The Impressively Bad Level Design of Sonic Forces

Sonic forces from what I can tell people don't like this game too much in fact I've watched a bunch of reviews and the vast majority of them seem to come to the same conclusion this game is mediocre and Bland and a disappointing follow-up to Sonic Generations however up until now I've never played it for myself and I wanted to give it a fair shake so as usual I'll just be focusing on the modern Sonic boost gameplay since that's what this video series is all about let's do it starting with the opening stage Lost Valley the first 30 seconds or so of this level are spent boosting straight through enemies I think I jumped once but yeah I guess the idea here is to show you that like in colors these wisp capsules charge the Boost and you can use them to plow through enemies fair enough if a bit basic and oh okay we're in uh we're in 2D now sure it's got some branching paths with a higher area that can only be reached by boosting a bit so that sounds similar to the previous games higher path faster lower path slower unfortunately though neither of these paths have any anything going on the first time I played I just boosted through without thinking and honestly it didn't even feel like there was any 2D level design to speak of because I didn't need to interact with it whatever though it's the introduction the tutorial to the 2D gameplay maybe it's meant to be easy before we move on to the uh oh all right we're back in 3D again cool though there's an alternate pathway see this one's kind of tucked to the right it's not all that hard to get to or anything in fact I'd struggle to say it's really taking much exploration or skill to use but hey it is somewhat different actually the wait both of them just involve holding the Boost button and watching the game play itself then it's the end of the level oh uh that was nothing weird however this is just the opening maybe they want to keep things simple to start but then they'll build from there so let's jump to the next modern Sonic stage all right yeah this is looking better unlike the far less imaginative version of Green Hill I was just treated to this has a much stronger aesthetic the kind of purple blue shining interior of Eggman ships combined with the red lights and the depth of space outside yeah this is a look I can get down with and once you're past the short 2D section at the start there we go this is what I'm looking for some branching paths it also does a good job of intuitively telling the player which path is fastest the one to the right is easiest to get to so that's the slowest the one to the middle is a little trickier and requires more careful aiming of homing attacks so it's medium speed and then the left path is the most difficult one with an enemy that can be pretty finicky to homing attack so to the right we've got a brief platforming challenge we have to climb up followed by a 2d section which introduces the sets of blocks that raise as soon as you step on them meaning that you've got to try to LEAP to the furthest one which will immediately spring the player up in the middle meanwhile there's a couple options first stuff you can climb up and go straight forward alternatively there's the spring you can take which will let you homing attack this asteroid from there you'll be on a little side path with a red ring but it quickly connects back to the main pass also this section bypasses an additional 2D part that the right path had so yeah this is making things a bit faster then there's the left path which oh okay this one takes you straight to that red ring then links back to the middle one so not as different as I expected but you know what this section has some options it's a good starting point at least next there's a 2d platforming section with more of these four block sets that I mentioned with some careful boosting you can access the Springs without needing to climb on any steps and then on to something else I guess it's time for some rail grinding and side stepping these sections have always been a part of the Boost formula and they can be a fun way to spice up the gameplay fortunately this one doesn't overstay its welcome either and then we're back to more 2D platforming again there are more of these four block sets and okay yeah we're done with that uh back to the rails outside hop on the spaceship this looks pretty cool then we're falling falling and oh okay the yeah the stage is done that's it now this stage showed more promise than Lost Valley that much is for certain but still it didn't go anywhere much there was some potential for an interesting platforming gimmick with these four block sets but the stage didn't really ramp up the challenge with them or use them in creative ways meanwhile while the 3D section at the beginning did offer Choice it was so basic like don't get me wrong this could serve as a good start but when this is all the choice I'm given in 3D for the whole level and then otherwise I'm grinding on Rails or watching a QuickTime event well that's just not enough especially when the 2D sections also lack development on top of this it's barely more difficult to get on the faster path since no matter what you just need to homing attack enemies to get there as soon as it felt like it might get going it was already over but whatever the stages must get better from here right except no they don't because as far as I'm concerned that was Sonic forces best Stage let's move on to luminous Forest this stage is an absolute disaster first off there's this 2D section which splits into a higher and lower path on the higher path you can more or less just boost until the game turns back to 3D again which is a disappointing and boring way to handle the faster path but then there's the lower path oh boy watch me play I'm sure I look like I suck don't I and I do because these jumps should be easy to make and yet they aren't Sonic's controls here are weird he's so heavy in 2D space and his double jump doesn't do much then there's his overall handling see when he's speeding up he'll just randomly Lurch forward to a higher speed instead of gradually accelerating it's hard to see when just watching gameplay but it's impossible for me to ignore when I'm actually playing and it made the entire play experience awkward so I guess it's a blessing that I didn't need to actually play much then huh because the stage truly is Boost to win just hold down that button run for and maybe homing attack here and there and that's it sure there are some hidden faster paths but honestly me saying they're faster is a bit of an assumption because they didn't feel any faster makes sense too since it's harder for anything to fuel a lot much more satisfying when no matter what you're doing you're more or less just holding down the Boost button except even then the game somehow screws up because during these sections sometimes I try to control Sonic and he'd go flying off the edge it seems like I need to hit these boosters or else he goes careening off into nothing it's truly impressive how this level has so little in the way of player input and yet it still somehow manages to feel Jank oh also we end off with another QuickTime event with this giant snake could have been cool to actually have a stage built around that but whatever doesn't matter I guess then there's Sunset Heights with 3D sections that can also be trivialized by you guessed it boosting the win sure there's an alternate path higher up here but it doesn't matter when no matter which way I take I just have to hold a button basically regardless of where I go in 3D here I know I'm going to more or less be getting the exact same play experience unless these paths offer meaningfully different gameplay they mean nothing to me as for the 2D sections well they don't hold a candle to the 2D sections of modern Sonic stages and generations and they also don't touch colors Unleashed HDs or even the incredibly brief bits of platforming and Unleashed Wii Network terminal meanwhile is a mostly 2D Focus stage with only some 3D rail grinding and a little straightforward boost section at the end the level design itself isn't that bad though see it's focused on these sets of four platforms which spin when toxic liquid pours onto them it's introduced in a safe environment and slowly ramps up and challenges the stage progresses it's basic but it's probably the most fleshed out single stage gimmick in this entire game unfortunately though even the structurally sound level design is marred by Sonic's crappy controls and handling that's not to say it's impossible to get used to this I actually kind of got okay with it after replaying the stages a few times but that simply isn't a satisfying experience and this should have been ironed out which is so confusing because couldn't they have just used Sonic's physics from Generations unfortunately though that that doesn't exist so yeah this stage remains in a state where it had potential but it's nothing more than that Metropolitan highway is similar to network terminal where it's a mostly 2D stage with its 3D sections being very fluffy and Boosty and well Mom I'm holding down the win button I actually like the gimmick of the stage more though with these platforms where as soon as you land on them they'll start moving sometimes you want to use that movement to progress other times it's better to jump quickly to the next platform so it doesn't move you further from where you want to be this is a neat idea and one that I'd love to see return in a Sonic game with better controls then there's mortar Canyon the final modern Sonic stage from what I can tell there seems to be many people's favorite and one of the few stages to receive some measure of serious praise from people and and I'm sorry folks I don't get it I thought the stage was awful yes it has multiple paths and ways to go through the stage yes it's kind of satisfying to watch yourself fall down but yes I could also just hold down the Boost button and basically let go of the control stick and the game played itself meanwhile when I force myself to go out of my way and test out the other paths they didn't lead to anything the stage is all sorts of backwards with a more difficult to reach paths and I use that word very generously here are actually slower than the easy paths and I don't know I guess it has a better sense of spectacle and scale than most of the stages and it is the only one that's basically all 3D but my metric for Success isn't that something simply needs to be 3D of course not 3D or not it's still boring and this stuff barely counts as level design and that's all the modern Sonic stages all of them less than Generations shorter than any stages before more bland and boring and frankly some of the worst 3D level design I've ever seen to me these levels contained no compelling 3D gameplay and that is not an exaggeration I truly mean that what were once moments of spectacle in the prior games have become the game that's it but where colors had the sense to use these moments to break up a mostly 2D experience this game focuses far more on those 3D sections without developing them leading to a shockingly dull experience however there are more stages to discuss still the team up stages where Sonic and the Avatar join forces but yeah I'm gonna count these stages because they do have the Boost there's just the Wisp weapon mechanic in addition to it so hey maybe these stages are the ones where the game will truly shine I'm not even gonna pretend these are awful they alternate between some of the most basic platforming I've ever seen impressively dull combat and you can skip over all of it using the incredibly easy to abuse wisp power-ups anytime it seemed like there might be an interesting moment my hopes were immediately dashed and again even if there are multiple paths in some of these stages they mean nothing to me because no matter what I do the game still basically feels like it's playing itself it's mind numbing and this is without even factoring in the double boost sections which are meant to be this big cool spectacle but that's all the game has been so far so why would I care oh yeah there's even this one stage that's just a quick Time Event followed by a little more than a repeated boss battle that's it still counts as a stage though and then final judgment oh boy I'm sure ready to give my final judgment because this stage changes nothing just sidestep left and right and that's it baby you're golden the only thing to actually do here is this brief part where you have to destroy these canisters but yeah this barely counts as compelling gameplay either other than that well there are a few Shadow stages two of which consist mostly of pretty basic 2D platforming challenges while the second one is this insultingly terrible track down these stupid water slides that don't control right and how how can a game that so often plays itself feels so bad to play how do you even manage that I don't even know what to say about this game Sonic forces I was led to believe it was just kind of mediocre a big step down from Generations but you know not the worst thing ever but no this is not just mediocre it's not just somewhat disappointing or a bit worse or somewhat of a rehash that could have used some more unique Aesthetics it's terrible truly awful does it reach a baseline level of quality where it isn't completely broken sure I guess does it have a decent percentage of 3D moments yes but who cares if it sucks do people really hate 2D modern Sonic that much that they'd rather hold a button to win and just be happy that the cameras behind Sonic's back again you just need to see those spines that just really gets you going and if that's truly all it takes for a Sonic game to be considered average then I think we're at a Breaking Point here because that's not good enough frankly I'd probably rather have a janky broken game because then at least I could laugh about it or something this though this game is worthless to me an incredibly sour note to end this boost series on it's weird too because many people act like we shouldn't expect that much from this series 3D Sonic's often crap isn't it but not really well the side gimmicks of the prior boost games definitely divided the fan base the actual boost stages themselves generally range from okay to Fantastic with more of an emphasis on fantastic I love a lot of these stages and generations in particular had some of my favorite 3D game design of all time so no this isn't remotely par for the course this is more than a disappointment it's a fundamental misunderstanding of what made this boost style of gameplay fun and it's bizarre that it was even created in the first place I can confidently say that after forcing this video out I will never ever be returning to this game again

Channel: Lowart

Views: 97,778

Keywords: sonic the hedgehog, sonic forces, sonic mania, sonic generations, sonic adventure, sonic colors, sonic unleashed, sonic adventure 2, game design, classic sonic, sonic forces review, level design, sonic frontiers, game design document, I hate sonic forces, the worst sonic game, worst 3d sonic game, why sonic forces sucks, why sonic forces is bad, sonic forces is bad, the worst boost sonic game, sonic forces vs sonic generations, forces vs generations

Id: 4fiL6hnYzoI

Length: 13min 44sec (824 seconds)

Published: Fri Nov 25 2022