I played a 2.5D level that made clever use of these abilities to hide secrets and alternate routes, providing some replay value if you fancy playing with different Wispons. Corresponding lightning or fire tokens can be collected from levels, and will charge environmental manoeuvres: the flamethrower can blast you higher into the air, while the lightning whip enables you to move at incredible speed and thus jump across gaps. I had a choice between a lightning whip and a flamethrower, each of which offers different attacks and special moves. That’s the name for the aforementioned guns. Your custom character appears in both perspectives, though their ‘Wispon’ adds a unique twist.
You’ll change characters just as you will dimensions: modern Sonic in 3D, and Sonic’s past self – aka, ‘classic’ Sonic – in 2.5D. There are also multi-stage boss fights, with the odd quick time event. Like Sonic Generations, gameplay in Forces transitions between 3D running sections where you’ll strafe across three lanes, and side-on 2.5D sections that play more like the classics. Indeed, Iizuka says he’s not trying to do anything too different from the last few 3D titles – the headline changes are a darker tone in the story, and the addition of a customisable player character with a choice of guns. Sonic Forces, meanwhile, is made by the Sonic Team, and is the latest of the modern games. It’s all 2D, all pixels, all arcade sound effects, with new levels sitting alongside remixes of the originals. Accordingly, Mania is a reimagining of the original Sonic the Hedgehog.