I've been wanting a great Sonic the Hedgehog game for a very long time. I can't believe it took this many years to make a 2D Sonic game that people have been begging for a very long time to see.
You NEED to get Sonic Mania. The nostolgia that hit me during every single level was amazing. Sure there were new levels that were in this, but they had elements from previous games in those levels. The sounds that I heard, I can recall where I heard them, from what game, from which level... It was amazing.
The difficulty is also there as well. I remember when I was a kid, I could never beat a Sonic game without cheats because I hated losing coins that badly. Sonic 3 and Game Genie combined was what I spent countless of times on. Racking up thousands of coins, breaking meters, it was hysterical.
Sure, there were some levels I would love to have seen, but what's not to say this game could easily get DLC, or a sequel that those levels could make an appearance.
There's a few levels I would love to see return:
Spring Yard Zone from the original, Metropolis Zone from Sonic 2, Ice Cap Zone and Launch Base from Sonic 3.
And... that giant plane that dropped bombs in the second act of Angel Island needs to return and have an even more epic scene!
But besides not seeing a few levels I'd like to have seen, just everything in this game was brilliant. I think I screamed the loudest when I saw Hydrocity as a level, and the boss at the end of act 1... oh. my. GOD! You are literally riding the machine that RoBUTTnik rode at the end of Hydrocity Act 2 in Sonic 3. YOU ARE LITERALLY RIDING THE MACHINE THAT ROBUTTNIK RODE AT THE END OF HYDROCITY ACT 2 IN SONIC 3. I had to pause the game and just sit there in awe, the fact that they decided to take it upon themselves to give you a chance to give Robotnik a taste of his own medicine brought a tear to my eye.
I will say the level I struggled the most on was Oil Ocean. The momentum that Sonic has behind him is a little too much that I kept getting crushed by those lids that flew in the air. That and FUCK THOSE OCTOPI... and sea horses... despite that I like sea horses. Those things just have precise shooting skills that knows when you're going to jump. And the end boss... it took me several times to figure out that you have to take down the guns first before hitting on the actual boss.
The special stages were awesome. I like that the Blue Spheres made an appearance, I have not beaten them all yet. And the UFO chase is a fun one too. I don't have that much to say about them because I unfortunately didn't get all the chaos emeralds in my first run, and I kept running passed all the checkmarks.
But seriously, I could go on and on about this game, but I think I'm going to end it here because I really want people to go out and get this game. It is definitely worth getting. After all this wait for the perfect Sonic game, they finally made one!
PS... the end boss of Chemical Plant Zone.... MEAN BEAN MACHINE!!!!
