Recent reviews by TrueDoom

I give it a thumbs up in lieu of writing an extensive explanation as to the number of things this game does fantastically. 9.2/10

Disappointing. Painful. Uninspired. A worrying sign for the future of not only Sonic, but many games.

These are the terms and terminology I would consistently use to describe this title. I've always been a Sonic fan, and I still am. Which is why I have to finally put my foot down, because instead of just trying something different, they have damaged what has previously existed and done nothing special.

Let's start with the good. All the good.
- The Graphics. They're flashy. They're good. Expected.
- The boost itself. The effect has improved massively, a better streak that makes you feel as if Sonic is going hella fast (he is not, this game is slower than colors which makes it the slowest of the four boost gameplay games)
- The custom character. The choices are somewhat varied for the body, and there are large numbers of costume items to choose. Most of my fun was had goofing around with that and a buddy giving suggestions. From total anarchist fox to a schoolgirl outfit just cause.

-The cutscenes and acting are awful. Except for Sonic. Every scene with him is humorous and quippy. He's much like the Sonic Colors character, namely in that he spends most of his time pointing out how ridiculous other's motivations are.
-The music is good. Sometimes. Sometimes it's awful. It's a mixed bag.

That's all done. On with the bad.
-Everything else.
The reason this game is awful is entirely context. If you've never played a Sonic boost formula game, or a classic game in general, you may think this game is alright. If you like games that literally play themselves, you may like this game.

Some of us HATE a game inwhich the first level can literally be completed at top speed by holding forward, then holding only X, then jumping a total of three times. Those are all the inputs needed. That's it.
In comparison to the games that this title serves as a sequel to, it's a step backwards, a showcasing that Sega has no faith in their own Sonic Boost gameplay.
This title suffers from simpler animations, simplified movement (there is no longer a drift, the game plays itself far more often without ANY input necessary, QTEs are not failable (you can hit A at any time during them)), and extremely lenient scoring with no consequences for failure. No lives counting down, just a score that becomes lower, but ultimately the daily reward they effectively force on you means your score is meaningless: you will get an S.
Dying 5 times gets you an A.

All of that is side features. The core feature of the game is hollow. The levels are uninspired and simple, there is no real variation in your pathway that is meaningful, and much worse is classic sonic.
For anyone who actually understands why Sonic 4 was not well received, the physics of classic sonic in Forces are terrible. He slides a ton, he controls like trash, it's almost like they took the code from Generations and decided "nah, we're gonna keep Classic Sonic, but not the controls and physics everyone loved."
Worse off, there's no reason for him to be there story wise. Literally the bad guy is warping reality, so he just shows up. Once the bad guy is defeated, he leaves. Similarly he offers nothing but to run through some levels as "another Sonic."

The custom character COULD have used all those classic Sonic levels to flesh out their own capabilities and gameplay, but no. Sega only works in halfsteps. They don't trust the boost despite glowing reviews of Generations for its boost stages, as well as Unleashed.

A halfstep with a werehog,
a halfstep with 2d focus,
a halfstep with classic sonic,
and now even less due to both classic and the custom character.
It doesn't matter much that the game included them all, each portion of gameplay in this title is not good. It's passable at best. Failable with context.

Do yourself a favor and look up the stage "Rooftop Run" from Unleashed. Then look up any Sonic stage from Forces. None of them compare. This is why I will not recommend this game. It's simply a step backwards to be more inclusive and easy. And I do not agree with the final product and its myriad of issues.

I will continue trying to find something worthwhile in this game. I won't hold my breath.

4/10, general score.
2/10 context score.

ALRIGHT! THERE IT IS!! Send out the news, we got the OST after a patch. I will now jam to this soundtrack at work, because it is awesome.
Below is the initial review that is no longer as relevent.

----Love the game, kickass soundtrack that provides a groove that doesn't let up.

I decided to spend a couple days jamming to the soundtrack at work--oh wait, no I didn't. Because the soundtrack I spend money on wasn't actually provided to me. So...

For now, this will be negative. I'll add a real review of the soundtrack below this whenever the hell it's actually provided to me and everyone else who paid for it =/ ---

tl;dr Game has a catastrophic issue inwhich your save becomes corrupted and cannot be corrected, or replaced, as no saves but new ones will work. Uninstalled after wasting 13 hours on an otherwise fun game.

I loved this game's concept when I played the demo years ago. Thought I'd give the PC version the buy n' play.

First issue was that the controller support is terribad. I managed to get it to play by rebinding the turning to the d-pad instead of the stick. Annoying, but workable.

Was loving the game, thought it did get a little repetitive I noticed (some "episodes" are the same race as a previous episode, played off like it's something new and special. Forgivable.)
The drifting mechanic took some getting used to, but in the end it was fun enough and rewarding enough for those epic neck and neck races where you just barely avoid a building exploding and a gas canister blowing up behind you and slide over the finish line in 1st place.

So why is it negatively reviewed? Well, mostly for wasting 13.8 hours of my time with no resolution.
See, Split Second has this fun little quirk that is quite consistant. It corrupts your save around season 5-6 out of the 12 seasons. Online no one could find a fix for it outside of being prepared ahead of time and backing up your save file repeatedly OR not stopping the game until it stops telling you the save file is corrupt.

So no. I'm not dealing with this trash anymore, being my time has effectively been erased and even importing completed saves JUST so I can play through the rest of the game DOESN'T WORK. All saves are corrupted, forever. Starting over is the only option, and frankly I'm not keen on spending 10 hours replaying races (some of which I hate) using cars (most of which I hate) that perform like garbage comparatively with my progression point when the save died.

One could say if the game is fun enough, why not enjoy replaying its start?
No thank you. Given this is a known issue with no real fix outside of hoping it doesn't happen, I'm not gonna waste more time on this game, sadly. I'll never see its end. Uninstalling. Luckily it's small enough that if a fix does happen *hysterical laughter* I might try it again (unlikely).

There isn't much to say about this soundtrack besides buy it, it's worth the dosh.
If you enjoy Jet Set's style, and can imagine a shiny neon version of that genre, this soundtrack will not disappoint in the slightest.

Hideki Naganuma created two tracks that sound like love letters to Jet Set in addition to the music that Cedric created that unmistakably matches Hover's aesthetic.

I give it 5/500000 because numerical ratings are overrated: buy this soundtrack.

I don't really do much with reviews, but I feel I probably should. I'll edit this a little bit as I continue playing the game, but honestly I'm having a good time just playing it. The game is damn well optimized, granted I have the reccomended system requirements for it. Combat's fun, stealthing is fun (especially without that cheap cloak), and the world is engaging. But that's all besides the point.

I noticed that most of the reviews seem to be negative because of the singleplayer transaction system integrated by Squeenix, and the terrible DLC. While I will never defend a terrible company doing terrible things, I feel it's important to differentiate between the product itself, and the company's handling of said product. The microtransactions in singleplayer is something I have yet to even /notice/ at all. As far as I can tell I've either been blind to it or it's something you have to seek out: regardless the inclusion of it at all is a damn insult to gamers everywhere and customers as well. Squeenix needs to answer for this absurdity. ...However, that doesn't mean the game, made by Eidos, is inherently deserving of a ton of negative reviews. I'd rather this 8-9/10 game not be bombed on by the decisions of Squeenix, but it seems that may be the case... And that's just sad.

TL:DR
Squeenix is possibly now the WORST game company EVER by sticking MICROTRANSACTIONS FOR CONSUMABLES into a SINGLEPLAYER MODE for this game. Tops anything I've seen yet. But is DE:MD a bad game? Not in the slightest.
Reccomended for the product, damnation on Squeenix.