When it first came out, Sonic Colors was seen as a beacon of hope as a return of the Sonic franchise. No werehog, no bad motion controls, no kissing a human and everything else bad sonic reviewers of the 2010s have already mentioned. Heck, even mentioning how bad that era of sonic critique was is pretty cliche at this point. Now over a decade later, a remaster has come out and it looked like ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥. But that’s okay, because sonic fans grew up and are now capable enough of fixing everything Sonic Team screwed up on. Truly, there’s never been a better time to be a sonic fan than right now. But how does the actual game stack up in retrospect?

Funnily enough, a gradual shift has occurred within the reception of certain sonic games. Sonic Unleashed used to be seen as a mediocre entry with the werehog stages dragging down what would otherwise be a pretty good game, but nowadays it's universally beloved among Sonic fans. The inverse has occurred with Sonic Colors where its flaws seem to be more visible in the eyes of many with the abundance of 2D sections and the bloated 6 act structure of every level. Although 6 acts does make it a tad weird as some of it can feel stretched, knowing that it's just chopped up pieces of an act 2 helps knowing that each act is more of an exploration of the different gimmicks of the level with the accompanying wisps that can be used. In this regard, I think Sonic Colors level design is actually brilliant in how much variety it has and how it accompanies the player in exploring its different aspects.

In addition to its accommodating level design, sonic control really well in this iteration with the double jump coming in clutch for a lot of the platforming but also the fact its abundance in 2D sections creates less room for error. People hark on said 2D sections but honestly it really isn’t that bad as they both maintain the challenge and the spectacle I expect from my sonic game. The appeal of this game though, the wisps, is what really brings these strong design elements together. I love that Sonic took a page from Mario’s book in getting different power-ups that can help explore these new terrains. Each of the new wisps are surprisingly unique and well-integrated without ever feeling forced onto you as a lot of stages don’t even really rely on using the wisps. This is essentially how I want a sonic game’s gimmick to be incorporated into the game.

With the Re-Rainbow Mod, this game looks outstanding. I’m still going to give a negative rating overall for this game because the base game is honestly just a downgrade of the original, but the folks working on the mod really deserve me giving credit to them as every stage is even more visually beautiful with the restoration of its original colors and lighting brought to HD. With a game with such gorgeous level themes being that of different planets, Sonic Colors is stunning on another level with the Re-Rainbow mod. It also makes the wisp powers pop out more with the cool spectacle they are with better textures in a better looking environment. Sonic Colors Ultimate with the Project Re-Rainbow mod might be the best looking 3D sonic game in my humble opinion so far.

So should you drop the cash to buy Sonic Colors Ultimate now that there’s a mod that fixes everything? It depends. Feels wrong to essentially reward Sega for the work modders did, but ultimately Sonic Colors was their game that they originally developed. If you’ve never played Sonic Colors, then you might as well jump in here and install the mod to witness one of the best 3D sonic games that isn’t Sonic Generations. If you have played the original game, then only get this if you really want to see what the game should look like in HD if you don’t mind giving that money to Sega’s half-assed attempt at it. Either way, I had a good time at the very least with replaying the game this way.