I was wary of Sonic Superstars🍨 releasing so close to Super Mar𝓀io Bros. Wonder before Sonic’s release date was even revealed. Rather than speeding off to the end of the year, Sega stood its ground, releasing three days before Wonder. I admired the confidence in a series I've loved for almost as long as I can remember, but now having played 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Superstars and Wonder, I can't help but feel Sega bravely standing its ground was a mistake.

I'm enjoying Superstars, and if it weren't for Wonder and 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Spider-Man 2 arriving three days later, I'd have finished it by now. However, its two biggest selling points – four-player co-op and abilities you unlock as you progress – are the worst things about it. The two elements of the game that were supposed to take the age-old Sonic formula and make it feel new again.

Co-op Has Failed Me Again

My son has reached an age where he's finally interested in video games and is able to play some of the simpler co-op titles along with me. Hence my excitement for Sonic Superstars. He's a big fan of the blue blur too, must be genetic. Its co-op is so bad though that I fear I'll be playing through the rest of the game alone. As soon as one player speeds ahead – which is often, this is a Sonic game after all – the other is left behind. There also doesn't appear to be any logic applied to who exactly the camera chooses to focus on. 80 percent of the time it goes for whoever is further ahead, but other times it’s entirely random.

Sega boss Takashi Iizuka 168澳洲幸运5开奖网𝔉:admitted Superstars is too fast for on🥂line co-op, so I'm at a loss as to why he concluded one player speeding off the screen and leaving the others behind when playing locally was a good fit for the game.

The abilities were another new feature I thought would switch up the 2D Sonic formula like never before, but again, I was wrong. Most of the time I forget they even exist, both because there's no prompt to use them, and even when I remember them, they don't help out all that much. The levels don't appear to have been designed with the abilities in mind, and there are rarely enough enemies on screen to make using them worthwhile.

So Close To Something Great

Co-op and abilities could have revitalized the 2D Sonic formula. However, they needed more thought put into them to be the game changers I assumed they would be. Superstars' levels are interesting with multiple routes to take in every zone. If the screen split whenever players were separated, it would have given people playing together the opportunity to truly explore the entire level; one of you going high and the other low, or a team of four each speed dashing down a different tube, making sure they find everything the level has to offer.

All they needed was a little tweaking. Naturally, you can't have areas in levels where you need an ability to progress, but parts where having unlocked something would have made moving forward easier and kept things fresh. Designing the boss fights so that using certain abilities weakens them faster and gives you an advantage could have worked too.

Mario Wonder Does Both Things Better

While I would have felt this way even without Mario Wonder launching three days later, there's no doubt its arrival has amplified Superstars' pitfalls. Its co-op is fantastic. No player is speeding ahead and leaving the others behind. Nintendo wants you to thoroughly explore every level, hence the removal of 🥃its clock. Take all the time you need to find everything you can, exactly wha🃏t I wished I could do in Superstars.

The badges in Wonder are an even bigger improvement. The levels have clearly been designed so you can access everything even if you haven't unlocked a particular badge, but certain areas are easier to access if you do happen to have the right one. I’m thinking hard about which one to pick before every level rather than forgetting they even exist.

Superstars is just another Sonic game and as someone who has always preferred the series' 2D games over its 3D ones, I'm happy with it and will almost certainly play it through to the end. After being given so much hope through the features Sega flaunted for months though, I really thought Superstars would be more than just another mediocre Sonic game quickly overshadowed by its biggest rival.

NEXT: Spider-Man 2's Web Wings Are Too Much Of A Good Thing