Sonic Forces review

Meh

by luke8

This game sucks. I played it before on my switch and was left feeling that it was painfully mediocre. My playthrough on pc though was awful. But before we get into the bad, which there is a lot of, lets talk about the good.

The game looks and runs extremely well, except during the cutscenes which we'll get to later. No graphical errors and the game rocked a framerate well above 100 fps at all times (except during cutscenes). The character creator is a bit limited, but overall it is fun to customize your "buddy" with the tons of cosmetics at your disposal that you get through unlocks and free DLC. The music is also pretty decent, some typical cheesy sonic stuff alongside a few genuinely good songs. The story is also really dumb, which I like. The tone is so jarring and I love it. Another highlight is when the game ended. Also, Classic Sonic has the drop dash from mania so I guess that's cool, shame that the game feels like ass to control.

Onto the bad, Classic Sonic feels awful to control. He doesn't carry momentum very well and precision platforming feels clunky and unwieldy. This criticism also applies to Sonic and the "buddy" as well, although they are more enjoyable to play thanks to the homing attack and 3D gameplay segments. These clunky controls makes platforming extremely frustrating and building speed as Classic Sonic feels pointless as he is just gonna arbitrarily slow down in a few seconds. The "buddy" whom is the create a character just feels super similar to sonic but worse. Their homing attack feels clunky thanks to a delay caused by them using a grappling hook. They also have access to a selection of weapons that are comically overpowered and help remove what little challenge the game has. Sonic feels the best to control of the two, only really suffering from 2D segments and moving side to side while boosting. Next up, the levels range from boring to frustrating. Most levels are just beaten by holding forward while pressing a button every now and then. 2D levels are just abysmal thanks to lame gimmicks and bad controls. Lastly, the cutscenes look awful since most of them are pre-rendered in-engine footage that is horribly compressed. The only time that the cutscenes don't have this awful compression is when the "buddy" is on screen. Another thing worth noting is that the cutscenes, pre-rendered or not, were capped at 30 fps. This personally didn't bother me but others may find it annoying.

tl;dr Sonic Forces is a dull frustrating experience with little redeeming qualities. Unfortunately, another addition into the hall of bad Sonic games.

11 Hours of Game time, time for a Review story I have completed after about 3-4 Hours (From time to time a par SOS Mission and extra Missions made). -The Story was typical of an Adventur Story (Edgy and not so much trimmed to Humor as Colors). Anyone who expects a Complex and/or Gloomier plot is Wrong here and that's a good thing. -The Levels are usually a little too short. 5-8 Minutes length would be nice, but most go 2-4th-The German Synchro is ok. The German Eggman sounds better than his Colleagues, in my Opinion. For this we were punished with Marc Stachel (Sonics vote), who has actually deteriorated further since Generations. Nevertheless, I recommend to put the right in English or Japanese. -The Soundtrack is Super. We finally have good Vocal stage music again. Unfortunately not a Crush 40, but with such good Tracks this is manageable! -Modern Sonic Gameplay has unfortunately deteriorated. It's not as fluid as in Generations (which I Think had the best Modern Sonic Gameplay). Unleashed also felt 100 times faster and more controlled. And in Colors, you had at least the extended Moveset. Sounds relatively fies everything so far, but it's Playable Bar (No Sonic 06 or Boom to luck). -Avatar Gameplay Was a lot of Fun for me. I thought the Knowledge weapons and Skills was quite good. When I created and dressed it up, I also had my Fun. Feeling the Avatar felt better in the Stages than Sonic. While The Gameplay is capable of expanding, I Think the Avatar Gameplay is the best of Forces. -Classic Sonic Was the least Fun for me. Let's Start with the good Stuff first. We kept the Dropdash from Mania ... End. Sega has not managed to take over the good Mania Classic Sonic Gameplay, nor to copy that of Generations. In addition, it bothered me personally that you absolutely had to squeeze Classic Sonic into Forces. -The Boss fights were quite a Deception. We almost have only Bosses that we are pursuing again. In addition, you can adjust to a quantity of recycle Bosses. -The PC Port is ok. Denuvo hardly bothered me until now, but it is still a thick minus Point. There were quite severe launch problems with many (crush after certain pose, bad performance, laggy audio etc.). After 2 Patches I have no more problems, so there is a warning. Unfortunately, things look bad for Modding. -DLC I only have the Shadow Episode so far (there are no more so far). This was ok, for which she was Free. I'm hoping for a little more Content via DLC. Depending on the size and Content of the Content, I would also be willing to pay. Conclusion: If You like generation "similar" Gameplay and if 2-3 Hours of history with less Extra Missions than in Generations are enough for you, you should strike. For everyone else, wait until the Sale and then form an Opinion for themselves. (For €20am, you don't get it wrong here)

Sonic Forces 7.5/10 Sonic has been defeated, and Doctor Eggman is conquering the planet. The only one who can put things right is your custom-made character, with some help from some old-school Sonics. The premise behind Sonic Forces sounds like an amazing mix for a Sonic game, level design and overall inability to capitalize on its potential leaves it just a few steps short. The character creation is a huge selling point and one of Sonic Forces’ best features, and it feels great to be able to live out a childhood Sega fan dream of making your own Sonic character. You pick their species, customize their look, and dress them up in all kinds of fashion, from stylish (swanky Sega-themed gear, slick shades, and sporty shoes) to downright odd (clown wigs, shutter shades, and wrestling belts), unlocking more as you play. Seeing your creation do wild stunts alongside Sonic, doing fistbumps and taking down some rampaging robots, is a whole heap of fun. There are three types of stages in Forces, all of which have great visual design (take a moment to check out some of the crazy Eggman mechs rampaging through the backgrounds) and are set to a stellar soundtrack that combines Sonic remixes, 16-bit throwbacks (see how many common Genesis instrument samples you can hear), and cheesy late-90s pop-rock. Amazingly, the boss battles are actually quite good in Forces, which is surprising because Sonic boss fights tend to be a fairly weak element. They’re challenging but not overly long, and feature some stunning backdrops like a reality-bending battle with new foe Infinite among the winding coils of a giant snake. The problem is that there simply aren’t enough of them, and most of them are over way too fast, limiting their impact. After you’re done with the main game you can replay levels to improve your scores and times, rescue other players’ avatars in previously beaten stages through SOS missions to earn you gear and weapons, and unlock a handful of hidden (and quite short) challenge stages, but it still feels like there’s a fair bit of wasted potential. More levels and more big, exciting boss fights would have gone a long way.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-piMGBiME_E&t=15s&app=desktop