Sonic Mania Plus

As an upgrade to the excellent Sonic Mania, Sonic Mania Plus/Encore offers a pair of good new characters but underwhelms with new modes and content.

Sonic Mania remains the best Sonic game ever made, and with its latest update, it's even better than before.

Minor as the additions the Plus expansion brings, Sonic Mania is still one of the best 2D platformers in recent memory, and is definitely the best Sonic game in a very long time.

For five bucks as a digital upgrade all of these Sonic Mania Plus additions are a no-brainer. Sure, encore and maybe the multiplayer updates would have been added as free DLC in some circles, but the new characters and the package as a whole props up one of the best platformers of 2017 for a more than reasonable price.

Sonic Mania was a true return to form for the mascot, in his 2D 'Classic' guise at least, and celebrated the glory days of the original games while also enhancing their qualities and taking on new ideas. From new areas, imaginative second acts and some delightful boss encounters, the development team poured a lot of passion and talent into the project. Sonic Mania Plus takes that solid foundation and - in all honestly - doesn't do a great deal to mess with it. The new characters and modes are welcome, and there are some neat tweaks which iron out some of the kinks present in the original release, but on the whole this is an enhanced edition of the game rather than a feature-rich update. If you've still not sampled the delights of Sonic Mania then this is clearly the version to get, but if you're an existing owner then the low asking price of the DLC update make this well worth a look; we'll take any excuse to dive back into one of the best 2D platformers of recent memory.

Sonic Mania Plus cranks the game up to eleven with its new content and it is a must-play for fans of the original Sonic the Hedgehog 2D platformers.

Sonic Mania Plus is an essential upgrade if you already own and enjoy the original version of the game. Newcomers should also give this updated offering a look, as it captures what made classic Sonic uniquely appealing, while fixing some of the base game's shortcomings. Sonic Mania Plus still has a few lingering issues, but, overall, this heartfelt hedgehog homage has been honed to the next level.

A good upgrade to Sonic Mania, but nowhere near as essential as the original game. Support the studio, enjoy the new characters, but also realize how outstanding the original game was.

For most players, Sonic Mania Plus is still a fun time, but for me, it’s one that I probably won’t pick up as often as others might. Personal criticisms aside, there is quality in Sonic Mania Plus and it’s one that I can easily recommend.

As if Sonic Mania had not already made a successful return to the golden age of Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic Mania Plus now crowns it as the best 2D Sonic game out there, offering the experience that all the dedicated fans of the series could hope for, along with a new gaming mode that allows a different approach to the plot and two new characters that despite not bringing any remarkable change, are still welcome in this new effort to bring back the finest that the Sonic world has to offer.