When I first saw the announcement trailer for Sonic Colors in February 2010, I had no idea what I had just watched. Sonic and Tails were running to music and then these floating things appear, which I thought that were different colored Chao at first, came flying alongside them and then flew into the sky and spelled out Sonic's name with different colors in the letters.
Although the game and idea seemed weird at the time, as the months passed, it showed more and more progress and started receiving lots of praise. Heck, it made Sonic 4: Episode 1 look like an appetizer in comparison.
But does the game live up to the hype?
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*Gameplay*
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The Story
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Instead of using animals to power his machines, Eggman finds a better power source out in space, known as the "Wisps". So not only does he enslave them, he also takes all of the planets they inhabit from their galaxy, chains them down to the earth, and remodels them to make it look like a huge space amusement park.
Yet, he didn't think to make it so Sonic and Tails wouldn't be able to reach it.
Normal Controls
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In Sonic Colors, you can use one of 4 available controllers. I've only used the GameCube Controller so far and found the controls are simple but the choice of Buttons for a few of his moves are odd.
Sonic has all his moves from Sonic Unleashed, plus a Double Jump (which ironically is taken from the Werehog). It's basically pressing the A Button twice. However, if Sonic's near an enemy, spring, or random target, you'll perform the Homing Attack instead. Sonic's Home Attack Range is about as wide as the entire camera view. One downside to the Homing Attack is that Sonic cannot hit enemies that are off screen in 3D sections anymore.
I feel like the L/R Buttons should have been used for the Quick Step and Drifting, instead of not being usable at all. You don't have to Drift or Quick Step often but they seem broken when you have to.
When I had tried to jump on an Egg Pawn to destroy it, I took damage instead and it remained unscathed. For some reason, his Spin Jump has been made so that he uncurls if you don't hold the A Button after jumping.
The Attractions
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After clearing Tropical Resort Act 2, you'll be able to go to the World Map. There are 7 Theme Parks (Acts and Bosses), a Robotic Sonic Head (Multiplayer), an Eggman Ship (Challenge Mode), and a satellite (Options).
When you unlock the other attractions, Act 1 of the area will be available. You'll have to clear Act 1 to unlock Act 2, clear Act 2 to unlock Act 3, and so on until you clear Act 6. After you clear Act 6, the Boss Act will be unlocked.
Acts and Bosses
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There are 42 Regular Acts in the game, each consisting of different challenges, enemies, Wisp Powerups, multiple paths, and secrets.
Once you've destroyed the Prison Capsule or reached the Goal Ring, you'll be bought a Result Screen, which adds up all your points and gives you a score. You can earn Extra Lives if you get an A or S Rank and hit the numbers to get another Extra Life or more Rings. You can choose to restart the Act from the Result Screen or during the level (it doesn't cost you any lives but if you should turn the game off before clearing the Act it won't save your Score or Red Rings).
There are more 2D sections in this game than 3D sections. Half of the Wisp Powerups won't even work unless you're in a 2D section.
Enemies range from a collection of old enemies including different varieties of Egg Pawns, upgraded Badniks (Sonic 1, 2, and 3 enemies), fusions of different robots and more. There are 2 Mini bosses in the game which are actually harder than most of the main bosses. The 6 main bosses start out with 3 different bosses and then harder versions of those same 3 bosses in the later areas.
Inside each Act are 5 Red Rings, which unlock new features and Acts in Multiplayer. If you die before reaching the Checkpoint after collecting Red Rings for the first time, you have to recollect them again. There are 180 Red Rings in total.
It seems that you'll still have to be careful about Boosting in certain areas. Even though a Sign appears to warn you if you're over a bottomless pit, you might not able to stop in time.
With or Without Wisps
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Remember the Elemental Shields from Sonic 3 and Knuckles? They were basically Powerups that gave Sonic new abilities and protected his Rings. The Color Wisp Powerups found in Sonic Colors are like updated versions of the Elemental Shields.
Sometimes you'll notice Color Wisps floating above an Act on the Area Maps. Once you've cleared these Acts, you'll unlock the Color Wisp and be able to use its power in other levels if you come across it. Instead of instantly using them after touching their Capsules, the Wisp's icon will appear in the Boost Gauge and you can choose when to activate it. He can only hold one Wisp at a time though.
When Sonic uses the Powerups he transforms and his Boost Gauge turns into a Color Gauge. Once the Color Gauge goes empty, he returns back to normal.
Not only does his appearance change but the controls also slightly change depending on the Color Power. It may take some time getting used to the controls for his Color Wisp forms because like his regular form it's sometimes hard to slow down and turn around.
There are 7 Color Wisp Powerups: Cyan Laser, Yellow Drill (can go underground and swim better underwater), Orange Rocket, Blue Cube (creates new paths and platforms), Hover (fly and Ring Dash), Spikes (Invincibility, Spin Dash, and can walk on walls and ceilings), and Frenzy (Berserker and Magnetic Shield). Out of all of them I like using Pink Spikes.
If you're just trying to clear the levels, you don't have to use them all the time. If you're trying to find all the Red Rings, other secrets, and want to add up Color Bonuses so you can get higher scores, you'll have to use them.
Sonic Simulator
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The Metal Sonic like head in the corner of the World Map is called the Sonic Simulator, where you can play levels as Sonic Robots by yourself or with a friend to earn Chaos Emeralds. Each time you collect a certain amount of Red Rings, the Sonic Simulator will glow to show that you've unlocked something.
If you're playing with a friend, you can choose 1.5 Player or 2 Player Mode. 2 Player Mode is better because P2 can actually collect their own Rings and Powerups and because if P1 dies, P2 can continue on. In 2P mode, some of the Wisp Powerups allow both characters to combine to form a stronger Color Form. For example, using Orange Rocket near each other forms a single more powerful rocket.
One of the problems with playing with a friend is that if one character is too far off screen, they lose a life. This means that one player must wait for the other in order to advance, which is ridiculous in vertical levels. You still need to keep a distance from each other though because you can accidently bounce off of them, causing one player to fall into pits or cause the other player who bounced off to hit a hazard.
The levels themselves are made with 2 separate paths, which 2 Players to take simultaneously, that switch back and forth into one path. Some of the levels are also based off of retro game levels. For example, 4-1 may remind you of the Spring Yard Zone.
Once you complete L-1, L-2, and L-3 of each area, the last area you go to will have a Chaos Emerald instead of a Gold Ring. You need all 180 Red Rings in order to get all 7 Chaos Emeralds.
Version Differences
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The Wii version has 7 Wisp Powers while the DS version only has 5. Also, other Sonic characters appear in the DS version besides Tails.
Overall Gameplay Score: 9
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*Graphics*
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The game looks almost as good as the Xbox 360/PS3 versions of Unleashed.
Overall Graphics Score: 10
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*Speed*
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As long as your Boost Gauge is filled, you can go as fast as you want to...just be careful.
Overall Speed Score: 9
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*Sound*
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In my opinion game's music is awesome. Each area's level themes and remixes match with the Acts. There's a theme for each Wisp Powerup and the music for the Sonic Simulator levels are 8 bit remixes of the Regular Act's music.
During the Acts, Eggman sometimes bellows some witty comments about the rides.
Overall Sound Score: 10
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There are a few new issues that replace the old 3D Sonic issues, which have mostly been fixed, but the game is still enjoyable overall. If you're just playing this game to clear the story and be done with it, I highly suggest renting it because the game can be beaten within a day or 2.
My Final Overall Score for the game is 9.