Sonic Colors Ultimate - Review

11 years after the release of Sonic Colors, then only for the Nintendo DS and Wii, a new, remastered version of it is coming to us, which also comes for the PlayStation, Xbox, and PC. Since this is one of the best Sonic games of the last decade, especially considering those Sonic games that deviate from the standard 2D Sonic gameplay it was worth trying one of those games that weren’t a total disappointment in that field. But a lot of time has passed since this hit, how durable it is in 2021 remains to be seen.

While the gameplay of Sonic Colors isn’t something new, I guess a lot of people haven’t played that game, so we can certainly approach it as a somewhat new achievement. Considering that, I can say that Colors is a departure from the standard 2D Sonic and everything we’ve been getting lately. Primarily here I mean the return to the roots that happened in Sonic Mania and delighted many. And if we look at some action-adventure trips, such as Sonic Forces, we can see that Colors is moving away from that as well.

More precisely, it is much more playful and fun. After the initial confusion when you play with Sonica in this Colors remaster (since the game is quite fast, 2.5, 3D, and 2D parts alternate, and little is explained and it immediately spills over into colorfulness and action), the setting calms down and is easy. it became clear that the developers still combined 3D and 2D Sonic and tried to bring a golden mean that this time will not be in the jaws of retro performance or uncontrolled 3D chaos.

Full 3D never ended well for Sonic. So with Colors, we got the expected gameplay "for sure". In some segments that combine a 2.5D / 3D environment that in certain sections of the level changes almost imperceptibly into more classic 2D gameplay (to be more precise, it is a third-person perspective and classic side-scrolling).

Each time we can enjoy the colorful levels, Sonic's speed and loops, collecting rings, and an extremely good way of attacking enemies by clicking "x" with which Sonic spins and stabs enemies, jumping from one to another and thus comes to the more inaccessible parts in a particular level.

It's not something special, but it certainly suits Sonic's abilities and character and is based on his older and classic "powers" that we know and love. So the rings that serve as your health are retained, with every blow you receive you do not lose a life but you lose every ring you have, you are forced to drop some of the group again and thus ensure that the next mistake or blow is less painful.

Tails do not have an excessive function in the game itself, except that once you collect its icon, you get the opportunity to return you after the lost life to the position where you practically lost your life, and not to the last checkpoint.

Surprisingly, there is an infinite number of these lives, there is no "real game over" which makes the game much easier, and it doesn't necessarily have to be a good thing, because the basic part of the game is certainly less challenging. So just imagine that Crash Bandicoot 4 didn’t have the factor of losing a life, how much easier the game would be. But would there be an equal sense of satisfaction and endeavor after the game was completed?

The novelty in the game are wisps, creatures that you also rescue from Dr. Robotnik uses their power to enable his large amusement park. It is the amusement park that Sonic and Tails go through and try to stop all his creations and save those creatures. Wisps creatures reveal how you progress through the game and have the function of a classic power-up with which Sonic briefly gains new abilities.

One of them is the lightning-fast short-term speed, the second is hovering in heights, the third is turning Sonic into spikes that can move on ceilings, etc. In translation, wisps make some parts of the game easier, which you can get through faster. At the same time, they open up previously inaccessible areas where you can grab red stars, more rings and generally get a better result and a better grade with which you finish a certain level.

These ratings don’t matter too much about the importance, nor do the score and speed of the game. Sonic Colors is (like any platformer that sticks to itself today) much more than a pure level crossing. There are a lot of parts that are hidden and even impossible to access until you get some new wisp later, and to win all the trophies, bonuses and complete the game, you will work hard, but also get to know all the beauty of level design and all obstacles and mechanisms that the developers have prepared for you.

The whole idea, although likable, becomes tedious because you get more and more wisp power-ups with more gameplay, and sometimes it's not clear which wisp we have at what point, and you could get that replayability differently.

But, well, it cannot be said that the idea is a failure and that there is no logic. For some, this will be a good innovation and a nice way to refresh Sonic and his adventures, but wisp as beings are quite impersonal, and no emotional connection is built with them either through the game or through the story.