DISCLAIMERS:
- the reviewer has not finished the game with 100% completion
- the game was played on the Xbox One S using the version of the game intended for United States audiences
After Sega’s short exclusivity deal with Nintendo for the Sonic franchise, they finally returned to Xbox and PlayStation with Sonic Forces. Sonic Forces game ties in with Sonic Mania, the classic style Sonic game released earlier in 2017. This review will judge the Xbox One version of the game on its own merits.
Sonic Forces is another game in the style introduced in Sonic Unleashed. It also has Classic Sonic from Sonic Generations with a significantly nerfed Spin Dash and the Drop Dash from Sonic Mania. For more on these gameplay styles you should read my reviews of these games. Sonic Forces does not deviate much from the gameplay in these games. Drifting from Sonic Generations does not return and boosting feels nerfed overall. Level design is greatly improved, especially in optional levels, with the one major exception being bosses.
Sonic Forces also features the ability to create custom Sonic characters. The creation feature is surprisingly robust, but actually playing as these characters is a bit disappointing. There are only a few basic gameplay styles and they essentially control the same as Modern Sonic but with no boost, an extremely powerful but generally unnecessary weapon, and the ability to use that weapon for movement. While these ideas have potential, Sonic Team never really capitalizes on them so they add essentially no depth to the game. Still, custom Sonic character creation was a good idea and a good way to set Sonic Forces apart from other Sonic games.
Technically Sonic Forces is probably the best optimized and generally most well put together Sonic game in over a decade. The resolution is high and the frame rate is at or near 60 most of the time. Most of the graphical issues involve screen tearing and some parts of levels loading in with extremely low quality, but these issues are hardly bad enough to make Sonic Forces not a surprisingly (for its series) technically well made game. A lot of the effects used in previous Sonic games are not present, but they don’t detract that much from the visuals and losing those effects was easily worth doubling the frame rate. The excessive compression of cutscenes and the constant reuse of assets slightly reduces the reviewers opinion of Sonic Forces technical aspects. Overall Sonic Forces is surprisingly technically impressive for a budget game.
In terms of sound Sonic Forces is surprisingly well made. The game is essentially fully voice acted and there are no particularly bad performances. The music takes a new direction for the Sonic series and is executed surprisingly well. Sound effects are about what one would expect from Sonic games at this point, so they are also executed well. Overall the sound in Sonic Forces is surprisingly quality, especially compared to other Sonic games that were more expensive at launch.
The plot of Sonic Forces is nothing special. It is essentially just an excuse to introduce the new character Infinite into the Sonic world. The Sonic franchise’s world is represented well here and fans of Sonic should be pleased overall by this. The writing is above average for a Sonic game, but is still hardly impressive compared to games from other series.
Despite its budget price, Sonic Forces is not exactly worth paying for its full price. Although it has about the same amount of content as many previous Sonic games, this only makes it slightly more valuable. The game is easily beaten in one sitting and most of the replay value comes from playing the same levels while trying to collect not particularly well hidden collectables and get forgiving S ranks. There are also bonus levels and an extra free prequel DLC but those hardly add any value to the game either. Unless you are planning to create and play with dozens of custom Sonic characters, it is hard to imagine play hours that match the dollar value of the game.
Overall the reviewer would give the game a 7 out of 10.
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