#if its a mainline modern sonic game it feels so soon. its only been a year since frontiers.... whatevers next they cant have much for it ye

[sonicunleash]

i am so calm and normal about the possibility of a new sonic game announcement im so calm and normal and composed and not wide awake going

[tgpigeon]

A Look at the Two New Sonic Games

Almost a full year ago I took a special trip to San Diego to celebrate the birthday of a fictional blue hedgehog.  As nonsensical as that sounds, it was actually a very lively and enjoyable night with all the festivities going on. In between the flashy lights, blaring Sonic music, and numerous other bits of on-stage antics, two new upcoming Sonic the Hedgehog games were announced: Sonic Mania and “Project Sonic 2017” (now known as Sonic Forces). Here we are almost a full year later, both games are now very close to release, and we got quite a bit more info on each title last week alone thanks to E3. Let’s catch up with our speedy blue friend and see how things are coming along.

Let’s start with Sonic Mania, the 2D passion project created by a group of indie Sonic fans (and of course published by Sega). This game already looked amazing when it was first shown off during the anniversary event in San Diego, and felt just as great to play when we got our hands on it that same night. Since then, everything shown about the game has been an absolute treat. There’s something special about seeing the smoothly-animated pixel Sonic run through the expertly-crafted levels with the incredibly memorable music playing in the background. It all oozes charm and has an amazing attention to detail that only hardcore fans of the series themselves could pour into the game.

Roughly two weeks before the E3 festivities kicked off, we got a new trailer for the game showcasing some new animation drawn by artist (and Sonic fan himself) Tyson Hesse. These hand-drawn bits of animation both look and animate with a great deal of charm and whimsy. I’ve mentioned before how the sense of whimsy that Sonic evokes is one of the reasons I am such a big fan of the series, and this trailer encapsulates it so well. How bouncy and cheery everything is, right down to the smaller details such as how Sonic jumps into the air and spins before running off, makes this a very feel-good trailer. This is all accompanied by an upbeat, catchy new track by Hyper Potions titled “Time Trials”. And all this is before we even get into anything relating to the gameplay.

Sonic Mania consists of both brand new stages and remakes of select stages from earlier 2D games in the series. The most recent stage revealed is Chemical Plant Zone, returning from Sonic the Hedgehog 2. This stage does an excellent job demonstrating the design philosophy of returning stages: Act 1 sticks relatively close to the original level designs of the zones and offers some updates within them, while Act 2 offers a fresher take on these areas complete with new gimmicks. In Chemical Plant’s case, the purple water from the original level can now be turned to gelatin to bounce off, giving the stage much more vertical traversal than it had previously. This still blends well with Sonic’s more traditional horizontal speed thanks to the clever level design never killing the momentum. The entire game shown off so far seems to present this same level of care to make sure each level flows and controls just right. There is no doubt in my mind that this game will be a treat to both Sonic fans and the general gaming community.

The next game that Sega is presenting is the newest mainline entry developed by Sonic Team: Sonic Forces. This game combines both 3D/2D-hybrid Modern and pure-2D Classic versions of Sonic, much like 2011’s Sonic Generations. However, this title also adds a new customizable character to the mix, complete with a third unique gameplay style. Despite the large amount of fan characters flooding the internet, this is the first time in the series’ history where fans can officially customize their own creation to battle alongside the blue blur(s). This is honestly a smart decision, as it gives players who genuinely want to make their own characters the option to do so, while also allowing everyone else to mess around and create their own bizarre creations. This third character plays in a mixture of 2D and 3D much like Modern Sonic, but can use various gadgets and “wisp” power-ups for some extra platforming challenge. While this gameplay style admittedly doesn’t look as fun as the two Sonics, mainly due to the wisps making the gameplay appear a bit clunkier, it still appears overall fast-paced and enjoyable.

Sega has recently shown off demos of all three gameplay styles at E3 this year, as well as a new trailer. Although we have been slowly receiving information about this game for the past year, we got a much better view of the overall package now. Modern Sonic still has his fast-paced boost gameplay and Classic still looks to be a somewhat slower, 2D-only Sonic with a spindash instead of a boost ability. Classic Sonic looks to be fun to play as, don’t get me wrong, but having him here alongside Modern Sonic seems a bit redundant. It made sense in Sonic Generations, as that was a celebration of 20 years of the series and demonstrated how Sonic’s gameplay had evolved over that time. Now though, especially with Sonic Mania coming soon and scratching that classic itch (complete with seemingly more accurate classic physics), Classic Sonic feels a bit unneeded here. At the end of the day though, even if a bit redundant, both Modern and Classic seem like they will be about as much fun as they were in Generations.

There are some new additions to set this apart from Sonic’s 2011 adventure. The main one is the aforementioned custom character, but there is also quite a big tonal difference between the two games from what we’ve seen. Generations was a light-hearted romp through Sonic’s history that barely had a story, meanwhile Forces seems to be focusing a bit more on its narrative. It tells the tale of how Dr. “Eggman” Robotnik has already taken over the world and it’s up to Sonic and his friends to take it back. We are given a small taste of this in the gameplay demo, as the characters communicate to each other during the stages to discuss their current situation and plans. It’s nice to see all these characters in the plot again, and this implementation makes the cast feel much more like a grand team of friends. Hopefully the writing is solid, as I loved this type of stuff in games like Kid Icarus: Uprising and Star Fox and look forward to it here as well. I do hope it can be disabled during repeated stage play-throughs however, as hearing the same dialogue when trying for higher scores can potentially get tiring.

Ultimately this game looks to be using what fans liked about Sonic Generations as a base and expanding upon that. The trailer released for E3 also announced that previous series villains Shadow, Chaos, Metal Sonic, and Zavok will be returning along with a new mysterious villain. I am getting some Sonic Adventure vibes from how this game seems to have a plot with higher stakes, which makes me quite the happy camper. Hopefully the writing will be solid enough to add some excitement to the story without becoming too melodramatic. Meanwhile, Mania in general seems dead-set on improving the classic series in any way it can, bringing back even the smallest elements (elemental shields, level transitions, the classic trio all playable, etc.), while also adding it’s own improvements (improved graphics, the new drop-dash move for Sonic, both remixed and brand new stages, etc.). Between Mania looking like it will deliver an excellent classic experience and Forces offering a promising modern take on the series, it’s a great time to be a Sonic fan.

-Written by Rich, 2017

-Image credit to (in order of appearance) Gematsu.com, TheVerge.com, GameInformer.com, Comicbook.com, IGN.com