Sonic Forces

 Xbox One
User Score
6.9

Mixed or average reviews- based on 274 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 162 out of 274
  2. Mixed: 49 out of 274
  3. Negative: 63 out of 274
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  1. Xbox_Alive
    Jan 2, 2018
    7
    This has definitely been one of Sonic’s best years in recent times and I thoroughly enjoyed Sonic Mania this year, so to say I was looking forward to Sonic Forces would be quite the understatement. Thankfully Sonic Forces does more than enough to scratch my itch, but it is lacking in certain areas and it’s not as good as Sonic Mania. I will say though that the game has some fresh ideas,This has definitely been one of Sonic’s best years in recent times and I thoroughly enjoyed Sonic Mania this year, so to say I was looking forward to Sonic Forces would be quite the understatement. Thankfully Sonic Forces does more than enough to scratch my itch, but it is lacking in certain areas and it’s not as good as Sonic Mania. I will say though that the game has some fresh ideas, and I especially loved the inclusion of creating your own character. They’ve done this really well and there are more than enough items to keep you satisfied. The levels in the game are something I really enjoyed, and that was mainly down to the amount of creativeness used in each level. The levels would have been even better if they were a bit longer and I thought they missed a trick here. The gameplay plays well most of the time, but the controls aren’t always responsive which is a massive problem in a game like this. Another problem was that the controls always seemed to fail at the worst times and this made me become very frustrated, so hopefully they manage to patch this. I would also like them to make the game more challenging because it can be too easy for its own good at times. I know some people who didn’t like the story in the game, but I wasn’t one of them and in fact I found it quite enjoyable, and I thought the voice actors did a good job. The presentation side of the game is absolutely brilliant in my opinion. Visually the game is packed full of colour and the cartoon style works brilliantly. The soundtrack in the game was probably my most favourite in a Sonic game to date, which is great. At the end of the day Sonic Forces may not be the best Sonic game of all time and it may suffer with a few problems here and there, but there is more than enough here to satisfy a great number of people. Without a doubt it gets more right than it gets wrong and in the end I enjoyed my time with the blue hedgehog, which is the most important thing.… Expand
  2. ccateni
    Nov 8, 2017
    5
    I've been a sonic fan since I played the Sonic Games on the GameCube, Sonic Unleashed and a lot of the games after it was some well done 3d sonic games and are some of the game are in my top 10 favorite games of all time. So when I heard that Sonic Forces was going to be a game like sonic unleashed, a dark story, a new engine, a boost to win title on next-gen consoles, and a fresh coat aI've been a sonic fan since I played the Sonic Games on the GameCube, Sonic Unleashed and a lot of the games after it was some well done 3d sonic games and are some of the game are in my top 10 favorite games of all time. So when I heard that Sonic Forces was going to be a game like sonic unleashed, a dark story, a new engine, a boost to win title on next-gen consoles, and a fresh coat a paint for the series, I couldn't wait for it! Unfortunately, this game didn't live up to the previous games released along with sonic mania. Heres my review!

    Plot: No spoilers for obvious reasons, but to sum things up. Sonic is defeated and apparently "tortured" for 6 months, in that time frame, Eggman takes over 99% of the world, which causes sonic's friends along with your custom character (called Avatar or Rookie) to create a resistance (star wars much?) to stop Eggman and defeat his new creation, Infinite. They later meet back up with tails and classic sonic, coming back from Sonic Mania to complete its story or something? Though this story is interesting, its execution is horrible, and the later parts of the story suck due to the villains being dumb as rocks and a force message about teamwork or something. Not a good way to do a "dark" story, oh and sonic wasn't tortured if he is still happy and go lucky. 3/10

    Gameplay: It's split up into three sections, Modern Sonic, Avatar, and Classic Sonic. Modern Sonic is the same boost to win formula as the previous games since sonic unleashed. It's well done, and nice to see again, but I wish it were more of a different take on speedy 3d platforming. The avatar gameplay is decent, you get to make your character and uses his wisp power to get through the level somewhat like the Modern Sonic stages. They're alright, not much, but nice to play. Then we get Classic Sonic... Sigh. Boy, was Classic Sonic wasted. Its just CS from Generations again, and the stages are kinda dull, and it controls awful. They should have removed him and had more stages with the Avatar and Modern Sonic. Speaking of Modern Sonic and Avatar, they have some stages where you play as both trying to get to the end of the level, using double boost at least once during the stage, they're better, but nothing special again. It seems like Sonic Team played it safe with this game, and it backfired severely in they're faces. They should have done a new gameplay style like Sonic Lost World or Mario Oddsey, the boost to win formula should have been retired before this game because it's not 100% fun anymore like Generations or Unleashed. It was still fun, but not as fun as I would have liked. 5/10

    Audio: The soundtrack is one of the best in the Sonic series, it's more cinematic, but its also filled with more sonic like music like fist bump and infinite's themes. More songs would be nice though, but still high quality. 9/10

    Bosses: Disappointing as well, the mini-bosses are way too easy, and the FInal Boss is also a joke. Take one look at the final boss (if you completed the game) and tell me it's not like the one from Colors and Lost World! 3/10

    Summary: Sonic Forces is a huge disappointment for me. The boost to win gameplay is fun, and so is the avatar and double gameplay. The soundtrack is fantastic and is one of the best sonic soundtracks along with sonic mania. However, the story, while it has a good idea, it's not well executed and a huge disappointment, it's not even that dark! Not to mention the Classic Sonic gameplay is pointless and can be removed from the game, and nothing would change. I wish this could have been the game to bring 3d sonic to the next gen, but instead, it has me wishing for more, and for someone else to give this series some justice just like Sonic Mania did. Sega, if you're listening to this, please let someone else make a sonic game, enough of the hedgehog engine, enough of Denuvo DRM and crashes, please have it open world or whatever with no DRM, and something that's not 2d again and helps gives the franchise some new life. Also, P.S. DON'T RUSH IT!

    6/10 = 2.5 Stars    … Expand
  3. duperghoul
    Nov 11, 2017
    6
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Strengths
    - Darkest story in a Sonic game
    - Character Creation has dozens of possibilities
    - The soundtrack

    Flaws
    - The Avatar stages
    - Hardly play as Classic Sonic
    - We don't fight Chaos or Shadow

    Ugly
    - Must complete the Modern Sonic level before we can replay it with the Shadow skin.
    - Continuity issue of Infinite and Phantom Ruby's origin. The 4 part comic and Episode Shadow state Infinite was a leader of Eggman's Forces and that the doctor found the ruby on his front door. But in the game he says he invented it. But in Sonic Mania, the "new power source" was the Phantom Ruby that Classic Sonic was chasing.    … Expand
  4. OmxgaAwesome
    Apr 8, 2022
    7
    This game was disappointing, mainly because the Avatar was such a good idea but it was portrayed badly. I beat this game in 12 hours because of how short this game is. Its not a bad game, its just mediocre.
  5. SuperkenGaming
    Nov 8, 2017
    6
    Sonic Forces
    A bit half-baked
    Sonic forces is a 3d meets 2d sonic game where you set out to save the world from dr eggman and the new hedgehog in town infinite your goal is to run through the games 30 stages and reclaim the world for team sonic... only problem is sonic can’t do it alone, he needs your help after he’s snatched up… A rookie is called in to aid to sonic.. And that    Sonic Forces
    A bit half-baked
    Sonic forces is a 3d meets 2d sonic game where you set out to save the world from dr eggman and the new hedgehog in town infinite
    your goal is to run through the games 30 stages and reclaim the world for team sonic...
    only problem is sonic can’t do it alone, he needs your help after he’s snatched up…
    A rookie is called in to aid to sonic..
    And that rookie is you...
    You create your own character out of pretty limited choices and you set out to reclaim territories and help team sonic on different missions…
    There are sos missions where you play as other created characters for rewards, there are bonus missions, and again 30 regular missions…
    Sonic forces is a really enjoyable and fun game…
    unfortunately this is an extremely casual sonic game as well, geared more towards children than sonic vets…
    It has the typical things from the sonic formula... rings counting as your health... running really fast and dashing through enemies…
    but failing is practically impossible…
    My issue with sonic mania was that I felt it wasn’t casual enough as levels were way too long to go off of a life system… and sonic forces goes the complete opposite of having extremely short levels with infinite lives.. if you lose your rings its back to the checkpoint…
    This is really just a score chasing game…
    the level design is great, the worlds is beautiful, there’s decent music… but the best feeling levels are over before they even feel like they begin.. making it hard for any stage here to be memorable…
    but this 2 and a half hour long campaign does mix things up as it switches through your character, regular sonic, and classic sonic… all 3 handling differently…
    With classic sonic stages giving you a little more challenge, but still not much..
    With your character you’re able to use different weapons you unlock as you play to shoot enemies all with their own perks in level like invincibility, or turning enemies into ice cubes giving you coins...
    All of this to try and obtain a levels s rank which will get you more clothing items to customize your character, as will completing the games different challenges… giving the player reason to go back and play these levels…
    But being so easy… hardly any timing here, which is that makes 3d sonic games so addicting.. And it’s completely missing...
    This game is really just shoot enemies while sonic runs forward... ocassionally take down a boss and repeat..
    I never felt engaged…
    And while it doesn’t feel like a real sonic game, and there’s hardly challenge or addictive qualities...
    I enjoyed my time with this game... Its fun…
    This is a very decent baby’s first sonic game…
    I Give Sonic Forces
    a 6.5/10    … Expand
  6. JoeCastle99
    Nov 7, 2017
    6
    Ok. Ill try to be honest, this game... wasnt as good as people (and SEGA) told us about. NO, im not saying its bad, either im saying its good... its "OK"

    Ill divide my review on various parts, to explain my opinion as pure as possible: STORY: Its kinda good, not gonna lie. For the "GOOD" part, the idea of Eggman actually ruling the entire world for various months is pretty nice,    Ok. Ill try to be honest, this game... wasnt as good as people (and SEGA) told us about. NO, im not saying its bad, either im saying its good... its "OK"

    Ill divide my review on various parts, to explain my opinion as pure as possible:

    STORY:

    Its kinda good, not gonna lie. For the "GOOD" part, the idea of Eggman actually ruling the entire world for various months is pretty nice, and the fact he actually tortured Sonic for once its... pretty interesting i would say... also, including old and new bosses adds a nice touch (old, talking about Chaos and Metal Sonic, and new, talking about zavok).

    for the "OK" part, the introduction of infinite is kinda weird, because you need to play Episode Shadow to understand how all begins, which is not a very nice decision from Sega, but i will let it pass...

    And the implementation of the OC Avatar is very simple, just a survivor that wanted to join the resistance isnt very attractive.

    for the "Not Good" part, Classic Sonic appeared just out of nowhere, not even sure how or why the idea of Classic Sonic appearing out of nowhere was a cool idea :(

    also, in some of the trailers of the game, you see shadow as part of the bad guys, when in the game you cant even fight him (either Chaos) which is kinda disappointing, but oh well...

    PLAYABILITY/GAME ASPECTS:

    Its ok... its not like they introduced something new to the playability (because we have the casual Modern Sonic running the same line all over again, Classic Sonic with the 2D enviroment), except the things that the OC Avatar can do, that can change depending of the animal you choose, which it add a bit more of replay value, but excluding that, its just like any other sonic game (this doesnt mean thats bad... just kinda repetitive)

    About the game aspects, for the "GOOD" part, voice acting is good and the quality is nice in all versions of the game, pretty smooth and good looking.

    in the "OK" part, the AI of the NPCs isnt as good as previous games, in the Modern Sonic stages they dont even try to hurt you, which is kinda understandable, since the main goal of those stages is just run in a straight line, but it makes it too easy IMO, they should at least try to hurt you, not just be there, wasting space. In the Classic Sonic stages, they look ok.

    And in Modern Sonic stages, the checkpoints hitbox seems kinda weird, you can "kinda" go thru it, small detail, since again, the main goal is just run until you reach the end, but its hitbox should be complete.

    The stages are fun and pretty colorful, packed with a bit of that nostalgia and feelings, depending of the situations

    DIFFICULTY:

    its too easy, comparing it with other sonic games (not as easy as oddysey, but thats a different franchise), the NPCs dont really try to hurt you, they are pretty easy to avoid and destroy as well, most of the stages can be completed very quickly, and overall, you can complete the game in 2 hours, or even less, and im not talking about speedrunning the game... which IMO is not that good, but moving that to a side, some (not all) of the stages can take 2 or 3 tries to understand where you need to go and where you should fall.

    OVERALL:

    its ok. As a Sonic fan myself, i think this game had too much hype (and i was hyped too), but im kinda dissapointed, since some things are not as the Trailers promised. But is not as bad some people told me it was going to be, either is as good some people told me too...

    Its enjoyable at least, and it gives some fresh air with the OC thing (which im not a fan of, but apparently it was well received, so, i guess ill let that pass too) and i can say its better than Lost World and Boom.

    Should you buy it? If you want, or if you are a big Sonic fan, but i wouldnt say this is a title you should really get...    … Expand
  7. JPK
    Aug 19, 2018
    6
    How To Put This
    Sonic Forces Had Every Ingredient To Be A Brilliant Game But Ended Up Pretty Underwhelming, First The Pros
    Pros: SILVER IS FINALLY BACK AND HE DOESN'T DISAPPOINT, The Story Was For The Most Part Interestingly Structured, Shadow, The Humor, The Characters, Gorgeous Visuals, The Character Of Infinite, You Get To Make Your Own Avatar. Cons: The Story Can Be Very Bland And    How To Put This
    Sonic Forces Had Every Ingredient To Be A Brilliant Game But Ended Up Pretty Underwhelming, First The Pros
    Pros: SILVER IS FINALLY BACK AND HE DOESN'T DISAPPOINT, The Story Was For The Most Part Interestingly Structured, Shadow, The Humor, The Characters, Gorgeous Visuals, The Character Of Infinite, You Get To Make Your Own Avatar.
    Cons: The Story Can Be Very Bland And Sloppy At Times, Nothing Too Unique Or Fresh, Some Moments Are Just Plain Mediocre.

    Verdict: Like Shadow The Hedgehog’s Game, Sonic Forces Is 60% Satisfying And 40% Underwhelming.    … Expand
  8. MarvelJoe
    Apr 13, 2018
    5
    This game felt really disappointing but not surprising. The gameplay felt really off and it's to show the Sonic Team lost touch in Sonic. It's very...lacking that I can't get into the game and it's barely playable. It's average at bad. The boss fight doesn't seem challenging, Classic Sonic felt unnecessary, and the level designs aren't that good. But there are some good things about theThis game felt really disappointing but not surprising. The gameplay felt really off and it's to show the Sonic Team lost touch in Sonic. It's very...lacking that I can't get into the game and it's barely playable. It's average at bad. The boss fight doesn't seem challenging, Classic Sonic felt unnecessary, and the level designs aren't that good. But there are some good things about the game: Visuals, soundtrack, and the story is okay but I prefer Sonic to stay light and balance cause making a dark storyline never really help the series. It's not Sonic Unleashed bad, but it's not that good either.… Expand
  9. SonicSpeedo92
    May 21, 2018
    7
    Saying that Forces has a mixed reception is an understatement, but I really enjoyed Forces regardless. The graphics are good, the music is good, you have the ability to create your own OC, which is pretty cool, and the Avatar gameplay is fresh, along with a good story. But the issues come from automated Modern Sonic stages, short levels, Classic Sonic physics are off, and level designSaying that Forces has a mixed reception is an understatement, but I really enjoyed Forces regardless. The graphics are good, the music is good, you have the ability to create your own OC, which is pretty cool, and the Avatar gameplay is fresh, along with a good story. But the issues come from automated Modern Sonic stages, short levels, Classic Sonic physics are off, and level design overall. But Forces is still pretty cool, and definitely worth the purchase.… Expand
  10. MortonDude
    Jun 1, 2018
    5
    On you're first play through, this game is really fun. But after you beat the game, there's no reason to come back to this one...
    Sonic Forces is the second Sonic game of 2017 and after the success of Sonic Mania, people were really hyped for this one... oh boy...
    Sonic Forces suffers from very bad decisions made from Sonic Team, such as having level designers that have never worked on a    On you're first play through, this game is really fun. But after you beat the game, there's no reason to come back to this one...
    Sonic Forces is the second Sonic game of 2017 and after the success of Sonic Mania, people were really hyped for this one... oh boy...
    Sonic Forces suffers from very bad decisions made from Sonic Team, such as having level designers that have never worked on a Sonic game before and simply reusing Classic Sonic because Generations was a good game. Because of these decisions, the game becomes straight line simulator the game.
    This game has some good moments and I don't think people should put this in the bad Category like Sonic 2006 or Shadow The Hedgehog.
    This game is too easy and doesn't offer a challenge like Sonic Unleashed or Generations.
    The Custom Character is the biggest highlight as he/she uses wispons (weapons powered by wisps from Sonic Colours) and has better levels than both Sonics. This game was also rushed out to be released for the movie, but when the Movie was pushed back again, the team still decided to release the game over adding new content and fleshing out the game. MOST OF THE LEVELS ARE 1 AND A HALF MINUTE LONG!!!
    The Shadow DLC (Free by the way) is a neat addition for fans of the character, but is still rushed in execution.
    This game is a clear message to Sega that Sonic Team is no longer capable of making Sonic Games to an expected quality and this is a serious downgrade from Sonic Generations. While still enjoyable for a first play through and messing with the Custom Character, this game is a true disappointment for what was expected after the success of both Sonic Mania and Generations. Hopefully, this underwhelming game will show Sega that things need to change...    … Expand
  11. TheReaperX
    Dec 2, 2018
    6
    Sonic Forces isn't a bad game. It's not a great game either I just really enyojed at my first walkthrough. Lets first talk about the bad things: classic sonic is back! And he is the whorst part of the game, because his pchysics are just trash. Then the level desing its more average and its because on the level desing worked only 3 PEOPLE. But thats not all 2 of them never worked on a sonicSonic Forces isn't a bad game. It's not a great game either I just really enyojed at my first walkthrough. Lets first talk about the bad things: classic sonic is back! And he is the whorst part of the game, because his pchysics are just trash. Then the level desing its more average and its because on the level desing worked only 3 PEOPLE. But thats not all 2 of them never worked on a sonic game and the one worked on LOST WORLD! YEAH NOT GENERATIONS OR COLUORS JUST LOST WORLD! Sega liedto us, they just wanted to make money...
    The story is just dump. Srsl, a story about WAR, why??
    And the bossbattles: Shadow and Chaos were allready "killed" chaos by classic sonic and shadow by the real shadow. The best bosses in the game are probably the Zavok one and the last one.
    But now lets move to the good things:
    The music is just fantastic (besinds the Green Hill Zone music), the gameplay as Sonic and ur avatar are rlly. fun to play (well almost because Sonics jump is to icy).

    So is Forces a bad or terrible game? No, its more average    … Expand
  12. MegamanZeroX19
    Aug 20, 2020
    7
    Una completa desilusión este videojuego,sería bueno si no tuviera niveles cortos,una historia tan mal hecha y controles tan malos.Además de que Sonic clásico queda de adorno.
  13. S0N4R
    Aug 13, 2020
    7
    This is a fun yet flawed game. It has a pretty lacklustre story that i personally did not care about much, pretty short stages and stupidly easy bosses, BUT the gameplay is (in my opinion) on par with sonic adventure 2 and it utilises the boost mechanic very well. The avatar creation has its own fun, either making a serious avatar you think looks good or just make the dumbest avatar youThis is a fun yet flawed game. It has a pretty lacklustre story that i personally did not care about much, pretty short stages and stupidly easy bosses, BUT the gameplay is (in my opinion) on par with sonic adventure 2 and it utilises the boost mechanic very well. The avatar creation has its own fun, either making a serious avatar you think looks good or just make the dumbest avatar you can to have a laugh with your friends.… Expand
  14. Hypejoi
    Nov 11, 2020
    6
    It's got that Sonic vibe with running with challenging level design and bosses that get add challenge and variety in their encounters. The game breaks immersion with the create your own Avatar / Sonic character, but the story does a good job including the new Hero to the Sonic Universe pretty well. Overall, It's a fun game but with a lack of substance in the story, and a ton of challengeIt's got that Sonic vibe with running with challenging level design and bosses that get add challenge and variety in their encounters. The game breaks immersion with the create your own Avatar / Sonic character, but the story does a good job including the new Hero to the Sonic Universe pretty well. Overall, It's a fun game but with a lack of substance in the story, and a ton of challenge to fester over with objectives a plenty to do in each levels varied design.… Expand
  15. GameDudeGuy
    Dec 18, 2020
    5
    This game is that bad ive have seen way way worse your looking at the person who played Sonic 06 and lived to tell the tale its not bad nor good i will tak about that bad and say the good the bad is that many charecters are wasted like chaos i loved chaos in Sonic Adventure but he got wasted by classic sonic we all expected for him to come back and you fight him but no they just waste himThis game is that bad ive have seen way way worse your looking at the person who played Sonic 06 and lived to tell the tale its not bad nor good i will tak about that bad and say the good the bad is that many charecters are wasted like chaos i loved chaos in Sonic Adventure but he got wasted by classic sonic we all expected for him to come back and you fight him but no they just waste him another bad thing is that the story went good to bad i have never seen a game done this before its werid is there any good i can say well i can say a few the graphics are pretty nice for 2017 but its just the same graphics as Mario Odyessy but worse the plot at the start was fine and i barely foudn any glitches would i reccomend buying this game no you would have a better time playing Sonic Mania… Expand
  16. Radical2002
    Nov 10, 2021
    7
    Sonic Forces is a game that has a large amount of brilliant and ambitious ideas, but the lack of manpower and budget made it stop a far distance away from the finish line.

    I've played this game on four platforms, Switch, PS4, PC and recently Xbox Series S. The game graphicly looks really good, Hedgehog Engine 2's debut wasn't lacklustre, and while taking up too much of the development    Sonic Forces is a game that has a large amount of brilliant and ambitious ideas, but the lack of manpower and budget made it stop a far distance away from the finish line.

    I've played this game on four platforms, Switch, PS4, PC and recently Xbox Series S. The game graphicly looks really good, Hedgehog Engine 2's debut wasn't lacklustre, and while taking up too much of the development time, it's recent use really shows it's future potential.

    The story is admirable. Since the release of Sonic Colours, Sonic games never really focused much on story, with the closest being the side series of Sonic Boom, but Forces reintroduces the expanded cast, includes a new villain, and a more serious story, but it falls flat.

    The three gameplay styles go from good to meh, it goes Modern, Avatar and Classic. Sonic is fun, Avatar is fun, Classic is meh.

    I wish I could go more in-depth, and I'd suggest it, but only if it's on sale or second hand.    … Expand
  17. Eny2505
    Apr 23, 2023
    6
    One of the games i used to love but it kinda sucks now. Its too boring and way too short to deserve a higher score. They tried to hard here to throw as many gimmicks in as possible but that also ruined it

Awards & Rankings

13
#13 Most Discussed Xbox One Game of 2017
45
#45 Most Shared Xbox One Game of 2017

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
62

Mixed or average reviews - based on 12 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3 out of 12
  2. Mixed: 8 out of 12
  3. Negative: 1 out of 12
  1. Official Xbox Magazine UK
    Jan 5, 2018
    50
    It's business as usual for dear old Sonic. Which isn't necessarily a very good thing. [Jan 2018, p.82]
  2. Xbox Tavern
    Dec 16, 2017
    81
    For the first time in years, I actually enjoyed and looked forward to going back to a Sonic game and will continue to hunt those red star rings for a while yet. But the main USP of the avatars let the side down. I really hope Sonic Team continue with the duel Sonic crossover games as they seem to be providing them with their best output in years.
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  3. New Game Network
    Dec 5, 2017
    59
    Sonic Forces is a mixed bag, but the bad outweighs the good. Its few bright spots - mostly in the form of classic Sonic - get dimmed by the muddled mess of the weaker elements, and the lack of content doesn't help. The game's biggest achievement is the reminder of old school Sonic's superior gameplay.
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