But one new item for Sonic and friends to use is the Hyper Ring. Also, I froze up and heard 'The Sound of Silence' playing when I saw the Death Egg Robot pop up in Act 2 of Green Hill Zone.Īnd to help make it through these levels are those trusty monitor boxes, with the returning elemental shields which are still awesome to use. A few familar faces show up like Metal Sonic and the Pistons from Sonic 1. The Boss fights after each Act are unique and different, while borrowing a few gimmicks from older ones. All of them are pretty good, I'm especially fond of Mirage Saloon and Titanic Monarch. I'm honestly surprised they didn't end up calling this game 'Sonic Generations 1½'.īut there are some new levels in Mania, 5 in fact. Including some with a few nods to other past levels. Each of the returning Zones have been 'Remixed', with new designs, gimmicks and dangers. But they aren't simple cut and pasted Zones. There are 12 Zones with 2 Acts each to travel through, most of which are from the past 2D Sonic games.

Tails and Knuckles still control the same as they did in the last game, and when playing as Sonic and Tails you can actually control Tails and make him carry Sonic to high ground.

I'm slightly embarrassed to say that as I first played through the game and was having a blast doing so, I completely forgot about Sonic's new move and never used it once. I found this technique to be pretty cool when I remembered it was there. When jumping and holding down the one of the jump buttons, Sonic will instantly pick up speed and charge forward the moment he hits the ground. However, Sonic has a new skill called the Drop Dash. Mania's gameplay for the main characters is mostly the same as it was in Sonic 3 & Knuckles.

Sonic mania game length