Sonic Colours is a fantastic game by any standard, and platforming fans with a Wii would be foolish to miss out on this.
The gameplay of Sonic Colours consists of both 3D and 2D gameplay. In the 3D sections the gameplay largely consists of running forward at high speed, boosting, quick-stepping left and right at the right times and using the homing attack to bounce off enemies and objects. A lot of the 3D sections have high speed and it's all about reactions and effective use of Sonic's moves. There's rarely proper precision platforming required in the 3D sections, but rest assured the game doesn't play itself. You must use reflexes and your skills in 3D. Sometimes the game will go to a cinematic camera and the game will play itself for a few seconds allowing you to feel awesome as Sonic does cool stuff, but trust me when I say you are in complete control in most of the 3D gameplay.
When the game seamlessly transitions in to 2D sidescrolling gameplay, that's when things get really interesting. Remember back in the 90s when Sonic games were platformers first and foremost? Remember back when speed wasn't the only thing Sonic was about? Well that's no longer a distant memory. Sonic Colours is a true platformer. The platforming was far better than I expected it to be. The level design is absolutely fantastic and puts your platforming skills to the test. And I mean that in the true sense. Sonic Colours doesn't challenge through cheap design or bad controls like previous games. The controls in Colours are flawless, particularly in 2D. Precision platforming is just so easy. If you miss a jump in Sonic Colours or fail a platforming challenge, it's your fault. No more blaming the game this time. The level design is fantastic and fair and the controls are spot on. The game plays in 2D probably around 70% of the time.
The levels show a massive amount of variety. From the massive spectacle of the 3D sections to the amazingly well designed 2D platforming sections, Sonic Colours continues to dazzle. From bouncing on enemies and springs, being launched in to the air at high speeds, running along roads of energy in the sky, underwater gameplay, to upside-down platforming, Sonic Colours continues to show variety and a massive amount of fun in loads of different ways.
The power-ups are what give Sonic Colours that extra awesomeness. There are 7 wisp powers in all, and each one adds a different dimension to gameplay. With the drill you can dig underground to explore new areas of stages, as well use the drill to move fast through water. The laser power allows you to shoot off really fast in a direction and land somewhere in the distance in a second. You could use this power to bounce off walls or little metal diamonds to land somewhere. There's lots of different ways you can use this power and really gives opportunity for exploration. That's really the whole purpose of the wisp powers. They allow you reach previously in accessible areas. The pink wisp allows you to stick to walls and also makes you invincible for a time. Another cool thing about this power is that you can do a little speed boost while using this power. No sound like that much? Well there's a little fan service in how this is done. It's a spin dash! That's right. This wisp allows you to do the spin dash. The rocket power just shoots you really high in the air, and allows you to control your descent. The cube power turns blue rings in to blue blocks and vice-versa, allowing for interesting platforming. The hover power allows you to hover in the air for a limited time and also allows you to dash along a line of rings to get to new areas. The frenzy wisp turns you in to a purple monster which eats anything in its path. This allows you to break through solid blocks as well as quickly defeat enemies in your path. You also get bigger the more you eat.
As you can see, the wisp powers add a lot to the game and add lots of opportunity for exploration. That's the thing about Sonic Colours. You'll never see everything there is to see in a level the first time through. The levels are really massive with loads to see and do. This adds a hell of a lot of replay value. With five hidden rings in each level to find as well as S ranks to go for, replaying levels is greatly encouraged. If you manage to find all 180 red rings in the game, you unlock levels in the sonic simulator which allow you to get chaos emeralds. When you get all the emeralds you unlock.....SUPER SONIC! That's right. Super Sonic is playable in stages. As of right now I haven't unlocked Super Sonic yet. But rest assured, with an incentive like that I'm going to do my best to find all the hidden rings.
S ranking levels in Colours is somewhat different to how its been before. It used to be all about getting through the stage as fast as possible. Not any more. It's about score. Using colour powers at the right times plays a vital role. You get bonus points for loads of things in Colours. Just using the wisp powers gives you points, as does defeating enemies, quick-stepping, drifting as well as getting rings and finishing the stage quickly. S ranking levels is not easy. It takes real effort and skill. The scoring system is perfect and with online leaderboards that only goes to reinforce the replay value. I'm going to be completely honest here. I cant think of a platformer that has as much replay value as this. Sonic Colours has the best replay value of any platformer ever!
The presentation of Colours is damn good! One of the best looking games on the Wii without question. The sound is brilliant as well. The music is great as are the sound effects. Though lets be honest. This is a given for the Sonic series. No matter how badly previous Sonic games screwed up, the music was always great.
Outside of the main 40 or so levels, there's also the sonic simulator stages, which can also be played co-op. These are definitely the weakest levels of the game. The co-op is definitely flawed. It's very easy to jump on your partners head and stun them. It's also quite hard to keep both players on the screen without causing annoyances. There's an assist mode which turns the partner in to a ball allowing one player to get past tricky sequences on their own so the partner doesn't lose lives. These can also be played on your own though. These levels are by no means bad, but they are quite plain and nothing special.
The boss fights in the game are solid and pretty fun, but it's a shame some boss fights are rehashed. You actually fight two of the games bosses twice, with the second time having a slightly altered attack pattern. This is no game-breaker as they are fun to play, but it's a little anti-climatic nonetheless. The bosses aren't very challenging but they are all very fun, and they all have ranks as well so using wisp powers to attack the boss to get bonus points is a cool thing to do and adds replay value. The final boss was quite easy but was definitely quite fun. No super sonic space battle or anything like that is a bit of a disappointment, but hey the final boss here is still more fun than any previous 3D Sonic game, no matter how flashy final bosses in previous games have been.
The difficulty of Sonic Colours is damn near perfect if you ask me. Later levels can get somewhat challenging, but Colours never reaches the level of frustration. Later levels have quite a few bottomless pits and require precision platforming skills. This is a good thing. The problem with bottomless pits in other Sonic games are that they are poorly placed or the gameplay just got frustrating from bad level design. Precision platforming is extremely easy here though, and if you die then it's your fault. I've never even come close to seeing the game over screen. Don't be fooled by some critics talking about the game being frustrating at times. It's called challenge, and it's a fair challenge. Unless you seriously suck at the game you're not going to get frustrated with Sonic Colours.
Ok now for my obligatory paragraph about the story. Come on, it's a Sonic game. Are you really playing it for the story? Suffice to say, Dr Robotnik has an evil plan. Sonic goes to stop him. That is all you need to know! I will say that the voice acting and dialogue is superb. The dialogue is actually funny! That's right, I said funny. The humour of the game is just brilliant. Several times I found myself laughing at the cutscenes. Perhaps your sense of humour may vary, but in any case the voice acting is at no point annoying. That alone is a big step up.
From the thrilling high speed exhilarating 3D gameplay to the fantastic side-scrolling platforming, Colours is a brilliant platformer that shouldn't be missed. The outstanding visual design and the pure spectacle of the fast paced and varied levels will take your breath away. Add to that great platforming, exciting power-ups and quite possibly the greatest replay value of any platformer ever, and you've got one of the most fun Wii games to date. The game is pretty short. It'll probably take you around four or five hours to complete, but the replay value here is insane and is more than worth a purchase. Make no mistake people. Sonic is back to his very best!