After years of bad Sonic games, this game saves the franchise!
Platform: Nintendo Wii and DS
Date Release: 11-11-10 (AU), 11-12-10 (EU), 11-16-10 (NA), 11-18-10 (JP)
Developers: Sonic Team (Wii), Dimps (DS)
Publishers: Sega
STORY (8.5/10): Dr. Eggman tells the people of Earth that he has developed a sense of remorse for his evil schemes and makes it up to everyone by building and opening an amusement park called "Dr. Eggman's Interstellar Amusement Park" which is made up of several planet sized attractions. However, Sonic and Tails aren't buying what the doc is selling so they infiltrate the theme park to investigate what Eggman's up to. Later, they meet up with a small alien creature named Yacker, a small alien creature called Wisps. They try and communicate with him and learn about what Eggman's been planning. Eggman has not only been kidnapping these wisps to fuel his theme park, but to turn them into "Nega-Wisps" to use their power for his mind control cannon so that way his amusement park will become the star attraction in the world (In other words, world domination). Now, it's up to Sonic and Tails to free these small creatures, destroy Eggman's theme park and put an end to his nefarious schemes.
GAMEPLAY (9/10): This game is a breath of fresh air from that terrible Sonic and the Secret Rings game because this game allows you to use almost any controller you have. The game allows the Nunchuck, Classic Controller and even my favorite, a GameCube Controller (that is if some of you had a GameCube back in the day like me). You can use just the Wiimote to play this game because unlike Secret Rings, it does not have broken, unresponsive, hair-ripping controls. Now for the gameplay, it took Sega until now to get it right, a Sonic game should just be about running at the speed of sound, smashing robots, and getting to the end of the level with the best time possible. This game even does that 3D to 2D perspective like in most Sonic games released before this. The wisps are also very helpful in levels by making Sonic zap though enemies like a laser, dig through weak ground with a drill and even flying with a rocket. Picking up small wisps that look like Yacker can increase Sonic's boost gauge so Sonic can get a little extra boost. There is a multiplayer in this game as well. Unlike any of the multiplayers in most Sonic games, you can use your Mii as a custom-made Sonic. The multiplayer is 100 times better than the multiplayer on Secret Rings, but after a while it gets pretty dull and boring. You just play through virtual levels in either a 3D, 2D or even both. Still, the multiplayer does not offer much to keep you satisfied for long periods of time. My biggest complaint I have about this game is the length, the game is not really all that long. You can probably beat this game in one sitting if you have nothing else to do.
MUSIC, GRAPHICS AND SOUND (9/10): The music is so badass on this game, I enjoy the Tropical Resort, Sweet Mountain and especially Planet Wisp, my all time favourite song in the game. The graphics are very "colorful" (guess that's why it's called Sonic Colors). The sound effects are a huge, huge improvement over the previous Sonic games because I guess Sega and Sonic Team finally came to the realization about the number one aspect about what the previous Sonic games are mainly criticized for: The voice acting. This was the first game to have new voice actors for Sonic and the entire cast (I guess everyone was getting sick of Jason Griffith voicing Sonic all of the time) and the best part about it is Tails sounds like a real boy now. That's not saying much though, Tails is still my most hated character in the Sonic cast!
REPLAY VALUE (7/10): Although this game really isn't all that long, it can be played again because there are things that you may have missed in the levels.
(There's not much to say about the replay value so...yeah)
OVERALL AND FINAL SCORE: Besides Sonic 2 for the Genesis, this is the best Sonic game I have ever played! You see Sega, If you stick with your old formula and stop trying to add dumb crap that would only annoy people, then you'd be making Sonic games like this! The story is alright, the gameplay kicks ass, the controls are fluent and responsive, the music is awesome, the graphics sure are "Colorful", and the voice acting as better than ever. But the multiplayer doesn't offer much and if the game as longer, then maybe it would have been even better. I also forgot to mention this one fact: one of the writers named Warren Graff was involved in the making of the scripts for the game. Now why am I telling you guys this because he was the writer for one of my favorite cartoons and you wanna know what that was? Happy Tree Friends! Now that's a good sign. There is a DS version of the game, but I haven't played that version yet. Overall, out of a sea of fairly decent, mediocre or just plain terrible Sonic games, Sonic Colors is the savior of the Sonic franchise. If you have a Wii and you don't have this game, I'd check it out if I were you because it does not disappoint!
With my Sonic the Hedgehog rating system, I give Sonic Colors an "A"!