(Important note: Before playing this, I have tried to get into most of the 2D Sonic games and have never managed to truly enjoy myself, so I am going to be in a very different boat than the intended audience of this game)
I initially picked up this title in order to get to play the 3rd installment which came out this year. Color me surprised with how much I enjoyed it.
Spark the Electric Jester is often described as a combination between 2D Sonic, Kirby and Megaman (X specifically), and that is exactly what it is. I couldn't find a better way to pitch it.
You get through a stage as if it's a Sonic one, picking up Kirby-like abilities along the way, you fight bosses as if they were Kirby or Megaman ones, and you figure out the story which is very reminiscent of Megaman stories (Robots turn on humanity! Oh no!).
Most of the gameplay is about that Sonic speed. And I enjoyed it a lot. For me, the issue with the Sonic titles was that between the more hands-off moments of pure, joyous speed, the slower platforming sections were tedious. The controls were slippery, and it simply felt bad to focus on platforming. Spark the Electric Jester avoids this through many of its mechanics.
The life system allows for more slip-ups without much of a pause in gameplay that is the Sonic animation of getting hit and the process of picking up a ring or two to not insta-die. Health is not much of an issue, but it can get scarce when it needs to. It's not always an easy game, but it lets the player be overwhelmed by its speed and pace, which is a generally rare and awesome feeling.
There's also the fact that there simply isn't much platforming to be found here. Either that, or by playing around with the mechanics you are able to skip large chunks of it. The setbacks are no longer presented in the form of missing a platform, but rather getting hit by an enemy while running along and not paying attention. It's a much more preferable system, to me at least.
The boss combat faciliates the life system, even if it already works perfectly fine in the context of the stages. There's a lot of abilities that you can bring into a boss fight, often positioned just before the encounter itself, presenting possible strategies in a way. Sometimes you'll get a hammer to get up-close and personal, hitting heavy, but sometimes by putting a bow for a ranged approach or "Edgy" (a knife basically) for a more in-and-out tactic, the game manages to spark some creativity in the player. Some abilities also have hidden platforming uses. It's clear the combat wasn't an afterthought like it is in a lot of platformers, some bosses can still be exploited once you learn movesets and whatnot, but the final stretch of enemies can certainly kick your ass.
The characters were very likeable! Spark is very cheeky and, no matter what, will approach people and robots with a charming naivete. Through contrasting other characters with him, you get a readily available set of moments to carry you through the game, with a few clever quips along the way (I love how hyped he gets about just landing a job). There's that same Sonic feel of shit hitting the fan, when Sonic gets serious and turns into Super Sonic. It's all paced properly, making it easy to fall for the campiness of it all.
As far as my issues, I think not every animation being up to par is a big one. Some of them simply look off, the proportions or the movements unnatural. It's a very mixed bag.
Second, there are actually different modes and character stories! A second playable character even! You get to play as Fark, a robot created based off of Spark's circus performances. He gets to wall-run, double jump, infinite dash in the air and gets a cool weapon if you gather up enough energy by hitting things and not getting damaged. He's much more fragile and combat-heavy, requiring you to use the parry function.
It's not very good. I would forget that parrying exists, simply because his damage output is crazy, making defensive options superflous. Then the game throws out bosses that have undodgable attacks, so you have to parry them. Took a while to get used to. Similarly, him being more fragile made stages more challenging, but less fun. They were all slightly modified to fit Fark.
Gone was the feeling of abusing invincibility frames in clever ways or truly speedrunning through levels. With Fark, I would either feel like I completely cheesed a segment due to Fark's improved mobility, or I fumbled around praying I could squeeze through between checkpoints.
The combat was definitely more satisyfing when it came to him. Less varied, as the only thing that changed him slightly was the aforementioned weapon, which needs to be charged up by attacking and parrying. It retains the same moveset though, just extends range and adds damage. It's more consistent, and the design for new bosses takes advantage of it. Most weren't very challenging, but I definitely died more as Fark. Whereas I completed Spark's story almost in one sitting, Fark took me several evenings.
Afterwards you unlock different challenge modes. Those were too much even for me, I'm good. They are omegatough, and make me feel like I've learned the wrong lessons by playing this game. Maybe I did, but I simply feel like the game allows for a much more free of an approach as compared to pretty much any 2D Sonic I've played. I was able to truly focus what I enjoyed most: speed. Many a time I had chills running down my spine from just how much was happening on the screen per second. Truly a game for zoomer-minded individuals. And that owns. That's what Sonic always was in my perfect image, and what a lot of 3D Sonic is. Excited to check the sequels.
Also, the soundtrack slaps.
I initially picked up this title in order to get to play the 3rd installment which came out this year. Color me surprised with how much I enjoyed it.
Spark the Electric Jester is often described as a combination between 2D Sonic, Kirby and Megaman (X specifically), and that is exactly what it is. I couldn't find a better way to pitch it.
You get through a stage as if it's a Sonic one, picking up Kirby-like abilities along the way, you fight bosses as if they were Kirby or Megaman ones, and you figure out the story which is very reminiscent of Megaman stories (Robots turn on humanity! Oh no!).
Most of the gameplay is about that Sonic speed. And I enjoyed it a lot. For me, the issue with the Sonic titles was that between the more hands-off moments of pure, joyous speed, the slower platforming sections were tedious. The controls were slippery, and it simply felt bad to focus on platforming. Spark the Electric Jester avoids this through many of its mechanics.
The life system allows for more slip-ups without much of a pause in gameplay that is the Sonic animation of getting hit and the process of picking up a ring or two to not insta-die. Health is not much of an issue, but it can get scarce when it needs to. It's not always an easy game, but it lets the player be overwhelmed by its speed and pace, which is a generally rare and awesome feeling.
There's also the fact that there simply isn't much platforming to be found here. Either that, or by playing around with the mechanics you are able to skip large chunks of it. The setbacks are no longer presented in the form of missing a platform, but rather getting hit by an enemy while running along and not paying attention. It's a much more preferable system, to me at least.
The boss combat faciliates the life system, even if it already works perfectly fine in the context of the stages. There's a lot of abilities that you can bring into a boss fight, often positioned just before the encounter itself, presenting possible strategies in a way. Sometimes you'll get a hammer to get up-close and personal, hitting heavy, but sometimes by putting a bow for a ranged approach or "Edgy" (a knife basically) for a more in-and-out tactic, the game manages to spark some creativity in the player. Some abilities also have hidden platforming uses. It's clear the combat wasn't an afterthought like it is in a lot of platformers, some bosses can still be exploited once you learn movesets and whatnot, but the final stretch of enemies can certainly kick your ass.
The characters were very likeable! Spark is very cheeky and, no matter what, will approach people and robots with a charming naivete. Through contrasting other characters with him, you get a readily available set of moments to carry you through the game, with a few clever quips along the way (I love how hyped he gets about just landing a job). There's that same Sonic feel of shit hitting the fan, when Sonic gets serious and turns into Super Sonic. It's all paced properly, making it easy to fall for the campiness of it all.
As far as my issues, I think not every animation being up to par is a big one. Some of them simply look off, the proportions or the movements unnatural. It's a very mixed bag.
Second, there are actually different modes and character stories! A second playable character even! You get to play as Fark, a robot created based off of Spark's circus performances. He gets to wall-run, double jump, infinite dash in the air and gets a cool weapon if you gather up enough energy by hitting things and not getting damaged. He's much more fragile and combat-heavy, requiring you to use the parry function.
It's not very good. I would forget that parrying exists, simply because his damage output is crazy, making defensive options superflous. Then the game throws out bosses that have undodgable attacks, so you have to parry them. Took a while to get used to. Similarly, him being more fragile made stages more challenging, but less fun. They were all slightly modified to fit Fark.
Gone was the feeling of abusing invincibility frames in clever ways or truly speedrunning through levels. With Fark, I would either feel like I completely cheesed a segment due to Fark's improved mobility, or I fumbled around praying I could squeeze through between checkpoints.
The combat was definitely more satisyfing when it came to him. Less varied, as the only thing that changed him slightly was the aforementioned weapon, which needs to be charged up by attacking and parrying. It retains the same moveset though, just extends range and adds damage. It's more consistent, and the design for new bosses takes advantage of it. Most weren't very challenging, but I definitely died more as Fark. Whereas I completed Spark's story almost in one sitting, Fark took me several evenings.
Afterwards you unlock different challenge modes. Those were too much even for me, I'm good. They are omegatough, and make me feel like I've learned the wrong lessons by playing this game. Maybe I did, but I simply feel like the game allows for a much more free of an approach as compared to pretty much any 2D Sonic I've played. I was able to truly focus what I enjoyed most: speed. Many a time I had chills running down my spine from just how much was happening on the screen per second. Truly a game for zoomer-minded individuals. And that owns. That's what Sonic always was in my perfect image, and what a lot of 3D Sonic is. Excited to check the sequels.
Also, the soundtrack slaps.