Sonic Superstars | Review in 3 Minutes
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- čas přidán 16. 06. 2024
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Marty Sliva reviews Sonic Superstars, developed by SEGA.
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I've been playing Sonic game since Sonic 2 from 1992 and I can confidently say, that in my opinion and experience with 2D Sonic games, Sonic Superstars, while not perfect, is a very solid and highly enjoyable game. I've read some negative criticism online and while I can understand and even agree on many of them, I think the way things are often presented has been blown way out of proportions. Wether it's the complaints about level design or music in this game, it seems to me that this once again shows the pack mentality of people. We like to sing along the choir and as we do it, the original message gets blown out and distorted. I think this is a fun and enjoyable game and you can see how much attention to detail went into this. Lot of references to past events, characters and even nods to other Sonic soundtracks. Minor issues are present, which could be improved upon, but nothing comes even close to breaking the gameplay or ruining the enjoyment. I think this is a VERY solid Sonic game from a team that, excluding Oshima, has never worked on the Sonic franchise before.
It is a really good game.
I just started playing this game and I love it!!
Definitely planning on picking this up when it goes on sale. It’s hard for me to justify buying any game at full price, but a pretty good 4 hour game versus two GOTY contenders releasing on Friday makes it a “wait for Black Friday” title for sure.
What are the two GOTY contenders? (I guess Mario Wonders is one?)
Spiderman 2 I would guess is another@@xyoxus
@@xyoxus spiderman 2. Both games are hovering above 90 right now on Metacritic and OpenCritic. Both release 10/20.
Are we talking about the year that had Hogwarts Legacy, Tears of the Kingdom, Baldur's Gate 3 and Jedi Survivor in it (if we're just talking mass appeal stuff)?
@@unvergebeneid Hogwarts and Jedi were and partly are still technical train wrecks, nothing this bad should even be allowed to contend for GOTY
Interesting how “forced to fail a couple of times to learn the pattern” is considered annoying now, but during the NES era, all Mega Man bosses worked like that, and people liked it.
I like it. I mean ffs people love Elden Ring and its bosses rely on that same thing. You get conditioned into learning their patterns by facing them a handful of times.
Notice you said nes Era. gamers had no choice but to deal with it games and gaming consoles aren't limited anymore by hardware which ultimately decided the design choices for games at that time
@@tdenzel101Gamers had no choice, but I also think that they genuinely liked it. The first time you encountered a boss, he would sometimes destroy you within seconds. But then you would try again and again, and you would learn the pattern and turn things around. That felt so good. I think this pattern made the Mega Man games better.
MegaMan games were fun. And the gameplay mechanics required experimentation while protecting your life bar.
Sonic games punishes you for being fast.. It's only gimmick.
A game that makes you go fast punishes you for being fast. Let that sink in.
@@WhatIsMatter101
The charm of the older games did that, and people liked it.
Its rewarding to figure out the patterns and routes on the stage and go the fastest you can.
Its a good game. You just are not a fan of the older titles of sonic.
As long as I'm NOT forced to play through yet ANOTHER rendition of Chemical Plant Zone, then I'm all in with this one.
Idk, Chemical Plant Zone has one of the best songs from any game ever, so I wouldn't mind too much. But to each their own
@@VeritabIlIti
I don't hate Chemical Plant Zone. I do love it. and you're right, one of (if not) the best song in Sonic's library of music. But OMG there's way to many uses of that stage in sonic releases these days. I can only give a solid pass to the re-release of Sonic 2, and Sonic Generation being the first time it's been remade to celebrate Sonic's anniversary. But seriously SEGA, Sonic Mania, Sonic Forces, Sonic Frontiers, Lego Dimensions.... Just make new stages like the old days. Every game didn't repeat stages back then.
um.... except Green Hill Zone...lol.
@@adny02 we don't talk about green hill zone lol
@@VeritabIlIti lol.
I do keep wishing for a new underwater stage, like the one in the first game. Labyrinth Zone (I think). I'm sure the excuse is it'll slow down the pace of the game. But these are game designers. I'm sure they can come up with a way around that. Like a shield or powerup that will keep his momentum or something.
@@adny02 that's a hooooot take. Labyrinth Zone is kind of infamous for how brutal it is
$60 is an insane price, especially with Mario and Spider-man coming out soon.
why?
Not when you only have a Series x
That's true,but to be fair, $60 is kinda of a insane price tag to Mario Wonder as well
It's the standard for Nintendo, but oh well
@@TheBlueArmageddon I feel like sonic doesn't have the same market presence as mario or spiderman. Especially a side scrolling 4 hour sonic game. So, asking people to choose between sonic, or the other two isn't a good idea imo.
pirates are attacking from the west 🏴☠️🏴☠️
Really cheeky of Marty to remind everyone of his love for 3D Sonic games
Actually having a hint of trial and error in the boss battles is a good thing in my book. But im coming into this from the genesis days. Where eggman was basicly a snoozefest rather than an actual boss. Exception labyrinth zone.
I found the trial and error in mania not much fun at all, and never finished it
@@sealionroarAnd Mania is a pretty easy game. Now I wonder, what have you finished? Not judging just curious
@@MadsonOnTheWebHe's probably a kid, leave him be
@@TimurSokol Maybe, that's why I just asked without joking or anything bad. Not to being mean but honest curiosity
4 hours? I know it’s a side-scroller, but I would’ve hoped for more especially for $60. I guess that may not include finding collectibles for unlockable stages, but that doesn’t sound great. Was gonna wait for a sale anyway, but this is a bit of a bummer.
Sadly my love for sonic didn’t bother to look at the price
Price didn't bother me that much either.
Getting Denuvo unannounced on release day, however... that's a refund for me, dawg. Wouldn't have preordered a game with Denuvo in the first place and don't appreciate them trying to pull a fast one.
IDK, it's the same length as Mario Wonder. Though after you beat the main Superstars campaign you unlock a hard mode campaign for a new character with some new abilities of their own with changed enemy placements / slightly modified areas / a new final boss. (Which I would say doubles it from 4 to 8 hours). AND THEN there's still battle mode, for those interested in online multiplayer.
@@Alino- Hmm… hopefully the new character changes it up enough. I don’t usually replay campaigns/hard modes.
finally a sonic game that makes sonic team team look like copentent developers
more like arzest
Frontiers is better
So... its fine. Wow, nice job Sonic Team 😅!
You really have to grade on a curve with Sonic games.
It’s not totally broken? They did good 👍
Each of their own, I guess. I've been playing Sonic game since 1992 and I can confidently say, that in my opinion and experience with 2D Sonic games, Sonic Superstars, while not perfect, is a very solid and highly enjoyable game. I've read some negative criticism online and while I can understand and even agree on many of them, I think the way things are often presented has been blown way out of proportions. Wether it's the complaints about level design or music on this game, it seems to me that this once again shows the pack mentality of humans. We like to sing along the choir and as we do it, the original message gets blown out. I think this is a fun and enjoyable game and you can see how much attention to detail went into this. Lot of references to past events, characters and even nods to other Sonic soundtracks. Minor issues are present, which could be improved upon, but nothing breaks the gameplay or enjoyment. I think this is a VERY solid Sonic game from a team that, excluding Oshima, has never worked on the Sonic franchise before.
@rollingstart_90s90 , I've also played sonic since his first game. Owning nearly all of them across the various consoles.
Sonic team have made some pretty awful games in the last 10-15 years. Leaving the character and franchise to survive on the memory of the past.
@@KArchine I can agree to an extent, yes. I personally haven't liked any of the games from the past 20+ years, excluding Mania and Frontiers, which the latter one especially is not without it's issues. While it is certainly more than justified that we as fans demand the highest quality possible, from a multi million dollar company, them falling short on some aspects does not mean that the product they put out can't be viewed as solid, good experience. There is a big difference between a bad product and a product that has it's shortcomings. There is a problem with modern day culture of many people going out of their way to absolutely annihilate something just because it's not perfect or exactly as they wanted it to be. It's black and white with people nowadays and there is no inbetween. No matter how I look at it, Sonic Superstars, despite it's shortcomings, is not a bad product. Could it do better? Yes, but in terms of quality, this game is far from being as bad as some people make it seem to be.
@@rollingstart_90s90 For my money (and personal criticism) Saga have allowed their mascot to wallow in sub par games far too often. Not showing an energy or passion that is seen on similar age Nintendo games fairly consistently. I dont believe all the new ones are awful by any means, frontiers was fun, and mania (while not sonic team) showed that there is still energy and ideas on the sonic 2d front.
But Saga just seem uninterested in getting the sorts of people involved with Sonic, that have the enthusiasm to drive him forwards in the same way Nintendo does.
Still, as to my first comment, I genuinely believe it is both true, and a sad indictment of current Sonic games that an ok game is a bit of a win
They screwed up the pricing on this. I'll wait fair a sale like many others.
Not really it's selling pretty well
@@pinktrutle1490 Yeah, it's my favorite sonic game like... ever. And also my favorite sidescroller / 2d game ever. I am in love with this and am so glad I bought it. I prefer it to Wonder but both are grea.t And why tf are people bitching about the 'lack of content compared to price' in this when Wonder is the same length? Sure it's Mario, which I guess gives it a pass on fair reviews because god forbid a mario game be fairly critiqued. But anywho - the game's great - and it's worth $60 if you're a sonic fan. I've done one run with Sonic so far and am on the hard-mode run with Trip now. Nearly 9 hours of playtime so far and I haven't even touched multiplayer-battle mode or done co-op yet.
Obviously people will call Wonder a better game, and I guess Wonder's more innovative, though I prefer Superstars. But again, both are great platforming games.
I found a big in the eggman base when a platform lowers if you stand all the way to the right you will die as if you are getting crushed.
I’m really enjoying it so far. The levels are well designed, all of them have some unique and fun mechanics, and none have overstayed their welcome so far. I feel like this is the Sonic equivalent of “New Super Mario Bros.” and that’s not a bad thing at all given how poorly Sega has handled the 2D Sonic game play over the years. Mania is amazing and arguably better than this game. But if Mania is an A, I’m happy Superstars is an easy B+.
Mania is a B+ mainly because it uses old stages I'll give superstars an A because it fully tries something new instead of nostalgia bating.
Thankfully we have Super Mario Wonder.
For those complaining about it being $60 for a 4-hour game: the sidescrolling Sonic games are MEANT to be played through quickly (kinda Sonic's whole deal, lol) and it's also meant to be very replayable, with finding secrets, finding the most optimal path, or in some cases, like here, playing with other characters. I'm willing to bet you'll be able to get through Wonder in 4 hours if you want to, as well. Being short isn't a downside if the experience is good. If a 2D Sonic took 10+ hours it would be a real drag. The Genesis games were Much shorter than 4 hours, and the Advance and DS games were less as well. 4 hours is fine.
wonder is like a 12 hour campaign
@@funnyboyi You sure about that?
@@funnyboyi No, it's not. Sonic Superstars and Mario Wonder have NEARLY the exact same completion time from reviewers. And Sonic Superstars also has a hard mode with a new playable character that changes enemy placement and in some stages modifies features entirely and has its own final boss. And it has its online multiplayer battle mode... There's a lot Superstars has to offer that, for some reason, a lot of reviewers don't even bother mentioning.
Yeah but not $60 bucks or $90 cad. Games are not worth the price they ask for as a Canadian. So much more I could buy or save up for.
I would say $40 is too much. As I believe I can get indie games with the same things that you listed for much much cheaper.
Awesome job Marty
I love these reviews so much.
1:56 Knuckles & Knuckles & Knuckles & Knuckles & Knuckles & Knuckles & Knuckles & Knuckles & Knuckles...
Sonic Team making a solidly playable game? Again? Sounds like they've got a streak. In the meantime, I need to keep playing other games, so this will go back into my "don't care" region of my brain.
Thank you for the review!
It should be noted that another studio Arzest did a lot of the work here
@@partyjams wasn't Arzest founded by ex Sonic Team members tho?
@@axelprino some of them yes. But the point is it wasn't just Sonic Team. The original comment was referring to the Sonic Team who made Frontiers.
@@partyjams ah, yes, I imagine the team that made Frontiers couldn't have had that much involvement in this project since they were still working on Frontiers' DLC's up until very recently.
It's just that Arzest feels less like an external team and more like old employees coming back for one throwback project, it'd be like if Ancient or Dimps came back to help develop one game.
@@axelprino I can see what you mean. And to your credit if this game does well, they will probably be a mainstay developer for 2D classic sonic games going forward. So the Dimps analogy is accurate. My original comment was more of an fyi than anything
Releasing this so close to Mario Wonder was a horrible idea.
Controls are perfect but The background graphics are interfering so much which is confusing at some parts .. 😢
that was a long way to say "it's fine".
Thanks for the review!
This looks and sounds a lot like back to formula.
Which might not be a bad thing, considering Sonic's attempts at innovating in the past...
Bruh 60$ for 4 hours is fucking inexcusable, there's 10 dollar indies that last longer
So you're not playing Mario Wonder then?
@@Alino- I refuse to believe that you can beat it in 4 hours playing normally
@@Eliagiulioyou can
Saying superstars doesn't bring nothing new to the table and then pointing out the most ripped game in Sonic History (Yes, Mania is basically classic levels with a few new ones) is hilarious 😂
Yeah, Superstars is my favorite Sonic game now. I can confidently say it's a 9.5/10 for me personally as I'm finishing up the hard mode campaign where you play as Trip. Mania's great and all but it's literally just a rehash of the first 3 sonic games, which I guess is also what makes it so popular.
And superstars DEFINITELY brings in new stuff - all the zones are new, and the emerald powers are new, and there's even a new frickin character.
@Alino- couldn't agree more. Even little tweaks like the Press Factory level or Cyber Space alone makes this something unique to the franchise
@@turtlepm Yeah. I genuinely hope they improve on this further and deliver a Sonic Superstars 2 within the next few years.
Never forget they could've just done Sonic Mania 2
@2:41
Marty: "The whole game is wrapped in some great music--"
Jun Senoue, drunk on Genesis soundboards: "Allow me to introduce myself." *_[hicks while playing Sonic 4 Oil Desert 2]_*
(Duck noises)
I am shocked anyone would consider sonic cd better than this
I am enjoying it. My dislikes are no checkpoints for bosses and losing medals and fruit after you die. And you will die during a boss fight. So it seems pointless to even try.
A 4-hour game at the cost of some high budget AAA titles? No thank you.
Nice post
you had me until $59.99- for a four hour game??
with four different playable characters
I mean, it's the same length as mario wonder? IDK why this is shocking people. But even after you beat the base game, you unlock a hard mode with a new playable character and get to go through the game with changed enemy placement, some changed scenery features, and a different final boss. And then there's the online battle mode for those who are into that.
Oh god I just realized this is an Arzest game 😢
I've not heard of them before, what's their deal?
@@SymbioteMullet they made Balan Wonderworld, but even before that they never really made anything great. Funnily enough Sonic Superstars might actually be the best game they’ve ever made despite it just being fine.
@@Batterskull Oh.
OH.
Oh...
I'm playing it on PC and it looks amazing (much better than in this video, must be the Switch version...). And, for a Sonic game, it has a lot of new stuff like the emerald powers, plenty of collectibles and so on. I'm loving this game, it's colorful and pretty that the only thing that comes to mind is fun.
I love this game, but I swear any review that doesn't mention the true, grueling, final ending bosses not having checkpoints in their review didn't even beat the full game.
I got wonders and sonic for $80 total
I can't wait for yahtzee to explain how this game poisoned our waters, burnt our crops and brought a plague to our households
Not on Escapist at least 😅
As others are saying, looks fun but not worth $60.
Does it bug anyone else that this doesn't even look as nice as SONIC GENERATIONS? I'm all for "shorter games that look worse," but "worse than games made over a decade ago" might be pushing it a little.
It's true though, the 2D stages in Generations from a decade ago looked better than this. How is that possible?
Eh, Id disagree. The amount of motion going on here is on another level, not to mention how terrible the physics in Generations were.
2D in Generations played like absolute ass.
The 2 minutes I played of this game before refunding it over Denuvo felt better than the entirity of 2D Generations.
However, no amount of quality is substitute for including abusive DRM, especially without announcing it prior to release. But hey, at least I got to learn how to refund a Steam preorder.
I just meant the visuals. I don't think anyone is trying to argue that the physics or level design was better in Generations' 2D stages. It just felt like the backgrounds were a little more filled out compared to some of the ones in Superstars, which can look a bit sparse in some areas.
I find this game leaps and bounds more beautiful than Generations.
Pre ordered this but technical issues (can’t spin dash over 60 fps) and sliminess (no denuvo or egs mention until post launch on steam) made me refund. Not worth the money right now.
Cant waot for Chris Chan to review it.
Marty actually sounded bored doing this review! Guess just unhappy he didn't get mario wonder!
That's just how he sounds when he reviews lol. He has a smooth review voice vs his podcast voice.
as a fan of 2d sonic I am down!
I sadly refunded this game. Two reasons why, It stutters the frame rate its horrible on PC and the other is please get rid of that Epic Games launcher as its something to do with online, i would wait for this game to drop down in price a bit, I find it too high just looking at it.
Also, and completely unrelated to any performance issues (trust me guys, no relation at all), it has Denuvo.
You just have a bad pc frame rate is wonderful on pc
I have no idea how this actually plays, but from just looking at gameplay the screen looks to zoomed in for the speed at which you are going. looks annoying to play.
Don't worry Yahtzee, that's not the public majority, it's the vocal sonic fanbase minority that disliked your video
They should've kept the pixel style.
The better game
Something about the vivid colors and 3D look is legitimately hurting my eyes. For $60 I would rather emulate an older game on my computer for free
The background music was a bit loud on this video. And it was kind of funny that you praised it, since it made me want to tear my ears off before the review was over 😅
$60???? Did mania even cost that much???🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️
Nice review Marty! I was excited for this, til i saw it was £55, which seems a bit much for a faux 2D platform game these days. I'm also a little concerned it becoming over-complicated (for a 2D style sonic game) with the Metroidvania style traversal powers. Visually it looks great though, and it looks like the first time ive ever seen a 2D style sonic game made with polygons that actually has the momentum and jump right.
One for the sales methinks - £30-35 seems more of a fair price to me.
Adventure is a strong game. That made me laugh 🤣. That game was booty water. Review is invalid now.
Bottom line is, is it worth £55 over Mario Wonder? Errrrrrrrrrr Na.
$60?! 😢😂
$59.99??? this should at most be $29.99
To add injury to insult, on PC it comes with Denuvo and Epic Online Services, too.
EOS is automatically installed and executed without user consent on game launch, and then you get a prompt to log in to Epic in game.
If you manage to spot the close button to skip it, it'll be there again on every subsequent launch.
Great game, best Sonic ever. User score on metacritic is 91, a more accurate score than the reviewers who always want bigger, longer, and better. I wish it would have been cheaper but I'll play this more than any other game in that price ranges because replayability is through the roof.
> Best Sonic ever
Has your only Sonic game before this been Forces or something? jfc standards are through the floor.
@@TheTechnician27forces is better tbh
66% positive ratings on Steam, though.
They really fucked up by sneakily adding Denuvo and Epic Online Services with no real warning prior to release. Store page warnings only got there hours later. Preorder refunds galore!
@@samcandlesthe fuck are you on about pruv
@@TheTechnician27Bro this game is wonderful. There is so much content, you just never playe dit and relied on this shitty review for it.
Lotta random shade thrown at Sonic games from the past.
It's unfair that Marty reviews Sonic games lol
Overstimulation…
I'm sorry what... FOUR HOURS?!? instant pass until this is at least half off.
This is so unfortunate... it sounds like they finally nailed the gameplay but oh my god the visuals are just *terrible*. The character design is in the right direction but holy fuck this game is ugly and clunky looking.
it looks like a mobile game tbh
£55 for a 4 hour game. Are you insane, SEGA?!
They could have learned something from Mania but they didn't. As always. I'll be back when I'm 50 and the next good game accidentally comes out.
Learned what? Xerox the MD games with a few new bells and whistles.
@@CornishCreamtea07 That's what Mario has been doing with 2D forever and nobody really complains. Drop dash was a bigger game changer than anything 2D Mario has done since the NES but if you want to pretend like Mania isn't a great game then you're entitled to be wrong.
@@magnumd-pad5138 Ah the drop dash, the new* move that Sonic fans call a game changer because.. reasons.
*originally in the prototype of Sonic 3.
@@CornishCreamtea07 I will always wonder why the sonic fanbase is so sensitive and are usually wrong in everything lol
@@decas5505 I know what you mean, they get very obsessed over bizarre things as well, like the aforementioned dash drop.
the most generic sonic game i’ve ever seen. flavorless lol
This game looks and sounds very cheap imo. I love sidescrollers and have paid 60 usd for a lot of them, but this just ain't it
Will stick to Mania in the meantime
Sounds good but $60 is too much for a sonic game
its garbage, its very short. as much as i died. beat it in bout 4 hours. too many auto scroller bosses. its game you play once beat it and never again.