So, in Sonic Mania you have three main collectables-rings, medals, and Chaos Emeralds. By collecting rings, you can endure a single hit and get a pass into Blue Sphere stages at checkpoints, where collecting every blue ball gets you a silver medal, and collecting all rings in those stages plus the blue balls equals a gold metal, which is five silver ones. These can unlock neat prizes like the &knuckles cheat or infinite time. The medals serve as a side collectible for Mania, something without as much weight as the other two but still kind of fun to get. To get Emeralds, you must find the hidden Warp Rings, where you play a fun as heck Catch The UFO stage. Winning nabs you one of seven Chaos Emeralds. There are many Warp Rings, since they can be often hard to find and difficult to beat. And when I say they are hidden, I MEAN they are hidden WELL-cleverly and with thought towards the player. By collecting every Emerald, you can play as Super Sonic (who is much faster than Sonic and invincible) as well as the true ending of Mania. This is, IMO, a perfect web of collectibles. I don’t ever feel discouraged to get anything, and I WANT to get it all.
In Forces, you still have rings, which increase your score on the level. The better your end level score, which depends on speed, amount of times you died, and rings-the higher of a rank you’ll get. S rank is the highest, and this nabs you some clothes to put on your Sonic OC. But see, the clothes do nothing for you. James The Cat may look neat in high tops and a slick jacket, but is James’ power improved by the clothes? Do I feel like James has powered up? No, he just looks neat. There is no incentive to get an S rank, other than to ‘get it’. Which is the same basic incentive of Clicker-type games. Of course there are Red Rings. There are five hidden in about every level. And when I say they are hidden, I MEAN they are hidden POORLY-taking the rail that is second to the right doesn’t make the player feel smart or accomplished, just because there HAPPENED to be a Red Ring on that one. All they think is ‘oh, I guess I have one more of those things now.’ They are not fun to collect, at least to me. Keep in mind this is all subjective. Anyways, what are these annoying things used for? They get you new ‘hidden stages’. These aren’t meant to move along the story like every other level in this game-they are just an extra challenge. Which might’ve been cool if Sega didn’t just fill them with a million things to get hit by. It might sound like I’m nitpicking, but that’s because this game deserves it. I am not tediously replaying levels and collecting stupid Red Rings just to have my a** kicked seven times in a row on a new stage. So, what happened to Super Sonic, in the months of downtime between Mania and Forces? Oh, Sega didn’t work him or the Emeralds into the plot or even just the game itself (like they did in Lost World, which I actually liked way more than Forces), so they slapped Super Sonic (and Classic Super Sonic) on for 1.99 DLC. Never in my LIFE have I been more insulted as a gamer, as a Sonic fan, as a PERSON. They even put a GAMER hat in the game, so everyone can know I’m a GAMER, but they want to insult my being a GAMER? They made SS free, thank God, but there is still no reason it should’ve happened in the first place! After playing as SS, I can confirm that he doesn’t make Forces a better game. There are other reasons why Forces sucks (lackluster writing and mostly boring level design, just to name a few) but this is the main one.
At the end of the day, Forces, and other games like it, suffer from poor design choices made by a company who wants to appeal to seven-year-olds and 40+ year-olds, casual and diehard series fans, gamers of all kinds. It’s proof that Sega needs to get their priorities in check-addressing the player as a person and not a test subject, making the game fun above all else, and focusing on canon, established characters (sorry, Sonichu fans). I’m not saying I hate every part of this game-it has some genuinely good stages and fun moments in the story. Not to mention character interaction itself has been the best in the series since, like, 06. But as it stands, 3D Sonic needs a masive overhaul. I don’t care how long it takes-if that means we have to wait five more years for a decent game, then let’s freaking wait. I refuse to buy another Sonic game of this quality.
In Forces, you still have rings, which increase your score on the level. The better your end level score, which depends on speed, amount of times you died, and rings-the higher of a rank you’ll get. S rank is the highest, and this nabs you some clothes to put on your Sonic OC. But see, the clothes do nothing for you. James The Cat may look neat in high tops and a slick jacket, but is James’ power improved by the clothes? Do I feel like James has powered up? No, he just looks neat. There is no incentive to get an S rank, other than to ‘get it’. Which is the same basic incentive of Clicker-type games. Of course there are Red Rings. There are five hidden in about every level. And when I say they are hidden, I MEAN they are hidden POORLY-taking the rail that is second to the right doesn’t make the player feel smart or accomplished, just because there HAPPENED to be a Red Ring on that one. All they think is ‘oh, I guess I have one more of those things now.’ They are not fun to collect, at least to me. Keep in mind this is all subjective. Anyways, what are these annoying things used for? They get you new ‘hidden stages’. These aren’t meant to move along the story like every other level in this game-they are just an extra challenge. Which might’ve been cool if Sega didn’t just fill them with a million things to get hit by. It might sound like I’m nitpicking, but that’s because this game deserves it. I am not tediously replaying levels and collecting stupid Red Rings just to have my a** kicked seven times in a row on a new stage. So, what happened to Super Sonic, in the months of downtime between Mania and Forces? Oh, Sega didn’t work him or the Emeralds into the plot or even just the game itself (like they did in Lost World, which I actually liked way more than Forces), so they slapped Super Sonic (and Classic Super Sonic) on for 1.99 DLC. Never in my LIFE have I been more insulted as a gamer, as a Sonic fan, as a PERSON. They even put a GAMER hat in the game, so everyone can know I’m a GAMER, but they want to insult my being a GAMER? They made SS free, thank God, but there is still no reason it should’ve happened in the first place! After playing as SS, I can confirm that he doesn’t make Forces a better game. There are other reasons why Forces sucks (lackluster writing and mostly boring level design, just to name a few) but this is the main one.
At the end of the day, Forces, and other games like it, suffer from poor design choices made by a company who wants to appeal to seven-year-olds and 40+ year-olds, casual and diehard series fans, gamers of all kinds. It’s proof that Sega needs to get their priorities in check-addressing the player as a person and not a test subject, making the game fun above all else, and focusing on canon, established characters (sorry, Sonichu fans). I’m not saying I hate every part of this game-it has some genuinely good stages and fun moments in the story. Not to mention character interaction itself has been the best in the series since, like, 06. But as it stands, 3D Sonic needs a masive overhaul. I don’t care how long it takes-if that means we have to wait five more years for a decent game, then let’s freaking wait. I refuse to buy another Sonic game of this quality.