‘Sonic Forces’ feels like two-thirds of a game

Sonic Forces tries to take a serious approach to its story. Sonic Forces released on PC, PS4, Xbox One and Switch on Nov. 7. Sega

Caelin Bragg
Lantern Staff

While Sonic Forces has its moments, it’s only a small percentage of an already short and overall lackluster game.

Sonic had a brief moment of glory earlier this year after the release of Sonic Mania in August. Mania brought some light back to a franchise that had suffered beyond any reasonable series should. Forces unfortunately doesn’t continue the streak Mania was trying to start.

Forces’ game-play takes most of its inspiration from 2011’s Sonic Generations, including the playable characters Modern Sonic, with behind the back, 3-D, speed sections and 2-D platforming thrown in, Classic Sonic, whose play-style is exclusively the traditional 2-D platforming. Forces also introduces the new custom character, who plays like a cross between Modern Sonic and 2004’s Sonic Heroes, with traditional platforming and instances of light combat.

The many play-styles keep the game varied, but everyone feels incomplete. That incomplete feeling doesn’t stop at just the characters as everything in Forces seems like it was subjected to the problem many Sonic games face: It was rushed from the game-play to level design to story. Everything seems like they had a promising idea, but were forced to compromise to finish on time.

One of the most important things in platformers is level design, and every bit of Forces’ level design felt bland and uninspired. Modern Sonic and the custom character’s levels are nearly always linear, and the few branching paths only ever last a few seconds. Classic Sonic does try to feature the exploration of the old games, but not on a large enough scale to make it worthwhile. The game also features a plethora of bottomless pits, which instantly kills the player. Mania understood bottomless pits equal cheap deaths and bad level design and avoided them like the plague. Forces didn’t get that memo.
But even with the lackluster level design, the levels look impressive. While I’m sick of seeing levels like Green Hill and Chemical Plant all the time, the eye-candy makes them enjoyable enough to replay. And Forces keeps up the Sonic tradition of excellent stage music, with each character having their own style of music.

Even if Forces’ level design was amazing, that would still not be enough as it fails at the other most important thing in platformers: the physics. No character feels consistent with the other. Once in the air, Classic Sonic feels like a ten-ton weight and is stuck until landing, and Modern Sonic will fly off if he has any speed and jumps. None of the characters felt right, and swapping between them every level made their faults stand out even more.

While the characters do feel off and are hard to control, mastering the game’s wonky physics and completing levels with the fastest time possible is incredibly satisfying. Having Sonic blaze through stages at uncontrollable speeds, but somehow survive is just plain fun.

Despite all its flaws, Sonic Forces isn’t a bad game, nor is it a good one. A simple shrug is the perfect response to someone asking how the game is. Unfortunately, the game is easily beatable in under five hours, and with an asking price of $40, people wanting another adventure with Sonic are best served by waiting until the game gets discounted, but it’s still only for the more hardcore fans.