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He’s blue, he’s spiky, and he’s in 3D again

Sonic die-hards are a lot like Liverpool fans: always harking back to the old days, praying that a new year will bring a return to those glory days. “This time it’ll be different,” they say. “This time Sega will get it right.”

So guess what happened with the new Sonic Mania? The rodent actually did it – the 2D platformer is a riotous revival of his Mega Drive triumphs. We love it to bits, even if it is basically those same old games with a fresh lick of paint and a couple of new levels (see review, p104). But something else is needed to cement Sonic’s grand comeback: an added dimension.

Enter Sonic Forces, Sega’s umpteenth attempt to drag its mascot into 3D. Forces flits between vintage side-scrolling and bombastic action at a rate of knots. One level saw us zoom through a fire-filled city in the midst of a robot invasion; another boss battle pitted us against Dr Eggman (yep, him again) in a Green Hill Zone throwback.

You needn’t take on these stages as Sonic himself, though. For the first time ever, Forces gives you the chance to create your own avatar to speed through the game with… and this we’re not so sure about. If the diabolical Shadow the Hedgehog taught us anything, it’s that there’s only one star of this franchise. Sorry, Tails.

Right now, we’re tentatively excited about Sonic Forces. After decades of trial and error, it looks as though Sega might just have figured out how to get the best out of the spiky blue fella. And let’s face it, he’s got more chance of doing the double this year than Liverpool.