Current Events > Sonic Forces previews are out. Verdict: It stinks

(+) Yeah! (+)

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-07-06-maybe-its-time-for-us-to-leave-sonic-teams-take-on-its-series-behind

Sonic Forces doesn't look to plumb those same depths, but it also doesn't look quite set to reach the heights of Colors or Generations either. Its modern 3D sections are fast and frantic if overly talkative, with Amy and Shadow and a furry soldier (!) chatting in your ear as you dart through levels. It's like a Saturday morning cartoon, I guess, but one of those really crap ones your brain can no longer endure no matter how much damage you did it the night before; the sort of overly energetic and hollow trash that's the tipping point for getting you off your sofa then getting on with the rest of your day, basically. The action itself is remarkably clumsy, lacking the elegance and style the series was once known for and overcompensating with an abundance of noise.

It has sections played by a customisable avatar that are clumsier still, in which you fire your way through hordes of robots in appropriated versions of a level you may well have just sped through as modern Sonic. It's almost like the Shadow the Hedgehog sequel you hoped would never, ever exist.

And it has 2D sections that would normally get the older fan's hearts racing were it not for the shadow of another game that's coming out soon. Jumping to Forces from the exquisite looking Mania just goes to show how far removed Sonic Team's own classic Sonic is from the 16-bit ideal. There's something off about the physics and friction (a problem no doubt exacerbated by the Switch version at hand which is pegged at 30fps and runs like a drunk three-legged dog), and the encounter - a spin on Green Hill Zone's original Robotnik encounter - feels plain messy.

http://metro.co.uk/2017/07/04/sonic-mania-and-sonic-forces-hands-on-preview-and-interview-the-focus-is-on-old-school-fans-6753357/

Given how Sonic Mania is a fan dream come true it’s a little more difficult to get excited about Sonic Forces than it might otherwise have been. The game is a spiritual sequel to 2011’s Sonic Generations, in that you control both modern and old school tubby Sonic in a mixture of 2D and 3D levels.

The production values are fairly high, with decent graphics, but the 3D sections still seem as imprecise as ever. To the point where you only seem to need to point Sonic in roughly the right direction to succeed. The demo level did get harder as it went along, but we never felt fully in control – and a lot of the obstacles appeared to come and go without any real inconvenience.

The same is true of the 2D sections, which compare poorly to Sonic Mania. For a start, the view is zoomed out too far, so that you’re often squinting to make out what’s going on, but the controls also aren’t as tight and it doesn’t even seem to be as fast.

I'm....not shocked at all.
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