Sonic
Forces is a mixed-bag of a game that suffers from major problems in plot,
gameplay, dialogue and voice acting, not to mention the pacing of the game
itself. Coming in at just over 3 hours of gameplay, the game doesn’t offer a
great value proposition for players, nor does it offer enough enjoyable Sonic
gameplay to make up for its £34.99 Steam price tag. Amidst news of serious PC
port problems, the fact that the game itself is so mediocre will come as little
comfort to any Sonic fan such that the inclusion of the Avatar character is
merely a band-aid on a gaping wound.
I
want, badly, to love Sonic Forces. There is just enough charm in its
presentation; its graphics being out of this world, along with many amusing
call-backs and references to games gone past, that I wish that the game itself
was a more fulfilling experience. But it’s hard to love a game that is just so
crushingly mediocre, with so many bad-decisions souring every step forward that
the game attempts to make.
The
storyline of Sonic Forces was always going to be a point of contention and
mixed reviews; Sonic the Hedgehog is never known for his involved plots, but
the oft-cringeworthy story on show here is seriously scraping the bottom of the
barrel. The plot details a world where Sonic was defeated, allowing Eggman to
all but take over the world. This seems interesting at first, but there are so
many plot mis-steps that there are just no pay-offs. Any promising threads of
storyline are quickly thrown out, almost as if the writer had a tiny attention
span. The result is that nothing about the characters or the plot make any
emotive effect to the storyline. Sonic’s seeming ‘death’ at the start is dealt
with literally a few seconds later and revealed as a fake-out. The dark
undertones of story involving war and even torture seem laughably out of place
in a game where anthropomorphic characters use terms like ‘fist-bump’, ‘selfie’
and ‘true dat’, and fall terribly flat when such dialogue is delivered.
Sonic
fans, however, would probably appreciate some aspects of the story, with just
enough nods and winks toward the series’ past to get you by. The avatar
character initially comes off as a terrible, cringe-worthy idea that encourages
the worst elements of DeviantArt fandom. In the end, it’s only a little more
than that, but the customisation is impressive enough that I even had a little
fun with my character. Despite itself being an undoubtable mis-step, the avatar’s
inclusion winds up being one of the best parts of the game, though its story is
as hackneyed as lame fan-fiction.
The
implementation of the gameplay itself is where the mixed-bag really starts to
get jumbled up. Like the story, there are so few ideas taken through to their
logical conclusion and little time to let them sink in. The shortness of the
campaign is a problem because the gameplay itself never really gets going; by
the time you experience any interesting challenge, the game is over.
The
avatar and Classic Sonic stages are unfortunately the poorest elements of the
gameplay. Classic Sonic himself winds up being strange to control, at times the
controls are too stiff, but at other times they’re far too loose. The avatar on
the other hand is rather fun to play, but the main problem is in the Wispon
(itself a painfully-forced pun on ‘weapon’ and ‘wisp’). Many stages wind up
requiring a different Wispon loadout than the one you pick, and often a player
will be wishing they could anticipate the game’s design choices; this turns the
avatar from a fun experience into a painful and unfair one. If only there was a ‘recommended Wispon’ graphic popping up on each level to alleviate this
problem. Modern Sonic stages, ironically enough given the series history, wind
up having the fewest problems; but that does not make them sin-free. Far too
often these levels suffer from issues that should have been and have been
mitigated against in previous Sonic games, so their presence here is simply
inexcusable.
A
special mention must go to the voice acting; there is one moment near the end
of the game where it even sounds like the actors themselves have lost the will
to go on. The line delivery at this point sounds like a shameful parody and it
drives home the lacklustre nature of the package.
The
best thing about Sonic Forces is in its presentation; the graphics look
spectacular and some stages have enough of a wow factor to make you think that
you are playing a better game. There is one sequence set in space that
represented some astonishing visuals that can take your breath away. Unlike
Sonic Boom, this game is relatively well-designed and runs smoothly. It is easy
to achieve 60FPS in the gameplay and when in full motion it looks truly
beautiful. It’s a shame that the cutscenes suffer from some clumsy porting
issues, and the news of crashes on the PC version show that the game is far
from perfect in the optimisation department. The production values are clearly
high, but once again it’s a case where not enough care has been taken to ensure
a consistent and thorough package.
Sonic
Forces as a game is, as described, a huge mixed bag that represents a poor
value proposition; though there are some great production efforts at work, at
£34.99 the game itself is so poor in its implementation that there is little to
justify such an asking price. The poor design, and mediocrity throughout the
game means that it is difficult to recommend to anyone. If you are a Sonic fan,
there may be enough here to sate you if you wait for the price to come down to
around a third of what it is now, but if you have no love for the blue bomber,
this entry in the franchise is something I wouldn’t pick up unless I was Forced
to.
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