games at one extreme, the open 3D sandbox of Odyssey at the other, and games like Super Mario 3D World to explore the middle ground. The Mario franchise does a great job of exploring many different expressions of the platforming concept: You have the strict 2D action of New Super Mario Bros. This is where I'd hoped Sonic Team would take a similar approach to Nintendo's Mario teams. Why rehash the same territory? Forces has a more modern look, but it lacks the thoughtfulness and creativity of Mania, so why should anyone bother with it? Forces' boring robot enemies are literally just there to stand around and lifelessly give you something to auto-dash into. While SEGA didn't develop Mania internally, it's an official product that the company green-lit and released as an official Sonic product, and it renders Forces completely moot. Sonic Mania already does that, and does it a whole lot better than Forces… despite the lack of dynamic camera programming. What really kills me is that Sonic Forces' decision to be little more than a flashy 2D platformer makes it redundant. The visuals are cluttered and busy while I never died due to clever enemy tactics, I lost quite a few lives to confusing foreground/background visual ambiguity. to speak of, and very little variety within the platforming beyond the camera alternating between side-on perspectives and behind-the-character viewpoints. The core levels consist almost entirely of high-speed dashing with so little interactivity - so little substance to the level design - that sometimes the only difference between the playable sequences and the flashy non-interactive portions of stages is that you can potentially die in the former (if you really try). On the rare occasions Forces bothers to explore these more methodical play concepts, it does so through short, optional side missions rather than as part of the main game. Yet there was always much more to the Genesis games than just screaming through loop-de-loops: Navigating automated platform puzzles, swimming through narrow underground passages, bouncing around vibrant casinos, and even climbing to out-of-the-way places once Knuckles entered the picture. Sonic may be best-known for breakneck speed, sure. Instead, Forces doubles down on the gotta-go-fast aspect of Sonic, which to me speaks of a fundamental misunderstanding of the series. Sonic Forces covers a lot of the same ground as Sonic Mania, literally, but with less panache. Odyssey does a great job of taking Mario's early 3D outings and modernizing them, and there's definitely an audience who would love to see Sonic Team to do something similar with a contemporary take on Sonic Adventure. Maybe part of the problem is that I expected something more along the lines of Super Mario Odyssey (which I deliberately avoided invoking in the Sonic Forces review that rivalry's been flogged long enough to Sonic's detriment, even if it was SEGA's idea in the first place). By every indication, Sonic Forces should have been a knockout.įrankly, I'm at a loss to explain how it turned out so poorly, but this definitely isn't the way for Sonic to go. I absolutely loved Sonic Team's first Switch release, Puyo Puyo Vs. I admittedly haven't played a Sonic game to completion since Sonic Rush and Sonic Rush Adventure (both of which I reviewed, loved, and rated highly for the late and lamented 1UP.com), but I've heard good things about several of Sonic Team's recent efforts with their core franchise, especially Sonic Generations and Sonic Colors. I went into my review session with optimistic expectations for how it would turn out. I don't want to give the impression that I'm out to dog pile on Forces, because that's hardly the case. It's something of a mercy that you can complete the entire Forces story mode in less than five hours, because it honestly doesn't contain enough ideas to flesh out even that brief space. Minor irritations in the early going double down and become glaring flaws, even as repetition and a lack of fresh ideas settle over the entire thing like a homicidal pillow. I played (and reviewed) Sonic Forces over the weekend, and I found the game to be… well, let's say "checkered." It turned out to be one of those games that starts reasonably well, but becomes slowly and steadily unhinged the longer you play. Mission control for retronauts former EIC of 1UP.com and taking dapper (and frogs) back from the Nazis.
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