Taking On Eggman At The Speed Of Light In Sonic Forces

At a recent pre-E3 event, I was able to play a sampler of Sonic Forces and get my hands on Sega's latest foray into 3D with the speedy blue hedgehog. The first two levels available to me put me in Sonic's trademark red shoes with the third letting me play a custom character created for the event.

The first level had Sonic racing through a city, flipping between third-person perspective and a side-scroller perspective, trying to catch up to Shadow The Hedgehog. I dashed through robots and checkpoints, leaping into the air and speeding toward foes to demolish them before continuing on my way. The demo was satisfying but short, showing off a fairly straightforward level that put emphasis on speed.

The second level was a boss battle with classic villain Doctor Eggman/Robotnik as he floated around in his saucer, which swung a spiked ball from left to right in a fight that pays homage to one of the first boss battles in the series. However, after you bounce on the saucer a few times, the saucer transforms into a giant robot and the battle gets a little tricky, forcing you to run from left to right to dodge the robot's attacks as he heaves giant stones and boxes at you. The trick is to send the boxes back at him by attacking them. As with earlier Sonic titles, the amount of rings you have on you are basically lifebar. Lose them all and you've only got one hit before you perish. Luckily, I was skilled enough to pull through the battle, sending the robot retreating. The fight was satisfying thanks to its blend of nostalgia and skill testing.

The last mode I played focused on the custom character and showed the differences between playing the custom characters and Sonic in normal mode. The custom character, which you'll be able to design and dress, has items equipped you can use in these levels, which also switch back and forth between the third-person and sidescroller perspectives. For my demo, my premade character had a flamethrower that he could use to burn through enemies. It was quite useful for clearing platforms of waves of foes. I enjoyed my time with the custom hedgehog though the items in that mode didn't drastically shift how I played. Hopefully the full version will encourage you to play differently based on the items you have equipped.

Sonic Forces is slated to be released later this year. You can check out our previous preview here as well as Digital Editor Brian Shea's interview with the head of Sonic Team here.

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