(2018) Sonic Colors (Wii, 2010) | The Colors Feel So Right!

  NOTE: This review was originally posted to Tumblr on September 22, 2018, and has been reposted here for archival purposes. It may not reflect recent events or my current opinions.

For a more up-to-date review of Sonic Colors, click here.

As we know from every generic review of Sonic Mania out there, the Sonic series has had its ups and downs after it’s transition to 3D. While the Sonic Adventure titles were critical successes when they came out, the series sort of hit an identity crisis afterwards. Sonic Heroes came out to… mixed reception, Shadow the Hedgehog was extremely edgy, Sonic 06 was… Sonic 06, and the Storybook games always managed to receive it’s share of a mixed to negative reception. Sonic Unleashed was considered a step in the right direction however (at least by the fanbase anyway), but more people liked the day stages and not so much the night or “Werehog” stages. So then, Sonic Team had a brilliant idea - why not have Sonic Unleashed, except without the Werehog stages?

And we got Sonic Colors, and when it came out, it was a success with both critics and the Sonic fanbase, but as we’ve seen with recent backlash against games like Sonic Adventure 2 and Sonic CD, the fanbase can’t seem to make up its mind about anything, so over the years reception of this game has fallen and is a lot more polarizing within the Sonic fanbase, with some citing it as the “start of Sonic’s downfall” even though that’s been going on for far longer than this game has been out.

It did get me thinking about this game again, though. Myself, I actually remember enjoying the game when I bought it for the Nintendo Wii. It was actually the first 3D Sonic game I got after I got into the series with the Classic Collection on the DS, and I figured that I would replay again after all these years to see if it still holds up.

For this review, I should mention that I’ll be looking solely at the Wii version of the game. The game was also released on the DS, but on there was completely different and was a 2D title that played more like the Rush games. Admittedly, I’ve never really gotten the chance to play the DS version outside of the demo that was on the Nintendo Channel when that was a thing, but maybe someday I’ll play it and maybe even review it if I feel like it. But for now, this is the Wii version.

As for the story, Dr. Eggman opens up an amusement park where Sonic and Tails go investigate, where they found out that Eggman is using alien species and planets to power the amusement park and use them to create a mind control device to enslave Earth.

So, yeah, it’s a rather simple plot, definitely nowhere near as complex or dark as nearly all the Sonic games between Adventure 1 up to Sonic and the Black Knight. I know a lot of hardcore Sonic fans (mostly the Adventure 3 fanboys) really hate this story, but for what it is, I enjoyed it. Yeah, it’s definitely far from the deepest Sonic game, but personally…. I kind of like it that way. Keep in mind that the first Sonic games I really played were the originals via the DS Classic Collection, and I could never really get into the “deep” Sonic stories just because I was more about the gameplay first and foremost, and I like that Sonic Colors’ plot takes a step back from all that action and is a fairly simple and relaxing story, and in a way made me kind of miss those Genesis days where there was no major plot points and dark twists, just Sonic and Tails saving the world from Eggman. There’s also a lot of humor in this Sonic game compared to previous ones, and while there’s some pretty cringey jokes here and there (baldy mcnosehair ecks dee), I actually found myself laughing sometimes at some of the humor within the cutscenes. And quite frankly, “No copyright law in the universe is going to stop me” is still the best line said in any Sonic game.

So then we move on to the gameplay. This game was the second out of the “boost formula” Sonic games, with the first being Unleashed. Only this time, the game’s pretty much centered solely around the 3D Sonic boost gameplay. And I guess what I said about the story taking a step back from all the action could be said for the entire game, because this basically goes back to the basics of what made Sonic a fun series that I enjoy going back to. This game, as you may have guessed, came after the “dark era” of Sonic games between 2005 and 2009, where games came out to mediocre to downright terrible reception, with the most infamous being the dreaded Sonic 06. And with this, Sonic Team listened to the fans’ requests and tried to go back and make a good, solid 3D Sonic game with no major gimmicks and focusing largely on a balance of speed and platforming. And I think for this game it definitely worked out pretty well. Sonic Colors definitely has a major focus on platforming, and as I said the gameplay is a boost game similar to Unleashed but this time only focusing on the platforming aspects. No werehog, no swordplay mechanics, just simple platforming. You go fast, lose rings when you hit enemies, it’s pretty much the basic idea of what a good Sonic game should be. Sonic has his own moveset for going through the levels, with drifting, quick step, the homing attack, rail grinding and of course the boost, which helps you build up speed and go through hoards of enemies. And while the mechanics aren’t quite as refined as in Generations, the moveset he has is still fun to use and gives the game replay value, which I’ll talk about later in this review.

One thing separating this game from other Sonic titles (well… at least before Lost World and Forces came out) is the introduction of the Wisps. The wisps grant Sonic powers that are used to traverse through the levels and get through obstacles, and this includes of the Laser wisp which allows him to travel in a light path typically used to get to high places, the Drill which is used to go through ground and water, the Spike wisp which let’s you move on walls and ceiling, the Rocket Wisp which blasts Sonic to high areas, Hover which allows Sonic to, well, hover, Cube which turns blue blocks to rings and blue rings to blocks and the Frenzy which chomps through objects in it’s paths. And yeah, it is kind of a gimmick which kind of goes against my point about no major gimmicks, but I did have fun using most of the Wisps and they weren’t too obnoxious and in the way of the gameplay. Typically, the parts where the wisps were actually required to use weren’t too long and they do sort of add to the replay value of this game depending on the level.

So, this gets to my next point, which is regarding the level design. I feel like out of the boost games, Sonic Colors feels like it has the most emphasis on platforming. A common criticism I’ve seen for this game is the fact that this game fits more as a 2.5D Sonic game than a 3D one and I’ve heard some people say that 3/4s of the game is 2.5D. Whether that’s true or not, I will admit that this game has a lot of 2.5D sections and if you’re expecting a full 3D Sonic game, this game probably won’t be for you. That said, I still enjoyed the good majority if not all of the game both in 2D and 3D, and looking at the level design reminds me of why I enjoyed this game so much. One thing I always liked about the classics were how there were multiple pathways and multiple ways to end the levels, and aside for maybe the Adventure titles I can’t remember many 3D Sonic games that gave me that sort of level design. But Sonic Colors actually manages to appeal to me with it’s level design because it offers different ways to play through each level. There’s still different routes and whatnot, but in some ways the levels are built around the game mechanics and in addition to having alternate paths there are ways to use the mechanics in ways to beat the level quicker. Wisps definitely play a major part in this, as there are times where you are given the option to use the wisps in order to find different ways to go through the level to maybe speed up the time it takes or explore the levels more. In some cases, wisps don’t show up in levels until you unlock them in another level, and to fully explore the levels you definitely want to go back and replay levels that use the wisps in this way. Admittedly I’m not a huge expert on level design so it’s kind of hard for me to explain all of it, but the level design here definitely gives the game replay value and makes replaying levels still gives new experiences while replaying older levels. If you want to play the game normally, that’s fine, but this game also gives you the option to explore the levels a bit more to find alternate routes or ways in order to finish levels faster, or find red rings scattered throughout each level.

Although, I can’t say the gameplay and levels are necessarily perfect. While there were times were the game got challenging, for the most part the game’s pretty easy and in some cases gets a bit too easy. While this game does have more levels than Sonic Generations, there are definitely some levels here and there that more or less feel like filler and last for maybe a minute at most. And these levels particularly made me go “wow that was pointless.” I will also say that there are some people out there who don’t care for Sonic Colors’ platforming and consider it “generic,” but honestly I didn’t really have any problems with the platforming in this game even if Sonic Generations is definitely more refined in this area.

The controls are also pretty good I would say. While they are kind of floaty in comparison to other Sonic games (especially in 2D), the 3D controls are generally fun to use and the game is still built around Sonic’s control pretty well. Should also mention here that the game offers 3 ways to play the game, the standard WiiMote, the WiiMote + Nunchuk combo, the Gamecube controller and Classic Controller. Unfortunately, my Wii is one of the later versions (the Family Edition) that doesn’t support Gamecube backwards compatibility, so my main controller of choice for the game was the Classic Controller Pro, which in my opinion works pretty well with this game, and if you pick up Sonic Colors, I would definitely recommend that controller if you also have a Wii without backwards compatibility. I can’t say I’ve ever used a Gamecube controller for this game, but I think both the Gamecube controller and Classic Controller Pro are both good options to play this game with.

So then the last part of this review is of course the presentation. Obviously, being on a less powerful platform, this game isn’t as good looking as Unleashed, but that said, I still find it to be a pretty good looking game especially for the Wii. The character models are definitely good looking and the game itself is vibrant and colorful (i guess that’s why it’s called sonic colors after all), overall being aesthetically pleasing to the eye. The soundtrack, well, it’s a Sonic game and you know that with any Sonic game, it’s going to have a good soundtrack. And this game definitely doesn’t disappoint in that area, the music in general is catchy and fun to listen to, with some of my favorite themes from the series in general being in this game, particular Speak With Your Heart (the credits theme), Reach for the Stars, and Tropical Resort Act 1.

Conclusion:

Overall, I’d say that Sonic Colors is still one of my favorite games in the series, definitely in my Top 3. A lot of people do argue that the game has kind of aged, and while this game definitely has its flaws, I still found the gameplay to be overall solid and fun and the problems I did have with the game were relatively minor and I could easily overlook them. I know some people out there that say this game was only liked because at the time it was the first well received console Sonic game since Adventure 2, and while that may be true, there are definitely reasons why it gained that status. And personally, I still find myself really enjoying Sonic Colors.

Would I recommend this game? Well, yeah, especially to people who might be new to the series and wondering what games to pick up. I think this game as well as Generations both make great entry points to the series and definitely have a lot of lasting appeal at least in my eyes.