Sonic Forces Review
So, we all know that Sonic can't tell a story to save his life, right? Well, the Modern games anyways. And looking back at Sonic Forces... I knew right off the bat it was bad. But I didn't know HOW bad. Time to dive right in and go with Sonic Forces... me to play this game. Ugh.
STORY
Before we get to the main story... let's go back shall we? We'll start at Episode Shadow.
EPISODE SHADOW
Our story begins as Shadow, Rouge and E123 Omega are on a mission sent by G.U.N that Eggman has hired a group of mercenaries called the Jackal Squadron. We never see them. It's implied they're already dead by the time Shadow infiltrates Eggman's lab? Or fled? I dunno. The writing is shit.
Anyways, Shadow arrives and meet's a jackal who we can't see his face. ... Except we have the tie-in comics which showed his face. Whoops. The jackal boasts that he's the Ultimate Mercenary and Shadow's all like: "Lol, nope. Get rekt nerd." And beats him up and insults him which makes the jackal all trigged and dons the mask and becomes Infinite, our new main antagonist of the game.
So... Infinite get's insulted, get's beaten up, and throws a tantrum and decides to destroy the world. ... Good Lord, he's like Broly. So, Shadow investigates some disturbances after some time has passed. Infinite mind fucks Shadow by saying cryptic and backwards things through the mouth's of Rouge and Omega and realize he had the power of illusions.
And then... he just leaves and let's Shadow do his thing. This was his so-called revenge by the way. ... Lame. So that's Episode Shadow in a nutshell, game over, right? Nope. We still have the main story and whoo, boy. It's, uh... something, alright.
MAIN STORY
We start the game proper as the world has been conquered by Dr. Eggman and his new commander, Infinite. Tails, along with a group of random stock Avatars-I mean, survivors, are cornered by the doctor. Sonic comes to save the day when he see's Metal Sonic, Zavok, Chaos, and Shadow with Infinite.

Sonic tries to attack the masked jackal when he just moves aside as if he was nothing. Tails, just... hides and watches his brother slash idol get his ass kicked as if this was an episode of Dragon Ball Z. And then... it just fades to black and some text explains that Eggman now rules 99.9% of the world and the remaining percent is the newly formed Resistance.
Uh... show, don't tell guys? Anyways, we have Amy, Charmy, Vector, Espio, Silver, Rouge and Knuckles. As for the others, Shadow is MIA or believed to side with Eggman (He isn't, but let's politely nod and pretend he is) and Tails is also missing along with Omega. In comes our custom character but for the sake of this review, I'm gonna call him Gadget, when really, that should be his fucking name. He has a grappling hook device on his wrist.
*ahem* They think that Sonic's dead and after a few scouting missions and five minutes. I'm not even kidding, Sonic is reported to be alive and held prisoner in the Death Egg Prison for six months. And, uh... we just realized this now? Wow, slow news. So they infiltrate the base and find Sonic is... uhm... fine.
He doesn't look traumatized or even damaged at all. He's his usual jokey, sarcastic self. Huh. It's almost like nothing happened at all or something. Weird. Anyways, Sonic fights off against Zavok as he disappears, Sonic, being a dumbass, doesn't question this and bolts and saves Gadget already giving a bad first impression in my eyes, but whatever.
They escape and I guess... leave all the other trapped Mobians in the prison as it blows up? Truly, they're the best. Meanwhile, we finally see Tails trying to repair Omega after fighting Infinite, I guess? Look, the game doesn't explain diddly dick, okay? I'm working with what I got. Chaos appears and Tails is ready to fight!
... Oh, wait. This is at the age and time where all the characters are useless. Especially Tails. He cowers in fear and we get to view that Tails booty-I mean what. A portal opens and Classic Sonic appears and just kills Chaos like nothing. That's it. We never fight him again. Tails. Buddy. You fought him with Sonic and alone in Sonic Adventure 1! What the flying fuck?!
Ugh. I digress, Tails recognizes Classic Sonic but says he came from another dimension. Wait, I thought he came from the past? Turns out, this is Mania Sonic. And he's... just here for fan-service. Meh. So, Sonic encounters Infinite and beats the shit out of him after saving Silver who get's in another Dragon Ball Z-esque battle, flying and zipping everywhere.
... Man, I've been making a lot of Dragon Ball references, huh? Coincidence? Hmm. So after all that, Tails and Clas-er, I mean, Mania Sonic, go to Greenhill and see Infinite and Eggman conversing about some plan they have in 3 days and that Infinite stupidly let Sonic go. Eggman has wisened up over the years and realizes: "Hmm, if I leave Sonic alive, he'll fuck up my plans. Better take care of that pronto!"
Infinite says nothing but is really think "My bad.". Oh, as for the connection between Infinite and Gadget? There is none. Gadget's rescue team was slaughtered and was cornered by the masked jackal. He gives the character an ultimatum, he can stand and fight, but be killed like the rest. Or run away and survive.
... Yes, really. Infinite's a huge idiot with a giant ego. And self-esteem issues. So after much fluff and reuniting Tails and Mania Sonic back to base, it's time for Operation Big Wave (Geddit?) on Metroplis. But it backfires horribly since they just remembered. "Oh yeah, Infinite has the Phantom Ruby and conjures illusions. Fuck. We suck."
So yeah, Knuckles is an awful commander. Gadget and Infinite face off each other and the jackal shows off how E D G Y he is, but not really. After easily kicking his ass, Infinite uses the Phantom Ruby to kill Gadget, but the ruby piece he picked up earlier in the game nullifies the effect... somehow. Huh. That's a HUGE design flaw. Why didn't Eggman test this or inform Infinite? Oh yeah, because this story is rushed to shit.
Blah, blah, blah. More missions and crap that don't offer to the story. Finally, they plan the assault on Eggman's real base of operations and hope to shut down the mass production of the Phantom Ruby and shut down his empire for good. Sonic faces off against Shadow, but the real Shadow comes in and explains what happened behind the scenes.
Again, show don't TELL. Fuck! So, Sonic and Gadget team up and kick Metal Sonic's and Infinite's ass and the jackal just, uh... disappears? I'm not exactly sure what happened. But it's revealed that Eggman has the real Phantom Ruby all along and is the final boss! Oh no. Who could have seen this coming.
We have our anime showdown, Sonic makes a speech and everyone believes in themselves, Eggman transforms into a giant robot and the player mashes the attack button. The day is saved and... uh... wait, where did Eggman and Infinite go? Hello? Guys? Mania Sonic disappears and Tails get's all worked up about it for some reason.
Tails, you knew this version for how long? And not worked up that the real Sonic was TORTURED FOR 6 MONTHS??? Some friend you are. Anyways, roll credits and Gadget starts his own adventures and stuff, who cares? Bleh. And that was Sonic Forces-fuck this game is awful! Ugh. Let's get this over with.

GAMEPLAY
The game plays exactly like Sonic Generations and Sonic Unleashed. However, the drift function is gone now. May I ask, why? And some of the levels are poorly designed or don't fit the theme as to what's going on. Plus, the boss battles all suck. There is no challenge in this game as it's made for BABIES. Yeah, I said it. Fight me. (Please don't.) Sonic plays as he always is, and the custom character is a mixture of Adventure and Unleashed Sonic and uses a Wispon to attack. And they're broken. Especially the Drill and Flamethrower ones. Mania Sonic... is so heavy and sluggish this time around. I have no idea why.
You need to build up a spin dash just to get over a ramp or slope, otherwise he'll slide off. Either this game is poorly designed or Mania Sonic should cut back on the chili dogs.
SOUND
The voice acting is great and I like Infinite's voice, voiced by Liam O'Brien. Who is absolutely wasted here. He could have been such a cool character too...
MUSIC
The music's good mixing in with techno and orchestral pieces. No Crush 40 though, aww... But the music's good so that's a plus. Yay.
FUN FACTOR
I guess there can be some fun with customizing the avatar character with different clothes and accessories, but is it really worth it? No, not really. I can't see many people coming back to this when we have Mario Odyssey and Breath to the Wild.
FINAL THOUGHTS AND SCORE
This game had so much potential and it completely fucked itself so much. Infinite's a lame crybaby who's sensitive when you look at him wrong, the story's all over the place and the characters are fucking useless. It's the Sonic Show all over again! Although, it did show off the characters best traits I guess. Whatever.
My final score is...
5/10
A "meh" rating. It's average. The game could have been so much more if they focused more on the story and what they were trying to do. We know so little about the Phantom Ruby, Infinite and the Jackal Squadron. Who is Infinite really? Why does he hate the world? 
What happened to his squad? Are they even alive? And what happened to him and Eggman at the end? We never see them again. Oh well, maybe we'll get another good Sonic game in 2027.
... Phhtaaahaahahahahahaa! Ahh... As if.
Sayonara.