How will Sonic Forces be remembered in the years to come?

[Diogenes]

For an alternative take, I do like creating my own characters, fan and otherwise, but a Sonic game is a pretty poor place to explore them. About all Forces offers is a shallow stock storyline and a bunch of garish clothes, and even an improved system isn't likely to offer much more room to create and explore a character due to the series' simple storylines and linear structure.

[Monkey Destruction Switch]

The character creator got some positive feedback in most reviews I've seen, and I admit that it seems fun to play with. Overall though, I don't really think it seems game-changingly great even if it wasn't that bad either. (Well, my personal feelings about it are a lot more strongly negative than that - despite the fact that it genuinely seems fun and interesting to mess with, I don't believe it belongs in such a prominent position in the game, and the options they offer are very far from what I would want - but that's just how I personally feel.) As far as I can tell, it's easy for a character from it to look decent, but hard for a character from it to look great. (Mind you, I've never played Forces. I'm just basing this on what I've seen.)

I doubt it will have a negative or positive effect on how Sonic OCs are perceived in the grand scheme of things. Maybe people who didn't like them will be able to have fun with them for a while, but I personally don't think it will be make them look at OCs on DeviantArt or the like much differently, or if it does, it will be a brief and muted effect. Especially since Forces OCs can be really dumb too, and even the good-looking ones aren't amazing. At the end of the day, I think it will be remembered more as a gimmick than anything truly significant in the grand scheme of the series or the fanbase. Which I guess is a good thing, since I thought it would make Sonic even more of a laughing stock.

[Biggs]

It probably won't be remembered, kinda like Sonic Lost World. Sonic 06 and Sonic 2 are both equally memerable for being at the extreme ends of a spectrum of quality. Mediocrity isn't memerable. I doubt the character creator will make a comeback either.

[Meta77]

Seeing as the oc creator was the most praised thing in sure in my 28 years of sonic we will see it again. Maybe next time Sega will have faith in there ideas and actually put effort into making a good 3d game.

[BaronGrackle]

The avatar concept is one thing.

But I cringed so hard at the way Sonic gives Avatar so much buddy-buddy Mary Sue praise.

You know how in Sonic Adventure, Big the Cat was just an unspectacular nobody who barely knew the main cast but became a part of the story through cosmic circumstance? I sorta wished the Avatar's path had been more like that, instead of hero of the revolution and Sonic's BFF.

[Razule]

2 hours ago, Biggs98 said:

Sonic Lost World

Sonic.. Lost Game?

[Whatever the WhoCares]

If Sonic games get better budgets going forward and some actual time and effort put into them, Forces will be remembered as that half-assed game that made us question if Sonic’s best days were behind him and not ahead. 

[Panzzer]

Pretty awesome how In Forces you can make a character. and i can't wait for this game hopefully for me its less dying and more getting better at sonic games. 

[Nicky Nicardo]

I really do get the feeling that the 'general consensus' about Sonic Forces isn't as bad and negative as a lot of people here, and on other Sonic-themed sites, paint it to be.

It seems like in general, the game is seen as 'meh' and mediocre to being sliiightly above that, somewhere around 'pretty good, but definitely could be better' by your average gamer or casual video game fan. If you look online especially, in places such as this or Twitter or Reddit though, people seem to believe that the general consensus skews far more negative than I think it actually does.

I was disappointed in Forces in a lot of areas, and I agreed with a lot of the criticisms about the controls & level length/linearity... but man, Forces just didn't seem like the raging dumpster fire that a lot of people made it out to be. It also just didn't seem like the disappointing aspects of it... were THAT devastating or unforgivable in how disappointing they were. I saw good in the game. I saw genuine effort and hard work and talent put into the game.

But even if I didn't... it really did just seem like yet another case of the 'internet's opinion' of something being far too dramatic and exaggerated, which happens a LOT in my opinion.

[Whatever the WhoCares]

On 2/26/2018 at 11:43 AM, Diogenes said:

I hope it's remembered as a big mistake, as I'd rather not see a game like Forces ever again.

I'm sure the rawest feelings will dull with time, as they always do, but this shouldn't be a game that fades into the crowd as "just another disappointing Sonic game". This is a particularly and notably bad game and failing to remember it as such sets a lower standard of quality for the series.

I wouldn’t say it’s a particularly bad game so much as it came out at a time when Sega really had no more excuses to put out a mediocre product. It’s nowhere near as bad as Sonic 06, but it FEELS that way in context. I would even argue that the extra ten years of experience for Sonic Team makes Forces a more embarrassing product than Sonic 06 ever was. 

[tailsBOOM!]

On 2/27/2018 at 5:42 PM, BaronGrackle said:

The avatar concept is one thing.

But I cringed so hard at the way Sonic gives Avatar so much buddy-buddy Mary Sue praise.

You know how in Sonic Adventure, Big the Cat was just an unspectacular nobody who barely knew the main cast but became a part of the story through cosmic circumstance? I sorta wished the Avatar's path had been more like that, instead of hero of the revolution and Sonic's BFF.

Because he totally didn't have one yet

Oh wait.

[UpCDownCLeftCRightC]

On ‎3‎/‎7‎/‎2018 at 12:08 AM, Whatever the WhoCares said:

If Sonic games get better budgets going forward and some actual time and effort put into them, Forces will be remembered as that half-assed game that made us question if Sonic’s best days were behind him and not ahead. 

We've already had at least one of those.

It went like this (among critics): 

Heroes: "meh".....

Shadow: "Sonic Team what are you doin--"

06': --Sonic is dead.

It really wasn't until Colors that the mainstream realized Sonic could potentially climb out of his grave, and Generations giving us all real hope that things were finally on the right track again.

[Silvereyes]

I think in the fandom, people will remember Infinite, with half the fandom taking the piss out of him for his edginess, and the other half writing fan fictions with his edginess dialed up to 11 without any self awareness.

[Spooky Mulder]

It'll be remembered as that shitty 3D Sonic Mania tie-in. Jk.

I think theres a chance that its remembered as the quiet ending to the Boost formula/series that started with Unleashed.

[Razule]

On 3/21/2018 at 2:29 PM, UpCDownCLeftCRightC said:

We've already had at least one of those.

It went like this (among critics): 

Heroes: "meh".....

Shadow: "Sonic Team what are you doin--"

06': --Sonic is dead.

It really wasn't until Colors that the mainstream realized Sonic could potentially climb out of his grave, and Generations giving us all real hope that things were finally on the right track again.

And then.. 

Lost World: "meh"

Boom: Rise of Lyric: "Sonic was never good" (spin-off or not, that categorizing mattered very little to anyone outside the fanbase. It's a 3D game on a console with Sonic's face, promoted as the renaissance of Sonic)

[Whatever the WhoCares]

On 3/21/2018 at 1:29 PM, UpCDownCLeftCRightC said:

We've already had at least one of those.

It went like this (among critics): 

Heroes: "meh".....

Shadow: "Sonic Team what are you doin--"

06': --Sonic is dead.

It really wasn't until Colors that the mainstream realized Sonic could potentially climb out of his grave, and Generations giving us all real hope that things were finally on the right track again.

Unleashed was the closest thing we got to a big-budget, Triple-A revitalization of Sonic, but it was ultimately too flawed to be deemed as such. Colors was a return to quality, but its cheapness showed through. Generations was comparable to unleashed in terms of gameplay effort, but the story and world just weren’t there. Forces was hyped, at least early on, as the next Unleashed in terms of scale, and yet again, it turned out to be another budget-tier product. 

We need a game with the grandeur of Unleashed and the fun of Generations. 

[shdowhunt60]

I'm thinking that Sonic Forces is really going to be another Sonic 4. The thing with Unleashed was that it was critically lambasted on release and as time went on, the more everyone just kinda realized the stuff that Unleashed did really well that everyone just kinda ignored because "omg werehog", and that's just down to Unleashed being an innovative game. A flawed one, but innovative.

Sonic Forces doesn't really do anything innovative, even in the general scope of Sonic games. It really just scales stuff back even further than where we were even 6 years prior. And conversely it promised some pretty big things, and failed to follow up on any of them pretty catastrophically. That's why it feels like another Sonic 4, there just isn't anything to look back on Forces on, and say "Hey, this game actually did this thing really right, and it's actually really good because of it" like with Unleashed. It just feels like the result of a lot of empty promises from marketing teams leading up to an incredibly underwhelming game.

[UpCDownCLeftCRightC]

On ‎3‎/‎24‎/‎2018 at 12:03 PM, Whatever the WhoCares said:

Unleashed was the closest thing we got to a big-budget, Triple-A revitalization of Sonic, but it was ultimately too flawed to be deemed as such. Colors was a return to quality, but its cheapness showed through. Generations was comparable to unleashed in terms of gameplay effort, but the story and world just weren’t there. Forces was hyped, at least early on, as the next Unleashed in terms of scale, and yet again, it turned out to be another budget-tier product. 

We need a game with the grandeur of Unleashed and the fun of Generations. 

I kind of disagree that Colors was cheap. Level design certainly wasn't Generations quality but Colors might have been the purest Modern Sonic gameplay we've ever gotten in a main title, in that there was really no alternative gameplay padding.  Its really the only Modern game that can nearly make that claim. Also one of the better final bosses in the Modern era.

Do agree that Unleashed might have been a AAA revitalization if its biggest flaws were mitigated somewhat. 

[Splash the Otter]

3 hours ago, shdowhunt60 said:

That's why it feels like another Sonic 4, there just isn't anything to look back on Forces on, and say "Hey, this game actually did this thing really right, and it's actually really good because of it" like with Unleashed.

What about the Avatar? I thought that was done exceptionally well.

[Sega DogTagz]

4 hours ago, UpCDownCLeftCRightC said:

 but Colors might have been the purest Modern Sonic gameplay we've ever gotten in a main title, in that there was really no alternative gameplay padding.  Its really the only Modern game that can nearly make that claim.

 

If we are talking about the modern era here, than the sheer over-reliance on 2D in of itself is a gameplay padding mechanic. Maybe not as apparent as a Werehog or shooting stage, but its infamous auto-scroller bounce levels and horde of uninspired block platforming mini-levels still count as padding weather you are playing as Sonic or not. Thats not what anyone came in here to play.

I really have hesitation calling it the purest modern Sonic gameplay package when it has an 80/20 split 2D to 3D.

[Almar]

Sonic Forces has already been labeled as mediocre. Look at Metacritic.

[Diogenes]

24 minutes ago, Sega DogTagz said:

If we are talking about the modern era here, than the sheer over-reliance on 2D in of itself is a gameplay padding mechanic. Maybe not as apparent as a Werehog or shooting stage, but its infamous auto-scroller bounce levels and horde of uninspired block platforming mini-levels still count as padding weather you are playing as Sonic or not. Thats not what anyone came in here to play.

I really have hesitation calling it the purest modern Sonic gameplay package when it has an 80/20 split 2D to 3D.

Well, "Modern" doesn't necessarily mean 3D. Personally I feel like Colors is closer to a 2D game masquerading as a 3D game rather than a 3D game using 2D as padding. And while neither its gameplay mechanics or level design are ideal I think it leaning into its 2D gameplay makes it a stronger and more coherent game than the other boost games.

[MegasonicZX]

On ‎3‎/‎21‎/‎2018 at 8:31 AM, tailsBOOM! said:

Because he totally didn't have one yet

Oh wait.

Honestly, I don't think they really push the sonic and tails bro thing as much these days, instead favoring making the new character Sonic's new BFF for the week. 

[UpCDownCLeftCRightC]

4 hours ago, Sega DogTagz said:

 

If we are talking about the modern era here, than the sheer over-reliance on 2D in of itself is a gameplay padding mechanic. Maybe not as apparent as a Werehog or shooting stage, but its infamous auto-scroller bounce levels and horde of uninspired block platforming mini-levels still count as padding weather you are playing as Sonic or not. Thats not what anyone came in here to play.

I really have hesitation calling it the purest modern Sonic gameplay package when it has an 80/20 split 2D to 3D.

You can't call it padding because it was the intent from the 'beginning'. That entire 2.5D style was something created in Unleashed as a new thing unto itself to make Sonic's high speed gameplay more stable outside of purely 2D gameplay. Sonic Team has infamously struggled with the gameplay differences between 2D and 3D with Sonic since 1998 because they don't know how to make 3D Sonic stable and controllable experiences for the player (read any number of interviews by Iizuka over the last 15 years for proof), at least to an excellent standard. So they designed an entire gameplay experience around 2.5D. You may call it a crutch but you wouldn't really be correct. You're assuming that there is some requirement that says that Modern Sonic has to be full 3D gameplay when there is no such rule. Sonic really only needs to do things that exemplify his trademark design regardless of the number of dimensions. If 2.5D does that better than full 3D, and allows Sonic's gameplay to reach high levels of excellence, then 2.5D would be the logical path for them to take (Not suggesting they should never attempt full 3D games, because I and multitudes of others remain interested in a full 3D concept). Note that I'm also not arguing that the Unleashed-Forces style of Modern gameplay is what is best for Sonic, or anything like that. There's just no rule saying he has to do full 3D, is all, especially if the 2.5D gameplay is better designed.

From this view, Colors is definitely one of the least alternative filler padded games in the franchise's Modern era.

[tailsBOOM!]

12 hours ago, MegasonicZX said:

Honestly, I don't think they really push the sonic and tails bro thing as much these days, instead favoring making the new character Sonic's new BFF for the week. 

Yeah, but it's just sad.  Sega needs to look at what they have instead of what they could.