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YMMV / Sonic Forces

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Examples for Sonic Forces: Speed Battle go here.

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  • Accidental Innuendo: In the Spanish dub, Sonic says "¡Qué bicho más grande!" when passing by a Sandworm in the first level. This literally translates to "What a huge bug", but it sounds different to some Spanish speakers' ears as "bicho" is a slang term for a penis in many parts of the globe.
  • Alternative Character Interpretation:
    • Infinite previously had comrades in the Jackal Squad, and seems angry at their demise by the hands of Shadow in Episode Shadow. That being said, while he does comment in his final battle against Sonic that "Friends are nothing but a fleeting illusion. You can count on nobody but yourself", his true relationship with the squad is unknown. While it's easy to imagine him being a Father to His Men, it's also possible he was angry at Shadow for messing with his squad as if they were ''his'' tools, as Infinite never shows empathy or interest for anyone unless they can provide a challenge to him (thus, why he's so interested in fighting Sonic after defeating Omega). Was their relationship built on trust, or following the strongest? Did the Phantom Ruby change Infinite? We have no answers.
    • Infinite has in his command clones of Shadow, Chaos, Metal Sonic, and Zavok. Despite this, none of them go beyond their base form, with Chaos remaining Chaos 0, Metal never turning into Metal Overlord, nor Zavok giant. The main story shows Infinite's main flaw is his pride, as he could have killed Sonic and allies very early, yet decided it wasn't worth the effort. Could Infinite's lieutenants have stayed weak due to his own hubris?
      • In general, Infinite's personality takes quite a drastic change between the prequel comic, Episode Shadow, and the main game. In the comic and Episode Shadow, he was loud, boisterous, rough, and his speech was as gruff and informal as you'd expect from a mercenary. By the time of the game, his personality has done a complete 180 and he's far more cold, subdued, composed, and menacing and his speech is far more eloquent and theatrical. And given that the Phantom Ruby is implied to be sentient, it calls into question how much of Infinite's actions throughout the game were his own and how much of it was the Phantom Ruby corrupting or outright controlling him.
    • Once again, it's implied but never expressed that the Phantom Ruby is a case of Sentient Phlebotinum. After it seemingly fled from Sonic at the end of Mania, it arrives in the Modern world a full six months ahead of him, and directly just outside Modern Eggman's doorstep. Not only that, just like with Classic Eggman, it starts working for him almost immediately, and does so with absolute ease, whereas Infinite actually has to put some effort into activating its abilities while he wields it. Given how Eggman's prototype replicas worked, however, it's entirely possible that the Phantom Ruby imprinted onto him, and was just returning to its activated master.
    • Is it possible Eggman is Not Himself in the game? While Eggman is clearly in-character in the game as a bombastic mad scientist, and let's remember he was never above terrorizing the whole world, the final boss has him quiet during the whole fight. Considering Eggman has always loved to ham himself up, this is extremely weird for him. Is it possible the Phantom Ruby, like with Infinite above, is influencing him to a lesser extent?
  • Americans Hate Tingle: While the game was relatively well-received in Japan, Forces is otherwise considered underwhelming in many parts of the world, but not outright hated. American (and to a lesser extent, British) fans, however, dislike the game's story not living to its standards due to the influence left behind by the Archie Comics series.
  • Angel/Devil Shipping: Infinite/Avatar (especially the red wolf Avatar, dubbed Gadget by many fans) has gained a bit of steam as a Crack Pairing, due to their similar dynamic.
  • Angst? What Angst?:
    • Despite the grim situation the heroes are in, they don’t act much differently from their usual selves. Of particular note is Sonic, who, despite being kept prisoner by Eggman and straight-up tortured for 6 months, still keeps his usual upbeat attitude.
    • Jarringly, it's mentioned that Tails "lost it" after thinking Sonic died, but when we see him, he's more or less acting as he usually does. (Unless you take Tails’ Badass Decay as “losing it”.) The only tell that he's had any kind of distress is that he shouts out for Sonic's help, despite thinking Sonic's gone, but this is a blink-and-you'll miss it detail. (Interestingly, in the Japanese version, it's mentioned that the resistance simply didn't know Tails' whereabouts after Infinite's attack. Being that there's no implication of him "losing it", it explains why his demeanor didn't seem to be affected much.)
  • Anti-Climax Boss:
    • The final boss, the Death Egg Robot, is a massive, almost organically monstrous mecha powered by an overclocked Phantom Ruby. During the fight, it never uses the Phantom Ruby's power in any way, instead flinging iron balls and shooting lasers. The final phase gets it the worst, as its attacks are blatantly telegraphed.
    • The final battle with Infinite has been heavily criticized by fans for being nothing more than a blatant copy of Metal Sonic's boss fight, with the only difference being his energy cubes.
    • Shadow and Chaos, or rather, their Phantom replicas, get this due to being powerful characters who are quickly fought and taken out in a cutscene.
  • Anvilicious: Much like in Sonic Heroes, Sonic unsubtly preaches about The Power of Friendship towards both Eggman and Infinite. In the ending, Sonic later delivers a big speech about how we all have to fix the "real world" as opposed to an illusion.
  • Awesome Ego: Infinite. Everything he says and does throughout the game practically oozes with condescension and arrogance as he constantly belittles Sonic and his allies. His theme song can basically be summed up as "I'm awesome and you suck." Of course, given that he's a One-Man Army capable of curb-stomping the likes of Sonic and Silver, his arrogance is hardly unjustified.
  • Awesome Music:
  • Badass Decay: The game offers a complicated example. The Phantom Ruby is described to the player as having unrivaled power, enough for Eggman to actually conquer the world with ease through Infinite. However, due to a clunky presentation, this isn't shown well enough and makes the characters look incompetent.
    • Silver. The guy who has telekinetic powers strong enough to the point where he can compress tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of pounds of cars and debris into a massive ball. Realistically, Silver's powers should be enough to make him a force to be reckoned with, yet he can't handle a few Death Egg Robots. He's still the only NPC to explicitly engage against Infinite, and even knocks loose one of the prototype rubies, which ends up helping later.
    • Since Sonic Unleashed, Tails has remained as just an Exposition Fairy who stays on the sidelines while Sonic does all the action. During many cutscenes, he's either hiding or in the background while the rest of the cast take action. He has to be saved by Sonic [and even Classic Sonic at one point] and is seen cowering in fear against Chaos 0, despite fighting him in previous games (and in the case of Adventure, he fought the much larger and more powerful Chaos 4). And during the climax where all of the resistance goes against Eggman's army? Everyone, even Charmy, is shown taking down said army. Tails? He just flies past, providing more exposition. This is in particular baffling as previous games have shown him to be a Gadgeteer Genius, so even if he is not a fighter, he could still have been shown providing technology to the Resistance, yet "he went missing".
      Tails: Huh? Chaos? Sonic, help me!
  • Base-Breaking Character:
    • The Custom Hero avatar, as some think this is appealing towards more questionable parts of the Sonic fanbase, as well as leading the Modern and Classic Sonics to be less refined in design due to falling back into the Adventure series motto of unwanted multiple playstyles. On the flipside, others acknowledge that with other franchises out there such as Dragon Ball Xenoverse gaining large amounts of popularity for being able to make your own custom character, combined with Sonic Forces being designed with this in mind from the start, it could have some interesting potential alongside their Wispon gadget weapons varying up gameplay. There's also the selection of Avatar species: all but one of them are mammals, with some also calling the inclusion of both a Dog and a Wolf redundant.
    • Due to the series' change in tone since Sonic Colors, people have been split down the middle with Sonic's ramped-up personality. Some people think he's an obnoxious joke machine who never takes anything seriously, the breaking point being when Sonic, after supposedly being "captured" and "tortured" for six months, just acts as if everything merely inconveniences him and jokes around with Infinite, compared to before when despite still cracking jokes and constantly showboating, still understood when things were serious. Others see Sonic as the original Mascot with Attitude, and prefer his self-confident, braggadocious personality and light-hearted quips, especially if the alternative is failed attempts at seriousness.
    • Infinite was already stirring fans up between two camps of acceptance for trying something new, and bile hatred for what looked like a severely edgy-looking foe. One side loves his Dark Is Evil design, his metal theme song, Liam O'Brien's intimidating vocal performance, and just his overall "holier than thou" attitude throughout the entire game. The opposition, however, find those very same elements excessively trite and see him as a tryhard edgy OC, not unlike those which most younger Sonic fans create themselves, and those very same elements were why Shadow is disliked. This only got worse when his backstory was revealed in Episode Shadow and the prequel comics. He was just a mercenary squad captain and aligned himself with Eggman, but went insane after he lost a fight to Shadow to become who he is. People are split on either finding him sympathetic despite his actions or finding the shift abrupt and laughably pathetic, and even that last part is debatable as to whether it makes him a complete joke or a more unsettling baddie than the norm. A third group likes him precisely because of him coming off as a tryhard edgy OC and see him as a Parody Sue of those kinds of characters.
  • Best Level Ever:
    • Egg Gate, Sonic's breakout level from the Death Egg. Along with some very nice visuals, the stage is very reminiscent of Crazy Gadget and Egg Fleet with some Sonic Unleashed flair thrown in there, and is quite a thrill to race though.
    • Capital City (Metropolis), the level where the Resistance stage an attack on Eggman's base that Knuckles dubs "Operation: Big Wave." Not long into it, Infinite shows up and activates the Phantom Ruby on the landscape, turning the world literally upside down, having you run across the sides of buildings as he attempts to smash you to bits using giant monstrous versions of himself, ultimately forcing the Resistance to retreat despite them knowing it's an illusion. It's one of the few stages that has a great gimmick to it and showcases the potential of the Phantom Ruby's threat, with the narrative delivered through some fantastic mid-level animated sequences and some great music to top it off, all capped off nicely with the Avatar putting aside their fear and facing Infinite in a one-on-one bout, ultimately resulting in finding out a way to counter his power through the prototype piece found earlier.
    • Despite the missed opportunity with the eponymous void, the Null Space level is one of the big favorites. The level involves an all-out assault on the Sonic and Avatar duo by Eggman's robots, set to the tune of "Fist Bump", and its many alternate paths adds a lot of replay value.
  • Captain Obvious Reveal: Shadow and Chaos going back to the dark side? Yeah right. The mere existence of the Episode Shadow DLC practically gave it away that they were fakes before the game even came out.
  • Common Knowledge:
    • The relevation that Classic Sonic is from another dimension/timelime has caused the assumption that the Classic era games have been retconned from Modern Sonic's dimension/timeline, which as the presence of Green Hill and Chemical Planet should indicate, is blatantly untrue. Sonic also mentions that the Death Egg just won't stay destroyed in Egg Gate, referencing the times he's destroyed it in Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and Sonic 3 & Knuckles. Word of God has also all but confirmed during SXSW 2019 that the Classic era games are still canon to Modern Sonic's world by stating that Modern Sonic's timeline has remained the same, and TailsTube also doing the same thing by referring to the events of these Classic games as past events.
    • The dissonance between reports of Sonic's torture and the lack of any apparent repercussions is often blamed on the English localization trying to make the script edgier... except the Japanese script does also claim that Eggman was torturing Sonic (though there is still an inconsistency with the English script having Silver claim that Tails has "lost it" instead of simply saying that he's missing). The real issue was the omission of some intended darker elements from the final game, including Sonic being battered and Eggman planning to flat-out execute him.
  • Complacent Gaming Syndrome: When you go through the list of other people's Avatars, you'll find that of their Wispons, most are either Burst or Lightning, and the occasional Cube, with all of the others exceedingly rare, as they are the first three Wispons to be unlocked and the simplest three to use (in addition to the Burst and Lightning Wispons being very useful, noted under Game-Breaker below). In addition, there are more Wolves and Hedgehogs than any other species, as Wolves draw Rings towards themselves and Hedgehogs are the ever-popular choice for OCs. Of course, since most of the stages only call for Burst or Lightning or (in boss battles) Asteroid, this isn't surprising.
  • Complete Monster: Infinite is the high commander in the Eggman Empire and the primary reason behind the flawless conquest of Earth. Because of his position and power, Infinite took full part in the iron-fisted domination of 99.9% of the world, gleefully eliminating opposition, heroic or civilian, directly or by proxy through his illusions of Shadow, Chaos, Zavok, and Metal Sonic. He makes his introduction beating Sonic into unconsciousness for him to be imprisoned for six months. In the interlude, Infinite murders the Avatar's helpless friends, only sparing the Avatar so Infinite could relish their fear. He's put Omega out of commission from an early point to the finale; tried to kill Silver thanks to his love for ending heroes and instilling despair; and repeatedly tried to kill Sonic after his escape, only to not go through with it when Sonic is deemed not worth the effort. When the Resistance tried a full-scale assault on Metropolis, Infinite uses the Phantom Ruby to reduce them to even greater shambles. Later, he and Eggman try to trap Sonic in "null space", a void of eternal nothingness, to live out the rest of his days. At the climax, Infinite conjures a virtual sun to drop and burn everyone to death. A raving lunatic of a sadist, Infinite envisioned omnicidal designs even as a lowly thief and stands out for the reasons behind his sadism and hatred for weakness.
  • Contested Sequel: Following tradition, this game has fallen victim to countless, uproarious debates about whether it is good all the way, good yet flawed, merely average, downright bad with no redeeming qualities, and any other possible variation of the previously stated. Even then, this game is contested with several previous installments:
    • The most common criticism has to do with the fact that Forces directly follows Sonic Mania, which received high praise and had some connection to it story-wise (mostly with the Phantom Ruby), leading to backlash towards it becoming harsher as a result.
    • Compared to the previous (and well-received) "Boost" games, particularly Sonic Generations, many consider the gameplay of Forces to be a massive downgrade. Common points of contention include the level design, level length, physics engine, and the Darker and Edgier, yet ultimately lackluster story.
    • Another point of contention is whether Forces is better or worse than the previous 3D game, Sonic Lost World, which received similarly mixed reception. Some prefer the return to the Boost formula after the controversial parkour gameplay, and consider Forces to be a better experience overall. Others, however, point out that Lost World was at least willing to try something new, even if it didn't always work, while Forces is content to retread the same ground as previous Boost games, albeit with worse physics and bland design.
  • Crosses the Line Twice:
  • Creepy Awesome: Infinite qualified just with his appearance— a demonic-looking villain confidently floating above the Villain Team-Up.
  • Draco in Leather Pants: Infinite has received a whitewashing treatment by certain fans, with plenty of fics and rewrites focusing on redeeming him and making him good, despite Forces and its material showing him to be a remorseless and Ax-Crazy monster who dreamt of a playground of destruction out of sheer boredom even before he became Infinite.
  • Ensemble Dark Horse:
    • While the concept of the Avatar has been... contentious, to say the least, the template character (the Red Wolf with glasses) designed to show it off has actually been accepted and loved by a large portion of the fanbase, with many praising his design, calling him Buddy or, more popularly, Gadget the Wolf, and wanting SEGA to make him an official character. It's not exactly the level that the template design for Commander Shepard reached, but it's pretty close. The other designs (specifically the female orange punk rabbit seen in later trailers) are not too far behind him.
    • The Jackal Squad and its members have gained some devoted fans as well due to their color motif and designs, despite only really being namedropped and shown for two panels in a comic that otherwise focused on Infinite and Eggman.
  • Epileptic Trees: One relating to development: fans have speculated that the Sonic from Sonic Boom was originally intended to be the third playable character, before being retooled into the Avatar. Evidence for this includes the machine Eggman pilots for the Final Boss having a similar body type to Lyric and the Avatar's grapple ability being strikingly similar to the Enerbeam.
  • Evil Is Cool: Dr. Eggman and Infinite qualify, since they have managed to take control of much of the world at the beginning of Sonic Forces, and are powerful enough to kick Sonic around like a ball. Eggman in particular shows even more cunning than usual, turning the typically-goofy scientist into a genuine threat.
  • Fan-Disliked Explanation:
    • The characters referring to Classic Sonic as the Sonic "from another dimension", which seemingly retcons the time travel aspect of Sonic Generations, hasn't been very well-received, with many perceiving it to be confusing and making little sense. note  This was later walked back and clarified in TailsTube, which went with Generations' explanation of Modern being present Sonic and Classic being past Sonic, and that he was talking about time as being "a dimension of reality" when he called Classic Sonic that.
    • The explanation for Infinite's backstory given in the prequel comics and Episode Shadow that he was a regular mercenary working for Eggman who chose to undergo experimentation after being beaten once by Shadow and labelled as "weak" has been widely mocked and derided by fans, both due to how it is completely un-hinted at and at points outright contradicts dialogue in the main game (evidence strongly suggesting that it was the result of late-stage rewrites), but for making Infinite come off as a whiny Jerkass rather than an actually intimidating threat.
  • Fan Nickname:
    • Before the game's name was revealed, the initial teaser's post-apocalyptic imagery led some circles to call it Sonic Resistance (which wasn't too far off from reality).
    • Several fans refer to the Custom Hero as "Original the Character" (or something along those lines) due to this infamous fan comic (done by now official comic illustrator Tyson Hesse). They also refer to the Custom Hero as "Buddy" based on a rumor◊. The red wolf seen in the trailer introducing the concept has his own nickname of Gadget owing to his techy/nerdy appearance. Otherwise, the promotional Avatars, notably the wolf, are given either "Rookie" or legitimate names.
      • The teal wolf on the Sonic Forces boxart is called by some fans "Gizmo" or "Gears" and assumed to be Gadget's twin.
    • Ow the Edge for the new villain Infinite, no thanks to his theme song.
    • DeviantArt Forces has become more common as more about the game is revealed, thanks to seemingly encouraging a lot of the fan elements from the site in the game, for better or worse.
  • Fan-Preferred Cut Content: Shortly after the game's release, Sonic Channel (the Japanese Sonic the Hedgehog website) shared this concept art of Green Hill◊, which depicts the iconic zone as an abandoned, dark and stormy prison, as opposed to the deserted wasteland seen in the final game. Most fans agree that the unused concept is a far more interesting and creative take on Green Hill compared to how the zone is depicted in the final game, on top of being more appropriate for the game's darker, more dystopian setting.
  • Fandom Rivalry:
    • Between this game and Sonic Mania, both being return to forms for different types of Sonic games releasing within months of each other. While Mania was a pure classic-style game, Forces draws from the Adventure, '06, and boost templates for its story, gameplay, and characters.
    • Sticking to longtime tradition, and because the games have been released so close to one another in Fall 2017, it was an inevitability that Sonic Forces has been put up against Super Mario Odyssey, as both games are the latest entries in the long-running franchises starring the famous gaming mascots. The similarities in scope (the villains Bowser and Dr. Eggman are extremely, dangerously competent and kick the heroes' behinds throughout the game) and vocal theme songs of both games ("Jump Up Super Star" and "Fist Bump") only compounded the comparisons between the two games, with several music mashups between the two songs.
    • A rivalry has proper up between this game and Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) over which game deserves the dishonor of being the worst mainline Sonic game. Supporters of Forces bring up how 06 suffers from an overly convoluted plot, Unintentional Uncanny Valley, and a disorganized game that's blatantly unfinished due to being Christmas Rushed. Defenders of 06, however, argue that for all of that game's failing it at least had ambitions, compared to Forces which chose to play things as safe as possible, to the point this camp finds the game boring, and argues it suffers from more characterization and story problems than 06.
  • Fanfic Fuel:
  • Franchise Original Sin: Listed on the franchise page.
  • Game-Breaker:
    • For the Avatar, the Void Wispon. Though you slow down briefly after firing it and it's not readily spammable, just a single shot of it nukes every enemy on the screen by sucking them into the black hole. Even better, it sucks every single item, Wisp capsule, and Ring into its radius and gives them to the player (albeit collectibles are unaffected), allowing players the ability to potentially amass the cap of 999 rings on certain levels — and it can suck things through walls! The only significant downside is that bosses No-Sell it, forcing the player to use wire attacks or Sonic's Homing Attacks in Tag Team fights.
    • Another overpowered Wispon is actually the second Wispon you get: the Lightning Whip. While it can be hard to control since it thrusts you forwards if holding a direction while swinging it, as well as slowing you down if you're running, you may soon realize that beyond one exception (in Infinite's fight with the Avatar, with his Phantom Ruby attacks still affecting you), you're invulnerable while swinging the whip. This lets you tear ass through enemies and certain obstacles more safely than with any other weapon, and can even cheese phase two of the Final Boss in about a minute.
    • The default Burst Wispon also gets this. Traversing levels almost becomes trivial when you get a hold of a Burst Wisp capsule and can practically leap across huge chunks of it (it doesn't help that there's usually long lines of these capsules leading into the sky, practically encouraging players to break the game's level design). Its main weapon use is also fairly broken, allowing players to wipe out entire squalls of Egg Pawns in less than a second just by holding down the button to use it, making most combat encounters child's play. Using it during the few boss fights that involve the Avatar also means making the second Infinite fight and the second phase of the Death Egg Robot complete jokes to fight.
    • The Drill Wispon is also showing potential to be just as broken if not more. While its method of attack is obtuse at best, the sheer distance that a fully charged dash can cover in the blink of an eye makes such things as "platforming" completely irrelevant.
    • Hell, the Avatar in general is just freaking broken. Let's take a moment to review what these miraculous methods of robo-carnage called Wispons do again. Hover has the nuking capability of the Void, but knocks loot down like a POW Block. Cube freezes everything in a radius and generates Rings from them. Asteroid can be used as a Spam Attack and can cheese Infinite's first fight in mere seconds AND gives you invincibility for the Color Power. Then there's the abilities of the Avatars themselves, the most notable being the Wolf, which has a permanent Magnet Shield; the Cat, which always keeps one ring, making the matter of getting hit nonexistent; the Bear, which can bash heads by knocking Homing Attacked enemies into one another; and the Rabbit, which allows you to breeze through after getting hit with longer invincibility frames.
  • Ham and Cheese: Despite (or possibly because of) the game's cheesy and tonally-confused story, Liam O'Brien takes every opportunity to chew the scenery as Infinite, much to the delight of players.
  • Harsher in Hindsight:
    • Knuckles Chaotix featured a bad ending of a dystopian future filled with robots and hellfire. In Sonic Forces, this became the present.
    • "Infinite" contains Linkin Park-esque nu metal rap rock. Dangerkids, the band behind the song, viewed Linkin Park as one of their inspirations for making music; they referenced Linkin Park in their first album. What makes it fit here then? Well... the song was released the same day when Chester Benningtonnote  committed suicide by hanging.
      "Cause when your time is up and everything is falling down."
      "It's only me and you, who is gonna save you now?"
    • The comparisons to the Archie Comics and SatAM with the comic's cancellation confirmed. Also, one of the mandates SEGA requested of Archie Comics was that Robotnik/Eggman can't win in the long run, aside from maybe a few smaller victories here and there. This game opens with Eggman having won, but then the main game has him lose that advantage he had in no time flat.
    • The comparisons to Sonic the Hedgehog (SatAM) became much harsher when it was discovered that Tails now suffers from a serious case of Badass Decay that makes him about as useless in battle as his SatAM self. His only saving grace is the fact that, unlike his counterpart from the cartoon, he's still a Gadgeteer Genius and gets some sick burns on Eggman.
    • Infinite's origins, being created in a labnote  become even more sad when Eggman's former idol Dr. Starline creates Surge and Kit, programming memories into them for Operation Remaster, while Gaslighting them on the side.
  • Heartwarming Moments:
    • Once you've completed the main story, the menu background changes to show the Resistance's war room brightly lit with sunlight streaming in from the roof and a single flower growing out of the floor, presumably symbolizing the war being over and reinforcing the themes of rebuilding from the ashes the game ended with.
    • "The Light of Hope", overlaps with Tear Jerker:
      Have not lost a thing
      Whatever may come
      The light of hope is always shiring there in your heart
      You're not lost a thing
      Whatever you do
      Just know that your tomorrow will be waiting for you
  • He Really Can Act: When clips were leaked online, fans were quite impressed with how Kirk Thornton had greatly improved from his generic bad guy voice for Shadow in Sonic Boom.
  • Hilarious in Hindsight:
    • The fact that the game's plot deals with saving the world after Eggman conquers it. Looks like we might see how Sonic Chronicles ends after all.
    • The reveal trailer has a lot of people remembering a certain line featured in Issue 48 of Archie's Sonic comic:
      "For the first time in his life, Sonic truly understands the meaning of war..."
    • The above is made doubly so with Tails' line to Classic Sonic specifically during the final boss following the reviews of Sonic Forces in comparison to Sonic Mania.
      You'll always be our shining hope!
    • The teaser for the Custom Hero feature promptly went under Memetic Mutation due to how the character's silhouette looks similar to Bubsy. Cut to the Custom Hero's proper reveal, and bringing Bubsy into the game is technically a possibility (even though there is no bobcat species). Made even more hilarious when a new Bubsy game was announced a few months after the Custom Hero reveal.
    • Infinite's design unintentionally resembles a prototype design◊ for Blaze the Cat.
    • Infinite's name incites memories of this Sonic the Hedgehog CD Easter egg. Fun is Infinite.
    • Zavok's first reveal gave him the title Master of Chaos◊ (later renamed King of Chaos); here, Zavok is present working with a character named Chaos.
    • This tweet regarding Sonic Forces portrays Shadow as a villain. The E3 2017 trailer confirms he is, albeit it's not the real Shadow.
    • In the September trailer, Silver tries to convince his comrades not to give up. Contrast Sonic Generations, where one of his voice clips had him telling you to do exactly that. Or, even better, his debut. "IT'S NO USE!!!!"
    • Fans who preferred Sonic Mania to Forces for its retro graphics and story will be surprised that Forces is a Stealth Sequel and Mania leads directly into it.
    • The fact that Super Mario Odyssey and this game allow for customization of a playable character. note 
    • Before the game came out, there was a lot of talk on Infinite trying to overtake Shadow as the series' resident "edgelord" given all of the design decisions surrounding him. The Sonic Twitter takeover featuring Sonic, Eggman, and Shadow even references this with Shadow dismissing Infinite as nowhere near as "edgy" as himself. That's not too far from the truth, as before Infinite became who he was, he picked a fight with Shadow and lost, causing him to Freak Out and turn into the character we see in the main game.
    • One of the guesses the fanbase made concerning the identity of the third character (before being revealed to be the Avatar) was Boom!Sonic. As it turns out, his outfit is actually in the game for the Avatar to use! You can even make Boom!Sonic yourself if you want.

    I to P 
  • I Knew It!: A number of people took notice of the lyrics to "Fist Bump", specifically the lyric "But before I say goodbye to you, one more last Fist Bump", and figured it meant something sad was going to happen at the end. Classic Sonic gives one last fist bump to Tails before he leaves, and the Avatar does this to part ways with Modern Sonic.
  • It's Easy, So It Sucks!: A common criticism with the game is that even on Hard difficulty, which is cited to be for experienced Sonic players, the game is ridiculously easy and simplistic for a Sonic game. Levels are very short, extremely linear if not borderline on-rails some of the time, the Avatar Wispon abilities are extremely broken, the enemies rarely pose a threat, and it is just as easy if not easier than Generations to get S-Ranks. The only genuinely difficult part of the game is the time trial Challenge Missions, which require intimate knowledge of each level's shortcuts and controls.
  • It's Short, So It Sucks!: One of the most common criticisms is that the levels are extremely short and only take about a minute and a half to beat. This also extends to the game as a whole, as the main story only lasts around 3 hours, with not much in the way of replayability. Some have even said the game's original $40 price tag is too much compared to the amount of content.
  • It's the Same, Now It Sucks!:
    • When it was reported that the Modern-style stages would, once again, feature 2D sections, many fans threw up their hands in exasperation, as many perceive them as pointless when Classic-style stages are entirely 2D.
    • The first footage of classic Sonic shows him running through a very Green Hill Zone environment, something that many feel has been done to death (even as recently as revisiting it in Sonic Mania, which has caused its own negative response). This has been mitigated a bit when it was revealed for story purposes and not a wholesale recreation of the level.
    • The final boss has gotten this reaction, mostly due to its final phase having a very similar design the Nega-Wisp Armor (something Sonic Lost World also received criticism for). Meanwhile the first two phases are slightly harder modifications of the Egg Dragoon and Zavok fights earlier in the game.
    • Surprisingly, the Boost formula got a bit of flack for this as well, with many reviews chiding it doesn't do anything new and lacks the excitement of previous games (Unleashed, Colors, and Generations) which at least had you drifting or side-stepping obstacles. Some even cite that they could've went with the control scheme of Lost World, since that actually had potential for a more open-world game without the circular design (the Zelda DLC on the Wii U version being proof of that).
  • Just Here for Godzilla: The Avatar is quite often considered to be the best part of the game. In addition to the varied customization options, the Avatar's gameplay itself is considered to be a creative take on Modern Sonic's gameplay that manages to balance feeling unique while keeping true to the high-speed gameplay of Sonic. As such, the gameplay has even won over those who are otherwise against the Gameplay Roulette of several 3D Sonic games.
    • Some fans have admitted that the only reason they have even a remote interest in the game is its connections to Sonic Mania, specifically where the Phantom Ruby is concerned.
  • Like You Would Really Do It: The characters think Sonic is dead after he's defeated by Infinite following the first stage. The game doesn't even entertain the option for very long, presumably realizing no one would take it seriously. That said, the Japanese version does deem him being MIA.
  • Love to Hate: For those who actually enjoy him, Infinite is a gleefully over-the-top deconstruction of edgy OCs whose ridiculously petty motivations, vindictive personality, and laundry list of atrocities combine to create a villain that's both genuinely threatening and a childish bully that needs to have his ass handed to him.
  • Magnificent Bastard: In this work, Dr. Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik researches the Phantom Ruby in his attempt at world domination. Recruiting Infinite through promises, he implants him with a Phantom Ruby prototype and christens him as the Eggman Empire's high commander. With everything in place, Eggman lures Sonic into a savage beatdown, and with him out of the way, conquers the world in a matter of months. Eggman proceeds to display foresight and cunning in trying to keep his iron-fisted hold on the planet — ordering his forces to destroy any remaining prototypes, keeping multiple power sources unbeknownst to his enemies, and targeting critical points in the Resistance. He also factored in multiple ways to eliminate the Resistance outright, culminating in a virtual Colony Drop when they were gathered in one place. Even in the final fight, Eggman pulled out all the stops, having kept the real Phantom Ruby with him the whole time, and had to be stopped by the combined might of Sonic, Classic Sonic, and the Avatar.
  • Memetic Loser:
    • While Infinite was already a small-scale target for the trope due to his "edgy" design, the jokes increased when the Episode Shadow DLC revealed that his motivation for being evil is essentially because he was beaten up by Shadow after trying to avenge his squad's failure, and then threw a childish temper tantrum after being called weak, making the character come off as much more unintentionally comical than intended. It doesn't help that Infinite sabotaged Eggman's plans by refusing to simply kill Sonic (a judgment call that even Eggman tells him was a bad idea) as well as losing almost every fight he partakes in after his introductory cutscene in the base game, giving fans even more ammo to mock him. And then Super Smash Bros. Ultimate made him a less powerful Spirit than Warm-Up Boss extraordinaire Whispy Woods, making him even more of a Memetic Loser than he is in his own series.
    • Tails got endlessly mocked for his passivity and general helplessness during certain cutscenes. There's even a Sonic the Hedgehog 2 mod that ruthlessly parodies this.
  • Memetic Mutation:
    • Many fans jokingly call the game Sonic: Days of Future Past because of the similar atmosphere related to gigantic killing machines (Egg-robots and the Sentinels).
    • The reveal of the title Sonic Forces instantly sparked numerous jokes and snowclones. References to Star vs. the Forces of Evil as well as The Force Awakens are also becoming common, the latter especially with Sonic Forces' "Join the Resistance" tagline. Relatedly, "Sonic Forces X character to do Y action" (or "Sonic Forces me to (action)", mainly used as a joke by YouTubers).
    • Mashups of the (instrumental) Sonic Forces main theme with other Sonic intros, such as Sonic CD, Colours, and Heroes.
    • When the new trailer from the April 12th Nintendo Direct stream showed off a silhouette of the new hero, its cat-like form made fans immediately declare that the new hero was Bubsy. It was later revealed that the new hero is able to be customized, so in a sense, the Bubsy prediction can be correct; albeit not exactly the same species as Bubsy himself.
    • After the Custom Hero trailer was shown, fans instantly made jokes about the many Sonic OCs that can now be created and used in an actual Sonic game. This includes fandom jokes like Coldsteel the Hedgeheg, and Hank the Chog.
      • The Avatar customization feature eventually became a meme in and of itself due to players being creative (and silly) with it, leading to many weird, silly, or downright creepy Avatars.
    • Plenty of people joke that new villain Infinite is actually Eggman's very own Sonic OC. Except he wasn't really his OC to begin with...
    • Sonic or another character such as Rouge calling Shadow out note  for (re-)joining the villains. But he's actually not the real Shadow. It was merely an illusion.
    • The theme song "Fist Bump" has caused many fans to declare Forces as "Anime Sonic the Hedgehog" due to how it sounds like an anime theme.
    • "But is X faster than Infinite?" Explanation
    • "(Do X action) as Shadow!" Explanation
    • Hooters. Explanation
    • "Where is Blaze?" Explanation
    • "Donkey Kong is the best Sonic character!" Explanation
    • "That's why it's called war." Explanation
    • I AM NOT WEAK Explanation
    • the SUCC Wispon Explanation
    • VOID! Explanation
    • $1.99 Explanation
    • "I'm an optimist, but I'm also a realist." Explanation
    • "Sonic Forces Me to Be Disappointed", as a word-play on the game's title and how most people found the game to be rather lackluster.
  • Misaimed Marketing:
    • SEGA of Japan partnered up with Hooters, a restaurant chain notable for their infamous waitress uniforms, to promote Sonic Forces.
    • The description for the Sanic T-shirt DLC references the Game Grumps, who are well-known for riffing on Sonic games.
  • Mis-blamed: A lot of fans have given longtime producer Takashi Iizuka flack for all of Forces' shortcomings. However, he's actually only the executive producer for this game. Footage from around the time Forces was being developed shows that he was actually more involved with Mania than he was with Forces.
  • Moral Event Horizon:
    • Infinite does an insane amount of evil acts during the story, but his big one is torturing Sonic for 6 months and then trying to throw Sonic out of the Death Egg so Sonic can see how much he failed before dying. Let's not even get started with how he kills people on a daily basis and wants to destroy the planet out of spite because Shadow beat him and called him weak.
    • The fact that Eggman spent months on end torturing Sonic, which Knuckles comments is pretty low, even for him.
  • Most Wonderful Sound:
    • The lead up to the chorus of the game's theme in Tag Team stages, because it comes right before Sonic and the Avatar get a Theme Music Power-Up in the form of a Double Boost. The chorus itself counts during a Double Boost, because of the sheer epicness.
    • The faint chime in of "All Hail Shadow" followed by the vocals when the real Shadow appears and wipes out his copy.
  • Narm: The series has its own page.
  • Narm Charm:
    • In Sonic tradition, the main theme's lyrics are corny, yet catchy:
      Before I say goodbye to you, one more last fist buuuuuuump!
      • By the same token, the instrumental version sounds really good as Classic Sonic's invincibility theme, even if the (absent) lyrics pertain to teamwork (an element absent from Classic Sonic's levels).
    • Infinite's theme song practically screams "OW THE EDGE" in both style and lyrics, but that doesn't stop it from being a legitimately cool song.
      • On that note, the music for his first two boss battles has been noted to sound very much like edgy K-pop; they specifically sound like they come straight out of PSY's catalog (which, of course, has been seized upon by SiIvaGunner). In spite of, or even because of this, the two songs are some of the most popular to come from the game.
    • Infinite himself has gotten love from some fans precisely because he looks like a Darker and Edgier OC, taken to the point of Parody Sue.
    • The story itself has received either this or just Narm reactions from fans. Like the Adventure games, it takes itself more or less completely seriously, which can be charming in a way.
    • The entire concept of the Avatar. For many, it's an opportunity to live out their cheesy early-2000's Sonic OC dreams in a canon Sonic game. It helps that the actual gameplay behind the Avatar is generally considered to be the best-developed of the three styles seen in the game.
  • Nausea Fuel: The Sonic 2017 VR demo that people were able to play in March of 2017 behind closed doors was described as being decent until the player decides to jump... the camera would spin with them, making many people have to stop and suddenly want to vomit due to how dizzy it made players.
  • Never Live It Down:
    • The scene where Tails cowers in fear at Chaos 0 has come to form the fandom's perception of post-Unleashed modern Tails, ignoring how games like Sonic Lost World had displayed him as capable.
    • Infinite angsts about being called weak in only one scene, but with the way fans talk about him, you would think that his entire character is built around constant Wangst over being called weak.
  • Pandering to the Base:
    • Some fans have accused Classic Sonic's inclusion as being this, feeling that he is rather tacked on and doesn't add much to the game aside from having some classic series presence for classic fans.
    • The Custom Hero feature has been accused of specifically pandering to Sonic Fan Character creators. While people have come to begrudgingly admit that from a marketing standpoint, it makes sense, since fan character creators make up a large part of the fanbase, those who aren't fans of Sonic fan characters, or Original Characters in general, are still none too happy about it.
    • With Sonic Mania being marketed heavily towards fans of the Classic series, fans of the modern titles were overjoyed to see the E3 2017 Trailer cap off with many of the modern antagonists (Chaos, Shadow, and Zavok) taking center stage. Too bad none of them really do anything and technically aren't even there to begin with.
  • Popular with Furries: Sonic has always been very popular with furries; however, this game is even more so than usual. People can add their own fursonas or Sonic OCs into the game and play as them.

    R to W 
  • Recurring Fanon Character: Gadget, the bespectacled wolf with rust red fur is probably the most common depiction of the custom Player Character for the game and his popularity almost reached to the point where he's his own character. As stated numerous times, Gadget is directly based off the character used in the Custom Hero reveal trailer and has been making rounds within the fandom. The fact that Gadget is usually the one being shipped with Infinite probably contributes to his popularity.
  • Ron the Death Eater: Seemingly, Forces got flack for having Shadow destroy the Jackal Squad and then telling Infinite he is worthless, and to never show his face before him again. People have called Shadow a "murderer" or "bully", for... seemingly killing some mercenaries off-screen, who the text makes clear were up to no good, and not finishing the job with Infinite, merely telling him he is Not Worth Killing.
  • Scrappy Mechanic: See the series page here.
  • Sequel Difficulty Drop: The game is much easier than Sonic Lost World thanks to shorter levels and the absence of Video-Game Lives.
  • Signature Scene:
    • The Double Boost in the middle of Stage 7, being an example of how to do a linear corridor segment in a way that's awesome.
    • The part of the Central City stage where Infinite starts screwing with gravity and reality is considered one of the most memorable parts of the game.
    • Classic Sonic's debut in the story by saving a cowering, crying Tails from a Chaos 0 illusion is also among the most memorable parts of the game, just for a whole lot of negative reasons; to the point where it became a sticking point for the mishandling of Tails' character in the entire decade.
  • So Bad, It's Good: The story. General consensus is that it's damn near impossible to take anything that happens in the story seriously, between Sonic's cartoonish beatdown at the beginning, the total glossing over of 99% of Eggman's takeover with a few sentences of text on a black screen, a main villain who gives Shadow a run for his money in terms of comical edginess, and an inconsistent story tone exacerbated by the localization team throwing in needlessly edgy exposition that is blatantly and hilariously contradicted by what we're actually shown, resulting in things like Sonic being tortured for 6 months offscreen and showing no signs of it at all. The resulting story is so absurdly inconsistent, campy, and ridiculous that it's utterly hysterical.
  • So Okay, It's Average: General consensus for the game has been mixed, especially coming off the heels of Sonic Mania. Positives note the Avatar levels and customization, excellent vocal music, and some good boss fights. Negatives, however, include certain stilted script readings, a disjointed story that doesn't explain enough, linear and at times on-rails gameplay, not enough original bosses, boring Classic stage music, Classic Sonic himself having almost no impact on the plot, the sloppy handling of the returning villains, and short stage lengths. Overall, many feel it could've been better and doesn't quite reach the heights of Colors or Generations in terms of 3D Sonic games, but at the same time it’s nowhere near as bad as Sonic 06, so it’s still worth checking out and pretty fun at the end of the day.
    • Though there is a substantial portion of fans who hate it more than the likes of 06 specifically because it's so middling. This camp prefers a game that tries to be ambitious and fails over a game that takes next to no risks.
  • Sidetracked by the Gold Saucer: Ironically, despite all the mocking it received, the Avatar gameplay and character creation have been hailed as some of the best content in the game.
  • Spiritual Adaptation: What with it being a Darker and Edgier entry with Sonic fighting with La Résistance against Eggman after The Bad Guy Wins, it's the closest we've ever gotten to a video game adaptation of Sonic the Hedgehog (SatAM), Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie Comics), or Sonic the Comic.
    • Story-wise, it's the closest we'll ever get to any sort of resolution to Sonic Chronicles' cliffhanger ending, since while it doesn't reference that game and lacks its original elements (the legal issues can't have helped), that game ended where this game began, with Eggman having successfully taken over the world.
  • Tainted by the Preview:
    • The footage of Classic Sonic shown in the April 2017 Nintendo Direct hampered the excitement for a good number of fans and sparked anger among them, due to a number of things, including Green Hill Zone returning yet again (especially since the same zone has already been featured in Sonic Generations and Sonic Mania), the featured level design looking automated and uninspiring, and the zone managing to look less detailed than it did in Sonic Generations.
    • The Custom Hero trailer was almost a nuclear bomb for the fandom and sparked a lot of anger from many fans due to the fact that players could now essentially make their own original character and make them canon. A lot of this anger is due to the fact that many die-hard fans absolutely loathe Sonic OCs due to the countless amounts that have been made, many of which are godawful messes. However, it should be pointed out that this is part of a Vocal Minority; the number of people who create Sonic OCs and such greatly outnumbers the number of people who despise the former group.
    • Eggman finally winning was mitigated somewhat by him only doing so with a new power and his villain team, which some felt made no sense for the other characters and diluted his victory. An interview about the game's development saying Eggman winning by himself wouldn't be convincing didn't exactly help.
    • On October 25, 2017, Sega released a downloadable demo of the game for Nintendo Switch in Japan. And while it played fine, ran smoothly, and had one playable level for each character, it also had a pretty major problem: you only had 60 seconds to play through the level and you couldn't even finish any of the levels due to the short time limit. note  Needless to say, this did not sit well with a lot of fans.
  • Take That, Scrappy!: For those who aren't fond of Zavok, the Deadly Six, or Sonic Lost World in general, watching Sonic lay an epic beatdown on him at the end of the boss fight is so cathartic.
  • That One Achievement:
    • In addition to the platform-specific ones, this game has its own set, named Missions. The ones asking to complete stages within a certain amount of time are a step up from the others as they require intimate knowledge of the stage and its shortcuts. Two of them, however, are frequent stumbling blocks:
      • Ghost Town's time requirement is within 60 seconds. This is the shortest of any non-bonus stage. Also, not only does it demand you fully understand how to control Classic Sonic (no easy feat, as this game's physics are constantly shifting for Classic Sonic), but, unlike the infamous linearity most of the rest of the game has, the paths in Ghost Town are constantly splitting up and merging, and the uppermost path is not always the fastest one. This one gets people, despite it being one of the first stages in the game, because some of the paths are just barely too long to finish within 60 seconds, convincing people they just have to play a bit better rather than finding some other path.
      • The time requirement for the last fight against Infinite is 135 seconds (2 minutes 15 seconds). Should you pounce on Infinite every time he opens himself to a Homing Attack, you will finish the boss fight just beyond the time requirement. In order to finish this quickly, you need to use the Drill Wispon (ignoring the Red Herring of Indigo Wisps available in this stage, also considering the Avatar's one-on-one fight against Infinite has him weak to the Indigo Asteroid Wispon). When Infinite charges at Sonic and the Avatar, counter back with a Drill attack to damage him. Time it right and it's worth a full Homing Attack chain all at once, allowing you to skip one phase of the battle and save a lot of time.
    • Completing 30 SOS missions can be this due to instantly failing them once you die. If it's a stage you're good at, that's great! Problem solved. But if you either suck at a stage, or can't find where the capsule decided to randomly spawn, well... Suffice it to say, you'll likely be down one controller.
  • That One Attack: Zavok's ground slam in his boss fight, not because it's a difficult attack to avoid or deal with, but because of its unspoken rule: if you jump to evade the ground slam like you would in any other game or fight, you don't get the chance to attack Zavok. It's entirely possible for traditional platformer reflex to kick in repeatedly and drag the fight out. You have to be standing on the ground while still avoiding the attack for it to fling you up and be allowed to damage him.
  • That One Boss: Infinite's 2nd fight for some has been considered the most challenging boss in the game. What makes him difficult is that he flies throughout the foreground and background for much of the fight while the player is restricted to a 2D plane. And when he is vulnerable to attack, he is usually either throwing projectiles or charging at the player. Not to mention that depending on the Wispon you use, he can be very hard to hit even when he is vulnerable.
  • That One Level:
    • Iron Fortress, Classic Sonic's final stage. Not only does it have a rather annoying enemy with semi-homing rockets that only shows up in this level, it also has the only autoscrolling 2D section in the entire game. Not advancing carefully can have the rockets fired at you from almost off-screen, pits are abound in the second half of the stage, and a final "run or die" segment right before the goal is so unstable and inconsistent that unless you Spin Dash or get lucky with the speed booster and/or Sonic's running working correctly, you'll die every single time.
    • Aqua Road, the Avatar's stage in the Mystic Jungle. Most of it consists of a high-speed waterslide with so many twists and turns that it stops being a matter of skill to not fall off. Making it worse is that an endless horde of Motobugs accompany the Avatar tumbling down the slides, causing the Avatar to bump around all over the place. It is the stage with by far the least amount of control over your character. Three of the five Red Star Rings are also traveling down these slides, and the Motobugs seem determined not to let you grab them. And should you get any ideas about removing the Motobugs with the Void Wispon or charge on ahead with the Drill Wispon, the Wispons are disabled whenever you're sliding.
      • Even worse: Aqua Road is also one of Shadow's levels, and it is almost identical to the Avatar's version. So anyone who plays the DLC gets to do it twice.
    • The Death Egg stage for Classic Sonic is also considered a pain by some. It takes a lot of the annoying elements from its Sonic 3 & Knuckles counterpart, only now with the weightier and wonkier physics of Forces thrown in.
    • Guardian Rock, if only for the middle section where you have to do precision platforming while a giant robot's legs are slamming into the platforms. Platforms which, by the way, are exactly as big as the legs themselves. If you hit one of them while platforming, it's an instant fall. Oh, and actually getting squished by the legs counts as a One-Hit Kill, so not even Mercy Invincibility can save you.
  • That One Sidequest: One type of SOS mission requires you to find an animal capsule hidden somewhere in the stage. There is no way to tell you how close you are to the capsule, which is especially problematic if you get too far to backtrack. Additionally, you still have to complete the stage on top of that.
    • SOS missions in general can be considered this since, if you die even once, you can't redo it and have to wait for a new one.
  • They Changed It, Now It Sucks!:
    • General consensus is that the controls and physics for both Sonics are inferior to Sonic Generations. A particular complaint is about Modern Sonic lacking the drift, resulting in more linear level design.
    • Storyline wise, many fans weren't happy to hear Classic Sonic was now from another dimension rather than just be from the past. Largely because the story just causally mentions it with no explanation why this is now the status quo despite the fact this now raises a ton of questions of how Modern Sonic's timeline works. These concerns were mostly alleviated when TailsTube later clarifies things to state that Classic Sonic came from the past and that he was referring to time as "another dimension of reality".
    • Green Hill's noticeably simpler looking and cartoonier appearance compared to its Sonic Generations counterpart has received a good amount of bile from the fandom, who see it as a visual downgrade from how it appeared in Generations, despite Forces running on more powerful hardware by comparison.
  • They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character:
    • In the story mode, the Wisps have no character interactions with anyone in the cast and are merely gameplay mechanics. Considering the Wisps and Sonic grew as friends in Sonic Colors and are reimagined as allies to the Resistance through the Wispons, the Wisps could have be a part of the main story helping the Avatar character.
    • In Infinite's backstory, he has a squad of fellow Jackals with him (that literally comprise the Jackal Squad), and they seem to be tightly knit companions. In the game proper, Episode Shadow's second stage begins immediately after Shadow just wiped the Jackal Squad out without ever showing any of it, and besides Eggman bemoaning their uselessness and Infinite being pissed about their fall, they're never mentioned again and Infinite focuses on being shamed and called weak by Shadow rather than caring one iota about his dead comrades. Though it may be to show how self-centered and egotistical he is, that's several characters disposed of before they even could do anything.
    • The advertising made a big deal about Metal Sonic, Zavok, Shadow, and Chaos as part of the Big Bad Ensemble, but in the end, they're woefully underplayed; Zavok is the first real boss of the game four stages in, Metal Sonic doesn't factor into anything beyond his own obligatory boss fight, and Shadow and Chaos get taken out in cutscenes in an extreme case of Wolverine Publicity. It's even worse for Chaos, considering he has absolutely no presence in the actual gameplay note , whereas at least Shadow is playable via downloadable content. The fact that they're all illusory fakes in the first place, even Metal Sonic, does little to soften the blow.
    • While they actually get some speaking roles, unlike in Sonic Generations, the supporting cast don't really get much to do here besides give out exposition before and during a level. The exception to this is mostly Knuckles (the leader of the Resistance) and Silver (who at least gets a fight with Infinite and sets up the Avatar's ability to save the world in the end).
    • The real Shadow, in addition to not being a boss fight as mentioned above, also has no role in the main campaign after he shows up. This is in spite of the fact that he is the main reason for Infinite's Start of Darkness. The story never addresses this or explores his thoughts or feelings on the matter and he just falls in with the rest of the supporting cast as the focus shifts back to the Sonics and the Avatar.
    • Considering Zavok is among the enemy troops, the game could have offered the player (especially those fond of Team Dark) an opportunity to have E-123 Omega as a boss fight. Zavok has control over machines, meaning that Omega is in his range. However, Infinite takes Omega out as his first casuality before the game starts, and Omega only returns during the final battle.
  • They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: A major complaint of the game is that the story has interesting ideas, but half-hearted execution and minimal effort put into it to really flesh out what was promised. To wit:
    • Despite the marketing focus on Eggman finally taking over the world, that plot thread gets surprisingly little amount of focus through the game. For starters, Eggman's takeover happens entirely off-screen and is told through text before we jump ahead six months to the Resistance. And we very rarely see what the world is like under his rule. It basically plays out like any other plot in the series.
    • Classic Sonic's inclusion largely goes wasted. True, his relationship with Tails is very endearing and one of the story's more touching aspects, but here's the thing: Classic Sonic came after the Phantom Ruby. It's an Artifact of Doom from his world; he knows what's up with it and didn't get the chance to finish the job. This seemingly critical plot point goes largely ignored — he never even gets a scene where he confronts Infinite or its powers on his own, being the only of the three protagonists to get shorthanded in this way.
    • Sonic's rescue mission could've been a great opportunity for his friends to go all-out in a dramatic prison break, and you'd expect a Roaring Rampage of Revenge from Tails, Knuckles and Amy after hearing Sonic was tortured. Instead Tails isn't present, Knuckles and Amy are only navigators, and the only ones on-field are the player-created Avatar and Espio. (The Resistance member with arguably the least personal connection to Sonic) This is followed by Sonic escaping practically on his own, still his usual snarky self as if nothing happened.
    • Null Space. A scene is set up where Sonic and the custom character are sent into some sort of pocket dimension brought on by the Phantom Ruby. As cool and otherworldly as it looks, Sonic and the custom character just Double Boost back outside. The stage is still called Null Space, but the rest of the stage is just a trek through the metropolis again. The stage could have been really cool, either in gameplay mechanics or at least visually, but it lasts for all of fifteen seconds.
    • The uses of the Phantom Ruby in general. Infinite relies on it heavily and there are showcases of how much of a threat he can be with it, such as the third Shadow DLC stage where he utterly messes with Shadow's mind by trapping him in an illusion. One stage in the main game proper has him making nightmarish huge versions of himself that forces the resistance to retreat from an attack on Eggman's base. A following boss fight likewise shows he can make some wicked weaponry with it. So you think there would be more effort into him going more ham with the power. But following encounters never showcase this; rather, he just sends lasers and cubes at you and his following boss fight is similar to his first, only without the circular level design, where Sonic and the avatar take him out with little effort.
    • In addition, Sonic Mania set up a dichotomy between the Chaos Emeralds and the Phantom Ruby, with the Phantom Ruby as something of an Evil Counterpart to the Chaos Emeralds (or the Master Emerald). That dichotomy is never explored in Sonic Forces due to the Chaos Emeralds not being part of the plot at all.
    • The lack of variety in locations note  and enemy types note  make Eggman's world domination smaller than it should be. The latter problem is even stranger, considering the whole "Phantom Ruby can make several copies of the major villains" thing. And despite Shadow, Rouge, and Omega appearing, G.U.N. doesn't make an appearance, and the whole human side of the world is ignored entirely. In fact, at one point, Espio mentions that he and a few troops are having trouble in Seaside Hill. It would've been cool to see how it and other locations from previous games were affected by Eggman's takeover.
    • Very little, if any of the backstory information Infinite is given in Episode Shadow is brought up in the main story. This is unfortunate because there was a lot to build off of. Infinite is revealed to be one of the few Sonic villains who started out as a regular person who became powerful later on instead of being born as a super-powerful god or monster, but this is not explored. Similarly, the Jackal Squad goes completely unmentioned, despite their existence carrying the implication that Infinite once valued teamwork despite viewing the concept with contempt in the present. No character study here. Perhaps most notably, Infinite and Shadow never talk with each other when they meet again during the war sequence, despite Shadow being the cause for Infinite's actions.
  • Too Cool to Live: Arguably, Infinite. Infinite has the potential to be one of Sonic's deadliest foes, as he managed to take control of the world in a matter of days thanks to the Phantom Ruby. His power is essentially rewriting reality and creating clones with the same powers as the originals. He could force his generals to become their strongest selves if he pleased but his potential is stopped by plot convenience (see the main entry on Forgot About His Powers). Due to being too powerful, it's possible the character wil remain a One-Shot Character.
  • Underused Game Mechanic: The stages where Sonic and the Avatar team up are considered the best-playing in the game, combining Sonic's boost power with the Avatar's gadgets for a lot of variety in level design and playstyle. They're also the least frequent type of level at a final count of four (one of them is almost a Boss-Only Level and another is a brief interlude before the final boss), so you don't get to mess with it much.
  • Unexpected Character:
    • Takashi Iizuka claims the third playable character is this in an interview. It's you. Or at least, your Avatar.
    • Both Zavok and Chaos return as part of the evil ensemble with Dr. Eggman. Except they don't.
    • One of the pre-order DLC costumes is based on Joker, the protagonist of Persona 5. What truly makes this a shock is that the Persona and Sonic series have little to no connection apart from Sega Sammy being the parent company of both Sega and Atlus, the company behind the Persona games.
    • Another is Amitie's Hat. Considering that Sega practically tried to pretend Puyo Puyo doesn't exist for over a decade in the West, thanks partially to the almost hostile reaction to the Puyo Puyo Fever dub, to see Sega acknowledge the franchise in such a major way in the present day is heartwarming in the extreme.
  • Visual Effects of Awesome:
    • The Scenery Gorn is as gorgeous as you'd expect.
    • On a technical level, the game runs on a new engine called the Hedgehog Engine 2, resulting in much better graphics than previous games ranging from high-resolution real-time shadows, lighting effects, and some very pretty scenery upgrades like individual blades of grass in Green Hill Zone, all running at a flawless 60 frames per second on the PS4 and Xbox One.
    • As this is the first Sonic game since Sonic Unleashed to see a multi-platform release on Nintendo's current console, many fans were expecting a significant visual downgrade/simpler reworking of the game, similar to the Wii and PS2 versions of Unleashed. Instead, the Switch version of Forces is the same game as the PS4/Xbox One/PC version, with minimal visual downgrades — a significant relief for many Switch players. (This parity comes at the cost of the frame rate, as the Switch version runs at 30 frames per second with occasional drops, but it is still a highly impressive effort.)
    • For a more specific example, this is the first time we've seen Chaos 0 in an HD game even if he's a copy, and he looks awesome as a living blob of more realistic water.
  • Wangst: Infinite lost a lot of badass points with many fans when it was revealed in Episode Shadow that his backstory was that he was just a small-fry, self-proclaimed "Ultimate Mercenary" who lost badly after picking a fight with Shadow, and was apparently so thin-skinned that a throwaway comment about being worthless drove him completely out of his mind and made him obsessed with garnering more power and proving he wasn't weak, even at the cost of his soul.
  • Win Back the Crowd:
    • The promise of a new Sonic game with a darker tone that reunites Classic and Modern Sonic set the internet ablaze with excitement once it was announced. It even helped redeem the infamously terrible livestream somewhat.
    • In a strange way, it managed to do this to the 25th anniversary all in the same day, as some were a bit deflated that Sonic Mania appeared to be all Sega wanted to invest into the Milestone Celebration, seemingly only willing to play it safe with nostalgia-pandering instead of something more grandiose, original, and epic. Then what was then Project Sonic 2017 was revealed at the end and whipped everyone back up again for a major console release.
    • History repeated itself with the 2017 SXSW panel — after what was generally considered to be a mediocre showing up to that point, the revelation of actual gameplay footage (that hearkened back to the beloved Colors/Generations style) generally got people excited once again.
    • The Japanese story trailer has kept the hype train going, with many praising it for showing more members of the resistance (such as Rouge the Bat) and giving Knuckles some character focus..
    • Episode Shadow. When it was leaked that Shadow would be Promoted to Playable in his own personal DLC story, the fanbase exploded with absolute joy at the return of a fan favorite. The DLC being free doesn't hurt either.

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