#Mephiles boss fight is the only fun boss to play for me

[novirp13]

No, seriously. Mesphiles boss fight was so dang fun for me??? Legit the first stage I want to S-rank asap.

I never liked the Doom Morph skill. While Dash and Flying are easy to do because you just have to hold the Y button for the both of them, you have to press the B button for Homing Attack BUT hold the B button for swinging around with the Doom Morph skill. My brain cannot compute with the different button input! I often lost a lot of times and rings because I forgot to hold the button to swing, causing me to fell to my death.

CASE IN POINT:

Yeaaa...platformer games are not my strong suit...

However, in Mephiles boss fight, you won't fall to your death because the area is wide and circular. The cumbersome Doom Morph gimmick was enjoyable to play there and I was grinning from ear to ear from start to finish.

Ugh, I love this boss fight so much. If Mephiles had to come back and ruin the world just so I could fight such a fun boss battle once again, I would welcome him lickety split XD

[shootyrefutey]

Ok here's my thoughts on Shadow Generations:

What I loved:

The controls feel great. Jumping is great, boosting is too. Everything just works. And it's great.

The levels are varied and have a lot to offer. Aesthetically, they're stunning. They're twisted and packed full of detail and they so brilliantly distort. And the Doom Powers add a lot of complexity to it. Really can't wait to see some crazy speedruns.

Radical Highway in particular is quite noteworthy. Some really challenging but fair platforming that I can't wait to get good at.

The Doom Powers are good improvements to the abilities that Shadow had in 05 and 06. They serve as tools to gain speed and tools to attack, which makes it blend well into platforming. And they also managed to make them look badass and cohesive with the Black Arms aesthetic.

The hub worlds are very fun to explore. Loved being able to talk to characters and get nice dialogue.

Mephiles. I think having Mephiles and Shadow interact again was so interesting. Going through this sealed up labyrinth (probably because Mephiles and his time travelling is such a thorn in the side of the Time Eater). Hearing him be so desperate just to exist... wow. I hope that isn't the last we see of him.

Maria and Shadow's relationship was just cute.

The cutscenes were fluid, gorgeous and so expressive. When Shadow felt grief and pain, it really did show.

I just know I'm going to have fun during the process of grabbing all the collectibles.

They acknowledged Forces and made Sunset Heights so much better (this is personal to me as someone who has played more Forces than anyone should)

A lot of the concept art is things I have never seen before, so I will continue to eat it up.

What I didn't like:

There should have been a level inspired by Shadow the Hedgehog 2005. Something like Sky Troops, Circus Park, Black Comet or Digital Circuit would have been quite interesting. I could understand some hesitation because the SHtH stages aren't iconic, and the canonicity of these levels to Shadow's overall story is unclear (as the paths of SHtH are more metaphorical of Shadow's identity struggle rather than something literal). Still, I can't help but feel there was something missing.

The story just didn't hit with me in the way I hoped. None of it could really soak in because it was 4 hours long. The emotional beats of Shadow being overwhelmed with anger at Black Doom and him just longing to change the past were great themes I am glad were explored, but they just felt like moments. I think only the Mephiles part hit for me because I struggled to get the keys for a while, and I was in and out of that cave a few times. Got a little familiar with it.

There was no emphasis on DIE in 'it'll be a date to DIE for!' /j

Boss fights were cool and flashy but I doubt they'd be repayable in the long run. A lot of it was mashing a button. I think mechanically I enjoyed Metal Overlord the most, since it had the most gameplay to it.

Overall I fucking loved the game though. Maybe I need a little more time to chew on it. Probably another playthrough or two lmao. Please don't take my paragraphs the wrong way. My negatives are mostly just 'I want more', which should go to show how solid this game is.

[starlightsigner]

TLDR - game very good you should play it now

My final verdict on Sonic X Shadow Generations - 9/10 I am so so so excited for the future of Sonic right now ya’ll!!!!!

Sonic Generations was Sonic Generations, a great remaster of an already good game. I know ppl are really hating on Ian and the dialogue changes but I honestly can’t think of any I didn’t like off the top of my head, they didn’t always match with the animation but also they did what they could with what they had from the og cutscenes. Probably the best part was as the addition of Sonic responding to the people he saved in white space as opposed to blankly staring back at them, not only did this flesh out the scenes more but it made him feel less like a model and more like a character in those parts. The drop dash is in this game now but honestly I don’t think I used it once so I can’t say much about it. Planet Wisp is still the worst. I almost want to say that City Escape classic is the best but after taking a second it’s hard to say since Crisis City modern and Rooftop Run modern are there and also so good.

Shadow Generations was absolutely phenomenal. My biggest complaint is that it’s short, it took me over 7 hours but that’s because I was being a completionist and getting an S on every level I could (I’ve only got like 1 act, 3 challenges, and the final boss to bring up to S). Not really a complaint but the game is extremely forgiving with the grading. There were times where I struggled and knew I was going to have to do it again, get a B at most, and ended up with either an A or S.

Off the top of my head Sunset Heights was as my favorite level. No question hands down tho Metal Overlord was my favorite boss no question between Sonic and Shadow Generations. I thought I would hate it bc I’m not a big fan of doom surf and that fight is doom surf only, but it surprised me and surpassed my expectations. I was really hoping that the Mephiles fight would be my favorite, and it is in terms of the cutscenes that come with it, but that’s it for it. The Metal Overlord cutscenes and dialogue were cool and touched on Neo Metal’s inferiority complex while still having him be a threat and the fight itself was fun. On the other hand the Mephiles fight was the easiest boss in the Shadow campaign, narratively its great, how he starts super on the offensive, trying to intimidate Shadow and be a threat like he was in 06, but as soon as he realizes that it’s not working both bc Shadow got stronger and doesn’t remember him, Mephiles hard shifts into defense, hiding in the shadows and keeping distance. From the beginning of the fight he looks confident but what never changes throughout the fight is his palpable desperation and growing sense of hopelessness. Mephiles has been trapped in the scepter and banished to nonexistence since 06 and he KNOWS it, he was aware for every second he spent in the timeless void, and as soon as Shadow finds him he knows it’s his only chance to return to the timeline, he doesn’t have time for manipulation, there is no time, there is only him and his enemy and he knows that only one of them will be leaving that arena. Mephiles wastes absolutely no time, immediately coming from behind with one of his strongest attacks, the one that he used to kill Sonic. Not only did Shadow dodge, but he’s completely unfazed. He don’t remember the monster Mephiles is, he just knows that this weird shadow dude just tried to kill him. It’s all downhill from there for Mephiles, while Shadow keeps his composure and beets the ever loving crap out of him, Mephiles loses more and more control of his emotions until he’s on the ground scratching and clawing at anything he can to hold onto reality, all the while pleading that he only wants to exist. And Shadow could not care less. BUT THATS THE BEST PART. Shadow has no qualms about shutting Mephiles down, but if Sonic had found him instead it would have been a MUCH different encounter. He wouldn’t remember how terrible Mephiles is either, and a desperate cry to be free is something Sonic could not and would not ignore.

And of course there’s Maria and Gerald. Their interactions with shadow throughout the game were absolutely adorable and some were heart-wrenching. Hearing Maria tease shadow like the older sister she is and mention small bits about him like how me apparently never did his homework for space class just brings so much to him and their interactions, they’re familiar and comfortable with each other and it shows, I do wish that there had been more responses from Shadow either via body language or him talking back in non voiced lines. Gerald calling Shadow is son was so great to hear and he’s so intent on Shadow not telling them the future no matter how much he wants to avert their fate. He knows that something awful is going to happen to them, he sees Shadow’s desperation to hold onto them, and he knows that despite all the heartache that thy’ll face the past must be maintained, if not for the stability of the universe, then for the growth and life outside of the ARK that it gave his son and for all the people Shadow has helped.

The main narrative is great, but for me what shined was the missable interactions with the npcs you can get after every level and boss. Each once has something new to say every time and even if the dialogue ultimately amounts to nothing it’s a detail that the devs didn’t have to include but it it being there just shows how much love and polish went into this. Omega remains the funniest Sonic character and some of the lore they drop with/through Big the Cat is insane.

Black Doom tho, as much as he’s the main antagonist and literally ingrained into the world he doesn’t feel extremely relevant or present. They should have had the doom eye follow and harass him more, goad him and feed into his anger and negative emotions. Towards the end of the game Maria and Gerald see Shadow start to give into his anger and it feeds the black arms in him, for a moment they’re scared of him, they later say they aren’t but all you have to do is watch the cutscene, they both recoil in fear and Gerald holds Maria to protect her until she breaks free of the fear and brings Shadow back to his senses. She pleads with him to let go of that anger, that it’s not who he is, and that lovely and fine, but it doesn’t feel earned bc at no point prior to this does Shadow’s anger cause a problem. Before the final fight he tells her that he’s let go of that destructive anger, but we haven’t seen that destructive anger, just the barest glimpse of what it could be. For me this just made Maria’s very sweet and innocent plea for her brother to be ‘good not bad’ falls a bit flat.

Gameplay wise its controls fantastic for a boat game. Chaos control works great and Shadow’s base kit just feels good to play. The doom powers are hit or miss with doom spear and doom wing being the best, doom surf being ehhh, and doom morph just at times being outright difficult to control. But even with that none of it feels bad, the worst just takes time to get used to and the best is fun and intuitive right out the gate, nothing bad I have to say about the gameplay or controls impacts the experience enough to knock the score down.

This got sooooooo much longer than I intended lol but I have a lot to say and I didn’t even say it all.

If you enjoy Sonic games I highly recommend this. Even if you didn’t like og Generations there’s a good chance this improved something for you and the Shadow campaign alone is worth looking into even if you don’t touch Sonic’s side.

I loved this game and I can not wait for the next non reboot/remake (except I will wait as long as I need bc if they rush again I will be so disappointed and sand)

Anyway play Sonic X Shadow Generations

[owlixx]

Sonic Wishlist: NPCs I’d Like to Play As/Crossovers

Uhhhh yesterday I thought this would be a fun list to put to hehehe so I left Infinite and Mephiles for it…only to realize that there are precious few other characters left in this franchise they haven’t been playable in any form, and even those two are at least in the phone game. Vanilla the Rabbit is probably the biggest other one and I’m not even sure there’s a canon 3D model of her.

Uhhhh, the president? The GUN commander from shadow? Gerald robotnik? Omochao? Professor Pickle and the strange little creature from Unleashed? The sketchy black market chao salesman? Cubot and orbot?

I suppose boss fights are the closest source of unplayed characters but even then…the biolizard? Hard boiled heavies? The motobug?

I think maybe the funniest one would be Princess Elise without a doubt.

As for crossover characters I’d like to see in a sonic game, I already listed the obvious NiGHTS and Samba De Amigo but I’d love to see Hatsune Miku and Danica Patrick since she was in that one sonic racing game, I just think it would be funny. House of the Dead references always crack me up too. I’m kind of surprised we haven’t gotten Kiryu from Yakuza in any crossover capacity yet.

We’ve gotten sonic in monkey ball but the reverse could be fun, especially in 2D sonic.

Besides that, I’ll just have to hold out for a Vectorman or Comix Zone reference.

[crusherthedoctor]

Can you list anything you unironically like in the games (and cartoons and comics) that you don't like?

I won't bother mentioning music, since that goes without saying and is to be expected for a Sonic game... unless you're Chronicles.

Sonic Adventure 2 (mixed gameplay-wise, annoying story-wise) - While I prefer Sonic's SA1 levels for a number of reasons, I still think his and Shadow's gameplay in SA2 is fun on its own merit. I also don't mind the treasure hunting gameplay returning or how big the levels are this time around, since Knuckles and Rouge are still fast and not '06 levels of slow. It's mainly the gimped radar that creates the unfortunate domino effect of making them a problem.

- Introduced Rouge, one of my favourite characters for how playful she is and how she's a lot more nuanced and intelligent than you'd expect.

- Some genuinely good scenes, like Eggman's trap on the A.R.K and Sonic escaping from the G.U.N. helicopter.

- Had some good ideas going for it, like the Pyramid Base and the Biolizard as a scientific monster instead of an ancient one.

- Despite my thoughts on the backstory itself (or rather, its execution), Shadow has enough depth and subtle qualities and occasional unintended hilarity to stand out from the typical dark rival characters you see in media.

- The Last Scene's music in particular is one of my favourite cutscene tracks in the series.

Sonic Heroes (mixed gameplay-wise, loathed story-wise) - The gameplay is fun when you're not being screwed over by repetitive combat, overly long levels and/or ice physics.

- Boasts some of the most consistently Genesis-worthy environments in the 3D games, up there with SA1's and Colours'.

- The in-game dialogue that isn't the same tutorial drivel repeated ad nauseam can be interesting, funny, etc.

- Reintroduced the Chaotix, which provided me with another character I quite like in the form of Vector.

- Bringing Metal Sonic back in full force and front and center in the plot after a long absence (not counting cameos and the like) is a perfectly fine idea. Just... not like this.

Sonic Battle (decent yet repetitive gameplay, mixed story-wise) - Emerl's arc is compelling, and it earns the emotional weight of having to put him down at the end.

- While some characters are iffy (read: Amy), other characters are extremely well-handled. Shadow is probably the prime example.

- Gamma's belly dance healing animation is fucking hilarious.

- When I was young, and the game was first announced, I was really excited about being able to play as Chaos. This proved to be my downfall when it turned out he was arguably one of the worst characters in the game due to being slower than me during the writing process, but I still recall that excitement fondly.

Shadow the Hedgehog (comedy classic) - The sheer amount of legendary stupidity this game has going for it makes it practically impossible to actually hate. It helps that it's not quite as white-knighted on the same level as '06... usually. You know you're in for a unique experience when you hear a gunshot every time you click something in the menu.

- By extension, Black Doom never gained an unironic fanbase like Mephiles/Scourge/Eggman Nega did, which means I'm a lot more willing to take Doom's dumbass brand of villainy in stride. He even has a unique design... a terrible one that rips off Wizeman granted, but alas, even that is a step-up from Fridge Shadow and Bumblebee Eggman.

- Despite being... well, Shadow the Hedgehog, some of the environments would fit right in with any other Sonic game, like with Circus Park, Lava Shelter, and Digital Circuit. Even the Black Comet levels look pretty cool.

- This game understands amnesia better than IDW does.

Sonic '06 (what do you think?) - The obvious one: Shadow's character was handled pretty well, even if it came at the cost of everyone else being a dummy and being forced to interact with Mephiles.

- Like SA2, there are some good moments, like the Last Story ending sequence with Sonic and Elise.

- In the greatest form of irony ever, I like Solaris as a concept and design(s), and its backstory has potential to serve as a parallel with Chaos without being a complete ripoff. Iblis sucks, Mephiles sucks, but I'm fine with Solaris.

- Introduced legendary characters like Sonic Man, Pele the Beloved Dog, Hatsun the Pigeon, and Pacha from The Emperor's New Groove.

The Rivals duology (apathetic outside of Nega-related grumbling) - There were some cool zone ideas in both games that were sadly let down by the restrictive and limiting gameplay. I particularly like Colosseum Highway for thus far being the only full-on Roman level in the series instead of merely having a couple minor hints of Roman, and Meteor Base for the unique scenario of the space station being built into an asteroid. These level concepts and others deserve a second chance IMO. (At least Frontier Canyon got a second chance in the form of Mirage Saloon, amirite?)

- Ifrit has a better design than Iblis. Not saying it's amazing, but the Firebird motif it has going on is a lot more interesting for a fire monster than the Not-Chaos schtick they had with Iblis.

Sonic and the Secret Rings (a very frustrating gaming experience) - Erazor Djinn, A.K.A. Qui-Gon Djinn, A.K.A. Dr. N. Djinn, A.K.A. I'll Take It On The Djinn, A.K.A. Not From The Hairs On My Djinny Djinn Djinn, is one of the best villains not associated with Eggman in the series. He's a Mephiles-type character done right, and there's actual weight and reason to his actions, however sinister or petty.

- I don't have strong opinions either way on Shahra as a character, but the Sonic/Shahra friendship is sweet and well-handled.

- The ending is one of Sonic's greatest moments. The sheer contrast between how ruthlessly he deals with Erazor and how comforting he is towards Shahra speaks volumes... Still gonna make fun of the mountain of handkerchiefs though. (Before anyone lectures me, I understand the significance of it and can even appreciate it from that angle... doesn't mean I'm not allowed to poke fun at it. :P)

- Another game with some redeeming environments. I love the aesthetic of Night Palace, and Sand Oasis looks gorgeous too.

Sonic Chronicles (my personal least favourite game in the series) - Uh...

- Um...

- Er...

- I like Shade's design?

Sonic Unleashed (overrated game and story IMO) - The obvious two: the opening sequence and the Egg Dragoon fight deserve all the praise they get.

- Seeing Eggmanland come to life was an impressive moment to be sure. While part of me does feel it didn't quite measure up to what I had in mind (ironically, the Interstellar Amusement Park ended up being closer to what I had in mind), it still looks badass and works well for what it is. I also don't mind the idea of it being a one-level gauntlet... key word being idea.

- Obviously, the game looks great. Not a fan of the real world focus (real world inspiration is fine, but copy-pasting the real world and shoving loops in it is just unimaginative), but it can't be denied that the environments look good.

- This game pulled off dialogue options a lot better than Chronicles did, since they didn't rely on making Sonic OoC.

Sonic and the Black Knight (just kind of boring all around) - Despite my gripes with the story (Merlina wasn't nearly as fleshed out as her unique anti-villain status deserved, which ends up severely undermining the ambition of the plot in more ways than one, and the other characters go from being useless yes men for King Arthur to being useless yes men for Sonic), I will admit it provides interesting insight into Sonic's character.

- Like '06 and Secret Rings, the ending is very nice... well, aside from Amy being an unreasonable bitch ala Sonic X at the very end.

Sonic the Hedgehog 4 (apathetic) - The admittedly few new concepts sprinkled within had promise. They may not have been as fleshed out as they could have been, but level concepts like Sylvania Castle and White Park, bosses like Egg Serpentleaf and the Egg Heart, and story beats like the Death Egg mk.II being powered by Little Planet, all could have been brilliant had they been better executed.

SatAM (apathetic outside of SatAM Robotnik-related grumbling) - I'm not a fan of the environments on the whole due to them looking too bland or samey, but there are some exceptions that look pleasant or interesting, like the Void.

Sonic Underground (apathetic) - The character designs make me feel better about myself.

- Does "large quantities of unintentional meme material" count as a positive?

Sonic X (mostly apathetic outside of Eggman's handling) - Helen was a better human character and audience surrogate in her one focus episode than Chris was throughout his entire runtime.

- Actually, most of the human characters not named Chris were legitimately likable. Including everyone in Chris' own family not named Chris. Hilarious.

- Despite arguably having the most Chris in it, I actually don't mind the first season that much, partly due to slight nostalgia from seeing it on TV when it was new, but mostly because Eggman actually acted like a villain for the most part, and certain other characters weren't quite as flanderized yet. It's season 2 and onwards where things started going off the rails IMO. (Incidentally, Helen's episode was part of season 1...)

The Boom franchise (apathetic) - Along with Chronicles, the games provide yet more proof that just because someone isn't SEGA/Sonic Team, that doesn't mean they're automatically more qualified to handle the series.

- The show had some good episodes here and there, and Tails' characterization was probably the most consistently on-point out of the cast.

- Despite not exactly being favourite portrayals for either character, even I'll admit that many of Knuckles and Eggman's lines in the show on their own were genuinely funny.

Archie Sonic (pre-reboot is mostly terrible, post-reboot is mostly... bland) - Whenever I doubt myself as a writer, I think back to Ken Penders, and suddenly I'm filled with a lot more confidence.

Sonic the Comic (apathetic) - Fleetway isn't a comic I tend to recall much of aside from how much of a loathesome cunt Sonic is, but IIRC, Robotnik's portrayal is pretty good. Different, but good.

IDW Sonic (stop pissing me off, comic) - Putting their handling aside (and being too obviously "inspired" by MGS in the latter's case), Tangle and Whisper are good characters IMO.

- Same goes for Starline, before he was killed off-screen and replaced with Toothpaste Snively.

- Execution aside (noticing a pattern?), the zombot virus was a fine concept on its own and an interesting new scheme for Eggman.

- I get to remind myself that I've never drawn scat edits and posted them publicly on Twitter.

[disrepairhouse]

Chapter 19 - School Trip Day Two

“What do you suppose that earthquake was yesterday?”

“I don’t know.  I hope it doesn’t happen again today, though.”

“Yeah, I heard one of the teachers saying if anything more happens they’re going to cut the trip short.”

There was a brief moment of silence amongst the group of children as they walked along the busy shopping center path.  Three of the six were grouped together chatting amongst themselves, mostly about yesterday’s events.  Two were walking a step or two behind the others listening to the conversation of their classmates.  However, they preferred their own topics of conversation about the day’s plans, and how best to accomplish what they were supposed to do in the shopping center. The last of the group was, as usual, much further back, closer to the unamused, unwilling chaperone robot that was just barely within eyesight of the group of children.

While they went about their chattering, Metal Sonic was doing his best to resist the urge to attack everyone around him, including the children he’d been put in charge of.  His proximity meters were throwing constant warnings on his internal screens, which he had to forcibly ignore as he was unable to turn them off entirely. He was going to destroy RK when he returned from this awful trip.

At some point, the children had stopped walking, allowing Metal and the straggler to catch up.  He stopped as they all looked up at him expectantly and raised an eyebrow, unsure of what they wanted.  He glanced to the straggler, wondering if she had answers, as she often seemed to when the others said nothing to his gaze.

“This is one of the stops we’re supposed to explore,” Itara explained, sounding as interested in the prospect as he looked.

Reading the sign above the small shop, he mentally sighed and crossed his arms.  It was some kind of bakery or another.  “Then what are you waiting for me for? If you know what you’re supposed to do, just do it,” he waved, turning away from them.  The day had only just started and he was already tired of it.

“You’re supposed to chaperone us, not constantly leave us to our devices,” Sceira responded with a barely contained hint of annoyance.  Metal, at least, picked up on it easily enough and glanced back at the scorpion girl.  She did her best to hide it, or what he assumed was her best attempt, but it was all too easy for him to read the constant irritation she held with both him and Itara.  It would be amusing if it wasn’t equally infuriating.  He was being bossed around by an actual child.  Itara was much older than she appeared and not even she got away with bossing him about, Sceira was exactly the age she appeared.

It would be all too easy to abandon them all right now, though.

He was under no one’s control any longer and he had all his limbs again.  If he wanted to, he could leave right then and never return and never have to deal with any of these children, demi-gods, or haunted dolls again.  RK would be furious with him for leaving the Mephiles-spawn on her own, but how much did Metal honestly care?  She clearly still had access to her powers somehow, even if she didn’t know how to control them, they were still there.  If push came to shove, he didn’t doubt she could defend herself.  Besides, how much mortal danger could a splice of a God possibly ever be in?  Even if she ‘died’, wouldn’t she just return to the rest of Solaris?

Glancing down towards the children again, while the others were staring up at him with a mix of concern and confusion, the tiny immortal was staring off elsewhere, her ears pinned against her head.  Curious of her sudden focus, he followed her eyesight to a shop across the path with a bright, neon sign and a number of colorful paintings and decorations on the window.  An arcade.

Well, he did have a score to settle, now that he had his other arm.

He would defeat her at her ‘games’ first, then maybe he would take off.  It’s not like he wouldn’t have time later, after all.

Looking back to the other children, then back towards the shop they were supposed to be inspecting, he gave it a moment of thought before finally motioning towards the door.  “Fine, then.  Head in and get this over with already,” he stated flatly, grabbing Itara’s attention again, as the children filed inside, Itara and Metal taking up the rear, as usual. The children went right to searching for the answers to their questions, filling out packets similar to the ones from the art museum.  Metal remained near the door but Sceira went to the counter to ask more direct questions.

After a quick conversation in the back, the owner came out and offered to give the children a tour of the back and explain how everything was made.  Deciding that was his opportunity, Metal grabbed a small bead from the shop window and flicked it at the back of Itara’s head, putting a finger up to silence her when she looked back and nodded towards the door before leaving the little bakery.  Itara glared between him and her classmates, making sure they weren’t paying attention to her before following him outside.

“What was that for?!” she hissed, glaring up at him, though he gave no answer and instead only nodded again, this time towards the arcade. Itara looked back and forth between the shop and the arcade for a moment, unsure, but finally nodded and followed him across the street.  She only cared about the bakery for the potential of getting a free cookie but she hadn’t even seen cookies in the outer room so she dismissed the idea. They were all Danishes and fancy cakes that hardly looked edible.

“I have both my arms now and RK isn’t here to let you win, so I have a score to settle with you, Left-Foot,” Metal warned, getting a handful of the tokens they would need.

“That just sounds like a lot of excuses as to why I beat you, Sparky,” Itara grinned, scouting the games out and moving to a fighting game, though changed her mind quickly enough and moved, instead, to a side-scrolling beat-em-up.

Metal, however, grinned at the sudden change, “And yet, you didn’t want to play the fighting game.”

“Sh-Shut up!  Get over here and f-fight!”

Metal gave a short laugh, but followed and handed her half the tokens, saying nothing more as they started the game.  The opening cinematic played and the two characters, hardly any different in model besides the colors, appeared with witty one-liners to open the first stage.  The game, itself, was little more than an old-school side-scroller, but both Metal Sonic and Itara took the challenge with an intensity fellow arcade goers couldn’t help but notice.

Neither of them said a single word to the other as they caught the attention of a stray gaze, followed by another curious mobian that caught sight of the first one watching.  A couple that had just finished their game and was walking past stopped to watch, adding to the group, but it went entirely unnoticed by either players.  Metal Sonic’s screens alerted him to the approaching bodies but it continued to remain background noise as he focused on the game.  Itara blocked it out completely.

With the first stage cleared and a short cut-scene playing, Itara’s ears perked back up after they’d been pressed so firmly against her head, catching the sound of someone else pushing their way through the small ring of watchers.  Metal Sonic kept his sights on the game, but Itara glanced towards them, frowning when she saw Sceira and the other girl in their group.

“Excuse me, but this is not what we’re supposed to be doing here today,” Sceira scowled once the girl she’d brought informed her that the two were aware of her presence.  The small crowd looked down at the girls while Itara hissed under breath. Metal remained silent, not wanting to be pulled away from the game, but sighed after a short mental debate and stood back up at straight, turning to the children.

“Did you finish your tour?”

“Yes.  We did. Not that Itara will know what we learned now,” Sceira growled.

“Not that Itara cares, either,” Itara muttered under her breath, glaring towards the screen.  They were about to lose a life if they didn’t get back to the game. Metal came to the same realization but internally sighed.  He and Itara could come back to the arcade later, he supposed.  They were staying in the general area throughout most the day, there’d likely be a better time to slip away unnoticed.

“Fine, fine, let’s move onto the next thing then, I suppose,” he shrugged, walking away from the arcade cabinet and following the children out of the building.  Itara looked between them and the game a couple times, the distress of losing their progress more evident on her face than it had been on Metal’s, before sighing dramatically and following, as well.  She knew having Sceira in their group would ruin all her fun!

With considerably more reluctance, the group moved on to the next stop, much slower than Metal would have preferred due to the children’s need to stop and stare and explore everything along the way. Itara’s clumsy footing and the crowds didn’t do much to help, either, as more than once the tiny immortal got tripped up by shopper in a rush or a stray crack in the pavement.  Metal was starting to understand why RK carried her everywhere, left to her own devices, and without the ability to float, she was entirely left-footed.  He was having a hard time deciding between letting her trip about for his own amusement or picking her up and saving them all some time.

Once she started lagging behind after the third stop, he waited until she caught up before grabbing her around the waist, catching the tiny hedgehog by surprise, and lifting her up onto his shoulders.  He smirked at the squawk of surprise before wiping it quickly from his face.  “You’re too slow.”

Itara’s cheeks puffed, glaring down at the robot, before glaring off to the side, mumbling incoherently under her breath.  The other kids in the group looked back and up at them, a look of amusement spreading across a couple of their faces, but after recalling the warning from Itara, turned back towards the street to continue their search for the next location.  It was at this next location that Metal realized they had another opportunity to escape back to the arcade, noting that having Itara on his shoulders sped the trip up and they could get at least a couple rounds of something in and be back before the others noticed.

However, as soon as the children were distracted and he walked out of the building to take off in a sprint back down the street, another group of Itara’s classmates walked up from the opposite side.  Though, unlike their group, this group comprised of two others and was a considerable horde coming their way.  It would be harder to escape unnoticed.  While Metal managed to resist a sigh of frustration, Itara was less in control of her verbal reactions and gave a quiet curse from her spot.

Of course, as soon as Metal recognized one of the other parents as Susan, he found it increasingly difficult to keep his own curse under control.

“Oh, Itara, Sparky!  Funny seeing you here!” the other woman called once she spotted them, giving a wave while Susan only reacted to their presence with a silent scowl. Metal, however, only scowled back at Itara for the ever-present nickname.  Did RK really have to use it for this trip?!  He couldn’t come up with anything else?!  Itara avoided his gaze when he glared back at her, however, prompting him to remove her from his shoulders.  They wouldn’t be going anywhere any time soon so there was no need for him to continue carrying her.  She pouted for only a moment when she was returned to the ground, but turned back towards the rest of her group after a moment.

“Considering we’re all around this shopping center for several hours today, I find it highly unlikely that our meeting is anything but inevitable,” Metal anguished, crossing his arms and looking away from them all.

“Unfortunately,” Susan added, looking away, as well, before returning her attention to Itara, “shouldn’t you be with the rest of your group rather than out here?  Surely you aren’t relying on the others to answer the questions for you?”

Itara’s eyes narrowed, glaring at Susan over her shoulder before returning her gaze to the shop, “maybe I’ve already answered it and they’re all just being slow.”

“Then you should be making sure everyone has the correct answer.”

There was a brief moment of silence as Metal resisted the urge to silence the woman, himself, and Itara debated a retort. Before long, however, the other woman interrupted in an attempt to lighten the tense atmosphere, turning her attention to Metal, “Have you been around this area before?”

“I have.”

“It’s such an interesting city, isn’t it?  I’ve never been here before this trip but I’ve always wanted to visit.”  Metal glanced towards the two women.  Susan, he was aware lived on their street and often associated with Lynda.  The other, he believed, was named Veronica, another human. There were so many of those around this area, Soleanna and Spagonia.  Though perhaps that was for the better, a mobian would be more likely to recognize him, not that humans wouldn’t.  At least these humans seemed mostly unaware of his existence, though he questioned how much of that was from the reset timeline and how much was from their natural ignorance.  In any case, he was unsure why they were suddenly so keen on talking to him.

“You’re awfully tall for a mobian, though.  I’ve met a lot of the other parents at the school, including the mobians, you and Itara’s other guardian are… rather tall compared to… well, all of them,” Veronica continued.

Metal glanced down towards Itara, unsure of how to answer, only to find that she had already taken off to return to their group, leaving him alone with the human women.  That little brat.  Looking up again, he gave it a quick thought, shrugging, “I suppose.  Maybe they’re all short.”  In their original designs, both he and RK more closely resembled Sonic and Knuckles, being the same height and build as their mobian counterparts.  It was only after years of upgrades and perfecting that they reached their current height and builds.

Veronica laughed, though Metal wasn’t sure what she could possibly have thought was funny, but Susan only narrowed her eyes further, studying him sharply.  As much as he didn’t trust any of them, he trusted that one the least.  Her eyes were constantly scanning, studying, judging, hunting for exploitations.  More than any of them, this one couldn’t learn of their true nature.  It was best they all kept their distance from Susan.

“Hey, some of us chaperones are planning to go out for drinks later tonight, after all the kids are back at the hotel and in for the night. Would you like to come?” Veronica offered, smiling, the question sparking a scowl from Susan.

“I’m not interested.”  It’s not like he could drink, anyway.

Veronica’s smile faded, but only for a brief moment, turning instead to an almost starry gaze, “Oh, I see.  Is it because you’d rather stay near the kids?  I suppose if all of us go out, no one would be around to watch them. But we’re just going to the bar connected to the hotel, we wouldn’t be far.”

Metal had to debate this for a moment.  As little as he actually cared about any of the children, or their chaperones, for that matter, it did offer a better excuse for his disinterest.  How covert was this operation, exactly, though?  How much interest was he required to show in the others?  RK didn’t explain enough of this situation to him. Then again… he rarely had to interact with others.  Yet RK did it daily, and had been for some time.  Well, Metal could handle this.  If RK could do it, so could he.

“I need to keep a close eye on Itara,” he explained. “It’s been some time since she’s been away from RK for such a long period of time and we’re unsure how she’ll react.  So far she seems to be fine, but the longer it is, the worse she might get.”

“Oh?  Poor girl, does she not deal with separation well?”

“Not particularly, no.”  Metal scanned through his files quickly and continued, “She’s very dependent at times, and it’s why I’m on this trip.  RK was unable to come, himself, so he asked me to accompany her to ensure she’d be alright.”

“How sweet of you to do that for them, then,” Veronica smiled, “I heard the poor girl went through a rough time right at the beginning of the school year so it’s nice to hear she has such a supportive family taking care of her.”

Right.  RK shared those files with him just recently.  After the reset, they ran into the mobian parents of the child he kidnapped for the experiment, only for them to die in a house fire not long after. Even Metal could tell how upset Itara was about the ordeal, her attempts at hiding it were subpar at best and he had caught her regular attempt to pretend they never existed nowadays.  It was a fine enough excuse, he supposed.

“RK certainly makes sure she’s well taken care of,” he smirked, glancing towards the returning group of children, Itara in-tow. “Isn’t that right, Left-Foot?”

Itara glared up at him when she heard him, looking between him and the other adults, crossing her arms, “I don’t know, but for my own sake I’m going to say ‘no’.  What are you talking about?”

“Your Momma Bear.”

“You should stop picking up nicknames from Kipper.”

“You should stop picking nicknames altogether.”

“Who is Kipper?”

Itara and Metal both looked to Susan, remaining silent before Metal explained, “An annoyance.”  Turning back to the children now, he questioned, “Did you finish here?” Getting nods from them all, he continued, “then we should continue so we can hurry and finish.”

“Actually, it’s just about lunch time, isn’t it?” Veronica asked, looking at her watch before smiling at Metal again, “we’re all supposed to meet up again for lunch so why don’t we all just head there together?”

“Right… lunch.”  At least Susan appeared no less frustrated with the suggestion than Metal felt, it seemed she wasn’t overly fond of his presence, either.  It briefly sparked a need to stick around longer, just to inconvenience her as much as he could, but he no longer deemed the prospect worthy after a moment of thought.  Instead, he pulled Itara back up onto his shoulders and motioned for their group to continue on.  Whether Susan and Veronica followed was their decision.  Veronica apparently decided for them, collecting the rest of the children and following after him.  For the purpose of talking to him still.

“At least with everyone back together again it’ll give us some much needed rest, right?  We’ll finally be able to sit down for a little while.”

“I’m not so easily tired out,” Metal responded coldly. His energy reserves may not have been in peak condition due to the damage, but that didn’t mean a couple hours walking around a city shopping center at a snail’s pace would deplete them so easily.

“Really?  I envy you, then.  I’m afraid I’m already starting to get tired out,” Veronica gave an uneasy laugh, “What about you, Itara?  Looking forward to lunch?”

Itara, who had been shifting about on Metal’s shoulders trying to find a comfortable position since he wasn’t fluffy like RK, stopped squirming just long enough to look over at the other parent.  She didn’t even know whose mom it was, since she at least knew she wasn’t a teacher, and was curious why she was so set on talking to Metal at the moment.  “I s-suppose. I am hungry,” she stammered, looking away again, “Sparky, you aren’t as comfortable as RK.”

Metal glared up at her, “Would you rather walk?  The only reason I’m carrying you is because you’re so slow.  I can just as easily leave you behind, Left-Foot.”

Itara went back to grumbling while Veronica gave another short laugh, gaining her a side-eyed glance from both of them.  When she noticed, she threw her hands up in defense, explaining, “Sorry, it’s just cute listening to your banter.  You must really be close.”  Itara’s face flushed up at the insinuation, moving to cross her arms but after a panicked flail, quickly grabbed back onto Metal’s head. Metal only glared and huffed, preparing to deny her claims, but remembered his earlier statement and remained silent.  Perhaps he should at least pretend to care about the tiny child’s well-being.  For now.  Besides, he was sure Itara would launch into a denial soon, anyway.

The rest of the walk to the lunch destination was hardly silent.  Veronica was plenty talkative, though not nearly as pushy as Lynda, nor prying as Susan, and the children were hardly any different.  Though at least the children kept their conversations amongst themselves, Veronica and Susan practically demanded Metal’s constant attention the entire walk.  They asked about his work, his relationship with Itara, his past with RK, the apparent ‘injuries’ he sustained at ‘work’ –which Itara had to answer for him –even at one point suggesting he should join the school’s ‘PTA’, whatever that was. Metal had no interest in any of it and wanted nothing more than to return to the safety and silence of the lab back home.

By the time they finally reached the restaurant, and met back up with the rest of Itara’s class, Metal was in desperate need of an escape. Setting Itara back down again, he informed her that he was going for another run and would be back soon, but once again, he was stopped before he could get far.  What hellish influence did these organics command?!  Turning, once again, to Veronica’s curious gaze, he gave a short ‘what’ and resisted the urge to start tapping his foot.

“You don’t want to get lunch first?”

“No.  Now, if you’ll excuse me-.”

“You should at least get something ordered before you take off, otherwise you might miss the chance to eat.”

Metal’s claws flexed as he strained to keep his temper in check, getting tired of the humans are their constant interruptions.  As his eyes glowed with his frustrations, however, Itara edged her way back over and grabbed Veronica’s attention.  Whether she picked up on his mood or simply demanded the attention, he didn’t know nor care.  All he saw was a brief moment to finally escape and wasted no time in taking it. He was out the door and gone before Itara could even finish her sentence.

Itara watched the empty space behind him a moment before shaking her head and turning her attention to Veronica, “C-Can you help me find the b-bathroom, please?  It’s so… there’s so many of us it’s hard to move… and I’m so much smaller…”

Veronica looked back towards the door, blinking, but returned her attention to the small hedgehog asking her help and smiled, “Of course.  Come on.” Itara took her hand once she held it out to her and they skirted their way around the large group of children to find the bathrooms, which were at the back of the restaurant and required a bit of snaking through people to reach.

[the-sapphire-general]

My Thoughts and Feelings on Sonic Forces

Well, I played Sonic Forces recently, and before anyone decides to ask, I finished it...but I will not upload a playthrough of it. I changed my mind after going through the entire game, which didn't take too long. Well, actually I didn't even finish the game. I watched the rest of it online because...well I'll explain shortly. I decided to delete whatever videos I recorded and any screenshots I took with the exception of one. The playthrough I was excited to do for a long time has been cancelled. Yes, my first cancelled playthrough. This isn't just my thoughts and feelings about a game unlike Final Fantasy 15 and Crash N. Sane Trilogy where I simply praise it and say little criticism (but really, Crash didn't need any since I don't mind any of their minor changes). Sonic forces me to write this review. Get it? lol But let's get serious. This is my own review of Sonic Forces.

Oh boy, where do I even begin? Sonic Forces, the latest Sonic game in the franchise was released on November 7th, 2017. What do I think? Well, hang on to your seats because I will tell you....It is a disappointment. Yeah. You heard me. It's not a very good game, and this is coming from a longtime Sonic the Hedgehog fan who enjoys the games regardless of what other people think. Even I'm still shocked that I feel this way towards this game, a game I was so excited to play ever since it was announced only to have it all gone after I got my hands on it. I was so hyped for Forces, you had no idea how I felt throughout each month, excited just like everyone else as I saved money for it. Apparently, that money should have been better off being locked in my bunny bank and spent on another game.

I now officially understand what a lot of fans have been feeling for years despite the fact I enjoy the games they claim to dislike or flat-out hate. I never had any expectations for Sonic games as long as I had fun with them, but I got caught in all the hype because I actually had expectations. I had so many of them that I hoped Sega could deliver well to repair the Sonic series' reputation and get people to stop being hateful, only to find myself siding with them. Unlike them, however, I do not hate the Sonic series out of the blue. I just hate this particular game. You may be asking, "Why don't you hate Sonic '06? What about Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric/Shattered Crystal?" First of all, back in 2006, I hardly knew much about Sonic '06, and because I didn't own a PS3 or an Xbox 360, I couldn't check out the game for myself. Second of all, it's been 11 years now, and there's no point in me hating it. Sure, I bought it in what? 2014? The vitriol towards it died down, so it doesn't matter whether or not I hated it. In fact, I don't hate it. It's alright, but not as great as Sonic Colors, Sonic Generations, Sonic Rush, Sonic and the Secret Rings, and Sonic and the Black Knight (my favorite Sonic games). As mentioned in a Sonic fandom post I wrote before, I only hated Princess Elise (you should know why, it's because of what she did that pissed me off) and Mephiles (again, you should know why. Hint: The Last Story.). But that doesn't mean I was blind to see why people loathe Sonic '06, and all those reasons have been repeated over and over and over, so I will not go any further by writing my own review. There's no point. As for Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric and Shattered Crystal, I never played them because I don't have the consoles, but I did watch gameplay for both...they don't impress me, but I don't despise them.

With that tangent out of the way, Sonic Forces was the first game where I had a lot of expectations. I mean, Dr. Eggman takes over almost the entire world and Sonic and his friends form the Resistance to start a war to end his tyranny while facing a new adversary that managed to easily defeat Sonic, so they have to find a way to stop him as well. Also, a new recruit (aka your avatar) joins them to fight Eggman, and the avatar can be designed by the player. The premise sounded so cool at the time, and I was aware of the avatar creator causing concerns, and you want to know what my expectations were for this game? A Sonic game that had a great story to fit with the war theme that was going on, a difficulty spike, amazing gameplay, a fun avatar creator, challenges to unlock stuff for my avatar, cool missions, tons of levels to explore, and Infinite being the most intimidating villain ever. I have been going on for a while, so I will say this. All my expectations were destroyed.

Okay, at last I can get to the game itself to get all of this off my chest. Sonic Forces was a major disappointment. I don't know what ticked me off the most, the story, the gameplay, I don't know, but they all disappointed me. From all the hype it was getting, Sonic Forces had a good story idea, which kind of reminded me of the SatAM Sonic cartoon, but without the Freedom Fighters from the show and the super dark tone (I would have hated to see Sally Acorn in this game, but that's just me). The story, as much as I love the concept, failed to deliver. It had so much potential! The story had a lot of potential to be great, but instead of an interesting storyline to match with the hype and its concept, it came out as a rushed story. Well, rushed and just plain boring. Not much happens in it, and it had a lot of great ideas that just weren't executed well. I know this is a series meant for kids, so we shouldn't expect it to be an utterly in-depth story, but they could have done so much with it. Eggman conquers most of the world and Sonic runs in hopes of thwarting his plans, only to encounter Infinite, Eggman's new ally and a new adversary for Sonic. Sounds cool, right? Wrong. Infinite's introduction was rushed, and Sonic was defeated too fast. As much as I loathe seeing Sonic get hurt, his fight and defeat should have had a better impact. After he's captured, all of Sonic's friends form a resistance, and six months have passed since Sonic disappeared. It is assumed that he might be dead, but nobody shows genuine concern. Amy does, but it was barely there. Yes, they have to find a way to stop Eggman, but what about Sonic??? Did they actually care? How did they feel? How did these six months affect them? Again, the series is for children, but that doesn't mean Sega should ignore being realistic or not add depth to their characters. If I had lost someone I love, a mad scientist conquered almost the whole world, and six months have passed with no word about the person I care about, I would not be calm. I would be anxious, frustrated, basically stressed by all the chaos while I fear that my hypothetical friend may be dead. I would be sort of like Shadow, but without trying to get revenge on all of humanity. I wouldn't be as dark as him, but I would to a degree.

Now they later find Sonic imprisoned, and it was mentioned he was tortured during those six months. He didn't look or act like he suffered. He was pretty happy, like he's been only imprisoned for like twenty minutes. Now I love Sonic, and seeing him unharmed did give me relief, but it should have been handled better. I said I love Sonic, right? You should know already that I'm a fangirl (a sane one, might I add), and watching him get hurt gives me the urge to protect him. I don't like seeing that, but despite my own feelings, Sega should have went for the torture idea other than just mentioning it. They should have written it to have Sonic actually experience being tortured. Yeah. To make a good story, you have to "kill your own darlings", meaning you should make them suffer, go through obstacles, and deal with conflict because that's how reality works and that’s how we identify and feel for characters. It doesn't mean you should literally kill them, but it can work if your story requires it. I was happy to see that Sonic was fine, but at the same time, I felt like I was tricked. The game was supposed to have you go on a rescue mission and treat it like a serious deal. After all, Sonic is in danger, we have to save him! But no. He's fine, and it made us look like idiots for believing he was in peril.

Now to speed things up, Sonic and the avatar fight to reclaim the world from Engman’s rule and they battle Infinite, a new enemy who uses the Phantom Ruby, a ruby that is the source of his powers, which I can describe as…the ability to warp reality? Making illusions, and at some points he looked like he could glitch. Err, I don’t know how to explain it better. So, Engman threatens the team by saying that in three days, his master plan will take full effect, so Sonic and the whole Resistance begin a war against Infinite’s clones of Chaos, Zavok, and Metal Sonic. Speaking of which, yes, none of the clones weren’t the real Chaos, Zavok, and Metal Sonic. These clones served no purpose other than to make Eggman and Infinite appear more intimidating. Their bosses were boring and easy, and the Chaos clone never had his own boss. Then why have him there? So, eventually Sonic and his friends are in utter danger, but thanks to the avatar, they have a chance to stop Eggman. They succeed, the Resistance disbands, everybody starts to clean up the mess, and our avatar parts ways with everyone in a rushed manner, robbing the ending of a heartfelt and meaningful finale that failed to match the ending theme song (which deserved better because it was beautiful).

The story isn’t all that serious and it’s just rushed. Not much happens and things are dumbed down for their target audience. Now I’m not saying the game’s story should have been more like a Final Fantasy game, but the story should have been better. Children aren’t stupid, they could have understood what was happening if Forces had a deeper story and taken advantage of their ideas. I will give my own ideas that could have improved the story. Now the beginning was alright, though I would have liked to see how Eggman started taking over the world in the first place. We were just thrown into the game in the middle of the action. Maybe a few levels to get us on track of the action where everything is alright and then Eggman begins to conquer the world. Things get difficult as Tails tries to protect the Mobians (okay I know their world wasn't named Mobius and that's from the Archie  Sonic comics, but I'll say Mobians). Sonic comes to the rescue only to encounter Infinite. Now instead of making it a rushed battle where Sonic loses just like that, the battle is longer as it grants Infinite the opportunity to show off his abilities, shocking both Sonic and Tails (it kind of happened when he moved right before Sonic could attack him, but that was super short). Tails could have assisted Sonic in some way while still trying to analyze Infinite only to be unable to do so. The battle lasts for a while, leading to the first boss battle. Infinite defeats Sonic with actual effort, and (much to my dismay), Sonic is defeated terribly. Now we go to six months later, and there could have been character interactions as to what they have been through, how they feel, and how everything has affected them now that Sonic is gone. They assume he's dead, and they show actual concern and grief. Here's one example. Tails has been through a lot, and denies that Sonic is dead, even if others try to convince him of the possibility, but he wouldn't want to hear any of it. Amy, although she would hate it, she would respond out of anger and pain by telling Tails that they would have to accept it even if it hurts. That could cause conflict between the two. Heck, Shadow would be just as worried, but wouldn't show it because, well, he's Shadow. Rouge would ask what's wrong, but he would just say nothing. She presses further until he reluctantly admits he wonders if Sonic is alright. He may have had a rocky relationship with Sonic, but he does care in his own unique way. He lost Maria fifty years ago. Losing another person he cares about (though differently from Maria) would take a toll on him.

Now Knuckles is the leader of the Resistance. Personally I would prefer Sonic as the leader, but then again, I doubt he would want to lead and this is just my own preference (and the fact I would listen to him in a heartbeat). Well, Knuckles is better than Sally. I'd listen to his orders. In an improved story, his role would be a bit bigger such as getting his teammates to reconcile and remind them that they have to focus on their mission while still understanding how they feel. After all, he would feel just as bad. Let's say he was there with Sonic and Tails before Infinite arrived and defeated Sonic. He would feel guilty for being unable to stop him from taking Sonic away, but puts on a brave face to not have others worry. Fast forward to where Sonic is revealed to be alive. Again, although I DESPISE picturing this, Sonic would be shown actually getting tortured. I don't know how because like I said, I hate imagining this. Something that isn't too gruesome for children, at least. This isn't Final Fantasy or some other series that's serious and stuff. The avatar, our customized character, comes to the rescue and the mission is actually treated like serious business. Everyone counts on them, Knuckles, Tails, Amy, everyone! Everyone would want Sonic to get out of his prison alive and well. Once he's rescued...*sigh* Sonic shows signs of trauma. Again, not serious trauma to scare children (no shit), but he shows signs that he had suffered. Now to stick with his character, I will say Sonic appears that he has been through so freaking much, but would attempt to put on a brave face, though it would not be like what was shown in the game, all happy and casual as if nothing happened. No, he would not be his usual self. At least, not completely. To be honest, this part sounds kind of dark, but I'm sure it could have worked if Sega added far more effort in this game in the first place.

So the story would go from deep characterization for everybody, conflict between characters, more focus on Eggman and Infinite and their interactions, and of course the avatar gets their own development somehow. The game could have been long, with lots of levels and a big story. The battle between the Resistance and the Eggman Empire would last throughout the game as Sonic and his team search for the Chaos Emeralds (seriously, where were they?), Infinite would threaten Sonic and cause actual trouble, meaning he would actually take advantage of his abilities. Come on, he's supposed to have infinite power for goodness sake, hence his namesake! That could have been utilized better. Then near the end of the story where the Resistance prepare for war against all the Chaos, Metal Sonic, and Zavok clones, or other kinds of clones, would be the same but better, you know? An all-out war that could take a couple of levels, maybe an additional boss battle. Heck, the game could have used a few more boss battles. Then Infinite tries to use his powers to burn everyone into a crisp with the sun (which I admit was the only moment that showed things were serious, though it could have been better, as I mentioned before). Sonic and the avatar, heck everyone, would try to stop their demise, and they succeed. Infinite gets pissed, Eggman gets pissed, so boom! The final boss! Not just a boss that's a pushover, but a real final boss battle where you give it your all. Maybe it could have had like multiple phases. And of course, Super Sonic would be included. Sonic and the avatar fight them, hoping to end the war once for all. With some trouble along the way, they defeat them at last. The ending would be like the one in the game but more meaningful. The Resistance disbands now that there's no need for it, and Sonic recovers from his experience after realizing everyone has been there for him and if he could overcome such an experience, he can overcome anything. The avatar decides to part ways, which would be a bit hard for everyone, even Sonic because they got to know them well. But they would understand and bid them farewell, with Sonic giving them a friendly fist bump while he wishes the avatar to show the world what they can do. The end.

It had so many missed opportunities as you can tell, and I know other people believe so too, so they came up with their own ideas for the game. Prior to the game's release, people had ideas that would have been better than what we got. I still remember the theories, such as Tails is Infinite from another dimension, or the avatar is Infinite or is at least connected to Infinite in some way, or Sonic from the future becomes Infinite (looking back, that would have been interesting, albeit painful, to watch). People came up with ideas that were far more interesting than what was presented in the game.

Okay, now that the story is out of the way, I can move on to everything else. The gameplay...It is a mess. The controls are stiff and you can barely do anything well, and due to these issues, you can't maneuver through each level without accidentally dying. And running through the levels was a bit slow. Sonic wasn't as fast as I remembered, and Classic Sonic was worse to control! You fail to gain momentum when you try to run up some ramps, so you are forced to spin to make up for speed, and it happened a lot for me. Controlling both Sonics and the avatar was just awkward and movement didn't feel smooth at all. I didn't notice any of it right away until I died against Zavok on the first try.

Speaking of Zavok, well, the Zavok that Infinite created, what was his purpose? Zavok, Chaos, and Metal Sonic were just shown just to make Infinite look like a threat (which didn't help much). It should have been the actual Zavok, Chaos and Metal Sonic. Maybe Zavok could have gotten revenge for his defeat in Sonic Lost World (the rest of the Deadly Six could have been involved somehow as well), and Metal Sonic could have returned courtesy of Eggman. As for Chaos, perhaps he could have returned after being revived (I don't know how) and he would have been brainwashed, I don't know. Also, Classic Sonic being there was unnecessary. He was just shoehorned into the game out of nostalgia to entice older fans. And Episode Shadow was not only super short but boring and the stiff controls didn't make it any better. Aside from better gameplay, it could have been improved on story-wise, and it would have still remained as a prequel to Forces. And this was mentioned somewhere, but Silver could have had a bigger role. Everyone should have had a bigger role. Let's say Silver realized things had gone awry in his time so he travels back to Sonic's time to fix his future. That could also give more meaning as to why he went against Infinite because he knew he was the reason why his future changed. He also could have had his own battle if that were the case. And I'm still waiting for a Silver the Hedgehog video game (deal with it).

Finally, the last thing that has bothered me the most besides the lackluster story is...Infinite. No, don't give me the whole edgelord baloney. Infinite the Jackal is not an edgelord and he's not edgier than Shadow the Hedgehog. I had high hopes for this guy, even though I hated how he pummeled Sonic in his trailer. I listened to his theme song so many times, just as much as I heard Fist Bump. I really liked his song, and it just screamed "deep and complex character". The lyrics gave me the image that Infinite has been through a lot prior to Forces, he's dealing with a lot of pain so that's why he hides his face with that mask of his, he wants revenge, and he will get what he wants even if it means taking everyone down that dares to oppose him. Even a portion of the lyrics made me picture that he could have seen Sonic as a formidable opponent and vice versa, and would be willing to fight Sonic to reach his goals. In addition, the lyrics also made me think they're referring to the player themselves, which was a nice touch if you think about it. Sonic and the player/avatar both had to fight Infinite. See? The song had tons of stuff going on, and what do we get??? Infinite being a pathetic excuse for a villain.

Hear me out now. I didn't read the comics that take place prior to Sonic Forces, but I did look up that he was part of the...Jackal Squad? So Infinite and his squad try to...what stop Eggman? But his squad gets killed?? I have no idea. Fast forward to Episode Shadow, and Infinite gets owned by him. Shadow calls him weak, and Infinite...well...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYNO36bFwE4

So Infinite snaps, joins Eggman, and strives to become stronger to destroy the world...all because of that???????????...This is the lamest backstory I've ever seen for a villain. So the whole war occurred because of this??? Even Mephiles had a better backstory, and I despise that bastard! Yes, Infinite's squad was attacked, but that doesn't mean they died. Or maybe they did. I don't know. Also, if his desire prior to joining Eggman was a desolate world, then what were his reasons for that?? And were the members of the Jackal Squad his family? Friends? Pawns?? If they were loved ones, then him wanting to become stronger is somewhat justified, but taking it out on the whole world and throwing a tantrum about a single person calling him weak and pathetic just seems like poor writing to me. Infinite, quit being a big baby!

*sigh* Alright. I guess I was more angry about this than I thought. Infinite had wasted potential that just screwed him over. Let's see. Infinite could have been better if he had actual motives. The Jackal Squad could have been like his friends and/or family. Maybe members of a clan or something. They try to stop Eggman for whatever reason (maybe he tried conquering their home), so they set out on a mission to stop him. The plan backfires and his whole squad gets killed. Infinite grieves, feeling rage, guilt, and sorrow for being unable to protect them, and sees Shadow a short distance away from the gruesome attack. He accuses Shadow for killing his entire family, and decides to have revenge on him, unaware that Shadow was not at fault. No, I don't believe Shadow would have killed the Jackal Squad. This is where his desire to cause destruction to the world is revealed. He has experienced loss before, and losing his friends/family turned out to be the last straw, the last loved ones he had, so he tries to take over the world and get rid of everyone would prevent him from experiencing any more pain. He would not join Eggman in this scenario, so he would instead be vengeful towards him since he caused him pain from past memories. Infinite works to become stronger after stealing the Phantom Ruby, and willingly decides to forget all about his past, along with his old self believing that he was weak (hence the mask), and he would never want to feel that way ever again. He had lost everything, and he didn't want to deal with all the pain so he shuts all his emotions down, thinking emotions are for the weak. And so, Infinite, with no one to care for now that they're all gone, sets his mind on destroying everything, becoming cold, cruel, and calculating. What would his fate be for this? I don't know. Redemption seems tempting when I think about it, but it would depend on what you guys would choose with your own ideas regarding Infinite. For mine, I would consider redemption, though it would be a long journey for Infinite.

I'm not finished yet. Although I have been critical of Sonic Forces, I don't believe everything about it is bad. The level design is pretty good, but the levels should have been longer. They take like a few minutes to finish, and with better gameplay controls, it could have worked. The avatar creator is okay, but I hoped for it to have more. I mean, I couldn't create my character Sorina!

Yes I know you can unlock stuff, but you start off with little to nothing. It was so limited! At least Square Enix's avatar creator for Final Fantasy 15′s Comrades DLC had more (despite the few limitations from the start). And unlocking stuff isn't that hard, but I didn't like half of the stuff I saw. I was disappointed that I couldn’t create Sorina, so I wound up creating a random avatar. As time went on, however, I warmed up to my avatar. Everyone, meet Aquamarine the Hedgehog.

She’s cute, just as cute as Sorina. Maybe I can make her related to her, perhaps a cousin. Or a fan who admires Sorina! And I prefer Aqua to have only those two triangular spines as opposed to the short Sonic-like quills, so I didn’t take the screenshot with her head turned to make it look that way.

The game lacks any difficulty, which is sad because I was hoping for a difficulty spike. They just give you stuff after you pass the levels with little to no effort, and it's super easy to get an S rank on the levels. And the secret levels are boring and dull, and the missions aren't even real missions (Ex: Stomp once on Mission whichever one that has Modern Sonic). Those weren't worth doing because they are just lame. Now the thing that I truly love is the music. I love the music for Sonic Forces! I have several songs as ringtones for my phone, and I want to download the entire soundtrack so I can listen to it anytime I want. It's unfortunate the game didn't match the music. I heard Sega worked in the game for several years. I don't see it. I only saw like a year's worth of work. If it were four years, then the game should have been the best Sonic game ever! But it fell short in so many areas. If they had put actual effort during those four years, it would have been great. I wouldn't have complained if they delayed it for a while longer just to polish it.

Now just because I agree with a majority of the fans, it doesn't mean I will not defend anything about it. There are some things that I do actually like, such as Sonic's portrayal (minus the few problems I had), and Tails' portrayal was not bad to me. He's a child. The way he felt was normal because he believed he lost his friend, his big brother, and lost hope because of it, and their reunion was sweet in my opinion. Though it could have been sweeter. Returning to Sonic, I must confess that I can agree that he should be more...complex. Heck, the entire cast should get the same treatment. Sonic is my idol, my hero, and as much as I enjoy seeing him the way he is, I do wish he could have more depth so I can relate to him more. So I get why some people want that, and it would be nice to see Sonic showing multiple sides, be more multidimensional. For me, the last time I saw that was in the Sonic Storybook games. It's no wonder I love those. Maybe we'll get something like this in the new Sonic comics. But please let him be in-character! I know about his OOC moments in the Archie comics, and don't get me started on the old Sonic the Comic series.

Oh my gosh, this may be another one of my longest posts ever. lol I will end this in a bit. My overall score for Sonic Forces, as shocking as it may be, is 3/10. It has so many flaws: there’s too many wasted story opportunities for me to count, a terrible villain whose potential was never fully utilized, wonky gameplay, very short levels, a low difficulty level, and a short length. The game lacks replayability even if you wish to 100% complete the game, and to be honest, it's not even worth completing 100%. The music, the amazing level design, the fact that you can create a Sonic character, and the amusing "Sonic Forces" puns are the few perks I like, but the levels and avatar creator did not reach their full potential. For the very first time, as a longtime Sonic the Hedgehog fan, I now have my least favorite Sonic game. You may disagree with me on any of the things I said in this review if you wish, but my position stands. Sonic Forces could have been more than what we got, and it's a shame that we never had the chance to see what it could have been.