Sonic’s racing back to consoles
At E3 2017, Melanie and I had the opportunity to try SEGA’s upcoming Sonic Forces game. Following our hands-on time, we also got to meet with producer Shun Nakamura and Sonic Team’s vice president of product, Takashi Iizuka!
Sonic Forces hybrid game mechanics
In the demo, three different stages were available each one showcasing a unique aspect of the game. In the first and second demos we got to see how the game offers both classic 2D sidescrolling Sonic levels, and 3D levels where Sonic runs forward into the screen. During the 3D level the camera can dynamically shift to a 2.5D perspective, and then back to 3D, so expect a lot of exciting camera transitions. While jumping, Sonic can also chain together multiple homing attacks on enemies, keeping the gameplay hyper fast and fluid. When asked whether the final game would feature a good balance of 2D and 3D stages, Nakamura and Iizuka said yes, both will be well represented in the final game.
Customize your hero in the Avatar creation area
In the third demo, we got to see Sonic Forces character creation mode. Here you can customize many aspects of your character, including choosing from several types of weapons. Since our time was short, SEGA gave us two pre-made characters to play as. One wielded a flamethrower, while the other one had an electric whip. The weapons were inspired by Sonic Colors’ Wisps, which I thought was a neat homage to Sonic’s earlier game.
According to Nakamura, we opted to go with Wisps as “having conventional guns did not adapt well to the Sonic universe. The weapons needed to fit into the essence of the series.”
To add replayability, each stage contains five red stars to collect, and many areas have multiple routes, encouraging exploration to find secret passages and hidden items. Sonic Forces is scheduled for release this year on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC and Switch.
Stay tuned for non-stop E3 news!
Check out Best Buy’s coverage of E3 2017 for more great articles, links to preorder games and more
