Sega for the first time ever brought a booth to Brasil Game Show 2023, and I was among the lucky few who got to attend the show during its business day yesterday. Along the many playable demos at hand was Sonic Superstars‘, which is coming out very soon.
As a fan of early career Sonic games during the 16-bit generation, Sonic Superstars is particularly special since it’s obvious that with it Sega hopes to rake in old school players, much like they’ve been doing forever with other releases like Sonic Mania. Also, in a similar way to Sonic Generations, the new game features my favorite iteration of the Blue Blur, the chubby one, who looks like he’s just waiting to be pinched.
The demo had a handful of levels to partake in, one of which happened to be one of my favorite kind ever in Sonic games: the casino stage, so of course, I picked it and was pleasantly surprised by what I got to play. As with other versions of casino, the one in Sonic Superstars feels like a maze and was as expected, tricky to deal with.
The main gist of the gameplay in Sonic Superstars is how it sticks to the original trilogy’s core tenets of play, that is, keep things simple and fast. And in those regards, this new game certainly delivered in the demo. I was hardly ever slowing down, unless when dealing with the giant pinball paddles used to push Sonic upwards, in very satisfyingly fast fashion.
By the way, the fact that I keep mentioning Sonic is that I chose to play as him, but there are other three characters to play as in the demo: Knuckles, Amy and Tails. They each offer their own twist, with Tails being able to float, Knuckles can glide, and Amy, well, she’s keen on hitting enemies with her hammer.
All in all, Sonic Superstars feels like a bonafide Sonic game in the best of ways, not wasting its welcome with the fluff that has been a signature feature in modern entries in the series. The visuals alone are colorful and sharp, and the soundtrack, albeit a tad muted by the loudness of the surrounding show floor, proved to be a throwback to the time in Sonic history that I know and love.
Sonic Superstars is fast approaching its October 16th release date and Entertainium will very likely have a review of the full version, so don’t go anywhere! See you then!
