What?
A video on top 10 gaming that’s telling you NOT to purchase a Sonic game?
What is this hypocrisy?!
Well, friends, let’s be perfectly honest here.
There’s a lot of great Sonic games out there.
And then there’s ones that are garbage.
While Sonic Forces may not be a steaming pile of crap like some of the other games Sega
has pumped out without much of a regard for fans or the beloved iconic characters reputation
– yes blame them – Sonic Forces is without a doubt not the best 3D game in their arsenal.
Also, let’s address the elephant in the room - yes, we did do a video on the top 10
reasons why you should buy sonic forces.
And no, I did not buy Sonic Forces.
Here’s why you shouldn’t either.
10 Sonic Mania Let’s start off this list by pointing out
the obvious – Sonic Mania, the game released prior to Forces – is a significantly better
game.
That does the franchise justice.
While some critics have called it a glorified fan game – considering the development team
behind it was different than the typical Team Sonic that heads most of the blue blurs other
video game properties – but it’s proven itself to be a game worthwhile, described
as inherently nostalgic, emulating the original Sonic games exceptionally with controls and
game mechanics that were seamless.
So, all in all, coming off of the success of a game like that, critics saw Sonic Forces
as a major disappointment, lacking the polished mechanics that Mania, despite being a very
different kind of game, exhibited with ease.
One step forward, two steps back.
9 The Story People were mixed on the story in Sonic Forces.
While critics generally panned it, the fans were divided.
Some dug it, and enjoyed the challenge Sonic faced with Infinite.
On the other hand, some felt it was sloppy, and wasn’t very compelling, and that there
had been previous storylines in previous Sonic games that were way more memorable.
The story tried to take on a more mature tone but floundered.
8 Playable Characters Getting into more nit-picky territory here,
another common compliant with the game was the fact that you can’t play any of the
other iconic Sonic characters.
The game has three playable characters – Sonic, Classic Sonic and the Avatar character.
And as a bonus, you can also play Shadow in a limited series of levels called Episode
Shadow.
While the Avatar generally received a positive reception, many fans that were looking to
play as Tails, Knuckles or Amy felt disappointed; the characters make appearances as NPCs, but
many fans felt that was still lacking, especially with Classic Sonic being a technical disappointment.
But more on that later.
7 Poorly written dialogue Didn’t try very hard, did they?
6 Auto Pilot One of the biggest qualms with the game is
that the Modern Sonic levels lack any sort of challenge, and can be played on auto pilot,
so to speak.
Essentially, if you stay centered on the tracks and hit the attack button occasionally, it’s
not difficult to beat.
While that may be taking the liberty and assuming that the difficulty of the game is easy for
everyone from all sorts of gaming backgrounds, for the most part, die hard Sonic fans who
have played the majority of the other Sonic games will likely feel themselves lacking
a challenge.
5 Nintendo Switch Before the game was released, Sega swore that
the quality of Forces was consistent across consoles, specifically for the Nintendo Switch,
which runs at 30 frames per second as opposed to the 60 frames per second that the PS4,
Xbox One and PC versions run on.
This makes the Switch version run less smoothly than the others, and the visuals are noticeable
downgraded compared to other consoles, especially when the Switch is docked, causing pixilation
and blurring.
Aren’t inconsistencies just the most fun?
4 The Level Design The level design in Forces is inconsistent.
While visually stunning and accompanied by a stellar soundtrack, the level design itself
is quite lacking.
Psychics are not smooth – momentum changes, happen frequently, end up resulting in unnecessarily
taking hits that, had the psychics of the game been more developed, could have been
easily prevented.
As a whole, they feel inconsistent too, with the variation of the levels not being spread
out, but rather jarringly placed next to one another, like one level feeling smooth with
lots of momentum, to another one being incredibly particular about platform placement that feels
rigid.
3 Short levels Speaking of beating the game, it’s not easy
to fly through it, considering all of the levels are fairly short.
There’s 30 stages with some bonus levels, but the length combined with the auto pilot
vibe of the game overall makes feel lacklustre.
While there is supposed to be some replay ability in terms of mixing things up with
your original character and the whispons – the weapons powered by wisps that you can equip
and do different things – many players felt that even that wasn’t enough to make the
game worthwhile.
The boss battles did manage to step up and impress, but as some critics noted, they wished
there were more of them.
2 Classic Sonic One of the things that Sega is notorious for
is adding features to their Sonic games that, in theory, seem fantastic, but in execution,
are severely lacking, and as a result feel half baked, as if they’ve been tacked on
to the game.
The inclusion of Classic Sonic in Forces is exactly that.
Critics varied on their thoughts, from feeling that Classic Sonic was a solid inclusion but
didn’t add anything remarkable or memorable to the game, to feelings of Classic Sonic
being the worst of the three playable characters due to bad physics.
His momentum was all wonky, and the drop dash isn’t as nearly as fun to use as it is in
Sonic Mania.
Hence the under developed half assed tacked on thing.
The platform levels don’t give players anything new, and aren’t up to par with those of
Sonic Mania, making the gameplay experience for those who played and enjoyed Mania all
the more disappointing.
1 More of the same One of the biggest critics of the game was
that Sonic Forces does nothing to forward the Sonic series; it’s no better than Generations
or Colours, and considering how long Sega has been trying to come up with a solid Sonic
3D game over the last several years, it’s a little disappointing.
Much of what they present feels under developed or tacked on, as mentioned previously, and
it’s starting to feel that even after 26 years, the Sonic team at Sega can’t get
it right.
Many fans have pointed out that the people involved at Sega with the development, for
the most part, are lacking a lot of the credits and experience that past developers who worked
on the likes of Generations and Colours had.
So it kind of makes sense.
Perhaps Sega needs to spend more time showing Sonic some TLC rather than just trying to
push games out as quickly as they can.
There we have it friends!
Perhaps do yourselves a favour and just go buy Sonic Mania instead?
As harsh as these points are, remember, it’s important to critique the things you love.
After 26 years, isn’t it time Sonic deserved a better developed 3D game?
Let us know your thoughts on that in those comments below.
And as always, please hit those like and subscribe buttons if you dug this video, and make sure
you spread the love and share this with a friend who you think is in danger of buying
Sonic Forces.
Or perhaps already has and needs some sort of catharsis.
That being said, thanks for watching everyone!
Feel free to check out one of the playlists on our channel for more top 10 gaming.
I’ll catch you all in the next one!