Bill Reviews: Danganronpa: The Animation

Video Game adaptations have garnered a reputation recently for being... sub-par. Especially when compared to adaptations of other forms of media like books or comics. The Super Mario Bros film, for example, is widely regarded as a terrible adaptation of the games not only because it's a poorly made film, but because it misrepresents everything that the games are about. Not all adaptations of video games are like this, however. Particularly, Anime adaptations of video games have had a slightly more positive streak in recent memory. Even if the series still isn't very good, it's likely to represent the games more faithfully in terms of looks and themes than a big budget Hollywood film (mainly because the games they're adapting were most likely already made in Japan). On the other hand, a major problem with a lot of video game to anime adaptations, much like film adaptations of books, is that they try to squeeze hours upon hours of story content from the games into only 13 to 25 episodes, making the story of the anime feel rushed compared the games.

And I think that no series is better at representing this problem than Danganronpa: The Animation.

For those of you who have never heard of it before, Danganronpa is a fairly popular visual novel series developed by Spike Chunsoft. The first game in the series, which this anime is adapting, is Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc and was originally released for the PS Vita in 2010. The setup for the game is that a group of students, each with specific talents and quirks, are suddenly trapped in a mysterious high-school known as Hope's Peak Academy, which is ruled over by a maniacal robot teddy bear called Monokuma. And the only way for one of the students to escape is if they kill one of their fellow classmates and not get caught afterward, otherwise they're executed. Essentially, the game is a series of "whodunnit" murder mysteries where you investigate the murder scene of one of the students, slowly piece together evidence and theories about who did it, and finally bring them all together at the class trial where you ultimately uncover the identity of the murderer. On paper, a game like this seems like it should make the jump to anime pretty easily, as the game is already heavily story focused with many twists and turns throughout and the almost episodic/arc-like structure of all the murder mysteries seems like it would make mesh well with a traditional anime setup. Unfortunately, that's not how things play out.

All the various students who are trapped in Hope's Peak Academy.

The story of the anime pretty much follows the exact same story from the game; kids trapped in a school, they kill each other to escape etc. with all the same characters as well. The main character is Makoto Naegi (seen in the above image two desks right and one up), your average normal kid with no discerning attributes other than his incredible luck. Makoto does his job as a protagonist fine as his general dorkiness and admiration to discover the truth behind the school is very inspiring, but the main reason why you'd be interested in a series like Danganronpa is that of the other students. Danganronpa has a diverse cast of 15 students that include Kyoko Kirigiri, the tough as nails detective type, Sayaka Maizono, Makoto's childhood friend who also happens to be a pop star, Kiyotaka Ishimaru, the teacher's pet trying to keep everything in order, and so, so many more. But with a cast as large as this one, it's, of course, going to be very difficult to give all the students depth and make their characters interesting, especially when many of them are going to die without a substantial amount of screen-time. Sadly though, the anime doesn't quite get this right compared to the game. And this is where the problems with Danganronpa: The Animation start to show themselves, the main one being it's length.

The whole of Danganronpa: The Animation is only 13 episodes long, every episode being 20 minutes except for the final episode which is 30, totaling the running time of the whole series to just 4.5 hours. And since the original game takes around 30 hours to beat, having to cram all of that story content into such a short time span is going to make the show at best feel a little rushed in some places and at worst feel like it's just running through the plot as fast as it possibly can without any understanding of why the plot worked in the game. Adding to this is the fact that show has to leave out pretty much everything that isn't straightforward story content from the game if it wants to get through everything in time. In the original game, when the player isn't solving mysteries they're given the option to spend time with some of the students in order to learn more about them and their backstories. Because of this, the characters in the game gained more layers and likability leading to the player forming a connection with them. So when one of these characters is killed or is revealed to be the murderer themselves, the player feels genuinely heartbroken. The anime, on the other hand, isn't given the time to properly flesh out most of the characters, making a lot of their deaths have no impact as the viewer doesn't know enough about them to care.

Monokuma: The demonic little teddy bear responsible for trapping all the show's characters.

Luckily though, not everything is bad. For one, sometimes the show can actually adapt the various cases of the game quite well. Not as powerfully as the game still, but some are pulled off quite decently. While the first episode of the show does feel like mostly exposition to set up all the school's rules, episodes 2 and 3 (The adaptations of the first case in the game) are done fairly well. This may be because it's the least complex case in the anime with less fine details, meaning the show has more time to devote to the characters and how they feel about their situation, or it could be because Makoto is the main focus and since he's the main character of the whole series, he's the one we follow and get to see grow the most. I really wish every case in the game could've been adapted this well, but unfortunately, a lot of the game's other cases are handled really friggin' poorly. Cases 2, 3 and the final case in particularly all feel so lacklustre compared to how they were handled in the games. Massive and incredibly shocking plot revelations in the game are just given out really quickly in the anime, and the characters get over them in a matter of minutes. Even the big ending twist of who the mastermind behind Monokuma really is and why all the students are trapped in the school has WAY less of an impact than it did in the games because the characters get over it so fast.

Crap, I was supposed to be talking about positive stuff, wasn't I? Well if it's worth anything I think the animation of the show is handled quite nicely. Not only do all the characters look pretty much identical to their designs in the games, but the show also does a great job of implementing mechanics from the game into the show's presentation. Things such as showing evidence being collected through the same prompt that's used in the game, showcasing the different minigames that take place during the class trial and a bunch more stuff that's a nice wink to the viewers that already played the game. Most of the show's soundtrack is also taken directly from the game, which is an AMAZING thing as the soundtrack to Danganronpa is absolutely glorious. The music does a great job at making the situation feel tense, humorous, foreboding or even triumphant. If you take anything away from this review, go and listen to the Danganronpa OST on YouTube, it's fantastic. The opening of the show is also up there with the game's soundtrack, even if the song was made exclusively for the anime. Some may find the rapping and vocals very cheesy, but I personally think that makes the opening incredibly catchy and memorable.

All the students meeting in the dining hall to discuss their plans.

And one final positive thing before I wrap up this review, I HAVE to talk about the English Dub. Not only because of the fact that most of the English voice acting in this show is great (even though almost all of the English actors are different from the game) but because of the English dialogue. Let's just say, if you've ever heard of the anime "Ghost Stories" or seen bloopers for English dubs of anime on the internet, you'll be right at home here. The English script of this show is packed to the brim with references, memes and tons of amazing quotes such as "This sauna is amaze-balls!", "Bro-e was seriously Moe." and "I've faced more heat than the devil's nutsack!". But while a lot of the dialogue is incredibly humourous and absurd, it's not overdone to the point of an anime like "Ghost Stories" and the original intent by the Japanese dialogue is still there, just now with an added layer of hilarity.

Overall, Danganronpa: The Animation, while it isn't the worst video game adaptation of all time or anything, it's still lacklustre when compared to the game that it's based on. Becuase of the show's limited run time, it can't go as into detail about the characters and story that the game can and while the show is great to look at and listen to, that doesn't necessarily excuse how shallow the story feels. But the ultimate question at the end of the day is this; if you've never played Danganronpa before and don't plan to in the future, can you enjoy this show as it's own separate thing? In my opinion, it really depends. If you're just looking for a fun show with decent animation that you can waste your time with, then I'd say this show is worth giving a try. But if you're looking for something with mystery, intrigue, compelling storylines and genuine heartbreaking moments... just play the game instead.

Like I said, it's not the worst video game adaptation ever, but it's still very far from being one of the best.

I give Danganronpa: The Animation a 5.5/10.
Thanks for reading!

None of the images in this article belong to me. Every property mentioned in this article belong to their respective owners.
IMAGE SOURCES:
https://www.funimation.com/shows/danganronpa-the-animation/
http://gamingtrend.com/feature/reviews/devoid-of-hope-danganronpa-the-animation-review/
https://www.pinterest.com/SmilingGod/danganronpa-monobear/
http://otakudome.com/danganronpa-the-animated-series-review/

Women and Sexism in Nerd Culture : Video Games

by Nic March 09, 2018 Spoilers Video Games Women and Sexism in Nerd Culture

Bill Reviews Cuphead!

by Unknown February 22, 2018 Cuphead Review Video Games

Cuphead is one of the most impressive games I have ever played.

That statement may seem a little bit broad, but I genuinely mean it. Every aspect of Cuphead from it’s presentation, to it’s music and it’s incredibly fun, addicting and throw-your-controller-at-the-wall difficult gameplay really impressed me. The amount of hard-work and passion that went into this game absolutely boggles my mind and MDHR studios should be incredibly proud of the gem that they have produced here.

Before Cuphead came out, the game already received a lot of well-earned attention because of it’s incredibly unique visual style, that being the style of classic 1930s animation from the era of early Disney, Betty Boop and Max Fleischer. Now there have been many games in the past that have also paid homage to that specific era of animation like Epic Mickey or Bendy and the Ink Machine, but the thing that made Cuphead so special was that it was being so faithful to that original style of animation, almost as if the entire game could have come out of that era. Immediately, people were excited. And when the game finally came out, that excitement turned into unyielding praise; people ADORED this game. And now, after having completed the game, I adore it too. Like I said, this game properly impressed me. But to get into why, let’s first start with the story.

The game starts with a nice little storybook sequence, similar to classic Disney Films like Snow White, that tells the story of Cuphead and Mugman, two brothers who live on Inkwell Isle under the care of the Elder Kettle. One day, the two brothers wander off and find themselves in a fancy casino run by the devil himself and after getting too cocky with their gambling, they end up in debt to the Prince of Darkness who subsequently demands them to collect the soul contracts of his other debtors otherwise THEIR souls will be the ones he collects. And so, Cuphead and Mugman set off on their journey to defeat the runaway debtors so they can give all their souls to Satan! Yeah, the plot for this game is a lot darker than its cutesy cartoony images would have you believe, but that is still strangely appropriate. Cartoons in the Fleischer era of animation could be dark, many of them involving imagery of ghosts, hell and the devil as well. It just goes to show how much care and detail the creators put into making the style of the game as authentic as possible, and that attitude is present throughout the entire game.

I can’t say it enough, Cuphead’s visuals are outstanding. Every character in the game is hand drawn using traditional animation techniques instead of it being animated digitally like most modern cartoons, which in turn makes the game seem so much more lively and expressive as well as being incredibly faithful to that era of animation history. I cannot wrap my head around how much time and patience it must have taken to animate all the frames present in this game by hand, and the animators deserve all the praise they’re given. But it isn’t just the animation that makes Cuphead’s presentation fantastic; it’s also the details in how it goes about showing the animation. Everything from the classic film grain being filtered over the entire game (even the loading screens), the scratchy low-quality audio, the traditional painted backgrounds and every level starting with an opening card that would come before those old cartoons. Cuphead tries its absolute best to not just look vintage, but feel vintage and it pulls it off wonderfully.

This is also reflected in the game’s soundtrack, which is also fantastic. All the songs in the game harken back to the swinging jazz music that would be playing over 1930s cartoons, and it’s emulated pretty faithfully as all the music in the game was performed by a live studio giving it even more of a vintage vibe. My only gripe with the music is that sometimes, because every one of the songs are jazz/swing type songs, they can blend into each other occasionally, (I couldn’t really recite some of the boss themes of the top of my head if you asked me), but even then all the tracks are beautifully composed and fit the tone of the game amazingly.

But while the presentation is incredible, if the gameplay itself doesn’t hold up to it then it may feel like the animation was wasted. Thankfully though, Cuphead is just as much fun to play as it is to look at.

At it’s core, Cuphead is a 2D run and gun platformer reminiscent of classic games like Contra and Gunstar Heroes. Cuphead himself can shoot bullets out of his finger to kill enemies, can fire in all sorts of directions and also has a dash move that can be used to help traverse a stage or to avoid an enemy’s attacks. He also has a parry manoeuvre that lets him bounce off any pink coloured object in a stage by pressing the jump button when meeting it, which is a mechanic that’s used throughout the game to allow the player to dodge enemy attacks, to create more challenging platforming segments or to let them build up the super meter. In the lower left-hand corner, you have a special meter that slowly fills up with cards the more you shoot enemies and perform parries. With this, you can either use one card to perform a heavy attack or you can fill up the super meter completely to perform a devastating attack that causes loads of damage.

And trust me, you’re going to need all of the attacks you can get for what this game throws at you. You see, Cuphead’s gameplay and level structure is unique for two reasons. One, Cuphead doesn’t have that many typical ‘head for the goal’ type levels. Instead, most of the game is comprised of boss fights against colourful and unique bosses, each of which with tons of character and charm thanks to the brilliant animation and the characters themselves all having distinct designs and personalities, my two favourites being the Flower boss fight, Cagney Carnation, because of how creative and flowing his movement is and the Mermaid boss fight, Cala Maria, because of how her design changes throughout the fight and how she harkens back to Betty Boop’s design. (Also, she’s cute as heck, don’t judge me).

And two, as stated before, Cuphead is difficult.

It is VERY difficult.

If you aren’t OK with games that require 100% of your concentration and skills in order to beat, then Cuphead isn’t for you. Bosses and stages can be absolutely ruthless when they want to be and the game isn’t afraid to punish you and even make fun of you if you don’t bring your A-game. Bosses and enemies all have various forms of attacking and multiple different phases which at times can seem unfair as bosses will occasionally pull powerful attacks out of nowhere with little chance to predict them, but never to the point where the boss feels impossible or that you can’t do it. To add onto this, whenever you die in Cuphead it shows you how close you were to beating the boss as well as the boss themselves mocking you with a quote, almost as if the game is teasing you to try again. If you could just dodge that last attack, you’ll beat it perfectly right? This is the kind of mentality Cuphead gives you the entire time you’re playing, which in turn makes the game itself incredibly addictive.

This isn’t even mentioning the particular biplane boss fights, where the game switches from a 2D run and gun platformer to a bullet hell shooter similar to classic arcade games like Gradius. These levels may seem a bit jarring at first, considering that you’re switching to a completely different gameplay style, but as the game goes on you get used to it and you start to see how much of a refreshing change of pace they are from the regular levels. And don’t think these levels will be a break from the soul-crushing difficulty, because if anything it’s amplified in these levels with some of the most brutal attacks in the whole game and much more range for the attacks to move now you’re in the air and not on the ground, giving all new ways for the bosses to tear you apart.

And ultimately, whether you enjoy having those bosses tear you apart or not, is going to determine if you’re going to like Cuphead. It isn’t a game for everyone and I can see many people just giving up on the game a few hours in because how hard it is despite the animation and overall presentation being so gorgeous. And while I can completely understand if this game alienates some people, that still doesn’t make Cuphead any less of a brilliant accomplishment.

Cuphead may not be for everyone, but it’s still an absolute marvel in game design and presentation. It isn’t perfect, and sometimes the game can be a bit too unfair for its own good, but the attention to detail and amount of effort went into the presentation is an incredible sight to behold and the difficulty as well as the variety in levels and bosses make it so you never get bored while playing.

I highly recommend Cuphead as a game that, if you give it enough time and patience, will engage you all the way to the end…

…Even if the reason you’re engaged is because you through your controller out the window.

I give Cuphead a 9 out of 10.

Sonic Forces Review

by Nic December 18, 2017 Reviews Sonic Spoilers Video Games

As many of you reading this may already know, sonic games have never had the best reputation since the series started to focus on 3D gameplay rather than 2D. Even when 3D games in the Sonic series come out that are decent and worth playing, it appears everyone wants to focus on the worse side of them and not the positive, which I have always found incredibly unfair. I’ve been a fan of Sonic and his 3D games ever since I was a kid playing Sonic Heroes on my Xbox. Even some of his most recent 3D games like Sonic Colours and Sonic Generations are games I believe are worth playing. Even some more controversial entries like Sonic Unleashed or Sonic Lost World are games I’ve managed to find enjoyment and fun from.

So needless to say, I was excited for Sonic Forces when it was first announced. Lots of elements of the game piqued my curiosity such as the supposedly post-apocalyptic setting, the fact you can create your own Sonic character and have them interact with characters in the story (potentially fulfilling a fantasy many young sonic fans had) and the fact Sonic Team was returning to the boost gameplay style that made Sonic Generations and Sonic Colours so fun. I had faith Sonic Team could create an enjoyable and memorable game from these elements…But unfortunately, my faith seemed to be misplaced.

I did not enjoy Sonic Forces.

In fact, it’s one of my least favourite platformers to come out in the past few years.

Now don’t get me wrong, there are a lot of things I like about this game and things I think work well. Its quality is definitely not on the low level of other 3D Sonic games such as Sonic the Hedgehog 2006 or Sonic Boom Rise of Lyric, but at it’s best Sonic Forces provides an average and mediocre experience that you’ll barely remember afterwards and at it’s worst, it will leave you frustrated and angry at the awful and absurd design choices the game is jammed with.

To give the game credit though, the story for the game is one of its more interesting aspects. (And just to let you know, I will be spoiling the story of the game so if you don’t want to read that, I’ve tagged that section with spoiler tags on the top and bottom, so you know where it is and you can skip it if you wish.)

*spoilers start here*

The basic plot of Sonic Forces involves Dr.Eggman being evil as usual and creating a brand new minion to combat Sonic and his friends that he calls ‘Infinite’. Infinite not only has the power to manipulate reality using a gem called the ‘Phantom Ruby’ he can also create replicas of foes from Sonic’s past. During their first encounter, Infinite proves to be too much for Sonic as he and the rest of the villains quickly defeat him, leaving him to be captured and for Eggman to conquer most of the world. Yeah! Eggman conquers the world in this game! 6 months pass and a resistance forms consisting of much of Sonic’s cast of characters including Knuckles, Amy and most importantly, your own character which I’ll talk about later. The resistance quickly finds where Sonic is held thanks to your own character and the rest of the story is simply just trying to stop Eggman and Infinite controlling the world and doing bad things.

Also, Classic Sonic is there.

Sorry if that seemed out-of-place and forced but you know, that’s him in a nutshell. And unfortunately, he’s not the only part of the story that feels rushed and lazy; the entire story feels like that. Sometimes certain things will just happen that aren’t given enough of an explanation, certain old characters will pop up occasionally serving no purpose for the story (I.e. Chaos, E-123 Omega and Classic Sonic himself), or the pacing will be so fast that you’ll start to think you accidentally skipped a cutscene.

But the biggest problem I have with this game’s story is how much it TELLS us rather than SHOWS us.

Sonic Forces has a much darker tone than most recent Sonic games which I am perfectly fine with, as the Sonic Adventure games managed to pull off dark stories well while remaining kid friendly. But the game doesn’t do a good enough job SHOWING those darker themes and would rather TELL us how dark everything is. We’re TOLD Eggman has taken over the world and rules with an iron fist, but we’re never SHOWN just how much of a grip he has on it. Sure, cities are in ruins and Infinite causes a lot of destruction, but other than that Eggman is a no greater threat than he usually is in the rest of the series. We’re TOLD Infinite is the most powerful enemy Sonic’s ever fought, but we’re never SHOWN how powerful he really is, and he instead just decides to gloat all the time about how much stronger he is than everyone else. We’re TOLD Tails went crazy after Sonic got captured but we’re never SHOWN that and instead the next time we see Tails he looks and acts completely normal. When you’re constantly telling the player how dark everything is but never showing them anything substantial that proves it, it makes the story seem like it’s trying too hard to be taken seriously.

If anything, I think the story is presented very well. The cutscenes are animated nicely and all the voice actors do a really good job with their characters, Liam ‘O’Brian especially does a great job as Infinite and really gives him an intimidating presence. But unfortunately, those well-done elements can’t do anything to save a story that feels rushed and undercooked.

*spoilers end here*

But while the story is mostly underwhelming and doesn’t leave any impact, that can be easily ignored. After all, you can just skip all the cutscenes if you want. The reason most people would buy a game like this would be because of it’s gameplay. So, how does that hold up?

Well regrettably, the gameplay holds up about as well as the story.

There are 3 unique gameplay styles that Sonic Forces focuses on.

Firstly, there’s the Modern Sonic gameplay that utilises the boost gameplay of Sonic Unleashed, Colours and Generations. Sonic has most of the moves he that he had in those games (Except the drift oddly) so anyone who’s played those games before will feel at home here. He can still homing attack enemies, stomp in mid-air to gain his footing as well as slide to avoid hazards (Though weirdly it’s never utilised effectively at all in the game), he still collects rings and dies if he gets hit without any and of course, he can still use the boost. When you have enough energy in your boost gauge gained by collecting capsules or defeating enemies, pressing and holding the Y button will allow Sonic to rocket forward at top speed and defeat any enemy he collides with. This gameplay style is hand down the most fun in the entire game. It can be very exhilarating watching Sonic speed through stages as fast as he possibly can, and his stages can be very addictive to speed-run. That doesn’t mean it’s perfect though, particularly when the stages shift to a 2D perspective. Because Sonic’s gameplay style is all about going as fast as possible, during 2D sections where methodical and slow platforming is more common, the fast, thrilling pace of a stage can grind to a halt. The controls in the 2D sections are also much worse than the 3D sections’ controls, which combined with stiff platforming sections can lead to many instances of seemingly unfair deaths that completely dissolve any fun you might have been having. Overall though, Modern Sonic’s gameplay is passable. It’s a significant step down from other games in the series for reasons that I’ll state later, but his general control and mechanics are enjoyable to play around with.

Secondly, there’s the Custom Character gameplay where you play as your own created character using gadgets and weapons to complete a stage rather than using the boost. Out of everything that was revealed about this game before it came out, the custom character was the one element that intrigued me the most. The idea of creating your own character to run around stages and interact with Sonic and his friends seemed like an interesting concept that none of the games have done before. But while the concept is very intriguing, the execution is very mixed. On one hand, the customisation of the Avatar character itself is very in-depth and has a lot of detail put into it. You can choose between many species of animal for your Avatar to be such as a Cat, Dog, Bird etc. and each species gives you a new ability that could prove very useful during a stage including the Bird giving you a double-jump and the Cat being able to hold on to more rings after being hit. You can also unlock tons of different clothing items for the avatar by completing stages and certain missions to truly make your character feel unique to you or just to make them look absolutely ridiculous (You can make the Avatar wear Crocs for crying out loud).

On the other hand, actually playing as the Custom character can be a complete chore. The Custom Character controls very similarly to Modern Sonic with stages designed in a similar way as well with both 3D and 2D sections. As stated before though, the custom hero doesn’t have the boost. Instead, they have both the grappling hook and various “wispons”. The grappling hook allows the Custom Hero to homing attack enemies just like Modern Sonic, grants them the ability to swing on certain grapple points to bypass bottomless pits and other parts of the level and lets them do elaborate quick time sequences that despite looking cool, don’t require much input from the player. There are also many “wispons” for the Custom Hero to unlock and equip that they can use during a stage to destroy enemies, which can be done in many different ways depending on what weapon you equip. In addition to that, different wispons give you different special abilities that can occasionally be activated by collecting wisp capsules, which can be used to find secret paths for a faster time or to collect more rings. So in terms of what the Custom character can do, they seem to be very varied and versatile.

However, the main problem with the Avatar’s gameplay is the control. Whether you’re going from left to right in a 2D area or running in a straight line in 3D, the Avatar always feels incredibly stiff to control which can lead to many gameplay mistakes that are the fault of the game and not you, such as running straight into enemies without being able to stop yourself in time, or jumping and not being to correct yourself leading to you falling into a pit and dying. Because of this, no matter how much variety the gameplay itself has, it makes every stage feel tiring and as if you’re constantly fighting for control of your character.

Lastly, there’s Classic Sonic. Logically, Classic Sonic should be the best gameplay style out of them all right? After all, it’s the style that started Sonic off and the one most people are familiar with. Plus, he can pretty much do everything he could do in the classic Mega Drive games; he can jump, spin dash and now he can even use the ‘drop-dash’, a move introduced in the recent Sonic Mania that was incredibly fun to use in that game. Does that mean that Classic Sonic’s gameplay is fun?

No.

Classic Sonic is, without a shadow of doubt, the worst part of this game. And the main reason for this is (once again) his control. Not only does he feel really clunky to control much like every other character in the game, he has barely any momentum or weight to any of the platforming he performs. The Classic Sonic games understood that momentum was one of the main things that made 2D Sonic so fun. It felt incredible to curl up into a ball while running down a hill, then zooming up the hill to send you flying into the air. The physics in Sonic Forces on the other hand, never allow for any moments like that. If sonic runs down a hill, his speed won’t increase any more than how it was when he was running normally, which can be annoying as sometimes the game’s level design will assume that sonic CAN gain momentum, leading to instances where sonic is running down a hill only for him to not have enough speed to make it up a ramp at the bottom. His jumps also feel especially heavy meaning you may have trouble just trying to simply jump on enemies to kill them! His entire part of the game feels the most rushed out of everything and adding that the fact he has no relevance in the story, it feels as though SEGA just wanted him in the game for brand recognition to make the game sell better without thinking about if it would fit in the game at all.

But with the stages Classic Sonic runs through, another massive issue with the game rears its head. The level design is awful in this game no matter which character you’re playing as. If you aren’t running in straight line or going through sequences that the player has barely any input in, you’re falling to your death from awkward platforming sections or not being able avoid attacks and hazards due to the terrible controls. And even when a stage has tolerable design that could make for a fun experience, it ends before it can leave a significant impact. Most of the levels in Sonic Forces can be completed in a little over a minute, leading a majority of the competently designed stages to end up being completely forgettable.

Even the boss fights, which can be the best part of a lot of other Sonic games, feel uncommonly lacklustre here. No matter which one you’re fighting whether it be the first boss or the final boss, none of them have any scale or impactfulness that would make them memorable. Instead, most of them have repetitive attacks that can be easily dodged, require using the same move repeatedly to defeat them or at certain times take way longer than they reasonably should. One boss towards the end of game is especially notable as they are a complete copy of a previous boss fight, which shows even further that SEGA didn’t care about this game’s design and just rushed it out to meet a deadline.

The game’s presentation is also something I have very mixed feels on. On one side, the game does have a clear and crisp look to it as well as great colouring and lighting. The game runs at 60fps on the Xbox One and PS4 versions, but runs at 30fps for the Nintendo Switch and while some may be turned off from that, I believe it’s a nice compromise for being able to take the game where ever you want. The soundtrack is also (as usual) bloody great. Not only is it filled with many old songs that may make fans of the Sonic Adventure games grin with delight, it has tons of brilliant new songs that can fit the situation well. The music tracks for the Custom character’s stages in particular are outstanding, as it combines upbeat techno rave music with some of the cheesiest vocals that Sonic has had in a while. On the other side, while the presentation is serviceable, the main issue with it is the overall lack of polish and detail. Textures are much less well refined and thorough as previous games, making a lot of the environments look bland with no personality. Certain other details that are usually in every other Sonic game are also strangely absent here, including Sonic’s impatient idle animation which has been a staple of the series from the beginning! And even though the soundtrack is mostly great, the music tracks for the Classic Sonic stages are horrendous. They try to make the music sound like it’s coming from an original Mega Drive, which is a fun novelty, but it makes the songs sounds astonishingly annoying very quickly.

Lastly, I’m not a fan of what themes they chose for the stages in this game. Most of the stages are split into different specific locations that you return to again and again throughout the game, but the locations themselves are very uninspired. You’re either running through bland looking cities or forests that don’t have any specific gimmicks unique enough to make them memorable, or you’re just playing through stages that have already been used an absurdly large amount of times in other Sonic games such as Green Hill or Chemical Plant.

Overall, Sonic Forces is a mixed bag. While there are a lot of things this game does well such as the soundtrack, most of Modern Sonic’s gameplay as well as the customisation and concept of your Custom hero, the rest of it feels dreadfully muted and pressed for time. When the level design isn’t being frustrating and awkward, it’s making the level end way too fast. When the story isn’t trying to take itself too seriously, it’s skipping over important details that would’ve made the it more interesting or completely forgetting certain characters exist. When the controls aren’t being stiff, they’re flying you into a pit or an obstacle you had no intention of hitting. It is the definition of a mess.

And the fact this game has as many flaws as it does, goes to show how much SEGA and Sonic Team don’t really care about the quality of Sonic games anymore. The lack of polish, detail and any kind of effort put into the gameplay, story or presentation could show that they’re just tired with the series. If Sonic Team had more time to develop the game or if different people who were more passionate for the series developed this game instead (such as the developers for Sonic Mania), then maybe the game could’ve been better and held up with the legacy of other great Sonic games.

But as it is, Sonic Forces ironically out of all the other recent games in the series, feels the most forced.

I give Sonic Forces a 5.5 out of 10.

Written by Bill Fry

The image above does not belong to me or the blog and can be sourced from:

https://www.sonicthehedgehog.com/sonic-forces

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