Sonic Forces Complete Review - Sam Procrastinates 

Again, ITS NOT A BAD GAME. I think the game overall is decent. But this was definitely underwhelming. Skip backstory before release: 5:11 Skip story of the game: 19:41 Final Thoughts: 29:40

Squidward: But I thought you were the Lead Designer on Sonic Generations! Mr. Krabs: Did I say that? No, I cleaned the bathrooms for Generations.

LMAO HE ACTUALLY MADE A SANDWICH DURING THE DOUBLE BOOST.

"Light is fading from our world" Big ass sun approaches close enough to the point where everyone should be burnt to a crisp

Tails has beaten stronger versions of chaos Tails is useless in this game

"They've been torturing him for months." Cuts away to sonic being tickled by a feather by infinite while eggman shows off his epic dance moves.

Eggman torturing sonic isn’t the worst thing. Keep in mind this is the same guy who blew up the moon, split the world in to many pieces, tried to unleash a god THREE TIMES, planned on blowing up Earth if the president didn’t surrender and planned on rewriting history.

"Did they have the same janitor?!" Lmao. But seriously, you were right. They lied to us from the start. Sonic Forces was literally a Krabby Patty made from a machine. There wasn't effort. *No love* . Sonic Mania was definitely a sweet, succulent Krabby Patty *with love* . Sonic Team should just leave Sonic to the fans. It's like they lost their mojo. They've been lacking lately and need to step their game up if they want to save the franchise.

Let's be honest tho That was a good looking sandwich...

"Bitch, please" "Bitch, please" "Bitch, please" "Bitch, please- wait, what?" XD

*classic Sonic goes back* "Don't worry, I'm sure we'll run into him again" ~please don't~

This is now my favorite Forces review.

thanks,this needs to be said,Sonic Team has grown lazy. you were awesome sam.

Tails is my favorite character, so I was really disappointed to how much of a wimp he was in this game. What happened to him being inferior to sonic but capable of keeping up?

"Tails is too busy playing Mario Odyssey on his Nintendo Switch" XDDDD never actually thought of that

Note on the "Tails just lost it" bit, it was mistranslated from Japanese, the right meaning was "Tails went missing". Which also explains why no one let him know that Sonic was alive.

This game is disappointing for its story and level design. Why we didn't fought chaos and shadow as a boss? And it's clear that they were misleading from bringing the hype for shadow as a villain and chaos just for a rush down on the game ESPECIALLY saying that this is from the creators who made colors and generations. WOW! That's what makes me frustrated as hell! But do I think this game is bad? No it's average and good at times. There are some value because of the customization on the avatar and I think kids are gonna have fun so I hope they do. I'm giving this game a 7/10. It has a lot of flaws but it's still enjoyable. But even though I give this game a 7 I don't defend it or support it. It needs to be criticize so sonic team could learn!

J Jonah Jameson laughing at Knuckles was hilarious

"The light is fading from our world" is entirely metaphorical. It means "The light *OF HOPE* is fading from our world."

Should've dug a little bit deeper to find out that this entire game is in fact just a Lost World Mod. You ever wonder why the control feels janky af? That's because instead of natural speed progression, they just made the run button automatic after you hold down the stick a certain amount of time. The boost effect looks the way it does because it's just Super Sonic's boost from LW recolored blue. And to put the nail in the coffin, *You can see Windy Hill Assets in the background of GHZ Lost Valley if you tweak with the game enough on PC* So yeah, the whole only 3 level designers isn't the only thing wrong here.

Wanna know something even worse? Try using the Stomp move from high up. Notice that they used the wrong sound effect! They use the impact sound for starting it up and NO sound for when the stomp actually lands! This is the amount of "attention to detail" that Sonic Team provides.

Guess what boys. *Sonic Forces was rushed.* That's right, development on this game technically did not last for 4 years! The actual game design was done in just a year! The other 3 years were dedicated to conceptualizing the world, and making the Hedgehog Engine 2! The actual making of the game itself was only done for a year.

Not a knock against Forces (or it could be) but Mania was the true anniversary of the Sonic franchise.

Damn, remember when THIS was the most recent sonic game? Those were some particularly hard times. Thanks for lifting our spirits up (temporarily maybe i hope not) Frontiers :)

Damn that ending was sad

Coming here after we got frontiers… Man, while frontiers isn’t perfect, it is nice to have a game that’s I can confidently say is good, I’m very optimistic for Sonic’s future, especially when our main director is so confident in listening to our criticism

I like that you say Tails is too busy playing Super Mario Odyssey in the background.

Did you know that one of the directors was director of Sonic 06. And director of Sonic Generation wasn't even working with them. He and his crew were working on Mario & Sonic the Olympic games. And instead of him there was director of Sonic Lost Word. And animators who animated the CGI cutscene in Sonic Unleashed were working on the Sonic movie. So Sonic team is separated again. I hope it will not cause any problems in the future because that would be a problem not only for Sonic team but even for Sega.

I'm so happy I never played this. And I'm even happier we got frontiers

Double boost is literally just a scripted chaos control from shadow the hedgehog

21:40 Sega/Sonic Team: Already on it

Tails losing it is actually a mistranslation he’s supposed to say “Tails is lost”

The sammich making at 25:40 killed me lol

Apparently there's no mention of torture in the Japanese script, so I hear Same with the Tails losing it

Man, i gotta say, Forces was a disappointment from the level of hype i put into it, no way around that, i expected something at the level of Unleashed and Sonic Adventure 2, but we got something at the level of Heroes. But i will say that i still kinda loved the game and still have a lot of fun with it, yeah, it's flawed and there are things i would improve heavily, but like Heroes, i just had a blast with the game and can replay it again and again, flaws and all. While i love the game, i do hope Sega learns from this whole clusterfuck of a reception and aims to give a game at the highest standard of quality this series deserves. That being said, gonna keep speedrunning and enjoying this game, but here's hoping to a brighter future!

Sam, keep up the great videos, they're such good quality and you should have so many more subs, but be patient you'll get there

At 8:48 on the screen it said and knuckles

16:30 really made me laugh 😂

Great review man, those super mario odyssey references were enough to drive that like home. I've been subscribed to you since that sonic mania special stage reaction, and for a youtuber that only has 5,000 subscribers, your content is super polished. I ordered sonic forces for $25 dollars on black friday, so I can't give you my full opinions on it, and its sad that the video had to end on a bad note. Until the next fantastic sonic game comes out, I'll be enjoying your content for a long time. *Thumbs up*

Amazing review man. Agreed with everything.

I don’t get why Tails was scared of chaos 0 if he FAUGHT AND DEFEATED CHAOS 4!

Great review, dude. I totally agree with you on this video. I feel Unleashed was the last Modern Sonic with love and care put into it. Yes, I know Colors & Generations had better scores and they're good games, but were they're stages more thrilling and beautiful? Was the stories good? Did they have good hub worlds? Did they award you with bonus cutscenes? No! Unleashed is proof that SEGA doesn't need nostalgia for their Sonic games all the time. I wanted Forces to be as awesome as Unleashed was for me and I got an average game.

I really love your review

"It's not a bad game! It's just that everything ABOUT it is bad!" "...Wait."

Its is confirmed that the writers know nothing about Sonics story. Your welcome. Welp, there's my cab! **vrooooom** [Drives off into the sunset]

19:32 "For the love of god, do something right!" -SomeCallMeJohnny

Sonic Team needs to find their footing, NOW! NOT AFTER THE NEXT GAME! NOW! They've had plenty of experience with the Boost-style Gameplay to comprehend its inherent flaws and their faults in application. I am not content with mediocrity, and neither should they. I know they are just human and can only work at a certain pace, but they knew what they signed up for.

At least November 2022 made the pain of this one feel very far away.

Last thing: Sonic Forces was developed for 1 year. 1.5 years was development of Hedgehog Engine 2, 1.5 years was concepting, one year was actual development. Considering the scale of Sonic stages and level of detail put into the game, this is impressive for one year. Most stages in this game are far larger than any kingdom in Odyssey, and even have more detail.

The story was YES a huge disappointment, and had SO MUCH potential (I will give credit for the game having a super serious story), and the level design in this game is a huge step backwards compared to Generations. And everyone's favorite guy Classic Sonic........But all that aside, I somewhat had a lot fun with Sonic Forces, I had fun with Modern Sonic, and the Custom Character. I love speed running this game too. + I LOVE this game's Soundtrack. But MY GOD, this game is short. I give Forces a 7/10 with a fist bump.

Amazing review, this game could of been so much more... Also, how do you only have 5000 subscribers, your channel is amazing!

23:36 "Oh yh classic sonic, oh there he goes. Get ready!"😂😂

I agree with this 100%, although I will say this game is straight up bad instead of average. I never knew that Enemy Territory inconsistency with Shadow until you pointed it out. The thing that ticked me off was they never really tied in Mania other than dropping classic Sonic in the story.

26:08 Did Sonic pass through the other set of lasers without touching them, too?

4:55 😭 love the Mario shirt tho😭😭

Great review and amazing video as always! I liked the Avatar and Modern stages despite the automation, but I agree that they were excessive (also I think you're just really good at manually drifting in Metropolis :p) Just two points I wanted to make: Story: When Eggman says he built the Ruby into his robot, doesn't he say the *robot* is now its power source (I think that's what Tails' reaction means at least). As for no CGI: that annoys me too but keep in mind that the Avatar is present in nearly every cutscene, so they CAN'T be CGI. Just something I wanted to point out (SEGA deserves this in their favour at least). I can't wait for your "What can SEGA do?" video! P.S. Your "post-Infinite Boss 3" sketch was incredible xD

did i actually become your 10,000th subscriber how do you not have more

I don't think Sonic Forces was a bad game nor that I think it's good. Hell I like Forces despite it's flaws. To me though, I can't help but to think that Sonic Forces was just an experiment to showcase what the Hedgehog engine 2 can do. Like they spent some of the years working on the engine more than they did with the game itself. Oh yeah, and the one thing that pisses me off, they straight up told us that they bought the team that worked on Colors and Generations but if you look at the staff credits, they grabbed new people and one person that worked on Lost World, like why?

They honestly just need a new team, just like the team that loved the classics and were trusted to bring us the true sequel to the Genesis Era, I think we need a new set of developers that know the Dreamcast Era to the fullest extent, and recognize what makes Sonic a 3D adventure platformer, with the exact amount of love put into Mania - need I mention. I think the original staff have been creatively drained and just don't care enough about Sonic anymore.

Sega was updating the hedgehog engine 2.0 which took 3 years and the main game took a year, overall now that they have the updated engine sega can hopefully focus more on the gameplay for the next main sonic game

That ending really is about procrastinating :P Really good vid, you earned a sub today ;)

Loved your review - and the videos that led up to it! :)

Man your good at reviews man can't wait to see more form you in this its just good and the reason why there was not that much CGI is because the OC form what I know

“It’s been generations since I’ve seen you” I gotta say that was the cleanest, cringest, line like you got to admit that was a pretty clever pun.

I'm from Brazil. This is the best game review I see in times... subscribing right now. Congrats and keep up with the good work! About the game: I think SEGA is too obsessed in last decades about "gotta go fast" theme. They're forgetting that a good Sonic game is also about platforming and story. In Genesis games, we had good story (Sonic 3&K haves a delightful story with Master Emerald, Sonic vs. Knuckles, Sky Sanctuary, Launch Base and stuff...), we had a good speed game (showing us the potential of Mega Drive/Genesis hardware) and a lot of good designed platforming stages. Even in Master System games we got better designed levels. Nowadays, SEGA only concerns about how fast Sonic can be. The games is just "RUSH TO END POINT" and "PRESS X TO WIN". There is no magic around that... hope Sonic Team just quits from everything.

I’m sorry Sega Sonic is my favorite mascot of any franchise but they need to put more care and effort into his games. Take time perfecting what we already loved while you’re at it bring back your other IPs I miss Billy Hatcher, Nights, and Jet Set Radio

31:51 well it was confirmed that the actually game was only in 1 year of the development, and the stages were made linear intentionally.

You deserve more subscribers. This video was informative and hilarious 😂 Edit: Got patreon yet?

God thank you for making this video I finally understand why this game doesn’t feel or look like how it used to we need the old sonic level designers back

Love your review Sam and I agree that Sega just doesn't know what to know with Sonic anymore

I honestly love Sonic Forces and this may sound weird but this game is in my top 3 favourite Sonic games and in my opinion better than Mania (Don’t worry I still love Sonic Mania) but not as great as Unleashed and Generations to me. I know you don’t like this as much as I do and that’s perfectly fine, I have no complaints but I just found that this game met my expectations. I will agree that Classic Sonic is unnecessary as we got Sonic Mania and he’s honestly my least favourite out of the three gameplay styles we got. I don’t think his gameplay is terrible, it was just unneeded. With Modern Sonic, I have no complaints with him. I thought his controls were nice and tight and they were responsive for the most part. Plus I always love the boost formula gameplay of Unleashed, Colours (I live in the UK, so don’t question it) and Generations and I’m happy that it returned in Forces and it was still a lot of fun like in the previous games. As for the Avatar, yeah he’s the best part of the gameplay as I love creating my own character and playing as him was a lot of fun. As for the levels, I don’t think the level design is bad (besides the automation at certain points and the linearity in most stages even though I don’t mind linear levels), I think that the levels in this game are way too short. When it comes to Sonic levels, I always like them to be at least 3-4 minutes long. That way, they would make the stages more longer and give off branching pathways to reward the player for exploring the levels to find certain collectibles. Again, this levels aren’t bad in my opinion but they are way too short. As for the story, I’m one of those people who thought that Forces’ story was decent but there were a few plotholes in the game that they didn’t explain. For example: Where the hell did Omega come from? I thought he was destroyed at the beginning of the game. And where did Infinite go at the end of the game? These are plotholes that keep me wanting answers as to what happened. But still I enjoyed the story, and I’m glad we got a much darker story since Unleashed (Or Black Knight if you want to count that). So I enjoyed Sonic Forces and it’s definitely my third favourite game in the series (With Generations being Number 2 and Unleashed being my favourite). Do I have complaints with the game? Yes, I do but it doesn’t stop me from loving the game and I’m looking forward to the future of Sonic now since Rise of Lyric threw it all out the window a few years ago. My only real issues that I have with the game is how short and easy it is. But thanks to the replay value, a story that I think was decent, the phenomenal presentation, incredible music and gameplay that I enjoy, they made me love Forces so much. Plus, I think this game is pretty underrated now that it has mixed reception by fans. Again, it’s fine if you think the game is average, I respect your opinion, but for me, I love this game with all my heart. Anyway, good review on the game and I’m looking forward to your next video. Also sorry if this comment is way too long. I just needed to get this off my chest. Keep up the good work, Sam.

Unrelated to the review itself, but you saying this is the scummiest thing a developer's done dated this video FAST given what EA and Bungie have been up to recently. I know you probably recorded this a while back, but it still made me chuckle :P

Does sega even look at the sonic forces survey?

I think the the only way I'm going to be satisfied or excited for a new sonic game is an Adventure style game ... that seems unlikely but we can hope

Damn son this is a very solid review Watched the whoooole thing 100% on point on everything except that I really don't think this is an average game this is a really bad game but us sonic fans wish it was average. Keep up the good work man really solid video.

Awesome video like always.👌

Great review. It's nice to see someone address the issues, but actually gives the game credit where it's due. Most people I've seen talk about this game, tear it to shreds. They destroy everything about it. Nice to have a breath of fresh air for this game. Something I've wanted to share for a while now, the story is fine. However, the whole villains in the trailer being phantom ruby holograms, is kind of lame. The theory I came up with when I saw that trailer is so much better. I thought that the phantom ruby (My evidence being Sonic Mania and the trailer for this game) had the ability to warp time and space. The villains that appeared in the trailer were pulled from different parts of the Sonic continuity. Chaos was pulled from the beginning of Adventure 1, Shadow was a bad guy again because that's SA2 Shadow, etc. The phantom ruby also putting them in some form of mind control.

Someone please spread this video

Hey Sam, have you played odyssey? If you have, what do you think? If not... Do you plan on playing it?

Hey, Sam, Great job on this review, man. You went into detail, you shared your opinions and criticisms about the game and you went so far as to go in depth to expose SEGA and Sonic team because I already knew about the level designers of the game but i COMPLETELY forget about the fake promise that Sonic team made about the people who made sonic colors and generations but was handle to a group of newbies and a bad lead level designer from sonic lost world. I Lost almost all of my fate in Sonic Team as well as SEGA. As for Sonic forces, I think the game is okay/mediocre but was fulled with false promises. Again, Great review, Sam! Hope you can make more sonic reviews in the future.

Wait there was only 3 level,designers I thought That was well both teams from Sonic,colors(my favorite Sonic game) And Sonic Generations (amazing) . So wtf EDIT:a person from LOST WOLRD (facepalm) U mean technically they should of had Lost world. with the that one clip form the team who brought you..

Yep...Now I can't expect good results from a Sonic game unless they actually do it right. I mean...."I'M NOT WEAK!!!?" They better give us more details about Infinite's backstory in the comics!! Overall, I like the game, not bad but okay.

If only I could mod this game to tweak the bad areas, like : 1. Sonic now lacks confidence, that your character bringd bavk to him. 2. Tails doesn't loose it. Instead it's said that he "lost all will to fight" which explains things better. 3. Null space gets a long level when you just kerp running and nothing happens, sonic gets frustrated and your character talks him into trying something. You boost out, but it's implied your teamwork brought hope; which lets you escape. 4. Finally knuckles. He's not the leader anymore. Amy or silver is, easy fix. As for the gameplay, many fans have fixed it themselves. I say merge them and patch it in ;)

Wait, what happened to the prisoners in the Death Egg? Were they saved and brought back to Earth/Mobius by the resistance or did they blow up along with it? Huh. That's pretty dark now that I think about it.

Sam, I'm at 4:50 right now, and if you recognize my name you know my thoughts: As always you represent my opinions flawlessly, video's been very fluid so far, and even though I am sleepy I will not postpone watching this right now. Thanks for amazing content as always. P.S. The only thing that bugged me was that I absolutely loved the idea of Knuckles leading the resistance the moment I saw it. Otherwise 100%.

13:56 To be fair, he's wearing a mask that completely covers his right eye, so I think he gets a pass there.

BEST REVIEW I EVER SAW AND HEARD ABOUT IN MY LIFE.

Damn accurate review right there lol. This game sure was fun to look at but now that I’ve beat it, I’m fine just watching other people play it, which sucks. Hopefully Super Sonic gets me to play for a few more minutes lol, but from what I’ve seen on him, probably not. Unlimited boost sounds cool but we practically have that already & the super form’s not gunna save classic to me. I’m staying away from those levels forever, I even have all the red rings so I really have no reason to go back. Review was great btw! Now I need to work on shortening my comments XD

I just really wish that SEGA would take advantage of us fans and make a game that will ensure that everyone is happy, unlike this years' Forces. If SEGA keeps making the same mistakes they did with this year's triple A release, ESPECIALLY after Mania, not only will the fanbase eventually diminish, but it will shut down the Sonic brand altogether. Iizuka's/Sonic Team's plan was to unite the divided fanbase with 2 types of gameplay with Mania/Forces. But what they didn't think of is that it isn't the types of gameplay styles that people like, it's how well they're executed in terms of level design/gameplay, and execution. Where Mania was made by well respected people in the fan community, who obviously had a close grip on the old gameplay style, Forces was the product of focus testing and market research made by people with a shallow point of view on the boost gameplay, and the effort clearly shows in the final product. Forces, compared to Mania, is very idiot proof; using the amount of boost pads, QTE's, and hint markers at every turn, it reduces the amount of gameplay that the player actually has. Everything is place on one track, removing any chance of exploration. They didn't even bother to expand upon the story beyond, 'it's doomsday and Sonic and you must save the world', barely giving visual examples of this destruction, and considering that the Japanese team wrote the story and Pontac and Graff merely translated, says a lot about how the Japanese think that we'll buy anything simply because it's Sonic. And that is why a lot of people, consider this game inferior to Mania, a 2D pixellated game that Iizuka himself looked down upon. Not even the modern fans consider this game(if you can call it that)great. For crying out loud, people have found the run button control/physics files from Lost World inside the Hedgehog Engine 2! And now to add salt to the wound, Iizuka refuses to return to the Adventure gameplay as 'it wouldn't be an advancement of the series, that every new Sonic game made in Japan is pushing the idea of what a Sonic game is, and I don't want to step back the franchise to give people what they want'. Well then, Mr. Iizuka, what DO you think is an advancement for the franchise? Because, save for a few innovations like Colors and Generations, every 'advancement' further embarrasses the franchise to the point where a fan made game is contributing towards SEGA's income, as well as becoming the highest rated and popular game to date! All these 'advancements' continue to muddle and warp audience's definitions of Sonic to the point where they are different games altogether. Which begs me to ask the question, Mr. Iizuka, if you won't just give people what they expect from Sonic the Hedgehog, why do you and your team continue to work on it? Our needs and wants have been stated clearly, and yet, you still continue to poke at our love for the brand, continue to add contradiction after contradiction to the established universe, and add in gimmicks no one in particular asked for. Do you want to even work on Sonic games at all? Why not stick with games like Puyo Puyo or Phantasy Star or Super Monkey Ball or something? You're good at those. Your stranglehold on your own franchise and failure to understand what types of gimmicks and innovations work for a Sonic game, add in your inability to tell a cohesive story shows us that you clearly don't care anymore about the franchise, that your ultimate goal is to exploit your remaining fans regardless of whether the final product is good or not, just to justify staying in business and to keep your obviously desperate company from bleeding anymore cash from your previous failures. That is the main message that Sonic Forces has given us.

If only Sonic Team will do this. Make a 2D Sonic game to see what he's doing and what he's going through. (Like Sonic Mania) Make a 3D Modern Sonic game to see what he's doing and what he's going through. Or Make a 3D Modern Sonic game but with Sonic Adventure gameplay. Not Sonic Adventure 3, just a Modern Sonic game with Sonic Adventure gameplay style. Basically what I'm trying to say is. *Keep Them Separate.*

This video sums up my feelings 100%. When Sega said years ago "we're turning over a new leaf, we're gonna make Sonic great again" I was unnerved but optimistic. Sonic Mania got my hopes up and it was fantastic! My new favorite Sonic game as a fan since the very beginning. The Genesis was my baby! Then Forces happened, I was uneasy about the fact that I was already seeing full playthroughs on day one, I watched one and... Died a little inside. What have they done to my Sonic?! Why does SEGA just not get video games any more? I'm genuinely hurt by this game. They promised greatness and they gave us "meh".

Sam :this game is too dark Also Sam: 20:18 HES A CANNIBAL :D

I'd like to say that Sonic Forces represents everything wrong with the Sonic franchise currently, given it's inconsistent tone and lackluster story, along with a lack of real direction on where the game should go from start to finish. Really that's the biggest problem Forces has is that it doesn't know what it wants to be, especially when the story feels like an over-glorified fan-fiction more than anything.

Sonic Team needs to make the games based on the comics.

SomecallmeJohnny made an excellent suggestion in regards to Sonic Team: give Sonic Team the Mania treatment. Meaning hire fans that know what the other fans want. For the Mania, by the Mania. Also this was my first 3d Sonic game and the game did leave me wanting more, but in a bad way. You made the point earlier when it comes to the shorter levels.

Tag team was probably the reason why modern doesn't have his drift, avatar uses the former drift triggers and the rental avatar uses the other one

You know, I’m glad I finally found someone else who thinks the Classic Sonic music is the worst. Literally everybody else is saying how good and catchy it is, how it’s nostalgic, how it sounds just like older Classic music... I just don’t get it.

But either classic or modern Sonic could have activated the Phantom Ruby as well, they're both Brave and heroic. What makes the OC so special

Awesome review. Totally subbed dude.

You know, i rarely see anyone who reviews forces that actually likes the avatar feature. Most of the time they either hate it and make deviantart jokes, or say the customizer was ok but say its still cringy. You on the other hand actually give it some credit for what it's trying to do. Personally i thought the customizer was a great addition and would love to see it return. (Im a sucker for customizers in games, so im trying my best to say this without being biased)