Sonic Superstars is a 2.5D platformer that has you rescue the animals of a mysterious island from the evil clutches of Dr. Eggman. Read our review to see what it did well, what it didn't do well, and if it's worth buying.
Sonic Superstars Review Overview
Sonic Superstars Pros & Cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
 Vibrant Visuals Emerald Powers Bring A Lot Of Versatility |
Collectibles Gated By Terrible Minigames Messy Multiplayer Modes Questionable Practices With The PC Version |
Sonic Superstars Overall - 62/100
Despite how pretty the game looks and how fluid its action is, it's quite difficult to recommend it to anybody but the most dedicated Sonic fan - especially at its current asking price. It's swamped with design issues that seem hell-bent on ruining the game's expected blazing-fast experience. Although the overall solo experience is fine enough to give the game a pass, everything falls apart the moment you start playing with others, like getting the death penalty for merely getting separated from your companions.
Sonic Superstars Story - 3/10
Let's get real here; most Sonic games do not have a compelling story. Heck, it's doubtful that some have one at all. There are a few exceptions, such as Sonic Adventure 2, but unfortunately, Sonic Superstars does not fall into this exclusive club. With an almost complete lack of narration, dialogues, and a severe scarcity of cutscenes, the story of Sonic Superstars is basically whatever happens on your screen. And I'm sorry, but it's not a Mark Twain-level affair.
Sonic Superstars Gameplay - 7/10
If I were to describe the gameplay of Sonic Superstars as a whole, it would be "okay." That's it. Props to Sega and Arzest, though, for getting the physics to feel good to play with, even if it comes off as janky occasionally. But while the solo experience is undoubtedly enjoyable, the score is partly ruined by its lackluster multiplayer content and tiresome minigames. Not only are they barebones, but they are also utterly broken and dull, such as a painfully boring minigame that involves simply running around to collect more stars than your opponents.
Sonic Superstars Visuals - 9/10
Sonic Superstars takes full advantage of the power of modern-day hardware to present us with vibrant level design, solid character models, and engaging special effects. The maps, meanwhile, are expansive and full of opportunities and challenges. Amazing.
Sonic Superstars Audio - 7/10
While the soundtracks and sound effects deserve praise, it's ruined by a mysterious lack of voice acting despite its jaw-dropping $59.99 price. Like, what are we paying for here? Denuvo?
Sonic Superstars Value for Money - 5/10
The game is decent enough to be enjoyable, but the incredibly disappointing multiplayer experience has shot down Sonic Superstars' chances to be part of the coveted club of "Sonic Games That Sega Didn't Screw Up In Some Way." And although the game does have post-game content and hidden bosses, it doesn't stretch out your game time in any meaningful way. Wait for a discount, at least. Otherwise, just get Sonic Mania and spend the remaining $40 of your Sonic Superstars budget by buying as many chili dogs as possible. Now, that's the real Sonic experience.
Sonic Superstars Review: Gotta Go Not So Fast
Ah, Sonic - a household name for gamers, especially those who have witnessed the console wars between Sega and Nintendo. But even when Sega was soundly defeated by its nemesis, Sonic remained an endearing franchise that continued for decades after the former's defeat. It has even made its way into Nintendo's consoles despite their bitter rivalry back then.
With the recent success of Sonic Frontiers (even though the more recent The Murder of Sonic The Hedgehog is arguably better), eager fans of the franchise are blessed once again with another Sonic game. This time, it's a return to the classic side-scroller formula that worked wonders with the release of Sonic Mania.
It's just too bad that it's, well, not very good.
What is Sonic Superstars, anyway? It's a 2.5D platformer whose goal is to get your character from the left side of the map to the right. Simple, right? But what sets the Sonic games apart from games in the same genre, such as Super Mario Bros., is that Sonic and his friends have speed on their side. Just like Hot Wheels on a track, they can run at breakneck speeds and roll through obstacles using nothing but the kinetic energy they gather.
This simple concept has attracted an incredible amount of fans over the years. So, how could a game that uses the same formula screw up? Is it because of its sluggish minigames? Its unpolished multiplayer modes? Its "anti-consumer" practices?
Well, yes. That's basically why.
Pros of Sonic Superstars
| Things Sonic Superstars Got Right |
|---|
|
Vibrant Visuals and Design Emerald Powers Bring A Lot Of Versatility |
Vibrant Visuals and Design
If there's one thing to compliment the game for in a separate section, it's the visual detail they've put into it. The use of bright palettes really compliments the spirited experience the game aims to deliver. Its beautiful models extend from its iconic characters to the comically interesting enemies you encounter, such as a mechanical mosquito with a hilariously long proboscis or a giant monkey robot that pokes itself to death. On top of that, they also did an incredible job designing the levels and ensuring that they rarely feel lifeless.
The level designs are particularly praiseworthy. There's a satisfying abundance of areas where you can focus on running at the fastest speeds you can muster. This is especially prominent in the Pinball Carnival area, where you can spend an entire minute just running and getting thrown around by the dozens of slingshots scattered across the level. Meanwhile, there are also well-planned locations where short combat is necessary. These are typically placed between running sections where you won't feel as if the game grinds to a halt just because you need to stop going fast.
It's an incredibly fulfilling experience to just run through the map regardless of your purpose. Whether you're looking for collectibles or simply speedrunning through the stage, the abundance of branching paths, boosters, loops, and tunnels you can run and roll through makes it a very enjoyable journey.
Emerald Powers Bring A Lot Of Versatility
Chaos Emeralds, a returning collectible from previous Sonic games, provide Sonic and the crew with an ever-growing set of new abilities. There are seven Chaos Emeralds to collect, and each will add a specific ability for any of your characters to use, depending on what color you get.
What makes these Emerald Powers so great is that they add a wide variety of tools that you can use under almost any circumstance. Whether you're having trouble with a boss, surrounded by enemies, encounter an area full of rings, or miss a jump to a new area, there's an Emerald Power that will fit your needs. These abilities complement your character and compensate for some of their weaknesses at the same time. For example, the red Chaos Emerald's Bullet ability gives Sonic better air maneuverability - something he sorely lacks compared to his other companions.
These abilities, including the option to turn Super during the most problematic moments, round out the characters so that they can tackle anything that Dr. Eggman can throw them. However, they are not abilities you can use wantonly, as they only have limited uses before you must pass a checkpoint to have them refilled. This provides a well-designed balance to a set of skills that would have otherwise been utterly broken.
Cons of Sonic Superstars
| Things That Sonic Superstars Can Improve |
|---|
|
Terrible Minigames Messy Multiplayer Modes Questionable Practices With The PC Version |
Terrible Minigames
For a game that sports the titular character Sonic the Hedgehog, who can easily run faster than the speed of sound and beyond, it seems pretty hell-bent on slowing you down as much as possible.
Of course, I don't mean the regular enemies that can somehow completely ignore Newton's Third Law to throw you back without so much as getting themselves launched into orbit from the kinetic energy you've built. That's been part of the original games since a few decades ago, and everybody loves the added challenge of a few life-threatening obstacles. What I mean by that is its seemingly obsessive need to throw you into sluggish minigames where the only incentive to go fast is a ticking timer or an ominous red portal threatening to swallow you whole.
Unfortunately, Chaos Emeralds can only be obtained from these aforementioned minigames. And oh boy, not only are they slow, but they are also janky as hell. It involves chasing down the Chaos Emerald by swinging from point to point via floating anchor points you can latch on to. You can use different kinds of anchor points, some of which have beneficial effects, such as throwing you toward your objective or increasing the time limit. You'll also encounter undesirable anchor points that hinder your progress, such as bombs that stun you briefly.
While that sounds fun on paper, Sonic Superstars manages to completely screw it up by severely limiting your ability to choose which anchor point you can use. It does this by locking your camera to the general direction of the moving objective, which I guess is quite convenient since it means you'll never lose sight of it. However, the entire experience is frustrating as you watch your character swing toward disadvantageous spots or wait as the automatic targeting switches from a terrible anchor point to a decent one, losing your precious time.
Another in-game collectible are medals, which act as a sort of currency for the cosmetics shop. These can be obtained around each level, but are primarily earned by playing another minigame. There, your character is tossed into another dimension where a rotating labyrinth stands between you and the medals you so desire. You'll have to navigate its treacherous corridors, maneuver around obstacles, activate switches that manipulate the terrain, and desperately avoid the red portals that will throw you out.
What a great idea, right? It is, on paper. But unfortunately, the entire experience is ruined by its severe lack of context. Every single interactable in that minigame is given no introduction whatsoever, perhaps in an effort to make you check what it does for yourself. While completely benign otherwise, this will more often than not lead you to failure during your first few runs.
Messy Multiplayer Modes
While the core gameplay is decent enough for a solo experience, everything falls apart when you throw one or two friends into the mix.
Simply put, it seems the developers completely forgot that two individuals usually don't share the same brain cells. That's because instead of having each player have separate screens to operate on, the game will only focus on one person and then send the other players to the shadow realm if they so much as step one foot too far from them. And believe me, that will happen often. Each stage in Sonic Superstars features an incredibly diverse and open layout that's teeming with opportunities for you and your friends to get separated.
Yes, that includes entering the portals to the dreaded minigames it has.
This is made worse by the fact that each character possesses unique ways to traverse each stage. Sonic, for example, can build speed mid-air, while Knuckles can latch onto walls and glide. Tails, meanwhile, can hover and gain altitude, and Amy can double-jump. These differences will inevitably cause discrepancies between the progress they can make depending on the stage's layout, causing even more chaos. It's almost like the game wants you to take it slow just so nobody bites the dust every few seconds. That's right; take it slow on a Sonic game.
Even the game's "Battle Mode," which is essentially just their attempt to recreate Fall Guys, isn't much better. Although each player won't get randomly thrown into the gates of hell since they will have a dedicated view of the game, there's still not much to see. The Battle Mode's minigames are only mildly entertaining at best and utterly boring at worst.
On top of that, it just throws you into a pack of wolves without so much explanation of what to do besides an annoyingly vague one-liner such as "Survive until the end!" Survive against what? Why are the platforms crumbling but not breaking? Can I mess up my opponent's chances of winning? Is math related to science?
Just to put the final nail in the coffin, the Battle Mode rewards its players with medals after tallying everybody's points. That's it. I'm not sure how much it rewards you with a first-place finish since I've only ever gotten a second place for 8 medals (skill issue), which is pretty cheap. You can use those medals to customize your avatar since you can't use Sonic and the crew in Battle Mode. That's basically it. There's no other reward other than medals that you'll just spend to make your avatar look slightly less than a crumpled soda can. It's harmless, sure, but entirely unrewarding overall.
But at least it's a slightly better experience than co-op.
Questionable Practices With The PC Version
If you're one of the (un)fortunate players who purchased the game on Steam, you may be surprised that the first prompt you will see in the game is asking you to log into an Epic account.
Yes, that's right. You're being asked to log into an Epic account for a game you purchased on Steam. Why? For online services, apparently. To be fair, you can just opt out of it, but it will get annoying after a while since it will keep asking you again and again. Besides, if you still value your time, you won't be playing the game's multiplayer modes anyway.
Oh, by the way, Sonic Superstars also incorporates Denuvo, regardless of whether you have it on Steam or Epic. This is particularly troublesome for Steam, since you'll have massive trouble with getting the game to run under any circumstance when using a Steam Deck makes sense. That means offline play is out of the question since it will try to call for an online response regularly.
Yikes.
Is Sonic Superstars Worth It?
Yes - If You're A Big Sonic Fan
With a steep price of sixty buckaroonies, I find it hard to recommend Sonic Superstars to any except the most dedicated Sonic fans. Sure the single-player experience is solid, but that will only take up about a measly 10 hours of your life. Everything else after that is just filler content with no visible reward besides self-satisfaction, particularly the grind for lower clear times. While I do understand the appeal, Sonic Superstars' asking price is simply too much. Even though it's a halfway decent Sonic game, you're likely better off either waiting for a sale or getting Sonic Mania.
Sonic Superstars Overview & Premise
Dr. Eggman is back at it again with his evil antics. This time, he has invaded the uncharted areas of Northstar Islands to turn its massive animals into super-powered Badniks and steal the scattered Chaos Emeralds. He partners with Fang the Sniper and wreaks havoc by kidnapping the island's fauna and setting up massive facilities across the land. It's up to Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy to rescue the natives and spoil Dr. Eggman's plot.
Sonic Superstars FAQ
Does Sonic Superstars Use Denuvo?
Unfortunately, yes. It's also explicitly stated on its Steam page that its 3rd Party DRM service is Denuvo, which earned it quite an intense backlash from players.
Who is Trip in Sonic Superstars?
Trip the Sungazer is a native of the Northstar Islands. She is hired by Dr. Eggman and Fang the Sniper to guide them through the archipelago.
Sonic Superstars Product Information
 |
|
| Title | Sonic Superstars |
|---|---|
| Release Date | November 17, 2023 |
| Developer | SEGA, Arzest |
| Supported Platforms | Nintendo Switch, PS5, PS4, Xbox One, Xbox X|S, PC |
| Genre | 2D Sidescrolling Game |
| Number of Players | 1-8 |
| ESRB Rating | Everyone |
| Official Website | https://sonicsuperstars.com/ |
