Sonic Colors: The Ultimate Comeback!
The year is 2010, previously Sega pumped out controversial outing yearly that not only put a bad taste in the mouths of many, but also divided the Sonic fandom to its absolute limit. The latest two, at the time, were Sonic Free Riders and Sonic the hedgehog 4 Episode I. Sonic Free Riders was an uncontrollable disaster released on the Xbox Kinect. Sonic 4 Episode I failed at reviving the traditional 2D Sonic style with physics that are unrealistic, interfering with the gameplay.
Finally, in November of 2010, Sega released a Sonic game, for the Nintendo Wii, that reminded everybody of what they initially adored about the franchise. Sonic Colors pleased the masses with its primary focus of speed, ditching the gimmicky characters and gameplay styles that soured the perspectives for many, utilizing a new gimmick that compliments the speed, rather than hindering it, and overall Improving on the boost to win style of gameplay.
Sonic Colors uses the same gameplay style that Sonic Unleashed used, where the player needs to fill up the boost meter to go full speed ahead. Although the Werehog has its fans, many argued that it was a drastic slow down in pacing and removing it would make Sonic Unleashed better. That's where Sonic Colors delivers. Sonic Colors offers six face paced levels across six worlds, the exception being the final seventh world containing only two levels, each ending with a boss fight. In later years, some have complained that Sonic Colors overly relies on 2D levels in a 3D game. While that is true, the 2D levels mostly do not interfere with the fast paced nature of the blue hedgehog.
A common mantra of the previous main line 3D releases is that Sonic's speed was overshadowed by other slower gameplay styles. Sega's answer to this was removing them. In their place are the wisps, aliens that Sonic saves throughout the adventure and can use them for special abilities. The white wisps are the most essential ones, for they fuel for Sonic's boost ability. The player can find them by freeing them from Eggman's robots, or opening wisp capsules. The other wisps, on the other hand, can only be found in wisp capsules. The boost adds an extra layer of challenge and assistance, for the player can't just boost on ahead and win. Rather, it's about preserving the boost for when it's necessary. Segments that require precise platforming may not be the right time for boosting, so saving it for when it counts is crucial. Also, the boost lets the player dodge obstacles at fast speed, so the player has to anticipate for more to properly evade them in quick reaction time.
Then there's the Laser Wisp, which allows Sonic to shoot off in any given direction. The yellow Drill Wisp lets Sonic drill through the ground and can be used for quick traversal underwater. The orange Rocket Wisp, despite it kinda resembling Kirby from Chicken Little, is used for shooting straight up like a rocket towards the atmosphere. The Cube Wisp allows for Sonic to turn blue blocks into rings, opening up new paths in the level. The spike wisp lets Sonic, not only use his signature spin dash once again, but also roll along on walls and other surfaces, even spikes. The green Hover Wisp grants Sonic the abilities of flight and his traditional light speed dash, letting Sonic automatically follow and collect a path of rings. Last but not least there's the Frenzy Wisp, it grants Sonic to become a giant purple indestructible menace on society. The more he destroys, the bigger he grows as he destroys a plethora of Eggman's robots and other destructible objects.
Wait, hang on here! these abilities are cool and all, but why does all of this even matter? This matters because it allows for alternative pathways to be explored in the levels and it is how the player can obtain the red rings. There are five red rings hidden with each level and they unlock levels in the bonus, Game Land world, also known as, Sonic Simulator. There are twenty one levels in Game Land and completing every three levels grants the player a Chaos Emerald. With the all might power of the seven Chaos Emeralds in hand unlocks Super Sonic. Super Sonic has unlimited boost, although does not have access to any of the Wisp abilities. Furthermore, the collectible scavenging is optional, so that the choice of if they want to slow down to search for red rings or not is handed down to the player.
How does Sonic Colors improve on the boost to win style of gameplay? It's the game's overall core focus on high speed platforming and the cleverly integrated puzzle platforming elements via the wisps. Sonic Colors being short in game length, yet concise and to the point, is what made many Sonic fans praise this game as one of the blue blur's best outings in his video game career. This game, essentially took what most people liked about Sonic Unleashed and ran with it. No pun intended. This game shows that 3D Sonic can absolutely rival 2D Classic Sonic if it just focuses on what people initially adored about the franchise and why Sonic is distinct. It might have taken a while, but 3D Sonic finally found its footing with Sonic Colors. It reached for the stars, although they looked pretty far. But it found its own way and took a chance on the day. The day Sega and Sonic Team woke up.
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