Sonic Superstars Review (Switch, PS5, PS4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, & PC)

You never truly know what you’ll be getting with the Sonic franchise. The classics were, of course, above par, holding special places in ‘90s babies’ hearts. Sonic Mania, too, was the perfect tribute to the Sega Genesis Sonic games. But there’ve been some pretty rough patches along the two-decade-long Sonic run.

So, going into Sonic Superstars was a mixed-feeling trudge. Suffice it to say, I wasn’t entirely displeased to have dipped my feet into Sonic’s newest classic 2D high-speed action platforming gem. For all intents and purposes, here’s a deep-dive Sonic Superstars review for veterans and newcomers alike.

Easy Does It

Sonic Speedstars' story isn’t anything new. Big bad Dr. Eggman returns. He’s gunning to take over a new territory to unleash his evil plans on the mystical Northstar Islands. He hires the returning character, Fang, the Hunter, to scope out unfamiliar Northstar territory, who brings along the newly introduced Trip villain for the ride.

It’s up to fan-favorite Sonic to take down the doctor with the help of playable Knuckles, Tails, and Amy. Each has unique skills, some of which are paramount to clearing certain levels. You can complete the story mode in roughly four hours. But there’s a replayability factor to complete the campaign, as each character takes around 15 hours.

Furthermore, completing the story mode allows you to unlock Trip as a playable character. Despite her clumsy self, Trip ends up paying off for players willing to go the extra mile. He derails the good guys—Sonic and his friends—before they can get close enough to stop the bad guys.

Overall, though, Sonic Speedstars features a pretty light story, which forgoes convoluted plotlines for a lightweight conveyor belt fastened tightly enough to carry you through to the end. Simple but fun—that's the easiest way to describe the campaign. 

Fast and Furious

But Sonic Superstars’ strength lies in its gameplay. It features side-scrolling akin to the Sonic the Hedgehog games for the Sega Genesis in the ‘90s. Granted, it’s nowhere close to Sonic Mania. But the game does introduce unique gameplay elements while still holding that special Sonic platforming charm we’ve come to love.

As always, you’ll crank up the speed across 12 themed levels sprawling all over the Northstar Islands. Each level is unique from the others, though they seem to all draw inspiration from previous Sonic entries. You’ll find bouncy pinball carnival areas, lush islands, vine-y jungle zones, a press factory location, an electric cyber station, giant water theme parks, and more. 

They’re all brand-new but have familiar features, gimmicks, and enemies dating back to the classic Sonic the Hedgehog series Carnival Night and Press Garden Zones. Regardless, each zone is fascinating to skid past, with backdrops inviting as day and creative elements that nudge you toward repeated play.

Finger-Lickin' Good

Visually, Sonic Superstars hits the jackpot. It maintains the Sonic aesthetic that oozes charm. The environments are vibrant, easily jumping off the screen with delight. There are high chances that veterans will melt with joy at the sight of the classics remodeled for the modern era.

Meanwhile, the backdrops can get pixel-heavy. So much could be going on to proceed with clarity. Some of the gimmicks are a slog, too, nearly as much as they are creative. You could be bouncing across a meandering end-to-end snake at one point. And, next, tread through a thick fog illuminated by butterflies.

Your Best Mate

You can play as Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy. Later, you’ll unlock Trip. Each character has unique traversal and attack abilities. Sonic retains his Drop Dash from Sonic Mania and performs a homing attack. Tails can fly for a limited time, along with unleashing a tornado spin. Knuckles can glide and scale walls, as well as shoot a fireball. Meanwhile, Amy can double jump and throw a hammer air attack.

Each character is distinct enough from the others to encourage switching them up for multiple playthroughs. Sonic himself feels less powerful, while some levels necessitate playing as a specific character to clear them, making it an absolute must to at least try either one. Additionally, the level design is intricate, with lower platforms often infusing challenging routes. 

More Power, More Responsibility

Every time you play, you’re likely to use a different route—some more efficient than others. You may unlock secrets that encourage exploration. You may even run into giant gold rings, which you can portal through into a grapple-heavy Chaos Emerald mini-game.

The mini-game takes place in a 3D space-like world with a mess of floating nodes, orbs, rings, and speed points. Players jump from node to node to sling closer to a flying Chaos Emerald. If you reach the emerald before the timer runs out, you unlock a new special power for your characters.

On paper, it seems easy enough. But the mechanics are an awkward experience. With no ground to estimate distance points, I’d feel lucky to tether onto a node or emerald most of the time.

At least you gain special powers for each successful completion. My personal favorites are Avatar’s ability to summon clones to attack everything on-screen, Visions’ ability to reveal hidden goodies, Water’s ability to enable characters to move up waterfalls with ease, and Slow’s ability to slow down time. 

You can use these once between checkpoints, though I almost always forgot to unleash my special power until the checkpoints had run their course. But whenever I remembered, it was a blast to tip the scales drastically in my favor.

Something to Hit

Gimmicks and enemies are easy to knock out and clear a path for you—at least once you get a handle on the rhythm. So, facing the bosses may be the most challenging part of completing levels.

But perhaps Sonic Superstars overdid the notion of difficulty by making the bosses practically impossible to attack for quite a while.

Most boss fights kick off by dodging and moving out of their attack patterns. It’s not the constant dodges that are frustrating, as games often apply the same concept in boss fights. But the fact that you’re repeatedly avoiding the same simple attack patterns.

After spending a ton of time going at it, a small window opens up for you to land your hit. If you miss the window, well, too bad. Maybe next time? The next time could take forever.

Friend, Come Join?

For the first time ever, Sonic Superstars allows tagging along up to three players. They can freely drop in and out of sessions via local co-op or online minigames. Unfortunately, Sonic Superstars chose to forego split-screen mode and instead have a single camera follow a lead.

Anyone else lagging behind is automatically zipped forward on-screen, which makes sense for a dad playing with his kids as opposed to veterans, for example.

Online minigames don’t please either. You’ll spend time dodging attacks, blasting each other to space, and collecting items, none of which have depth or hold a strong purpose.

Bop Bop, My Head Goes

Sonic Mania’s soundtrack was heavenly good. So, perhaps it was too make-believe to expect the same from Sonic Superstars. Even so, the soundtrack doesn’t entirely disappoint. It’s incredibly fun at its best but, unfortunately, annoyingly painful at its worst.

There are definitely moments when you’ll find yourself bopping your head and tapping your toes to its phenomenal soundtrack. At least until you get to the buzzing bees and plain bad parts.

Verdict 

Sonic Superstars is a mixed-feelings kind of party. On the one hand, veterans will enjoy a return to the old days. They’ll love the creativity and little tweaks here and there that establish an old yet fresh experience for the modern day. But a gamer fresh out of the sea of quality sidescrollers out there may think twice about returning for more. Especially in the multiplayer rounds, there just isn’t enough effort put into cultivating a fun time for groups of friends, competitive or not.

At the same time, there’s no denying the quality of life that Sonic Superstars provides. The game never has the same experience engineered for characters or players. You’ll often take different routes, even exploring for efficiency or goodies. It’s also refreshing to explore varied characters, each with distinct abilities, and further elevate their abilities a notch higher upon unlocking Chaos Emerald powers.

With the bar already set high by Sonic Mania, Sonic Superstars barely does enough to elevate the sidescrolling experience. But that’s okay because, at the end of the day, Sonic fans come looking for a speedy, high-momentum experience, which they do get in the newest classic Sonic experience Sega has to offer.