Tag Sonic Mania

Nintendo Switch eShop – UK Sales Charts (13/05/2018)

Sean Alexander

With the release of Donkey Kong a week gone, how has the UK eShop chart settled this week? Are the regulars still high?

Numbers in brackets are previous positions based on: 06/04/2018 (Unless they haven’t moved) in the UK eShop

Donkey Kong could stay at the top of the UK eShop charts this week

Has Donkey Kong maintained the number 1 spot?

1: Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze (NEW) – £49.99
2: Stardew Valley – £10.99
3: Rocket League (Up from 4th) – £15.04
4: Timber Man Vs. (NEW) (10% OFF) (Up from 12th) – £1.61 (Usually £1.79)
5: Minecraft: Nintendo Switch Edition – £19.99
6: Football Manager Touch 2018 (Down from 3rd) – £29.99
7: Death Road To Canada (NEW) (20% OFF) – £9.59 (Usually £11.99)
8: Arcade Archives: Vs. Super Mario Bros. (Down from 7th) – £6.29
9: Sonic Mania – £15.99
10: Robonauts (Down from 6th) – £13.49
11: Mario Kart 8 Deluxe – £49.99
12: Raging Justice (NEW) (10% OFF) – £8.99 (Usually £9.99)
13: Celeste – £17.99
14: Bridge Constructor Portal (34% OFF) (Up from not charting!) – £8.90 (Usually £13.49)
15: Kirby Star Allies (Down from 14th) – £49.99

 

UK eShop Analysis

 

So all in all this has been a quiet week on the UK eShop. First note is that yes, Donkey Kong remains in the top spot as expected.

The usual top 4 of Rocket League, Football Manager, Stardew Valley and Minecraft all hold high positions with Arcade Archives maintain a mid chart position.

Death Road to Canada and Raging Justice both show strong openings no doubt helped by their launch discounts.

Kirby is about to drop from the charts again as Mario Kart holds it’s position as the quintessential Switch title. Bridge Constructor Portal makes a resurgence thanks to a discount.

Most interesting this week is Sonic Mania and Celeste maintaining their chart positions. These games appear to have long legs on the eShop.

 

That’s all for this week! A good showing both from indies while DK rules! See you next week where things will be very different with the launch of Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition! Happy Gaming!

Sonic Forces Has Some Dire DLC…

Sean Alexander

I never thought I would write the following words: Super Sonic is DLC.

 

Okay, so before we go in to this, we need context on both Super Sonic, and Sanic.

Sanic is a meme. Honestly I would love to just leave it there and have it expunged from the game entirely, but the series has decided to embrace the crudely drawn MS Paint rendition of Sonic, dubbed “Sanic”, in ways that move beyond just the TV Show as a reference (Alongside the fan-fiction of all things) and a nod in LEGO Dimensions.

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Sanic is available, for free, in all copies of the game, as a t-shirt design for your custom character. Okay, at least it’s free. I mean I would honestly prefer it if the series was a little more….delicate? about being self-aware, rather than just opening the door and saying “Yes, all this mockery online is entirely just”. We all know how the mockery of a fan base can actually impact people mentally, it’s not a very smart thing to do, just let folks enjoy what they enjoy, you know?

I think there is a fine balance between being self-aware and poking fun, and straight up embracing what was a joke meant to demean the franchise and it’s titles (Because many have been lacklustre prior to 2010, and a couple since) feels like…almost giving up. Like the series has no integrity anymore. On one hand yes, nice joke, and in some loose ways it does fit the avatar creation side of things.

On the other hand, you put a reference to a meme used to demean the franchise…in Sonic Forces. 

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This is a game that is hardly “Good”, instead treading the fine line of mediocre to plain boring, it has obvious development problems, clear instances of things being scrapped and restarted, insanely short levels and not very fulfilling gameplay, and what do they do? Put some DLC in the game used to mock the franchise. Did they actually not see how amazingly self-fulfilling that is?

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But anyway, on to Super Sonic. This little feature has been a part of the games since 1992 in Sonic the Hedgehog 2, usually as a reward for certain tasks, like clearing the Special Stages, or for the unlockable final boss throughout the mid-2000s.

Super Sonic did return to fully playable status in 2010 with Sonic 4 and Sonic Colours (The first time ever in 3D), and this has remained the case for Generations, Lost World, and Mania. Super Sonic has been there as a reward for completing the game, or certain milestones.

So Sonic Forces came along and in the PC version they found inaccessible (Though later accessed and fully playable not long after the game came out) code for Super Sonic. It’s in the game, fully playable. I assumed it was just dummied out. I wish it was.

So again, for 25 years Super Sonic has been a part of the franchise as your reward. An in-game thing meant to reward you (Or beat up a final boss in some cases). In Sonic Forces however, it’s in the game, but you can’t access it. Unless you pay up for some DLC of course.

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Yes, for the first time ever, this feature of the series for over two decades, is now on-disc DLC. I am absolutely dumbfounded and also surprised. It’s free for around a month, but as of late January, cough up some dough for Super Sonic.

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This is honestly a problem that goes further than the Sanic DLC, as this is removal of a series staple and put behind on-disc paywalls. It’s very egregious, and frankly one thing it does have in common with the Sanic DLC is the feeling that it’s just rubbing salt in the wound.

We had it so good, heck Sonic Mania was months ago, and this game comes along, from the team that brought us Colours and Generations, two highly loved games, and it falls flat in so many ways. To rub it in how unfinished the game feels, we get to wear a mockery of the series made official, and pay up for things that used to be standard.

 

At the same time though, as we have talked about here before many times, this feels like it is becoming the norm. Things you used to be able to just do are now locked behind cash, and the games mock you in the same way trolls on the internet do.

I don’t know what is worse really: Seeing Super Sonic become on-disc DLC, or having to see a meme people have almost weaponised in a game so utterly mediocre it surpasses parody and enters the realm of “Oh we know”.

 

I guess we can rest easy knowing Mania 2 will be a thing?

Review: Sonic Mania

Sean Alexander 1 Comment

Title: Sonic Mania

Platform: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC, Nintendo Switch

Reviewed On: Nintendo Switch

Developer: Christian Whitehead, Headcannon, Pagoda West

Publisher: SEGA

Copy Provided By: Bought it with my own money!

 

Sonic Mania is a fantastic game: A showing of true potential and design skills, held back from true greatness by technical and development choices.

 

Sonic Mania is a simple game. It asks nothing more than you enjoy 2D classic pixel Sonic with all its physics based platforming and speed. For a game attempting to relive and reinvigorate this branch of the franchise, it’s truly a great game.

The problem is it most certainly “Relives” a lot. But more on that later.

 

Whether you control Sonic, Tails, or Knuckles, it’s like jumping in to old games. All are fast, Sonic has a new Drop Dash for quick burst of speed and is a great way to keep flow going. Tails can fly, and even carry Sonic or Knuckles without a second player being present, and Knuckles can glide and has a slightly lower jump height, and can climb walls. It’s all as you knew it. You can even unlock the Super Peel-Out from Sonic CD or the Insta Shield from Sonic 3, but you can only use one of Sonic’s 3 abilities at a time.

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Before a patch however, there was an issue: To do any of them secondary abilities of any character, you had to press Jump in the air. This is also how you transform into your Super forms. In mid air, or if you need to glide with Knuckles as is often mandatory, prepare to fall to your death. A patch did recently fix this, and many other issues, by adding a dedicated separate button combination to transform.

The game sees you chase Dr Robotnik all through…time and space I guess (Sonic Forces complicates how much of this game is real by trying to explain a core element) as he and his newly upgraded Hard Boiled Heavies play a game of keep away with the Phantom Ruby: A mystical stone that can warp reality. This leads to the Heavies being upgraded and Robotnik gaining control of Little Planet again, from Sonic CD.

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The Ruby is also how you get from zone to zone…though…not all zones have transitions between them. Some simply fade to black and you are back on a zone that was seen on Angel Island…after just being in a zone that’s on Little Planet. The inconsistency with continuity is jarring especially as the game, seemingly at random, decides whether or not to fade to black: As if they couldn’t explain the zones being in the game half the time.

With the zones themselves though, they all maintain the high speed, many different routes to take, goodies sprinkled all over approach that past 2D Sonic games also did. Find a giant ring in a zone and go to one of the Special Stages, and win a Chaos Emerald. These are fun little chase sequences and a fresh idea: Collect rings to extend your timer, and spheres to go faster and catch the UFO, though by the time you reach the final one the truth is you’ll find them rather easy.

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If you have 25 Rings and hit a checkpoint though, prepare to play one of over 30 Blue Sphere mini-games, returning from Sonic 3. These are far too long to be mere checkpoint mini-games that you’ll have the chance of doing multiple times per act, and frankly they are a bit boring. But they are they, if you want to flesh out that Extras Menu with goodies.

Back to the zones though, while the level design itself is top notch, the bosses can range from great call backs with new twists, great new ideas, or sadly, straight up repeated ideas. Part way through the game the bosses seem to start reusing a lot of past game ideas, without sprinkling in anything new. It’s as though the bosses range from great to seen it before. It’s a little disappointing, especially with how long some of them can potentially take.

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The zones themselves though, are actually my main point of contention for this game. The phrase “Missed Potential” will be used a lot on this site I feel, but here it goes. 4 of the 12 zones are totally new ideas and environments we have never seen in past games. 8 are stages returning from Sonic 1, 2, 3 and CD. After seeing the sheer brilliance of the 4 new stages and how unique and fun they are, it’s such a shame to see the game fall back on old ideas.  One or two old zones would have been fine, but this is a majority, and it does bog down the experience. The game very much does “Relive” the past.

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Visually the game is fantastic. Bright and colourful, wonderfully smooth and detailed, this is what a great 2D sprite based Sonic game can look like. Audibly as well, the game has a fantastic jazzy feel throughout, and it does scream Classic era Sonic. I couldn’t fault that aspect of the game at all.

Sadly though, the game even after patching is prone to some rather funny glitches and softlocks, though most have been removed at the time of this review, some persist. Some scripted events also fail to play out, and has happened a few times over a good 50 hours of play time.

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To be fair, this game is still an absolute blast to play, except when the occasional glitch rears it’s head. The gameplay is fun and very re-playable, even if the bosses are at times drawn out or unimaginative, and the zones, while screaming of missed potential, are still a treat to play. I can highly recommend this game to anyone interested: Just don’t expect the Sonic 4 you always wanted. It’s close, but it’s not nearly new enough.

If you are getting this game, I do highly recommend the Switch version. From what is seen it only missed Trophy/Achievement support, and the game looks just as good undocked as it does docked – I personally can’t imagine playing it any other way, though any version is fantastic – It’s all the same game after all!

 

As always, if you liked this review or have your own opinions, leave a comment down below about Sonic Mania – And share this with your friends and on social media – and as always: Happy Gaming!