Sonic Mania stands as a near perfect game that showcases why Sonic is a brilliant franchise. Fans have had to endure a roller coaster for years now, with the odd good game next to the biggest pile of trash. I remember when Sonic 4 was announced, the excitement was there, but a lot of worry as well. I didn't realise until recently why the hype instantly died after it came out. Sonic 4 was shit. It missed the concept of 2D Sonic completely and was, well, poorly made. Probably why they omit it from the elevator in the Mania opening animation that shows 1, 2, 3, K for Knuckles and M for Mania as floor numbers.
I had played a little bit of Sonic Mania back at Summer of Sonic (I was Mario) back in August 2016. We could tell it was going to be special back then, there was just something different about it than other recent Sonic games. The hype came crashing back for everyone.
Mania is simply pleasure to play. It takes you back to how Sonic always was meant to be. The gameplay is tight and smooth. Best of all, the soundtrack is incredible.
If you've never been able to get into Sonic, I recommend checking Mania out, I think it might just prove to you why people love the speedy blue hedgehog so much. For any fan of platformers, video game music, Sonic Mania shines high.
It's the feel of the game that really sells it for me. It's the feel that many of the bad Sonic games fail to capture. I started with Sonic Heros myself, which thankfully was one of the few 3D sonic games to maintain the Sonic feel. Mania captures this feel better than any Sonic game before it. The whole package comes together so well, that anyone who enjoys platformers should love this game.
The attention to detail in level design plays loving homage to the classics. With many familiar zones changed up and new places introduces staying within the themes wonderfully.
Sonic at first comes across as a bit more complex than Mario and other platformers. But give it a few minutes and you'll be speeding about faster than sound. Mania can be a bit brutal as well, as it harkens back to the olden days where you couldn't just continue indefinitely from a nearby checkpoint. If you Game Over in Act 2 of a zone, you'll be sent straight back to the beginning of Act 1, making bosses truly unforgiving. This isn't a fault though, as it's always fun to get straight back into the gameplay and keep trying to win.
The fact that Mania was made by an indie studio of fans, with nothing more than Sega's blessing, further goes to show how ace this game is.
I hope we see more Sonic 2D games to this calibre in the future. As big fan of platformers this really brought me back to my early times playing games. I didn't even start with Sonic, I played Crash as a kid. It's simple and pure platforming at it's best. Well worth the £15, this is a perfect game on the Switch as it's great to play on the big screen and out and about portably. If you're not convinced, just have a listen to the soundtrack, trust me it's beautiful.
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