HIGH First character maker in a Sonic game? Sweet!

LOW The level design, story, and gameplay are shockingly underwhelming.

WTF Avatars can wear a hat that says “Gamer”.

Sonic Forces has many interesting gameplay ideas and a dynamic character creation feature in this visually stylish package, but is constantly held back by a lack of creative level design, a lack of polish in its controls, and a story that fails to engage.

Shockingly, Dr. Eggman has defeated and imprisoned Sonic with his new mysteriously masked jackal comrade, Infinite, who bends reality using the Phantom Ruby. Now, with Eggman’s tyranny throwing the world into an apocalyptic state, a resistance team of Sonic’s friends must rescue our hero and save the world, with help from a Classic Sonic from another dimension and a rookie soldier — the Custom Avatar.

While this seems like a more mature premise than Sonic usually offers, the storytelling jarringly flip-flops between upbeat and serious, with tone-killing one-liners making things even worse. This incoherence shows that the story doesn’t know how to make players feel about the characters and story.

Additionally, many potentially interesting and dramatic plot points feel underdeveloped, and Infinite, the new enemy, lacks character development and any interesting use of his powers – are they real or just an illusion? It seems like even the writers don’t know the answer. In terms of play, Sonic Forces combines mechanics from previous entries – Modern Sonic’s fast-paced 3D “boost formula” and Classic Sonic’s 2D side-scrolling with the addition of Sonic Mania’s Drop Dash.

All of these elements are easy to pick up, and it can be entertaining to speed through stages while destroying hordes of enemies. Unfortunately, it all feels too simplistic too soon, making the gameplay loop feel repetitive.

Offering some variety, the Custom Avatar character wields “wispons” — weapons containing the superpowered aliens from Sonic Colors, which have various special attacks and powers. Occasionally, the Custom Avatar even teams up with Sonic in tag team stages.

Creating a character is a cute novelty with hundreds of pieces of clothing to be unlocked and seven species options, each with their own benefits (the bird species has a double jump, and so forth). Each Wispon has its own strengths and weaknesses, as well. A favorite was gaining insane speed from the Drill Wispon after mashing the trigger button.

Unfortunately, no matter what character the player chooses, the controls feel noticeably stiff, the running buildup too quick, and the jump too floaty – it all feels rushed and lacks the momentum and fluidity that made the classic 2D games rewarding to master. The stages, while linear, have some interesting obstacles – things like platforms that zoom forward when landing on them. A few even have alternate pathways, encouraging replayability with different Wispons that can aid in saving time or rewarding players with
hidden Red Star Rings.

But yet, it’s another mixed bag!

Most levels are much too short and don’t space out obstacles well. Excessive automated sequences remove player control and agency, and the potential of 3D gameplay is undercut in favor of basic, blocky 2D sections. Despite having 30 main stages, the the experience feel short-lived and repetitive. A smaller number of longer, more developed stages with fully fleshed-out mechanics would be a vast improvement. Visually, Sonic Forces again lurches one way, and then the other. The graphics and art style blend both cartoony and realistic, and the slick animations are a feast for the eyes while embodying Sonic’s cool, fast, and stylish qualities.

On the other hand, the animation during cutscenes gives characters wooden expressions and static movement, which is off-putting and immediately disengaged me from any potential drama. There’s also been a decent effort made to convey the world’s apocalyptic state through its original levels, with giant Death Egg Robots tearing up the city in Sunset Heights and flames burning around Luminous Forest. I wish the whole adventure was as original as these bits though, instead of otherwise mostly reusing past levels to pander for nostalgia — if Green Hill Zone is absolutely required as a level, it could have at least been altered to fit with the rest of the world in turmoil.

Overall, Sonic Forces’ potential for interesting storytelling, gameplay and level design are undercut by a lack of length, depth, and polish. Younger or casual players may enjoy Forces’ simplicity, but die-hard Sonic fans are better off playing Sonic Generations or Mania instead.

Rating: 4.5 out of 10

— Thomas Greeney

Disclosures: This game is developed by Sonic Team and Hardlight Studios and published
by Sega. It is currently available on PS4, XBO, Switch and PC. This copy was purchased as a
paid download and reviewed on PC. Approximately 4 hours of play were
devoted to the single-player mode and the game was completed. An extra 3 hours were spent
on the side content, from a total of 7 hours of gameplay to review the title. There are no
multiplayer modes.

Parents: According to the ESRB, this game is rated E10+ and contains Fantasy Violence.
According to the site: Sonic Forces is an adventure platformer in which players help Sonic
and his friend defeat Dr. Eggman and his evil plans. As players speed through different
landscapes, they collect items (e.g., gold rings), avoid hazards, and use spin attacks to defeat
robotic foes and bosses. Players can also use a created character to fire grappling hooks and
other cartoony weapons (e.g., fire blasters, electric whip) to defeat enemies. During some boss encounters, players can perform close-up finishing blows that knock opponents out in dramatic fashion.

Colorblind Modes: There are no colorblind modes available.

Deaf and Hard of Hearing Gamers: Sonic Forces offers subtitles for cutscenes and
gameplay, and there are hints players can read. Text cannot be resized or altered. Other visual
elements will guide players through levels like button prompts and markers to indicate
enemies. This game is fully accessible.

Remappable Controls: Yes, Sonic Forces offers fully remappable controls.

The post Sonic Forces Review appeared first on Gamecritics.com.

HIGH Excellent handling and a lot of customization. 

LOW Lack of modes and unbalanced items.

WTF Sega needs to renew an agreement with Ferrari so we can get a new OutRun game.

Despite running faster than any car, Sonic the Hedgehog has quite a background in racing games. From his humble origins in the Sonic Drift titles to the much-beloved Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed, Sega’s Blue Blur knows his way around a set of wheels. Now, six years after his last racing experience (Team Sonic Racing) Sonic returns to the starting grid with Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds. 

As an arcade racing lover and Sonic superfan, the idea of playing a brand new Sonic racer had me excited. What also piqued my interest was the fact that it was being developed by the internal Team Sonic studio (English studio Sumo Digital developed past racers) and would that it would receive contributions from developers of Sega’s Initial D arcade cabinets. 

The presentation grabbed me right away. Par for the course for any great Sonic title, players are presented with an awesome opening cutscene set to some bombastic pop-rock. The bright aesthetic permeates throughout the menus and gameplay, with characters modeled exceptionally well, and even fully-voiced. I loved how talkative everyone is, with bits of dialogue in the character select screen and the beginning and end of each race. There’s also a jukebox full of great songs, including tracks from Sonic Riders and Sonic Frontiers. 

In motion, CrossWorlds is a visual marvel, and the main gimmick comes from its titular mechanic. Basically, on the second lap of a race, the character in first place sees two portals in front of them and they choose the path they want, transporting them to a new track for that lap, and returning to the main track in time for the third and final lap. This results in a random new world appearing in every race. 

No matter what’s chosen, each course has something awesome to look at, whether it’s a herd of dinosaurs running, a mysterious pirate ship shrouded in darkness, or wide-open fields of green grass in the distance. Sure, it’s almost expected that Sonic games feature a vibrant aesthetic and kickass music, but I’m happy to see Sonic Team didn’t slack off with this racing spinoff. 

However, aesthetics aside, the driving is what’s key in in racing titles.  

Played from a third-person perspective, Sonic Racing: Crossworlds is a kart-style racer that sees players control one of 18 characters taken from across the larger Sonic series before competing in a variety of events and courses. Right off the bat the driving is exceptional, with a great sense of speed and weight in all the vehicles. 

Cars and drivers are separated by different types: Speed, Acceleration, Handling, Power, and Boost. Each offers various strengths and weaknesses and the variety in both default and unlockable of cars is solid. There are also plenty of options to customize vehicles with different parts.  

Rather than feeling bouncy or floaty like most kart racers, I’d say this falls in line with something like a pure arcade experience, like Cruis’n Blast (owing to the devs’ arcade roots) thanks to the cars feeling heavier than I would have expected. Drifting is responsive, with a meter building up if players can hold their drifts as long as possible. Tricks can also be done while jumping in the air, resulting in a boost when landing. 

While I enjoyed the driving overall and trying to outmaneuver my opponents on the track, one thing I couldn’t enjoy was its use of items. Like Mario Kart or other mascot kart racers, different items can be collected and used offensively or defensively. They’re mostly standard stuff like speed boots or items that can be thrown at players. 

Sadly, most of these feel horribly balanced and seem to break the flow of most races. I get that rubberbanding is the name of arcade titles like this, but I played through some ridiculous instances of the AI catching up at the very last second thanks to a poorly-timed item hitting me. 

A major surprise of CrossWorlds has been the overwhelming amount of options players have, even before setting foot on a track. Things like the customizable car parts and various combinations of items for use in a race (like offensive weapons or speed boosting gadgets) strategy to what could have been a standard kart racer. For example, my main racer was Tails, who falls under the “acceleration” subclass. I centered my build around improved speed, boosting, and drifting.

Another cool thing is the inclusion of rivals. Throughout each of the grand prix modes, a random character will be made the players’ rival. At the start of the cup, there’s a cool bit of dialogue between the two, which makes for some humorous interactions for fans of the series. Things like hearing Dr. Eggman complain about being forced to settle for battling Tails instead of Sonic is a nice treat. 

Speaking of fans, I think absolute best part of Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds has to be the sheer amount of love for Sonic and Sega as a whole. Courses like Radical Highway are ripped straight from Sonic Adventure 2, complete with the music from the original, and I could have sworn one track is one ginat reference to After Burner. The ‘stage complete’ music from the mainline Sonic series plays after every race, and the guest characters from other related franchises are cool, with faces appearing from Yakuza, Persona, SpongeBob SquarePants, and Pac-Man coming soon via DLC.

With all of that said, at this point in the review I have to say that I do wish there were more to CrossWorlds than just racing. The main grand prix is enjoyable and the Race Park adds a lot of variety by offering things like events that reward bumping into others for a speed boost or trying to collect the most rings. However, a few more events or some supporting content like minigames or perhaps things taken from Sonic’s long history would go a good way towards making the experience feel richer.

Don’t get me wrong, though — while Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds might not dethrone Mario’s racing adventures, it’s a solid racing title in its own right thanks to great handling and an overwhelming amount of options. I would have liked to see a little more supporting the package as a whole, but what’s here must surely rank among the finest arcade-style racers from the last few years. 

For those who absolutely gotta go fast, this one is an easy recommendation.  

Rating: 8.5  out of 10

Buy Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds – PC – PS – XB – SW

Disclosures: This game is published by Sega and developed by Sonic Team. It is available on PC, XBO, XBX/S, Switch/2, PS4/5. This copy was obtained via the publisher and was reviewed on PS5. Approximately 10 hours were spent in single-player, and the game was not completed. No time was spent in multiplayer.

Parents: According to the ESRB, this game is rated E for Mild Fantasy Violence. According to the site: Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds is rated E for Everyone by the ESRB with Mild Fantasy Violence. Also includes In-Game Purchases. This is a kart-racing game in which players compete in whimsical racing events with characters from the Sonic universe. As players race against other drivers, they can use cartoony power-ups (e.g., spike balls, boxing-glove missiles, saw blades) to slow opponents’ progress and knock them off balance. Being hit by a power-up causes characters’ karts to blink red and slow down. Characters emit small cries when hitting or being hit by an obstacle (e.g., t-rexes, trucks).

Colorblind Modes: Colorblind modes are not present in the options menu.

Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Gamers: There are plenty of visual cues during races. All of these can be adjusted in the menu. Subtitles are present and can be resized. As no audio cues are needed for gameplay, I’d say this is fully accessible.

Remappable Controls: The controls cannot be remapped and there is no diagram. On PS5, X is used to accelerate, R2 is used to drift, L1 is used to activate items, and Square is used to look behind.

The post Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds Review appeared first on Gamecritics.com.

HIGH Two incredible games in one package. 

LOW I know the lyrics to every Crush 40 song featured in this game.

WTF Sega, please remake Sonic Heroes.

Sonic Generations was released in 2011 for the Xbox 360 and PS3 as a way to commemorate the 20th anniversary of The Blue Hedgehog. Serving as an interactive love letter to every era of Sonic, it combined the best elements of both the 2D and 3D titles, remixed gameplay elements and soundtracks, and even managed to deliver a solid narrative full of nostalgia that saw 3D Sonic teaming up with his 2D counterpart to save the world.

It was, without question, one of the greatest platformers ever made and easily climbed atop the ranks of my favorite Sonic games. It was also in desperate need of a re-release on modern consoles though Xbox owners lucked out with an enhanced backwards-compatible version, but thankfully, Sega has now fully rectified that situation with the release of Sonic X Shadow Generations. 

Generations is a platformer that shifts between two gameplay styles. The first is 3D with an over-the-shoulder view of the action, while the other is a side-scrolling 2D affair. Players control two different variants of Sonic (modern and classic) with each level featuring two stages that feature each gameplay type. 

Modern Sonic controls the way he does in the “boost” era of Sonic games, with a focus on running in a straight line through linear levels, while attacking enemies and collecting different macguffins along the way. 2D Sonic controls as he did back in the Genesis era, with side-scrolling levels full of loops to run through, branching paths and collectibles to find. Levels are selected in a side-scrolling hub world, where players can also engage in minigames like pinball while looking for more secrets and easter eggs. 

The big twist in Generations comes from the fact that every level is a remake of one taken from prior Sonic games. For example, in 3D mode the iconic Green Hill Zone from Sonic the Hedgehog (1991) is beautifully rendered with modern visuals and accompanied with a remixed version of the ever-popular theme song. The inverse is also applicable, with past 3D levels being converted to side-scrolling formats including the classic “City Escape” from Sonic Adventure 2, featuring the same setpieces as its 3D counterpart. 

Each of the redesigned levels are a treat, both visually and mechanically. Zipping through 3D levels at supersonic speeds and getting hit with a cacophony of bright colors is truly special, while the 2D levels feel like wonderfully faithful remakes of Sega Genesis-era creations.

In fact, one of the standouts is Seaside Hill from Sonic Heroes. GameCritics readers will know I’ve not only spoken about Heroes at length before, but have listed it in my biography as one of my most formative games. The version featured in Generations is a lovely version of a level I’ve damn near committed to memory, and boasts an awesome remix of the original theme as well. 

Speaking of music, like other great Sonic games, Generations is packed to the brim with an incredible track list. There are brand new arrangements of classic songs as well as remixes of the iconic and nostalgic Crush 40 tunes, like All Hail Shadow and Escape From the City. Included is an in-game music player, in which players can listen to songs not only featured in the game but a few select tracks from 2022’s Sonic Frontiers (which also has a damn fine soundtrack.)

New to this re-release is the inclusion of a separate game entitled Shadow Generations. Taking place parallel to the main story, players control anti-hero Shadow the Hedgehog in both 3D and 2D levels, similar to Generations. Featuring levels based on Sonic Adventure 2 and even the much-maligned Shadow the Hedgehog (2005), gameplay is faster and more aggressive thanks to the introduction of “Doom Powers.” Shadow can slow down time to attack enemies, shoot projectiles and even glide through levels with “chaos-infused” wings. There’s also a fully free-roaming hub world that plays like Sonic Frontiers that includes light puzzle-solving and makes use of the new powers. 

I initially thought this Shadow Generations counterpart would be nothing more than a few levels sprinkled into the main Sonic experience. Still, I was pleasantly surprised to see it was a fully standalone experience. Players don’t even need to complete the original Generations to access it — it’s available in the main menu right from the start. 

Par for the course of modern remasters and re-releases, Sonic X Shadow Generations runs buttery-smooth on PS5 and looks gorgeous, and this is supported by the linear and straightforward nature of its designs, which means it avoids the technical issues that plagued the open-world Frontiers at launch. 

Sonic X Shadow Generations would’ve been an incredible package if it was simply remastering the 2011 classic, but the fact that it throws in a whole second game makes it one of the finest platforming experiences of the year, and arguably the most jam-packed release of 2024. Serving as love letters to Sonic’s past and present while perfecting two distinct forms of gameplay make it one the Blue Blur’s finest outings. It’s not just a stroll down memory lane — it’s a high-flying rollercoaster reminding us how great Sega’s mascot was, and still is. 

Rating: 9 out of 10

Disclosures: This game is published by Sega and developed by Sonic Team. It is available on PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, XBO/X/S. This copy was obtained via publisher and was reviewed on PS5. Approximately 10 hours were spent in single-player modes and the game was not completed. The original release was played and completed on Xbox 360.

Parents: According to the ESRB, this game is rated E10 for Fantasy Violence. According to the site: This is an action-adventure game in which players assume the role of Sonic the Hedgehog as he attempts to stop a mysterious force from altering his universe’s timeline. As players zoom across fantastical landscapes, they collect gold rings and power-ups while using spin attacks to knock over enemies (e.g., insect- and animal-like robots); enemies disappear amid smoke puffs, and Sonic blinks and loses rings when hit. The game includes a handful of boss-fight sequences (e.g., defeating a giant serpent creature by crashing into its weak points); explosions, shrieking sounds, and close-up spin attacks accompany these battles.

Colorblind Modes: Colorblind modes are not present in the options menu.

Deaf and Hard of Hearing Gamers: Players can choose to turn on subtitles for cutscenes as well as visual reminders for controls during gameplay. They cannot be resized, but various visual elements will guide players through levels, like markers to indicate enemies as well as button prompts. This game is fully accessible.

Remappable Controls: The controls cannot be remapped but there are presets for the player to select. 

The post Sonic X Shadow Generations Review appeared first on Gamecritics.com.

HIGH Scratches the itch for a modernized 2-D Sonic, plus new combat mechanics.

LOW The story and hub sequences drag, uninspired early-game boss design.

WTF Why can’t the player advance the story dialogue themselves?

Freedom Planet 2 is a ’90s style 2D platformer with strong Sonic the Hedgehog influence.

I haven’t played the original, but it doesn’t seem necessary for the plot. The Freedom Planet series is set in a world inhabited by various demi-humans. The primary antagonist here is Merga, a water dragon who seeks revenge on the earth dragons for committing genocide against her species. For much of the campaign, the player is fighting on the side of the earth dragon kingdom – but it can feel a bit uncomfortable considering that’s the side that perpetrated genocide. (FP2 does eventually interrogate earth dragon history, but I wished it got there more quickly.)

Speaking of the writing, there are a lot of story scenes in Freedom Planet 2. While I appreciate that the makers are invested in its world and lore, I didn’t love the script. Many of the plot points related to water dragons were rather dark, and the writers didn’t seem comfortable handling such weighty issues. In many cases, a serious character beat would be introduced, then swiftly deflated by a jokey comment or comedic plot point. These tonal shifts lessen the impact of the story, and it especially plagued me because FP2 is fully voice-acted and the player can’t speed up dialogue.

Fortunately, the action in Freedom Planet 2 is better than the writing. The graphics are bright, charming, and generally appealing in a 16-bit Sega Genesis sort of way. The characters are visually distinct, and their sprites move in ways that reflect their personalities.

Most of the stages are designed similar to those seen in Sonic the Hedgehog – players run on a 2D plane and can take different routes through each stage while running at a fast pace.

There’s just something viscerally enjoyable about zooming through the world, and there are a lot of stages. A handful were a bit long, but overall, the running and platforming were joys.  I especially appreciated that FP2 improved on traditionally irritating designs, such as water levels, by adding gravity bubbles and speed-boosting paths.

In addition to the speedy platforming, there’s also some light puzzle solving. For example, some stages require certain conditions be met, such as turning on power in multiple rooms to proceed. In a more frustrating case, the player must hit balls into sockets to open doors, which required luck (or brute force repetition) if the player didn’t know about one of its intricacies.

There’s also some variety in how the player progresses, depending on the character selected. There are four characters total, and each can only be selected at the start of a run because they all have their own customized path. Lilac the dragon feels like the ‘default’ heroic character and has the fastest running speed and an invincible dash that can be used when she has a full power meter. In contrast, Milla the hound is slower, but can charge projectile attacks and fly.

That the characters each feel distinctive and affect the feel of play so much is impressive and adds replayability. Choosing Lilac makes FP2 feel like a Sonic clone, while playing as Milla provides more flexible offensive options, lending it a vibe closer to something like Mega Man X. However, regardless of who’s chosen, all characters have a dodge button that makes them temporarily invincible, which is a great idea that offsets issues with enemy attacks feeling like cheap shots.

Speaking of which, as much as I enjoyed the stages, I found several of the bosses frustrating. I completed the game with Lilac, who sometimes felt ill-suited to handle these encounters since she does not have a lock-on for her dash, and it can only be used when her gauge is full. This combination could be frustrating because it was not only hard to hit mobile bosses, but after missing a shot, I often found myself standing in corners and dodging attacks for several seconds while my dash gauge refilled. I found that other characters didn’t have the same problems, as some had more range with their basic attacks and didn’t have to rely as much on a power gauge.

On the standard setting, Freedom Planet 2 will be a fair challenge for someone familiar with these kinds of platformers. However, an unusually tough boss forced me to engage with the item system, which allows the player to slot in two power-ups and a potion, effectively serving as a way to mitigate difficulty.

These item slots offer boosts like a higher max HP or adding damage-over-time to one’s attacks. The potion slot can allow the player to boost or augment stats, such as increasing attack or restoring HP by hitting enemies. If the player wants to further decrease challenge, menu-based accessibility settings can be adjusted.

Overall, Freedom Planet 2 is an excellent (though imperfect) love letter to Japanese ’90s style platformers, and anyone who enjoys either old-school design or platforming in general will find it worthwhile thanks to solid mechanics, plenty of content and strong replayability via the different characters available. Maybe skip the story, but don’t miss it.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10

– Heather Rees

Disclosures: This game is developed by GalaxyTrail and published by GalaxyTrail. It is currently available on XBO, XBX/S/PS4/PS5/Switch/PC. This copy of the game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on the PS4. Approximately 15 hours of play were devoted to the single-player mode, and the game was completed. There are no multiplayer modes.

Parents: According to the ESRB, this game is rated Teen, and contains Fantasy Violence, Suggestive Themes. Some of the plot points of the story are mature in nature (mentioning of child abduction, genocide), but the handling seems appropriate for a teenage audience. The characters mainly attack robots, and occasionally each other but the violence is not graphic. 

Colorblind Modes: There are no colorblind modes available.

Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: This game offers subtitles. The subtitles cannot be altered and/or resized. The game is playable with no sound and visual cues are primarily used to indicate attacks or important things on the screen. This game is fully accessible.

Remappable Controls: Yes, this game offers fully remappable controls.

The post Freedom Planet 2 Review appeared first on Gamecritics.com.

HIGH Combos are great, and the movement allows for cool tricks.

LOW Muddy visuals, finicky controls, and overly long levels.

WTF I haven’t seen penguins this mean since Wallace & Gromit.

Sonic Mania was a huge hit in 2017 thanks to Christian Whitehead and his team bringing the series back to its 2D origins. Their first game outside the Sonic series as development studio Evening Star, however, is a 3D platformer with a colorful pastiche that feels a bit more reminiscent of Mario.

Penny’s Big Breakaway stars the titular character attempting to escape from the clutches of Emperor Eddie and his penguin enforcers after an audition involving a sentient yo-yo goes awry. Throughout the campaign, Penny must navigate numerous levels filled with obstacles, pitfalls, and other hazards to reach the end of each stage. Penny can use a number of tricks and combos to explore each level, such as a double-jump, a midair grab and swing, and using the yo-yo like a bicycle.

Each level also has penguins that will chase Penny, and if they catch her, they will attach themselves to Penny like leeches and slow her down. If five (or more) penguins attach, then Penny is sent back to the last checkpoint or the beginning of the level, whichever is closest. Fortunately, she can use her yo-yo to smack them off and save herself from being captured.

Beyond simply reaching the end, each level offers specific sidequest-like tasks that Penny can complete for bonus points. These range from collecting a number of items in a short time to transporting objects to an NPC. These short missions award Star Globes, which are used to access special challenge stages which are more difficult than standard ones. Coins, on the other hand, can be used to buy one-time use items, such as items that stop Penny from falling off the map or prevent her from being seized by penguins.

While Penny seems initially like a winner with a formula like this, some big issues exist.

For example, the visuals get ‘muddy’ past a certain distance from Penny. I don’t know if it was an aesthetic choice to make the world appear this way, but it doesn’t look great, and it obscures the player’s ability to see ahead in the level. I’m not sure why it looks like this, but it significantly detracts from the overall presentation.

Regarding the levels, they were often interesting to look at, but some felt like a slog due to certain spots requiring very precise inputs if I didn’t want to be sent back to the last checkpoint. Level design here feels like a hybrid of Sonic and 3D Mario stages, where players must reach the goal while avoiding traps, getting captured by enemies, and searching for hidden items and bonus tasks along the way. These levels did feel a bit long, and some of the set pieces (such as the rolling penguins boss) overstayed their welcome after a few minutes.

It also doesn’t help that the bonuses from collecting coins rarely felt useful, as the only penalty for falling off the map, losing all life, or being seized by penguins was being sent back to a checkpoint. It would have been nice if those coins could have gone towards something more substantial.

There are also some issues with the controls. Sometimes combos can be easy to do, such as riding the yo-yo or doing double jumps. But other times, like the end-of-level Busker Bonus which had me inputting analog stick and button combos, I felt like I was at the whim of what the game thought my controller input was. For example, in the first boss fight, Penny must get onto a submarine via a special move. Then, after hitting the boss, I was expected to climb up onto the platform the boss was on. However, I found myself unable to jump up or use any traversal tricks to get up there easily, which just wasted time and let the boss recover. In another case, the yo-yo needed a very specific charge time to speed around on water, or into the drink I went, almost immediately.

Some of this stems from the fact that certain moves or techniques aren’t well-tutorialized, but it’s compounded by the fact that some controls are mapped to the right analog stick, instead of the face or shoulder buttons — moves like twirling with the yo-yo, which functions as an attack and a way to get up some platforms. It would have made more sense to keep the camera control on the sticks and rework the moves. On the other hand, the analog stick is also used in a minigame that occurs at the end of every level, but using the D-pad may have been a better, more precise option here. Even with a simple control scheme, I still had a difficult time.

Speaking of difficulties, the camera control is virtually nonexistent. The player is limited to moving the screen only slightly to the left or right, yet I found that certain areas were difficult to navigate without being able to angle for a better view.

Penny’s Big Breakaway shows promise, but it’s bogged down by long stages, smudgy-looking backgrounds, a lack of camera movement, and finicky controls. The yo-yo antics of our heroine felt great and looked cool when I could pull them off, but more often than not, I found myself back at the checkpoint or having to redo a part of the level. I was really hoping for more magic from the former Sonic Mania team. With a little more polish, this feels like it could be a great addition to the 3D platforming genre.

Rating: 6 out of 10

Disclosures: This game is developed by Evening Star and published by Private Division. It is currently available on PS5, XBO/X/S, Switch and PC. This copy of the game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on PS5. Approximately 4 hours were devoted to the game, and it was not completed. There is no multiplayer mode.

Parents: This game has an ESRB rating of E for Mild Fantasy Violence. The rating summary states: “This is an action platformer in which players help a yoyo performer (Penny) escape from a fantasy kingdom. As players traverse whimsical environments, they can glide on zip lines and smack cartoony penguins–knocking them off-screen. Penny blinks when hit and is quickly reset when defeated. Boss battles depict more protracted combat against larger characters within enclosed arenas.”

Colorblind Modes: There are no colorblind modes available.

Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: The game offers subtitles. Subtitles cannot be resized. There are no audio cues needed for gameplay. This game is fully accessible.

Remappable Controls: No, this game’s controls are not remappable.

The post Penny’s Big Breakaway Review appeared first on Gamecritics.com.

HIGH Refined gameplay and gorgeous visuals.

LOW Late-game difficulty.

WTF Recognzing so many references and having no one to tell.

It’s no secret that I’ve come to love the Sonic The Hedgehog series. Come good or bad, I’ve followed the blue blur through it all — be it live-action films, a bevvy of spin-off titles, and even some solid compilations. Last year Sonic Frontiers blew me away, reinvigorating the franchise in a bold way that signaled great things for the future of 3D Sonic games — and maybe 3D platformers in general.

Of course, the advancements in the series’ 3D design left me wondering whether similar steps forward would be taken with Sonic’s next 2D platformer, Sonic Superstars.

A side-scrolling platformer, players control Sonic and friends as they seek to stop Dr. Robotnik from kidnapping giant animals from across North Star Island.  As one might expect from the vaguely familiar premise, it’s a fairly standard return to 2D platforming gameplay and not the innovation we might have thought, but this return is still a welcome one, thanks in part to how great it feels.

Since Superstars is presented in 2.5D style (3D models on a 2D plane) I was initially worried that the controls would feel off, but I’m happy to report that movement is incredibly smooth. Sonic’s weight when running, jumping, and spin dashing feels just right, and is supported by some excellently responsive animation. It’s so tight that it feels like the 16-bit sprites from the Sega Genesis games were translated into 3D models, even down to Sonic’s idle animation. 

Spread across 12 zones, gameplay consists of running to the end of each section. Along the way are loops to barrel through, rails to travel on, falling platforms to jump from, and other obstacles to avoid. Since Sonic usually speeds through these levels at a great pace, most players won’t see everything there is to offer on their initial play. However, the hallmarks of Sonic level design are varied pathways and smart methods of traversal, making repeat visits an absolute must.

Sonic Superstars also ups the ante by introducing new, level-specific elements that force players to navigate every stage in a different way.

One piece set in a cybernetic world has players transforming into a voxel-like version of Sonic and traveling through wires as if he was in Tron, while another retains the classic pinball paddle-like platforms of past entries, only this time including obstacles that can break momentum if certain jumps aren’t timed correctly. One of my favorite (and most stressful) levels was an industrial junkyard that was on a constant slow countdown to blow up. Throughout this stage were buttons that I had to jump on to stop the clock, which forced me to slow my pace and carefully think about where I wanted to go.

While the gameplay is certainly pulled from classic, Genesis-era titles, I appreciate the developers not wanting to retread old territory — each level feels distinct and varied. A shining example includes the lack of Green Hill Zone, the first level of the first Sonic The Hedgehog. It’s been a staple of the series for decades, but its omission is a great way to flex creative design muscles. There were also some cool bits in other areas that played with gravity, made used of the foreground and background, and even completely flipped levels upside down.

Unlike the excellent Sonic Mania, which remixed older levels with a few new ones, Superstars never failed to surprise me, and I always looked forward to the next new thing it was ready to throw at me.

Another huge change comes with being able to choose from one of four characters. Players can switch between Sonic, Tails, Knuckles and Amy at any time via the menu, although there are some story-required sequences.

Each one has their own abilities, like Knuckles being able to glide through levels and latch onto walls anywhere, but story-specific levels usually have elements that make use of the mandatory character’s special ability. For example, an “Amy” stage was littered with giant fruit. Every time she jumped, she did a spin move and attacked with her hammer, which made clearing the level entertaining. I also like that every character feels distinct enough to make a player’s choice matter, although they all control similarly enough to Sonic on a base level that simply speeding through levels is just as satisfying.

Also new to the formula are the addition of Chaos Emerald power-ups.

Scattered throughout each level are bonus stages that Sonic and friends can stumble into. These usually task him with swinging through a 3D environment and avoiding hazards while trying to finish within a time limit. If he manages to nab the emerald, he’s rewarded with a special ability, ranging from being able to send out a barrage of Sonic clones, to seeing hidden items around the stage.

These abilities are cool, and add depth to both level navigation and attacking enemies. One of the abilities turns Sonic into water and allows him to travel up waterfalls, while another turns him into a fiery ball that can launch in any direction. That ability I mentioned that allows him to see hidden items around every stage? That reveals secret platforms that led me to to the location of Chaos Emerald bonus rooms.

I loved how these moves were incorporated into the level design, and they came in handy with bosses as well. One of the earliest bosses I fought went down easily after I sent him a barrage of Sonic clones to attack. I also really appreciated the touch of animating bosses to react to these specific moves, which made it all feel cohesive.

Speaking of bosses, Sonic Superstars is full of excellent battles. Much like the scale of the “titan” fights in Sonic Forces, that same sense of scope is felt here. Most usually involve Robotnik piloting a giant mech while players avoid damage and dodge projectiles. Several have great twists in both design and gameplay, like one early fight involving a robot that would extend its giant arms across the screen, requiring Sonic to run on them in order to reach the foe land a hit. Another was based on running away from a boss giving chase while avoiding projectiles and obstacles that appeared in front of Sonic. I won’t spoil any of the late-game encounters though — there are some incredible fights that use scale in impressive ways and change gameplay significantly.

As for the difficulty these bosses, I found myself dying more frequently than any other 2D Sonic. My guess? It might be a little easier for those taking advantage of the co-op mode. Four players can be onscreen at once throughout the entire campaign, which sounds great. Unfortunately, as of the time of writing, I wasn’t able to test it out. I am excited, however, to see what kind of chaotic enjoyment can come from playing through Sonic Superstars with friends.

I touched a bit on the presentation of each level, but I can’t overstate how gorgeous every inch looks. Every area is bursting with color, from the dark greens of the jungle to the muted blues and whites of a snowy mountain. That also extends to character design, as they pack so much personality into simple things like the way they move, or how they’re animated. Sonic is expressive as he runs, mimicking facial animations from his back catalog classics and feeling like key art come to life. It’s funny to play a game with absolutely no dialogue after the rather talkative Frontiers, but it still packs the same amount of charm.

While it’s certainly familiar, the amount of variety on display makes Superstars feel like a proper follow-up and evolution of the old school entries, rather than just a simple retread of those past ideas. And in a way, that’s what I love about Sonic Superstars — it knows what the fans want, but it’s not content with playing it safe. Rather, it introduces new ideas to the well-established, crafting one of the finest 2D platformers around. If Sonic Frontiers set a new standard for what 3D Sonic should be, then Superstars is arguably the new blueprint for his 2D adventures.

Rating: 9 out of 10

Disclosures: This game is published by Sega and developed by Sonic Team and Arzest. It’s available on PS4/5, XBO/X/S, Switch and PC. This copy was obtained via publisher and was reviewed on PS5. Approximately 10 hours were spent in single-player, and the game was completed once. No time was spent in the game’s multiplayer. 

Parents: According to the ESRB, this game is rated E for Mild Fantasy Violence. The ESRB states: This is an action platformer in which players assume the roles of Sonic and his friends as they zoom around colorful zones and attempt to defeat Dr. Robotnik. As players speed through whimsical environments, they can jump on enemies’ heads, causing them to transform into small creatures; Sonic and friends react to damage by losing coin-like rings and falling off-screen when defeated. Boss battles can depict more protracted combat, with cartoony explosions. 

Colorblind Modes: Colorblind modes are not  present in the options menu.

Deaf and Hard of Hearing Gamers: There are no cutscenes that have dialogue and as such, no need to worry about subtitles, but there are visual cues throughout the game, like icons on screen alerting players of different things around the level. These cannot be adjusted. In my view, this game is fully accessible.

Remappable Controls: The controls cannot be remapped.

The post Sonic Superstars Review appeared first on Gamecritics.com.

HIGH Game Gear!

LOW So we’re still doing 16:9 only, huh?

WTF Can I beg for 32X and Dreamcast ports now?

Last year I reviewed Sonic Origins, a compilation of classic Sega Genesis-era Sonic games. It’s a neat little collection offering a comprehensive look at the blue blur’s history thanks to a bunch of bonuses like production photos, music and even new hand-drawn cutscenes. 

It was flawed in its presentation and had some weird DLC options, but I was still satisfied with the final product. Even so, I lamented the lack of other features, like non-Genesis games. Funny enough, it seems like Sega had the same idea. Sonic Origins Plus is a new package that can either be bought as DLC for existing owners of 2022’s Sonic Origins or as a complete package with the original game. 

Everything in the base game is the exact same, including the title list. Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Sonic 3 & Knuckles and Sonic CD are all included, now with the added bonus of being able to play as Knuckles in CD and as fan-favorite Amy Rose in every game. It’s cool that every entry has been retroactively tweaked to work with each character’s playstyle — new pathways are available in CD to accommodate Knuckles and his gliding, climbing and digging ability, for example. It’s a neat feature giving newcomers a chance to play with their favorites while giving vets a refreshing new way to play. 

On the other hand, the same issue of the presentation being stretched to fit 16:9 screens in Anniversary mode is still present, and I’m bummed Sega didn’t give me an option to play in a much-preferred 4:3 aspect ratio. It’s not a dealbreaker, but for those who had hoped for updated visual options are going to be disappointed.

Despite that, the absolute best new addition and the main star of this DLC are the Sega Game Gear titles now included — they are the very thing I asked for in my previous review, and the results are interesting. For those who might not know, the Game Gear was Sega’s 8-Bit handheld designed to compete with the GameBoy. Reception of the machine was mixed at best, but Sega enthusiasts still hold it dear to their hearts, and the included titles in this collection are a great history lesson for Sonic fans and retro gaming nuts (like me!) 

The 8-bit versions of the first two Sonic games and Tails Adventure are delightful, if simple, platformers that deserved a proper place to experience them. Even oddities like the Sonic Drift series offer an early look at how the Game Gear could handle a kart racer. Sure, a lot of these experiences aren’t the deepest (although Puyo Puyo and puzzle fans might get addicted to Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine — I did!) but the fact that there’s a decent collection to simply preserve these older titles is a good thing. I hope Sega considers more collections for their other legacy systems.

While I don’t think Sonic Origins Plus will convince doubters of the initial release to convert and I still have my qualms over some of the presentation choice, there’s no doubt that Sega managed to make a solid package even better.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10

Disclosures: This game is published and developed by Sega. It is available on PS4/5, PC, XBO/X/S, and Switch. This copy was obtained via publisher and was reviewed on PS5. Approximately 5 hours were spent in single-player and the games were not completed. There is multiplayer but it was not tested for this review. These games were previously played and 8 hours were spent on the initial release. 

Parents: According to the ESRB, this game is rated E for Mild Cartoon Violence. This game is perfectly fine for young children, as the violence is very minimal. 

Colorblind Modes: Colorblind modes are not present in the options menu.

Deaf and Hard of Hearing Gamers: I spent most of my time playing the game on mute and found no issues. Everything has some visual cue, though there’s no way to resize text. As no audio cues are needed for play, this game is fully accessible.

Remappable Controls: The controls cannot be remapped and but there are control diagrams for each game. Most consist of moving a character with a d-pad/stick and the face buttons handling jumping and other relevant functions.

The post Sonic Origins Plus Review appeared first on Gamecritics.com.

I thought this was a garbage year for new releases until… ::checks watch:: …like a month ago.

It actually wasn’t a bad year, but up until December, 2022 seemed like a year defined by my GOTY pick and not much else. Upon further reflection, many of the games on my list were peppered throughout the year, but a solid seven or eight of my picks either didn’t come out until very late in the year or, in the case of my #2 choice, I wasn’t even aware of until mid-December. This is partially why this list is so late, as I needed a January of actually playing these games to decipher my own awards.

2022 was also a year in which I played less videogames than maybe any year since I was eight. I’ve officially hit my mid 30s, got married, my career is in full swing, and a quickly-developing poker habit means a lot of Sunday afternoons that would’ve been spent playing the latest and greatest game is now spent at a local card room playing low stakes tournaments. I still love games and will be first in line for many in 2023, but I’m starting to think that the days of “gaming” being a defining part of my life are numbered. My mother would be so proud.

With that said, I still played a fair bit (especially lately), and I’ve still got the ability to write lists, so here is the only guide you’ll need to know what was worth playing in 2022.

The “I Just Felt Like Giving This Game An Award” Award: MyVegas Slots

Ok so here’s the thing: This game is trash. Its UI is awful, it takes forever to get into the actual game, its microtransaction scheme is borderline predatory (which makes sense given it’s a game about playing slot machines), the art sucks, and it essentially preps any child who plays it towards being a gambling addict. It’s one of the few games ever made where I legitimately believe the Earth would be a better place if it didn’t exist.

So why on God’s Green Earth am I giving a terrible game released over nine years ago one of my incredibly prestigious awards? Well, frankly, it saved me hundreds of dollars this year.

I ended up going on vacation to Las Vegas twice this year. I DO NOT recommend this, but I got married there this past summer, and then my wife & I went there for Christmas this year as well due to my mother retiring to Lake Havasu, Arizona, and Vegas is the closest major airport to her.

For both trips, I used MyVegas to collect various coupons on our trip, as on top of collecting chips, the game also has another currency based entirely on length of play that can unlock various rewards to use on The Strip. So for about a month beforehand each trip, I would have this awful game running on a spare phone in the background grinding BOGO Buffet coupons and discounted show tickets. It got my best man a free room at Excalibur on his way out of town, and overall I probably used about $400 worth of MyVegas Rewards on both trips. I even got a match play that I won, so it got me $50 cash as well. Considering this is the only videogame in history to actually give me tangible, cash based rewards due to play, I felt it earned a spot on my year-end wrap-up.

With that said, if you’re never ever planning on going to Vegas (good plan), please never play this exploitative dreck.

2023’s Story of the Year: Who Gets Bought Next?

Corporate consolidation is one of the more nightmarish things happening on Planet Earth currently, and 2022 was a year where the videogame industry got hit hard by this sickness. Microsoft spent tens of billions of dollars purchasing both Bethesda Software and Activision, then Sony got scared and overpaid for Bungie… just because, I guess? NetEase decided to waste a bunch of money on Quantic Dream, and secret-CCP-Tentacle-Monster Tencent continued acquiring studios (Sumo Digital) while also owning like 10% of every company you enjoy the work of.

Also have you heard of Embracer Group? The Swedish corporation went on an absolute tear by essentially buying the backlog of multiple companies, including purchasing all of Square-Enix’s Western studios and IP for a shockingly low amount.

Speaking of Square-Enix, they were the catalyst for this award, as I don’t see them being an independent company come 2024. Considering they are tripling down on NFT’s a year after the world realized they were a sick joke brainstormed by Philistines, I expect the Final Fantasy studio to be a Sony subsidiary by year-end. Electronic Arts I could see being acquired as well. The boards of public companies are essentially incentivized by stock subsidies to cash out and sell to the highest bidder to line their own pockets even if the company is doing well, and I see no reason why this won’t continue. Less choice is always bad for the consumer, and despite various ten-year Call of Duty promises thrown about by Microsoft, there is no planet where any of this can be spun as a good thing.

2022’s “Ehh…I’ll Play It Later” Award: TIE between God of War: Ragnarok & Horizon: Forbidden West

These two games essentially take the same space in my head. Both are sequels to games I enjoyed, both are big-budget triple-A games by prestige developers, both are Playstation exclusives, and both serve very well as “Next-Gen Showpieces” for people lucky enough to have a PS5. The problem is that both God of War: Ragnarok and Horizon: Forbidden West essentially did the same thing — take the first game, slightly pretty it up, and make it bigger-er. “Longer” is not a feature I value highly in gaming, and that’s essentially the biggest innovation for each of these titles.

I recognize the immense quality of each along with the massive amount of work that went into each title, but neither of these games made me particularly excited to actually play them. I finished Horizon: Zero Dawn for the first time in the lead-up to Forbidden West’s release, and it took literally a half hour of playing the newest entry in the franchise for me to realize that this was not the game I wanted to play at the time, and I still haven’t touched it since. I hadn’t played God of War (2018) since…well, since 2018, and it still felt way too similar to me upon release. Could either of these games have made my list if I played them in their entirety? Sure. Again, there’s a lot of good in these two titles. With that said, I really don’t have a lot of drive to do so, which is, when you think about it, pretty damning.

Turd of the Year: Sonic Origins

You know it’s a weird year when the 3D Sonic game was a pleasant surprise while the 2D effort was an embarrassing letdown. Considering it’s been the other way around for two decades, I was shocked to see Sonic Origins be so profoundly disappointing. Leading this years pack in the “How did you f**k this up?” category, Sonic Origins took the seemingly simple task of enhancing Sonic 1-3, Sonic CD, and Sonic & Knuckles, then proceeded to inject nearly 30-year-old titles with a variety of new bugs and some downright awful input lag. Also, if developer Headcannon is to be believed (I’m inclined to believe them due to their exceptional work on Sonic Mania), the final product is actively worse than the gold copy they turned in to Sega.

On top of that, Sonic Origins has officially taken the title of “dumbest special edition ever” from a multitude of Ubisoft games with the downright insulting “Digital Deluxe Edition”, which charged players an extra $5 for things like a letterboxed background, the ability to control the camera in the main menu, and a music player. I don’t know which is more befuddling — Sega having the audacity to put such “features” behind a paywall (for a game that was already questionably priced at $39.99) , or that Sega thought people would be down to pay extra for such an odd assortment of bonuses. Considering remasters of old classics have been around since Super Mario All-Stars, Sega continuing to do their mascot dirty is as shocking as it is unsurprising, which is a pretty amazing feat to pull off in its own right.

Ohh and they changed Sonic 3’s music because Michael Jackson’s weird family is running out of his money and threatened to sue. When you remake a game and the final product makes me happy I have the original (now de-listed) releases on Steam, you f****d up.

NOW… THE ONE TRUE LIST THAT IS CLEARLY BETTER THAN ALL OTHER LISTS

Honorable Mention: Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII REUNION

While my list has an assortment of major nostalgia trips and a half-remake/half-sequel… thing, I’m happy to see that I, without trying, made a list that doesn’t feature a single straight-up remaster or remake. Again, maybe 2022 was better than I thought?

With that said, remakes & remasters still exist, and the best one this year modernized the only Final Fantasy VII Extended Universe thing I ever liked. The PSP advertised itself as the first handheld to offer “true” console gaming on the go, and despite the system’s limitations, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII got closer to that promise than maybe any other game released for Sony’s first portable gaming device. It featured (at the time) mind-blowing graphics, an entertaining Action RPG combat system, exceptional music, and a main protagonist that was infinitely more enjoyable to play as compared to Cloud Strife.

REUNION takes that original game and puts a next-gen-ish sheen on it. While it uses the assets from the FFVII Remake, it doesn’t quite reach those heights graphically. However, it’s a monumental jump from the PSP release. It also features smart enhancements to the combat that make it a little more fast-paced, and it’s a profound improvement over a release that really should not have been trapped on the PSP for the past fifteen years. Considering it’s importance to the new FFVII canon, this remaster both makes sense and is expertly crafted, which are the two things one really looks for when judging a remaster.

10. Sonic Frontiers

So, again, who knew that Sonic Team and their latest attempt at making Sonic in 3D would be the shining beacon for the blue hedgehog in 2022? I certainly didn’t believe it after early trailers didn’t even get me on board with another “Sonic Cycle”. Here’s the thing — while it being 10th on the list kinda makes this obvious, Sonic Frontiers is definitely the worst game here (…okay it’s not as bad as MyVegas Slots).

It maintains a lot of the problems 3D Sonic has had for literal decades like problematic camera controls, awkward enemy targeting, bugs galore, wonky physics, and a baffling story that seems perfectly tailored to the Pixiv crowd. Sonic coming to a complete stop when landing from a jump is one of the more daft design decisions I’ve run into in a long time. The pop-in is the worst I’ve seen in a videogame since Days Gone, and the way pipes just kinda appear in the sky makes the game occasionally look like something out of an alpha build. The Super Sonic sections, while they are massive in scale and offer some truly inspiring metalcore, are broken messes of failed motion that nobody could ever reasonably call fun.

All of these things are true, but Sonic Team may have actually solved the “What the hell should Sonic the Hedgehog even be in 3D?” question after all these years.

Breath of the Wild was obviously a huge inspiration as Sonic runs through massive islands sparsely populated with little nibbles of content that slowly pad stats and open new areas to explore. I’ve never enjoyed using Sonic more in a 3D space, and that’s due to the sprawling open-world design eliminating many of the cheap deaths from simply not being able to see obstacles or react accordingly to them (cheap deaths still very much exist). Now while I enjoyed my time with this game immensely, it really only rises to the title of “successful proof-of-concept”. Sonic Frontiers is a deeply problematic title, but within it one can see amazing potential, and I’ve never been more optimistic about the future of Sonic in the third dimension. Here’s hoping their next entry will produce less fan “art”.

9. Bayonetta 3

Is it weird calling the 9th best game of the year sorta disappointing? We finally get a sequel to the best game of 2014 and the 2nd best game of 2009, so needless to say my expectations were rather high, but frankly, there’s a lot in this game that I do not like.

The performance is rather terrible, which causes serious problems in a complex character action game. If one wanted a poster child for “Hey maybe the Switch is a bit long in the tooth”, Bayonetta 3 is it. Also, for a series that’s famous for its over-the-top nature, here’s actually too much going on in some scenes, as the game has a need to show off how epic everything is by panning the camera out at the expense of gameplay. The addition of giant Kaiju monsters to help out in combat looks cool, but how frequently they are used takes away from the core mechanics. Considering Bayonetta as a franchise has been known as one giant fever-dream of a party, this newest addition with multiple apocalypses just seems a bit dour compared to its predecessors.

Lastly, I’m kinda with a lot of internet people who say that the romance featured in the game is both nonsensical and antithetical to who I’m pretty sure Cereza is. In other words, this is a problematic title.

But here’s the thing — middling Bayonetta is still better than 95% of all videogames ever produced, and Platinum Games still has some of the better combat mechanics conceived by man to fall back on. When Bayonetta 3 focuses on delivering the manic combat the series is famous for, it excels, and many of the trimmings longtime fans want are here. The art is preposterous, the music is sensational, and there were few experiences so sublime this year as when Bayonetta 3 clicks. I also really liked using the new character Viola, although her addition isn’t quite as impactful as, say, Nero was in Devil May Cry. It’s a great game with quirks that keep it from hitting the delirious highs of the previous games, but that’s enough for a new Bayonetta to crack the list.

8. Xenoblade Chronicles 3

Xenogears was one of my absolute favorites as a teenager. The game was peak anime melodrama in a time where I was into that sort of thing, but above all else, I loved Xenogears because it was, and remains, totally f***ing bonkers. There are multiple scenes of characters murdering everyone they know, it hammers players over the head with themes in a way that makes Hideo Kojima look subtle, and disc 2 is essentially a multi-hour interrogation cutscene followed by fighting God. It’s a mess, but it’s a gloriously entertaining mess that stuck with me way longer than any other JRPG made by Monolith Soft with the word “Xeno” in it. The Xenosaga series was… good but never really reached that peak level of silly championed by the first game. The first Xenoblade game is an absolute classic with numerous gameplay innovations that JRPG’s now are barely getting on board with, but outside of a few hints here and there, it didn’t really strike me as a Xeno game, whatever that means. Xenoblade Chronicles 2 was literally the moment in my life where I said “hmm…maybe I’m actually not into anime anymore?”.

Now, while it still doesn’t reach the wild heights of Xenogears (probably for the best, honestly), Xenoblade Chronicles 3 was the first time I believed I was playing a true successor to the ol’ OG. Child soldiers dying over and over again in endless wars so they can power demonic robots is the kind of ridiculous concept I’ve wanted from this series for years, but Xenoblade Chronicles 3 actually tells a great story with this idea thanks to the absolutely stellar main cast. This is one of the more enjoyable group of superfriends I’ve played in a JRPG in a long time, which is good considering the staggering length of this title. Expect a 60 hour playthrough at the absolute minimum, and thankfully the inventive combat makes it engaging for the player the entire way. Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is absolutely worth the time investment for anyone into anime that goes on-and-on about the nature of existence.

7. Neon White

“Style over substance” is a bit of an overused term at this point, but in the case of Neon White, it’s actually the opposite, as the “Style” part of Neon White is its worst aspect. Unfortunately, the visual novel aspect of the game features a putrid story with some of the most grating characters I’ve encountered in a while, and the ethereal aesthetic wasn’t my cup of tea. At least the music somewhat slaps, and the game makes it pretty easy to skip through the nonsense.

Now the substance of Neon White is what gets it on the list. Once you get past the bad art and borderline tasteless writing, there is an immensely satisfying puzzle-platformer underneath with perfectly tuned controls and exceptional level design.

There are very few feelings better this year than absolutely nailing a level while bouncing around it like a ninja, and there are few feelings more infuriating than finding out that baller run was actually four seconds off the Platinum award time. Racking my brain around how to shave off those crucial seconds led to high levels of gratification. This is about the last thing I expected the Donut County developers to make, but I’m sure glad they did.

6. The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe

So a bit ago I said this list didn’t feature any remasters, and I stand by that when it comes to The Stanley Parable 2, which (…Spoilers?) is the actual title of The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe once players progress beyond a certain point. Ultra Deluxe is a dramatically expanded rendition of 2013’s funniest game — so much so, that I think it’s somewhat of a disservice to label it a a simple remaster. The original game had 19 endings, Ultra Deluxe has a whopping 42. There are hours’ worth of new dialogue from the GOAT-contending narrator along with large swaths of new areas to explore.

Furthermore, there’s a whole lot of new, hilarious introspection from writers Davey Wredan & William Pugh, who have essentially made most of the new content center around what the hell it was like to make a massively successful indie darling and the daunting task of following it up. These are themes touched on in their previous work since the original Stanley Parable, but they take it to hysterical heights here. Ultra deluxe takes what was a neat little thing with the original title and transforms it into a complete work that absolutely shines in 2023.

Did I mention it’s really goddamn funny?

5. Return To Monkey Island

The point-and-click adventure genre has had various “comebacks” over the years with the now-defunct Telltale Games kicking it off in 2004. How ironic that they then practically killed off any other modern interpretations when The Walking Dead unfortunately morphed an entire genre into “Dialogue from Bioware Games: The Game” before things got worse with titles like Gone Home sprinkling item collecting into walking around and damn near removed puzzles from the Adventure equation altogether. Weird low budget adventure games from small European studios kept the genre on life support, but this wasn’t exactly a vibrant genre in 2022.

Thankfully, Ron Gilbert is back and… he’s pretty much doing what he did in 1990 — and that’s A-OK in my book. Take away the exceptional art, voicework, and modern trimmings, and this is essentially a SCUMM game with dastardly puzzles as obtuse as they were 30 years ago. They require a fair bit of moon logic, and if you’re not up for that, they’ve put in a mode with simplified puzzles for those who just want to enjoy the absolutely stellar writing. With that said, this decidedly old-school experience was a delight from the get-go due to both its ardent convictions of genre conventions and the reverence it has for the source material. Sure, it kinda ignores the past three Monkey Island games because Ron Gilbert is a stubborn old man, but if that’s what it takes to get him to make another LucasArts adventure genre, that’s a trade i’m willing to make. This is an absolute must-play for anyone who grew up making literal mountains out of molehills.

4. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge

The moment the game started with a Mike Patton rendition of the classic Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles theme was when I knew Shredder’s Revenge was gonna be special. Tribute Games clearly loves themselves some early ’90s TMNT games, and this is one of the best nostalgia trips i’ve played in a long time. The sprite work on display here is wildly expressive while also maintaining an old-school aesthetic that I appreciated. They also did a great job with the combat, as it keeps things simple while adding a layer of depth that’s attainable to novice players. It’s not super long, but it’s longer than most games of this ilk, and there are plenty of reasons to go back.

All of that is great, but this game makes the list due to the special memories I have playing it with my wife. She’s not much of a gamer, but she had some experience with arcade beat-’em-ups as a kid and I thought this would be a good attempt at an evening of couch co-op. This was correct thinking on my part, as we had an absolute blast playing through the entire game, and she ended up being the one who demanded we continued on from where we left off the next day. This is her Game of the Year and she’s my better half, so that definitely played a part in this game being so high on this list.

3. Marvel’s Midnight Suns

For a game that I was super excited for because I thought it was going to be “XCOM with Spider-Man”, I was actually surprisingly delighted to see that it isn’t that. I wasn’t expecting a 60-hour RPG/Dating-simulator with the breadth of dialogue options found in an old-school Bioware RPG. It also doesn’t have the same sense of dread that permeates an entire XCOM run, as it’s probably for the best that a mainstream Marvel product for the masses isn’t set up to ruin 20 hours of work with one bad mistake. While I was hesitant hearing Midnight Suns was card-based in its combat, it actually became one of the strengths, as building decks allows for high versatility in all characters while allowing me to tailor my superheroes based on the situation.

Midnight Suns is built around a Marvel Comics run from the 90s, and the team at Firaxis did a great job of capturing that feel. These are great interpretations of the characters, and I appreciate that they didn’t try to ape the current vibe of the MCU. Yes the characters are quippy, but that was the style of the decade as well in the comics, so it’s appropriate. This is a fabulous comic book game made by a bunch of dorks who used their undeniable talents to deliver a deep, intricate, surprising, and meaty experience. This is the only game on this list that I paid $70 for, and it was worth every penny.

2. Vampire Survivors

So, as previously alluded to in my MyVegas rant, I kinda hate slot machines. Poker is both cheaper and more stimulating, and I’ve never really understood the appeal of dumping money into a machine and… just kinda hoping for the best? Poncle, the stage-name for the developer behind the most out-of-left-field GOTY contender I can remember, used to develop slot machines, and that shows with Vampire Survivors. He was able to take the audiovisual stimulation of a slot machine and inject it into a rather unassuming roguelike to crystalize the most potent digital crack-cocaine I’ve experienced in a long time.

Vampire Survivors‘ greatest strength is how it’s able to take the sensibilities of exploitative, microtransaction-based shovelware and craft a legitimate experience out of it. It has all the trappings of a game I should find offensively terrible, but a $5 game with weird Castlevania knock-off art has no business being this engaging and interesting, especially once players progress to a certain point and, well, things get weird. This miserable pile of secrets is something I adored peeling apart one collectable at a time, and discovering all the game has to offer on my own without asking the internet was immensely gratifying. It’s not quite Game of the Year, but it’s the best value of the year by a country mile, and I’ll happily pay for every bit of DLC that Poncle wants to drip out.

This game is a sickness infecting my brain, and I’m down for it.

1. Elden Ring

That’s right, I’m going chalk. Everyone else’s Game of the Year is my Game of the Year for the same reasons everyone else will list. Elden Ring is the culmination of nearly fifteen years worth of ideas and gameplay innovations smelted into a defining achievement for an entire genre. This is not just the best Souls Game ever made. Elden Ring is the Souls Game. If someone out there somehow didn’t know what a Souls Game was and they asked me to pick one for them, without any hesitation whatsoever, without any worry on if they’d “miss something” by not starting with the original games, I would hand them Elden Ring and tell them to go nuts. It’s so good that it makes other games in the soulsverse (is that what we’re going with?) practically obsolete. I tried to go back and play the Demons Souls remake and Dark Souls Remastered after finishing FROM Software’s newest release, and while my 90-ish hours with Elden Ring definitely prepared me to better perform while playing their older titles, the smart gameplay enhancements and truly unparalleled scope of Elden Ring make their previous efforts seem like quaint, yet important relics that allowed their masterpiece to flourish.

Ocarina Of Time is a game that people often reference as having a huge, impactful “moment” when they get out of the starting village and see the huge open world that Link had to explore. It was transcendent for so many people, but that feeling did not even compare to the feeling I had after spending 20 hours running through what I thought was the entire map, only to realize how much I hadn’t even discovered yet. This is the best open world environment ever put in a videogame, full stop. Every single inch of this absolutely massive map feels as meticulously designed as the intricate dungeons it houses, and it’s pretty rare for me to play a game for literal days with a feeling that I’ve barely scratched the surface. While I still think I may personally like Sekiro more due to its aesthetics and combat, I find Elden Ring infinitely more impressive.

An extra congratulations goes to Hidetaka Miyazaki, who has transformed what was a pretty middling studio (anyone remember Enchanted Arms?) into one of the preeminent developers on Planet Earth, churning out hit after hit after hit. He’s in the upper echelons of gaming visionaries now. Miyamoto, Kojima, Garriot, Meier, Schafer, Carmack, whomever else I’m forgetting, and now Miyazaki. Thankfully, he doesn’t seem to have the same desire for a cult of personality around him the way that some of those aforementioned names do, and I think this bodes well for both his future and the future of FROM Software. Their runaway success as a formerly-smallish independent studio goes against the grain of everything this industry stands for currently, and I can’t wait to be there with every subsequent release.

Elden Ring is not the Game of the Year. It’s the Game of Our Time.

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HIGH It’s Monkey Ball!  

LOW I cried over Monkey Ball. 

WTF I only want to talk about Monkey Ball. 

On Christmas Day in 2003, “Santa” brought me a Nintendo GameCube. This was the very first console I ever owned, and it came with a bundle of Zelda games I never cared for. however, the title that really had its hooks in me was Super Monkey Ball.

Created by Toshihiro Nagoshi (who would go on to develop the popular Yakuza series), Monkey Ball had players navigating through abstract levels and race tracks using a monkey encased in a glass ball. The object was to reach the end of a level without falling off or letting the timer run out. However, rather than controlling the monkey directly, players tilted and shifted the levels themselves, using gravity to channel the ape-ball along. 

It’s a simple concept but it gets increasingly harder, thanks to hazards like gaps, folding platforms, and narrow paths that require tricky maneuvering. Beating a level is a thrill unlike any other, especially if one takes several tries. It’s as close to a perfect experience as a game can be, and debatably one of the finest ever made. 

To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the series, Sega has released Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania, which contains remakes of the original title, its superior sequel Super Monkey Ball 2, and the 2005 compilation of both games subtitled Deluxe. This represents well over 300 levels now playable on modern consoles, and even includes SMB 2’s delightfully weird story mode in which an evil baboon (named Dr. Badboon) threatens to steal the main character’s girlfriend. 

Gameplay is nearly identical to the originals. In the singleplayer modes, players will navigate through different levels while avoiding various pitfalls. As I mentioned, the premise is incredibly simple, but like any good puzzler, getting better requires patience and practice. Even after spending dozens of hours, I found myself struggling to beat specific levels, some of which I remember being frustrated with as a child.

That frustration didn’t last long, though. before I knew it, I felt like I was six years old again and grinning from ear to ear. These titles have been repackaged perfectly, including the option to play each of the main cast in classic GameCube style and having the choice to able to swap the main menu music to the original track.

New content includes things like costumes and photo mode filters, but the absolute best thing is the array of new characters. The likes of Sonic the Hedgehog, Tails, and even Yakuza’s own Kazuma Kiryu can be used in the singleplayer levels. Hell, I thought there was no way the formula could be improved until I played as a literal Sega Dreamcast in a glass ball.

Also included is an abundance of party games for up to four players to play locally. Fan-favorite Monkey Target is here, in which players roll down a large ramp, get launched in the air, and have to glide their way onto targets in the middle of the ocean. Others include Monkey Race (four players race around different tracks and use items they pick up) as well as Monkey Fight, a boxing minigame played from a top-down perspective, in which players use an oversized boxing glove to knock opponents out of an arena. Playing these minigames with family were some of the best memories I have of my GameCube.

Like most games from my childhood, I tend to get emotional when talking about them, but Super Monkey Ball is a different beast altogether, as it was the very first console game I loved, and it’s what made me love the medium. Without these simians in glass balls, I wouldn’t be writing about videogames today.

Nostalgia and fond memories aside, Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania delivers an experience that’s always been amazing, and now it comes complete with a fresh coat of paint and a bunch of extras. To any one who hasn’t yet tried these titles, I say… Go bananas.

Disclosures: This game is published by Sega and developed by Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio. It is available on PS4, PS5, XBO/X/S, Switch, and PC. This copy of the game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on the XSS. Approximately 15 hours were spent in the single-player and the game was not completed (still playing). Over 5 hours were spent in the game’s multiplayer mode. Over 50 hours were spent across the original GameCube releases of each game. 

Parents: According to the ESRB this game is rated E for Cartoon Violence. The site reads: This is an action platformer in which players control monkeys on a quest to retrieve stolen bananas from a villain. As players roll through each stage, they avoid traps/pitfalls, collect bananas, and compete in various party games against other players/characters. In one-party game, players shoot at incoming enemy ships from a first-person perspective. A Monkey Dogfight mini-game allows players to fire pineapple missiles and cartoony bullets at other characters; explosions, cries of pain, and screen-shaking effects highlight the action.

Colorblind Modes: There are colorblind modes available. 

Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: Subtitles and on-screen instructions cannot be adjusted but the sound is not required to enjoy the game thanks to an abundance of visual cues. This game is fully accessible. 

Remappable Controls: No the controls are not remappable but there is a control diagram.

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HIGH The retro inspired 1964 Tokyo Games.

LOW The modern minigames throughout the story mode.

WTF Why wasn’t Big the Cat invited!?!

The Summer Olympic games are less than a year away, which can only mean one thing — everyone’s favorite gaming mascots, Mario and Sonic, are back to flex their muscles on the Olympic stage.

After skipping the previous winter Olympics, Mario, Sonic, their friends and rivals are back to compete in over 30 events in Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020. Included are things like track and field, swimming, badminton, table tennis, and even new Olympic sports like surfing and karate. Most are short and sweet — perfect for quick sessions and multiplayer bouts.

The sessions that are brief, like the track events or even the surfing competition, are the highlights — press one or two buttons, move the control stick, complete the event. This provides an arcade-like feel and is a blast to play with a friend or two.

Events with more complex controls, like gymnastics or discus, are less enjoyable as Mario & Sonic 2020‘s lack of a finely-tuned control scheme becomes more evident as more buttons are required. I beat these events to get them out of the way, then quickly moved on to other sports.

Sadly, team events like rugby and soccer are forgettable as well. Team sports have been minimized and simplified here, both in time limit and controls, but offer little excitement outside of seeing Mario and Sonic on the pitch — it just made me long for a devoted Mario and Sonic soccer title.

Outside of Olympic events, Mario & Sonic 2020 also includes three dream events — racing, shooting, and karate.

Racing sees players jump on hoverboards and zoom down a track while completing tricks. Shooting asks players to run around a Tokyo-inspired location aiming for targets while racking up the highest score, and karate is a four-player free-for-all. Each of these events are okay, but none really excel at what they do. Players looking for a challenge in these flavors would be better off playing Sonic Riders, Splatoon, or Smash Bros.

While each of the 30-plus events can be played at any time, Mario & Sonic 2020 also provides a story mode used to introduce some retro-inspired action.

As the narrative goes, Mario and Sonic are taking in the sights of the Tokyo 2020 Games when they run across Dr. Eggman and Bowser. Eggman wants Sonic to play his brand-new game machine, “Tokyo ’64”, but the console teleports Sonic and Mario directly into the game, thus trapping the heroes forever. However, the ’64 malfunctions and Eggman and Bowser are swept in as well. Luigi and Tails find out that their friends have gone missing (but so has the system) so the two set out across Tokyo to retrieve the console and save their friends.

Players will travel around a simplified map of Tokyo, visiting various Olympic locations — once at each site, Luigi and Tails will challenge others from the Mario and Sonic pantheons to earn medals and gain passes to other venues. Characters like Peach, Amy, and even Wario and Vector will join the squad.

Inside the ’64 console, players will be treated to an 8-bit inspired 1964 Tokyo — that year was the last time the Summer Olympics were in the city. Mario and Bowser look just like their 8-bit NES counterparts, while Sonic and Eggman resemble their 16-bit Genesis origins. In order to escape, players must earn gold medals by winning events from the 1964 Olympic Games including high diving, hurdles, and rowing, as well as seven others.

The retro-inspired ’64 events are stripped down, require simple button presses, and feel like old-school arcade button mashers.  While not all great (looking at you, volleyball!) the ’64 events are the highpoint, and an entire game with the modern events in this style would have been delightful. Hopefully they return in future installments.

Just how much replay value is in Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 will probably depend on how much a player enjoys the Olympics. There’s not much the game does poorly, but there’s not much that really stands out, either. Mario & Sonic 2020 is good enough to qualify, but it won’t be bringing home more than a bronze.

Disclosures: This game is developed by and published by Sega. It is currently available on Nintendo Switch. This copy of the game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on the Switch. Approximately 7 hours of play were devoted to the single-player mode, and the game was completed. About 1 hour of play was spent in local multiplayer modes. Multiple online games were attempted, but I was unable to find a match prior to the game’s release.

Parents: According to the ESRB, this game is rated Everyone 10+ and contains Cartoon Violence.  From the ESRB website: This is a collection of sports-themed games in which players compete with Mario, Sonic, and their friends at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. Players engage in a variety of conventional sporting events (e.g., canoe, equestrian, table tennis) as well as cartoony mini-games. In some combat sporting events (e.g., karate, fencing, boxing), players punch, kick, and lunge at opponents to score points and/or knock them down; the action is highlighted by punching sounds, colorful impact indicators, and cries of pain. A handful of mini-games involve brawling/beating up a set number of characters; piloting a plane to shoot down waves of enemy ships; shooting enemy robots with bows from a third-person perspective.

Colorblind Modes: There are no colorblind modes available in the options.

Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: All information, including the dialogue during the story, is delivered solely through text. Each character is onscreen and their name also appears above the speech bubble when they are speaking. Characters do make little sound effects when talking — these are not subtitled but do not impact gameplay or the story. Text size and color cannot be changed. The game is fully accessible.

Remappable Controls: No, this game’s controls are not remappable, but certain events allow players to pick standard controls or motion controls. Controls vary for each of the events — the left control stick and A button are the two most commonly used, but numerous events utilized all the face buttons and even the L and R triggers. Input descriptions and on-screen visuals appear when playing an event for the first time. Controller configurations can also be accessed for each game at any time while playing.

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