to the point, the difficulty in this DLC is busted.

It is pretty much required to look up a guide on how to do a lot of the challenges in this DLC. Not only do all your stats get reset to 1 but you are also limited to spefic moves and on a timer (either literally or because of ring depletion). Not only that but one of the challenges is actually harder if you use the attack it says you are limited to.

This has been compared to soulsborne games but I don't think that is correct, because those games are much fairer when it comes to being hard. The limitations that are imposed on the player means that you are fighting enemies and bosses that were designed for what is essentially a different moveset than what you have available to you. I didn't feel a sense of accomplishment when beating a challenge, it felt like I cheesed my way through with techniques that were far from the intended solution but were the only viable option.

And that isn't even the only problem. The other playable characters are laughably limited at the start for what is the final island of the game, and leveling them up and unlocking skills is tedious to the point of feeling pointless. And some of the platforming segments (especially the tower climbs) just exacerbate an already janky feeling camera and homing attack. Both of these things I would have been able to forgive if the aforementioned challenges were worth the trouble.

I have decided to shelve this for now in hopes that a patch or mod can address the difficulty balance. But as there is little sign of this happening any time soon the game is abandoned in all but name.

But hey, at least the music is good.

Amy's Sonic Advance 1 moveset makes for a good fit in the original Sonic the Hedgehog, it may even fit better here than it does in Advance thanks to the more pedestrian level design of Sonic 1.

The lack of a roll and spin jump means it is necessary to change how to approach playing the game, and her hammer attacks and acrobatics work in a way that helps things feel familiar enough for casual play whilst allowing for shortcuts and different ways to deal with badniks and bosses to keep the attention of Sonic veterans.

I was enjoying this game, I felt that the short but challenging nature of the stages was fun. But then the stage design started getting a bit sketchy around World 6.

I was not prepared for World 7.

Every level was a slog, each one threw so much stuff at me that there wasn't any chance for me to stop and process what is going on. It got to the point that I was dredding staring another level, not helped by getting a Game Over every other stage. It may not effect progress but it sure was demoralising.

If this game had ended at World 6 I probably would have marked it down as good but not my favourite.