So I've beaten Forces. It's at most a 6/10 game. I enjoyed it more than Lost World, but it's far worse than Unleashed/Gens as a boost game, the worse classic Sonic game since Genesis (GBA port) and it's what I'd call a "tunnel vision" game. There's so many oversights to what would have normally been spot checked for quality control that it honestly leaves me more baffled then mad. To make it short;
>Modern Sonic's air controls, in 3D, are somehow worse than in 2D. Your momentum carries in 2D almost like in the classic games, EXCEPT when you let go of the stick all together, which you instantly stop on a dime. It's jarring and awkward, but only when you actively let go of the stick
>Classic Sonic's air controls are the exact opposite , you stop on a dime no matter what you do and it feels terrible . I don't understand how both Sonic's can have completely different controls both between dimensions AND between just Modern Sonic himself. the OC has similar controls to Modern Sonic to notice anything different. You also have 8 directional movement, just like Lost World, which is terrible.
>Classic Sonic's physics are, in all do respect, not as bad as people claim, because the surprising thing is, if you rolled like you'd should, you actually gain momentum… too much momentum. The level design just wasn't made like the classics (or at least, not 1 to 1 to it) for such an overpowered speed cap since the physics aren't as air tight as the classics, leaving to weird start and stop moments on some walls, and other times, you just jet down a 90 degree incline for no reason. The physics are likely as bad as people claim because they never roll in these examples I see online that I've noticed for the past 3 years since the game came out. All in all, it's better and worse than Generations (which actively slows you down if you rolled) but obviously, Mania and all the genesis games pail in comparison to both Gens/Forces Classic.
>The OC is the highlight of the game. I really think if they took a page out of AHiT for how this worked the OC could have been the best part of the game tenfold. But as it is, the OC is too restrictive to both how you design your OC (for reasons I heard was to keep them from being "too cool" next to Sonic) and how you can colorize your outfits, my biggest issue with the OC. Otherwise, it's actually fun and cute for the game's benefit.
Overall, all I can say that was good as well was the graphics. The HE2 when you actually see it in game is vastly better than the HE1. I did like the higher contrast of highlights and shadows in Unleashed over Forces, but overall, the biggest issue with Forces isn't the HE2, it's the art design of the entire game. They had it better in Unleashed/Gens and should have stuck with that. Really, Forces as a whole would have been an 8/10 or even 9/10 game if they stuck with Unleashed/Gens as a base to begin with instead of modding Lost World instead.