Nostalgia is a powerful weapon for any developer to wield. The ultimate double-sided armament embracing it too much can lead to a game feeling dated, see Bionic Commando Re:Armed, while changing everything bar the name will have fans hungry for the developers flesh, see Bionic Commando (of course it helps if the game is actually good in the first place).

In the majority of situations the price of nostalgia seems to be a dip in quality, a trend that has been sighted so often over the past few years that many inner children have been murdered at the hands of greedy publishers who want to use classic names to make a few bob off of new, uneducated gamers.

Fortunately for Donkey Kong Country Returns, its developers Retro Studios are well versed in the appropriate use of nostalgia.

Creators of the sublime Metroid Prime and its good follow ups, Retro know a thing or two about staying true to a franchise’s spirit whilst trail blazing in important ways. Country Returns may not roll into a morph ball and power bomb its franchise like Samus’ 3D adventure shooter did in 2002, but it’s still an incredibly polished platformer that proves the genre’s big budget validity in the modern console market and reminds us why bananas, mine carts, and Diddy Kong are all still a lot of fun today.

OLD APE

Plot has never been the ape’s strong suit, so in this sense the game remains faithful. An unexpected volcanic explosion causes an army of ancient evil voodoo masks, called the Tiki Tak tribe, to emerge and attack Donkey Kong Island by hypnotizing its indigenous life forms and commanding them to steal the titular gorilla’s precious banana horde. You’d think he’d have got some insurance on them by now.

While this is the fourth game in the Donkey Kong Country series, this is only the second time DK himself has been the star, and it’s all the better for it with nary a duff character in sight. Indeed Retro’s take on the franchises art style is magnificently cohesive, aside from the strange glasses wearing pigs. It may lack the wow factor of Country 1-3’s early Polygon designs but Retro’s approach is simple, bold, colourful, and appealingly cute.

This visual splendor extends to the levels themselves, full of huge camera sweeps, into/out of the screen trickery, from lush green jungles to dripping purple caves the levels bleed character with some scenes being visually impressive irregardless of the Wii’s lacking grunt.

The gameplay, too, is varied with each level finding a unique hook. From a setting amber sun that casts the environment in shadow, to the legendary mine cart stages reinvented with new technology, and even having Kong latch on to gigantic swinging houses, the game finds new ways to iterate on its own ideas constantly as it slowly reinvents its mechanics from level 1-1 right to its final hidden stages.

NEW TRICKS

Retro weren’t happy with great visuals and great ideas mind, they’ve even successfully iterated on the franchises classic ideas to give Kong a more individual personality to help stack against any claims of him being simply a Mario skin.

Diddy is no longer a simple extra life; he’s a fully controllable character by a second player. When you’re not roping loved ones into chimp duties however he becomes a more traditional powerup, freeing him from one of the many DK barrels in any stage gives you an infinite roll ability, two extra hits, and a jetpack to slow your fall, making Diddy to DK like a mushroom to Mario.

The second alteration to the formula is the addition of a grab button, as is the fashion for platformers that shun the more obvious acrobatic approach of wall jumps. DK can now grab moss-covered walls and latch onto vines, saying it as such undersells the importance of this mechanic as it feels very natural to do as the lumbering ape and there are some satisfying gameplay repercussions of the characters new latch happy antics.

Other alterations to the template come as less savory news. The removal of underwater levels and the majority of the animal buddy cast is disappointing, while only being able to play with ‘shake the remote to roll/ground slam/blow’ controls will irk players suffering an early onset of RSI, even if it is responsive and feels great to do.

Bosses are another disappointing area, while all fun to fight they lack the grandeur spectacle and intelligence that the gaming public has come to expect from Retro. Every boss fight in the game is fun, there’s no doubt about that, there’s just a lack of bombast to them, especially disappointing after some of the scenes within the levels themselves do such a good job of enthralling you through a sheer sense of scale.

Oh and the Tiki tribe are a bit dump as the main protagonists while the lack of truly great original musical tracks is disappointing, just saying.

WELCOME (BACK) TO THE JUNGLE

But to be perfectly honest when the core platforming is this good and imaginative, the style so beautiful and endearing, and the secrets so bountiful and satisfying to unlock then we can excuse some rubbish enemy designs and only having great remixes of David Wise’s classic tracks.

While feeling very familiar, Donkey Kong Country Returns is the best game in its series, without question, the best 2D platformer on Wii, far outperforming Mario’s own effort without question, and an applaud worthy debut for a company more used to dealing with immersive first person shooting adventures.

Marrying the scope, grandeur, and attention to detail of a western game with the impeccably smooth and technically refined style of a true Nintendo product, Donkey Kong Country Returns is not only a comforting, and at times crushingly difficult, nostalgic hug, it’s also an incredibly well designed and extremely fun platform game.

Coming soon to the PSN network is the game Okabu, created by Handcircus, some indie development studio, they also created the Rolando series if that means anything to anybody. Having not heard of these guys before, two things are instantly triggered in my head, caution and curiosity. Now, I was quite opposed to the idea of this game at first, saying I disliked Japanese based games would be an understatement, to which looking at the title and then the trailers beginning, I had almost condemned it to hatred… but then, I saw something amazing…

Clouds... You ride CLOUDS.

Now this having peaked my interest, what with my liking of the unusually bizarre, I actually paid attention to the trailer… sort of. Having now watched it again, I notice that it actually looks quite fun, if this trailer is to be believed, you can send bulls to ram things down for you, get a grappling hook, and make your cloud rain on things.

The story is pretty much the normal everyday problem, you’re part of a peaceful race of… hairless Ewok things called “Yorubo” and some dastardly folks known as the “Doza” are basically trying to industrialise the world. This making them obviously evil… because technology is to be feared and machines are the spawn of Satan right? If you’re fans of child friendly games, you’ve got one right here. No nightmares after playing this before bed, I can promise you that… unless you have the mental age of a toddler… or me. From what I’ve seen of this game, I recommend it from a preview point of view.

However, previews have been deceptive in the past.

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Details have started to emerge about Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception, Naughty Dog’s third adventure for the stubbly treasure hunter, in advance of the game’s unveil at Spike’s VGA awards this weekend.

His third adventure sees Drake and company set off to the Arabian Desert where they are searching for the ‘Atlantis of the Sands’. This adventure turns predictably sour and Nathan soon finds himself in a bid for survival against his deepest fears.

Developers Naughty Dog are touting numerous improvements, such as improved hand-to-hand melee combat and better stealth options alongside an improved multiplayer suite.

We’re also promised ‘innovations’ in sand, fire, smoke, and water dynamics and effects, as well as being playable in 3D.

Uncharted is easily one of the best series this generation, even if it does lean a little too heavily on the ideas of scripted cinematic action so much that you do wonder why it’s game and not a movie.

3D graphics we’ll leave till we see them and stealth mechanics, improved or not, give us as a shudder of unease…

Aside from these bugbears we can only hope that multiplayer hasn’t become too important for Naughty Dog, and that we still get a beastly single player campaign that we expect from the franchise.

Are you looking forward to another journey from the Indiana Jones of gaming? Give us your opinions in the comments below.

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Bethesda have announced the fifth installment in their widely acclaimed Elder Scrolls franchise, Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, due for release in November 2011.

The teaser trailer hints to an event equally as world shattering as the Oblivion gates of the previous game, with huge dragons awakening and threatening the world.

Also according to the trailer the evil of Skyrim fears one known as ‘dragon born’. Whether the player will fill these boots or play a secondary role as they did in Oblivion remains to be seen.

Unfortunately the trailer is full CGI and no word has slipped as to whether Skyrim will run on the Oblivion engine, recently seen powering Fallout: New Vegas, or if Bethesda have a new technical powerhouse ready to go.

What we do know is that Skyrim is located to the very north of the Elder Scrolls world, covered in snow capped mountains and home to the strong yet dim Nords.

Previous games have also hinted at the existence of Lycanthropes (werewolves), the tallest mountains in the entire world, and a Bard’s College in the area of Skyrim.

Hopefully the game will take some design pointers from Bethesda’s recent forays into the future, most notably AI difficulty. One of Oblivion’s biggest faults was that all enemies improved as you did thus blunting a good sense of growing empowerment.

We’re also hoping for an improved main quest, Oblivion’s wasn’t as grand as it wanted to be and the best stories in the game were actually found elsewhere.

What do you hope will make it into Skyrim? What do you hope is carried over or dumped from Oblivion? Let us know in the comments and your questions could be posed to Bethesda themselves.

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Forget Steam Boat Willy and Mickey’s Christmas Carol, 1990’s Castle of Illusion and 1993’s The Magical Quest are the classic mouse adventures many a gamer will recount from the circle eared ones past.

Platforming games that could rival the best, their penchant for creative power ups and wonderfully enchanting locations gave the mouse feet in Mario’s domain while the plumber floundered in his own attempts to rival the mouse on his home turf, animation. The transition one-way was certainly smoother than the other.

Fast-forward a few generations and Disney’s number one rodent sits on the pile of 3D casualties. Failing a successful transition and with a diminished screen presence Mickey is out of pace in modern media while Mario’s popularity climbs ever higher as games become more mainstream by the day.

Enter Warren ‘Deus Ex’ Spector and his studio Junction Point. Epic Mickey is their attempt to make the mouse relevant and great in the era of Call of Duty and waggle controls by fashioning a loving homage to Disney’s eclectic past while also designing a unique labyrinth of gameplay styles hidden under the visage of a simple children’s platformer.

Epic Mickey

Our story begins with the Fantasia wizard polishing off his latest creation, a world for Disney’s forgotten characters of which Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, Walt Disney’s very first 1927 cartoon creation, is king. One evening the mischievous Mickey finds the world by chance and when playing with things he shouldn’t accidentally creates The Blot, an evil manifestation made entirely of paint thinner, and the world for forgotten characters is ravaged by result.

Many years and a successful career later Mickey is snatched from his house by The Blot and dragged into ‘The Wasteland’, the wizards world still ruled by Oswald and inhabited by forgotten characters but a world at war with The Blot. Enter Mickey and his magic paintbrush to save the day; this mess was his fault after all…

From the first note Epic Mickey is effortlessly captivating in the treatment of its source. Dropped into a twisted Cinderella castle the Mad Scientist is an instant Disney delight, and as Sleeping Beauties ‘Once Upon a Dream’ mournfully punctuates the soundtrack it’s clear that Epic Mickey is thorough yet strikingly elegant in its homage.

From lovingly crafted 2D sections based on classic cartoons to the various takes on Disney World locales, Epic Mickey’s world is one full of delights for the Disney aficionado, but equally enticing in the impossible chance you’ve never seen any of the studio’s work in the past.

What will also grab you is the game’s dark edge. Mickey’s close shave with death in the game’s opening serves to assure you that The Wasteland is a dangerous place. While this may seem at odds for a mouse more commonly associated with jaw breaking smiles Disney’s dark side is well documented in cartoons as early as the 1930s as well as the majority of their filmic output. The dark presentation of the world is very much in keeping with these early animations and an unsurprising direction considering the mouse’s monochromatic 1930’s inspired re-design.

The game’s plot covers issues of regret, abandonment, and duty all within a child friendly environment with characters that are pleasantly well developed for a game aimed at a younger demographic. Even if the overall design leans a little heavily on the blacks this is not Emo Mickey. He doesn’t have a slicked parting and cry about all the pain he feels, this is classic dark Disney and all the more intriguing for it.

Aesthetically speaking, Epic Mickey is gorgeous. Environmentally, audibly, and in terms of characters, animation in particular, there’s rarely a smudge on it. Then of course, there’s the gameplay…

Meh-pic Mickey

Playing Epic Mickey is unfortunately far from faultless. Dressed up as a platformer hailing from the days of the N64 Mickey’s floaty, imprecise jumping and the occasionally awkward camera are real humps the game rarely manages to shake off. Fortunately it’s how the game shines in other areas that save what could have been a platforming disaster.

Coming from such an enigmatic design background it’s hard to lump Epic Mickey with one description. There are platforming elements, both 2D and 3D, but there are also Zelda like elements with you talking to characters and solving their problems, there are intense logic puzzles dotted around, and the paintbrush Mickey wields adds an Okami-esque reinvigoration aspect to the world.

This magic paintbrush is Mickey’s primary tool of destruction and regeneration. Able to blast rejuvenating paint or damaging thinner you will use the brush to manipulate the world and battle enemies. Need a platform to jump somewhere? Try drawing one in. Is the platform spinning too fast? Erase the cog causing its momentum. This style of gameplay is intuitive and incomparably empowering, while pointer controls makes splashing the fluid even more fun.

Thanks to the dual mechanic of adding and removing you’re often given the ability to be a goody goody, by helping people solve problems and probably take longer about it, or taking the role of a mischievous mouse, by dropping a safe to open it irregardless of who’s standing under it for example.

Epic Mickey’s decision mechanics are far from the polar opposite moral quandaries present in games like Fable and Fallout, and while it’s a necessary evil of the character that you can never be a complete arse the subtle differences have enough nuance, with options varied enough that it is possible to read into choices a player makes and the effects they will have on The Wasteland.

This element of choice gives identifiable messages about life to younger players in particular, and in this way alone the game manages to sit itself far above the majority of video games designed for the younger demographic, or even the adult demographic for that matter.

Take the case of Little Pete for instance. Early in the game you meet Pete who informs you of a mistake in the upcoming Gremlin town where he mistakenly crashed his boat. Arriving in the Gremlin town you’re pointed to the exit, however you also notice the boat. If you ignore it you’ll have to fight Little Pete later but if you grab the charter you can avoid the boss fight by giving it to a Gremlin and clearing Pete’s name, give it to the right gremlin and you’ll get a reward as well. It’s a game that constantly rewards players that search for alternate methods and fully scour locations.

On top of this lies an unfortunate truth, the way many people will blitz through the game in roughly ten hours and not explore any of this available depth, seeing it as simply an under whelming platform experience. If you have the time and patience to invest in the adventure then Epic Mickey will ensure upwards of twenty memorable hours for a single run, with many more piled on top if you wish to discover alternate gameplay routes.

It’s simply a fact that many people, either through a pressing narrative, arguably simple design, or a combination of these and other factors may never realize what Epic Mickey truly has to offer the dedicated, explorative, and inquisitive gamer.

Yes, Epic Mickey

Epic Mickey was a game full of promises but one that, while an intriguing and imaginative title in its own right, falls slightly short of its lofty goals.

A combination of imprecise platforming, an awkward camera, and sometimes less than epic locations make up the bulk of the games issues. However its artistic qualities, the game’s imaginative scenario design, great creative direction, its lovingly crafted world, open-ended gameplay, and the beautifully realized story help make up the positive side of things.

It may not possess the polish that Mickey games had when mimicking Mario in safe 2D platformers but it certainly carries the same eye for ambitious artistic design and a creative passion that only Disney can imbue.

In searching for a unique video game persona for the mouse developers Junction Point have succeeded in crafted a love letter to all things Disney and created a children’s game with real heart in the process. Ignoring its technical faults it’s an experience that is, like its lead character, extremely hard to forget.

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The January issue of American magazine Game Informer has unveiled the new look Lara Croft who will appear in Crystal Dynamic’s next game in the franchise, the imaginatively named ‘Tomb Raider’.

Caked in mud and blood the game is a completely original origins story in what Crystal Dynamics head honcho Darrell Gallagher describes as “an origins story that creates Lara Croft and takes her on a character defining journey like no other”.

Crystal Dynamics have been responsible for the series since their previous origins story Tomb Raider: Legend, since which they have released two full 3D adventures as well as 2010’s highly acclaimed digital title Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light.

In all honesty, who still cares for Lara? Her early adventures were fantastic forays into 3D, letting players lose themselves in huge labyrinths full of traps and unknown evils, but recent outings have become progressively more linear with obvious prompts degrading the joy of personal discovery.

That and the combat was still rubbish.

Perhaps Crystal Dynamics have big plans, Lara has certainly gone through a large transformation so we can only hope the gameplay has seen similarly extensive revisions.

Crystal Dynamics website is currently advertising for a few multiplayer design positions, so we wouldn’t think it too much of a leap to assume the game will support multiplayer in some capacity. As for single player content? That’s anyone’s guess.

What are your thoughts of the new dirty (ooh eer) Lara? Drop us a comment below!

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Twisted Pixel, developers behind XBLA hits The Maw, ‘Splosion Man, and Comic Jumper, have announced their first ever sequel in the form of Ms. Splosion Man due for release in Fall 2011.

Ms. Splosion Man takes place after the scientists of ‘Big Science’ successfully capture the gibbering, sploding menace and throw a party, accidentally creating his female counterpart in the process.

Twisted Pixel have already reported that the labs of Big Science have “had functionality improvements and visual overhauls, and [the] company has expanded to some incredible new locations.”

This is good news, to call the locals of ‘Splosion Man repetitive would be an understatement and hopefully this has been addressed. Likewise we can only hope for slightly better boss design.

What we hope stays would be the game’s surprisingly good co-op, hopefully with none of the network issues that plagued the first game, its irreverent style of humour, its excellent simple design, and cake. More cake.

Twisted Pixel have commented on the name and its clear homage to Ms. Pac-Man stating that they see Namco’s classic as the perfect iteration on an original idea, saying that they hope Ms. Splosion Man can be seen as as obvious and clear an improvement as that.

If you’re yet to experience ‘Splosion Man and its bakery filled goodness it’s still available for 800 points on XBLA and well worth it.

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A lot has happened in thirteen years. The Matrix franchise rose like a Phoenix and exploded in cinemagoers faces. America elected an idiot into the White House. Twice. All seven Harry Potter novels, and three spin off books, were published, and Robbie Williams went super nova before giving up and returning to your mum’s favourite boy band.

Yet of course some things live on. In much the way Hollywood continues to acknowledge The Godfather’s unbeatable status years since its first screening, Rare’s N64 classic Goldeneye has sustained a mythical legacy within the games industry that seems to have aged like a fine wine.

An immersive thinking man’s single player, unessential yet rewarding stealth gameplay, and endlessly replayable split screen multiplayer are all things that Goldeneye embodies, and are all expectations consequently lumped on Eurocom’s Wii re-imagining of the definitive James Bond title.

Of course a lot of things change in thirteen years and games are no different. For all its innovation and clever ideas Rare’s 1997 release is clearly showing its age with a dodgy framerate and in the way that it still asks players to control it using a pad more suited to decorating fancy dress tridents than controlling a first person shooter.

What’s more the landscape of the FPS has morphed over the years, aside from the Timesplitters series most experiences have become linear, spectacle driven blockbuster affairs while the split screen party game has been usurped by online progression systems and team driven scenarios.

So the important question is, after thirteen years of change, can Eurocom’s Goldeneye appeal to modern audiences without compromising its nostalgic foundations in the process?

Solo Bond

The opening level, the classic Dam stage, perhaps embodies Eurocom’s new direction perfectly. As anyone who’s seen anything about this new Goldeneye will know, this is a complete rethink right down to the sophisticated face of Pierce Brosnan being replaced by the mug belonging to the current, more punch happy Bond, Daniel Craig.

The Dam starts. After meeting the new look Trevelean (no Boromir anymore either) you skirt down a ramp, silence some guards, sneak up the trademark tower to the trademark sniper spot and eliminate some new guards. What follows is a full blown action sequence that wouldn’t look out of place in Call of Duty but once this bout of cinematic action concludes you’re left to move around the rest of the Dam, using your phone camera to delete security footage and dealing with guards silently with well placed shots from your trademark silenced Walther P99.

Of course you could just grab an AK and mow down all those foolish enough to wander in front of your iron sights, and then deal with all the backup called in to deal with the crazy loud gunman.

This small element of choice is true for much of the game, for levels that don’t kick on the accelerator anyway, and working out how to sneak through the campaigns guard formations is a joy unto itself thanks to easily malleable AI.

When the action does heat up it’s nice honest blasting. Guards take cover and attempt to flank players, managing to put up a slightly more entertaining fight than the terrorist shooting galleries of Call of Duty.

While this Goldeneye is packing new ideas, and it is mostly new ideas, the game plays some nostalgic notes well and in time. Certain environment layouts, dialogue, objectives, and even simple visual elements play on classic memories and it’s telling that these raise wry smiles of reminiscence during a campaign generally high on entertainment.

It’s not a huge story mind and when playing on the easiest difficulty the run and gun approach you can apply to every level makes it a rather basic Call of Duty like experience and not much to write to old school friends about.

Notch the difficulty up, initiating extra objectives and even a classic health and armour system, and the game starts to feel more intelligent even if there is plenty of signposting and nothing to genuinely tax the grey matter. With death more likely you will start to utilise the fun stealth mechanics, and with more for Bond to do within the levels it starts to hit some unique spy like highs the genre hasn’t seen for years.

Unlockable time trials pile on more content for the solo gamer, and these are nerve racking tests of ability that will see all but the most hardy of players leaving in a huff after the fifth failed attempt to dash through any of the game’s levels.

Also worth noting is Eurocom’s impressive engine. As expected from the studio that cut its Wii teeth on the oft overlooked Dead Space: Extraction, Goldeneye continues their trend of great facial and body animation, alongside plentiful weather effects that do well to mask the game’s otherwise simplistic visual styling.

Another reason to celebrate Eurocom as a Wii developer are their controls as Goldeneye features an almost perfect remote pointer scheme that not only works, but makes a great case for the unorthodox set up as a real FPS alternative in the process. Fortunately for those less adaptive to change the game does support Classic and Gamecube controller set ups that work perfectly fine as well.

The single player campaign is far less experimental than its template but after recent Bond games have simplified their approach in forcing players to choreograph a Bond film rather than giving them the reigns, Goldeneye 007 is an admirable step back in the direction of the thinking man’s shooter, albeit a timid one. This is a Bond game that lets the player be Bond whilst managing to still conform to the driven anticipations of the modern gamer.

Multi Bond

Multiplayer, one of the classic titles biggest selling points, is a curious case of two halves in Goldeneye 007.

The split screen mode for up to four players manages to capture the spirit of its inspiration well. Throwing in classic Bond characters and armaments alongside plenty of fun ways to play mean Goldeneye’s entertaining imbalances, tight levels, and optional absurd elements serve only to fuel the fires of friendly sofa competition. It presents a far more playable split screen package than most other modern shooters and can sit proudly next to Smash Bros and Mario Kart in the Friday evening multiplayer rotation.

Online, a muddy word when talking about many a Wii title, is a completely different affair however.

Clearly attempting to copy the addictive qualities of the Call of Duty franchise online Goldeneye throws in an experience system complete with unlocks, perks, and a bevy on objective gametypes, obviously trying to add more focus to its 8 player skirmishes.

The main problem is that while the modes on offer are entertaining, particularly the team modes and Golden Gun deathmatch variant, the ridged matchmaking system doesn’t embody that anarchy fueled charm that a paintball, headshots only License to Kill tournament does.

What’s more the game is bizarrely devoid of friends lobbies. You can team up with familiars and tackle the online modes together, but gathering mates online for a private match is impossible and a bizarre omission for an online experience in 2010, while the lack of voice chat doesn’t help the team modes either.

Premium Bond

Goldeneye 007 is a fun title, one that plays on nostalgia whilst also delivering a shooter experience that is great fun by 2010’s standards and is entertaining to play and replay in equal measure. For those who remember sneaking through the Facility vents it hums a nostalgic tune that will remind them of when shooters weren’t all bombastic set pieces and relentless funfair shoot outs. While for newcomers it offers a glimpse of something slightly more intelligent than what has befallen the genre in recent times.

While a lot has certainly changed for single player games in the last thirteen years, the joy of beating three chums in split screen combat hasn’t lost any of its appeal and Goldeneye is worth playing if just for that. The party centric experience will ensure countless nights lost once more to cursing Oddjob’s height and accusing Scaramanga of camping behind a wall of proximity mines.

When taken online it clearly shows a weakness in Eurocom’s armour. In attempting to pander to the Call of Duty crowd Goldeneye’s online loses much of its unique appeal. It is fun, with its more corridor centric combat giving it a slightly different flavour, and it’s easily the best the Wii has to offer but some technical shortcomings mean it’s hard to ignore the fact that there are better-rounded offerings available on other platforms, so unless the sight of that Golden Gun and a little narration from Judi Dench are enough to sway you then it’s unlikely that Goldeneye will be eating into your Reach/Call of Duty/Team Fortress time.

Eurocom’s Goldeneye 007 doesn’t re-write the rulebook; it takes a few pages from its inspirations, runs into a corner, and sits happily humming its own tune thanks to a fun single player and brilliant split screen multiplayer. It’s not going to shake the genre to its foundations like its predecessor, but nor does it besmirch the classic namesake like a certain Rogue Agent did, and for this much it can be considered a minor success.

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Nintendo Life has reported that a sequel to 2009’s wii based grindhouse lightgun extravaganza, House of the Dead: Overkill, is well into development at the London studio Headstrong Entertainment.

NSFW contacted Headstrong for comment and was informed to bark up their publisher’s tree instead, unfortunately the people sitting in the SEGA shrubbery told us that they don’t respond to rumours and speculation.

Considering SEGA is not Headstrong’s one and only publisher, and that the post credits saw a teaseriffic line of dialogue left for the player to chew over, all signs should point to the project’s existence.

As for what systems it may be released on, the Wii would be a certainty but with the Playstation gaining similarly adept lightgun properties through its Move controller missing out on that custom would seem unwise, we only hope it doesn’t lose any of that schlock charm by moving to a more capable machine.

The first title broke a world record by cramming the most swears into its runtime ever seen in a video game, and it was incredibly fun and funny to boot, with the optional handgun magnum lightgun shell improving the experience even further.

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When you think about it, Sonic has it better off than Mario. Like a triple A platinum disc selling band on its fifteenth sell out album, Nintendo’s plumber has to hit the right notes every time in every new piece or face public humiliation for the slightest misstep.

Sonic on the other hand, with his long, disheveled hair and ailing drug problem, is the one hit wonder that continues to attack the charts with lackluster efforts. He had a few good tracks but has since been running on borrowed time, attempting to hit those golden notes that once came so easy.

This puts Sonic at an advantageous position. Rather than having to produce solid gold every time he makes a go at it, when Sonic struts into the public’s attention everyone has already set dials to ‘massive disappointment’ after more than a decade of facepalm worthy embarrassment. This situation ends up making a ‘good’ game something of a real surprise and reason for celebration.

Sonic Colours is that game.

Flying Colours

Taking place on Eggman’s Incredible Interstellar Amusement Park, the game starts with Sonic and Tails investigating the location because ‘it’s Eggman, and he must be up to something’ whilst amusing tanoy announcements broadcast to the park that the evil Doctor has reconsidered his moral standing, and that this park is his recompense for years of world domination attempts.

It soon transpires that Eggman is indeed hatching a nefarious plot (who would have guessed (Sonic apparently)) involving colourful aliens known as Wisps and it’s up to Sonic and Tails, and only Sonic and Tails, to defeat him.

The story is told in a largely entertaining style reminiscent of a Saturday morning cartoon. Sonic and Tails have some entertaining dialogue but Dr. Eggman and his faulty robots are inviting as some truly appealing comic relief, with exquisite animation and pinpoint writing helping the simple story progress swiftly, and with no hedgehog/human relationships to spoil the broth. Fantastic.

This fun plot is just one surprise in a game full of them, with Sonic’s very core gameplay receiving an equally respectable amount of reconsideration. Colours manages to easily avoid any Warehog or open world style ‘gimmicks’ by just focusing on how the blue rodent should and could traverse a simple level, a back to basics approach that Unleashed trumpeted but ultimately failed to deliver.

Indeed Sonic’s trip, tumble, and continuing splat into the third dimension has been well documented by lamenting fans and ailing review scores for generations but finally, finally, Sonic Team have discovered a way to integrate 3D environments into a genuine Sonic experience and here’s their new found secret; don’t use many.

Light Fantastic

The majority of Sonic Colours is a 2D affair, and that includes the slow platforming kind as well as the ‘hold right to win’ kind, with fleeting uses of 3D employed, for the most part, to excite and add spectacle to the occasionally stunning architecture of the intergalactic theme park.

These 3D sections add gameplay diversity as well. After a 2D section the game may switch to a behind Sonic lane format view, the player moving quickly to avoid obstacles, before throwing the hog into a freefall, moving deftly around to pick up rings, before landing and shooting off on a rollercoaster esque grind rail, or perhaps even an actual rollercoaster, a scenario that one only hopes is Sonic Team making a sly jibe at their own game design. This scenario alone would be a step up from previous adventures and we haven’t even touched on the Wisps yet…

The aliens Eggman is trying to manipulate for his nefarious ends also fashion as Sonic’s powerups, unlocked as you progress through the adventure and retroactively added to previous levels upon first use they imbue Sonic with many different abilities such as inflating like a balloon, ricocheting quickly off surfaces, or even drilling through soft ground. These act as fleeting powerups, brief moments of context sensitive action that gel perfectly with the swift pace associated with Sonic, and add much needed moments of flair to the otherwise standard platforming.

Regrettably there are elements of Sonic Colours that haven’t been handled as deftly as those described. Jumping itself has an annoyingly floaty feel that makes pinpoint platforming a pain, while some mechanics such as the wall jump are undercooked and inconsistent in their implementation.

The game also falters in terms of an inconsistent presentation, bosses repeat twice each, some aspects, such as enemy explosions, are limp and unsatisfying and while some levels stun and amaze with captivating dreamscapes, others look like they were made in an afternoon by a bored intern, copy pasting the template platform a hundred times over a static backdrop.

All that and those instant death drops are still present, and when you combine those with an archaic lives system it’s a combination that’s bound to grate.

Ray of Light

But then a levels hurls you toward, and asks you to platform in and around, a gigantic cheeseburger cake where you deftly combine dashes, slides, and well placed hops to navigate the level, using a wisp to find a hidden location while some incredibly funky jazz beats play in the background. When Sonic Colours works, it works well and argues a great case for its character being able to hit the notes he once managed so easily.

At 4-5 hours this isn’t a terribly long adventure, but for OCD types this playtime is easily doubled, perhaps even tripled scouring the levels for fiendishly hidden collectibles and striving for the highest rank on every stage, while online leaderboards will coax competitive sorts to replay endlessly.

It may never be as clever as say, Mario Galaxy but Sonic Colours manages to embrace some of that games penchant for diversity and stunning sense of scale and to be honest any favourable comparison to Mario Galaxy, no matter how fleeting, is surely worth some bonus pay to the design team. While the presentational and gameplay quirks can, and do, mar an otherwise solid platforming foray, Sonic Colours finally beats out a worthwhile tune to show that Sonic still possesses some of that classic vigor we remember him belting out all those years ago.

It may not be the best platformer around, and maybe it’s just easy to be impressed that Sonic is in something halfway decent as opposed to the gaming form of a terminal disease, but Sonic Colours is good fun and finally shows, after the years of hurt, that SEGA’s once great mascot might just be able to write another number one after all…

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