1.2 hours played
Written 15 days ago
I have tried many Sonic games. The Genesis trilogy, the Sonic Advance games, Sonic Generations, Sonic Rush - all of which have those classic 2D stages. I didn't like any of them. Whether it's the wonky physics, the noisy/messy level design, the "just hold right" factor. I wanted a game where you know what is a platform and what is a hole or a wall, where exploring is actually fun, where the game doesn't punish you because you jumped at an enemy a millisecond too late. A game which is clear, where you know what you're doing, where every mistake feels like your fault.
Sonic Mania didn't change anything.
Unfortunately, I'm convinced 2D Sonic is fundamentally flawed - 2D Sonic just doesn't work as a game concept, despite the Sonic Team trying to force it to for over three decades now. Every time you think you know what 2D Sonic is supposed to be, the games keep reminding you that you're wrong. Sonic wants to be a speed-based platformer, a momentum toy, and an exploration puzzle - but every time it tries to be one of those, it sacrifices the others. Each game pretends the issue isn't there, when it's been baked into the cake for so long.
To be less vague: what's my problem with Sonic Mania?
1. While the first stage is fine, the later stages are so visually cluttered, I have to constantly jump against and dash into walls to figure out if what I'm seeing is a passageway or a solid wall.
2. Playing with Tails is close to useless. He gets stuck behind often, making you listen to him jumping somewhere in the background. He lets you fly for a bit... if he does let you. It's really counterintuitive, and I still don't know how to "tell" him to fly properly. Even worse when he does end up flying, but then floats on his own to the higher platform, making him unable to come catch me. So then I have to go left or right for a few seconds so that he can come down. I wouldn't be this nitpicky if it wasn't for the fact that playing with Tails is set as default.
3. I hate the ridiculous difficulty spike at the Studiopolis boss. It's like that fight was designed to make Sonic completely uncontrollable. He just stops listening to your inputs. Whenever you jump, he starts moving to the left midair, before going back to the right. His erratic movement makes it close to impossible to hit the blue rockets, and avoid the deadly rockets.
4. There is no options tab in the pause menu. Really? Do I really have to exit out of a level just to turn down the sound a bit?
5. The biggest problem I have with this game... is that when you lose in the chaos emerald stage, the game doesn't let you replay it. I restart the level, and the big ring remains hollow. Literally why? Who came up with that? I make one small mistake and suddenly my chances of collecting all chaos emeralds in my playthrough are dramatically reduced?
It really does feel like this game was fine-tuned to frustrate the player and squeeze away any enjoyment the player could have had. The moment you start having a hint of what might be fun, the game slaps you in the face.
Sonic has yet to convince me that there is a single good game in the franchise, and I am not sorry.