Sonic Forces References

The game celebrated 25 years and also had some callbacks:


Words narrate the events, similar to the date/location given in SA2 cutscenes.

Eggman takes over the world while Sonic is away. This happened in Sonic the Comic and later in Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood.

Eggman also took over in several other continues, but while Sonic was young, not missing. 

Knuckles leads the Resistance: a "rag-tag" team of fighters to "take back the planet." This group helps rescue Sonic after his 6-month capture.

This idea may have been inspired by:

• The (Knothole) Freedom Fighters, generally led by Sally Acorn in Sat Am and the Archie Comics. 
• The Freedom Fighters, founded by Sonic in Sonic the Comic. 
• The Resistance, the "underground" movement against Robotnik in Sonic Underground. 
• Team Hero, Sonic and his close friends who often fight Eggman in the games. 
• The Resistance, a group of humans that fought the Meterex in Sonic X. 

Green Hill, Chemical Plant, and the Death Egg all appear again.

This is the second anniversary game where Sonic fights Metal Sonic. 

Sonic says to Classic, "it's been generations since I've seen you," alluding to Sonic Generations.

Sonic's box artwork is similar to his art for Sonic Rivals 2.

Many trophy/achievement names are based on games/phrases.

The Avatar's clothing can reflect other characters (such as a Tails shirt with Knuckles' shoes or a chao backpack and Amy's boots).

Omega is broken down/out of commission for most of the game. Something similar happened in 06 as well as Sonic Chronicles.

Infinite refers to Sonic as a rat. This was something the Erazor Djinn often said in Sonic and the Secret Rings.

Shadow kicks Infinite in nearly the same way he kicks Silver in the head in 06.

The Shadow "replicas" mainly serve the same purpose as "Shadow Androids."

Episode Shadow has remixes from Sonic Adventure 2 and Shadow the Hedgehog. A part of "All Hail Shadow" can also be heard when he appears in the main story.

Update: How could I forget?! The US theme for Metal Sonic/Stardust Speedway Bad Future was also remixed! Sonic CD!

Rouge mentions an "intelligence division." This may implicate GUN.

Rouge tells Shadow "do it to it," which was a common phrase in the early cartoons.

Rouge indirectly mentions chilidogs.

Rouge also called Eggman "Rotton ol' Eggman." Even though she used to call him "doctor," I swear she's called him something like that before...  

Best Villain (Part 7--Conclusion)

For me, the "best villain" is an obvious three-way tie.

Robotnik, for his continued perseverance. For having the deepest connection to Sonic and the franchise. His history. His hilarity. Nostalgia, too.

Mephiles, for being a threat like no other. For his creepy way of twisting the truth. For pitting characters against each other. His dark need to destroy...his actions in Shadow's story. 

And Merlina, for being understandable. For the plot twist. For being persuasive and relatable in comparison. Being kind at heart but on the outside sad, cold, malicious, and deadly.

Best Villain? Part 2: B Villains

Eggman aside, there have been more villains in the series than most causal fans realize. Some of these were interesting and give Eggy real competition. Others fall a little flat...

I define this type of villain as "Erazor Djinn level," so it seems only fair to start with him. 

The Erazor Djinn has the makings of a good foe. And he is threatening. He's powerful. He's already wiped out half of the "storybook" world as Sonic's jumping to the rescue. After hitting Sonic with a flaming arrow, he basically blackmails Sonic and his new friend Sharah into finding specail items ("World Rings"). 

Still, he is hard to take serious--even Sonic seems to think so. He's way overconfident and continues to call Sonic a "filthy rat." His insults, while humorous, are pathetic. While he does gain a considerable point of power near the end of the game the moment later backfires on the Erazor since he cannot even control his transformation.

The Erazor's end, while satisfying, only further pushes back on his credibility. It's only Sonic dumping the magic lamp into lava (in Sharah's epilogue) that solidifies how serious a threat the villain actually was.  

I KID YOU NOT.

Although the Erazor had the bite, he didn't have the bark, as silly as that sounds. The character was powerful, but strip away his actions and powers and he's nothing more than childish bully. 

Unfortunately the Erazor Djinn is not the only enemy to, despite potential, become lame and easily forgotten. 

Black Doom was an early example of this. His threatening voice and alien appearance fit well with the idea of the character, but his constant nagging and cruel behavior made him an oddity. There is not much of a reason for Shadow to side with Black Doom, and even if he does the alien leader does little to applaud such a thing.

Like the Erazor, Black Doom is strong and manipulates Shadow in different ways like planting false memories or concealing information. At the end of the day, though, he is hard to take seriously and more of a nuisance. 

This is also seen with the Deadly Six. I know less about them than most, but they do little to stand out and behave annoyingly. Zavok appears often in recent times, but is he's far worst than either Black Doom or Erazor Djinn. I don't know if they could get any lamer, and don't get me started on the magic conch...

Infinite is portrayed more as a rival, but unlike Shadow or Jet, he's clearly with Eggman and wants to be evil. His appearance is an odd mesh that may have been inspired by Kylo Ren (who was a wannabe himself). Not the best start. His voice acting is good, able to have an edge to it but also be calm and in control. Not unlike Mephiles. His epic theme song is reminiscent of rivals of the past, like Shadow. But in game he does not take control. 

He's content with working for Eggman; he doesn't even attempt to break away, leaving his motives a mystery. He bullies various characters and makes use of his flashy illusionary powers, but he is a complete coward. He RUNS AWAY. Instead of revealing a tragic, determined, or even greedy past, the cause of Infinte's path to the dark side is that he can't handle losing and doesn't like being called weak. He throws a tantrum. Over being called WEAK.   

"King Arthur" doesn't seem to have much of a personality or an emphasis on turning evil, but at least he's actually revealed as a simple pawn in the Dark Queen's plans. There are a few others, like IX, who also fail to step up.  

So even though I generally think of the Erazor first, there are many other candidates that are arguably more deserving of the title. Like with the games in general, Sega had grand plans that didn't quite work out right. 

Sonic Forces Review

Still considered one of the newest Sonic games, SONIC FORCES. The total rank  is gonna' be at the end if you prefer to skip all reasoning :P

Summary

I enjoyed Sonic Forces and was rather surprised by the general backlash. But I can defiantly understand. Heh, maybe the key to liking a game is low expectations (I thought this game would be crap but liked it, everyone else thought it would be SA3 and hated it, haha).

Gameplay

• Sonic
• Sonic's style mimicks the same "Boost to Win" formula it's been using for a while now. 
• Although this was "playing it safe," the style is becoming very repetitive and hasn't been cool since Unleashed (and remember, it debuted in Rush, making it over 10 years old).
• Meh. 
• Avatar 
• The Avatar is a nice blend of Sonic's speed and unique gimmicks such as the wispons or the species-exclusive skills like the double-jump.
• Good except for the occasional mishap (usually missing a target-lock, etc). 
• Avatar-Sonic (etc)
• Double boost was cool. 
• Like the idea of "tag"ing between characters. Like Heroes but less complicated. 
• Classic Sonic 
• Very close to Generations but the buttons are different, which can either be good (for a long time classic fan) or bad (for the poor soul who got used to the square button in Generations)
• Pretty boring, nothing seems new. 
• Shadow
• Unfortunatly it's pretty much a clone of Sonic's style. No Chaos Spears or Guns. Not even a "Wispon."
• On the other hand, this is the first time Shadow has a Boost like Sonic and is playable.  

Characters 

• Sonic
• Although it was nice to see Sonic in a darker plot, he's the same jerk he's been since Sonic Colors. Crappy jokes, brushing things off as nothing...
• However it was nice to see him bond with the Avatar and the ending was...yeah, nice. 
• Avatar
• Surprisingly good for a mostly mute character. Shows character development yet leaves details open for the player's imagination. 
• Fun to customize, very creative and a nice nod to the fans. 
• Don't like that in order to change the species, the story had to be completed. But that didn't take long, so... 
• Classic Sonic
• Why is he here? Ratings boost, much?
• Classic honestly probably hurt the story more than helped it, the little attention hog. 
• Despite this, the tie-in with Forces was a neat idea and his role in the end was also a nice goodbye. 
• Tails
• WTF?
• Seriously. 
• WTF?
• Sonic gets his butt kicked and Tails just sits there. I could buy him "being in shock" if they showed more--I don't know--emotion? It's just...he hangs out with Classic for the entire game and pretty much ignores the "Real" Sonic. That ain't right.  
• Knuckles
• In the mean time Knuckles apparently became this great "leader," but we don't see too much of that. In fact...didn't his plan suck? 
• Amy
• You'd expect Amy, if anyone, to go crazy over Sonic being saved. But she just brushes it off with a rude remark. Think all that rejection's starting to wear the girl down. 
• Silver
• Okay, why is he here? WHY SILVER AND NOT BLAZE????
• Seriously. He's from the future. They don't talk about it. We have to look at the comics for an explanation. What does that tell you? 
• Then he has about one "shinning moment"...and he gets beat up by Infinite. Is he only here for the Worf Effect, or...
• Chaotix (Vector, Espio, Charmy)
• They are just there. They don't do much. No mystery solvin'. 
• Shadow
• It was great to see Shadow have a role, and to be playable. 
• However many people were upset there wasn't a rival fight, even with the replica. I get that, but honestly I did like the cutscene where he finally shows up.
• Also, is he still workn' for GUN now, or...
• Rouge
• Same about GUN.
• I'm a little confused on why she didn't just tell Sonic and the others that Shadow was still on their side. 
• Omega
• Being shut down was a clever call back to 06, and I like when he shows up in the end, but otherwise he's useless. 
• Eggman
• As interesting as it is to see Eggman take the stage as main villain, it feels more like Infinite is. 
• Orbot & Cubot
• ...they were in this game? I remember...nothing?
• Lame. Bring back Scratch and Grounder. 
• Infinite
• Ah, Infinite. Perhaps the most over-hyped character yet. 
• Extremely disappointing. Easy boss fights, lame motivations and background...very weak. WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAKKKKKKKKK
• I was never a huge fan of his design, but it does have a sense of mystery that was unfortunately only WEAKness.  
• Not a good rival, a weak villain. 
• He runs away. That weak little coward...
• Replicas
• Lame. Very Lame. Could have been used in an interesting way, but they were mostly for show. 
• Etc
• Talking to the other "resistance" members was kind of cool, but it got annoying after awhile. 

Plot/Cutscenses/Voice Acting

Voice Work:

• It's no secret I hate most of the current voice actors, but I was impressed this time. Working on Sonic Boom must have really helped some of them. Good improvement.
• Oh! and Infinite sounds kind of like Mephlies--interesting. 

General:

• The cutscenes are animated fairly well. Expressive. 
• Visually, though, not perfect. Not in this day and age, but good compared with older games. 
• Have to enjoy seeing the avatar in the cutscenes--pretty cool. 
• The absence of humans (aside from Eggman) is confusing. Even if there was a simple explanation or a small refrenece to GUN, it would have helped. 
• Plot could have been very serious, but was rather bland instead. 

Sonic's Role:

• Sonic's story starts out disappointing. Was he "tortured," or was he just sitting in a cell for 6 months? He sure acts the latter. 
• It's nice to see him encourage the avatar. And defeat Infinite. And Eggman. So it ends a bit better than it starts. 

Avatar's Role:

• Interesting concept, nice little plot about friendship, getting past fears, and learning from others. 

Classic's Role:

• The only thing I like is the tie-in with Mania. It's like a crossover...sorta. But does mute-Sonic use sign language and warn Tails about this "Phantom Ruby?" Hehe, nope.  

Episode Shadow:

• This plot was disappointing. Not on Team Dark's end, but with Infinite's backstory. It's very weak. 
• And it was too short. 

Music

• The music was impressive on several accounts. 
• The vocal themes were not only good, but it was the first time in a long time that the main theme wasn't instrumental.
• Fist Bump was great, although I was kind of expecting Crush 40 for the 25th anniversary. Maybe they should have put in a "Sonic Youth" Easter Egg somewhere.  
• The Avatar's levels having both male/female tracks supported the flexibility of the character (because it could have been a girl or boy).
• The Stardust Speedway Remix was not only a good reference, but a serious break for those of us who prefer the US music from Sonic CD. 
• WHY, Mania, did you torture us with the JPN Stardust Speedway. UUUUGH!
• The remixes in Shadow's episode were awesome (including remixes from SA2 and Shadow's own game).  
• I'd say the one con is that all have a modern ring to them. It's fine, but a mix of styles would have been cool. 
• Also, it was a little weird for Chemical Plant and Green Hill to have different music than their traditional ones. 

Graphics/Design

• Graphics are pretty good, for a Sonic game. Sonic Generations probably looks just as good, though, and that game is from 2011.
• Most if the designs were awesome. The city and bridge area, such as Park Avenue, was perhaps the best. 
• However, bringing back Green Hill, even as "Sand Hill," was redundant. Same for Chemical Plant. The Death Egg? Fine. But they could have at least used zones that don't get as much attention, like Springyard, Starlight, Aquatic Ruin, Mystic Cave... 

Final Thoughts

• I think Infinite's background could have been tweaked...ha-ha, tWEAKed. Anyways, they could have at least given a bit more in the "digital comic" about why it he would take so much offense at the term "weak."
• The game's plot ("resistance") was a nice nod to the old Sonic media (SatAm, Underground, the comics). It's be cool to see more of this make-shift team-up. 
• I really hope the excuse for lack of humans isn't "it's a separate planet." That makes no sense. I'm just assuming South/Westside Island have a high "mobian" population and that the human populations aren't really seen because they're on the other side of the map.
• Levels seemed...too easy? 
• It was good to see a plot that:
• wasn't 100% Sonic
• was a bit more "serious"  

Game Ranking (E is lowest, S is highest): B

This game isn't bad. But it also fails to take advantage of "what could have been." It's average.