Sonic Forces demo- Green Hill (Modern Sonic gameplay)

[HedgehogBR]

 

It's running really nice in Nintendo Switch! Hope they launch a demo for PC, PS4 and Xone.

[Ellipsis-Ultima]

So a demo for Forces is on the Switch, however it's for Japan only, (though people can still get it because region free). It's switch only.

It's Modern Sonic's Green Hill gameplay but the problem is, it's timed. You can play it for a minute.

Really wish they gave more time to play this tho...

Thoughts?

edit: You can also play the Classic Sonic GHZ boss and Avatar's Space Port too...

[DiamondX]

There's most probably some spoiler at the end of the stage.

[Blue Blood]

It's awful. All the "Straight Line Zone" jokes were bang on the money.. Who's surprised?

Having played the demo, Sonic has a tight turning turning circle when you stop dead and try to change direction. But moment you start to move forward, he becomes a like a car. It's more noticable here than in Generations or Unleashed, and basically means that this game probably wont have any meaningful 3D movement in Modern Sonic levels.

[Ellipsis-Ultima]

...I'm starting to think the time limits there because they don't want to risk the game being datamined and leaked.

Still stinks tho. 

[The Tenth Doctor]

Rocking soundtrack, a bit straight and is that the sandworms from Lost World? Must be Zavok's doing.

[Blue Blood]

Just now, Spookmmetra said:

...I'm starting to think the time limits there because they don't want to risk the game being datamined and leaked.

Still stinks tho. 

Datamining is opening up the games files and seeing what's actually in the software - it's not playing the game so the time limit will have no impact.

[Mad Convoy]

All its really contributed is a sigh of relief that the Switch version of Forces will at least not be a trainwreck in the visuals and performance department, as previous demos showed  particularly serious problems in those departments, more than any other version of Forces.

It probably won't change any opinions at this point tbh. The only thing that could do that is showing something that is actually new from the game-- which only dataminers could do at this point. However, it seems tricky-- the demo is exclusive to a console that uses custom cartridges as well as the demo being timed (which is a good way of blocking speedrunners and the like from seeing more than they're supposed to). I wouldn't be surprised if somebody tried though.

[KHCast]

Oh my god that was fucking shit

[JezMM]

I feel they could've just cut the voices out if they were worried about story spoilers.

But yeah, the time limit sucks.  On the Avatar stage, there is a cool scripted cut-scene after the last checkpoint you can make it to, but it's at least 10 seconds long so your time will probably end halfway through it.

The game runs really solidly, either they really finetuned the Switch version or there was a lot of scaremongering before.  There are plenty of muddy textures "low graphics settings on a PC game" style if you really walk through the stage, but at the pace you're intended to go, the game looks absolutely great, even on a big 1080p TV.  Framerate was fairly stable, noticably 30FPS when you focus on it but the whole "the controls run at 60 FPS" thing feels great, I never felt I didn't have time to react to something or that the character wasn't reacting fast enough etc.

But... much as I adore the aesthetic and music of this game, yeah there's nothing here to calm our fears of "runs through corridors the hedgehog".  I desperately want to love this game, but there is incredibly little substance.  On the Avatar stage, I was just running around enemies to speedrun it and see as much as possible, and it worked.  On Sonic's stage, I got the 4th Red Ring of 5, which, considering we're only allowed to play a minute, definitely makes me worry that these stages are all gonna be 1-2 minutes long and half the playtime is just gonna be cut-scenes and scripted sequences.

 

Despite everything, it feels great to be playing 3D Sonic again for me, a fan of the boost games... but I don't think this is going to have the staying power of Unleashed or Generations.  Like Colours, it feels like a game I'll play just to enjoy the music and visuals and every now and then.  I'll come back to it hoping it'll be as fun as it was the first time when everything was new and unexpected as I went through these corridors of scripted sequences and spectacles, but it never will be.

[Blue Blood]

Just now, Mad Convoy said:

All its really contributed is a sigh of relief that the Switch version of Forces will at least not be a trainwreck in the visuals and performance department, as previous demos showed  particularly serious problems in those departments, more than any other version of Forces.

For what it's worth, I'm not getting any input lag as was previously reported. There are no framerate issues and visually this is really good. 30fps is a real killer if you like your Sonic games smooth, but if you were fine with Generations on 360/PS3, this won't be an issue. The game seems to run well and looks very good. Cannot complain about how it looks.

[GuyWithThePie]

What's with the sandworm from Lost World?

[James Cloud]

Looks visually great and no input lag on my end even undocked! If this is a updated demo and not the final version build I'm impressed!

[Hero of Legend]

The menu shows 3 stages, are the other two select-able or is it locked to Modern Green Hill only?

[JezMM]

Just now, Hero of Legend said:

The menu shows 3 stages, are the other two select-able or is it locked to Modern Green Hill only?

You can play all three, the other two are Classic Sonic vs Eggman in Green Hill and Space Port (Chemical Plant) with Avatar, who has a choice of three Wispons to select (Avatar's appearance is one of several randomly chosen presets each time you play).

The idea that it's only Green Hill Modern was I think just an assumption because that's the screenshot that was in Nakamura's tweet about it.

[Blue Blood]

1 minute ago, Hero of Legend said:

The menu shows 3 stages, are the other two select-able or is it locked to Modern Green Hill only?

One if Avatar Space Sport and the other is the Classic GHZ Boss.

[Dejimon11]

Oh dear God 

 

[Multikaris]

9 minutes ago, GuyWithThePie said:

What's with the sandworm from Lost World?

Zavok brought them to the GHZ to do some digging work for Eggman.

[GuyWithThePie]

So how does the Classic Sonic boss here hold up to the Switch demo we saw a few months earlier? Any noticable improvements?

[TCB]

I do want to wait til I can sit down and play this to gauge the controls for myself...

I do like the Boost formula to an enjoyable extent...

but if it's going to boil down to it being this linear, then boy this tweet says a lot.

 

@Dejimon11 fiddlesticks ya ninja'd me. Well back into my bunker I go

 

[Hero of Legend]

2 minutes ago, Blue Blood said:

One if Avatar Space Sport and the other is the Classic GHZ Boss.

But are those playable here?

[PickleBrows]

Just now, Hero of Legend said:

But are those playable here?

Yep, they've both got the minute time limit too but you can play them.

[Gabz Girl]

Soooo glad to hear the Switch version is a very good port despite running at 30fps. I was still going to get the PS4 version (down the line) anyway but those Switch previews made it sound like the port would be awful! So yah, glad to hear it’s pretty good. 

Not so happy on the other hand about Modern Sonic having 3D corridors level design. I mean, it was expected but damn what a shame, especially after Sonic Generations which this game is supposed to be emulating! Hopefully I’ll get to try the demo out myself soon.

[Diogenes]

I like how squishy the giant worms look. That's all the good I have to say about this, though. Because wow that first 3D section has absolutely no reason to be 3D at all, there is literally nothing going on there. And the 2D section isn't much better.

Also are my ears fooling me or does Sonic call the level "sand hill" at the end there? I don't speak a word of Japanese but it sounds like he says "green hill" and then "sand hill", and I'm guessing he says something like "this is green hill? Seems more like sand hill now".

[Johnny Boy]

Hoo boy, this isn't looking good at all. And a one minute time limit? Fucking seriously?