Sonic Colors

Sonic Colors takes place in a bizarre interstellar amusement park created by Dr. Robotnik-I mean, Eggman, by enslaving alien creatures called Wisps. He then chained their planet (and several others) to a space station. It's all appropriate for a Saturday morning cartoon, but to SEGA's credit, the story in Sonic Colors works decently well; it's cute, somewhat clever, and thanks to a mostly new voice cast, it isn't a constant assault on the ears. I haven't been this not-irritated by a Sonic game's story since he found a voice, and that's saying something.
The plot is ultimately just a conceit for developers DIMPS and Sonic Team to believably throw together a wide assortment of themed levels at you. All of the Sonic staples are here, from the casino to the grassy meadow home world of the Wisps. My personal favorites, though, are Sweet Mountain, which sees Sonic racing through pits of popcorn alongside mountains of cake, and the Starlight Carnival, where Sonic zips through space on an energy road. It looks like a crazy combination of Tron, Captain Eo and Super Mario Galaxy. This fantasy is sold by some of the best graphics on the Wii this year, full of excellent lighting and some really great animation.

Sonic Colors' real revelation is its gameplay, though. It starts off well by establishing smart physics and precise controls. But the big addition here are the Wisps; each color of Wisp grants Sonic a different temporary power. Yellow Wisps give Sonic the ability to drill through soft ground, for example. Cyan Wisps let Sonic turn into a laser that bounces off surfaces and more. There are eight colors in all, and almost all of them add interesting quirks to Sonic's basic abilities.

With these new talents comes some fantastic level design that will test even the most dedicated fan of platformers. This may be the most controversial piece of the puzzle for die-hard Sonic fans. Sonic isn't just about homing attacks and holding forward anymore. Sonic Colors in many ways resembles a side scrolling Super Mario title in its design and execution -- from collectible red rings in each level to multiple paths that can only be explored once you secured new Wisps later in the adventure.