Sorry for the mega-bump, but I figured this was the best place to ask rather than starting a new thread: Is Sonic Forces worth picking up if I can get it dirt cheap? I've been offered a physical copy at a very low price and am wondering whether to take the plunge. I enjoyed Sonic Unleashed, Sonic Colours and Sonic Generations back in the day but haven't played a 3D Sonic game since (technically, anyway - I have picked up Sonic X Shadow Generations, but am currently replaying the original game before moving onto Shadow's campaign). Is Forces worth picking up for some more boost-style Sonic, or will I be setting myself up for disappointment compared to the games in this style I've previously enjoyed?
Game sucks. 30 stages split across Boost, 2D and Avatar, all which control terribly If the only thing you care about is the boost gameplay, then you'll be disappointed as the stages are all bite sized. Most can be completed blindly in under 2 minutes, and again, the controls suck so they're not enjoyable as a standard boost game. Phenomenal soundtrack though, and I like the Build-A-Fur workshop.
Define "dirt cheap", Because the game is... not good... but it's certainly not unplayable or broken. It's basically the Sonic equivalent of Balan Wonderworld, no matter how much you get it for, it works and it functions, but you're constantly thinking "I could be doing something more enjoyable instead of playing this..."
Every boost game controls badly to some extent. I actually like Forces better in some ways because it's at least not insanely slippery or has the weird lag to its jump that you get when accounting for the short-hop. But I also recognize that the air control is pretty weak, that one turn in Metropolitan Highway is bullshit, and not having access to PC modding weakens the deal. I dunno, I think it's serviceable generally, it's certainly shallow and not what you'd get out of something like Generations, but it's precisely the act of going in without any expectations that, as a shallow serviceable whatever game, getting it for cheap and ramming through it is the best way to enjoy it. You still get nice sights and sounds, the avatar system is cool and I don't think anything about the game is particularly broken or frustrating. It could have been better, it should have been better, but there are plenty of things to enjoy. It's not something I would actively tell anyone to avoid.
Personally, I expected forces to be total crap after hearing others speak of it. I eventually bought it on sale, and it was still worth it. Controls are a little janky, but you can still get some fun out of it. It’s worth “dirt cheap”, people pay high prices on cigarettes or beer to last a day, a game lasts longer and can be reused repeatedly, a physical copy resold for maybe even a profit in worst case scenario. Go for it.
It's mediocre. The boost levels are super short and incredibly automatized, as Sonic Team (sadly) listened to complaints about Sonic games being "too fast" and "punishing" the player for going fast. The Avatar and Classic Sonic levels are less automatized, but still bland. I'd say it's worth getting for cheap. It's nowhere near as enjoyable as the boost levels in Generations and Unleashed, but it's not broken like Sonic 06, or tedious like ShTH and Lost Word. It's just okay.
Today I think Sonic Forces is just a mid game. Yes, this game has no soul and it's very bland but I don't think it's in same level of Sonic 2006 and Sonic & the Secret Rings. At least Metropolis Highway is a good level, I guess.
I liked Sonic Forces and it did feature some of the better boss battles in a Sonic game. I just found so many of the levels far too short and a massive stepdown from Generations or even Unleashed. Still had fun and enjoyed the game.
Like everyone's already saying, it's aggressively mediocre. Since we're well past the "voting with your wallet" stage, I say go for it if you're curious. If nothing else, it's an official OC creator to toy with. Plus you can follow it up with the "Sonic Forces: Overclocked" mod, which is pretty genuinely good.
If I had to throw my hat into the ring I'd say it's also one of the better games to 100% since there's so much to do in that regard. Like on top of red rings, there's the number rings and the moon rings. There's missions and some of them can actually be a little tough in regards to beating a level under a certain time, though not so impossible that it's frustrating, and then you also gotta max out all honors for every animal for achievements and clothes. Too many games stop at get the red rings and S rank the level.
I dunno if I'd call that "better". Getting max honors with every avatar species means you have to do like six or seven full playthroughs of the game at least. I'm not sure why they threw out the SA2 model of multiple missions per stage with their own separate playthrough. Maybe that was padding too, but it least felt like you were starting and completing an objective instead of "read this list of stuff you can do and maybe one of them will happen". EDIT: Oh, and the model and physicssss from Overclocked are downloadable as a separate mod now. The visual updates to Sonic aren't my favorite, but I've been using fixes for the turning and a preview of the air control updates in this one for a while now, and I definitely recommend those. Man, first Origins and now this, what is it with Sonic fanpatches getting updated right as I'm talking about them?
If it's under $10, why not just for the collection (it can sometimes be found for about that on digital too) but it's not the same grind as some of the other games like Colors and going back to how it plays can feel pretty brutal.
Yeah I'm with everyone else on this, if the price is cheap then go for it. Forces isn't great but its a decent junk food game. It's short and has just enough Sonic DNA in it to get some enjoyment out of it. Its not gonna be very memorable fun but it is there.
Forces is just fine. It's far from the crime against humanity it was made out to be at launch and I'd say it's worth picking up if you find a copy for under $20. It's just not great or impactful. It's aggressively inoffensive.
From everything I've seen of Forces you could give it to me for free and I still don't think I'd play it tbh. There's better games out there more worth the time, including replaying other Sonic games.
Sonic Forces also gives you zero freedom to explore. There are invisible walls everywhere, which is extremely frustrating. So no, I've tried many times, but just don't get the concept of this game. Replay value often lies in improving your times by milliseconds. If that doesn't sound too bad to you (and you have nothing to lose), then OK, give it a try.
It doesn't matter which one is "poor crap" and which one is "bog standard". The end result is the same; both are games that are widely found to be unenjoyable. That's really the be-all and end-all here. EDIT: Actually, what is Forces even "bog standard" compared to? "Bog standard" implies something that's par for the course or unremarkable. But par for games of the same ilk is higher. Forces is remarkably worse than it's contemporaries. Let's put it another way with an analogy. Which of the following would you choose at dinner time tonight, bearing in mind that you're well-fed and not hungry? A) A fresh turd from the bowl of a public toilet. B) A nice looking hamburger from a sketchy fast food place that you're sure has a major vermin infestation but you can't prove it. C) Skip dinner and enjoy a good breakfast of your choice in the morning instead. Does that make more sense? A is obviously worse than B, but B is still bad. C is the obvious choice. Even though no analogy is perfect, the point should be obvious; it doesn't matter which is worse between A and B when you don't have to choose one or the other. That all makes sense, I hope. Now let's move on to why Forces is unpopular. Forces is a distillation of some of the common criticisms of Sonic games... Not only are all of the levels short, the problem is compounded by how "hands off" the experience is for players, meaning that whole levels fly-by but it feels like nothing has happened. Every level has long stretches of nothing when you just sit and watch the game play itself. And when you are actively involved, it's rudimentary gameplay. The level design isn't good. The game controls poorly. Or to put it into less vague terms, the characters in the game control have limited and confusing control. Moving in 3D is unresponsive, resulting in it being overly difficult to even turn when the game wants you to. The Zavok fight for example is stiff, whilst following following a chain of enemies you want to with the homing attack can feel impossible even when you're firmly pressing the analogue stick in the direction you want. Don't even get me started on the multiple sections where the correct way to play is to simply let go on the controller, as any other action will garner a worse result (often death). 2D physics are inconsistent, both thrusting you forward and bringing you to a dead stop in a manner that seems to make no sense. The entire game is short. 30 levels plus bonus acts may sound like a lot, but see above. Despite the high number of collectable items and clothing pieces, there's little incentive to go back for these if the underlying game experience isn't fun. The story is a sloppy mess, focusing on a plot device that doesnt make any sense. It constantly suffers from tonal whiplash. in the dialogue too, prompting even some of the most die-hard fans to wince. There's a distinct air of cheapness surrounding the game. Aggressive use of recycled assets from previous games, very little new in terms of gameplay (there's a lot of visual set dressing but not a lot to physically engage with) make cutscenes and story beats take place in a menu, the avatar character creator is about as complex as Disney's Toontown, an MMO from 2003. Presentation is poor. Also, for what it's worth, the Switch version is hardly cutback. The visuals do suffer and the lower framerate may affect gameplay for some people. But by and large it's the same game. You can't say that people's opinions are invalid because that's all they played. In fact, you can't even tell people that their opinions are invalid even though they haven't played the game. It's been around for 7 years now. That's plenty of time for them to digest everything the game has to offer without playing it. If you know Sonic or video games at all, you can tell why Forces is a game you may loathe (or love, whatever) without first hand experience. You might like Forces or some other game that others widely dislike. Good for you. But this routine of "wah he said mean things about the game I like and I have absolutely no idea why" needs to fucking stop. Again, it's been 7 years that people have talking about this shit. And look around this thread, even just since the bump. The overarching takeaway is that it by its own merits the game is offensively mediocre rather than outright bad, and stronger opinions tend to come from one's own personal experience with the franchise. Forces isn't the worst thing in the world. But it still sucks.
You don't need to play a game to know what it offers. A person's own words are only as useful as their ability to describe things they like and don't like. --- I know exactly what Sonic Forces offers, it does not look fun or the type of thing I want out of a Sonic experience. So what else is there, the control? I've seen enough people mention how bad the control is for my opinion to be swayed even though I don't think any of the Boost games control all that well now that I've played all but HD Unleashed. Shadow Generations is the first one to have decent controls for what it wants to do, but it also feels satisfying. So if Forces looks un-fun and controls bad, what am I missing by playing through it? It's a boost game with bad level design...
Also, why should I waste my money when the game is outright bad. Demos exist for a reason. If you had fun, buy it. If not, oh well. It's not a foreign concept to grasp.
