Sonic Superstars review: Running in the wrong direction

Sonic Superstars is the latest and prettiest 2D Sonic adventure from Sega, but is the Blue Blur’s latest adventure worth your time?

Sonic games can be a blast, an exhilarating and nostalgic experience that are always fun to return to time and time again. We rejoice every time Sega releases a 2D Sonic game like Sonic Superstars, adding it to our catalog of previous entries, knowing full well we’ll explore every inch of its zones at breakneck speeds. Be it the original few games from the Mega Drive/Genesis era, the portable wonders of Sonic Advance and Rush, to the amazing Sonic renaissance that was Sonic Generations and Mania, we know we’ll always come back. Hell, we even still play Sonic 4.

Yet when a Sonic game arrives, be it a 2D or 3D adventure there’s always a risk that it’ll feature a gimmick that doesn’t quite pan out in the way Sega hoped it would. While this is an issue that plagues 3D Sonic games more than 2D ones, Sega’s desire to keep the series fresh often backfires, leading to the franchise leaning on fan nostalgia to carry it through. Sonic Superstars does a combination of these two things, suffering from something of an identity crisis.

Sonic Superstars key details

• Price: £54.99/$59.99
• Developer: Sega
• Release Date: October 17, 2023
• Platforms: PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PC

Gotta go slower

At first glance, Sonic Superstars could pass as Sonic Mania 2. The whole gang is back, along with a cool new character called Trip, and the nefarious Doctor Eggman (or Robotnik to those of us who’ve been around a while) is up to his old tricks of turning cute animals into evil robots. Sonic and his crew need to blitz through the levels, smashing Eggman’s inventions, collecting rings and Chaos Emeralds until the Doctor’s schemes are thwarted.

It’s the same classic Sonic experience we know and love. There’s the opening pretty green level, the casino-themed zone, a water level, a factory, and everything we’ve come to expect from 2D Sonic over the years. Although things feel a little bit slower than we’re used to, with gameplay often feeling more like a methodical platformer than the speed trip Sonic games usually send us on. Things never get sluggish like they did in Sonic 4, but don’t expect Sonic Generations levels of speed this time around.

The pace reminded us more of the older games, which isn’t technically a bad thing. After all, Sonic Mania also used this approach. But the issue is that this is all to facilitate this game’s gimmick, a drop-in multiplayer system that works overtime to ensure that players can share the screen as much as possible. Playing with others is the main draw of Sonic Superstars and it is fun, but as anyone who’s ever played shared-screen multiplayer in Sonic 2 or 3 will attest, it can get frustrating pretty quickly.

Mixed bag of ideas

In these older games, the one controlling Sonic would often leave Tails in the dust, needing player 2 to respawn nearby before inevitably getting left behind again. Sega has clearly tried to fix this for Sonic Superstars, but its efforts have complicated matters, resulting in a screen that doesn’t always know who to follow. You see, in Superstars, both players have the spotlight, not just the one controlling Sonic. If both players can figure out a way to stay close to each other, then Sonic Superstars is a thrill ride, but if not, then what’s left is an awkward tug of war.

On a more positive note, Sonic Superstars does something 2D Sonic games have needed to do since the Genesis era, they finally give players more motivation to collect the Chaos Emeralds. Previous entries have allowed Sonic and pals to enter their super states once all the gems have been collected, but Superstars gives every Emerald a special power, meaning it’s fun and rewarding to hunt down each of them. If you locate them all, then you can enjoy playing the game as Super Sonic and co, including the all-new Super Trip.

These powers are reminiscent of the abilities from Sonic Colors, one of the 3D (and 2D on Nintendo DS) Sonic games which had a gimmick that was welcomed and enjoyed by players, unlike the Werehog from Sonic Unleashed and other misfires. The Battle Mode also feels rather tacked on. While it is fun to create your own robot avatar or recreate fan-favorite characters like Metal Sonic and Metal Knuckles, the mode itself is lackluster and is unlikely to hold the player’s attention for long.

The Verdict 3/5

We loved the soundtrack and the ability to play as Tails, Knuckles, Amy, and Trip. It’s also worth pointing out that 2D Sonic has never looked so good. The level design is also superb, and we look forward to exploring new routes in our next playthrough, but we feel like a lot of what makes Sonic so amazing has been sacrificed on the altar of flawed multiplayer.

This makes us worry about the future direction of the Sonic games, and if the questionable gimmicks from the 3D entries will slowly start to pollute the usually stellar 2D games. While Sonic Superstars isn’t on Sonic Mania or Generation’s level, it’s still a fun and enjoyable Sonic outing where some ideas work and others don’t.

Reviewed on PS5

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