Just... *sigh*
Started this up at the weekend and I like to think I'm quite forgiving of Sonic games. I've even felt a tad nostalgic at times about Sonic '06 even though it's rubbish. This though... it feels almost insulting at this point.
First up, the game looks passable. There are very brief flashes of it looking nice but broadly it's kind of regressed from the days of Unleashed and the inclusion of the dark timeline aspects again just sucks the joy out of the game. It's the gameplay that causes issues more than anything else.
Sonic's 3D games have always been like a series of failed experiments intended to try and work out how to adapt the character successfully to three dimension space. The results have varied wildly from '06's broken design to Colours more successful mix that relied on tying Sonic down a little more to 2.5D. Forces though, feels like the first time that Sonic Team has thrown away everything they've learnt in those experiments because of simply giving up making any effort. So far, the game suffers from every broken thing you've disliked in previous 3D Sonics. Be it rear running sections with little to no control over the character, high speed side on sections where you can't see enemies or bottomless pits till its too late or floaty controls on platforms the game commits them all without any sense that an effort was made to fix anything from the past. Instead, the game is seemingly short and easy, ST appearing to think if you can sleep walk through the experience you won't mind the lazy design.
The character creation tool is the only new thing here really and what it brings is the ability to create your own soulless abhorrent design to unleash upon the Sonic universe. Throwing in multiple returning old enemies and friends from the Sonic universe, Forces is the very definition of throwing s*** at the wall and seeing what sticks but the creation tool is so basic and limited that joins every other aspect in proving that once Sega steps back from that scatty arm throw it will see the wall is still pristine clean.
The back end of the game is going to need to improve dramatically. I can deal with Sonic being fairly poor, it's a common enough thread now that it's the default expectation, but lazy is just insulting as the franchise hasn't earnt the good will for it. I don't know what Sega should do with Sonic but this is really reaffirming with me that Sonic Team are past the point of being the right home for him.
Started this up at the weekend and I like to think I'm quite forgiving of Sonic games. I've even felt a tad nostalgic at times about Sonic '06 even though it's rubbish. This though... it feels almost insulting at this point.
First up, the game looks passable. There are very brief flashes of it looking nice but broadly it's kind of regressed from the days of Unleashed and the inclusion of the dark timeline aspects again just sucks the joy out of the game. It's the gameplay that causes issues more than anything else.
Sonic's 3D games have always been like a series of failed experiments intended to try and work out how to adapt the character successfully to three dimension space. The results have varied wildly from '06's broken design to Colours more successful mix that relied on tying Sonic down a little more to 2.5D. Forces though, feels like the first time that Sonic Team has thrown away everything they've learnt in those experiments because of simply giving up making any effort. So far, the game suffers from every broken thing you've disliked in previous 3D Sonics. Be it rear running sections with little to no control over the character, high speed side on sections where you can't see enemies or bottomless pits till its too late or floaty controls on platforms the game commits them all without any sense that an effort was made to fix anything from the past. Instead, the game is seemingly short and easy, ST appearing to think if you can sleep walk through the experience you won't mind the lazy design.
The character creation tool is the only new thing here really and what it brings is the ability to create your own soulless abhorrent design to unleash upon the Sonic universe. Throwing in multiple returning old enemies and friends from the Sonic universe, Forces is the very definition of throwing s*** at the wall and seeing what sticks but the creation tool is so basic and limited that joins every other aspect in proving that once Sega steps back from that scatty arm throw it will see the wall is still pristine clean.
The back end of the game is going to need to improve dramatically. I can deal with Sonic being fairly poor, it's a common enough thread now that it's the default expectation, but lazy is just insulting as the franchise hasn't earnt the good will for it. I don't know what Sega should do with Sonic but this is really reaffirming with me that Sonic Team are past the point of being the right home for him.
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