Sonic Forces

The Sonic franchise is a strange one because "fans" hate the majority of the games. Sonic Forces is often regarded as another bad game, but I think it's just mediocre.

The early Sonic games were really about momentum, and not about "going fast" which is a common misconception. However, people's misconceptions keep leaking into the modern games' design. In a platforming game, how do you allow Sonic to go fast? Reduce the frequency of enemies and obstacles? give the player a method of navigation/attack that allows them to be imprecise? That's what you often get in these games, and then the result is - the game basically just plays itself.

You often get long stretches where you are just watching your character run down long straights, go through loops, bounce from spring to spring. Then in other sections, you just jump at the end of a platform, repeatedly tap jump to homing-attack multiple enemies, or home-in to the next spring. There's also a dash that can plough through enemies. Essentially, the design often puts the focus on speed and spectacle but at the expense of challenge. The emphasis on speed means the levels are often short, and cumulatively the overall game is short.

There's still elements of jank where the jumping may feel a bit inconsistent. The levels can also be a bit unclear like when you reach the end of the platform and you think you must have to jump, but really the game wanted you to keep running to hit a hidden spring. Why have hidden springs? It's something that has always annoyed me about Sonic games. I want to react to things that I can see, not have to take leaps (or runs) of faith. The trial and error is no way near as bad as other games though.

There's a couple of simple Quick-Time-Events (QTE's) which I think you might not be able to fail; it's merely there as an opportunity to give you bonus points. There's moments where there's a lot of action in cut-scenes but then no QTE which makes me feel like they just forgot they had that feature earlier in the game.

In regard to the recent games, I thought Lost World was a bit disappointing, and although I didn't play it, Sonic Boom was regarded as even worse. Sonic Forces moves back closer to what we saw in Generations (which I think is one of the best Sonic games); it has the mix of 2D side-scrolling, 3D gameplay, and the lane-changing gameplay where the camera is positioned behind your character.

Just like Generations, there's modern Sonic as well as the smaller and mute classic Sonic - although I feel like he was just shoe-horned in for no reason. It's probably for nostalgia like they always do "hey! remember Green Hill Zone?", "remember Chemical Plant?". Do we really want the Green Hill zone again? Surely we want new ideas.

A new idea is that you also create a character who others call "Rookie". Initially, your options for accessories are limited, but you unlock loads of these as you complete the levels. For your character, you choose an animal such as dog, wolf, bird, bear, hedgehog and a few others, then customise ear, eyes and nose, and choose skin colours. Your character can also run fast so he isn't that different to Sonic. He also has a gun type weapon which you can switch out called a Wispon. This can defeat enemies quickly and also has a power such as launching you vertically, or homing through sequences of rings. This is sometimes needed to find the secret Red Rings in each level.

I have been saying for years that the life system needs to be binned because it adds no value, and they have finally done it. Now when you die, you always restart at the checkpoint.

Often in the Sonic games, the voice acting is bad, but this one seems like they actually have a better script and deliver the lines with better timing and tone. The weird music that people seem to like is here, with the main theme sung by Hoobastank's Doug Robb.

The story isn't that interesting or convincing though. You are told Sonic is captured and is being tortured (which is a bit dark for a Sonic game), but yet he is rescued very quickly and still reeling off his wise-cracks. I got the impression there was a bit of a Star Wars influence with Dr Robotnik taking over the universe and a small group of rebels planning to destroy his Death Egg (Death Star). Then a powerful enemy known as Infinite wears a mask (Darth Vader).

Some people will replay the levels to improve their score but I thought the grades were rather generous. I got many A's and I didn't think I was doing anything worthy of that (not collecting enough rings, finding secrets, or not going fast enough). There's also "Daily challenges" but since these can be the likes of "change your shoes"; it's not really a challenge - more like general tedium.

Graphically it looks really good. There's a great level of details in the background (although I suppose you miss quite a bit of it when you are going fast).

It may not be challenging, and the game design mainly forgets what Sonic games should actually be, but it's actually one of the better Sonic games in the modern era.

I have a weird history with Sonic games, that is I respect Sonic as a franchise, and I love the characters and designs, as apposed to his actual games. My personal favorite Sonic game is Sonic Generations because of how cohesive and polished it is, focusing on fast paced platforming in 3D and 2D, all in a gorgeous environment powered by the Hedgehog Engine. Now we get Sonic Forces, a return to the Generations style formula with fast paced platforming in 3D and 2D in a gorgeous environment powered by the Hedgehog Engine, ideally, this should be the return to form Modern Sonic fans have been waiting for. But instead Forces is the definition of a light to decent 5 in game form, with cut corners in every direction and more effort placed into things that shouldn't have had.

Through this game's Shonen Anime story, we get 30 levels of high speed platforming playing as either your Avatar, Modern Sonic or Classic Sonic. 30 sounds like a lot of levels, and that doesn't count the additional optional levels and SOS levels where you get to play as another person's Avatar, but these 30 levels are about as long as a Napalm Death song. I expect Sonic levels to be longer than other platforming levels because that high speed needs room to run around in, but not only are some of Forces' levels very mindless with either endless boosting to win, or Wispon shooting to win, or tumbling and stumbling as Classic Sonic to win, they never get to anywhere interesting because once they do, it's over. As far as control of the characters, something Sonic Team has always struggled with, it's alright. Modern Sonic and the avatar character control as I would expect coming from Generations. The only things I would have liked with modern sonic is when boosting, to be able to drift or make hard turns better. In generations, you could drift your turns to make your way around corners, but that is oddly omitted here. Also, the lightspeed dash, a Modern Sonic staple is restricted to the Avatar character. They can only use it when using the lightning Wispon, and its a power up now. You have to hold the Y button to use it as opposed to hitting Y and dashing through enemies or rings. That is one frustrating implementation of a Modern Sonic move. On the other hand, classic Sonic doesn't feel exactly right. His jump is nice but classic sonic feels slower to play as compared to the classics or Sonic Mania. He has no physics either, so rolling down a hill doesn't increase your speed like I expect, but instead slows you down. Average feeling controls for most of the characters, and average controls is something to celebrate when Sonic is the subject, but it could have been much better. The bosses are also nothing to sing praise of either. Most of them go down like chumps, and 3 of the bosses copy the same type of boss, which feels lazy.

The presentation though is something that has had more effort put into it. Despite how short they are, the levels are very pretty looking most of the time with physically based rendering, really nice reflections and a better lightning model, but there are not enough pretty vistas or environments to let you savor the levels Sonic Team crafted for this game. Sonic Forces' soundtrack is also not bad at all. There isn't anything here that will be instantly loved like Unleashed's soundtrack, or Mania, or Adventure 2, or any of the classic games, but the music is varied and fits the mood of the game. The ost mostly consists of Adventure Style Post Grunge (heck, they even got the Hoobastank guy to sing the admittedly pretty hype sounding main theme), EDM, chiptune, orchestral music performed by the London Symphony Orchestra, and Nu Metal, all genres Sonic has ventured in before and they are all done okay. The only part of the ost I actually really hate is Classic Sonic's music. Who ever chose the soundfont, or synth patches used to replicate Genesis music need to have their ears checked because its so piercing and buzzy with no low end what so ever. They are not pleasant sounding songs and they just become annoying. The voice acting as per usuall is also good. Mike Pollock as Eggman is just deliciously evil sounding, Roger Craig Smith's Sonic has been growing on me for years now, and this may be his best performance as the blue blur in a game yet, Liam O'Brien as Infinite manages to out edge Kirk Thorton's Shadow, which fits the character, and all the other voice actors do good with the material. Even if Sonic is given a bad story, at least the voice actors will give it their all to sell the material. Overall, the presentation is not as great as past Sonic games like Generations, but it has the most effort put into it.

Overall, Sonic Forces is again, the most light to decent 5 game I have played as of late. With lack luster design decisions, and above average presentation, the game is serviceable, but nothing interesting or enthralling. It's a shame, because Sonic is possibly the most inconsistent franchise in gaming history, but he is so successful and a patron saint of gaming as a whole. He should be doing much better than this. Forces is not the doom and gloom Sonic game some has said it is, but the next game needs to step it up, with a bigger budget, more ambitious design and more agreeable choices in the gameplay department.

Sonic Forces is really disappointing. It's a pretty anti-climactic way to end this retrospective. It really bums me out that this game came out the way it did.

Sonic Forces was one of the most anticipated Sonic games I could remember. It was announced with one of the coolest Sonic trailers and looked like Sonic was finally back as a true force to the gaming industry. Instead, he's still a laughing stock.

A few months before Sonic Forces released, Sonic Mania came out. Seen as one of the greatest Sonic games in years. And I agree. It's incredible. However, the end of the game left a lot of questions. Where did Classic Sonic go? Where is he heading to? We got those answered in Sonic Forces. Sonic Forces had a pretty neat concept. It was promoted to be a very strong story like the games of old. A story where Dr. Eggman actually wins. And a small resistance is made to take back the world. It's like a war story. But this is where the first problem starts. For the past few years, Sonic games became less serious and more child-oriented. Which makes this game a tonally broken game. It's trying to be this dark and dramatic story filled with consequence and sacrifice. Yet the characters are cracking jokes and acting like nothing matters. The game is filled with a lot of continuity errors. Why did Classic Sonic even show up? Dimension Manipulation? This was never established. The Phantom Ruby reacts to those with courage and goodwill? Then why can the main villain use it? Why is Silver here? I thought Sonic '06 ended with time resetting... Why does he know Sonic then? The game doesn't explain anything

And Eggman winning isn't impactful at all because it's explained in a text screen... You don't get to see Eggman's conquest. All the characters tell you what happens instead of showing you and the writing and acting are pretty bad. The main villain is awful too. This game introduces Infinite the Jackal. He looks cool, sure. But his motivation is awful. He's evil only because Shadow made him scared and he was all like "I'm not weak, Ima be evil so I can show people I'm not weak"... What? That's pathetic. The Phantom Ruby is also stupid because they never explain how he was chosen to wield it. Just cause?

Anyways, this game does have something the previous games don't... You can make your own.. Sonic OC. Your OC is a character you make that joins the resistance. They are dubbed as "Rookie" and it's actually pretty neat. You can choose between species like Dog, Wolf, Cat, Bunny, Bear, Bird, or Hedgehog. All of which have unique abilities. Your OC has a grapple gun and a Wispon (A gun basically) that ranges in abilities. Unfortunately, they can become overpowered which makes an already easy game, too easy. The other playable character is Classic Sonic (Who has a Super Form with DLC). He is awful. The engine they used just doesn't work. He's so stiff and controls horribly. What happened to Sonic Generations where he felt amazing. He's a clunky mess. The final playable character is Modern Sonic (As well as Shadow and Super Sonic with DLC). He plays... Fine... I actually like how the engine allows you to boost past sections in levels. The problem is that this can also lead to a lot of unfair deaths. There are also sections where you play as both Modern Sonic and the OC. This has the feature known as "Double Boost". A scripted moment where the main theme blasts in the background. Overall the gameplay isn't bad... It's just uninspired and clunky.

The worst part besides some of the gameplay is the bosses. The boss selection is awful. You don't get to fight Chaos or Shadow... Nope, it's a cutscene. Instead, you fight Eggman twice, Infinite three times, and Zavok and Metal Sonic. They are all too easy and just underwhelming. With the exception of the final boss. It's amazing. It was the best part of the game. The big issue with this game was that it was rushed. The game didn't have enough time and therefore it is just underwhelming. Doesn't help that this game is extremely short. You can beat it in 2-3 hours... Why?

The game does have good stuff. As I said, the final boss is pretty good. The game looks pretty good. The lighting and animations are pretty crisp. And the music is really good. A lot of it is vocal songs and I really liked them. Especially the main theme "Fist Bump". Great song.

Sonic Forces is yet another example of SEGA half-assing and playing it too safe. I really hope Sonic can bounce back again. I really hope that we do. This is the final game in my Sonic The Hedgehog Retrospective. 21 Games. Was an absolute blast. Just wish it ended with a bang.

Who designed this? More fun in the beginning but once they start trying to throw you curveballs and make the levels more difficult, all that ends up happening is they ruin the game's forward momentum, and it makes the player frustrated. Boss fights are poorly designed and the story makes no sense. I like decking my character out in swag though, if only ironically. Just a poor excuse of a game overall.