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notajinn · 4 months

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Top Games Played in 2023 - Number 6: Sonic Superstars

6. Sonic Superstars (PS5)

The first new 2D Sonic game since Sonic Mania had a lot to live up to.

Note that this writeup will have SPOILERS because there's some things I need to talk about that require them.

What I Like

First and most importantly, Sonic Superstars is not trying to be like Mania or even the classic Genesis games. It is clearly its own game, and I appreciate that. The physics are nearly matching those games, but the level designs give it a more unique feeling closer to the Sonic Advance series.

In general I think they did a great job with the level designs. They feel fun, unique, and mostly don't overstay their welcome. They also have a bit more emphasis on exploration, but not to the extreme level of Sonic CD.

The final zone in particular is hands down my favourite final zone in a 2D Sonic stage. Act 1 is already pretty cool, but Act 2 involves going through Act 1 backwards! I know that's been done in other games, but this is the best it's been executed in a Sonic game.

I love that there are character-specific stages. This is especially helpful for Tails who never got stages designed for him in the old games, and Amy Rose who just wasn't playable. As a big Tails fan, I really enjoyed the Tails-specific stage because it gave a challenge for a character that is otherwise considered the "easy mode" in previous games. Precise flying and backtracking were the right way to go about it.

Amy's playstyle is quite fun where she is somewhere between Sonic and Hammer Kirby. She's not quite as combat-focused as Sonic Advance, but in exchange she does platforming much better here.

The other new playable character Trip is also a lot of fun. Her spin dash lets her travel along walls similar to one of the Wisps in Sonic Colours. She has gets a very unique and weird Super form.

Speaking of super forms, this game has what I consider the easiest special stages in 2D Sonic. Not only are they about as easy as Sonic 3 & Knuckles Blue Sphere stages, but they are also extremely easy to replay if you fail since you can replay levels from the hub world. This makes them less stressful. This is also important because you actually get tangible differences from each Chaos Emerald thanks to the Emerald powers. Since I played as Tails outside of character-specific stages these weren't as important to me, but they have some useful functions like a screen clearing attack, an additional jump for a limited time, or a climbable tall vine. I found these powers most useful during boss fights.

I love that Fang the Sniper returned after so long. He's one of my favourite Sonic characters, so seeing him with a proper 3D model in game and in the animated cutscenes is just really cool. I also appreciate that he's still somewhere between genuinely dangerous and a goofball. They did a good job capturing his vibe in the aerial boss fight against him.

Adding a simple hub-world gives the game a nice level of polish. It also makes it easier to retry stages, or play the optional stages like character-specific acts or unlockable fruit acts.

The game is surprisingly long with 11 Zones, and you unlock a second Trip-specific campaign after finishing the game. I haven't tried the second campaign yet, likely leads to the true final boss

As a Tails player, I found it much easier to defeat enemies by flying in this game versus any other 2D Sonic. One other small thing is you get a special cutscene for Tails completing the game (you probably get one for each character).

What I Didn't Like

By far the biggest weakness of this game is the bosses. After the first few which are pretty standard, the bosses end up becoming FAR too long. In retrospect I realized much later that they probably intended for you to use Emerald powers, and I did for the last few bosses with great success. But they are still so long, even that aerial Fang boss that I otherwise enjoyed.

The final boss in particular is so long that it's almost as bad as the Death Egg Robot in Sonic 2. But it's still not quite THAT bad.

The other huge problem of the game is the unremarkable music. What kind of Sonic game doesn't have amazing music?! Even the ones I don't like much like Sonic Heroes had an amazing soundtrack.

I'm not a big fan of the Knuckles exclusive stage; he climbs very slow.

I was also bummed that Super Tails does not get any Flickies. He just gets the general speed/jump boost and invincibility.

Another small annoyance is when you exit the shop, you always end up at Zone 1 in the hub world regardless of where you entered. And then it can take up to a full minute to navigate back to where you were.

Final Thoughts

Sonic Superstars went for something different instead of emulating that classics. This worked great for levels, but not for bosses. If they can keep this quality of level design but make bosses quicker like the classics, a sequel has the potential to be one of my favourite Sonic games.

#top games of 2023 #sonic superstars

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thisaintascenereviews · 6 years

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Album Review by Bradley Christensen Durand Jones & The Indications – Self-titled Record Label: Colemine Release Date: July 1 2016

My last review was on Highly Suspect’s second album, 2016’s The Boy Who Died Wolf, and that review was an interesting one, because I wasn’t really familiar with that band, so I went into the album blindly (or deaf, technically speaking). I got the album for a couple of dollars, thanks to exchanging something else for it, and that’s ultimately why I got it. If I didn’t have anything to exchange, or something along those lines, I wouldn’t have picked it up, especially after hearing the album a decent amount of times, because it’s not that great of an album. I mean, they have potential, but at the same time, their sound is a bit too jarring for my tastes, trying to combine blues, hard rock, and punk together, and their vocalist just isn’t engaging or interesting at all. He falls flat a majority of the time, which is kind of unfortunate, because I wanted to like The Boy Who Died Wolf more than I really did. That’s not to say I’m losing sleep over that, because I only paid a couple of bucks for the album, like I said, so that’s why it pains me that there’s another album that I’ve been listening to that really hasn’t done much for me at all. It’s an album that I’ve wanted to hear, but the album just isn’t sticking the landing. The worst part is, however, I don’t know why. I don’t know why this album does work for me. The album in question is the 2016 self-titled LP from soul / R&B group Durand Jones & The Indications. Released on Colemine Records, this isn’t the first group that I’ve talked about from the label. You might remember Soul Scratch, who released one of my favorite albums of 2017 (that would be Pushing Fire, for the record), so this is the second band from the label that I wanted to listen to. I wanted to last year, back when I was into more soul music, but I never picked it up. I was reminded by them, though, because I’ve been seeing ads for the deluxe reissue of this album on Facebook. I thought I’d check out the album itself, because if I liked it, I’d take a look at the deluxe version.

You might have an idea of how I feel about this LP, though, because I kind of hinted at it, but this album really hasn’t done much for me. I’m not sure why, either, but I have a couple of theories. This album should be something I really love. I mean, their vocalist, Durand Jones, has an incredible voice, and their sound is right up my alley, but their sound might be part of why this album doesn’t do much for me. Don’t get wrong, though, this album isn’t bad. It’s a very, very solid album, especially for fans of retro soul. This album is very soulful, and very much vein of 1960s and 1970s soul, but that might be the issue I have. Not only is this LP very slow-moving a lot of the time (the opening track, “Make A Change,” is easily my favorite song on the album, but it’s also the most energetic song off the record), thanks to it lacking a whole lot of energy and intensity that soul music usually has (that’s not to say that soul music can’t be slower in tone, though, and I love a lot of slow-moving soul songs), and that the lyrical content just isn’t that interesting. “Make A Change” is the most interesting song, as it deals with societal issues, ultimately calling for people to “make a change,” but the rest of the album just doesn’t do much for me. That’s interesting in itself, because a lot of bands (especially these modern ones) aren’t exactly writing groundbreaking lyrics, considering a lot of these bands talk about the same kinds of things that bands from yesteryear did, but they make these ideas interesting. Durand Jones & The Indications don’t, honestly, and I just find myself zoning out. One of the other best things about the album is how short it is, only clocking in at 33 minutes, so it’s a brief listen. If the album was longer, I’d probably be a bit harsher on it, because it would very much overstaying its welcome, but it doesn’t. Despite how the album doesn’t really do much for me, it never overstays its welcome.

At the end of the day, I do like this album. I don’t hate it, nor do I think it was totally forgettable and not worth my time. There are some great things here, such as Jones’ voice (throughout the album, his voice is consistently great and awesome), as well as the overall sound, because as much as the album doesn’t stick with me in the ways that I feel like it should, I can at least appreciate, respect, and enjoy its sound, even if I enjoy the sound in theory more than I really like it. This album isn’t quite the kind of soul music that I really like, which is in the vein of Earth, Wind & Fire, as they were a soul band that had elements of R&B, funk, and rock, among other things, so their sound was both diverse and energetic. Soul Scratch was in that vein, too, and that’s one reason why I really loved Pushing Fire. Their debut LP, 2014’s Down The Road (before they signed to Colemine), is more in the vein of Durand Jones & The Indications, because they were more a straightforward soul band with less energy behind them. That album is pretty good, just like this one, but it didn’t leave much of an impression on me. Even if I’m not super into this record, specifically, it’s not bad. I’d totally recommend it, especially if you’re into soul music from the 1960s. I feel like this LP is more for fans of old school soul, especially in the vein of Aretha Franklin, Sam Cooke, old school Marvin Gaye, and artists like that, who had a slower sound, versus being funkier and more energetic (Gaye, in particular, did include elements of funk, pop, rock, and R&B into his sound during the 1970s and 1980s, though), but I can appreciate it. This might not the best introduction to soul music, however, because this can be a bit boring, lackluster, or slow-moving for people that aren’t used to music like this, but it’s well-done, well-performed, and solid stuff. I just can’t say that I’m super into this kind of soul music, but I do enjoy it from time to time, mainly certain artists. I can’t say I’ll be checking out the deluxe edition, but this LP is solid for what it is, nonetheless.

#durand jones & the indications #make a change #soul #colemine records #soul scratch #soul music #pop #funk #rock #otis redding #sam cooke #aretha franklin #marvin gaye

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