Yeah after Generations and being convinced Lost World was done by the "B team", I had a lot of hope for Forces. Surely with 4+ years of development it's gotta be amazing! They really took their time with that one! Then we know how that turned out...
I still have hope for Sonic games, but it's hard when they even dropped the ball with Mania (how there was no follow-up to the best sonic game in over a decade is baffling). I hope this can be an actual launching pad for more Sonic projects that aren't movies or TV shows.
Someone linked to a YouTube video on the subject in here already, but Forces' four-year development time is a bit of a mirage - the "next Sonic game" project went through a major reboot around 2015. While I'm not super optimistic about Frontiers/Rangers/whatever it ends up being called, I also wouldn't necessarily read into Forces' issues as guaranteeing the next game will suck too.
I'm *really* hoping this game gets significantly more proper development time than that purported "12 or so months" Forces got.
I never want to play a Sonic game with level design that atrocious again.
I'm hardly 3D Sonic's harshest critic but I definitely feel that, basically every modern stage was Straight Line Zone. If y'all ever find yourselves asking why Sonic is too hard and why you can't just go fast all the time, Forces is your answer.
I will say that some of the mods that try and "fix" Forces have been pretty impressive - it still doesn't sit among the greats by any means, but Forces Reimagined for instance manages to make Sunset Heights way more memorable by introducing Shadow into the stage as a hazard, rather than just ending with him standing dully at the goal ring.
