I found your 06 Finale. *screams of embarrassing cringe and inner pain, trying to escape*
It's been 3 months since Sonic Forces came out, we've all heard of its reputation and
it's lukewarm reception. It's taken me this long to come out and say something because
of holidays, school, and other videos and plans for the channel, including my 100% playthrough
of Forces. I've covered every little aspect, detail, challenge and collectible the game
has to offer. Twice. I primarily used the PS4 version but outside my channel, I also
purchased the Switch version and that second playthrough was significantly easier than
the first, but if you somehow don't have the game yet and plan to get it, I do recommend
the PlayStation or Xbox versions for that smoother framerate. It does make a difference,
however proceed with caution. Unless you were following my most recent Let's Plays or
"My Feedback to Sega & Sonic Team on Sonic Forces & Sonic's Future" video, you have
a general idea of what I think of the game. I was one of the lighter hearted, optimistic
Youtubers when it came to Forces' reveals and trailers. But looking back, there's
several hints of naivety overshadowing the optimism in there that I cannot pretend to
ignore, which can make those videos either funny, depressing, or hard to watch. I'm
not deleting them because lots of you guys came to this channel because of them and I
wouldn't be where I am now without you. I don't think those bad videos either, but
man it makes me feel stupid seeing how much credit I was giving the game even when the
signs, especially in gameplay, displayed otherwise. That's also why I question my credibility
now as a 'Sonictuber' to a degree. Just because I 100%-ed Sonic Forces twice though
doesn't equal me loving the game. So, what do I think of Sonic Forces overall then? It
was ok. Let's not kid ourselves, when Sonic Forces disappoints, it really disappoints,
but that's not the say the whole experience was loathsome. But Sonic Forces is a game
you really have to play for yourself to truly understand. The physics especially and how
the levels are designed and described are more compliant if you've played the game,
but hopefully you'll understand enough of what I'll explain in this review and spoiler
warning as well. But if you're still watching after that spoiler warning, let's dive right
into the gameplay first. The gameplay comprises of 4 different styles;
Modern Sonic, Custom Hero, Classic Sonic, and Tag Team. The obvious interest is Modern
Sonic and his boost gameplay is the highlight of Sonic Forces, but it's not as complimented
nor engaging as Colors, let alone Sonic Unleashed and Generations. And the lack of engagement
is a prevalent problem in Sonic Forces. A lot of levels are heavily automated, with
an overwhelming amount of boost panels, hidden springs, QTEs and mid-gameplay cutscenes across
almost all gameplay styles. Luminous Forest is one of my least favorite levels because
of how unnecessarily automated it is. Some levels are open and provide a separate path,
but are always very limited, narrow, and/or super short centering back to the main path
often in less than 5 seconds. The lack of time is also how I'd describe the levels
overall and the game's total length. Sonic Forces can be beat in 3 hours and you're
looking at a total of 30 main levels, 11 extra / secret stages for curious players, most
of which can be beaten in a minute and a half, or less on the first go. I swear the length
of these levels is stupefying and you can tell some of them were supposed to be combined
into one, like Sunset Heights, Red Gate Bridge and Park Avenue were most likely split to
pad out the game's length, especially since their layout is almost identical and could
easily be connected. The level design unfortunately doesn't live up to much of anything either
across all styles. Most of the time, it'll be flat 2D sections and super linear 3D sections.
Especially later on, you know they could've done much more with the level design but in
my opinion, they're not even as unique or fun as Colors' levels. There'll even be
these mid-level quick time events that act as an in-game cutscenes, which look cool sometimes,
but really break the pacing of the level and are unnecessary. Half of them don't even
require you to hit the button to complete it, top this with the heavy automation and
you have many people, myself included, calling the game a visual novel. Modern Sonic himself
too feels slightly awkward. Even though they brought back his double jump from Colors and
buffed his air boost, they also got rid of his wall jump and drift, which I think is
because of the custom hero's control scheme, but I find it dumb because the way Sonic accelerates
and moves around is so stilted and contrived, you'll always be running on a grind, with
or without boosting. Some levels also have certain turns or sections you cannot boost
on or you'll fly off. Metropolitan Highway for example has a couple curves I feel the
drift would be necessary for as well as Luminous Forest if you took out all the boost panels,
but steering and moving Sonic, midair but especially on ground, feels so feigned and
the stiffest he's ever been. I know I said the gameplay was close to Generations during
the demo, but a level as linear as Lost Valley was did not make for a proper conclusion like
that to be made. Not just his movement, also the buttons will sometimes be unresponsive,
mainly for quickstepping as well. I swear half the time I quickstep near the end stage,
sometimes Sonic doesn't even move left or right the way I want him to and just end up
mashing the shoulder buttons and hope for the best. Not a big issue, but a concern nonetheless.
Overall, Modern Sonic was again, the main sticking point of the game, but is underhanded
and set in very linear, very short levels that altogether feel like a step down from
how he controlled, played and how his levels were designed in Generations.
The Avatar is another similar case. The Custom Hero feels the most awkward of the bunch,
this is where I stand by playing the game yourself to fully grasp the issues at play.
The type of species you choose only has small perks like additional rings after dying, gaining
Sonic's double jump or attracting rings depending on the animal, but the gameplay
is like Modern Sonic without the boost, which equals this weird mess of movement. Your character
will quickly gain a lot of speed after walking slowly and can feel awkward, again and he/she
will have this funky inertia after jumping where you would normally make a gap but would
not? It's hard to explain. The Custom Hero feels floaty, yet like a brick at the same
time… Imagine plummeting as soon as you let go of the jump button. That's the best
way I could put it, but nothing about the custom hero's movement feels innate nor
smooth. There's no rhythm. It was just ok using him/her. They also have Wispons, these
gun weapons based off the Wisps, being Burst, Lightning, Drill, Hover, Asteroid, Cube and
Void, which are not only hit or miss and add nothing to the game, but are so basic in terms
of attack and usage. Some of them allow you to skip and fly over entire levels as if you
were playing with Tails. They even give you one of the most broken Wisps at the start,
the Burst which you can just fly over a whole level when given the Wisp, same for the Lightning
and Hover Wispons and even the Drill Wispon is absolutely ridiculous and goes against
the level design. Some require to be mashed, others can be continuous from a single press
and can either stop your momentum to a halt or continue it. Even the Homing Attack, the
Custom Hero is a slower, boostless, much more awkward Sonic. The Tag Team gameplay is combining
both Modern Sonic and the Avatar's gameplay in one and take up a small portion of the
game, you know what to expect. They also throw in a Double Boost, which is this boost that
doesn't require mashing the left button almost every time and only adds more unengaging
automation to the game. And honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if the Custom Hero was Boom Sonic
at one point. This game was supposed to be a Generations 2, despite seeing more connections
with the Adventure era, but maybe because of how Sonic Boom did overall, they scrapped
it. Either way, I wouldn't be shocked. And lastly, Classic Sonic. This was the first
question mark the game set for lots of fans and implied Forces as a sequel to Generations,
which wasn't the case. I've stated before I personally don't mind as long as Classic
controlled like he did in Generations and had neatly designed levels that were fun and
interesting to play… Neither case was prominent. I was aware of just how much Takashi Iizuka,
head of Sonic Team, was the one pushing for Classic Sonic and his levels, aesthetics and
themes, but not by this freakin' much this past decade. I knew Classic Sonic would disrupt
Sonic's overall brand identity and would ultimately hinder Sonic's future direction,
but it baffles me how much this man as a love boner for Classic Sonic despite the criticisms
implementing such elements in Modern Sonic games. People dislike how Sonic 4 fails to
replicate the Genesis/Mega Drive games, Sonic Lost World's levels, aesthetics and enemies
are criticized for being lazy and ripped out of Sonic 1 and 2, Sonic Mania, despite it
being as successful and well-executed as it is, is still criticized for relying a lot
on nostalgia and going heavy on older zones. If Generations already established the fact
that Classic Sonic is a younger version of Sonic, why is SEGA & Sonic Team turning him
into a separate character? People didn't play Generations just for Classic Sonic. People
don't play Sonic CD for the same reason they play Sonic Heroes. There's a reason
their gameplay styles have differed as years past. There's a reason they're called
'Classic' Sonic and 'Modern' Sonic. You already established a f*cking identity
for both of them and their games. Unless the title says Generations 2, stop acting like
they belong in the same game. It's a simple vocabulary word, guys. It's not a multivariable
calculus equation. It's f*cking 2D gameplay to 3D gameplay, the former being entirely
based off the old games and the latter trying to be new, modernized and ambitious. "Well,
damn that was a little harsh, don't you think?" No, because not only has this been
a common criticism for the past decade now, Classic Sonic controls like utter crap. Compared
to Generations, forget about Mania, even Classic Sonic feels stiff and unrewarding. The jumping
inertia problem from the avatar is evident here except heavier, his speed is entirely
fixed and actually slower unless you're spin or drop dashing, and I'd bet my life
on his Drop Dash being programmed wrong. I swear to you, whenever I Spin Dash over a
ledge, my momentum carries over and I fall as I regularly do in any Sonic game with the
Spin Dash. But when I Drop Dash over a ledge, I immediately drop like a rock almost every
time. Classic Sonic has no place in Sonic Forces and the developers know this. He has
6 levels, he ironically has the most diverging paths, his gameplay does not feel satisfactory,
his level design feels the most uninspired and lazy, his levels and inclusion take away
from everything else in the game and ruin the pacing and structure, and I guarantee
you this game would've been better received if they scrapped Classic Sonic altogether.
Even in the game's story, which I'll touch on in a minute, Classic Sonic sticks out like
a sore thumb. He genuinely serves no purpose being here story-wise and gameplay-wise. Between
narrative, gameplay, physics, and even music, Classic Sonic is the worst thing about Sonic
Forces. So, a hefty portion of gameplay doesn't
sit right with me and the levels themselves leave a lot to be desired. With all of what's
said thus far… "Did you actually have fun with Forces? No! …yes." Like I said,
Forces has some moments in the sun. I like the Egg Gate Stage, it's short, but it has
mechanics, design and ideas there that make it one of the better stages, even if the mechanics
were very short lived, plus it's a beautiful looking stage. Mortar Canyon also is another
stage I like, even if the space isn't suited for Sonic's controls and Null Space for
as stupidly disappointing as the concept it, has pretty decent level design as you go through
the city. The boss fights are a mixed bag too. The Zavok boss fight was my favorite
and I feel is better than his fight than in Lost World. Any chance I get to see Sonic
beat the crap out of Zavok, automated cutscene or not, I'll take. The Metal Sonic boss
fight was ok, it's what you'd expect from a fight with Metal. Unfortunately, the Infinite
boss fights are simple and mediocre. The first and second bouts require minimal effort and
his final fight is the Metal Sonic boss fight reskinned. The Egg Dragoon boss fight was
also a letdown and easy. Same for the final boss being the 2nd Colors reskin we've had,
but I oddly liked this one more than the one in Lost World. I think it was more engaging
than the automated mach speed section, in addition to the triple boost at the end, which
was flashy I'll admit. The customization options for the Custom Hero is one of the
best things about Sonic Forces for how incredibly detailed and layered it shockingly is. I didn't
expect this many different outfits and options for you to create your custom character. The
writing and story has some laughable moments where Knuckles and a few others take themselves
so seriously it's hard to try and do the same. But I wasn't loathing or dreading
it like in Lost World. I was interested to see what would happen next. By no means am
I calling it perfect, but this is the best Sonic story we've gotten since Sonic Unleashed.
Most of the characters do feel engaged and it was a nice change of pace seeing them tackle
a serious endeavor in a long time. Seeing Shadow, the cool anti-villain come in and
help our friends win the war, seeing Knuckles take charge and lead the resistance was a
reasonable and even respectable choice for Knuckle's character. Amy, Silver, the Chaotix,
Rouge, even Sonic to a larger degree, all feel very within character and are a decent
time to engulf in. The voice acting is even good, literally every voice felt mostly consistent
and not annoying nor unfitting to hear, given proper lines depending on the script. The
only thing I wished watching them was the option to play as them. Infinite, unfortunately
has a terrible backstory, comparable to Broly from Dragon Ball Z, and is underhanded especially
towards the end. It sucks because he was one of the most interesting things about the game.
But he just leaves. There are 2 things that have left me more pissed than anything when
it came to Sonic Forces. Primarily, it's false advertising. The fake Shadow, useless
and served nothing to the story, but the worst offender of this was Chaos. I feel so bad
for the Adventure fans because the 25th Anniversary party kept hyping up Adventure based themes
and bringing Chaos back to not use him at any capacity was such a spit in the face for
many Adventure fans. Chaos, much like Classic Sonic, has no place in the game whatsoever.
What's more is the development team is not the same one as the guys behind Colors and
Generations. The level designers consisted of 2 newbies, both of which had no prior knowledge
on Sonic's past games, and Lost World's level designer, whom was already given criticism
for his design on Lost World's levels which were one of the biggest flaws of that game.
It may be hard having to switch multiple programmers and developers, but at least have someone
with the requirement of having prior knowledge on Sonic's games and philosophies. If Generations'
level designer hadn't moved to the Olympic Games, then it would've served more validity
in that advertising. I do admire the character and personality displayed for the most part
in Sonic Forces, but my second biggest gripe is Tails. What the absolute f*ck happened
to him? I really cannot see how anyone can defend Tails the way he acts now, as if Adventure
fans already didn't get enough crap. This just completely defecates all over Tails'
character and his fans. Why does do nothing now? Why is he afraid of Chaos 0, when he
took down Chaos 4 when he absorbed 4 Chaos Emeralds, when he took down one of Eggman's
strongest mechs in Adventure and saved Station Square all on his own? Why does he constantly
feel the need to rely on Sonic when in both Adventure games, his character improved and
was set to him moving past that reliant nature, becoming an independent fighter and when he
'avenged' Sonic's presumed death in Sonic Adventure 2? He didn't have time to
cower and fear, he sucked it up and knew he had to take down Dr. Eggman because of higher
stakes. First, Colors gave him displays of slight immaturity, but Lost World made him
a total bitch and now he's a complete p*ussy. Like, what the hell is continuity anymore
with Sonic and its characters? And these are only a few examples. It is painful to see
this happen to Tails, it makes zero sense. But, my absolute favorite thing about Sonic
Forces, is Episode Shadow. Episode Shadow is this free DLC prequel story explaining
Infinite's origin and the levels here are reskins of main in game levels, but slightly
harder. Also, I know what I said about Infinite and the levels themselves aren't good either,
but the fact that you can play as Shadow the Hedgehog after 11 years feels so refreshing.
I also like they tried giving him some difference from Sonic, being the Light Speed Attack on
top of his Homing Attack, destroying a line of multiple enemies in one shot. This might
be me too, but it felt like Shadow controlled better than Sonic did. That's something
I can't explain, like moving left or right felt slightly more natural? I'm not sure.
Let me know if I'm not the only one. I can also eat up Team Dark at any time, seeing
Shadow lowkey diss Rouge and all 3 of them talk to one another is always a treat. And
can I also admire how they portrayed Shadow in this game and how well Kirk Thornton finally
did as Shadow for once? Shadow's current VA finally found a nice combo of David's
calm and collectiveness and Jason's natural edginess to make this very solid Shadow voice
that doesn't sound like Shadow's has a smoking problem. His remixes too sound so
damn good. Rhythm and Balance and Supporting Me are great songs, but Shadow's level songs
all actually fit within the context of the game. The soundtrack overall for Sonic Forces
is good, but goes for this very odd EDM, techno, dubstep-y direction, which all around has
good composition, but average execution. The custom hero's songs are by far the best
songs, but Classic Sonic's songs are the worst, mainly for being very unfitting. Other
than Infinite's Theme, Fist Bump, Shadow's remixes, and some Custom Hero tracks, none
of Sonic Forces songs strike out as memorable nor fitting especially compared to previous
soundtracks, which is a shame. Overall, I think Sonic Forces is a step in
the right direction for the Sonic series. Rather than take the experimental route, they
stuck with an established style. If this game was just Sonic and the Custom Hero, I can
guarantee you people would be happier with Forces, at the very least you'd see more
7s in review scores. The game does inhibit the bare minimum of what you'd expect from
a boost Sonic game and can be enjoyable. But the game is bogged down by Classic Sonic,
his influence, very poor level design, awkward physics, and squandered potential across the
game and its story. Sonic Forces sits at an ok 6.5/10 for me, serving as a decent Sonic
game for newcomers to the series and younger kids, but completely misses several marks
for more dedicated fans and leaves a lot to be desired across the board, lacking focus,
identity, and the intuitiveness previous boost games had. I don't regret purchasing it,
but I don't feel satisfied with what the game leaves me with. If you're a Sonic fan,
I would only recommend this if you're a boost fan. Just don't expect much. If you're
new to Sonic, then I say pick it up, especially since it's cheap. But if you're longtime
fan, I would recommend saving it in hopes of a better Sonic game down the line. Thanks
for watching and stayed tuned for more Sonic content very soon and other gaming related
content as well as Nintendo. I have another discussion coming super soon on Sonic's
current state and his future and I'll try and use this past year as a learning experience
and learn from some of my naïve statements. Stay super.
For more infomation >> Unboxing + Review: Sapatilha Absolute Nero #33 - Duration: 9:45. 
For more infomation >> KHOU - 2017 Year in Review Spots, 12/2017 - Duration: 2:00. 
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