So.

This fucking game, huh.

I'll admit to being guilty of hating on this game purely on its story alone for being the most dogwater fucking Sonic story to ever exist, but I knew that if I wanted to have a better picture of the overall game, I would have to play it.

Well, I did. I beat the game in less than 3 hours. And it fucking sucks. Here's why:

1) The story, while being an absolute hot mess, could be massively improved with one change: all they had to do was give Tails the Avatar role. Not only does it fix the common modern interpretation of Tails as the 'weak, cowardly and whiny tech guy sidekick' (thank fuck for Sonic 2), but it can also serve as a 'reboot' of sorts to Tails' character. Look at some of Sonic's lines to the avatar in the game:

'Hey, don't be scared! This is your moment to shine!'

'Keep going. Don't let your fear own you!'

These lines could've been a really great chance for Sonic to show genuine care towards his bestie, but more importantly for Tails to regain his old confidence and believe in himself, while also serving as a way to show Sonic and Tails' brotherly bond being strengthened following their near fragmentation in Lost World (which also had a shitty story mind you). Not only that, but the emotional depth of the story would be heavier. Perhaps Infinite regards Tails as 'weak' much like himself in Episode Shadow, and constantly belittles him throughout the story, but Tails ultimately stands up for himself and through regaining his courage and heroism, lead the charge that brings about the Resistance's victory.

Sideshow - Double Boost
Double Boost is quite literally the worst gimmick in the game, both from a game design standpoint and a story standpoint. You can't tell me that Sonic can't double boost with any of his other friends, some of whom have proven to be significantly faster and more stronger than some random kid off the street, and have WORKED TOGETHER to save the world on various occasions; but CAN do it with your random character who literally only met Sonic for the first time and has no standout characteristics other than broken ass Wispon powers. It just feels so bullshit and unearned, and quite frankly as soon as you trigger a double boost you basically get a 15 second cutscene in levels that only last for 3 minutes at most to begin with. It's Sonic Team being lazy here, trying to pad out the level duration with nothing threatening. More on the level design later.

But, if it were Tails in Avatar's spot, this would make a lot more sense. Sonic and Tails have basically been inseparable over the past games, their bond and teamwork would obviously have to be stronger than anyone else with Sonic. PLUS, Tails has shown that he IS more than capable of keeping up with Sonic as well as being a threat of his own. So why not let him use Wispon tech? If you're gonna make Tails the tech guy, make him the strong, brave tech guy, Sonic's partner-in-crime. Don't make him hide behind a block when Sonic is getting yeeted into Null Space, have him try to save his best friend! Heroes Tails did it, so why can't Forces Tails? Oh wait, I know why: Pontaff.

2) If Tails grew balls like what I mentioned in the first bullet-point, then he wouldn't be cowering in fear of fucking Chaos 1 and a bunch of Egg Pawns. No longer is Classic Sonic needed to be part of the plot, with his only necessary appearance rendered irrelevant. It's not like I enjoyed his gameplay anyways, all the stages feel weak and unnecessary (cough casino cough green hill cough cough that bullshit final classic sonic level cough cough) Sonic's jump physics are wonky as fuck. Never knew Sonic could have this much drift on a forward jump. Have his stages removed in favour of retooling them into 3D stages for Sonic or Tails, heck, remove them completely and instead focus on giving the actual existing levels more depth and versatile design! Speaking of...

3) I won't beat the dead horse that is the overall level design of this game. It's just disappointing. What I will do, however, is criticize the overabudance presence of HUGE ROWS OF ONE HIT BADNIKS INTENTIONALLY DESIGNED FOR YOUR CHARACTER TO TAKE OUT FOR MASSIVE POINTS WITH THEIR BROKEN ABILITY BUTTON (Boost/Wispon/Spin Dash)! BECAUSE KIDS LOVE HIGH SCORES! You can literally get over a million points for a 3 minute level in this game, while a 9 minute level in Heroes, for example, scores you around 50~60k points at max.

4) For a 'Hard' mode, they sure made it real easy. If 2008 Unleashed kids and 2011 Generations/Colors kids could be taught how to drift, why does Sonic Team not have the confidence to allow 2017 Forces kids to learn to drift? Look at all the autoaim hooks and automatic turns in Avatar and Sonic's levels, we want to be challenged, we want to make those turns ourselves!

Sideshow - Light Speed Dash
For years since its introduction, Sonic Team had struggled to implement a consistent Light Speed Dash that functioned as intended every time its used. They couldn't do it in Adventure 2, Heroes, 06, even Unleashed... and then through the Hover Wisp in Colors, they finally pulled it off; Generations inherited the Light Speed Dash formula Colors created and we ended up getting the most consistent Light Speed Dash we've had yet!

And then Lost World happened! And now Sonic doesn't have the Light Speed Dash! Instead of having another move available to diversify the linear pathways of most Sonic levels, it's wasted on the Avatar to give kids the satisfaction of going through levels easily. That's not what the Light Speed Dash is supposed to be. It's a hard-to-catch, hard-to-execute trick that nets you a faster, more flashier route that gives the user a sense of satisfaction, while also potentially leading to a pathway that provides better rewards. They could've just given the Light Speed Dash to Sonic...

damn the level design in this game really did have lots of potential

Sideshow - The Wall Jump
This one is probably a nitpick but I really don't like the wall jump mechanics in this game. For one, they could've introduced it WAY EARLIER IN THE GAME and it could've made level design a bit more interesting but nope final 5 levels and you only need to use it a few times. I'm a fan of how Metroid handles its wall jumps, very straightforward jump onto wall, make contact, move direction to other side and jump, repeat. It's challenging, but super rewarding when done right. Unleashed Wii did something similar and frankly I'm upset this game doesn't do the same.

Sideshow - The Last Levels
They really went from uninteresting and linear to uninteresting and linear and bullshit, huh?
Then to downright easy with the Infinite boss fight and Final Judgment. How the fuck is Final Judgment this easy holy shit-


5) These final bits are problems I noted with the story: If the Avatar could just yeet through a bunch of Badniks without effort, what's stopping the crowd of generic Wispon OCs from doing the same? If Shadow can just strafe side by side to defeat a bunch of Infinite clones, why can't the Wispon OCs just whip em or burn em or something? Heck it only took Sonic 9 Homing Attacks and a few punches to kill clone Zavok, it's literally that easy. 99.9% of the world being taken over? More like '99.9% of the world being so pathetic without random blue rat boi that they cower in fear of Egg Pawns like Tails'.

6) Fuck Sonic in this game. I know he was unfunny in Colors and Lost World, but here he's downright condescending, indifferent and obnoxiously horrible at being a jokester. Even when the situation doesn't call for it (serious fights vs Infinite, contacting his friends for the first time in months), guy cracks horrible jokes that frankly shouldn't have passed the first draft.

I could go on about the weak (haha) backstory of Infinite and just the shitty writing and more things I hate about Forces in general but I think that's it. Soundtrack slaps (somewhat) though, Fist Bump is a great song that just ends up ruined by the worst gimmick in Sonic history.

3/10 game don't play it unless you're interested in beating every Sonic game like me, or you wanna see how bad is it for yourself, or you just enjoy it (somehow)

Reviewed on May 12, 2022


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