Sonic Mania Review

Sonic Mania is a 2D Sonic game developed by Headcannon and Pagoda West Games, published by Sega. It is the first official retro 2D Sonic game since 1994's Sonic & Knuckles. 

Gameplay

Sonic Mania plays just like a classic Sonic game, nothing has changed. Players speed through acts and zones, collecting rings and searching for items and special stage entrances, and fighting mini-bosses or bosses at the end of each act. For those who may have been turned off by Sonic's high speed nature in the past, the update from the fullscreen aspect ratios of the classic games to the widescreen aspect ratio of Sonic Mania helps tremendously, that extra space on the sides of the screen lets you see many threats sooner than you could in the classic games, giving you more time to react.

Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles all return as playable characters and not much has changed for them. Sonic has acquired the new drop dash ability, allowing him to instantly spin dash when landing, while Tails and Knuckles unfortunately don't get any new abilities. 

The mini-bosses and bosses are mostly good, though a few of the fights felt too long or had overly gimmicky mechanics imo. 

Difficulty-wise, Mania falls in somewhere in the middle of the pack, it's easier than Sonic 1 and 2, but harder than Sonic 3, Sonic & Knuckles, and Sonic CD. Personally I found it to be a bit too hard at times, the difficulty in 3, Knuckles, and CD was perfect, I wish that Mania was a bit easier like those 3 games were. 

Level Design

Sonic Mania has 12 zones, each with 2 acts. Of those 12 zones, 8 are remixed zones returning from the classic games, while 4 are brand new. I'll start with the remixed zones. Act 1 of the remixed zones play out pretty much like you remember, the level layouts are different, but the level design elements and enemy rosters are mostly what you remember. Act 2 is a much more radical remix, you start to see level design elements and enemies from other levels and even other games show up alongside familiar elements. These remixed zones overall are quite good. Act 1 is great on pretty much every level, though act 2 can be a mixed bag; the results of the heavy remixing are mostly good, but some of these second acts are ruined by level design mechanics and enemy types that I hate, for instance Sandopolis Act 2's light switch mechanic from Sonic & Knuckles returns in the form of Smog clearing switch mechanic in Oil Ocean Act 2 of Mania, and I always hated the light switch mechanic from Sandopolis. 

The 4 new zones are mostly excellent, though I personally found Press Garden act 1 to be too linear, compared to the rest of the acts in the game which feel much more open. 

The special stages in Sonic Mania are quite good. They are most similar to Sonic CD's special stages in that they are 3D, but they feature elements from multiple special stages, including the blue spheres from Sonic 3, the UFO's from Sonic CD, and the gameplay of Sonic R. 

Story

Sonic Mania, being a 2D Sonic game, doesn't have much in the way of a story, though the premise of the game is excellent.

Sonic Mania takes place some time after the end of Sonic 3 & Knuckles. Sonic and Tails are relaxing when a sudden dimensional shift occurs in the atmosphere over Angel Island. Tails picks up a powerful energy reading that is similar to, though distinctly different from, the Chaos Emeralds, and Tails convinces Sonic that they should go and investigate. Meanwhile, Dr. Robotnik also detects the energy signature and dispatches an elite group of 5 of his best Eggrobos, known as the Hard-Boiled Heavies, to find the source of the energy signature. Sonic and Tails arrive just in time to find the Hard-Boiled Heavies excavating a powerful gemstone called the Phantom Ruby. Just then a dimensional shift occurs, pulling Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles, who was relaxing nearby on Angel Island, as well as the Hard-Boiled Heavies, back to Green Hill Zone from Sonic 1. The Phantom Ruby's power also causes the Hard-Boiled Heavies to transform into more powerful versions of themselves. The Hard-Boiled Heavies flee with the Phantom Ruby and bring it to Dr. Robotnik, Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles chase after them, but arrive too late, Dr. Robotnik uses the Ruby's power to send them to Chemical Plant Zone from Sonic 2. They continue to pursue Dr. Robotnik throughout the rest of the game, fighting him and the 5 Hard-Boiled Heavies throughout the game. I won't spoil the rest of the story, but I will say that it sets up the upcoming Modern Sonic game, Sonic Forces. 

Graphics and Art Design

Sonic Mania is gorgeous, simply put it's one of the best looking sprite based games I have ever seen. The graphics and animations go several steps further than any of the classic games did, Christian Whitehead and his team utilize several techniques that simply weren't possible on the Sega Genesis. The goal of Christian Whitehead and his team was to develop a game that would look like a proper Sonic 4 on Sega Saturn would have looked if Sonic Team had made it back in the mid-90's and they succeeded. All of the levels, both new and old, look great, and the animations look really clean.  

Audio

Sonic Mania's soundtrack was composed by Portuguese composer Tee Lopes, who previously made a name for himself by remixing Sonic music and posting it on his Youtube channel. For the remixed levels, the remixed music on act 1 is very light, basically he just remastered the old bit tune Sonic songs and brought them up to modern CD quality. Act 2 remixes are much more extreme, they still sound familiar, but in many ways also sound like new songs. The music for the new levels is excellent as well, I feel like these songs will become immortalized just like classic Sonic songs were. Simply put, Mania's soundtrack is superb. We have a definite soundtrack of the year contender here. I do have one, small, slightly nitpicky complaint, and that is that he used the Europe/Japan versions for both of the remixed Sonic CD zones, it would have been nice to use the US version on at least one of the 2 acts for those 2 zones.

Value

A single semi-leisurely playthough through Mania's 12 zones, which includes playing the special and bonus stages as you come across them, will likely take somewhere between 4 and 6 hours. However, the game has alot of replay value, thanks to the open nature of the level design and the fact that there are 3 playable characters. There are also medals to collect in the game's Blue Sphere bonus stages. I'm told that a 100% completion of the game, including full playthroughs of all 4 playable character combinations with all 7 emeralds on each, plus earning all the gold medals, can take upwards of 40 hours. Mania is definitely worth it's $20 price tag.

TLDR

Mania, in a word, is superb. Whether you're an old Sonic fan like me or a newcomer that has never played a Sonic game before, I can't recommend Sonic Mania enough. The game is nearly perfect, with the exception of some overly long and gimmicky boss fights and a difficulty curve that's a tad too steep for my tastes. 

Scores

Gameplay- 9/10

Level Design- 8.5/10

Story- 7.5/10

Graphics and Art Design- 10/10

Audio- 9.5/10

Value- 10/10

Overall Score- 91/100

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