Sonic Forces: Speed Battle Review

Not to be confused with Sonic Forces, the platform game released in 2017 (although the 2 were released in the same year), Sonic Forces: Speed Battle is a mobile multiplayer game by SEGA’s very own European mobile development studio (SEGA HARDlight).

AS per usual for mobile games, this review will have a general, gameplay, visuals and personal thoughts section. Without further ado:

General

There’s not much here really.

At some point in 2016, SEGA HARDlight wanted to try out whether synchronous play was possible for mobiles. That’s how the game became a prototype.

Fast forward about a year, and the Sonic Team, along with SEGA HARDlight decided on the final pitch of Sonic Forces: Speed Battle which was soft-released for playtesting and officially released in 2017.

Gameplay

The game has gameplay elements from mobile processors Sonic Dash and Sonic Dash 2 as well as PSP hit game Sonic Battle.

Unlike its precessors, Sonic Forces isn’t infinite, nor single-player, instead, you compete against 3 other different players.

The level you play on is randomly chosen, and more are unlocked as you climb the rankings. However, all levels are based on the classical Green Hill, the ruined City from Sonic Forces, the Mystic Jungle and the sacred Sky Sanctuary.

The game starts on (relatively) equal terms, and you are tasked to maneuver yourself through the level’s obstacles, the enemies’ attacks, and various other hazards and boosts.

Through the race, you can collect Rings. Rings increase your running speed, and there is a max of 100. Once the race is over, you get to keep the rings for further use in racer upgrades.

Rings are very important and getting hit by an opponent or any obstacle, you will lose 10 rings, as well as slowing down.

While your runner will run forward automatically, you can control him by switching lanes (to dodge enemies’ attacks or obstacles, or collect rings), jump, and slide.

Jumping and sliding are used mainly to avoid obstacles, but some attacks can be dodged with one or both of these actions.

Now, about the attacks. Every character has 3 attacks. The first usually covers 1 lane and is shot straight. The second is always a dash. The final attack (usually) affect every lane beside the one you’re currently on.

Attacks can be picked up at random by various item boxes scattered throughout the track. You never know which attack you’ll get, but since you can keep them, if you wait long enough you can have all 3 at once.

There are some soft-rules however. For example, if you’re first, you won’t be getting a dash to prevent huge leads. Instead, you’ll be getting a shield, which protects you from 1 attack or obstacle.

If you’re last, however, you have an increased chance of getting a dash in order to catch up.

While the attacks are mostly the same in their use, every character has different attacks. Some might share some of their attacks, but no character has the same trio.

Attacks are separated by their effects, and stronger attacks have less effects and vice versa. For example, a Fireball will do much more damage than the Whirlwind, but it doesn’t have Whirlwind’s ring steal effect. Damage is how much speed you lose when hit.

The characters also have 3 stats:

• Speed, which is how fast they can go.
• Acceleration, which is how fast you can reach your max speed.
• Power, which is how much speed you lose when hit (more power = less speed).

It’s all about finding your perfect match (or character)!

Whenever you finish a race, you gain or lose points depending on your final position and the ranking of the opponents. You also get a bonus Race Chest, depending on your position, for up to 20 per day.

Points are measured for the ranking, the more you have the more tracks you can play on, and the better chests you get. After a specific point, you compete in the monthly seasons, which reset your points every start of a month to the season minimum.

If you have a free chest slot (the Race Chests don’t count as they open instantaneously), you also get a chest that you have to queue for opening. The rarer the chest, the more it takes to unlock, and the more loot it has.

Chests contain rings and character cards. They are used to unlock and then upgrade a said character.

When you upgrade a character, you gain experience points and with enough, you level up. Leveling up gives you more speed from in-game rings, as well as more attack resistance.

Upgrading a character gives you an alternating bonus of boosting his starting rings by 5, or upgrading one of his attacks. Every character can reach up to level 16.

Characters are also split into rarities. We have Common, Rare, Super Rare and Special. Obviously some of these are harder to find. However, I’ve seen good success with all classes, so don’t let the fact that your favorite character is common discourage you.

The SFX are from Sonic Forces (the platform one) and every stage that came from there has the same soundtrack.

However, one major complaint I have is the lack of voice acting, as I believe it would boost the game even more.

Visuals

The visuals are stunning, and actually, quite similar to Sonic Forces. They are very well done.

The character models are mostly taken from the game as well (at least the ones that were in the game (*cough* Jet, Wave, Storm *cough*)), so don’t be too weirded out if they seem familiar.

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Personal Thoughts

The game has been quite successful and fun. However, it is filled with bugs, and there are a lot of cheaters.

SEGA HARDlight is trying to get rid of these problems and it shows. The game has numerous balance and bug fixing updates, while also steadily releasing new content.

I think that it is an awesome game to have to spend your time on and play with your favorite character (that will be much better with voice acting, SEGA pls).

General Rating: 8/10

That’s it for my review. Do you play Sonic Forces? Who is your favorite character? If you have a comment feel free to add it below.

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