In many regards this game is absolutely perfect. And not just because the windows version is *exactly* 256 Megabytes. Aesthetically it's amazing. Hyper-stylized, colorful, this game really creates it's own universe in a visual sense.
In many ways, this is what games like Sonic Mania never dared to be. Now, maybe that wasn't just holding back, but also out of kindness and considerations for a general audience of players? Unitres' gameplay is insanely hyperactive. Projectiles and enemies everywhere. Good thing you get a dodge move and invincibility while attacking. Also, there always was a bit of bumper-craziness in Sonic titles, think Casino or Carnival Night Zone, and general craziness with different level elements such as springs, catapults etc.. But Unitres really bumps it up, pun intended, a notch with loads of different, complex stuff flinging you all over the place, meanwhile enemies, spikes, spikeballs and more are everywhere.
In way, I sort of love it for that. I've always liked experiencing absurdly heavy overstimulation in video games. It definitely feels completely intentional here. And it's possible to adapt: You get a lot of control with a double jump and attack moves doubling as multidirectional mid-air dashes. Some sections of levels make really creative use of the possibilities of this extensive move-set, which can be combined in clever ways. With lightning reflexes (which you'll develop in time), you can pull of some amazing stuff and even save a lot of botched moves.
Still, some parts of Unitres are absolutely hardcore. If you ever thought that "Chaos Angel" from Sonic Advance 3 was a bit hard, then I dare you to beat any stage of Unitres flawlessly (meaning without dying, or damage, or replaying a section because you fell off of something). If you ever thought that the inverted gravity in "Flying Battery" in Sonic and Knuckles was a bit annoying, the fourth stage of the first campaign, will make you *glad* to play upside down, even without inverted controls, because the alternatives are playing with gravity on the left or right side of the screen.
As a result, the game can take quite a bit of focus, but you also get to feel very cool when you manage to play it well. Still, it can be a bit much at times.
The humor and character writing is really, really good and fits right into the games atmosphere. Unitres (aka Unlimited Trees) is best video game protagonist. Just what they'd say as well. If you have a soft-spot for seemingly super-self-absorbed jerks, that are also cute and lovable and that actually really are as good, as they claim, then this is the game for you. Again, hyper-stylized is the key word here. And again, I love it for that. The story is a bit all over the place though.
In terms of other criticism, while aesthetically amazing (and not just visually), some level elements are a bit hard to read. Such as things looking like platforms that aren't or hard-to-spot obstacles. Speaking of spikes, there are some noticable diffitulty spikes. Especially in regards to the mentioned fourth stage of the first campaign. And there is some jank and jitteriness with moving and rotating objects. And I wish there was even more of this game, especially of these characters. But better too little than too much I guess.
Over all, I feel this game must have been such a passion project for everyone involved, with so much detail poured into and a huge amount of creativity involved in just about everything. I'm going to end it here, because everything else would just be gushing about the work of the various artists involved, especially Unlimited Trees, and I can't even begin to comprehend their sense of style and, uh, everything else.
