Sorry but what exactly looks good about it? The bland artstyle? The janky animation? The boostpads everywhere because you're unable to build momentum on your own? Every part where you use the grappling hook to watch a mini cutscene which are even more boring than the usual automated 3D Sonic parts? The awful music? The bland as hell leveldesign? That mid level cutscene is just the cherry on top.
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Sonic Forces - Space Port Gameplay
- Thread starter Not75Drops
- Start date
Sorry but what exactly looks good about it? The bland artstyle? The janky animation? The boostpads everywhere because you're unable to build momentum on your own? Every part where you use the grappling hook to watch a mini cutscene which are even more boring than the usual automated 3D Sonic parts? The awful music? The bland as hell leveldesign? That mid level cutscene is just the cherry on top.
I think that's actually what best describes this footage. Not outright bad, but... uninspired? Like there's no emotion in it.
Supaidaman
Member
Davey Cakes
Member
The worst thing is whenever anyone says "this is fine."
Like, are you THAT desperate for a 3D Sonic title that you're willing to accept the sub-par?
We should be asking MORE of the developer, not less.
Like, are you THAT desperate for a 3D Sonic title that you're willing to accept the sub-par?
We should be asking MORE of the developer, not less.
And garbage physics.
This is exactly what happened. They were so sure people would like that game. In fact, I remember the pre-release reception being fairly positive as well. The game at the very least seemed inspired, unlike Forces.
The Technomancer
card-carrying scientician
Reposting here:
I am amazed how every single possible lesson they could have taken from the actually quite wonderful Sonic Colors, perhaps about complex multilayered level design, or the interesting use of situational powers, or the engaging colorful artstyle, or the good music, they keep completely fucking missing
Take Sonic Colors. Tighten up Sonic's jump a bit. Make the bite sized levels feel a bit less like they came off an assembly line. Boom, you have the best modern Sonic game and its not even that hard
I am amazed how every single possible lesson they could have taken from the actually quite wonderful Sonic Colors, perhaps about complex multilayered level design, or the interesting use of situational powers, or the engaging colorful artstyle, or the good music, they keep completely fucking missing
Take Sonic Colors. Tighten up Sonic's jump a bit. Make the bite sized levels feel a bit less like they came off an assembly line. Boom, you have the best modern Sonic game and its not even that hard
The Technomancer
card-carrying scientician
I mean, sorry to be a dick, but Lost World was an actively bad game and I wanted to like it. There were things about how that game controlled and how its levels were designed that did not work.
Yeah. I'm not someone to judge other people on their tastes but holy hell, anyone who thinks this looks fun must like Sonic really really much.
Lost World was a mediocre Galaxy clone. Which isn't a bad thing, it was alright. This one however..
:/
Its tragic because its the same director as Colors, and the same music lead. I dont know what happened.
The Technomancer
card-carrying scientician
Its the level design that I keep coming back to. Colors figured it out, those bigger levels were dense and had multiple branching paths and it felt like your wisp powers were opening up new avenues of traversal and it was honestly rock solid. To go from that to this is baffling
Shifty
Member
Not a fan. That stop-start gameplay is kind of antithetical to what I want out of a sonic game. The first section looked like it was meant to be 2D what with the total lack of left/right navigation.
A lot of the grapple stuff looks very style over substance, like that first wrap-it-around-a-platform bit. That jump could have been made on the first swing, easy.
And hearing the sodding colors announcer shout DRILL whenever you grab a wisp is actually painful at this point. Those things are gimmicky bullshit, kill them please.
How very dare you
A lot of the grapple stuff looks very style over substance, like that first wrap-it-around-a-platform bit. That jump could have been made on the first swing, easy.
And hearing the sodding colors announcer shout DRILL whenever you grab a wisp is actually painful at this point. Those things are gimmicky bullshit, kill them please.
How very dare you
I'm not knockin' Generations or Mania for this, but Forces, c'mon. The asset reuse is ridiculous, it came out 6 years ago. It feels like they're taking the worst page out of Mario's book and sticking to a permanently entrenched Sonic-level formula, like the 2D Mario's Grass-world, Desert-world, etc. Who asked for that? And based on the videos we've seen, these levels seem to have been far better realized in 2D and 3D with Mania and Generations respectively, so what's the point of revisiting them?
Well yes, there's that. But I was talking more the overall feeling of the product, vs specific details.
Davey Cakes
Member
From what I heard about Lost World, one of the biggest issues was the lack of polish, something that seems to plague a lot of Sonic games.
Conceptually, people were REALLY receptive to it before release. I, personally, thought it looked like the best and most inspired Sonic game in years. I never ended playing it because hell, I didn't even like Colors that much so there's no way I would like something worse. It wasn't worth the time or money. Heck, my roommate is a Sonic fanboy and he never bothered to finish that game. The potential was there but the execution was off the mark.
Sega has granted their team YEARS to fine-tune the 3D Sonic formula and put it into something truly special. But it seems like every time you have a game that a) experiments too much with unproven gameplay concepts or b) hasn't spent enough time in the cooker.
PeakPointMatrix
Member
I mean IS it just a crusted over Chemical Plant zone? Theyre not even hiding the fucking color scheme. The geometry is identical. Come on now.
I'm not knockin' Generations or Mania for this, but Forces, c'mon. The asset reuse is ridiculous, it came out 6 years ago. It feels like they're taking the worst page out of Mario's book and sticking to a permanently entrenched Sonic-level formula, like the 2D Mario's Grass-world, Desert-world, etc. Who asked for that? And based on the videos we've seen, these levels seem to have been far better realized in 2D and 3D with Mania and Generations respectively, so what's the point of revisiting them?
I mean, Im not gonna knock the game for it; Nintendo gets away with asset reuse all the time (re: Brawl, Kart, NSMB) but at least be upfront about it.
I wonder why they havent shown off that Hexogonal City stage the Infinite fight happens in. It looks to be one of the only totally original stages.
The moment I saw I said, "this is stupid." and yet Sonic Team wants me to take this crap seriously.
This will probably ended up being the last Sonic game I buy if future titles end up being like this.
No it wasn't, Lost Worlds biggest flaw is that it had no clear focus as Sonic Team couldn't decide what kind of game Lost World should as the game focus kept flip flopping between the tuber level design, being a poor man Mario/Donkey Kong clone, Sonic Colours 2, which is what I thought this game was going to be, or focus on the parkour system a feature that I felt was good but so underused within the game.
So the end result ended up being a colossal mess with the game simply being unfun to play with no strong identity.
Unfortunately all Sonic Team took from the negative reception of Lost Worlds seemed to amounted to scrap everything but the Wisp and recycle content from past Sonic games and call it a day, the Parkour system was fun and if they refined on that mechanic then they had a clear direction to take the Sonic series in.
Looks terrible.
I am always a bit salty that one of the most prominent cartoony game series has such an incompetent team behind it. Especially since the genre has been so barren (on non-Nintendo platforms) the last decade or so. If this series has been commercially viable for so long, imagine how big a success it could have been if the ratio of good/great titles was much, much higher.
I am always a bit salty that one of the most prominent cartoony game series has such an incompetent team behind it. Especially since the genre has been so barren (on non-Nintendo platforms) the last decade or so. If this series has been commercially viable for so long, imagine how big a success it could have been if the ratio of good/great titles was much, much higher.
Yes. It is literally just fucking Chemical Plant assets from Generations with a frost effect overlaid. Its not just the tubes, either. Lots of the background buildings, walls, platforms, etc. are from Generations too.
But its not Chemical Plant! Its a space port! Totally different.
Shifty
Member
I'm sure they have a big surprise in store for everyone.
They will find a way to ruin it.
In fairness, the demo / first level of that game was sublime. It could have been great if they'd been able to keep up that level of design instead of devolving into gimmicky rubbish for the rest of them.
This is purely speculation but my guess is that if it is the same people, the one-two punch of the passion-project Unleashed's bad reception (as well as the Hedgehog Engine being almost completely ignored when they had wanted to license it off) and the relatively tame Generations/Colors being way better received probably hurt morale. Idk though.
Edit - actually yeah it was probably Lost World
VendettaRed07
Member
Music sounds like something out of Zenon, Girl of the 21st century
lord_of_flood
Member
I liked the idea of this game at first (Sonic Generations 2, right guys?), but it just keeps losing me the more that gets shown off. Custom character gameplay looks worse every time I see it, and the Modern/Classic Sonic gameplay doesn't look like it'll hold up vs. Generations either.
I don't know if this is a result of the game being rushed, or if there's just no talent at Sonic Team anymore. Really hope it's the former.
I don't know if this is a result of the game being rushed, or if there's just no talent at Sonic Team anymore. Really hope it's the former.
RecRoulette
Member
Can't be worse than Sonic 4 and I'm getting it for $32, expectations are tempered.
The similarities to Chemical Plant just hammer home that this is pretty much Generations 2.
The similarities to Chemical Plant just hammer home that this is pretty much Generations 2.
Waddle Dee
Member
Still not really feeling the level design, and the reuse of level themes continues to be tiring. This is looking like a game that will get a very lukewarm reception. It's a shame that after Sonic Unleashed, Colors, and Generations, Sonic Team has more or less given up on ambitious ideas and creative worlds to run through.
There's still stuff to like about Forces, but most of it isn't what people come to a Sonic game for. The Create-A-Hero idea is sound, even if I've never been into the fan character craze, it makes sense and looks like a fun addition for younger players. The vocal tracks used for these custom characters is also an inspired choice, even if not all of these songs are clicking with me. I think the Wisps have been overused since Generations but at least the idea of using different Wisps to give your gun different attacks is a novel concept.
It's the important stuff, like the level design, level themes, presentation, and controls that are off. Not so much as to be a total disaster, but enough that it'll hold back the game significantly. After so many years since Lost World (Almost 4 years. The longest wait time for a new 3D Sonic game) I really wanted to love the next big title Sonic Team made, since while Lost World was only okay-ish, I genuinely love Colors and Generations and consider them to be better than "just good"... but Forces looks like it'll be lacking.
I guess we're only allowed one good (amazing, actually) Sonic game this year.
There's still stuff to like about Forces, but most of it isn't what people come to a Sonic game for. The Create-A-Hero idea is sound, even if I've never been into the fan character craze, it makes sense and looks like a fun addition for younger players. The vocal tracks used for these custom characters is also an inspired choice, even if not all of these songs are clicking with me. I think the Wisps have been overused since Generations but at least the idea of using different Wisps to give your gun different attacks is a novel concept.
It's the important stuff, like the level design, level themes, presentation, and controls that are off. Not so much as to be a total disaster, but enough that it'll hold back the game significantly. After so many years since Lost World (Almost 4 years. The longest wait time for a new 3D Sonic game) I really wanted to love the next big title Sonic Team made, since while Lost World was only okay-ish, I genuinely love Colors and Generations and consider them to be better than "just good"... but Forces looks like it'll be lacking.
I guess we're only allowed one good (amazing, actually) Sonic game this year.
Linkstrikesback
Member
I'm utterly convinced that Sonic Colours turning out as good as it did was an entirely lucky accident, and SEGA has no idea how it happened.
I can only assume the person that suggested they were working on something else that was canned was on the money; they can't have spent 4+ years on this.
How did they get from the Sonic 2017 teaser to this lmao
While they reuse some of the assets, the character does not traverse any of them, pipes included, implying they're mere decoration. I'd prefer something original, but this is still a new stage concept as far as I am concerned. Either way, the level layout looks absolutely dreadful.
Lucky Seven
Banned
I didn't like the game from the start. Now, everybody is starting to find the same reasons I had earlier with the recent gameplay.
It honestly doesn't look that great, and I played the crap out of shitty Sonic like Secret Rings and Chronicles. I was excited for Lost World.
However, I think this game will look very pretty on PC.
It honestly doesn't look that great, and I played the crap out of shitty Sonic like Secret Rings and Chronicles. I was excited for Lost World.
However, I think this game will look very pretty on PC.
Hm... I'm gonna go with the music. That was pretty good.
Gunstar Ikari
Unconfirmed Member
The Modern gameplay is the only part that hasn't been completely shat upon and Sega wants to keep people guessing until the game drops and we find out that it's terrible too.
Not sure whether I'm joking or not.
yh, that trailer did not excite me.. the character creator grabbed my interest but the gameplay looks too boring. Think they should try giving sonic to a different team for a spin off, otherwise don't see the series lasting imo.. like a 3D racing runner with multiple sonic characters, race to the finish on multiple paths with crazy obstacles in the way like unleashed.
Man, the more I see of this game the less interested I become.
So many confusing design choices. From the questionable level design, to the buttrock and cheesy/edgy tone. All of this should have been left in the late 90s. Sonic Team should just give up on trying to make Sonic games this way and do something else. Give the reigns to Christen Whitehead and let him and his team carve a path for Sonic's future.
I'm convinced the original pitch for this game didn't have a character creator but instead had Boom Sonic, and was cut after his game flopped hard.
So many confusing design choices. From the questionable level design, to the buttrock and cheesy/edgy tone. All of this should have been left in the late 90s. Sonic Team should just give up on trying to make Sonic games this way and do something else. Give the reigns to Christen Whitehead and let him and his team carve a path for Sonic's future.
I'm convinced the original pitch for this game didn't have a character creator but instead had Boom Sonic, and was cut after his game flopped hard.
PeakPointMatrix
Member
No its not. Most of Manias newer fanbase that jumped on couldn't give less shits about a 3D Sonic. The crossover crowd that was already there were already 3D fans already before Mania.
PeakPointMatrix
Member
But Sonic Adventure is shit tho/was never good/etc
hey guys remember this
Diablohead
Member
All of eggman's robots just stand there like a plum, I hate it.
Friend of Sonic
Member
Knuckles over the walkie: Newbie, we need you to clear this series of corridors, the resistance depends on it!
It definitely has better lighting than Generations, which had a really oddly flat look to it despite the otherwise fantastic art direction. This kind of has the opposite problem though where everything looks really sterile despite being more realistically lit and colored (see blocky Green Hill Zone with beautiful shiny grass).
Unleashed proper is probably still the most impressive, or it would be anyway if it had been ported to PC.
AzureSkies
Member
Why arent they showing any more modern Sonic stages?
At this point, those are the stages that could save my pre-order.
At this point, those are the stages that could save my pre-order.
Sega should make a Sonic Musou next.
Content is supposedly very light so I understand they don't want to show a lot of stuff.
Scully Scully Scoo
Member
3d sonic can't work & neither can new physics 2d sonic. Generations & colours were horrible, should scrap all this nonsense & focus on mania 2
Bubba_Sparks
Member
Man, what garbage!
I honesty don't even know what to say about that footage. Everything from the way the game sounds, plays and looks is bad!
I'm interested to see Sonic Mania 2, and would like to see that fan made game Sonic Utopia expanded upon. I feel like the Sonic community has a much better idea on what should be done with Sonic than Sega at this point.
I honesty don't even know what to say about that footage. Everything from the way the game sounds, plays and looks is bad!
I'm interested to see Sonic Mania 2, and would like to see that fan made game Sonic Utopia expanded upon. I feel like the Sonic community has a much better idea on what should be done with Sonic than Sega at this point.