Critical elements like the way Sonic builds momentum and smaller details like how the camera lags slightly behind when he reaches full-speed are handled with care and precision. The team of independent developers behind the game paid attention to so many facets that fans of the original games remember. Sonic Mania preserves the pleasure and thrill of speeding through a stage, grabbing every ring you can while bashing enemies along the way and discovering new routes. Sonic Mania is a beautifully made love letter to the classic days of the franchise, and it's also the best entry in more than two decades. With Sonic Mania, Sega wants to wipe away the last couple of decades and give fans a true successor to the beloved Genesis titles. Assuming that bridge hasn't been burnt by the – um – interesting launch of Sonic Mania in PC.Following Sonic the Hedgehog's meteoric rise to prominence in the early '90s, Sega tarnished the franchise's once sterling reputation with a long string of mostly disappointing entries. But rather than shutting down these teams, isn't it better to not waste this knowledge and instead bring it in-house to make your games better?ĭespite its lack of luck with the 3D Sonic games, as seen in Forces, Mania shows a refreshing amount of foresight from Sega, and I wouldn't be surprised to see Whitehead and HeadCanon be given greater freedom with the Sonic IP in the future. Too often, big companies view these fan projects as infringing on their IP, which, yes, they are. After his fan game, Another Metroid 2 Remake, was shut down by Nintendo last year, Milton Guasti found himself being hired by Moon Studios, the team behind the Ori and the Blind Forest, to work on follow-up, The Will of the Wisps. Sega isn't the only company realising this fact either. We have now reached a stage where modders and ROM hackers, people who you normally hear about in news stories about DMCA strikes, cease and desist orders and lawsuits, are actually competent enough to make games that are better than those released by professional developers.
Its Metacritic score currently averages out in the mid-80s, compared to Sonic Force's, which range from 57 to 64. That's more – the game was received pretty well, even by people (myself) who weren't massively into Sonic. The game launched in August and was a combination of levels from the original 2D Sonic games, stages that took elements and made them into something, while one-third of the 12-level game were brand new creations. Having developed their skillset making Sonic fan projects, they teamed up to rework Sonic CD for iPhone in 2011 for Sega, before going on to develop the original Sonic and its sequel for Apple's mobile device. The duo is not 'professional' game developers, but rather hail from the fan community. Taxman is one Christian White, while Headcannon is Stealth aka Simon Thomley. You're forgiven for now knowing who these names are because they aren't big shot developers. This wasn't being made by Sonic Team, however, rather than Taxman, Headcannon and PagodaWest. But another, the 2D Sonic Mania, appears to have defied the laws of physics that surround the franchise.Īnnounced last year at the Sonic 25th Anniversary event the title was unveiled in a very charming and sincere trailer ( below) that very much screamed 'We know things haven't been great, and we're trying to figure out where to go from here'. There was the 3D Sonic Forces, made by Sonic Team at Sega, which sadly appears to have obeyed this law. There's gameplay that looks okay, but ultimately pretty janky, but we tell ourselves: 'No, this time will be different – the game isn't out yet, of course it's going to look a bit messy'.īut ultimately, the game comes out, isn't nearly as polished as we'd like and ultimately peaks between 60 and 70 on Metacritic. Over the coming months and as we see more of the game, we start to be apprehensive. Gamers and journalists go: 'Huh, this doesn't look that bad. In short, Sega announces a brand new Sonic game. If you're not familiar with the Sonic Cycle, I'm going to give you a brief rundown of this concept.