Sonic Superstars Review

After a romp through a vast (Sonic) Frontier, Sonic is back in a brand new and more traditional adventure, and he’s brought along his friends for the ride. Let’s see how Sonic saves the day along with Tails, Knuckles, and Amy in Sonic Superstars!

He’s back!

Dr. Robotnik is up to no good (again) and he has set his eyes on the Northstar Islands, home to a bunch of large animals that he would love to add to his army of Badniks. This time, he’s hired a familiar face to help him round up this collection of large critters.

Fan favorite character Fang the Hunter is back and ready to do Dr. Robotnik’s dirty work, for the right price. Helping Fang, albeit reluctantly, is Trip, an inhabitant of Northstar Island who had the rotten luck of running into Fang. In true Sonic fashion, the blue blur and friends must travel to the Northstar Islands and put a stop to Robotnik and Fang’s plans.

It’s a tale as old as time and is still the tried and true kickstarter to an all-new Sonic adventure. You’re even presented with in-game cutscenes showing what Fang is up to all the while tormenting his reluctant sidekick Trip.

Sonic Superstars goes back to its 2D platforming roots through multiple Zones and Acts. If you’ve played any of the past games during the Sega Megadrive/Genesis days, then you’ll feel right at home the moment the first level loads. New to Sonic? Don’t fret! Sonic Superstars is very easy to pick up and play, even when considering the story, so don’t get intimidated and miss out!

Get ready to dash through multi-leveled Acts with hidden areas housing medal collectibles, all the while racking up as many rings as possible before you reach the end goal. This is a Sonic game after all, so expect those fast-paced roller coaster-like sequences and loops that are a staple in Sonic 2D platformers. Veterans of the series will feel right at home with Sonic Superstars and see many familiar elements that are iconic staples of Sonic titles.

The boss fights at the end of each zone provide a standard challenge that should be beatable after a retry or two. Don’t worry, we’re not talking Dark Souls-level difficulty here so even the younger gamers should have some fun.

Speaking of staples, you can bet those hidden giant rings are still around that grant you access to bonus stages where you can earn the highly coveted Chaos Emeralds. And you’ll want to get them all because aside from a sense of completion, each Chaos Emerald now grants you specific abilities like creating multiple copies or letting you dash quickly in one direction, adding an entirely new way of traversing the level and opening up new pathways that were not normally present.

There are also the standard modes aside from the main campaign like the Time Attack, which speedrunners will love, along with a Battle Mode where you can battle it out with your friend on and offline, which brings us to a great new feature in Sonic Superstars – new playable characters!

More friends, more fun

As mentioned, Sonic isn’t alone in saving the Northstar Islands from Robotnik in Sonic Superstars. You can choose between Sonic and friends as you traverse all the Islands’ many zones, each with different abilities that are unique to them. Tails can fly, Knuckles can glide and punch his enemies, and Amy packs a punch with her hammer and can double jump.

One fun thing about getting to play as the different characters was replaying past Acts and Zones to see if you could have done things differently, keeping things fresh during Time Attack.

It’s even more fun with friends as you can tackle each act with up to three of them. It can look a little chaotic when you have all four initial playable characters on screen but that’s the fun of playing with a full house. If you get tired of playing with each other, then you’ll want to play against each other in Battle Mode, where you can even customize your avatar with cosmetics you unlock as you play.

The Battle minigames are a mixed bunch and easy enough to understand so you won’t need to worry about not getting the rules. These can range from simply being the last survivor to collecting the most stars, and they’re a fun distraction from the main campaign if you want to just play with friends or other players online.

Sights and sounds of Northstar Island

Sonic Superstars scores a win when it comes to the visuals. The stages look as vibrant and atmospheric as ever and the characters look very lively and emotive, all while running (heh) at a silky smooth 60 fps. The starting Bridge Island Zone really gives off vibes of the classic Green Hill Zone while the Pinball Carnival Zone lives up to its name with its bright colors and Act 2 even looks like a haunted attraction.

Animated cutscenes are even scattered about which can be pretty amusing to watch. If anything, it actually feels like a letdown that there are no voiceovers at all accompanying both the animated and in-game cutscenes. Sure, you can pretty much follow the story through the characters’ silent interactions but hearing Sonic and company talk could have made the experience more complete.

It’s also a little unfortunate that the overall soundtrack of Sonic Superstars feels a little forgettable. Don’t get us wrong. The music in each zone fits their respective themes and sounds lively enough, but not a lot of tunes stand out enough that you’ll want to listen to them again. Sonic Superstars unfortunately doesn’t exactly have any tunes that can match such classics.

What we liked:

• Classic Sonic gameplay is still fun
• New abilities open up new avenues to explore levels
• Bright and colorful visuals
• Multiplayer modes

What we didn’t like:

• Soundtrack is rather forgettable
• Lack of voiceovers

Verdict: Wait for it…

Sonic Superstars is a solid 2D platformer that freshens up its classic gameplay with a vibrant new look paired with new features such as abilities from the Chaos Emeralds that open up a fun new way to go through levels apart from just running through them.

Despite the new additions, Sonic Superstars doesn’t do anything particularly well but it does provide the classic Sonic experience, albeit with a twist, for better or for worse. The formula has not really changed in a while, and that could be a good thing if you’re looking for some old-school platforming. Players looking for something new would do well to check out Sonic Frontiers!

*Sonic Superstars was reviewed on a PS4/PS5 with a review code provided by the publisher.