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Sonic Colors Ultimate Review


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473437270_SonicColorsUltimateboxart.jpg.6b0c619819494e70eb0f5efaafbdbd32.jpg11 years ago Sonic Colors was a breath of fresh air for the blue blur. It cut back on the rash of gimmicky hooks that had plagued the previous few games and mostly kept Sonic doing what he does best: racing through elaborate levels at breakneck speed. It was a Wii exclusive though (plus a separate Nintendo DS version), so it'd look pretty dated by today's HD standards. Sonic Colors Ultimate fixes that by upgrading the graphics and adding a handful of minor new features to the experience. But after a decade of other Sonic games, does Colors hold up? Well, yes and no.
 
The story in Colors pits Sonic and Tails against their classic rival Eggman as he once again concocts a nefarious scheme to control the world. This time he's built an amusement park in space to hide the fact that he's harvesting aliens called Wisps in order to drain them of their otherworldly energy and power his machines. It's a perfectly bland story full of bad attempts at humor and you won't be missing much by skipping every cutscene.
 
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The level design in Colors is undoubtedly the highlight of the game. Stages transition between fast-paced 3D sequences and tricky side-scrolling platformer areas. It's a formula that has worked well for a while now and more importantly it allows for some inventive level design. The 3D sequences satisfy that urge for Sonic speed while the side-scrolling sequences can be elaborate and always reward exploration as you can discover hidden secrets by sprinting off the beaten path. With richly designed levels, Colors caters well to both completionists and speedrunners.
 
The unique hook of Colors is the Wisps, the alien creatures that give Sonic new abilities. These are essentially just power-ups that help the hedgehog explore and reach some of those hidden paths, but the gimmick is far less intrusive than some of Sonic's past adventures. They don't really fundamentally change the gameplay, but they add a little extra flavor, which is probably for the best.
 
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All that said, it's hard to shake the feeling that this game design has been done better by some of the Sonic games that have come out since 2010. Colors was an important game at the time for helping remind Sonic's developers what makes the hedgehog's games fun, but now it's clear that it was a stepping stone to bigger and better things, and returning to it simply feels dated. The controls in particular can be frustratingly loose and incongruent with some of the more precise platforming challenges the game throws at the player, and they don't always find the happy balance between revelling in Sonic's speed while also maintaining a sense of player control.
 
Colors isn't a long game and can be finished in around five or six hours, but there's a lot of additional content you can come back to. It's unlikely that you'll find all of the collectibles in each level on your first playthrough, and earning the highest grade on each level is even harder. Colors Ultimate also adds Rival Rush, a side mode that allows you to race against Metal Sonic. It's not a particularly exciting new mode but it is at least more substantial than the new cosmetic customization feature that can be unlocked by collecting large coins in each level. Grabbing coins to change the color of Sonic's gloves is pretty underwhelming. Finally, Colors Ultimate adds the Jade Ghost Wisp which allows Sonic to move through walls. It's a handy way of accessing hidden areas but since it can be hard to find and hold onto the Wisp for later use its application can be pretty limited.
 
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The game's presentation has had the most obvious and noticeable upgrade, bringing Colors into HD and adding remixed versions of the soundtrack. You'd never be fooled into thinking the visuals were made from the ground up for a modern HD console, but the original Colors already had great art direction and adding a little polish helps it shine. The original soundtrack was also top-notch, and the remixed songs are just that—alternate versions, but not necessarily better (or worse) than what was already there. I should also note that as of the 1.0.4 patch, I didn't run into any of the severe graphics issues or glitches reported by early reviews of the game. There were a handful of times where the framerate didn't feel as smooth as it should be—which is even more noticeable in a fast-paced game like Sonic—but in general the game ran smoothly.
 
A decade later, one of Sonic's landmark 3D games feels…fine. What was important at the time seems like a given now, and the fact that Wisps have now popped up in numerous Sonic games reduces some of their novelty. More importantly, the original game's flaws, notably in the controls and handling department, feel more stark now and really could have used more of an upgrade rather than a straight port. If you never played the original on the Wii, Sonic Colors Ultimate can be a nice peek into his past, but the "ultimate" version of this game should be more than this.
 
Rating: 6 out of 10 Wisps
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It's a bit disappointing to see how this Ultimate version of Sonic Colors has turned out.  Considering how well received the original on Wii was it feels like this version almost tarnishes the legacy a bit unless you're completely new to this chapter in the series.  I played a little of it but Krazy definitely put the most time in as I don't think I invested as much time into Sonic games as I used to after Secret Rings.  Speaking of which, I always wondered how a remaster of those "storybook" games might turn out in this day and age but if Colors is any indication they might need to stay where they're at in the meantime.

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  • 5 weeks later...

Despite some of the bugs and sometimes poor frame-rate, I actually found Ultimate somehow enjoyable. This is coming from a guy who never played the original, as I was in college at the time when I didn't have a TV in my dorm room. Some of my complaints come from the act design, the completion criteria, and some other stuff the original had. I played this two months after I got the game, because I was a little bit skeptical. I bought the Wii version years ago, but still have the case unopened. And perhaps I'm jaded, but I really liked some of the remixes too. But, some Wisps powers somehow stopped it at times. Weird. While it's not perfect, I'm okay Ultimate exists to some extent. I'll say it's my favorite 3D Sonic game, even better than SA2. Again, I'm coming to this game as a newcomer, so take that as a grain of salt. 

 

As for the humor... that was kind of intentional. Seriously, Sonic has had a horrible track record of being dark and edgy, and where did that get Sonic?! Shadow The Hedgehog, Sonic 06, Sonic Unleashed, Sonic Forces, Sonic Adventure 2, the Storybook series. And at least it's self-aware that its story is stupid and simple.  

 

Last, as for the controls... I found this game better to play than SA2. Heck, I think it controls better than Generations and Forces. It's the best controlling 3D Sonic, for me.

 

(I'd somehow gladly take this over Sonic The Hedgehog 2, but 3&K and Mania are just better than Colors Ultimate.) 

 

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I thought the latest post here was about the latest patch to this game. 1.05..came out last week. It appears the glitching problems on Switch are gone but the input lag is still there. Not sure because the Switch version is 30fps compared to the other versions being 60fps.

 

I think down the road I will buy the Switch version. Glad I didn't PO and I was thinking to but forgot to.

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