Sonic Forces spinning into November
Two in a row?
Against all odds, Sega have released a decent Sonic game. Can they do the impossible and follow Sonic Mania up with another? We'll find out in two months, as Sega today announced Sonic Forces [official site] will launch on November 7th. While Mania is an olde schoole stylee 2De Sonice revisiting paste gamese, Forces is one of them there newfangled modern Sonics with 3D levels and the occasional side-scrolling section. It also has players create their own characters, which means your fanfic dreams of adventuring with Sonic can come true.
Sonic Forces is being made by the team behind Sonic Generations and Sonic Colors, which I'm told are among the better 3D Sonics. I don't know, I've never really given the 3D ones much of a chance. Running along a rollercoaster tracks doesn't have the exploration I enjoy in 2D Sonics, and the combat sections always seem so frivolous - especially with lock-on attacks. And I miss the scale of the vast parallax backdrops. They're different games to the Sonics I enjoy, simply games which feature Sonic. I am not that into Sonhog as a character.
If you do dig Sonhog and want to hang with him, hey, Sonic Forces introduces a player-created 'hero' character to be his new bestie. You'll get to make your own bipedal animal, dress them up, customise their abilities, then be Sonic's new chum.
Speaking of Sonic Mania, the PC launch had a nasty hiccup thanks to DRM and an accidental and great foolishness. The Denuvo DRM -- which was initially not listed on the game's Steam page -- initially made it impossible to play this singleplayer game offline, which seems jolly silly. That was an error but sheesh, given that the PC version launched later than its console counterparts you'd hope it'd be so polished you could see the inside of your face in it.