PlayStation Plus Just Quietly Added a Definitive Sonic the Hedgehog Adventure
The blue blur’s best.
Despite his enduring popularity, Sonic the Hedgehog hasn’t always had an easy go of things. Sure, everything is just peachy now with the blockbuster Hollywood films, but once upon a time, Sonic wasn’t a stranger to stinkers. Between the likes of Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) and Sonic and the Secret Rings, the 2000s were a dark era for the blue blur. But that’s exactly when Sonic Colors came along in 2010 and started turning things around, giving Sonic fans hope again. Now, one of the best Sonic games ever made has found its way to PlayStation Plus, and even better, it’s the improved remastered version.
Sonic Colors: Ultimate is an enhanced version of the original Nintendo Wii game, sporting gorgeously updated visuals and a host of gameplay improvements that make the game feel better than ever — on top of new power-ups and features. That includes a Rival Rush mode where you get to race Metal Sonic for the best time on levels, with special rewards to boot. But the real foundation of what makes Ultimate great is the original game’s design, the way Sonic Colors feels like it gets back to the basics of what makes Sonic great. That is, of course, the core platforming design, and a unique gimmick to compliment it.
Sonic Colors is a very, uh, colorful game. Sometimes overwhelmingly so.
Part of what gets Sonic Colors off to a good start is its ridiculous premise. The infamous Doctor Eggman has opened an amusement park in space, and supposedly has turned a new leaf to be a better person. This absurd amusement park is made up of attractions that are the size of planets, but as Sonic dives into the park he learns the truth about Eggman’s creation — its purpose is to enslave a race of aliens called Wisps and harness their power.
If you’ve played any Sonic game you pretty much know what to expect. The whole objective of a Sonic game is to make it to the end of the level, using his speed and agility to make it there as fast as possible. You’ve got all of Sonic’s skills to get there — the spin dash, homing attacks, grinding on rails, double jumps, all of it.
After years of trying different formulas, multiple playable characters, werewolf-hedgehogs, and more, Sonic Colors finally gets back to basics. Sonic Colors gets what really makes a Sonic game tick — the sense of speed. Everything in the game is meticulously designed around maintaining that sense of speed and momentum. The core of that comes with how smoothly Sonic himself controls, letting you easily maneuver him around levels, whether it’s from a third-person perspective or side-scrolling — which the game constantly switches between.
Sonic Colors certainly doesn’t disappoint in its level variety.
But the real special spark at the heart of Sonic Colors lies in its gimmick, the Wisps. Each Wisp had a unique power-up that Sonic can used, based on its color. For example, the Yellow Wisp lets Sonic turn into a drill and crash through walls, Orange turns you into a rocket that blasts straight up, and Pink gives you spikes to help stick to walls and ceilings.
These Wisps provide a fascinating extra dimension to the platforming of Sonic Colors, giving you complementary abilities that let you get through levels in a handful of ways. At the same time, as you unlock more Wisps you can head back to earlier levels and find new secrets and routes — providing an immense amount of replay value.
What’s really important about the Wisps, though, is the fact they’re there to simply enhance the core gameplay of Sonic, not turn into something else entirely. That’s where games like Sonic Unleashed failed — in that game’s case giving you a “werehog mode” that turned the game into a brawler. Wisps are genuinely one of the smartest gimmicks the Sonic series has ever seen, delightfully opening up your options for controlling Sonic, while simultaneously playing into the game’s ultra-colorful aesthetic.
Wisps help give Sonic Colors a distinct edge to separate it from the rest of the series.
It’s picture-proof that strong core gameplay and level design are really what Sonic needs to flourish. People already love the characters and his sidekicks, and the story manages to be campy fun — but it’s that inventive twist on gameplay that really elevates Sonic Colors.
As Sega and Sonic look ahead to a brighter future, hopefully, games like Sonic Colors are what they use as the blueprint moving forward. And if you just need a good time to fill the weekend, it’s a high-speed ride you won’t regret taking.
