A Forces demo with levels under a timer? It's almost the Sonic 4: Episode II demo all over again.... ...almost because the Sonic 4: Episode II demo let you play the one level it had for two minutes, as opposed to just one! :v: Only real positive is that the modern Sonic level does seem to have multiple routes / shortcuts...if you can play it far enough to get to that point. That and people's impressions are that the demo performs well, so maybe the Switch version won't turn out to be a mess after all. (Unless Sonic Team pulled a Sonic 2006 / Aliens: CM and made a demo that's more functional than the final game.) The impressions so far about the rest of the game / demo are lining up with what I've truly imagined Forces will be. EDIT: Someone was able to beat most of the modern Sonic stage in the demo by pressing just one button. brb, gotta go find my sides fast
Anyone remember that interview Iizuka did with Game Informer a while back? http://www.gameinformer.com/games/sonic_forces/b/playstation4/archive/2017/06/13/head-of-sonic-team-talks-bringing-custom-characters.aspx What a hot steamy load of garbage. This has to be one of the most hilarious and equally frustrating things ever. What the hell kind of freedom and thrust do you get from the game when nearly everything is automated. And everything that isn't is either jank or bland. How can the player even appreciate or accept the restraints when they're constantly being restrained. At least in Unleashed and Generations there was the potential to go a bit off the rails, and it lead to a much more engaging gameplay. Even Classic Sonic looks less entertaining. It's funny, he literally explains exactly what Forces is. A contradictory mishmash of automation and free movement that loses it's shine after two stages.
Looking at reports of those playing it, it's actually gotten a visual boost since E3/TGS. There's still a notable visual downgrade from the other versions, but the performance on the 2 levels and boss fight aren't some gigantic mess. Just don't look at the backgrounds of Space Port. They're literally Sonic Heroes / Shadow the Hedgehog low polygons and boxes tier.
The hits just keep on coming with this demo. Check this shit out: The game is literally scripting Sonic into the center of the stage, look how the player is constantly side-stepping to the left/right to get out of it (most visible at 0:15 - 0:30 and 0:55 - 1:00). And the AI for the enemies are programmed to not give a fuck. They literally just stand there, all
The outdoors areas for Space Port seem relatively alright, the indoors areas less so. It's hard to tell how much of it is a downgrade, and how much of it is consistent given the fact that we only have Youtube footage of the PS4 version to compare to. Also Docked Mode applies anti-aliasing and better / darker shadows compared to Undocked mode. No other texture or graphical differences that I know of.
Well, being serious here for a minute, but I looked at GameXplain's playthrough of the demo, and while the level design seems like I'd have a blast playing it despite its automation, the 1 minute timer is a dealbreaker. Hopefully someone can rip the game and poke into the files and mod the level layout into Generations for a real Forces preview. But as it is, I really doubt I'll be buying this.
https://giant.gfycat.com/AnotherLavishAmericanredsquirrel.webm Glad to see the weird laughy thing is back after skipping Mania :v:
That level design looks shockingly, appallingly bland. Leave it to me to have truly thought that Generations was a sign of a way forward for the franchise. What a joke.
Quality Red Ring locations that could give Mania's hidden Giant Rings a run for their money. TwilightZoney (who posted the previous video of the game scripting Sonic into the center) is also starting to work his magic, check out the game's (lack of) animation blending: It looks like the level designer used a rectangular "select" tool and deleted chunks of the bottom. That or entire platforms of the level actually failed to load.
Secret Rings had more interesting level design than this in the first minute. I can't believe this. http://youtu.be/W81bGnhbkyI
And that was a game that is literally on-rails in its design! EDIT: Someone managed to just barely get to the end of the modern Sonic stage under the one-minute time limit. This is what, the fourth Sonic stage in Forces shown so far that can be completed in just 60-90 seconds.
I have spent the last few years calling the phrase "boost to win" reductionist to the point of falsehood. I even started work on (and then abandoned) a video showing that boosting alone is not an effective strategy even on Generations GHZ, let alone more difficult levels such as every other level in the game. It's such a shame to see Sonic Forces living down to claims that were not true of previous boost-formula games.
Sonic 1's first stage can be completed in 29 seconds, yes, but you have to earn it. This one just looks like, yeah, you will feel like a master speedrunner on your first try. yay.
Ughhh come on now. Unleashed's tutorial level was more interactive and fun than this and this isn't even the 1st level I think. This is just sad.
I love Sonic Team so much. Making all these super-long stretches of road is too hard so they need padding, yet they make these long stretches of level WITH LITERALLY NOTHING IN THEM. Fuck, even Generations had you do SOMETHING every ten seconds seconds or so.
Not even GameXplain could find good things to say about the demo (or the game, for that matter). Derek (the person covering the demo impressions) was outright baffled on the time limit decision (outright wondering if Sonic Team was trying to hide something with the game), and outright passed on any interest in reviewing the game (another member, Ash, will reportedly be handling review duties by himself).