Sonic Mania

Quite possibly the best 2D Sonic, and the greatest rejuvenation for the franchise since Sonic Generations.

Feeling modern but with old gameplay and features intact, Sonic Mania is a heck of a fun game, with very creative and filled levels, various modes, and long game length.

Where Freedom Planet did things right, this one does too, and I could easily replay this soon and it would all still feel fresh and exciting to me, plus I did not collect all of the chaos emeralds yet. Sonic is back in the game as far as 2D goes!

With a mixture of remixed tracks and addictive new ones, the game soars through it's excellent level design which lets you take multiple routes in order to progress. There are also bonus mini games involved usually involving a chaos emerald.

Sonic Mania is apparently developed by a hardcore fan team led by Christian Whitehead, and since Sega officially approved it, it's amazing to see 2D Sonic return in full glory. It's too bad that the history of 3D Sonic is still terrible in general.

With this restoration, I'm sure that we haven't seen the last of this formula yet! Sonic Mania Plus was also released this year, which added a bit more features, which I will try out in the future.

Rating: 8.4