Sonic Colors: Ultimate Full speed through an alien amusement park

This is a game about going fast and staying fast. You blast through loops, grind rails and thread hazards at a pace that asks for reflexes first and patience never. Time your attacks right and the Boost gauge fills, pushing you past Sonic speed until the level blurs into color. The levels themselves are built for it: most stages offer several routes to the goal, so two runs through the same act can look nothing alike. One moment you are rocketing down a straightaway, the next you pick between a high path and a low one and commit. It is arcade energy in short bursts, and it is the reason people keep coming back.

The park's attractions are the aliens powering it, and freeing them is the whole point. Each Wisp you rescue grants a different power: turn into a laser, burrow through ground, pass straight through solid walls with the Jade Wisp to find paths you could not reach before. The six worlds around the park each have their own flavor. Sweet Mountain is built from giant sweets, Aquarium Park is full of sea life and pools to skim across, and there is a roller coaster planet in the mix. The look is saturated and cheerful throughout, bright worlds and bold contrasts, and the soundtrack carries it with remixes of some songs alongside the originals.

Finishing a level is only the first pass. This is a score game at heart: S ranks reward using your Wisp powers well and hitting score targets, not just being quick. Once Wisps are unlocked they open new routes in old levels, so a stage you thought you knew suddenly has a shortcut you missed. There is also Rival Rush, a head-to-head race against Metal Sonic with one race per zone, where outrunning him earns rewards. Add Sonic customization options and new challenges on top, and the game is built around short sessions that turn into long ones. Fair warning: the remaster has had technical stumbles, and the port is the weakest part of the package.