Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter Review

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This review is of the TV-14 edited version of the film. All thoughts below should be addressed as such as a review of the unedited version would be more negative

It’s time for some more vampires! This movie definitely got some buzz because of the whole Abraham Lincoln thing which I thought was pretty clever. It’s a nice way to blend the supernatural and history by adding him in there. Naturally I do prefer a more futuristic setting myself but it works out better than some of the other vampire films that I’ve seen. Still not a thumbs up mind you but not a horrible film or anything.

The movie doesn’t waste time as Abraham’s mother is murdered by a vampire early on. He wants to avenge her but isn’t really able to do anything against superhuman creatures like this. Initially he doesn’t even know that the assailant was a vampire and tries using a gun but it doesn’t do much. Fortunately he runs into a guy named Henry who offers to train Abraham but only if the hero puts aside his quest for vengeance. Henry will give him the targets and they will continue to take down all of the vampires but slowly and surely. Abraham lies and agrees to this but knows that deep down he has to avenge his mother at all cots! He trains in the art of slaying vampire and gets quite good at it which also starts to get the attention of the higher up members among the villains. Will Abraham be okay?

It’s always fun to have someone find out about what’s going on beyond their small pocket of the world. Once Abraham learns about the vampires he starts seeing them everywhere. Sure enough there are tons of them and murdering them all will take more than a lifetime. Henry does offer to turn Abraham into a vampire but he declines since that would be going a step too far. I definitely get it since being immortal really sounds like a pain after a while. You have endless enemies and while you can’t die, you can be put into positions where you might wish that you could.

I do think Henry’s role is a little too passive at times though. He has Abraham do most of the work but doesn’t actively take down a bunch of vampires himself. Henry makes some excuses like how he can’t really go against them and I forget if it’s a power level thing or something relating to the blood but you have to find a way to get around that. In a way being a vampire puts him in a better position to do a lot of damage than Abe when you really think about it. So yeah he really just needs to step up and get the job done.

I did like him for the most part beyond that but he does have some sketchy moments later on. Basically he’s the kind of guy who will always be hiding some things and you have to decide if that’s a dealbreaker or not. For Abraham it nearly was but ultimately he gets past it. Abraham is a very reasonable main character. He fights as needed and helps a lot of people out. He doesn’t really love having to use violence all the time but it’s the only way that really works.

Near the end of the film he even tries to give up fighting for a while but it wasn’t to be. I do like that we actually got to see him as President/leader for a while though. At first he’s just a solo hunter doing his own thing but after that he gets to make commands and lead his troops. With the villains using an army of vampires the heroes did have to adapt after all. I do question if the weapons are really enough to balance things though. Once the vampires started to move more openly I feel like the humans wouldn’t stand a chance. Being so outmatched physically is something that it’s difficult to make up for even with a bunch of guns and ammo.

Abraham’s boss Joshua was a good character. He had some nice banter and went over well as one of the supporting characters. His friend Will also did good and the whole time I had been expecting him to be some kind of undercover agent/traitor so I was glad instead he was someone that Lincoln could depend on. Mary shows up for a bit which makes sense if you know your history and she was a solid character. In general the heroes were all reasonably solid here.

The villains are more on the forgettable side. Yeah they’re definitely powerful and don’t go down easily but they’re basically just your standard vampires. So watch enough in the genre and you won’t even remember them. They’re not bad though, I guess at least Adam was good as the main leader of the vampires. The one who bumped off the mother was more on the petty side and he wasn’t nearly as impressive. He’s only able to win when the odds are overwhelmingly in his favor but otherwise he’s not much of a thinker or anything like that.

The film ultimately suffers from the usual vampire issues. It can be a little brutal on the violence with everyone getting bitten and the blood sucking never ends up working out. The fight scenes do require an extensive amount of disbelief to be thrown out the window because no matter how big the axe is, Abe is still just a normal guy. The vampires all have super speed and strength so they should have a leg up on the competition. Dodging an axe for example should be rather easy right? Yet Abe is slaughtering tons of vampires and by the end of the film they really get hit with the nerf as they can’t do anything. You just know that doesn’t make sense.

There isn’t a whole lot of time for fun in this film. It’s really a lot of going from one vampire attack to the next but it still does track better than most other vampire films because it feels like there’s a real story here. Yeah that probably seems like a big shot to the other films but for example the sole focus isn’t on everyone getting bitten. Abe has an actual character arc going here and it can almost feel like a comic book movie at times.

Overall, Abe Lincoln makes for a fun protagonist and I definitely think this movie was a good idea. I’d just put him up against robots or something but making more alternate historical pasts with a supernatural twist is just a lot of fun. It’s probably a bit riskier in the sense that you want to be careful how you adapt certain characters for fear of backlash but if there’s enough good attention to detail then you should be fine. From everything I know of Abe I’d say the film’s portrayal seemed rather solid. I also really liked the ending which isn’t really a cliffhanger so much as a callback but it could work both ways.

Overall 4/10

30 Days of Night Review

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This review is of the TV-14 edited version of the film. All thoughts below should be addressed as such as a review of the unedited version would be more negative

So what’ve we got here? Vampires? Check! Ultra violence? Check! Horror movie??? Check! Yeah this is a recipe for disaster and I’m here to report that the movie holds absolutely nothing back. It’s going for the Gold Trophy in overall edge and violence and absolutely earns it without any real competition. There’s not much positive to say about this movie so strap in folks because we’re going for a ride!

The story takes place in Alaska right before the ominous 30 days of no sunlight. Most people head out to wherever they live during these times while the rest prepare to brave the cold as they always do. These guys have been able to survive in these temperatures for ages and are confident they can pull it off again but things change when a mysterious guy shows up and causes trouble. The heroes lock him up but it’s unclear how he even got here. Also he says his crew is coming by soon to take everyone out. See it turns out the vampires are real and they are descending on the town to murder everyone. The heroes will have to hold them off for 30 days….yeah this won’t be easy.

Now there are some interesting things you can do with a plot like this. The concept of a survival film of the heroes using the terrain to their advantage and trying to survive is quite sound. But…it doesn’t work against vampires. See this movie should have either gone with normal humans as the enemy or creatures. I’ll explain. Lets say World War III happened and a bunch of enemy soldiers came into Alaska to murder everyone. It makes sense that the heroes would have the advantage with the cold and hiding in the houses. Likewise if you’re fighting a bunch of creatures you can also set up traps and such.

None of this applies to vampires because they all have super strength, speed, and endurance. You can’t really set traps for them when they can smell you from a whiles away and hear every little sound. When they attack the humans there isn’t even really a fight because they just tear them to shreds immediately. The whole survival aspect quickly becomes moot because the humans just get slaughtered each and every time. I felt like the film threw away the most interesting angle by making the enemies vampires.

Instead a good portion of the film is the heroes just hiding in a balcony as different characters get impatient and are eaten one after another. There are so many scenes where someone just gets attacked by a group of vampires, over and over again. The most annoying scene had to be when one of the older guys just had enough so he runs outside which forces others to go after him and then things go badly for the various characters. You’re putting everyone at risk when you do selfish stuff like that. There’s no way that would ever be worth it but in the moment the character just doesn’t care.

The film tries to throw in a quick romance subplot with Eben and Stella who had been going through a rough patch but this situation forces them to have to be together for a while and potentially get past their issues. It doesn’t really have much of a purpose in the film and there’s no real time for it anyway. I’d say I just wanted to get back to the action but in a way I guess this beats those parts.

See, the film is trying to be as violent as possible so the vampires biting people is actually a lot more explicit and dragged out than normal. I already don’t like blood sucking and this is more like Werewolves with how they chomp on the humans. They even toy with/torture some of the humans before murdering them. There’s certainly a whole lot of blood throughout the film so this isn’t for the faint of heart. We do get a true fight scene near the end which was a nice change of pace. Even this one couldn’t resist a Mortal Kombat type finishing move but at least we did have true combat for a second there. The victor makes no sense given the power gap but hey the movie had to end at some point. I would have just written in some kind of extra weakness or an additional advantage that the human would have to shake things up. Now that would have been a good move.

Outside of everyone being murdered the film also adds in other dark themes like choosing to murder your friends and family or let them get eaten alive. Obviously it’s a lose-lose situation at that point but the idea is you’re basically pressured into a decision there. It’s always a rough one to have to watch. Then we also have the classic animal violence here as some animals are destroyed quite violently. Yeah there’s a story reason for this but it’s still an awful moment all around that should have been cut out.

The film won’t even let heroes get a painless death. One guy has the bright idea to blow himself up and a whole building rather than letting the vampires eat him. I completely get it too because that makes a lot of sense…then he ends up surviving the explosion. The character was shocked and I was as well. Like seriously guys? Naturally that gives the vampires time to gloat and then finish him off. The whole point was for him to avoid that so the film felt extra mean spirited there. There is no reason the character should have survived that, just give him the dignity of a quick death. That should have been on the table for him.

That’s just the tone of the film though. It’s not enough to slaughter the humans but it always has to be done with such ferocity and hopelessness for the humans. The vampire designs are intense I’ll give them that. You would absolutely feel intimidated to see one out in the wild because aside from the stats they just look really scary. The film delivers on that part and the atmosphere is definitely really intense.

I would even go as far as to say that the very beginning of the first act isn’t super bad. Before the animals die which is still very early in the film I’ll grant you that much. But we see everyone leaving and know that something is approaching. It’s a very ominous start but ultimately the film overplayed its hand of making the enemies basically invincible next to the main characters and that was the end of the game. All you need to even the odds is make it so that they are not bullet proof. One or two bullets can destroy them. Do that and suddenly we’re looking at a movie where the humans have a real chance and things can get interesting.

Overall, If you want to see a bunch of vampires slaughtering a bunch of defenseless humans then this is the film to check out. It reminds me a lot of pre arc Attack on Titan but at least there they had some semblance of a chance. The humans here can’t do much since guns don’t really help do anything other than buy time. The vampires are too powerful and also there are just too many of them. They really needed some kind of extra weakness to make this a lot closer. Something that would actually make this a very valid hunter vs prey type movie. Ultimately the movie isn’t able to make this premise work and is relentlessly brutal. Definitely skip it!

Overall 0/10

Tormented Review

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It’s time for a fairly emotional film with some supernatural intrigue thrown in. It’s definitely one where you don’t feel all that bad for the main character though and your sympathy wanes more and more as the film goes on. Ultimately this really works as a retro thriller of sorts and while it may not be the most well known film out there, it holds its own.

The movie starts with Tom getting ready to be married to his fiance. He’s been waiting a long time for this and he’s finally made it. Unfortunately a wrinkle arrives when his ex girlfriend Vi shows up to blackmail him. She will not let him go off with another girl and makes it clear that she will end his life socially if he tries. She gets a bit careless around the railing though and Tom decides not to save her from falling to her doom. He figures nobody will know that she died. There are just two things he could not account for. One is a shady boat owner named Nick who suspects what is going on here and the other is that Vi’s spirit tanked the fall and she still has not given up on ruining his life. How can he hope to deal with a ghost?

Now the film is a bit vague on exactly when Tom’s relationship with Vi took place. Since he really tries hard not to let Meg know about her, it does feel as though he was cheating on Meg at some point with this girl. Otherwise the easy thing is to just talk to Meg and explain that his ex is being crazy. The fact that Tom cannot do this is very suspect in itself. As for not saving Vi, well obviously he should have but given the circumstances and how quickly it happened, it’s not a death sentence for the protagonist morally.

That happens later on in the film as he gets more and more unhinged. Sure he is being haunted and all that but it’s definitely not an excuse that I would give him. Ultimately Tom is responsible for all of his actions and in the end he didn’t make the right ones. He could have handled things a lot better and since he did not, that means he just wasn’t cut out for the job. The ending is very suitable for him when you really think about it.

Vi is written as antagonistically as possible so she is a villain from the start. As a villain I would say she is fairly decent. She is really determined and stealing the wedding ring was just such a petty move that it works out really well. My only real question here is why she didn’t do more to directly get in Tom’s way. She can evidently touch the real world and make herself solid so there’s no end to the things she could do. Beating Tom up or kidnapping him for example is very much within her tool house. I wouldn’t say any of these are negatives though because you could validly say that she was just toying with him the whole time and that works too.

Meg isn’t as solid as the main heroine mainly because she is a little too oblivious and puts up with too much the whole time. When Tom is starting to act crazy, running off by himself and such she needed to ask more questions. From her point of view the guy should have seemed absolutely crazy and while she had some doubts at one point, she basically just talks herself out of them. I cut the kid (Sandy) more slack because of how young she is. There’s just not much she can do about the situation and she doesn’t see as many of these moments first hand until the very ending. At that point, yeah she ends up changing her mind which made sense. So Sandy was more on top of things here.

My favorite character has to be Nick though. He’s the perfect balance between being shady and an evil mastermind the whole time. Don’t those things go together most of the time? Eh maybe but it still feels like the right way to describe him. He goes around giving a lot of tough talk to Tom and always has a handle on things. The only point where he falters is in the very end which is arguably the worst spot to falter. The guy does make a very dumb move in following Tom to an abandoned location. If you’re blackmailing someone you have to be prepared for every kind of response. Surely a violent response is one of the first ones that you are ready for right? He never seemed to entertain the idea that someone who already murdered one person may want to add another body to that count.

It was a little hard to believe. Either way the writing for the film is really solid beyond that. The movie has good pacing and the suspense works out well as you’re not sure how each character is going to turn out by the time this is all over. There are a lot of ways the plot could go after all and the ending really stuck the landing which was good. The ending is really a determining factor in a movie like this after all. So no complaints on my end, full steam ahead!

Overall, Tormented is a pretty good movie. It may not be the most explosive and exciting but it works well as a slow burn. I’m not sure if you’re meant to root for the main character or not. I’m thinking you are but personally I wasn’t on his side from the start. At least to me the guy seemed guilty just based on how he handled it all. So in the end everyone is probably better off with how things went by the end. Ghost stories can really be a lot of fun and this one really worked out. If you haven’t seen it yet, I’d recommend changing that.

Overall 7/10

I’ll Always Know What You Did Last Summer Review

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This review is of the TV-14 edited version of the film. All thoughts below should be addressed as such as a review of the unedited version would be more negative

It’s time to end the trilogy of horror in the Summer series. The titles always get pretty interesting with this one but it’s basically just your average horror. Nothing’s really going on beyond the mass murders here and none of the characters are likable. So what you have is just a long journey of watching them all get picked off one by one which doesn’t make for the most engaging experience.

The movie starts off with some teenager drama as Amber and her boyfriend Colby decide to make a long distance relationship work but first they’re going to spend one last July 4th with the crew. They pull off a prank making the whole town think there is some kind of serial killer on the loose but things get a little too close to home when one of them actually dies during the prank. They cover this up and then go their separate ways. Time passes and the next year arrives with Amber meeting up with Colby in town but he didn’t tell her he would be there so it’s sort of like they’ve unofficially broken up. None of the gang even remotely likes each other anymore but they have to band together one last time because the murderer they faked may actually be a real person now. Is it someone trying to expose the murder they had covered up?

From there on it’s time for everyone to start taking massive Ls against the villains. It’s not really surprising that it goes this way either because they were outgunned from the jump. Usually in these films you have to find an excuse to scatter the main characters but that isn’t needed here because of how much they hate each other. They threaten each other more than once and constantly split up. At one point Colby heads off to go drink by himself knowing full well by this point in the movie that the body count was rather large and still not caring about this at all. It’s definitely one of the worst moves you can make.

There is one decision that is even worse though. At one point the teens finally come up with their first reasonable plan. They will all hop in a car together, pick a direction and just keep on driving. The murders seem to be leading up to July 4th which is when they covered up the murder so they just make sure they’re in a different state by then. They can always return later or choose not too, but that should keep them safe right? The film takes great pains to explain that this wouldn’t have worked by the end but ignoring that, this is actually a really good plan.

If you take away the classic trope of the slasher villain being super fast and all knowing, there isn’t really a counter to this plan. Even if he can grab a vehicle he won’t be able to follow them quick enough before they’re past the border. Then at that point as long as they don’t do anything ignorant, they can stay off the grid for a while. Change their names or go far enough away where it won’t matter. The problem of course is that this plan was too good so one of the characters complains that she has to go out and perform in a rock band real quick first.

She knows full well that the villain is going to make his move now since it’ll be July 4th but she is prioritizing the concert? I know scouts will be there and that it’s a big deal but it still makes absolutely no sense so stay. It’s one of those scenes that will definitely have you rolling your eyes the whole time because it just makes no sense. There’s basically no way that anyone would have made that move.

It’s not like these films are really known for their writing or anything but that was still crazy. The film has its share of twists as the whole thing is part mystery after all. The identity of the villain is definitely a game changer but unfortunately it also does make the experience a little more pointless. The film actually gives us a real climax with some action and everything but due to how the plot goes, it doesn’t matter a whole lot. Ultimately you know that there is just no way for the heroes to pull this off.

The twist ending is a classic horror staple and this one has an ending like that but it’s basically the bare minimum. Sort of like the writer shrugging and figuring “welllll they’d probably like to see this ending sooo..here ya go” but there’s no creativity or inspiration here. I suppose you could say that for most of the film but it’s still not a great look. I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again, this is definitely not a high quality film and what’s more…I’d say it’s definitely a skip straight up.

The film suffers from the usual slasher issues like being overly violent with all of the kills. The film gets as gratuitous as possible. In part that’s probably why every character is written to be super unlikable so you don’t feel as bad for them but that’s not a winning strategy in the slightest. I also think that the culprit should have been someone else. Now that may have made some of the scenes in this movie a little harder to buy but you were probably going to have to stretch some disbelief here anyway. So just knock all of that out in one shot and then you’re in a much better position.

Overall, I’ll Always Know What You Did Last Summer is a pretty bad movie. It’s really just hitting all of the beats without adding anything to them. It’s going through the motions in the most robotic way possible. It’ll quickly fade into obscurity as just another slasher film. I’ll give tiny props for actually having the heroes try to fight the villain near the end instead of just running and tripping but there are very few positives to be had here. You just won’t be having a whole lot of fun during this title. I still can’t believe not even one character decided to just drive off and leave town. It’s the easiest solution for 90% of these films which is why most movies actually make an effort to prevent this from being an option. Like there’s no roads or there’s an avalanche or something. This film had no such excuse.

Overall 1/10

Super Mario Bros. Wonder Review

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Whenever Nintendo releases a big Mario game you better believe that the whole planet is put on notice. It really feels like ages since the last big Mario game too, particularly the last 2D one. Fortunately Wonder is a great game that adds a lot of new mechanics and really feels like a fresh experience. It takes a few chances and not every gamble pays off but ultimately it’s just great to have more Mario content. I just wish Nintendo wouldn’t put their mascot on break for so many years at a time.

The basic plot here is that Bowser has merged with a giant ship and now he intends to take over the entire planet! Mario must team up with Daisy and co. to stop him. They’re in the Flower Kingdom this time which is a nice way to incorporate new supporting characters and whole new environments. I don’t think these guys will ever be as iconic as the Toads but they’re fun enough. We even have talking plants for full voice acting although I doubt most people will be big fans of them. I kept the voices on for the whole game but I did change the language to Japanese near the end for kicks.

The gameplay has a lot of the classic Mario elements you will recognize like running and jumping to the goal. You have some big power ups like the fire flower which are classic but also new ones like a bubble flower and elephant mode. I can’t say that Elephant mode is my favorite but the bubble form is really helpful. It can one shot almost any enemy and also gives you extra jumps by using the bubbles you shoot out. It is incredibly handy in a pinch! You’ve also got a drill hat to plunge into the ceiling. Most of the time you don’t really need to use the power ups so you can have fun in normal form but it’s nice to experiment a bit.

A new gimmick for this game are the badges which you can equip for all kinds of special abilities like an extra jump, being notified when you’re near a secret, etc. I held onto the glide from the tutorial but mainly stayed away from the badges so they wouldn’t make the game too easy. It’s easy to see how they would make this a bit of a cakewalk in the end. In terms of difficulty I would say this is easier than the last few 2D titles like New Super Mario Bros and Mario World but it has some reasonably tough levels so it’s not going to be on easy mode or anything.

One odd choice is that the worlds don’t get progressively harder the way they normally would. Every world has some easy levels and some hard ones and you get to see the difficulty counter before entering a level. This is because you don’t have to beat every level in order to move on. It’s all about the collectible like stars in this game. So for example you may need to get 15 collectibles in order to move onto the next world out of 25. So then you can skip like 3-4 levels. I actually 100% completed world 1 initially because I figured the stars would carry over but they don’t so just a heads up on that. When you have enough to fight the boss, just go ahead and fight him. There is no real benefit to waiting longer than that.

In addition to the normal levels there are mini ones that are like break levels. You get to master a badge in each level and some will just have a fun theme like trying to solve a puzzle or unravel a song. They are a nice break from the standard levels and are good additions to have here. I’m not always thrilled about the open world nature of the areas as you can sometimes waste some time trying to find the place you want to go but that’s mainly just an issue in the desert world which is the worst one by far. The rest are still pretty clearly labeled the whole time. When you lose a level you are also thrown right back in with incredible speed which is really a good thing.

The graphics are really top tier and this is some of the best visuals we’ve seen for a classic Nintendo type title. The environments are all very colorful and there are a lot of different enemies to take on. Each world feels different as well. The soundtrack is filled with a lot of fun themes and also some nice remixes. My favorite new theme has to be the final boss battle but in general I liked the villain themes here. They weren’t afraid to go all out and even seem a little towards the rock genre.

The actual campaign likely won’t take you too long, maybe around 6 hours or so. That said there is a good amount of replay value if you aim to 100% the game. I don’t actually know what you unlock for doing so yet. Hopefully a bonus ending or something cool like that. I don’t tend to 100% these since there are no trophies involved but if the reward is good enough then I’ll consider it. I also played the whole game as Daisy so it’ll be fun to play around as some of the other characters. I could even have fun using a bunch of badges now that I’ve beaten the game. So I can just relax and hang out while playing the levels.

Bowser not kidnapping Peach for a change is a nice twist but I would still like the series to take the story a bit farther at some point. It’s Mario so I’m not asking for something dark or super serious. Even happy type games can have a good story ongoing and that’s all I want. Give us some fun cutscenes, a cool journey to follow and I’m set. That would be completely ideal and I don’t think it would be all that hard. It’s hard to picture it ever happening but mix in the great gameplay with an awesome story and then we could be looking at one of the all time all stars.

Overall, Super Mario Bros. Wonder is definitely a great game. It is a lot of fun to play through and as you’d expect from Nintendo’s flagship character every detail has been given a lot of polish and attention. The only things keeping it from going a bit higher is the lack of a true story and the game also feeling a little short. In general platformers aren’t very long of course and that makes sense but I do feel you tend to need a certain amount of length in order to be one of those elite 9 star titles. I would definitely recommend picking this game up though. It’s not a title that you want to miss out on!

Overall 8/10

Sonic Superstars Review

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It’s time we had a talk about the latest Sonic game. I’ve always been more of a 3D Sonic fan to be honest and tend to mention that at every opportunity but the 2D games are fun enough. It just feels like they go against the nature of Sonic which is to run really fast. Ironically you are allowed to blast through stages at full speed much more often in Super Mario Bros. Wonder, another example of Mario just dominating in the 2D space. Sonic needs to stick to 3D and this game has all the issues the 2D titles tend to have. That said, it is still a pretty good game but I don’t think it will remain in most peoples’ memories for very long.

The general plot is that Fang and Trip are working for a mad genius known as Dr. Eggman. Eggman wants to destroy a blue speedster known as Sonic The Hedgehog and by utilizing the powers of the chaos emerald and time reversal technology, he may actually have a chance this time. Fortunately Sonic has his friends at the ready. Tails, Amy, and Knuckles are around to do their part and back Sonic up. Together there is no foe that can overcome this force for good!

There is barely a plot in the game though so you are really playing for the gameplay. I don’t really get why Sega refuses to let the 2D games have their own big stories. Sure you want to keep it distinct from the 3D titles but you could absolutely have fun plots with voice acting and everything in the 2D days. Just look at how top tier titles like Shantae handle this. You can interpret the general story from the animations we get of course but it won’t end up feeling quite as grand that way.

For the gameplay I don’t really have any issues. It’s very classic with how you can jump, run really fast, and spin dash. You maneuver through the levels by activating different devices and defeating enemies. At the end of the level naturally you will end up going against a giant boss as well. There is a lot of variety with the bosses and they’re all solid except for the final boss where I had issues with the sheer length. Difficulty isn’t a problem, it’s good when a final boss is tough but having to replay long segments can always be annoying. That final battle took me quite a few tries.

One thing I would recommend is using your chaos emerald powers as much as possible. They make a massive difference in combat. Fortunately the chaos emeralds are all in spots that are easy to find. I managed to gather them all during a normal playthrough which was nice since it meant I wouldn’t have to try and search them out later on. Now that’s really nice since usually they can be super hard to find. It can just be tough to get in the habit of using the powers since you’re so used to just using the normal platforming tricks but trust me when I say that it’s highly worth it. In particular summoning an army of mini Sonics does a lot of damage during boss battles.

The graphics are really great. The game feels like its in true HD the whole time and the character models are on point. It’s one of the clearest games I’ve played in some time. I would say the retro art style actually does a lot to support the game’s graphics there since there is less to load up and it can all be processed really quickly. The soundtrack is less memorable though as there are no real standout tracks here. You’ll forget them as soon as they have ended which is definitely not ideal. I suppose it’s better than having a bad soundtrack though.

The actual story is fairly short so you should beat it in 4-5 hours or so. There is some replay value though as you can play through the game again as Trip. Then there is also the journey of trying to get the Platinum trophy for this game which should also be a fairly long task at least. It doesn’t look particularly difficult but I’m betting it will add another 6-8 hours of playtime which is always cool. There is also a multiplayer mode here and while I didn’t get to try it yet, it looks like they really did put a good amount of effort into i.

If you’ve enjoyed the previous Sonic 2D games then you will enjoy this one. It’s really as simple as that. That said, it just feels like the devs could have pushed this a lot harder. Give us more true cutscenes during the story, incorporate more characters, and also just make the game longer. I wouldn’t blame someone for waiting until there is a price drop to pick this one up because it really is over in the blink of an eye. It doesn’t feel like the $60 experience even if it is polished. Also for all the marketing about Fang returning he pretty much played 0 role in this game. There wasn’t much point to his inclusion particularly as he doesn’t get a 1 on 1 boss fight where you have to deal with his gun. He’s always in a mech for some reason but I suppose Sonic The Fighters spoiled me on that one.

Overall, Sonic Superstars is definitely a fun game. The experience doesn’t last as long as you’d like but the technical elements are really up to par. The game looks really great and while the soundtrack isn’t the best, you’ll still enjoy the tunes while you play through the game. It’s why I would say this embodies what it means to be a very good game. It’s not great or anything but there’s never a moment where you’re wishing that it would be over already.

Overall 7/10