Even though Sonic Mania was a fantastic 2D side-scrolling platformer which paid proper homage to the earliest instalments of the Sonic franchise, as someone who was introduced to Sega’s equivalent of Super Mario through Sonic Adventure 2 on the Gamecube, my personal nostalgia comes from the 3D platforming titles. It has been awhile since coming back to the 3D titles, with the above-average nostalgia-fest Sonic Generations last capturing my attention. Several games have been released since then, but I was drawn to Sonic Forces primarily because of Sega’s decision to implement user-created characters into the mix – and my interest on whether having a third character join Sonic and Classic Sonic would bring anything to the table. Did it? Read on to find out!
Storyline / Character Development
The storyline of Sonic Forces has a similar premise to many earlier titles. Dr. Eggman has come up with yet another scheme to conquer the world (once again involving a mysterious and powerful being), and Sonic and friends must once again team up to put an end to his plot. Despite not being an original premise, the narrative does have a few twists which sets it apart from earlier titles. One of the more significant at the start is that you start out as an underdog, with Sonic having the crap beaten out of him and the world falling to Eggman at the beginning of the game. This doesn’t prelude him from escaping captivity early on, but it was a refreshing change to have a darker story to follow.
Despite its few positives, the plot borders on average at best. Especially when you compare it against some of the more story-laden games such as Sonic Adventure or Sonic Advance, whats delivered is easily forgettable, rushed and not always coherent. On more than one occasion, events are seemingly resolved through a deus ex machina, or otherwise resolved through the remarkable power of friendship. Outside of a few clever references to past titles which got a good chuckle from me, there was little I enjoyed about the implementation of a good foundation. If the game were two to three times its current length… things may have been different.
Similar to Sonic Generations which was Sonic Team’s 20th Anniversary project in 2011, many iconic characters from past games make appearances as supporting characters. Some such as Tails, Knuckles and Amy Rose are more prominent, while there were a few surprising omissions such as Cream the Rabbit and Big that Cat. None of these characters receive much in the way of character development. The same can be said about the original player character, who like many custom avatars in games, is a mute deuteragonist who despite being active in combat has little role in cutscenes.
Design / Music / Voice Acting
If there is one element of Sonic Forces I think that Sonic Team has nailed, it was how great the game looked and sounded. While there were a few levels which retained a similar base them such as “Green Hill Zone” and “Death Egg”, most of the levels were very pretty to speed through. With the original character being a major addition to this game, they complemented the system with plenty of customisation and unlockable clothing options. This system gives you a lot of freedom to create a figment of your imagination, from yourself, a completely original creation or even a “knock-off” version of Sonic.
Sonic games have in my opinion offered a consistently good soundtrack, from its iconic tunes of the 90s to the catchy lyrical tunes which have a tendency to stick in your head for days if not weeks after playing. Although this would be subject to personal preferences, I thought the background music offered in Sonic Forces met my expectations. Doug Robb performs the game’s main theme song “Fist Bump” which offers decent lyrics and fantastic rock backing. The assortment of other level, cutscene and stage select songs is also varied and of a high standard. My main issue is that with some of the levels being so short, and at times having several songs in the one stage, it isn’t possible to enjoy more than snippets of them.
With so many Sonic games being released, it should come as little surprise that most characters in the game have their own dedicated voice cast members. The cast is good enough, although depending on how long it has been since you last played a Sonic game with a certain character in it, you may notice some slight differences. For me it was most noticable with Rouge the Bat, who previously voiced by Lani Minella, is now voiced by Karen Strassman.
Gameplay
Sonic Forces offers a total of 30 stages in its main storyline, which are split between four different character classifications with different gameplay styles: Modern Sonic, Classic Sonic, Original Character and Modern Sonic + Original Character. While each of these have their perks, they do also have their downfalls.
Modern Sonic
The most stages are dedicated to “Modern Sonic”, and are what you would generally expect to see from any 3D Sonic title nowadays. With a particular emphasis on having the player speedily make their way around the course, each level involves players ramming their way through swarms of neatly lined up enemies, grinding on rails and making their way to the end of the stage.
These are some of the most flashy stages, but because of the emphasis on being fast, there is little challenge and most of my errors involved Sonic flying off the stage due to a wrong turn. It was also hard not to notice even from the first stage (video above) that the game wrangled control from me a little too often, and sometimes controlling Sonic too much was a way to failure.
There is also an issue shared with Sonic Generations where they a little too abruptly switch from 3D Sonic to sidescrolling Sonic gameplay styles once or twice per level. Given there are Classic Sonic stages, I find it hard to justify their inclusion.
Classic Sonic
With the return of Classic Sonic in the story, so does his assortment of sidescrolling platformer levels. If you are after this style of gameplay then I would recommend nabbing yourself a digital copy of Sonic Mania instead, as Sonic Force’s 3D levels pale in comparison.
For what it is worth, Classic Sonic levels are some of the more satisfying ones offered throughout Sonic Forces, with an emphasis on strategically navigating through the stages rather than holding down a button and rushing through them. But while they do have a lot of the trims you could expect to see and are for the most part enjoyable, it is difficult not to compare against what was released only a few months back…
Original Character
I was looking forward to creating my own custom avatar in Sonic Forces, and I did not leave disappointed. Not confined to being a hedgehog, players can create their own character based on several animal species: dog, wolf, rabbit, bear, cat, bird and hedgehog. Your choice does not just provide aesthetic differences, but also slight gameplay differences. Bird characters for example are able to perform double jumps, while cats are a bit easier to work with as they hold on to some rings after taking damage. My recommendation would be to go with whatever looks better in your eyes.
While you are locked to the one avatar until you complete the game, further character customisation comes through which “Wispon” weapon you equip them with. As you go through the game, completing stages will provide you with access to new guns, providing them access to a unique attack skill (Eg. Drill Attack, Fire Attack, Lightning Whip) and boost ability (Burrowing into the walls/ground, Dashing through ring trails, Temporarily invincibility). These have more of an impact in the avatars individual stages, which sometimes have routes available to specific Wispon types.
Avatar Stages strike a good balance between the speed of Modern Sonic’s stages and the more logical approaches required to complete Classic Sonic’s stages. Branching in different directions which can sometimes be tailored towards particular Wispon types, these involve going from A to B while taking down any hazard or enemy which stands in your way. These were generally creative areas meriting multiple playthroughs to find the optimal path, and were my favourite stages by far. It is just a shame there were so few of them – as I feel what was presented didn’t do my custom character justice.
There are also a handful of stages which are Modern Sonic + Original Character, which combines the elements of both character types. While limited in number, they did a good job at combining the boost ability of Sonic with the complexities of the avatar. Especially in the later stages, these were the ones I found myself flinging off the stage off.
The Overall Experience
Even if implementation wasn’t always great, there is a lot of creativity that went into many of the levels. That said, it is hard to ignore that the 30 main stages take on average a couple of minutes to complete on the hardest difficulty setting. This means that you could complete the entire game in one sitting, which is a little underwhelming. While there is the option to go back and compete for a best time or complete missions within those stages for avatar items – there was little else to keep my attention for more than a couple more hours.
Final Words on Sonic Forces
Sonic Forces is an average game which offers high production values but is only okay in terms of substance. While the darker narrative was appreciated, for its current price I would like to have seen the main story content last me more than an afternoon. Especially with the Modern Sonic stages as well, I would like liked more complex stages that wern’t merely simple rushes completable in a minute or two with little challenge. All being said however, I did enjoy my playthrough of Sonic Forces, and would particularly love to see the custom avatar system expanded upon even more and implemented into future titles.
