DCfnaf Rants: "Sonic Forces is as Bad as we All Feared" - Nintendo Life

DCfnaf The bias on Sonic the Hedgehog is still continuing. Why? I can't even...

Look, I hate the braindead Sonic Fanbase a lot, but I think the people that are giving Sonic bad reviews based on how they didn't get what they wanted are even more annoying and far worse because nowadays that's what I see all over Sonic videos. IGN is a perfect example of this because honestly anyone who likes that channel and thinks their reviews on Sonic the Hedgehog are good and make sense needs their head checked for brain cancer. Thankfully, we are not responding to IGN, as I think we can all agree that their Sonic Unleashed, Sonic Lost World, and "Sonic Was Never Good" videos are utter garbage and deserve their hate. Today, I'm going to respond to a terrible, poorly-made Sonic Forces Demo review from a channel called...Nintendolife. Wow, no wonder they hate Sonic Forces, it's not even a subtle channel name!

I do want to address a few things before responding to this video. First of all, he has every right to dislike the demo he played. I am not simply responding to this video because I disagree with his opinion, especially since I have not played the demo of the game he reviewed at all. However I CAN criticize his arguments and call them ridiculous because they are very faulty arguments.

This is the original video if you are curious in watching it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcri7owzEXg&lc=z12xsnmzkvrrervaw04ccllznxroytvjtok0k.1500663283048487

"Hello there lovely people, it's Alex from Nintendolife here and I'm afraid today that I've got to be the barer of bad news...although to be honest I think a lot of people actually saw this coming."

Why am I stopping here, right after the first sentence of the review? Well, because he basically admitted he's biased. The last bit of that sentence implies that he assumed the absolute worst out of Sonic Forces before playing it. Now I need to ask you something Alex...what makes you think that a lot people saw this coming? Bare in mind that Sonic Forces is being made by the same people who made Sonic Colors and Sonic Generations, two games that are considered to be some of the best 3D Sonic games (he also claims that these two games are fantastic later in the video).

"Just recently, I was lucky enough to get my hands on Sonic Forces of all things, only a demo of course, but nevertheless, I managed to play the game and honestly...it's not good. Now before anybody runs to the comments saying 'AHHH You're just a Sonic Hater!', please for the love of God believe me when I say that I am not a Sonic Hater. I LOVE the Sonic Series, I love it to death, it's just that it hasn't been good in so long you know..."

What??? So you don't hate the Sonic Series, but it hasn't been good in years? Anyways, this claim is so overused to the point where hearing it is just annoying. Look, we can all agree that Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric was a hot mess. It runs absolutely poorly, it's visually malnourished, it's littered with glitches, and it's the definition of the word "broken". However, Sonic Boom: Fire and Ice was a fairly decent game overall and Sonic Lost World is actually pretty great! If you disagree with both of those, then I'll be glad to mention that Sonic Generations came out five years ago, which is not a very long time in the grand scheme of things, especially when it comes to video game franchises. So overall, the Sonic Series hasn't been horrible for a long time and this overused claim can stop popping up every ten minutes.

"I was getting REALLY excited and I thought maybe...FINALLY Sonic Forces would be a really good Sonic Game...a really good 3D Sonic Game, but it's just not...it's exactly the same as every bad modern Sonic Game...and there have been good ones: Generations was pretty good, Colors was GREAT, but Sonic Forces it's...just the same mistakes AGAIN, and it's SO depressing."

I don't understand this at all. Why are you saying it's exactly the same as every other bad one? You even bothered to mention that Sonic Colors and Sonic Generations were great games, and you can tell that just by looking at gameplay footage of Sonic Forces, it's going to play similarly to Sonic Colors and Sonic Generations. Plus, there's literally nothing similar about the gameplay of Sonic Forces, Sonic Lost World, and Sonic Boom. It's definitely similar to the two games in the series you liked. So basically...you just contradicted your own argument.

After that godawful argument, he then says that Sonic Forces is the exact same mistakes once again. Now I just have one question...what are these mistakes? I certainly couldn't tell you because he never bothers to explain what those mistakes are. Are we supposed to assume that this is making the same mistakes that Sonic Boom and Sonic 06 did? Yeah, no, because this game is clearly not glitchy and broken just by looking at the gameplay footage. What do you not like about this game? You can't expect your audience to make assumptions.

Oh, and don't worry. He does this several times throughout the video just to make sure your brain cell counter hits -3.

"I played three stages. One of them was a Classic Sonic level and it was just a boss, one of them was a Modern Sonic level and it was, you know, what you'd expect, it was running around a city, and the other one was the Avatar stage so that was running around as a custom character and honestly, none of it was really very good, none of it ran very well, it was just honestly...kind of a hot mess."

Yeah, just before I wrote this quote, I just said he would not explain what he doesn't like about this game specifically. Here's an example of that. "None of it was very good" and "It was kind of a hot mess" do not tell me exactly why he doesn't like the game. As for him claiming that the game didn't run very well, I can't really say anything about this because I haven't played the game. However, this is literally the first time I've heard someone say that the game wasn't running smoothly, as several others that have played this demo praised its frame rate and it's graphics. Hell, even the gameplay footage he shows doesn't look buggy or glitchy in any way and looks very solid and smooth so I'm not really convinced when he tells me that the game isn't running well at all. However, this is all I can say for the moment, as I haven't played Sonic Forces yet.

"I think the biggest problem about it was just the fact that it was a bad idea to begin with. I mean, the idea of bringing Avatars in, good, you can work around that."

Did anyone understand that? No? Okay dude, I think you should've written a script for this review because I don't understand what you're saying. Was it BAD or GOOD to bring Avatars into the game???

"But the way that they've implemented them is it's basically Modern Sonic but you're not very fast and you're running around with a weapon that you just sort of activate and you can choose the weapon but none of them are very interesting, it slows down the gameplay in a way that doesn't work. I mean Modern Sonic, to be honest, is TOO fast now. Sonic wasn't always about going fast, it was about gaining momentum and earning that speed and then trying to keep that speed and then, you know, sort of, maybe having to slow down for something else, finding different paths, it wasn't just about going as fast as possible and stopping every so often to defeat a load of enemies and that's...UGH...that's just exactly what Sonic Forces is and it's so annoying!!!"

Does anyone here have Advil, because I think I'm going to need it after the migraine that Alex just gave me. So when the Custom Characters are moving at a normal rate and not moving fast, it's bad, but when Modern Sonic IS moving incredibly fast...it's still not okay? I just don't understand what you want. So you want levels where you gain momentum and earn speed right? Well, I'll tell you this, based on the Classic Sonic gameplay of Sonic Forces you showed me in this video...that's exactly what you are getting. Sonic Forces is meant to give everyone in the godawful fanbase what they want. Classic Sonic levels are there for people like you, Modern Sonic levels are there for people who like the 3D gameplay more, and the Avatar stages are there as a neat little treat. So how come he doesn't think that's what he's getting? Well, he mentioned that the Classic Sonic level he played was just a boss. OOOOOHHHHH!!!! Now it makes sense. He doesn't seem to realize that he's getting exactly what he wanted because the demo didn't include it. I'm not entirely sure why he didn't get the impression that he'd be getting this based on the gameplay he inserted into his own video, but alrighty then! Also, not all of it needs to play the exact same way otherwise the gameplay would not be varied and it wouldn't be interesting. Plus, Modern Sonic has been playing like this for a very long time (Colors and Generations even), and somehow you think that NOW it's a problem.

Yikes. That was a lot to unpack. Let's move on now.

"I actually reached out to you lovely people on Twitter to find out what you felt was wrong about Modern Sonic and I was reading through the list, so thank you for that by the way, but as I was going down the list and seeing what you were all saying it was...I could almost just...every single one of things that you said was wrong with the Modern Sonic franchise...I could just tick them off and say 'Yeah, that's in Sonic Forces, that's in Sonic Forces' and it's just...INFURIATING that they can't see what is wrong with Modern Sonic, WHAT IS IT SONIC TEAM WHY CAN'T YOU SEE IT!?!?!?!? UGH!!!!"

Unbelievable. Seriously, I can't even believe this guy thinks he's a critic. Anyways, the infuriating thing is not that Sonic Team "can't see what is wrong". The infuriating thing is that you can't seem to back up your claims at all because I have no idea where this list of problems is. You don't even show the list in your video or link it in your description so there is absolutely no way for me to know what exactly you despise about this game. So if I can't figure out what your problems with this game are, how do you expect Sonic Team to know what the problems are as well??? Also, you asked your audience, which is filled with Nintendo Fans, what the problems with this franchise are and it's likely that there is some bias in the mix of legitimate criticisms in there. I still wouldn't be able to tell you because a certain somebody didn't link this thread to his video in any way.

Oh, don't worry. It gets worse from here.

"You know, as I said before, Sonic Colors was good. I really enjoyed Sonic Colors. Generations was good as well. Sonic Colors, honestly, in my opinion, was the best 3D Sonic game, it's even better in my opinion than Sonic Adventure 2...which feels weird to say, but then again, Sonic Adventure 2 on the whole wasn't a great game...I mean the Sonic and Shadow Sections? They were good, but everything else was kind of...no."

I would like to point out that I agree with him on Sonic Adventure 2, as I think it is overrated and I think Colors and Generations were better games, but I would also like to point out that he must've known that the Sonic Adventure 2 hatred is the latest trend and he decided to sloppily shoehorn it into his review somewhere. "HUHUH! Lemme hop on the bandwagon because I can be cool too like everyone else HEHEHEHEHEEEEE!!!!" Okay...sorry about that. Anyways, moving on.

"When I was playing the Modern Sonic levels, honestly, it just... it felt a lot like Sonic 06. I mean...it was definitely more refined than Sonic 06, I'm not gonna say that it was as buggy as Sonic 06 or anything in that regard, I'm not saying it's THAT BAD...it is better than Sonic 06...it's okay...it's not as bad as that."

If you were wondering if there was going to be a Sonic 06 shoehorn into the review...well, here ya go. Can I ask you something Alex? What the hell was the point in bringing up Sonic 06? To get people worried? Seriously, you literally say it felt a lot like Sonic 06, but you then go on to say it wasn't as buggy or as bad as Sonic 06. So how did it feel a lot like Sonic 06 if it wasn't as buggy, broken, or bad? That makes NO SENSE and was clearly just thrown in to get your audience to boycott the game. That's really sad. Also, can we bring up that Sonic 06 came out 11 years ago?

"But it just felt like I was playing half of the game, meaning I was only half in control of the game. The game seemed to be doing most of the work for me. It's just things like...it's just so basic, the gameplay is just too basic and not in a way that is charming or is to its benefit, but in the sense that you just hold "Y" and try and go as fast as possible, plow through enemies, and jobs a good'un you've gone through a loop, hooray, it's Sonic, IT'S SONIC, HELLO, HA, IT'S SONIC!!! Also the level was really, REALLY short...which is bad..."

You...do realize you are playing a demo right? So perhaps the reason the level was short was because...you know...they needed to give all three gameplay styles a place in the demo. I'm certain that not every level in the game is going to be this short and I'm also certain that this is the first level of the game. So I'm making a guess that it's going to be easy because it's the first level.

"I know there are some people who really love Sonic, even the Modern Sonic games and if you do, that's great, so please enjoy this game but to anyone who's on the fence...we are really gonna have to see a lot of changes, a lot of good stuff come out of Sonic Forces before it's gonna be anything close to a recommendation, it's just...it's just every mistake they could've made, they made pretty much, except they didn't bring the Werehog back. That's good."

Every mistake they made they could've made...HUH??? Ignoring the fact that the game doesn't look anything like Sonic 06 or Sonic Boom, I don't know what these mistakes are. You are STILL not explaining what you don't like about this game at all! What are these mistakes? Why do you think they made EVERY mistake? I'm not convinced!!!

Also, was there seriously a point in bringing up the Werehog, as if Sonic Team was ever going to bring that back in the series?

"I know I've talked briefly about the Avatar stages, but I want to bring back something else: the Avatars all feel exactly the same. In the demo, you were assigned a random character that was randomly generated and IMMEDIATELY alarm bells started ringing when that happened so...you know, I thought to myself 'Well, I'll give it a chance' but then I played a couple of times and talked to other people and...it just feels exactly the same every time so your Custom Character is basically cosmetic except there are some sort of subtle things, but they didn't feel like they came across in gameplay at all. It didn't tell me about these differences, it didn't do anything to say 'This is your custom character', it didn't let me create my Custom Character which is...you know, sort of understandable because it's a demo, but even so it just...it just feels hollow. It feels REALLY REALLY hollow and...I'm just annoyed."

I will give him some credit for the fact that he has some fairly legitimate concerns for these Custom Characters...but we still need to keep in mind that this is a demo. Heck, you YOURSELF, Alex, said that it's understandable that they didn't let you create your character because it's a demo. Sonic Team is NOT going to show you every single gadget or maybe even a custom character creator in the demo. This will all probably be shown when the full game comes out, so I'm not going to take his words like they are the words of God.

"Even the Classic Sonic stage, which was just a boss fight as I said before, even that felt wrong, it felt stilted, and dull, I mean, I'm guessing it's the first boss fight judging by the fact that it looks like it's in Green Hill Zone, but even then, it's just a case of, you know...jumping out of the way, it's not hard at all..."

Ignoring the fact that he's still not explaining what he doesn't like, he's complaining about the boss fight being easy. Dude...it's the first boss fight, and the first boss in platformers tends to be a very easy boss to defeat. Also, saying that "jumping out of the way" is a problem with the boss fight doesn't prove anything at all because you can do that with literally any boss. Mario, Sonic, Kirby, The Legend Of Zelda...literally ANY PLATFORMER. Why is it a problem in this game specifically when this can be done in literally any game????

"Um...the controls feel a bit janky, the performance honestly is a little bit embarrassing, it's displaying at a low resolution...it honestly feels like they've gone for spectacle over gameplay and substance, but the spectacle isn't very good, it's just like they've gone for the worst of everything."

Considering he likes Generations and Colors, I'm not sure what the issue with the controls would be here, but I'm not going to attack that too much because that is his opinion. What I do want to talk about is his claim of the performance being embarrassing. I honestly hope you were incredibly unlucky because hundreds of gameplay videos out there claim otherwise in that the game is running smoothly on all platforms. Also, the game may be displaying at a low resolution because you played the Switch version of the game. I'm not trying to start a Console War, but the Xbox One and PS4 are factually superior in resolution and graphical capability as opposed to the Switch.

"And, I'm just SO frustrated because Colors is like the archetype of how to make a good Modern Sonic game and I know a lot of people are saying, 'Well that was only because of the 2D sections were good' but honestly, no I think, you know, the 3D sections as well, were good, it rewarded speed...so as I was saying, yeah, Sonic Colors is a good game even the 3D sections, and the wisps brought something new to it and the wisps are back in this latest game as well but honestly they feel...um...the only wisp I think I found was one that allowed me to do the Lightspeed Dash which is where you dash along a line of rings, which felt like a good way to include it because it was a little more reliable, but at the same time...ugh, it just wasn't very good...it didn't seem to sort of open up the world at all, it was just, 'Hey, here's a line of rings! You can either just run or you can go up the line of rings and go in a marginally different path...except you're going to the same location'. There was no reward for using the wisps and thinking outside the box or anything like that, there was no opportunity to think outside the box and it's..."

Oh boy, now he's complaining about the wisps being in the game. Alex, you said that the wisps are nothing fancy. Plus, you're treating this little demo like the entire game which is honestly ridiculous to me. "BUT DCFNAF!!! THE DEMO IS MEANT TO GIVE AN IMPRESSION ON HOW THE FULL GAME WILL TURN OUT!!" I get where the people that have this argument are going with it, but they are not going to show every single feature of the game in the small demo. Sonic Lost World's demo didn't show every single wisp. It showed the Lazer wisp only. If you played the full version of Sonic Lost World, you would see that other pathways in the game are accessible or it is simply necessary to complete the level by using a wisp. So I think acting like this is such a huge problem NOW is ridiculous and fear-mongering.

"AAAAGGH Why can't they just - Why can't they see...that this is not what Sonic Fans want?"

Well...this video just hit a new low. Oh don't worry, it STILL gets worse.

Let's ignore the fact that your video has 3,000 dislikes as opposed to likes and let's ignore the fact that this game is literally appealing to every single part of the fanbase. What I despise about this part is that you assume that this is not want Sonic Fans want. Alex, you have NO right to tell the Sonic Fanbase what they want and don't want. You are the same person who assumed that this game would suck solely because it was a Sonic game at the beginning of the review: "Though to be honest I'm pretty sure a lot of us saw this coming".

"I've been a Sonic Fan since the very beginning, since the very first Sonic Game...blah blah blah...!!! But it might as well just be an entirely different franchise now. I mean, it's not Sonic."

Are. You. Freaking. Kidding Me.

What the hell happened in this demo that led you to believe that this is "not Sonic" anymore? Your personality in this review is reminiscent of a whiny five year old who watched an episode of Arthur that they hated simply because the art style changed. Then they proceed to no longer call it "Arthur" anymore.

"And also all the bloody characters are back!!! Charmy Bee is just the worst character ever created by anything ever. He's got the most annoying voice and he's got a pretty bad design as well..."

As you can see, Alex has run out of nonsense to spew out, so in order to piss you off further, he decides to bash on the CHARACTERS, which do not even affect the game in the SLIGHTEST. Honestly, wouldn't the Sonic Fanbase be GLAD that characters who haven't appeared in a long time are finally returning? Here's another example of Alex not knowing what the hell he is talking about.

"Sonic characters...their designs are generally pretty good. Sonic especially. I think Sonic has only survived because of his design because his games are no longer that good..."

...did I mention that this review is terrible?

Alex, do I really need to explain why Sonic has lasted this long? Well, that's because he made a decent transition from 2D to 3D platforming. In fact, that's the same reason the Bubsy franchise died. Bubsy 3D anyone?

"And I just...I just want a GOOD SONIC GAME!!! I just want a good Sonic game to come out!! I just want what the fans want!! I just want a good Sonic game and none of this gimmicky nonsense! Even if it was just a 2D game...just a GOOD Sonic game...oh wait". *Shows Sonic Mania footage*.

And on that note, we end the review with an indirect message that Classic Sonic will always be superior to Modern Sonic. As I mentioned earlier, Sonic survived as long as it did thanks to its 3D games. Adventure, Heroes, Unleashed, Colors, Generations, Lost World...so I believe that the 3D titles deserve more credit than they get. Please throw your nostalgia glasses in the trash and accept the fact that game franchises, including Mario and The Legend of Zelda, evolve over time so your "reviews" get better.

Final Verdict

Overall, this video was reprehensible. It lacked a script and that caused Alex to say random things at random times. Alex never backs up his claims and doesn't tell me why he hates this game in any detailed capacity whatsoever. He barely critiques the game and focuses on just talking about his experiences with game...but he doesn't go in depth. He acts like his review of the demo is his legitimate review of the full game judging by his video's title and some of his "criticisms". There is some obvious bias against Sonic in the video. He constantly contradicts himself and acts like a hypocrite. There are more problems with this video, but that's the basic gist of it. I'm honestly getting sick of these Sonic reviews. Once again, I have absolutely NOTHING against negative opinions on Sonic. What I AM against is making a poor, biased, and irrational review of a video game that doesn't even criticize the game and still expects Sonic Team to know what the problem with their franchise is.

I give this review a 1/5 as opposed to a 0/5 because he did bring up some concerns he had for the Custom Characters and he's not IGN...though he could be one of their long lost members.

So that's it for this rant/response. If you liked this, be sure to follow me and check out my other rants. I am also starting to become one of the most well-known movie critics on the website, so if you are interested in watching a certain movie, but you aren't sure if it will be good or not...why not read a review if I have the movie you are looking for? Take care and peace out everybody.

Comments

Nice rant. - visitor (7/28/2017)

Nintendolife is a hypocrite and a terrible reviewer. - visitor (7/28/2017)

What's sad is that this could've been way better than it turned out, ESPECIALLY if he had a script and went into detail with his "reasoning". Plus...he's not IGN from the looks of it, so he can do better (he still did, but that's beside the point). - DCfnaf (7/28/2017)

I'm not sure about my opinion on NintendoLife, but I did like their "Top 5 things we would like to see in Super Mario Maker" video. - visitor (7/29/2017)

It's not that I hate the YouTuber or anything like that (bare in mind that he's not IGN), I just loathe this review and his attitude in it. In my reviews, I don't believe I whine about the bad stuff. I just explain it and why it doesn't work. Ex. The Boss Baby. - DCfnaf (7/29/2017)

Also, I made a list about Chuggaaconroy. Why not see it? - visitor (7/29/2017)

Sure, why not? - DCfnaf (7/29/2017)

Hit him with Jack's cane - TwilightKitsune (7/29/2017)

"HRAWWW! MY PEEPEE! " - DCfnaf (7/29/2017)

THIS IS ARR EREBITCH'S FAURT - Puga (7/29/2017)

'Acidentally' misplace all their discs and consoles - visitor (7/29/2017)

To be honest, I get a little bit mixed with the Sonic franchise sometimes. While the games and some of the characters are good and all, sometimes I get a little bit hate-y with it and I don't want to be Mario-fan like with this.

Here are some things that make me get agitated with the Sonic franchise sometimes:
1. Chaotixhero. I don't want to be offensive, but I just don't like his Nintendo bashing.
2. The old anti-Nintendo commercials for the Mega Drive (Genesis) and Sonic.
3. I couldn't really see the appeal of the animal character designs (You would hate me for this one the most.).
4. How Mario is the same thing over and over compared to the Sonic series.

Thank you for reading. If there are some things you would like to debunk, let me know. - visitor (7/30/2017)

I was meant to say "Let me know by replying." at the end. - visitor (7/31/2017)

The only thing I'd like to point out is your 4th reason. Mario's plot(in the main series, mainly) is to save the princess in almost every game. Sonic's plots are always stop Eggman, but they add some other stuff to the plot like in Sonic Lost World, where Eggman and Sonic team up. - Drawbox (2/20/2018)

A lot of Sonic fans are jaded. I honestly think Sonic Forces kinda looks like another Sonic game that's trying to please everyone but, in turn, pleases no one. In other words, another average game.

I agree most of his reasoning is really poor: he didn't go into detail at all. He is just being whiny.
But when he mentioned the custom characters being slowed down, (uninspired) weapons-oriented gameplay, I'd say that does sound like the same problems we've seen in the past (i.e. Shadow's guns, Where-hog, Sonic Boom tether...) - visitor (8/1/2017)

That's the part of the review that I can understand, as it is reminiscent of issues we've seen before. Everything else though...it's just terrible. - DCfnaf (8/1/2017)

Wow. - VideoGamefan5 (8/4/2017)

I know this is late, but great rant DC. - visitor (8/13/2017)

I might be late, but it's a great rant. Also, doesn't Infinite look badass? - visitor (8/24/2017)

Yes - DCfnaf (8/25/2017)

From what I've seen, it's not THAT bad of a game. - visitor (9/25/2018)

I hate Sonic, but I have reasons to hate it. - iliekpiez (11/26/2018)

I actually really like Sonic Forces. - PhoenixAura81 (12/16/2018)