Painfully mediocre, had so much potential and fumbled the bag so bad. Sonic Forces is literally the games we had before (and are beloved to this day) but inferior in every single way, from the story, graphics, set pieces, aesthetic, animation, literally everything is inferior from what we got before. The only saving grace this game has for me is the avatar which seemed like a cool concept, and hope it comes back, but this game was just painfully mid, and to add salt to the wound, all the promotional shit for this game made it seem like this game was gonna be the bomb, with the teasing of devs from colors and gens coming back despite this being inferior gens (cuz its built off of lost world), chaos and shadow returning as villains only for them to be relegated to cutscenes while Zavok and Metal are the only ones with actual input in their roles as boss battles, this fabled "serious story" where the writers botched it up and screwed the character's personalities even more (especially evident with tails), Classic Sonic's inclusion serving 0 purpose but to cash in on Mania's success, the lost potential of a war setting in the sonic universe, couldn't care less to touch upon the post game bonus stages considering they all look like mario maker levels, In summary it is quite the shitshow, but hey at least it plays I suppose. Sonic Forces has so much potential but completely fails and instead were met with what we got before but watered down, just play Sonic Generations instead lol.

probably one of if not the most below average Sonic Game I've ever played, while not the worst thing I've played it is so meandering bland and unimpressive that it makes staring at a drying wall look fun by comparison, the physics are awful, and Sonic just feels very stiff to move, especially Classic Sonic, but for what it's worth the Avatar Stages are alright and the Soundtrack is genuinely great which saves it from being a one in a half star rating, anything I could recommend from this is the Soundtrack and nothing more,

Sonic forces is the most bland and boring sonic game ever. The level design consists of holding down the boost button and running in a straight line for 3 minutes.

The story while good in concept is executed very poorly. The game is very inconsistent as well, they say sonic was tortured for months but when we see him next he's still joking around.

On top of this in the main game Infinite is heavily implied to be a robot, but in the shadow dlc we find out he was a normal dude who turned evil after shadow insulted him. Speaking of infinite, he has one of the coolest designs out of all the sonic villians in my opinion, which sucks because he is so bland otherwise.

Another thing that's bland in this game is the writing, it is soooooo bad. I cringed at multiple points and overall it just left a bad taste in my mouth. The same can be said for classic sonic, the only reason he is in the game is for the filler levels and overall he just ruins the prestine nature of him in generations a little bit for me.

Also there is another continuity error with classic sonic, in this game he is referred to by tails as 'the sonic from another dimension' when this simply isn't true because it is made very clear that in generations he is simply a version of sonic from the past.

In conclusion, sonic forces is a bland boring mess of a game which makes me wish I could have the last 4 hours of my life back.

I'm not sure what exactly to say about this game that hasn't already been said.

Modern Sonic Levels are a huge step down from Unleashed Day Stages and Generations Modern Stages, with a crap ton of automation more than nearly any Sonic Game before, levels that are incredibly short, along with a majority of levels feeling really underdeveloped.

Classic Sonic is hot garbage. Very Below Average Level Design, Poor Physics and Controls that fail to live up to the standard of the Classics, with said controls feel like he weighs a ton.

Avatar controls poorly as well as all the other play styles really, levels that feel really eh to play, and the Wispons are pretty hit or miss, some like the Burst are fine and can keep you going at a consistent pace, others like the Cube kill the pacing tremendously, and overall it's just not a fun game.

This game's just incredibly shallow with little to no impact whatsoever, I did have fun with it a few times, however rare and little those moments were. However, it wasn't enough to save the game as a whole. I don't recommend this game.

Esse jogo é a definição de medíocre, tudo é sem inspiração e sem graça, a história é um saco, sendo contada por balões de falas, sem nenhum tipo de cutscene e com poucos momentos minimamente legais.
O sonic clássico é pura farm de dinheiro aqui, fez sucesso no Generations e sem nenhuma razão ou explicação lógica, ele volta pra cá; E diferente do Generations, ele não tem nenhuma importância aqui, as fases são ruins, as músicas são ruins, TUDO nele é ruim.
O avatar até que foi uma boa ideia, mas é extremamente repetitivo e cansativo, foi uma ideia muito crua colocada em prática que deixou a desejar.
A física é horrível, parece um fã game, não tem nenhum tipo de colisão com o mundo ou física na movimentação.
É importante lembrar que esse jogo é ridiculamente automático, sério, tem níveis que são necessários UM botão, no máximo apertando algum outro em momentos extremamente específicos.
Os inimigos são zero criativos e zero variados, além de que praticamente não te atacam, e não são desafios nenhum, e geralmente só se toma dano deles quando estão posicionados de forma injusta pelo mapa, e o sonic acaba batendo direto e recebendo dano por encostar neles.
Eu até gostei do infinite e de alguns gráficos em fases, mas os dois tem problemas; O vilão não tem tempo de tela suficiente, e no final acaba na mesma coisa de sempre com o robotinic; E os gráficos são bons apenas em alguns momentos, já que os níveis são bem cansativos.
Esse game ainda tem mais diversos problemas e até algumas pequenas qualidades, mas em geral é isso, se tirar todos seus erros e problemas, tudo nele é MÉDIO, nem bom, nem ruim.

Sonic Forces does not try. Yes, the character customization is neat, and the reuniting of characters from across the series is a fun idea, but Sonic Forces feels tedious to play through. The gameplay for Sonic and your custom avatar are playable, but the stages are so short and the controls feel like "press a button to win" at many times throughout. Classic Sonic has the stiffest and least pleasant control scheme, and it feels like these levels happen a lot more often than the other two. The stages (and the whole game) are too short to be memorable, and while there are some gimmicks towards the latter stages of the game, many of them frustrate than add any type of excitement to the gameplay. Sonic Forces is unapologetically half-assed, ranging from boring to unplayable throughout its run-time.

Honestly, Sega can just put this franchise out of it's misery with this wet fart of a video game to focus on milking Yakuza and it's probably for the better. I'm perfectly okay with just playing Sonic Mania for the rest of my life. Why do we keep on parading Sonic Team for these games? A developer who has shown entry after entry to have failed to learn their past mistakes? They have only become more uninspired with each title. Each and every Sonic fan who buys these titles are at this point being robbed of their hard earned money.

Inevitably though, Sega is probably going to contract Sonic Team to do a Sonic Adventure remake due to the high demand for it and Sonic Team will probably advertise the thing as a "return to the series roots." Like a former 80 year old college basketball star going to his neighborhood court to shoot hoops again to relive his past glory, when in reality he's just going to hurt himself doing so and the kids on the playground will probably point and laugh at him. That's Sonic Team for you. A worn out developer that's mocked for their outdated game design methods, and I will definitely be there when that remake comes out and turns out, unshockingly, to be a disaster.

you will have a more positive experience committing a crime and getting arrested

Sega is no stranger towards showing their appreciation to the Sonic fans out there. Just look at titles like Generations and Mania. Both games remade/remixed levels from all across the series' long history, serving as history lessons and nostalgia trips. Forces continues the trend of loving on the community, but does so in a much different way. It may use Generations' main hook of having two Sonics from different time periods, but the levels are all original. The real treat here is that one can create their own original character to fight alongside the blue blur and his pals. For the first time ever one can truly be part of the Sonic universe.

The character creation system is a wonderful new addition and hopefully a staple going forward. You can choose which animal you want to be, each of which has their own special abilities, and there are a wealth of cosmetic options made available to you through beating stages and completing optional side-objectives. You can even pick your own weapon powers. You get to play as your custom avatar at regular points throughout the game as a key player in the story. The other levels are broken up by sections where you play as either modern or classic Sonic.

Graphically, the game is stunning. It's vibrant, bright, and oh so colorful. Really a treat for the eyes. The voice acting is good, but some of the actors feel like an odd pairing with their characters as their voice work is much too serious for the appearance we see onscreen. The plot itself is fine and introduces us to a new villain, but much like the infamous Sonic '06 it's incredibly awkward and even a little uncomfortable when it tries to be serious. It's hard as heck to not be thrown off when a talking, bright, red echidna starts to talk about someone getting tortured. Especially when a chili dog joke follows just minutes after. It's just off-putting to see some genuinely dark stuff happening.

The 3D entries in the franchise have always had a rough go of things. However, their reputation has been turning around ever since the release of Colors. That trend continues here. This is some of Sonic's finest 3D gameplay yet and the best controls I've experienced in the series thus far. There are still those bullcrap moments that have been a plague since '06, such as careening offscreen to your death for seemingly no reason and a ridiculously cheap final boss battle, but those are much more rare than in previous releases. The level design is pretty great with branching paths and those hidden red rings. Whatever style of gameplay one could want from a Sonic game, it's in forces. 2D levels, 3D levels, platforming, and my oh my is there speed. It's got just about the perfect balance of all three. There's also a healthy amount of content and quite a bit of replay value.

Simply put, Forces is a real treat and one heck of a platformer. It shows Sonic Teams' desire to move away from the mistakes of their past. They also once again say thanks to the fanbase by allowing them to create those original characters they dreamed up in their heads and bring them to life onscreen. After all, what super-fan hasn't wanted to pal around with the lightning fast hedgehog? This continues the series' uphill climb and may even win over some new supporters. It could even pull back in former ones. Whatever the case, I can say that I was largely pleased with it.

8/10

This game is so fun.
I don't know if it's just because of my own sensibilities or low expectations after years of the internet dogpiling on this game, but outside of some control issues this was genuinely a good time.

I love the general gameplay loop that the mission system provides and how fun it is to replay Avatar levels both with your own character and other people's all with their unique loadouts.
The avatar itself is also super fun to customize and make it your own through the surprisingly large amount of options you can unlock.
In some ways I kind of wish the network functionalities were a little more involved - it'd be cool if the game let you know when other players have used your Avatar during missions, and an option to "like" someone's character if their design sticks out to you could have also been included. This was before Death Stranding too so they could have been pioneers in this regard but oh well.

I've seen people over the years say the levels are too short or easy but as someone who tends to go after collectibles I didn't really feel this in my own playthrough, and the game has a plethora of them to keep you coming back alongside the aforementioned extra missions.
Really the worst thing I can say about this game is that some of the physics in the 2D sections are pretty broken, but otherwise it's pretty alright. Also the music was kinda bogus in some of the levels but it ended up growing on me through replays.
Aside from that I'd say it was all good, even the story was charming!

A very unfortunately mediocre game. I came into it wishing I'd be able to come out saying 'oh this game doesn't deserve the hate it gets' but... no it really does. Essentially a bad 2 hour movie with some of the worst gameplay the Sonic franchise has ever seen spliced in between. Some of the soundtrack here is pretty good, the visuals looks rather pretty when the stages aren't sticking to the palette of orange and brown, and the avatar creator is neat. That's about as much praise as I can give this game. I'd only advise picking it up if you're a hardcore Sonic fan (or want to play with mods!)

I used to consider Sonic Generations 3DS as my least favorite Sonic game. It was automated, boring, and overall not really that fulfilling as a game. I must apologise to Generations 3DS, because this is genuinely one of the most BORING experiences I’ve ever had with a video game. Just nothing about Forces (at least compared to Generations, Colors, and Unleashed) is good. The level design isn’t fun in the slightest, the controls feel both loose AND stiff at the same time, and overall this game just feels misguided. There were lots of good ideas here, but they unfortunately went to waste in this shallow, bland, and budget game.

Acho longe de ser tão ruim quanto colocam. Eu entendo que pra quem acompanhou o lançamento do jogo passou por uma decepção enorme, mas comigo não tendo esse fator, eu só acho um jogo tanto faz, nada no jogo tem alma ou personalidade e carisma, e todas as fases parecem iguais, eu só não sinto nada jogando, é entediante.
Na verdade eu até preferiria que o jogo fosse realmente ruim e tivesse personalidade, eu prefiro sentir ódio do que sentir indiferença com arte, e as vezes você se diverte com coisas que são ruins mas tem personalidade, como Sonic 2006 ou Shadow the hedgehod, são jogos muito piores que esse, terríveis de se controlar, mas eles tem um carisma que te diverte e te prende de alguma forma, você sente alguma coisa, mesmo que raiva.
Pra não falar que eu não senti nada, eu passei raiva nas últimas fases, que são insuportaveis, e as fases 2D são significativamente piores que as 3D com a física estranha, até me diverti com as fases 3D, mas as 2D me impdendem de subir um pouco mais o jogo no meu conceito.

Why do we love Sonic so much? This question has been asked many times to many people over the last 30 years, and every year it becomes increasingly harder to answer. Do I love Sonic? Hell yeah. Why? Um, the colors? The whimsical characters? The TV shows? Maybe. It sure as hell isn’t because of the games, though.

I will preface this with a disclaimer that although I do love sonic games, and have played most of them, I can’t point at any specific game as honestly being excellent. Just so you know where I stand, Sonic Adventure 2 Battle on Gamecube was a HUGE part of my childhood. My brother and I played hundreds of hours of that game, between the fun extra challenges that were available for EVERY STAGE (collect 100 rings, find the chao, time attack, and hard mode), the Chao Garden and its mini games, and of course the ridiculous 2 player mode (Chaos Spear! Ouch!). And the music was straight bangers, from Live and Learn all the way to the Chao Garden Lobby. But for how much I love the game, it’s not particularly good. It’s clunky, glitchy, the voice acting is hilarious and horribly dubbed (I found you! Faker!) and the “shooting” stages, roughly 1/3 of the game, feel like garbage to play. But I love it. I didn’t purchase Sonic Forces with the expectation that it’d be great. I hoped that it would be campy and funny and playable enough that I would remember why I loved Sonic so much. Spoiler alert: It wasn’t.

Remember Shadow the Hedgehog, the edgier version of Sonic? Well say hello to Shadow 2, the sequel. The story begins with Sonic facing off against a new, even edgier hedgehog named Infinite. Please listen to his theme while reading this or you won’t truly understand what you’re getting into.

Sonic is taken by Dr. Eggman, and Tails suffers PTSD. We skip to 6 months later, and Eggman has taken over the entire world with the help of Infinite. This is where perhaps the only truly great part of the game comes in — the character builder.

This is something that I did not ask for, but now can’t believe I ever lived without. I created my own guy, Cowbop, an anthropomorphic something or other. The point is, he’s very fancy. I wanted a Texas oil tycoon vibe around him and I think I got it in one. Anyway, there’s a character builder with an insane amount of outfits, hats, shoes, and other gear to unlock as you play the game. The Gamer Hat sticks out as maybe the most memorable of the bunch. Your avatar will join the cast of Sonic Forces and you’ll get to high-five Knuckles, just like you always dreamed. I had a ton of fun changing up the styles and customizing by avatar throughout the game, and I think that’s the last good thing I have to say about Sonic Forces.

So why is this game so bad? I can sum it up in one sentence. It feels awful to play. The game is split between modern Sonic stages (3D similar to Colors and Generations), Classic Sonic (2D as presented in generations), and Avatar stages (3D stages like modern Sonic). The Avatar and Classic Sonic both feel like garbage to play. I can’t say much about the classic Sonic stages except that they’re uninspired, hard to navigate, require a lot more slow careful movement than actual speed, and are quite boring. The Avatar stages themselves are mostly sound, and playing with Modern Sonic doesn’t feel as bad, just kind of boring. The Avatar character does not have a homing attack, which Sonic veterans know is literally his entire thing in the 3D games. Instead he’s got a grappling hook that works sometimes, and much more slowly than a homing attack. This was intended to make the character more versatile, since you can install weapon modules that give you different abilities later on, but I’ll get to why that ruined the entire game further down.The whole thing is clunky, and nothing about the avatar’s movement is fluid or smooth… which is like the one thing you need in a Sonic game. Again, modern Sonic’s stages are passable, but mostly don’t require you to do anything. There are sections of the game where you can literally not touch the controller for 2 minutes and continue progressing through a stage.

Sonic games are often praised for their music, even when the rest of the game is actual garbage. Unfortunately, this didn’t happen with Sonic Forces. The typical thing we’ve come to love and expect from Sonic soundtracks is that upbeat rock sound with atmospheric hard vocals. The soundtrack of this game is almost entirely EDM. Now I like EDM normally, but it’s not Sonic music. There’s a lot of generic singing and beats and sounds and all the tracks blend together. Not to mention the main theme, First Bump, is not super good. It’s not bad, but it’s probably the least exciting and catchy of the main game themes. The Infinite song is its own beast.

Speaking of Infinite, fighting him felt very… dumb. It was repetitive and there were no consequences for screwing up. It took a long time to do the mini boss fights against him, and really didn’t make me feel like I had accomplished anything. The final boss fight was challenging and forced me to try 4 different weapons before finding one that actually allowed me to win. It took probably half an hour to do, but on the run where I won the final boss took maybe 5 minutes. I was… unimpressed. Winning required me picking the right weapon, not learning how the boss worked and outsmarting it. That’s just me, though, it’s conceivable that other people enjoyed the boss fights. Big snake, anyone?

The environments were largely, to use the word again, uninspired. All of it was totally forgettable with the sole exception of the Casino Forest, which I would love to have seen more of. Sonic veterans will know there’s always a casino stage and they’re normally pretty samey, but putting it in a forest really mixed it up and I actually paused the game to admire the scenery a few times. Hoping it comes back in the next installment, which I will for some reason still buy.

My last main thing to talk about is a specific incident I ran into that ruined the whole idea of the game (luckily it was the penultimate stage.) I will first preface with the fact that nowhere in the game are you told that certain stages can only be completed with certain weapons. I had been switching weapons almost every stage with my avatar and hadn’t run into any problems I couldn’t get around, even if it would have been easier with, say the fire gun instead of the lightning cannon. This stage has a section in it at the very end that is only doable with the drill weapon. That’s right, after spending almost half an hour trying to get past one specific part of the stage and getting stumped over and over, I finally had to look it up. In all the playthrough videos I watched, everyone said “just attach the drill.” Cool. There are 8 different weapons in this game. You can’t switch weapons mid-stage. So I had to go back and restart the stage with the drill weapon, and I blasted through that section. Cool. So it was literally impossible to beat this stage with all but one weapon, and I wasn’t told anywhere that this would be the case, nor that this kind of thing could even happen in the game. After all the time I lost on this section in vain, I was more than a little salty about the experience. But about half an hour later, the game was over. A smooth transition to my next point.

This game is 4.5 hours long, if you spend some time character creating and do a few extra missions along the way. There is some replayability built into the game but it feels so damn bad to play it you won’t want to do that. The Shadow DLC, which is also not fun and fully of RNG bullshit traps that randomly toss you off the stage, takes about 15 minutes. Thank god it’s free DLC. I paid $40 for this game, but that’s my own fault.

Sonic Forces is not a good game. It feels clunky, the levels and music are generic and uninspired, it’s full of annoying pandering, and your player character you spent 45 minutes making handles like a Razr Scooter in a swamp. Infinite is a boring villain with boring boss fights. The customizability of your avatar’s gear is fun and overloaded with outfit combinations, but the fact that certain weapons don’t allow you to complete certain stages with literally no warning from the game is inexcusable.

If you’re itching for some Sonic Forces, I highly recommend the Game Grumps playthrough of it. It’s hilarious and they don’t shit on it nearly as much as I did here. It’s one of their funnier things and they finish it completely.