Sonic Colors Ultimate: A Colorful, Fast, and Fun Game
Available on Nintendo Switch, Playstation, Xbox, and PC. (Price: 39.99)
In 2010 Sonic Colors launched on the Wii, and it was an incredible game with amazing level design, a great soundtrack, and a simple story. The game has now been brought back on to modern hardware as Sonic Colors Ultimate and it is still the same great game with some minor improvements.
Story: In the game, Doctor Eggman opens up an amusement park that acts as an apology for his crimes, and Sonic and Tails go up to investigate. They find out that Eggman is kidnapping aliens, known as Wisps, and using them for his machines. So Sonic goes on a mission to free the Wisps, and the planets that Eggman has chained to his amusement park. The story acts as a simple adventure that feels reminiscent of the classic Sonic games on the Sega Genesis, where he used to save forest animals. It is a nice change of pace from the Sonic games with more complex stories, such as Sonic Frontiers and Sonic Unleashed.
Gameplay: The game switched between 2D and 3D platforming throughout each level. Each 2D section one feels like a great challenge to play through, and the 3D sections will have Sonic runs through the level taking out robots. Sonic can use aliens, known as Wisps, and each one has a unique effect such as drilling underground, creating platforms from blue rings, and destroying every obstacle in sight. There is even a new Wisp, that wasn’t in the original game, which allows you to move through platforms. Controlling Sonic is fun and easy to master, but he can feel a little slippery during the 2D sections of each level.
Presentation/Setting: The game has seven areas with five of them being planets. Each area is well done and beautifully rendered, from the candy hills of “Sweet Mountain,” to the luscious areas of “Planet Wisp.” Each area has been invaded by Dr. Eggman’s army with machinery and robots inhabiting most of these areas. The graphics are very good, and this remake is much more polished than the original with more detailed backgrounds and smooth textures. However, Sonic Colors Ultimate does use its original cutscenes from the original game, and while they are still good in terms of storytelling and voice acting, they could have been redone in terms of animation.
New Features/Changes: This remake adds a few things that don’t really change the game or offer up anything beneficial. The game has a redone soundtrack, but I prefer the original soundtrack much more, and luckily you can switch between them. You can now customize Sonic’s look in the game, by collecting tokens in each level, that can be used to purchase cosmetics.
In Conclusion: While the cutscenes are recycled from the original, and the redone soundtrack was unnecessary, Sonic Colors is still a great game, and it was nice to see the game brought on to the modern generation of video game consoles. This is a game I would recommend to any fan of Sonic The Hedgehog or someone who is looking for a great platformer that offers up a bit of a challenge.
8/10: Great