Sonic Forces & Wasted Potential

Sonic Forces is simultaneously my favourite Sonic game and also my worst enemy in writing.

I've been a fan of this franchise for years, since I was about 5 via Sonic X, and properly getting into the franchise after the age of 12. I made a Sonic OC, and I take pride in her.

When I heard Sonic Forces, at the time called Project Sonic 2017, and saw the trailers for it, my 12/13 was excited. I wanted to see where this would go. And it got better when the custom character was confirmed to be a part of it. Finally, my Sonic OC Luna the Cat could finally be in a Sonic game!

And not long after the game's release, I will to admit, when I got the game, it was disappointing.

The story grabbed me, but there was no substance or weight to it. There were big things mentioned, but they never got shown. It was all bark and no bite. 

And sitting here now, as a writer who passed my English Language GCSE with a 5 and merit, this game strikes me as disappointing on the basis of wasted potential, amongst some other ideas that didn't need to be in there. And it hurts because there are legitimate ideas that, from the original idea of Forces, could have gone a long way if SEGA simply gave the OK to the people on the team to be more daring, or simply allowed the game to be far more serious.

As far as my current special interest has been as of right now with Sonic (and in extension, this game and a character in it specifically), I really want to talk about how this game could be done better.

With a story like Sonic Forces, we need some of the most basic questions answered about the story and a skeleton of what we're supposed to be thinking about, as well as consideration on what we're tackling exactly here.

What are the themes? What are we trying to portray in this game? What is the basic story? And what is the story of the source material and how can we change it?

Themes + Show, Don't Tell

There were themes that had been expressed and it wanted to take a darker tone, but what were the themes exactly?

The game itself, on its own, expressed themes of uprising, rebellion, hope and teamwork, with the former two being expressed very heavily from the get-go (it's a natural theme of Sonic), and hope and teamwork is also established pretty early on as well.

It does goes over this a little. Considering I'm talking a game designed for audiences ideally younger (about my age when it originally came out), I am not going to bash this game so hard because sometimes, some things being obvious, it needs to be there. I'm not gonna bash that.

Unfortunately, we don't see these themes completely in action; Sonic Forces is very heavy on telling without showing. From the scene straight after Infinite beats Sonic where, it cuts to a block and we're just told that Eggman took over 99% of the world without any visuals that tell that Eggman has done so. It tells us what we've done, and how we've done it, and we don't get to see how we've positively affected the world other than the world map, and that's a bit boring and doesn't say much.

Even in the main game itself, most of the dialogue and the story takes place on the map screen via the 'communications', and talking heads. It tells a lot, but there's very little in the game that actually shows it in its gameplay or even their cutscenes.

The game also oddly skips over way too many big details (which, again, are exclusively stated in the world map and nowhere else).

Basically, it runs like this in terms of the story: Infinite manages to beat Sonic, one thing lead to another, and now the avatar character and Sonic are teaming up in order to beat Eggman, Infinite and the Empire.

Despite the serious tone, the main character himself doesn't seem to be as serious as the game tries to be. Sonic, who one would presume might have been tortured or treated horrendously by Eggman and Infinite while captive, the one most affected by the invasion due to his defeat being the reason why the world is as it is, not knowing what could become of his friends and found family due to the Phantom Ruby, you'd think he'd have a more serious response to it, even if the writers weren't allowed to portray him as traumatised or sad, you'd at least try and portray him with a bit more edge, maintaining a more serious attitude that even if while he cracks jokes, you still know he's not fucking around.

But no. Sonic cracks quite a lot of jokes, and makes humorous comments, and these comments Sonic makes, right next to the fact Sonic is as right as rain in Forces despite being kept in captivity for six months, really blows up the mood for the worst. 

In addition, all the characters are treated like a joke. 

Tails pretty much COWERS at Chaos 0 despite Tails having previously taken on Chaos 4 (who's far more powerful than Chaos 0).

Knuckles is being a war commander, which I don't actually have a problem with, I think that's fine, but the problem comes in when you wonder why the M.E (Master Emerald) and Chaos Emeralds aren't referred to at all in the game if Dr. Eggman has established he wants to use its power in past games.

Why hasn't Silver done ANYTHING? Silver is the most proactive character when it comes to danger and world ending timelines. Even in his debut game and in any comic iteration of him (both Archie and IDW), he will arrive into the timeline to make his era better, even if it means killing anyone who was responsible for fucking up his timeline.

And it hurts because a simple way to remedy this problem is literally just by showing it. Show an in game cutscene where you see a platoon of soldiers part of Operation Big Wave being wiped out by something in the Eggman Empire. Show a visual of Eggman taking over the world and his buildings being built when it's stated that he's taken over the world. Just show these things. Don't tell it.

Story

A large of why Forces failed is because of the story... well, the execution of the story, as well as one or two story elements. I'll elaborate on the story elements first, because I already touched on some of the characterisations as it was.

The pacing is horrible. First level, Sonic goes to Green Hill to get to the city, gets defeated and things go south, and it gets stated that it's been six months since he got defeated, and everyone thinks he's dead. NOT EVEN BEFORE LEVEL 2 BEGINS, but right after we finish making our custom character AND get introduced to them, THE CREW FINDS OUT HE'S ALIVE, and being tortured (or simply being kept in captivity). That's something most characters would find out during the end of the second act, not right after the inciting incident. The fact that the reveal of Sonic being alive is here (which is something for you keep for the climax of a story) stunts any tension from the story in an otherwise extremely powerful scene, but. We don't feel the relief of Sonic and his friends being amazed by this news because it was established right after the inciting incident. We don't tension of Sonic trying to get back to his friends after captivity because of this. We don't feel relief when he FINALLY reunites with Tails because it was established way too early.

Don't worry, pacing and placement is not the only issue here.

This game, straight up, has one of the worst characterisations of any of the Sonic characters.

In this game, after Sonic gets defeated, Tails is rendered useless and cowers in the face of something that is weaker than what he dealt with (strangely, this has a reason why it's here, and it's because of cut out content).

All of the Resistance members are stated to have been doing nothing in the six months that Sonic's been missing (if you don't include IDW's comics). Nobody knows Infinite's name despite him being the one who defeated Sonic. Characters that would be active simply aren't; There's no way Silver would be sitting around letting the world be invaded, he would take action. So would Knuckles. But even then, he wouldn't exactly be the best commander.

Sonic's friends, who would realistically be the most active of anyone in this franchise's world, are not active. Which is a problem.

In addition, some story elements are definitely... interesting.

Classic Sonic + Cut Content

Classic Sonic was unnecessary. Right off the bat. Strangely, in a past draft for Forces, he did actually have a reason to be there (other than a loose connection to Sonic Mania, where the Phantom Ruby was also introduced). This also ties into Tails' scene and why it's there, and why it's so oddly out of place.

For those who don't know, in a past draft of the game, Infinite was meant to mentally torture Sonic and observe his reactions to torture in order to create a fake Sonic named Sonic.EXE to infiltrate the Resistance's base (no, this isn't a joke, they really wanted to do this). They wanted to do this in reference to 'Fun is Infinite', something that turns up in Sonic CD. Sonic.EXE in Forces would have been used to manipulate and deceive the Resistance. At some point, this illusion would go awry during said invasion (with Infinite being distracted by Silver), and Classic Sonic would turn up, fighting against the fake Sonic, and the Resistance would very quickly learn that this Sonic was, in fact, a real person and not just an illusion. 

In the infamous Tails scene where he cowers at Chaos 0, this would've been the point where he isn't able to trust Sonic due to the Phantom Ruby's illusionary nature, and Tails wouldn't be able to tell what's real and what's not real. With Classic Sonic's inclusion in this scrapped draft, this Sonic, due to his presence, was a major reason why Tails ended designing a device where one could tell what was an illusion and what wasn't. Classic Sonic would have had a far bigger role if they allowed this concept to even be the game's story.

Sonic Team turned it down because they didn't want any portrayal of Sonic where he was 'evil', and neither did they want him sad either.

Because of this, an otherwise powerful scene has lost all its context, the characterisation and build-up that should have lead up to that moment simply just not being there, making it very out of place and out of character for Tails to be in that state in that moment.

The fact that they completely removed why Classic Sonic was even meant to be in the game leaves his purpose completely and utterly pointless (other than its loose connection to Sonic Mania); removing him from the base game means nothing basically changes. It's still the same story.

However, this isn't the only story aspect removed or cut because of crunches, budgets or because Sonic Team hated it.

Some other story aspects cut out for whatever reason include:

• Sonic and Shadow the fact that they have been mistaken for illusions before, thus implying at a point in the story, Sonic and Shadow would either have mistaken each other for illusions, immediately recognise each other as a real person as they're the ones most directly affected by Infinite's power, or the Resistance had mistaken the real Sonic and Shadow for illusions before.
  
  
• Metal Sonic and Infinite fighting because Metal is envious of how Infinite defeated Sonic, buying the characters enough time to stop the sun illusion before Infinite drops it on the heroes.
  
  
• The Chaos Emeralds being the gems to generate the sun illusion (not the Phantom Ruby), showing some of the limitations of the Phantom Ruby in question.
  
  
• The avatar and Infinite having been friends before in the past, and the avatar character aiming to find their lost friend. In the process of trying to find their lost friend, they'd find a computer and they find out the location of the REAL Sonic, and the true power of the Phantom Ruby.

Frankly, some of these ideas are interesting, and I think, to a point, should have deserved to have been used or at least used as a point in various parts of the game, especially in setting said tone. This oddly links back to the other sections since the writing has a lot of aspects to it that just simply failed, and all of it works in tandem with each other simply due to the execution.

The story will have a tone and theme. The tone and theme and how it's executed will establish if a story is good or not. If the story has a great foundation, then people are going to see it, and then remix as they please.

The overall execution, just being shoddy, muddles up everything interesting about Forces, alongside having some plot points that either should have been removed, or needed more elaboration on.

Plot points such as being able to duplicate and pretend to be someone should have been elaborated on. Things like the Phantom duplicates and how it's difficult to decipher how they're real or not should have also been elaborated on. How one can tell if it's a Phantom illusion or not should have been elaborated on.

Which brings me to the crown jewel, and the most affected of all of this.

Infinite

Oh, dear Jesus. What have you done to him, SEGA?

Everything I say about Forces, it's lead up to this guy.

Infinite is easily the character who reflects this game's poor writing and a large reason why it simply hasn't worked, and how it all has potential.

For start, let's actually talk about him, who he is, and what he does, and yes, I'm including IDW's comic since it also aligns with Force's vision of who he is.

Infinite was the leader of the Jackal Squad, a group of mercenaries who plundered and stole things, and also killed people. One day, plundering Eggman's base, Infinite comes into contact with The Phantom Ruby, and it reveals his inner desire to watch the world burn. Because Eggman was holding the Phantom Ruby when Infinite struck it, and in addition saw what Infinite wanted, he invited him and his team a position on his team, which Infinite accepted because of his sadistic desire to destroy the world.

At some point, his team gets killed by Shadow, and given he is a gifted swordsman, tries to attack him, underestimating how powerful Shadow is, and is defeated quickly, and easily. As a result of the humiliation, as well as the death of his team (which he cares far less about in comparison to being beaten), and Shadow calling him pathetic, he believes that this is Shadow calling him weak, and lashes out in anger and pettiness. 

Because of this sole event, he finds as the prime opportunity to become the host of The Phantom Ruby, and was 'reborn' into the Infinite that is seen in Sonic Forces. He manages to successfully trap Shadow into an illusion of the Phantom Ruby for over well over six months, and defeat Sonic, keep him captive and presumably torture him. Eventually, his reign would come to an end, being defeated by Sonic and the avatar, and presumably either dying or simply retreating back into the Phantom Ruby, never to be seen again (for now).

This is a very kind way of putting the shitshow writing, but I'm going to more or less explain how this ended up being wasted.

It's the contrast between how IDW and base game Sonic Forces portrayed him, a sadistic, almost Darwinist character who simply had little regard for life as a whole and wants to watch the world burn and got to do it via Eggman (in addition to how he underestimates Sonic and his friends just enough to be defeated), compared to Shadow, who ended up being portrayed as petty and like a manbaby because he got his ass kicked by Shadow and misconstruing 'pathetic' with 'weak' and screaming about it, being why he covered his face.

The pathetic joke of a character we got in Episode Shadow, unfortunately, portrays Infinite like he a complete, pathetic manbaby who did this because someone hurt his feelings. It removes any sense of tension he has because god forbid this game wants to be serious in any way. It's really disappointing too, because the pettiness could be a great build for a potentially great character. It's not like characters with petty motives can't be great characters. No Straight Roads has Kliff. Shrek 4 has Rumpelstiltskin. They're both petty characters, but are still great because they manage to capitalise on their own greatest strengths which then show simply how dangerous they are. And I'll elaborate this on Kliff and Rumple and how they worked.

Kliff has a parasocial relationship between The Goolings and was upset when they disbanded because of his unhealthy obsession. He's manipulative and banked on the fact he was Bunk Bed Junction's first fan and also had a lot of intel, and had ALSO wanted to overtake NSR like Bunk Bed Junction's even when BBJ's motive to take over NSR was also because they were also being mostly petty. He also managed to manipulate the two hard enough to break a 9 year old's piano through the motive of 'we need to take over NSR because NSR is bad'.

Rumpelstiltskin wanted to rule the kingdom, but when he couldn't, had a petty hatred towards Shrek for taking away that ability, and exploited the fact Shrek was going through a midlife crisis through the one thing he has: His contracts. When he got Shrek to sign away his life, and manages to rule Far Far Away as a result, his power is kept through the contracts he makes and keeps, and even in the climax of the film, manages to use a loophole to keep Fiona captive (that being Shrek wished for all ogres to be free, but Fiona is only an ogre by night).

What makes these two work, in their own rights, is that it's shown throughout the runtime they're in what they're doing, and they do not hold back those punches at all.

Kliff actively manipulates Bunk Bed Junction throughout No Straight Roads, and it's not until the very end that the people realise he's the villain, where we realise he's won instead of Bunk Bed Junction because he didn't care about them.

Rumpelstiltskin has multiple scenes of him bathing in luxury, planning and scheming, and we see the full result of the world he's gained because of it, and how he actively tries to keep it, going as far as to planning out fake caravans to capture The Resistance (I know, an original name, thank me later).

Infinite, even if you removed Episode Shadow, we're only told of the power he has. Very little of it is shown. So when you add the IDW comic, Episode Shadow, plus Sonic Forces, he doesn't really have anything to capitalise on other than the fact he has the Phantom Ruby, but the Phantom Ruby isn't really used as a major plot device for a majority of the time, other than: Oh, he can make duplicates of things! Oh, this guy beat Sonic. Oh, he summoned the sun, how nice. We don't really see his power in action, aside from one cutscene at the after the inciting incident of the game via a flashback of the Avatar character somewhere after level 2.

He's just not interesting as a result, but at the same time, he has that foundation, and it's really unfortunate that it got wasted, because him being petty can work. Him being beaten by Shadow can work. You just need to put him in the hands of a good writer.

Closing thoughts

I have a heavy love/hate relationship with this game due to how much lost potential there is. I'm lucky we have mods like Sonic Forces: Overclocked and the IDW comics because of Sonic Forces. They expand on it extremely well, and I think they're worthwhile additions ad worth checking out.

On the other, the writing is just bad, and I can see where the gems of this game could be because they clearly put love and effort into things like the avatar and the UI, having a clear theme in how they wanted it designed and visualised, and the music is great too. This game is just wasted potential. Honestly, I'm tempted to simply post my Sonic Forces rewrite from 2022 eventually. Just for fun.

But hey. At least we got Frontiers, and that's given us fans a hope for how Sonic could be.