A Sonic Forces Review

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A Sonic Forces Review

Post by Chao Professor »

Apologies if this would fit better in the main Forces thread. I feel it would get buried. I've just beaten the game after buying it this morning, and I just want get my thoughts out there. Take my 16 year old opinion for what it's worth.

Greetings. Long time Sonic fan, here. And like many other long time fans, watching the live announcement for "Project 2017" left a feeling of great concern in my gut. Believe me, I wanted more than anything to feel excited for this, but something in the trailer was eating away at me. And I wasn't alone. And what was the root of our distress? Classic Sonic. Now I know, that's hardly a unique complaint when it comes to Forces, but I honestly believe this game could've been so much better without his inclusion. The first thing I remember thinking was, why are Sonic Team relying on old formulas again? Aren't the classic fans already going to be satisfied with Mania? And this leads to my main issue with the game.

Classic Sonic Stages
Mania was incredible, and it was a wonderful anniversary title for classic Sonic the hedgehog fans. So why couldn't Forces be an incredible game to cater towards the modern fanbase in turn? The classic Sonic stages were, by far, what I disliked the most in Forces. His controls were absolutely awful, far worse than in Generations. Stages involved tricky, slow-paced platforming, which I wouldn't normally have an issue with, if they were at least fun to play. Sonic's jumps felt really heavy, and it was so easy to send yourself flying to your doom with those overly-sensitive controls. It was about the only time in the game where I was thankful the stages were so damn short.

Classic Sonic really didn't add anything to the plot, either. Sure, it made sense the world needed a Sonic when things went to hell, but modern Sonic was rescued almost immediately, rendering classic completely useless. And I really don't get why Tails got so attached to him in the end, that part really made no sense. Just Sonic, comforting his friend about saying goodbye to his alternate... self. I really feel like classic's inclusion was simply just for that "clever" tie-in with Mania. And admittedly, it is clever. Unfortunately, it isn't quite clever enough to warrant such a useless character in Forces. If you're going to pull a move like that, make sure there's some reason behind it. Nobody asked for classic in Forces. The focus should've went into creating more, or longer modern/avatar stages.

Avatar, and Avatar Stages
God, did I dread this when it was announced. Sonic Team was very aware of their oc lovin' fanbase, so I guess it made sense to cater towards that portion. Do I still feel the same way now that I've played with my own custom avatar and had a chance to appreciate the mechanics? No. I was very quick to judge this gameplay style. I actually had the most fun playing these stages and customizing my bunny girl. The way Infinite treated the custom avatar during cutscenes was quite entertaining.

The stages, however, weren't very interactive as a whole, something that's crucial when they typically only last a minute and a half. The double boost prompt was cheesy, but alot of fun. It's always a scripted event, you don't use it often and it only lasts around 7 seconds, but blaring fist bump as you mow down a bunch of enemies is just glorious. I didn't find myself changing Wispons very often. I mostly just stuck with the Burst. The customization mechanic is fun, but slightly restricted. I tried completing as many missions as I could to unlock that adorable chao backpack, only to die as I realised I couldn't wear it over a shirt. I also would've liked more animals to choose from. The best way I can describe the custom avatar mechanic as a whole is flawed, but fun. I certainly never expected to find myself actually caring about my avatar.

The Story
Definitely what I was most excited for, particularly as Sonic Team seemed to be moving away from their childish plotlines and were aiming for something a little more serious. Of course, it's Sonic. I should've known not to set my hopes too high. But the way the story was presented in trailers and interviews, I was getting really hyped! A game where Sonic is missing? Eggman has actually succeeded in taking over the majority of the planet?? I seriously couldn't wait to see how this played out. So when the cutscenes got leaked earlier this month, I couldn't help but spoil the entire game for myself before playing it. And dear god, was I disappointed.

Conflict was resolved so damn quickly, there was almost no time for any tension to build. Dialogue felt awkward at times, and Sonic's body odor puns and cheesy references really weren't helping the serious tone Sonic Team seemed so desperate to set. It was war, torture, grief, depression, and yet none of these things were actually portayed seriously, save maybe the first one. You had Knuckles saying that Tails had completely lost it after Sonic was presumed dead, which I was really excited to see, yet he appears completely fine in the following scene. It's clear he's lacking belief in himself, and he's obviously gloomy, but I honestly expected so much more of a reaction from him.

Then we had Sonic, who wasn't dead, but was being tortured for months simply for Eggman's amusement. But we were baited again, because we never actually witness any torture, nothing is implied, and Sonic is still making stupid puns and acting cocky. So what was even the point of including that?? To be edgy? I'm still angry about not having a fight with Chaos. It was heavily implied in the trailers, and when it came down to it, he was more useless than classic. Wonderful.

Other Things
I've barely mentioned Infinite, you may have noticed. He didn't bring much to the table, but I like his character. His boss battles were fun, he had good dialogue, theme song is still stuck in my head and oh damn, that voice caught me off guard. His lines almost seem flirty, kinda like he belongs in a vampire dating sim, which amuses me to no end. Was kinda hoping he'd be the final boss. Not too much to say about Modern Sonic. Stages were fun. I believe his character has improved since Colours, but cool it with the puns, dude. Music in this game was amazing as always. Aqua Road's theme is definitely my fave. It does feel nice to have vocals in stages again. Also good to see a more serious Knux. Though gosh, did he take his role a little too seriously? "The thing that finished Sonic... Sorry. Still not used to saying that..." It seemed the game had varying points of "too serious to be taken seriously" and "this should be more serious".

Overall? I had fun. It was way too short, and dear god is it flawed, but I really did enjoy myself regardless. Do you agree with any of the points I made? I'm open for discussion.
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Re: A Sonic Forces Review

Post by chaoadventures »

here have a copy paste of things
chaoadventures wrote: My take on the game:
Spoiler:
Levels are too short. LEVELS ARE TOO SHORT. LEVELS ARE TOO FREAKING SHORT.
Unleashed and Generations had levels that neared about 4 minutes near the end of the game. Forces did not.

Personally my favorite take on Boost Sonic's movement, as it allows him to move freely, shown in-depth in the Zavok boss fight.

Unfortunately, just like Colors, there are very few places to use this ability. All levels are incredibly short, even more than Colors I'd say.

The linear level design, while I believe it was within the Boost games all along, coupled with the level length, makes the game much more fun to perfect the levels in, similar to Metal Harbor.

Classic Sonic is fun. Momentum and physics are better than Generations tenfold, but Classic Sonic's jump height is awkward to say the least.
This game unfortunately still fails to grasp the actual gameplay of the classic series like Mania did, but physics and levels are passable; better than rush and the other boost games.

classic still technically only has one boss to fight this game though

Avatar gameplay is... Good. Not great, just good. Wire Attack takes too long to activate and quite honestly bothers me because of it.
Movement is a hollowed out version Modern Sonic, which makes certain situations annoying to play, but the Wispon are fun. cube lacks a purpose to use though

Story is within my top 5 Sonic stories, take what you will from that statement.

Best part of the game was getting the Void Wispon for beating the last level, 10/10 placement of the Wispon on the game's cover.
Honestly, after that happened, I became convinced that the missions give random payouts.
I'm pretty sure that you can get all of the best items either near the beginning and after the game based on a stupid dice roll between 100+ different items.

...

also I spent 31 minutes total on the last boss why am I so bad at a boss they've reused twice

My score, if I had to give one would be about, 8/10, but it could be me being overly happy that they had a story that tried to connect the levels together again. Story still needed work though.
I also say it's better than generations but I think that game is more overrated than sa2 at this point so also take what you will from that statement
Still can't really grasp when people say Generations Classic Sonic was better than the one in Forces, but that's probably how they feel when I say the opposite

At least the consensus that Mania was better in every way seems to be upheld.
chaoadventures wrote:still too many loose ends and undeveloped plot points

My list of loose ends:
Spoiler:
- Infinite's ability to make the virtual reality Zavok act like the real one but the Shadow copy was completely soulless.

- What exactly is up with the Phantom Ruby Prototypes?

- Why is Classic's relevance so limited when it could be used so much more?

- Why did they resolve Null Space in about 5 seconds?

- haha why did they suddenly add that whole thing about friendship and togetherness and all that to the game

- Where did Omega come from if Tails couldn't fix him and was at the battlefield?

- No joke what actually happened to Infinite after the game?

- Was Eggman inside the final phase of the last boss or did it become sentient?
And here's my problems with the story. Everything definitely was resolved too quickly.

Didn't find the lines given to the characters to be too edgy, serious, or trying too hard to be anything else of the sort (aside from Infinite obviously), but apparently most did?

Here's the subbed version of the game's cutscenes since that seems to be resolving some problems for people with that.

But as I said before:
chaoadventures wrote: Only thing that I felt was fixed was Silver's statement about how Tails was in a state of despair after Sonic was said to have died, when it was just said that he was missing.
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