AC14: Random Video Game Review - Sonic Forces

Earlier this year, we got a long awaited Sonic game that felt like playing the original Megadrive games all over again (bearing in mind that I in fact actually played the ports of those games) with elements of the Dreamcast era and just a fun retro game all around. I'd say its a bold move for SEGA to tailor to those who enjoyed and loved the original games and in the same year, release a game tailored to those who enjoyed the more recent Sonic games (minus Sonic Boom). But as some of us know, Sonic games that feature most if not all the supporting cast isn't always going to be well received. But I'm being optimistic so let's see what Forces has to offer:

Set some time after Generations (hence why we have two Sonics once again) as well as Mania, Doctor Eggman (reprised by Mike Pollock) is causing havoc once again and so it up to Sonic (reprised by Roger Craig Smith) to stop him. But in a dramatic change of pace, Eggman unleashes a being known as Infinite (voiced by Liam O'Brien) onto Sonic who beats him easily. With Sonic taken into custody on the Death Egg, Eggman along with his minions and some old enemies of Sonic, go ahead with their world domination plan and manage to take over the world within six months. Knuckles (reprised by Travis Willingham) forms a resistance group consisting of Sonic's closest allies and friends as well as a survivor of Eggman's attack who calls himself the rookie and along with the unexpected help of Classic Sonic, they set out to save Sonic and stop Eggman from taking over the world. But its going to be much harder than before. Gameplay is largely reminiscent of Generations. Classic Sonic does strictly 2D side-scrolling stages. Modern Sonic does stages that resemble the style of those seen in Unleashed and Colours (Colors for you US folk). And the Rookie (which is a user created character which has its own unique abilities depending on what animal it is) is the same as Modern Sonic with the addition of a grappling hook and parts that involve the two or one of the Sonics much like in Heroes. The Wisps from Colours return once again and are often found in the Rookie stages which actually makes sense considering that its a user created character. The majority of stages are both original and re-imagined ones from previous games such as Green Hill Zone. Like previous games, every stage gives you a rank depending on your progress such as how fast you were, how many rings you collected as well as some other factors too.

As a Sonic game, its great to see SEGA move away from the terrible Boom era and go back to doing Sonic games we know and love. While Mania was a fantastic game, Forces feels like a Sonic game I have played before. That's not a bad thing, but as we now live in a time where the demand for something original is high, sometimes doing the same thing isn't good enough. But that being said, the character creation tool is a nice addition to the series and its good to have two Sonic games released in the same year to allow SEGA to tailor to the two Sonic fanbases. One that enjoyed the Megadrive games and just wants something that is reminiscent of that. And the other that enjoyed the more recent games and wants something similar to that. But I think of the two games, Mania is the better one of the two purely because its been wanted by the fanbase for many years and now we got it. But Forces is an ok game. It could be better, but at least there's no Big the Cat in there or Sonic doing a fake laugh. 7/10