As you all may know Sonic Forces was released on Nov. 7 and it was a pretty decent game. I mean come on, by now you should know that Sonic Games are usually a pretty mediocre experience unless you are a hardcore Sonic fan……You learn to take that with a grain salt. As with all Sonic games, we are treated to some very nice cut scenes before we take control of our blue hedgehog blasting through stages as fast we can. Sonic Forces is no different. The very first couple of minutes in the game were dark and funny at the same time. Robotnik is still up to his old schemes, but this time he has the help of a mysterious Enigma by the name of Infinite. There are many times when I’ve seen Sonic outwitted, but I think this one takes the icing on the cake. The game stays true to the whole “We need a hero to save the Day”. Since Sonic is out of commission you have the chance to customize an avatar, suit up, and save the blue hero, but it wont be long before the Blue hedgehog takes over the spotlight again. Doing missions as your avatar is great but it kinda loses flair quick as the dependence on the grapling hook and wispons give me really mixed feelings at the moment. I do like the wispons, but I feel that they could have let your character basically have a normal homing attack like Sonic, as far as weapons……I haven’t really thought that far LOL. I do think Sega could have come up with a better formula than what they have now. Sega did a really good job with the customization for your avatar. Over the course of the game you unlock more outfits and gadgets to dress your avatar up with. Sega literally throws so many customization items at you that no person really should have the same avatar. There are even daily challenges and missions that an be done to unlock items as well, so yeah Sega gets a thumbs from me on customization.
Now for the main part……..Sonic Forces without a doubt to me is a pretty good game. The game still retains most of its speediness for modern Sonic and classic Sonic, however with all off that speed comes a hefty sacrifice…..the layout of the stages. All of the stages that I played was marvelous. Some could have stood some more layout designs and definitely alternate paths, but the biggest problem that poses a challenge is how short the stages are. Each time I played through the stages I felt a sense of speed, but I was met with a huge feeling of regret. Most of the stages were over within less than a minute. That’s not including classic Sonic stages as well. Literally just about all the stages except one or two were over with in a blink of a eye. This may not be a big deal with you, but when you compare Sonic Forces to Sonic Unleashed and Sonic Generations……its a pretty big deal. The soundtrack for this game was really good. Sega really took their time with soundtrack on this one. The whole time I was zipping through the short stages I was constantly humming to the groovy soundtracks of the game. Chemical Plant, Casino Forest, Mortar Canyon and the Death Egg are among some of the stages that had really catchy tunes.
On another note the Shadow prologue story was So So. Playing as Shadow through some of the Sonic stage was a really nice twist. You can really see where Sega wanted to go with these stages. There were some elements in this game that could really push for a Sonic Heroes 2 (Which in my opinion I feel would have been better). The Special and Extra stages I feel were a nice EXTRA twist to the game but they could have gone without it. Overall, Sonic Forces feels like an unfinished product no matter what angle you look at it from. It could have been a pretty solid Sonic title of the year if it could have overcome some of it shortcomings. There is nothing wrong with having a good handful of stages, but when just about all the stages are less than a minute, it can become frustrating even for a Sonic Fan. If you can manage to get through the short stages with a groovy soundtrack then this game is for you. At the time of this review I no longer have it as I have traded it in for the new Pokemon Ultra Sun, however I do plan on going and buying it back before Christmas as I enjoyed it. I rank Sonic Forces as a 6.7.
Real Gaming Without The Hype! 