The asthetic is absolutely a missed opportunity considering all the tropes are purely from Casino Night. I'd like to hope Modern or the Avatar will have it better off, but I somehow doubt it.
The music is a step up from Green Hill Classic, the music hasn't sold me yet, but I couldn't help but laugh when the beginning of the song reminded me of Inspector Gadget
The instruments kill the tune for me. Also, in Generations Classic Sonic levels weren't all on one plane, but rather went around corners and into / away from the foreground. I agree that here they're just re-using Casino Night DLC assets. -not exciting, but not terrible I guess.
Good point actually, we have yet to see anything like that in Classic's gameplay so far. That's disappointing, I kinda liked the feeling those turns and perspective changes worked in Generations.
Oh my god. OH MY FUCKING GOD IT'S LIKE SONIC 1 ON THE GBA. What year are we in? Holy hell, I didn't really pay attention to that but jesus. I'm glad they can recreate that good idea but they can't make him interact with slopes properly while running.
At least Casino Forest's BGM actually sounds like a Genesis track this time unlike "Dust Hill zone" (It may be called Green Hill, but I think it more deserves the Dust hill name.)
Help, I'm having horrible flashbacks to Sonic 4's Casino Street. The same brainless re-use of level gimmicks, a similar set of glaring physics issues, slightly gross and garish visuals, and not-remotely-acceptable-for-a-twenty-six-year-old-franchise level design. I was excited when Forces was first announced. I like both Colours and Generations a lot, and I was expecting "Generations: But Better And With New Levels". That's not something I would be remotely opposed to. Instead, every reveal since then has stomped on that excitement, to the point where I'm actively pissed off every time they show something new. This game looks cheap, lazy, uninspired and un-fun. Give me Mania 2: Every Zone Is Green Hill Zone for all I care. The Mania devs crush Forces effortlessly.
Holy crap you're right. I thought for a second they maybe just did a Drop Dash, but no. He just rockets forward for no reason. WHY DO WE NEED SCRIPTS LIKE THAT.
Haha something new! Time to bitch! What I liked! Something new. Sonic Team's Classic Sonic moves surprisingly well through it as the gimmicks look like they actually bounce you without too much trouble. Some branching paths at points Unique level gimmicks....even if entirely reused from the classic games. What I didn't like: Possibly the most literal mashup of themes. It doesn't blend or play off each other enough. Great idea, mediocre execution. The dip in quality from Generations in terms of level design, dynamic camera, backdrops, 3D camera, and stage geometry is staggering. Like, it looks like a unity project in terms of asset use. The camera is way too static. It make absolutely no use of the benefits 3D provides. That synth is awful and remains awful. The physics problems become obvious as Sonic looks like he's getting automated through things at points. When he landed after the flipper it looked like he retained some forward speed despite not moving horizontally at 27 seconds. Slopes do nothing. The ending cut from the scripted sequence to normal running is so very telling. No enemies. Only hazards consisting of the spike balls. The stage looks empty.
This is just a theory but I think the Hedgehog Engine cannot handle backtracking hence the levels are designed in a way that you cannot go back after certain points. You gotta keep going forward because the area behind you is no longer rendered.
I like the combination of themes, in theory. Wish it was used in a better game, though. Can't wait until the game comes out, so we can get digging for a Ferris wheel in the background with a blurry "Generations 2" logo on it. :v:
Sonic Generations, from 2011, looks and sounds massively more appealing than this game being released in 2017, and I really, seriously want to know why. Why is the level design so much worse? Why is the music a significant step down? Why are the visuals not as carefully crafted with more lush, detailed environments combined with far better lighting? Why have they consistently doubled down on the amount of pissing speed boosters and dash panels, which wrenches away control and makes the levels feel completely artificial? The fact that they have taken classic Sonic's gameplay from Sonic Generations and actually made it more of a departure from 16 bit Sonic's physics and gameplay is astounding. In particular, that Sonic 1 Game Boy Advance-esque physics bluff is ridiculously jarring. Just, why? Are we really sure that this is like 4 years of solid, hand-on-heart efforts? I can't help but think, given what clusterfuck of a game we've seen, that they have scrambled to get Sonic Forces to where it is now in about 1 year, after spending 3 years or so fumbling around with various ideas and concepts which kept getting scrapped or heavily changed due to not working out. There's also a huge disparity in consistency across the soundtrack, visuals, and, well... a lot of other things in the game - just where the flying fuck is this game's focus?
lol I like how they still haven't fixed Classic Sonic's rotating outside the the directional planes he's supposed to be facing. When he gets launched in to the slot machine he's facing the camera off center and the rings are homing into the space next to him.
Fond of the music, definitely agreeing with others here on the sound of it, though. It's sad that this is one of the most involved levels we've seen, yet it still looks so bland to play. I've been reserved for a while hoping we've just seen early levels, but it's getting to the point where we've seen enough of them that I'm fearful that it's an accurate indication of the level design process as a whole. ApocalypticSalad's Sonic 4 comparison is sadly apt, at that.
Some more gameplay, from IGN (with in-game dialogue, looks like they're searching for Modern Sonic): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewEWCUjq5CE
WTF is this? I feel like they are pulling a "HERE'S YOU FREAKING SONIC 4 EPISODE 3 THAT YOU WANTED SO BADLY" and we are getting punished here. It's a few steps forward from Mania, but also several step back. That birds eye camera angle is extremely off putting to me. And really....another fucking Casino? I think I'm more pissed about this than Green Hill. No one asked for Casino Sylvaina Castle Zone. I'm not hearing what others are with that music either. I wouldn't call it "better" I feel like it's dramatizing Sonic 2 in a way that even Sonic 4 did not disrespect.
I just realized, on the IGN footage, the guy playing tries to get Sonic to roll on a slope at around 0:40, and while hes "speeding" up at an angle, instead of moving at that angle after it ends, Classic Sonic stays glued to the wall heading straight down instead of realistically moving off at an angle
It's better than arguably any of past levels shown off so far, but it still has problems. Cons: - Most of the level gimmicks are stuff we've seen before. Bumpers, casino slots, launching springs, and pinball levers all look lifted from Casino Night with a altered color scheme. Nothing really new here. - Hazards and enemies are non-existent. The only level hazards the player runs into that can hurt you are the floating spiked balls. The official footage uploaded by the Sonic the Hedgehog account does have one enemy shown almost off-screen....but it's the same stock enemy from past levels. This is a big factor as to why the level seem to be absolutely barren in its design. - The "forest" part of the level theme seems restricted to be only a visual element. There's no level gimmicks or mechanics that make use of it; if they did, it would certainly help the level stand out. Just to rattle off some ideas for what could have been done with it: spiderwebs as springs, logs as tunnels / chutes, tree branches as "slippery" platforms, giant leaves as parachutes, etc. - There's still some idiotic dash panel abuse. There's quite a few instances where players seem to be flung by the bumpers into the dash panels. There's also one dash panel placed directly in the middle of a half-pipe as we saw in one of the earlier stages. Same stock dash panels design and function too. - The levels don't really look geometric / organic in their design. The slopes don't naturally decline, there's a clear obvious "break" of when a shallow slope ends and a steeper slope begins. This also applies to the level structure as a whole, it's like it's broken up into boxed sections of setpieces, rather than naturally flowing together. It has an odd "room" / "hall" structure to it when Sonic moves from one location to another. Nothing really looks coherent. - Some ramps also look scripted in their design too, one section where Sonic flies off of a scripted ramp looks like it was recycled from a similar ramp from the Green Hill level. There's also one section where Sonic is rolling in the IGN footage and he drops straight down the wall like a brick when rolling off of it. - Physics still look wonky (especially that one bit in the IGN footage where the bumper pushes Sonic and he slowly inches backwards). - The music is still that awful Sonic 4-styled sound font and composition style. Not great. - The placement of rings looks really haphazard, namely the sections where they have huge swaths of them. The end section where there's an entire box of rings is the worst offender. Pros: - The level bumpers don't actually seem to be scripted here. The way Sonic bounces off of them does actually look momentum-based. - The visuals of the level does look actually nice. - The actual theme is not bad conceptually, just wish more was done with it. - The platforming here is actually not as "blocky" or demanding on precision as in other levels. The level overall seems like one of the better-designed levels you'd get from a Dimps Sonic game, which still doesn't make it necessarily good.
