My friend told me to keep expectations low but... Wow. · 1:25pm Feb 16th, 2019
I really thought that would take more than a day.
Sonic Forces complete, game time clocked in at under four hours.
I think I can definitively say that I believe Sonic Team is creatively bankrupt. Gameplay-wise, it was passable, but it handed out A and S ranks like candy. My only C rank was when I died 17 times. I miss the days of Unleashed when A ranks took serious effort, and S ranks took borderline memorization.
When it comes to the narrative, that was easily the worst game I've played in the franchise. Yes, worse than Shadow and '06 even.
Tails' characterization in the beginning is so far off the mark it's criminal. Classic Sonic is barely an afterthought (for the love of god please keep him in his own dimension / 2D games from now on), and Infinite is the biggest waste of potential I've ever seen in this series. I remember a lot of the fan theories of what he was before launch, and all of them were pretty much better than what we got.
So much is never explained. A reason why Silver is here? Nope. Wisps? Nope. Even the Chaos Emeralds don't even make a single appearance.
The franchise's running theme is even in bad Sonic games, the music is incredible, and I think this is the new shining example. Dangerkids, Hoobastank, even the London Symphony Orchestra... There is a crazy amount of musical talent here, and it outclasses every other single aspect of the game. I must have no understanding of eastern business culture, because I don't know how you can budget for the freaking LSO for a dev team that has been largely stumbling for the last 15 years.
All in all, if I was an industry professional involved in this project, and it followed Mania, I'd be embarrassed.
Yeah... the messed up thing is that the overall story we got could have worked... if there had been more story to it. Take every plot point, every major moment and use that as an outline and you have the start of something compelling, but... it's just not there.
The gameplay is functional, but there isn't enough of it... either in difficulty or in variety and, as much as some people disliked the Werehog stages in Sonic Unleashed, they did at least force you to slow down and immerse yourself in the world a bit more. The second to last boss fight of the game was actually well done for a multistage fight... but there was so much repetition.
Having said all that... something to consider in defense of the title, is that this game wasn't a full priced game at launch... which means if they had put the extra development time and resources in to make it there, it likely would have been what fans were wanting. Instead, they released probably the least buggy 3d sonic game in years with a character creation system and stage repeat missions to pad it out.
The only other thing that cools my own disappointment with the title is that, with the way my nephew enjoys it, the game might very well have been intended for the youngest end of gamerbase. He's only 8 and the difficulty is just about right for him.
Yeah, I'd seen more than enough from reviews, Let's Plays, and Twitch streams to not even bother with this one. I dodged one bullet by not getting Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric, so I figured I'd dodge this one too.
It's really a shame too. Sonic games have had at least three gameplay styles that have done very well, but Sega somehow always finds a way to fuck it up. How do you screw up an Adventure game? By rushing it out for the 15th anniversary, quality control be damned. How do you screw up Unleashed/Boost style? By not putting in any effort.
As far as plot goes, I stopped counting on a good Sonic story a long time ago. Pretty sure the last time a Sonic game had a decent plot was Black Knight.
5014541
well in defense the older player base audience had sonic mania so makes sense this game is easier to feet the younger base audience
also nothing is worse than sonic 06 at least this game works sonic 06 not so much
5014545
Eh. I'm more inclined to believe that Sonic boom is the worst. Because at least with 06 the glitches are a spectacle to watch. Sonic boom is just... BORING!
5014605
also true
I agree about Infinite. Such an embarrassing waste of potential. In fact, everything about his behavior, personality, and the things he says is a text book example of someone who is insecure.
5015349
The fan theories were awesome. He was something similar to Shadow or Chaos.
My personal favorite was he was some sort of Bad Future version of the Avatar.
Nope. Edgy mercenary jackal with a powerful gem that is nothing more than a macguffin for two games.
5015385
I definitely would have taken that origin story over a mercenary that became all powerful just because his delicate pride was hurt by Shadow. He even threw a tantrum for god sakes