I remember being excited for Sonic Forces when it was announced back in 2017. The CGI teaser had a tone that was right up my alley. I love seeing cartoon characters in serious situations and Sonic fighting a losing battle in a war-torn town was super enticing. Eggman winning and the heroes fighting to take back what they lost was a premise used in SatAM, my favorite Sonic cartoon. Then Classic Sonic showed up and I was immediately disappointed. “This is just going to be Generations 2,” I thought.

And so it was. The story was as inconsequential as Generations, though I at least gave it credit for attempting to do a story grander in scope. The game reused level locations just like Generations, this time only using Green Hill Zone and Chemical Plant Zone. They were used multiple times throughout the story, which is odd compared to all other games since Green Hill and Chemical Plant were always early levels. I could understand why the settings were reused in terms of story; it would be odd if the story only used new locations in every scene. It makes the world feel lived in, at least to a degree. However, the settings didn’t feel ravaged by Eggman’s army as the premise insists. Green Hill looked fine, but instead of being green, it was yellow in some places. Chemical Plant just looked like Chemical Plant. Sunset City was better, but the environmental storytelling was done only in the background, which you zip past in moments. I didn’t even notice them until my second playthrough. There was concept art of Forces where the idea of Eggman taking over the world was far more interesting. If Green Hill Zone looked like it was under military occupation, that would have been way cooler!

I hope that the story of Sonic Frontiers will be much better. This is a great opportunity for Sonic Team to do something interesting. It will be the first open world Sonic game, there’s got to be something unique they can do storywise. With the fan-favorite Sonic Archie and IDW comics writer Ian Flynn onboard, I feel like they will be able to do something special! I’ve read tons of 4chan “leaks” and fan theories, one even saying Frontiers will be like Neon Genesis Evangelion (which would be rad as hell, but I’m not holding my breath).

I used Art Alternatives alcohol markers and Faber-Castell pens.