SONIC MANIA & SONIC FORCES - Sonic Retrospective Follow-Up

It seems like forever since I worked on my first big retrospective for the Sonic the Hedgehog game series. And I'm not sure if I made it clear there, but I'm a pretty big fan of the series. Most of the games are a fun time that could always lift up my mood.

And on July 22nd 2016, I needed a lift. I don't remember what it was that day that made me so depressed, but watching the Sonic the Hedgehog 25th Anniversary live stream certainly got me out of it, awkward sound issues and all. The 2 biggest highlights from the stream were the trailers for the newest games in the series: Sonic Mania and "Project 2017".

I've had the pleasure of playing both games and enjoying them, now I'm ready to talk about them.
I will be looking over the Nintendo Switch versions of both games.
So without any further ado...

SONIC MANIA
(Playstation 4, XBox One & Nintendo Switch - August 15, 2017)
(PC - August 29, 2017)

Since Episode 3 of 'Sonic the Hedgehog 4' never got released, many fans no longer consider Sonic 4 as a whole cannon. I think even SEGA themselves don't acknowledge it anymore, since they didn't even include it in their slideshow from the live stream. But now, I think I can safely consider Sonic Mania to be the TRUE Sonic the Hedgehog 4.
In fact, the story directly follows the events of Sonic 3 & Knuckles. Being ever so resilient and stubborn, Dr. Eggman along with a new team of robots known as the Hard Boiled Heavies infiltrate Angel Island in search of the Phantom Ruby, a powerful gemstone with the power to distort time and reality. As you could guess, Sonic teams up with his pals Tails & Knuckles to stop them.

Mania is unlike any Sonic game released by SEGA, in that it wasn't developed by SEGA. Taking over those duties was a man named Christian Whitehead who had previously worked on the Android/iOS ports of Sonic 1 & 2 and the 2011 Remaster of Sonic CD. I think he did an amazing job on those ports, so getting him to work on a new official Sonic game was an ideal decision. His mobile ports were great and now Mania, a game meant to celebrate Sonic's 25th Anniversary, is absolutely fantastic!
...Despite being released a little over a year late.

Mania's gameplay for the main characters is mostly the same as it was in Sonic 3 & Knuckles. However, Sonic has a new skill called the Drop Dash. When jumping and holding down the one of the jump buttons, Sonic will instantly pick up speed and charge forward the moment he hits the ground. I found this technique to be pretty cool when I remembered it was there. I'm slightly embarrassed to say that as I first played through the game and was having a blast doing so, I completely forgot about Sonic's new move and never used it once. That would change eventually though.
Tails and Knuckles still control the same as they did in the last game, and when playing as Sonic and Tails you can actually control Tails and make him carry Sonic to high ground. There are 12 Zones with 2 Acts each to travel through, most of which are from the past 2D Sonic games. But they aren't simple cut and pasted Zones. Each of the returning Zones have been "Remixed", with new designs, gimmicks and dangers. Including some with a few nods to other past levels. I'm honestly surprised they didn't end up calling this game "Sonic Generations 1½".
But there are some new levels in Mania, 5 in fact. All of them are pretty good, I'm especially fond of Mirage Saloon and Titanic Monarch.
The Boss fights after each Act are unique and different, while borrowing a few gimmicks from older ones. A few familar faces show up like Metal Sonic and the Pistons from Sonic 1. Also, I froze up and heard 'The Sound of Silence' playing when I saw the Death Egg Robot pop up in Act 2 of Green Hill Zone.

And to help make it through these levels are those trusty monitor boxes, with the returning elemental shields which are still awesome to use. But one new item for Sonic and friends to use is the Hyper Ring. It may appear to do nothing but turn your ring count blue once you first grab it, but after you take a hit, the rings you lose are fewer and considerably larger. Each of these rings contains a random multiple of the ring count you lost. If your fast enough, you could potentially get every single one of your rings back.
Speaking of rings that are considerably larger, the giant rings that lead to a Special Stage are back and you can find them throughout the Zones for a chance to nab a Chaos Emerald. Thankfully, there are no half pipes in sight. Instead, the stages consist of a mixture of the ones from Sonic CD and Sonic 3 & Knuckles. You have to run across a track while chasing a UFO holding the Emerald, if you can catch up to it before the time runs out, the Emerald is yours. In order to help catch it, you'll have to collect Blue Spheres to increase your speed and rings to extend your time. All the while avoiding spikes, bombs and falling off the tracks.
At first, these stages can be a bit intimidating but with a lot of practice, they're mostly a breeze. But Special Stage 5 can go STRAIGHT TO THE LOWEST LEVEL OF HELL THERE IS!!!!!!!!!!!
But it is still worth it to unlock Super Sonic, Super Knuckles and Super Tails (sadly missing his killer Flickies).
You'll also need them to access the true Final Zone of the game.

I cannot praise the graphics enough, this game looks absolutely beautiful. It is one of the best Genesis-like games I've ever seen. Some have even argued it looks like it could play on the Sega Saturn. There are even some beautifully animated openings and endings.
And the Music is also very good. Aside from the returning themes from previous Zones, there's also re-mixed versions and brand new music composed by Tee Lopes of PagodaWest Games. At the end of the day, Sonic Mania is simply an amazing game. I would even call it Game of the Year material. (Well, almost Game of the Year). I adore pretty much everything about this game a whole, whole lot and I can absolutely recommend it to anyone, weather they're a Sonic fan or not.

I'm so glad I pre-ordered the Collectors Edition of this game and got this freakin' amazing statue!

SONIC FORCES
(Playstation 4, XBox One, Nintendo Switch & PC - November 7, 2017)

With Sonic Mania being developed independently, SEGA themselves where working on their own main series game.

Originally known as 'Project 2017', the game would later be named 'Sonic Forces', a game in which Dr. Eggman has taken over the entire planet and it's up to Sonic and a newly formed Resistance to take it back. Classic Sonic, last seen in 'Sonic Generations' returns to help and we also have a brand new playable character. (More on that later).

Upon it's release, Sonic Forces became probably the most critically polarizing Sonic game to date. And I'd be lying if I said I didn't agree with some of the complaints.

But let's break it down as usual.
The gameplay has 3 basic styles, 2 of them being Modern and Classic Sonic. Did you like how they played in Sonic Generations? Because that's basically what your getting.
However, there are some hiccups to both styles. Modern Sonic is mostly good. Although, the changing of buttons to make Sonic jump and boost caught me way off guard and even resulted in several deaths.
As for Classic Sonic, if you played Mania and then went straight to Forces like I did, your gonna notice a major difference in how he jumps. He feels a lot heavier when making jumps, causing you to miss your landing or accidentally fall to your death. That is so irritating. Also, the Drop Dash from Mania is back and it works just as well. Playing Classic Sonic overall feels like a mixed bag.

As for that third gameplay style, it's you. Or rather, your own custom character called an Avatar you can create. When the game was first teased, it ended with the tagline: "Join the Resistance", and this is what they meant. Avoiding any bad Sonic OC jokes, when I first heard about this, I thought that making your own resistance fighter to play alongside Sonic and friends was a great idea and a good way to involve the player. There are tons of customization options available from the start and even more are unlocked as you play the game.

This is my character, Eric the Raven. Why? Because 'The Crow' with Brandon Lee is one of my favorite movies of all time.

The Avatar plays similarly to Modern Sonic, although there's no boosting. Instead of homing attacking enemies, you use a grappling hook to grab and slam right into them. The grappling hook can also help you traverse the levels. They can also use new weapons called a 'Wispon', a special gun that allows you to use the Wisp powers from previous games. The problem with it is that you can only use one Wispon to use one specific Wisp power in a level. And while that does encourage you to replay levels with other Wispon's to find other paths and secrets, I feel like we should have been able to switch between weapons during gameplay. The different Wispon's also have their own way of attacking enemies. I personally go with the Burst one, because I can destroy tons of enemies with a stream of FIRE!!!
There are also certain levels where your Avatar will team up with Sonic in which you can preform a Double Boost attack, where you speed through the levels, annihilating everything in your path. 

I do like the gameplay of Sonic Forces overall. However, aside from Classic Sonic's control issues, there are a few more things that irritate me about the game. 

The first thing is the levels. The levels themselves are well designed and I do like going through them don't get me wrong. It's their length that I don't like. Most of the time you'll find yourself boosting through the levels, ramming through enemies and then the level is over. Even some of the later levels will end a lot sooner than you think. I should not spend as much time in a modern Sonic level as I do speed running Green Hill Zone from the first game. I feel like there should have been more 3D sections with an emphasis on platforming rather than boosting.

While I think the story is serviceable, some of the characters don't service it very well. I'm sad to say that one of these characters is Classic Sonic.
I should explain a bit further, this game actually shares continuity with Sonic Mania. Because of the power of the Phantom Ruby, Classic Sonic is transported to the Modern Series universe...from another dimension. Yes, not from a different time as established in Generations. Throughout the course of the game, Classic Sonic is more of an afterthought than a necessity. It all just seems pointless.

And then there's the new villain of the game, Infinite, a Jackal Mercenary hired by Eggman who wields the power of the Phantom Ruby. He was a wicked design and has an admittedly awesome theme song with edges that I cut myself on several times. 
I thought that maybe he would have been a cool new villian along the lines of Shadow the Hedgehog from SA2. But, while he looks cool and sounds cool, I think Infinite was wasted. He has little to no development and when you defeat him, all he does is poof out of existence and he's never seen again. 
Even in the bonus 'Episode Shadow' DLC that does actually explain Infinite's origins, it's not really that grand. I was very disappointed. (Completing the DLC Episode also unlocks Shadow to be playable in Modern Sonic levels.)
On the brighter side, Knuckles is no longer depicted as an unintelligent idiot like he was in the Boom games, that was something I greatly appreciated. 

The music is also a mixed bag. The orchestral pieces are pretty good, but the vocal tracks are very generic, forgetful and they loop way too often. 

As for the boss fights. Some are good, most range from being a test of patience to being teeth grindingly irritating, especially against Infinite. The fights with Infinite are ridiculous, he spams the powers of the Phantom Ruby to attack you and it gets really annoying. And the final boss...it was tiring, it was aggravating and it took me 30 minutes to beat it. I wish I had had Super Sonic.
In fact, Super Sonic isn't unlocked via Special stages or collecting special items, he's free DLC...assuming you bought him before late January, then it costs you $2.

UPDATE: As of January 24th, Super Sonic has been made free DLC forever. But still...

You know how in Sonic games when you collect 100 rings, you get an extra life? Not in this game. There are no lives in this game, you simply restart the game at the last check point you got before you died. Rings are still necessary to avoid dying and there are plenty of large patches of them in the levels. Once you do collect 100 Rings, your total caps off at that and every hit you take makes you lose 20. Essentially giving you 5 hits until you die. 
While that's an interesting idea, it makes the process of collecting all the rings in a level, one of the funnest parts of any Sonic game for me, seem rather irrelevant.
That is however, unless you play the game on Hard Mode. Yes, you have to play the HARD MODE in order to collect more than 100 rings! Before you even begin playing, the player is given a choice of difficulty. You can either play on Normal Mode: "For beginners who haven't played a Sonic game before." or Hard mode, which despite it's name, has no significant difficulty curve whatsoever and plays EXACTLY the same as Normal Mode, which leads me to ask: What is the point!?!??

But even with all these drawbacks, I simply can't bring myself to hate Sonic Forces. At least while I was playing it, it didn't bore me like Sonic Boom did. It didn't have me fighting the controls and rage quitting like Sonic and the Secret Rings did. Sonic Forces is not an amazing game nor is not a terrible game, it's just an average experience that could have been so much more and I can come back to it every now and then, but not as much as Sonic Mania.

All I can do now is hope that development of future Sonic games will implement only the best elements from these games and that will result in memorable experiences I will want to experience again and again.  

Till next time, I have been your host Gryphon

and I hope you've enjoyed your time here in my lair.

So long...

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