Rather than simply dump the original onto a game card and be done with it, the publisher has instead taken this opportunity to augment the experience with fresh content. ![]() It was the Sonic outing SEGA fans had been dreaming of for over 20 years, and has sold over a million copies to date across all formats not bad for a title which was intended to be a side-order to the main course of Sonic Forces.įast forward to the present, and SEGA has wisely listened to calls for a physical version of the game. The result was 2017's superb Sonic Mania, which ended up being the best game to use the IP for a long time. Bring a group of Indie studios together, give them resources, handle the PR and bask in the goodwill. SEGA, to its immense credit, saw the best of fan projects online - with Christian Whitehead front and centre - and realised there was a gift to accept. It's somewhat ironic, then, that it wasn't SEGA or Sonic Team that rediscovered what makes a truly great game in the franchise, but devoted super-fans that also happen to be very talented developers. Those games stand up today and have occasionally served as a reminder of the glory SEGA could once achieve with the series. They've ranged from very good to downright bad, but some fans have consistently argued that Sonic was at his best on the Mega Drive / Genesis and SEGA CD, through the 'classic' games that made his name. Nintendo gamers - home console version of Generations aside - have been able to play most of the Blue Blur's adventures, with a handful of exclusives to boot. SEGA and Sonic Team has taken its mascot on some wild rides over the past 20+ years, stepping into 3D 'modern' Sonic, attempting a return to 2D with Sonic the Hedgehog 4 and dividing opinion, and blurring the lines (with some success) in Sonic Generations. In certain circles of chatty online gamers, Sonic the Hedgehog is often a hot topic. It has been adapted and added to by Damien "Sonic 2 was the clearly the best" McFerran. In this, Penny’s Big Breakaway almost come to resemble a hybrid of Super Mario Odyssey and a good Sonic game, where momentum is as important as your moment-to-moment platforming decisions.Editor's note: This review is based on our original Sonic Mania review, as penned by our erstwhile editor Tom "Please no, not another terrible 3D Sonic game" Whitehead. Penny’s Big Breakaway gives you all the tools you need to go really fast, if you can chain things together properly and nail your timings (and if you’re not fussed about getting every collectable in a given run). Really, though, if you’re going slowly enough to get jumped on, you’re probably not acing the level anyway. Get clamped onto by too many and you’ll have to restart from your last checkpoint, although executing combos or yo-yo moves will shake them off. This comes in handy, as levels frequently feature small hosts of penguins – the soldiery of this world – which jump onto you to slow you down. ![]() ![]() Crucially, it all comes back to how the game feels, which despite any niggles with the presentation is very solid.Īs well as using it to get around you can also swing your yo-yo around you using the analogue stick, sometimes as a weapon to beat away swarms of low-threat enemies and sometimes as an environmental tool (say, to unfasten a giant screw). ![]() The soundtrack is more appealing: poppy and fun and an appropriate accompaniment to the fast-paced gameplay. There’s no doubt that speedrunners will have a field day with this, once they’ve had time to dissect it.Įach stages takes you through different parts of Penny’s world, each one culminating in a boss, some of which are acting as the long arm of the law and others just nasty bystanders – although with just a few lines of dialogue each they’re not the most memorable of characters. You can chain a small double jump into a swing around your yo-yo’s anchor point, then sling the yo-yo out in front of you and zip to its location, all before needing to land on the ground and riding the yo-yo like car – and that’s just a relatively basic movement combo.Īs Penny, you’re encouraged to move through the levels as quickly as you can, while still finding time for detours to gather collectables and extras. It’s not entirely clear what Penny is (a sheep or an alien?) but her powers all revolve around the use of a living yo-yo, which offers up a seriously impressive roster of movement options. Facing exile, she goes on the run, which is why each level is presented as a sprint. Competing in a talent competition, Penny accidentally embarrasses the ruler of her cartoonish world. The narrative behind Penny’s adventure is as simple as they come, initially told almost in mime and then by occasional text conversations with bosses.
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