When this game got announced I was really excited like everyone else, but then as I started seeing gameplay and actually played it, it just didn’t feel right. As being a huge longtime fan of the whole Sonic franchise, I wouldn’t say this is the worst sonic game ever because, well, we all know what that is, but I definitely wouldn’t say it’s the best game either in the series.
What I liked: The story was okay, just not the best. Some of the levels in the game like The Death Egg (Exterior), Luminous Forest, Sunset Heights, Chemical Plant (In certain areas), had REALLY good visuals and could’ve been so much better than how it turned out. My personal favorite out of all of the levels was Metropolis, the levels in that area were SO AMAZING, I couldn’t say anything else about it, the visuals were pretty much what I liked most about the game. The character creator was a neat addition, it could’ve been a lot better, but it was okay for what it was.
What I Didn’t like: As usual nowadays for the meta era of sonic games, the corny sonic jokes are just terrible, but everything else for this game specifically, the gameplay for all 4 playable characters (including shadow) were not right at all, the levels are too short, the majority of the music doesn’t feel memorable, and so on. I don’t know if it’s just me, but the theme and setting of the entire game feels a little too try hard on getting a dark and serious feel to it, I mean 06 and Unleashed both had it, Sonic 06 still sucked, but Unleashed did it really well. But worst of all, NO IDLE ANIMATIONS!!! The model looked cool, but taking out Idle animations alone, already ruins sonics personality, just by looking at him after leaving him standing still for a while, he feels lifeless.
That’s all I’d say about this game, everything else was ok, I’d give it a 2 out of 5, 5 out of 10, and 50%, it’s not the worst sonic game, but definitely not the best.
I’m writing all this before Sonic Frontiers releases, and I’m hoping that Sega does NOT screw that up, despite having some of the same people that worked on Forces (at least what I know of), but I think Frontiers looks more promising. I still remain skeptical about it but I’m trusting Sega on the game. Please Sega, just give us something that actually feels right after waiting for one since Generations, and please, give Sonic Idle Animations, the model doesn’t matter, but don’t make him lifeless.