#like I was already enjoying amy and knuckles’ gameplay for the most part

[rooftop--runner]

PLAYING AS TAILS IS SO MUCH FUN WHAT

HIS FLYING IS SO FUN AND HES SO CUTE TO PLAY AS

WOOOO GO THROW THOSE WRENCHES!

The deadliest eight year old casually observes his gun

[darkqueenofshadows85]

Sonic Frontiers (2022) Story Review

Disclaimer: I will be judging this game by the plot and writing, not the gameplay.

Introduction

Greetings, mortals! For today's review, we'll be looking at one of the most recent main series installments of the Sonic franchise, Sonic Frontiers (2022).

I can't believe it's already been a year since this game was first released (time flies, doesn't it?), but anyway, I hope you all enjoy my long overdue Sonic Frontiers review... 😅

Though honestly in retrospect, it's actually a good thing I waited this long to finish the review, considering The Final Horizon update had been released earlier this year, which in my opinion, was a major improvement over the base game's third act in a multitude of ways.

This is part of a series of reviews in which I’ll be going into slightly more detail about my thoughts on the main series Sonic game storylines, and why I think they're either well written and engaging, or an absolute trainwreck (or somewhere in-between). I’ll be giving my stance on the character portrayals, visuals, soundtracks, voice actors, and what themes/messages they had to offer. Keep in mind that these are just my own personal thoughts. Whether you agree or disagree, feel free to share your own thoughts and opinions!

(SPOILER WARNING)

Anyway, let us begin! ^^

Plot

Sonic explores the mysterious Starfall Islands to collect the Chaos Emeralds after he and his friends are separated when falling through a wormhole. Sonic struggles to find and save his friends while facing a horde of robotic giants called Titans, and also meets an artificial girl named Sage, created by Dr. Eggman, who cautions Sonic to leave the Starfall Islands.

Characters

For the first time in little over a decade, the characters are written correctly. I love how the characters acknowledge how badly they've been written by Pontaff during the Meta Era and have all been redeemed here.

Sonic has been reverted back to his original personality from the Adventure/Dark Era titles, striking a perfect balance of his cockiness and his heroic nature. His playful and snarky attitude is still present, but done in moderation while also highlighting his empathy and dedication to his friends.

Amy, Knuckles and Tails all receive major character development over the course of the game's story. They all learn to be independent individuals, believe in themselves as heroes rather than Sonic, and go their own separate ways for a while. I also like how they play a more active role in the revamped version of the game's climax shown in The Final Horizon update.

Additionally, Dr. Eggman also has some proper development over the course of the story. At first, he uses Sage and treats her as a normal AI, but later on he shows genuine care for her as if she's his own daughter.

Now let's talk about the newcomer, Sage. Her character arc is learning love and wanting to be Eggman's daughter, which really hit me in the feels by the end. Her story honestly reminds me of Shadow's character arc in SA2, only Sage still has her Maria alive and while Shadow came back in his next game appearance after SA2 due to fan demand, Sage on the other hand was resurrected in a post-credit scene due to the replicable nature of AI, and in The Final Horizon update, she's spared her death entirely. I hope she goes on to become a recurring character in the series just like Shadow did.

Visuals

The in-game cutscenes look good visually for the most part, and I do like the cinematography for some of them.

Soundtrack

As usual for the Sonic series, the music in this game is awesome. I'm Here and Undefeatable are two of my favorite vocal tracks. Vandalize, Break Through It All, Find Your Flame and One Way Dream are also amazing. The game's credits themes sung from Sage's perspective, Dear Father (the base game's first credits theme) and the credits theme of The Final Horizon DLC, I'm With You (vocal version) were both truly touching and heartfelt in their own ways.

Voice Acting

Needless to say, the current Sonic voice cast has significantly improved since their last game appearance. Roger Craig Smith gives Sonic a more mature tone of voice, showing just how much he's developed as a character over the past two games and became more humble. Ryan Bartley does an excellent job portraying Sage, Colleen O'Shaughnessey (Tails) is great as always, and Cindy Robinson (Amy) gives a more reserved and less high-pitched voice performance on par with how she sounded in Sonic Boom and Sonic Forces. Dave B. Mitchell's performance as Knuckles has greatly improved since we last saw him in Team Sonic Racing, giving the character a more stern, yet somewhat laid-back tone. Mike Pollock's performance here is one of the most nuanced portrayals of Dr. Eggman in the entire series, retaining his usual hamminess and humorous tendencies while also showing a much wider range of emotions which haven't been seen since as far back as the Adventure games or even 06.

Theme/Message

Throughout the game's story, the pervading and most impactful theme is that of love, in all shapes and forms. Specifically, including Sonic's general love for the people close to him, Sonic and Amy's love for the world, the love between friends Sonic and Knuckles share, the familial love Sonic and Tails share as surrogate siblings, the developing love between Eggman and Sage as a bond of father and daughter, many relationships and bonds demonstrated between the Ancients/Koco, and so on. What makes it particularly powerful here is how unafraid the story is to touch upon how these bonds may be stressed by separation, strife, grief, despair and loss, and still manage to prevail in the end over impossible odds.

Conclusion

Overall, I love Sonic Frontiers for reverting the Sonic franchise's writing style back to how it was before the Pontaff duo came on board, and it's a good foundation for the future of Sonic games. The Meta Era titles from the previous decade were holding Sonic back and were generally the worst part of the franchise in my opinion. The comics are awesome, the movies are awesome, the Sonic Boom TV series was generally well-received (even though I personally can't stand it), and from what I've seen of the first two seasons so far, Sonic Prime is easily the best Sonic show since Sonic X in my opinion, whereas the games since 2013's Sonic Lost World have been failure after failure with the exception of Sonic Mania. The story and writing quality of the game series started going downhill with Sonic Colors in 2010, and while the gameplay of both Colors and Generations is admittedly good, it still doesn't excuse the downgraded writing quality and boring childish stories. I'm happy that the games aren't holding Sonic back anymore, but are more on par with everything else Sonic is in. Here's hoping the new era of Sonic will prove itself to be a bright new future for the Blue Blur.

My final score:

5.6/5 (Great)

[cyberramblings]

Sonic & Tails: Ideas for a new Sonic Plot and Partner System

So, first off, there is a game called Sonic & Knuckles. It is basically just the second half of the overly ambitious Sonic 3. It is not Sonic 4, but it is a standalone game. Anyways, there isn’t a game called Sonic & Tails yet, so let’s make that happen.

Regardless of that, I wanted to talk about my vague conceptualizations of a Sonic game plot. I WANTED to continue my thoughts on other Sonic characters, but my stupid brain can’t stop thinking about “what if Sonic and Tails fought?” Again, this is getting into some borderline fanfiction territory, but I write the blog AND the rules.

Piggybacking off my previous post detailing my thoughts on Tails, I had said that I liked the idea of Tails taking over Robotnik’s lab after he is defeated once and for all (or temporarily, I don’t expect Sonic Team to kill off the main villain, as much as I’d pseudo-ironically love Sonic Adventure 3 to open with Eggman’s funeral while Sound of Silence plays like the overly edgy funeral scene from Watchmen 2009).

Now, this is also getting into some serious Marvel Civil War or Batman v. Superman territory, but stick with me. I feel like one of the most underutilized aspects of Sonic as a series is the cast of characters. Maybe it is just me, but I feel like Sonic fans want to see their favorite obscure character return or see as many characters as possible. Even the most trivial characters have a cult following in the weird Sonic fandom. It was really cool to see the obscure Sonic the Fighters characters return for a boss fight in Sonic Mania, even if they were just an illusion. I am proposing a Sonic game where nearly every characters returns to make up the boss fights.

Now, the first issue with this idea is that typically the “rival” battles in Sonic are a bit hit or miss. Fights against playable characters in the Adventure IMO felt pretty flat and uninteresting. Now, 2D Sonic has some better boss battles against the likes of Metal Sonic and Knuckles and the same goes for Generations, so maybe those could be emulated. Regardless of gameplay, I’d like to see all the weirdies like the playable cast of Sonic Heroes, The Fighters, Emerl, Blaze, Gamma E-102, etc. return at least as boss fights, if not as playable characters, even if they are just piloting the mechs that would typically be piloted by Eggman. I get zero excitement from fighting Eggman anymore, but just put Rouge’s model in the cockpit and suddenly its way cooler with more potential for unique boss dialogue.

So far I have proposed a Civil War-style plot where Tails goes a little bit off the deep end and a Sonic game where the boss fights are all the beloved recurring characters. It should be obvious how these two parts fit together. Perhaps the dual story structure of Adventure 2 is overplayed by this point, but obviously it would fit in with these ideas.

To get into the nitty gritty and provide an example of what I am imagining, consider Metal Sonic. I can easily see a plot that starts with Tails reconfiguring Metal Sonic to be “good”. This bring back a classic character in a new way and allows for a lot of angles for the plot to go, of course borrowing from various Iron Man plots and the Buffy-bot from Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

One idea from Sonic Adventure that I would really like to see return is the ever-evolving nemesis concept. Even if Sega never really brings back Chaos, I’d love to see a rival that increases in power as the game goes along. This could totally tie in with my previous idea, with Metal Sonic becoming more powerful over the course of the game, possibly with the acquisition of the Chaos Emeralds like Chaos does. Metal Sonic already has been shown to take on a few different forms, such as at the end of Sonic Heroes.

Another story beat that I’d like to see replicated is the end of Adventure 2 where Sonic and Shadow have to team up. Now, in this hypothetical Sonic & Tails game, that would obviously be Sonic and Tails teaming up, but I’d also love to see them bust out Mecha Sonic as a kind of retconned prototype of Metal Sonic from Sonic 2/3 as a last resort too.

I also love the story beat of all the playable characters at the end of Sonic Adventure bringing the depleted Chaos Emeralds to Sonic for the final fight. I would love to see something like this but a little more weighty. I have a clear mental image of something like the Breath of the Wild loading screen that shows your level of progress though the game, but instead with Sonic endlessly walking towards the camera as the game loads, surrounded by more and more characters walking towards the screen as you rescue/recruit them.

Personally, it seems like Sonic games struggle to balance multiple playable characters, so I’d settle for something like Advance 3 where you pick a partner that enables new moves. I would prefer to find a way to include every possible character as playable, but I would settle for a 3D Sonic game where Sonic (and maybe characters that control near identically like Metal Sonic, Shadow, Silver, Blaze, etc.) is the only playable character, with characters like Tails, Knuckle, Amy, Big, etc. are relegated to the partner role, but swappable.

Playable Characters:

Sonic: Everything normal

Metal Sonic: Just make him control like he does in Adventure 2: Battle, so faster than Sonic but with less moves. I don’t think Metal Sonic has ever been canonically playabe, only appearing as a boss fight or playable in racing games or bonus modes, so that would be my biggest request.

Shadow: Just Sonic but slipperier and please give him a teleport instead of a homing attack

Silver: Again, just Sonic but make his double jump more offensive to represent his telekinetic abilities

Blaze: Her name is BLAZE and she has FIRE POWERS in Rush and Rush Adventure, so please just make her control like Sonic but with a fiery homing attack or her fire hover from Rush

Espio: Just give him some kind of limited invisibility or maybe the tornado attack as a reference to Heroes

Mighty: He could probably be thrown in with his moves from Mania, but this is reaching

Jet: Probably asking too much, but he’s never been playable in non-racing game, so even seeing him with his board in a main game as a kind of joke would be cool

Assist Characters:

Tails, Cream, Charmy: Obviously, limited flight with slightly different characteristics. Cream could alternatively have the Chao attack from Advance

Knuckles, Rouge, Tikal: Either a limited glide or the digging

Amy: Piko Piko Hammer as an attack or as a big jump. She could also maybe be a Sonic-like characters, but I feel like she was shoehorned into the speed role in Heroes

Big: I just like seeing this dumb idiot return. It seems like asking a lot for the fishing rod to be used as a grappling hook, so maybe he could just have a big area attack

Fang/Knack, Bark, Bean: I mean, maybe just show up and fistfight some enemies?

Vector: Something music based, realistically

Chaos: Again, this is reaching, but maybe this ties into Tails taking over Eggman’s research

E-1XX Alpha, Gamma, Omega, etc: It is asking a lot to have all the robots return, but I’d love to see them all as slight variants of “shoot a bunch of missiles” or limited hovering

Omochao: Personally I’d love to see this little guy as an assist who just never shuts up, maybe with some hidden secret-unlocking potential

Vanilla: She doesn’t have a lot of game appearances, I’d take anything

G.U.N. Commander: Again, I just think this would be kinda funny. He could summon robots or just fire missiles

Eggman Nega: Not sure why he would help the main characters, but I’m always rooting for weird stuff like this

Wave, Storm: They could function like Tails/Knuckles or grant a temporary board for tricks or whatnot, maybe like the skateboard powerup from Sonic Generations

Tails Doll: This is dumb, but it would be fun to see as a little throwaway easter egg

So, that was a bunch of random nonsense directly from my brain, but you probably get the idea: find a way to include a lot of characters in the plot and the gameplay. Do I expect any of this to ever happen? No. And honestly, I’d prefer to see another game where I can actually play as characters like Rouge, the robots, Amy, and Cream.

ONE LAST THING: There should really be a Sonic rhythm game. They have so much music, both the classic songs as well as the Crush 40 songs, with tons of remixes of both already existing and even more possible. It would fit perfectly with the gameplay of Sonic, you could just have the notes appear as obstacles or powerup boxes. There are a million different ways to slice it, but it just makes too much sense to ignore. I don’t have enough ideas to make a separate post, though. Maybe I’ll make a playlist sometimes of songs I’d like to see included, but the issue is that it would be way too many songs. As with the main point of this post, I would love to see many different playable characters with very slight changes to their properties.

ONE LAST LAST THING: Since Sega hates localizing Puyo Puyo games, they should just make a new Mean Bean Machine with HD graphics and all the various Sonic characters represented somehow and then release it internationally either as Mean Bean Machine or just Sonic Puyo Puyo. Again, I didn’t have enough ideas for a whole post.

FINAL FINAL FINAL RAMBLES: I kinda wanna play Sonic 06 since I actually just recently found out that Rouge, Omega, and Blaze are playable, but the disc is 20 bucks at gamestop for 360. I also kinda wanna play Unleashed, but not enough to buy it. I really get more excited when more characters are playable, which makes me wish I enjoyed playing Sonic Battle more. I also have my eye on Chronicles if I can ever get the patience to actually sit down and play it. At this point, I should just make my own dang original game or story inspired by the things I like about Sonic.

[skull001]

Often people say that Tails is the underdog among the main cast of the Sonic characters because of how he is young and occassionally has self-confidence issues.

Personally, I think Tails really isn't that much of an underdog because on one hand, he is the character that Sonic interacts with the most to the point of being called "Sonic's best friend", as well as having not only an extraordinary intelligence that can potentially rival that of Dr. Eggman and having been reaised and most likely trained too by Sonic himself.

No. The character I think has the underdog material here is Amy Rose.

Sure, she has a well-adjusted sense of confidence and self-worth. However, where Sonic and Tails became best buddies overnight, for Amy it was a much harder road given that not only was she a character that barely showcased anything noteworthy to catch Sonic's attention (to him, she was just another person he rescued and probably forgot about the next day), but also her romantic advances further put a distance between the two at first.

It was only Amy's perseverance and insistance that allowed her to become a familiar face in Sonic's life (she would show for cart races or even a fighting tournament to decide who would get to save the world, lol) and eventually, gain his trust and become not just a friend, but a very GOOD friend... The kind that is always there for Sonic no matter what, heck, even if he doesn't reciprocate her feelings she would still help him and do everything she can, even if not only she puts her life on the line, but also be willing to sacrifice her own happiness for his.

Tails became a hero within a single game, in great part because he had Sonic as his mentor and learned all of the blue hedgehog's tricks. Amy did not get this benefit.

When Amy started, she was just an ordinary child with a precoscious crush on the hero. Her first appearance consisted in getting kidnapped and be used to bait Sonic into a trap. For Amy, shaking this image of the damsel in distress has been an uphill battle. When she finally did got to become a heroine, it was all because of her very own merit. She came up with a way to defend herself by using a toy hammer instead of copying Sonic. Her empathy is what let her understand some of the antagonists and give them that push to turn them into allies. She became a heroine out of necessity when she had to protect a little bird that was as defenseless as she once was in her debut.

Then Amy began to grow up. She could lead others like her and help them realize that they are more stronger and brave than they realized. She even saved Sonic himself quite a few times and began to slowly gain his trust, to the point that he knew that Amy could handle things, like when she confronted Silver in 06.

Unlike Tails, who has super-intelligence and learned from Sonic how to fight, Amy was just an ordinary civvie whose only "power" was popping a magic toy hammer. She had to make her own path as a hero without much help from others.

Even the way the franchise treats Amy reflects her underdog status: while Tails and Knuckles were given important AND playable roles in Sonic 2 and 3 respectively, Amy was neither of those things in CD. Even to this day, while Tails and Knuckles get preferential treatment in every new game that is announced, Amy is still treated like a second-class character given how Mania forgot all about her and only the animated mini-series did because the animator liked her and insisted until that extra sixth episode was given the green light.

While Knuckles was given the role of commander of the resistance in Forces because it gave ST an excuse to have the classic trio slapped on the game's cover to boost sales, it's the IDW comic that did Amy justice by further developing her into the natural leader that previous games (back when she was actually allowed to have some spotlight) were already hinting for her character to go to. Why could this not have been done instead on the actual main event that is the game?

When Sonic CD was re-released in 2011, it was Tails and not Amy, who was included. They used Amy's very own debut game not to invest in her character by making her playable (something she needs so much) but instead, said privilege went to the character that was to appear in Sonic 4 Episode 2 and who already enjoyed a positive reception.

Amy, IMO, is the underdog character of the main cast not only because of her far more humble origin and trajectory where she had so many more obstacles, but also because of how the franchise seems to refuse to recognize her "main character" status as they flip-flop between giving her small appearances in games (and the occassional attention on merchandise and official social media) and outright ignore or sideline her completely, even from stories where she makes more sense than other characters (*cough*SA2*cough*). She's the outsider who was not introduced in the Genesis trilogy. She's the invader to the "classic trio" whom Sega will remove by either sidelining or ignoring her so the boys can have all the glory. She's the character that actually had to develop from zero to hero instead of being instantly made just as capable as Sonic from the moment of introduction like others (characters like Tails and Cream for example, who had no transition whatsoever). She's still the character who has to struggle against so many unfair stigmas: "she's pink, therefore she's annoying", "she's a girl, she's must be useless", "she's in love with the protagonist, must be a stalker because only Tails has the right to not be judged despite being just as obsessed", "she's not classic enough because she wasn't in the Genesis trilogy", etc. Meanwhile other characters are given a free pass for the same exact gameplay/characterization blunders.

[mdhwrites]

Okay, I’d actually like to talk about how AMAZING these people actually show the Sonic cast is, and why there are so many, because I hear so many people claim that Sonic’s friends don’t matter, or don’t need to exist. Here is the thing: In gameplay they can be hard to implement. As characters... Well Sonic: He’s your normal,goofball, never give up protaganist. He’ll always do what’s right, but his belief in his own skills is both his greatest strength and flaw. He’s gullible, cocky, and if no one holds him back is likely to rush face first into danger with no plan to get out. It’s a classic and always a lot of fun. Tails: The obsessed engineer. Not a lot of stuff plays up how shy or socially awkward Tails can be, but when he has to interact with people outside of his field, his mission, or his team you can usually see it, and that’s because he is always working on the tech side of stuff. He loves his passion, but without someone to push him out of his comfort zone he wouldn’t ever grow. Knuckles: The serious hero. He can be silly, but that’s usually at his own expense. He isn’t the brightest, but he has a heart of gold... Or warm steel might be the better term for it. He’ll smash before he talks, but unlike Sonic will focus on the mission. There’s no distracting him because his goal is always the betterment of him and his friends, so he’ll also give up a victory of his own to give it to someone else. What matters is that things got done. Rouge: The prankster/flirt. She appears to not take anything serious, but it’s because she wants to have fun! Her tricks may be a little mean, but never to the extent that they’ll leave the recipient scowling for too long, and she is the one who’ll give a few heated, impassioned words in an ear to make someone’s day brighter more than anyone else. This isn’t just sexual teasing though. A prankster and flirt has to be able to read people to get under their skin (or other parts), and this makes her great for compassion, care, love, and bringing anyone up who is feeling too down. Just be careful, because she’s also the best in putting you back in your place should it go too far to your head. Omega: I don’t know this character very well, but I’ll still try with what I do know. He’s the outsider. The one who doesn’t know the world, but is trying his best. His intentions are never ill, but he wasn’t made to be good, so it’s hard for him not to do damage, despite how desperately he wants to keep everything safe. Fortunately, with the right-ish moral compass, his weaponry can be used for good and he is slowly learning how to be funny, sarcastic, and everything else that can make him increasingly human in the eyes of other people than his friends, who know just how wonderfully alive he is behind his awkward voice. Shadow: Yeah, he isn’t a hero. He is selfish, narcissistic, and ready to be an asshole to anyone to get his way. He doesn’t play well with others, but that’s because he is what matters... in the short term view. He is still a hero, but the kind that is harder to see the merit of. He would abandon his friends if he knew getting the job done was what mattered, and that he could do it himself. He wouldn’t technically like it (not if it actually cost lives. Here... Fuck em. They fucked up) but it’s what he would do for the job. He’s the best guy to work with, because he’ll always get it done, but don’t ask him to move or else you’ll be paying for the beer, pizza, and it better line up with his schedule or he’s just teleporting all of your stuff in a heap onto the roof because he missed your third floor apartment. Eggman!: The rapacious scoundrel! He honestly isn’t the best at world domination. It’s not his thing. He makes flawed creations because he enjoys creating doodads, thingamobs, and wants people to appreciate just how good his death laser is! At least, in a lot of his best incarnations. He’s of course older, more bitter, and all of this has been cranked up to an eleven, but come on. He names things like Egg Carrier, and puts a moustache on his car. If there isn’t a child somewhere in there wanting attention and a friend who understands him, then I don’t know what more they could do to show that. This is also why he’s not usually the final boss in a lot of more modern Sonic games I feel. And now *cracks knuckles* The hard mode. Covering not only characters not in this, but also ones who are either less popular, or less canon. Warning: I have been exposed to a lot of Sonic, but I have consumed very little Sonic, so feel free to correct me on any of this. Big the Cat: Okay, going to admit it now: Could still use work. However, he is supposed to be the zen amongst the insanity. He is the one who, given the chance, would just relax, sleep, and play with his frog, even while everyone else is playing EXTREME, DEATH, CHILLYDOG VOLLEYBALL! He doesn’t want for much except his friends and trusts that his more capable friends can take care of themselves. He’ll do anything for his smaller, less defensible friends though... like Froggie. Cream: The shy, earnest girl. She’s more in touch with nature, she cleans the base while everyone’s out on mission, and develops a new anxiety disorder everytime the phone rings. You could want no one better to just listen to your problems, and she’ll do what is necessary if she must, Just don’t expect her to come home and be ready to squash a spider, even if she just saved the world. Amy: The tomboy turned girly girl. If allowed, she’d learned to cook, bake, clean, and sew, because to her those are the traits that have been ingrained into her by society as right for what she wants to be: A wife in a peaceful time, surrounded by those she loves and who aren’t afraid of her. This likely stems from losing a couple too many friends after she showed off she could break a mountain with her hammer. In actuality, she’d be at the most peace if she accepted who she was, while still trying to calm down and manage her anger, but what we get instead is someone filled with a lot of complex emotions, whose definition for romance do NOT fit with her knight in shining armor, and who will break you if you so much as lay a finger on her Disney Palace dream. Chaotix: Uuuuuuuuh, skip! Okay, to be fair, they are additional archtypes that aren’t there already, especially as less typical heroes, or heroes for hire. They follow something other than pure morality to decide what it is they care about, but they won’t turn to straight up criminal work in order to get paid either. They’re good guys, but they live in the real world, to each their own extent, and are trying to get by despite that. Princess Sally: This is my last one, because I pretty much run out of knowing enough at this point. However, I do want to touch on her. We have heroes, villains, anti-heroes, but they almost all have one thing in common. Confidence. Sally is the character who, when asked to put on a speech, takes a deep breath, wipes the nervous tears from her eyes, and steps out and performs spectacularly. Everyone knows she’s capable of moving the Earth except for her. The weight of her position and her situation weigh on every action she makes and it exhausts her, almost to the point of stopping her. Almost. Her reserves of strength make it so that even when she has to show she’s scared, she can keep going. And sorry if I am SUUUUPER off on that last one. But yeah, to everyone who says all of Sonic’s friends are stupid, blame that more on poor game writing. These characters have AMAZING designs and concepts behind them that manage to show themselves in spite of how rough the writing or time for character development can be in their games, and it’s part of why I can’t actually make that much fun of the Sonic community. You were given an entire season’s worth of anime characters to play around with and grow up with and you want to see them done well and given the characterization you know is there. Add to the fact that the games are fun (to some people, I am unfortunately not a big fan) and I entirely sympathize with you all, and I hope you get more good games in the future, and that they keep adding to this great rouge- OH SHIT! Silver: Yeah, if you thought Shadow seemed a little extreme, Silver is what you get when you have someone with literally nothing left to lose. He lost his planet, and he will destroy a galaxy to set it right. He doesn’t trust because he grew up in a time where that got you killed. He has likely lost friends, homes, everything to the future, and will do anything to get them back. This also leaves him in a reeeeally awkward position in peace time and treating paintball as a game instead of a training exercise. Blaze: Making the best of a bad situation. While Silver let him embroil himself in the rage of his world, Blaze still fights to temper it. To be able to manage a small smile from time to time, and find silver linings in failure. When something goes wrong, she’ll publicly tell everyone how great they did and how they’ll be a next time, but please give her a hug. She’s crying on the inside because she’s had it just as rough as Silver, but also thinks she actually has something to lose still beyond her life, and that fact terrifies her. Sorry for forgetting about those two, but that should be about everyone. If I missed someone you expect me to know, especially from the games, let me know. Otherwise, I hope you all liked this, and I’d love to hear your thoughts!

[superemeralds]

sonic forces review

EDIT: added day after thoughts under read more

Hey nyall! Time to review forces!

First, a broad, spoiler free, review. Under the cut will be a more in depth review containing spoilers for both, the main game AND episode shadow.

Please note that this is from the perspective of someone with adhd. I can’t tell how some of the things that peeved me would affect neurotypicals.

General info:

There is an easy and a hard mode. (hard mode is just normal mode “for ppl who played sonic before”) It took me 7 hours and 44 minutes to complete the entire game including episode shadow. Granted, I took quite a few breaks for breathers and shitpostingly liveblogging me playing the game on a discord server + I think I’m just bad at the game.

There are over 30 levels to play, of which a few did repeat and you just play with a different character, but it was still fun!

The hub map got increasingly confusing and hard to navigate and i really hate it now that i completed it because there’s too much happening at once on the screen.

Game play:

There was a Classic Sonic, Modern Sonic and Custom Character type game play.

I personally do not enjoy Classic Sonic game play but it was very well playable once I remembered I could use the arrow key pad instead of the left joystick.

Modern Sonic was often too fast in platforming sections and the absence of drift made sharp curves in 3D areas hard to handle, mainly when you activated boost (as the game intends you to). But it was very fun and refreshing to be able to boost again.

The Custom Character could use different wispons to do progress in the game. This is probably what has the most replay factor, as you can go back to levels using different wispons to clear new paths that you were previously unable to go through. The wispon use can be kinda sloppy at times, but once you get used to it it can be very fun.

The tag team game play was sloppy. It was never clear which character you are playing as right now (until later I realized you are playing both at the very same time ? I think? i am still confused).

Visuals:

The lighting in the cutscenes and levels often comes short and can even ruin the atmosphere at times. A lack of detail in some scenes undermines this. 

The characters are not as expressive as they could be, but there are some iconic expressions to spot throughout the game.

Sometimes camera angles shift weirdly or zoom out too much (some times the character even blends in with the stage and you don’t see it at all anymore when you are in movement) and you lose track of your character and most probably fall off the stage or get hurt. Sometimes there is also a little too much going on in the background.

On the contrary, the game had also tried to pull quite a few visually stunning shots and lighting in both levels and cutscenes.

It is overall still better than previous games because it has more heart and life in it and I hold it dear.

Overall feelings about the game:

The game had mostly been very fun! There was a lot of variety between stages and the wispons gave the gameplay a very fresh kick.

Some stages were frustrating because the character was too fast/very hardly visible for the platforming and I ended up dying a lot in the same spot. 

Not to say too much about the story, but Classic Sonic was pure fanservice and was not important to the plot whatsoever and the game would’ve done very well without him.

Character development was pretty absent.

The pacing of the game in general was very sloppy and almost even uncomfortably fast (rushed) and bland.

Most of the levels were very short to a point where you’d expect there to be multiple acts of it because you refuse to accept that this was already the end of it.

The story had some strong points, though, and the music was absolutely phenomenal, like always, BUT the music was not as recognizable as it was in previous games. I played the final boss only a very few hours ago and i cannot remember the tune to it at all.

The game had a lot of potential but it was executed rather sloppily than exceptionally.

All in all this game gets a 7/10 for effort from me.

because im very generous and i still had fun and was hyped and enjoyed it despite all the annoying parts. I mean i am also 06fucker69

Longer and more in depth review including spoilers under the cut

!!!! WARNING SPOILERS START HERE !!!!

I will try to stay in chronological order, but that is the first thing that is kinda peeving me in this game. 

(warning i quickly grew tired and couldn't write anymore but i forced myself to finish)

The time skips and flashbacks are inconsistent and have a harsh transition. For example the 6 months between Sonic’s defeat and the recruitment of the Rookie is just white text on a black screen that isn’t even narrated. Sometimes the time between perspectives is very disorted and you forget about Classic and Tails while you are busy with another mission that is forced upon you thanks to the linear 1 perspective story.

I would’ve had a 3 perspective story, with 3 story modes. Each story mode would explore the same story from the different perspectives like in SADX, SA2, heroes and Sonic the hedgehog 2006. (mostly 06 though)

The stages were perfectly arranged and build to be incorporated into a 3 perspective story. Classic might have had more time for character development and relevance. Also more, mostly consistent, time with him would make us more attached and feel actual emotions about his parting in the very end.

The idea of having Mania connect with forces like that and have a “reason” for Classic to appear is good, but Classic just arrives and is there. For not reason at all besides the sake of being there in order to please 2d/classic enthusiast fans. Great concept in theory, sloppily executed though.

Modern Sonic

The game play was very sloppy as Sonic just could fall off the stage and you just had a very huge lack of control of his speed. Mostly when you were in boost in a place that intended you to boost. The absence of drift was very unnerving.

The thing about Sonic being imprisonment was just. so..... unrealistically done. Sonic just came out of the cage and he’s been doing just fine. But he’s gotta be down, because couldn’t run. He absolutely hates being stuck in a place and it’s been SIX FUCKING MONTHS. The bars are also so far apart he can just slip out. Also Sonic can easily break out of prison.

This was not the first time he was imprisoned. In SA2 he had a far greater emotional response, and he broke out the moment he knew what he had to do to make things right. (He volunteered to be imprisoned in SA2, in forces he was forced in prison.)

This is not just out of character for him, but also very lazy writing. The time skip between was badly done, in a black screen with text. No context as to why Silver is suddenly here (if you didn’t read the comic you have no idea whats going on) or how the resistance formed.

Everyone thinks Sonic died, Knuckles is very upset and admits he cant get used to him being gone; and suddenly he gets the news that Sonic is fine and it doesn't trigger any emotional response in him. Or anyone really much besides Amy; who had refused to believe he died in the first place.

He just immediately goes on a mission and fights Infinite.

Tag Team

It was a very good idea to incorporate this mechanic and was mainly well done and fun; the double and triple boost was a nice lil kick off to regular gameplay.

As mentioned was it never clear who you are playing right now and it didn’t warn you about swiches. It could’ve been done better with the heroes mechanics of swicharound. There were more than enough characters to have multiple teams that could be playable.

Avatar

The custimization options aren’t spectacular, but that was not to be expected. I was positively surprised to have the option to chose between 3 voices. 

Villains

Chaos is. Just there. He wasn't even a boss. He was just there for the shock value/fan service.

The Metal Sonic fight was okay.

Zavok was annoying but okay and reasonable.

Shadow wasn’t even a bossfight he was also just shock-factor. He joined the team but was of very little value. (Except for DLC, will talk abt later.)

Infinite has 4 boss fights. And in the end he just vanishes. He’s basically still existent? I think? what happened? Are we just going to accept this?

The final boss was lame and not memorable at all. At least nega wisp phase 2 was iconic.

Infinite

Infinite is a very interesting character with much potential, which they sadly didn't really use much at all except for him being extra. He didn't show off much of his personality and we couldn't learn to appreciate/hate him. 

The game doesn't mention much about his origin, so you will have to read the online comic in the social medias to understand. This might be good marketing to get consumers to consume media on different platforms, but it does not make much sense for newcomers who know nothing about Sonic and don’t follow the social medias to begin with.

Someone who just picked up the game and it’s their first Sonic game.... They won't understand shit.

I want to see more of him. He got so much potential to grow and ultimately redeem himself. Maybe in a future game? Or in the comics at least.

Episode Shadow

The 3 levels were well. One time it was a sonic level but with shadow and some lil things changed. The other was a custom character level but with shadow. The other was just generic 2d platforming with cubes. None of these were long or new. It was fun, sure, but it wasn't exciting.

I was kinda peeved that even though infinite was revealed, we still didnt get to see his face.

Visuals

Lighting harsh, sometimes interesting, but not completely fleshed out/good/atmospheric. 

There are scenes/levels that have stunning visuals (the sonic level in space and the scene with the sun.) even when its not perfect.

Just. The characters sometimes float above the ground and the lighting is very white and harsh and not atmospheric. (The colors are meessed up and too bright. The characters look like they have a completely different light source from the environment)

EDIT: A DAY AFTER ADDITIONS

okay so a day after, replaying some stages, I still think the game is very fun.

There are quite a few things that are peeving me still. I just remembered the whole null space thing, which is totally wasted potential. You could’ve had a few levels in that space with fucky gravity and weird cube shit going, but you just had to double boost out and that was it.

Many tricks the villain packs out are treated as something they can oercome easily and they just. Win “because they always do”.

I want to see the heroes doubt themselves and have character development. The only character that does have character development at all is the custom character. Infinite arguably does undergo some development too; in episode shadow.

There is a lot of potentials for DLCs and I hope they release them and have more characters playable.