Sonic Superstars

[Hero-of-Time]

Finished this today.

Spoiler

Yeah, I think I enjoyed this more than Mario Wonder. There's certainly more to do in this and it actually offers a bit of a challenge, not to mention has proper boss fights.

If you just play through the story and leave it at that then it will be a pretty short experience but if play the extra content then you will certainly get your monies worth.

In each of the stages there is a hidden gold enemy. Not only do you have to defeat it but once you have finished it off you then need to complete the level without dying. This is a hefty challenge, especially given that a lot of stages have boss battles. I'm currently working my way through all the levels but decided to go through them from last to first. Figured I would get the hardest ones out of the way and hopefully they will get progressively easier. Doing the final stage without dying was a doozy.

Once you complete the game you will unlock another story to play that has you control a different character that can't be switched out. This is another thing that offers a decent challenge. It's essentially another run through the game but on a much harder difficulty. Bosses take more hits to bring down and there are more enemies in each of the levels. I'm currently a few levels into this.

I quite like what they've done with the Chaos Emeralds. Once you collect one of them it will grant you a power up. These seem to take the place of Wisps from previous games. Getting the Chaos Emeralds requires you to find a giant golden ring that's hidden in the level. Jump through it and you will be transported to an area where you must chase the emerald and catch it to obtain it. It's kinda like a new version of the Sonic CD bonus stage. Instead of running after it, you now grapple through the air and swing towards it. It's definitely one of the better Chaos Emerald mini games in the series.

I've played with a couple of the characters now and I like how different they are. Using each of them you can find different paths to take in each of the levels. Tails comes in handy when looking for the golden enemies due to his ability to fly. Same goes for Amy who can double jump and gain that extra height and distance.

Yeah, there's a lot to like here. I imagine I'll be needing to put a fair bit more time into this before I pop the platinum trophy.

[Hero-of-Time]

I completed the extra story this evening and then it unlocked another story to play through. The game just keeps on giving. According to the PS5, I've clocked 20 hours on it so far. It's easily giving me more bang for my buck when compared to Mario Wonder.

The story I just finished was pretty tough at times. I liked how the levels were changed ever so slightly to increase the difficulty. The boss fights reminded me of older games where it came down to practice and memorization. This was certainly the case with the final battle, a fight that took me well over an hour of practice and patience before I was finally beat it. Definitely one of the hardest bosses I've fought in a platformer in a very long time.

I'm also still working my way through the stages trying to get all of the golden enemies. I think I have 7 left to find...

[Hero-of-Time]

Success.

The true final boss was a decent battle. It wasnt as hard as the one I tackled yesterday but it still took a few tries.

Honestly, this is a GOTY contender for me. I simply loved my time with it. It was fun, offered a challenge, had a great trophy list and offered plenty of content. Very happy with my experience and having now completely finished it, yeah, I found it much more enjoyable than Mario Wonder.