Mortar Canyon

Mortar Canyon (モーターキャニオン) is the twenty-sixth stage in Sonic Forces, and the ninth Sonic stage in the game.

Mortar Canyon takes place inside the Eggman Empire Fortress, and encompasses the route leading from the edge of the fortress to its Central Tower. During the events of the game, Sonic ventured through Mortar Canyon in order to confront Infinite.

Overview
Mortar Canyon is set inside the Eggman Empire Fortress, which is located in the center of a barren gray wasteland with barren mountains surrounding it. This high-tech fortification is located in the middle of a deep crater whose edges are surrounded by high walls. These walls extend into the depths of the crater, forming staircase-like levels. Rising up from the center of the crater is the Imperial Tower, a massive high-tech tower with tall metallic pieces forming hoops circling around it. The sky here is also completely overcast by gray clouds. One can also see the Resistance's air fleet fighting fiercely with the Eggman Fleet in the sky above the fortress.

Mortar Canyon itself consists of a downward slope through the metallic canyons in the fortress. The paths through the canyons consist of platforms and bridges that all sit far above the canyons' dark bottoms. Furthermore, the canyons are equipped with red lasers in many places that either survey the airspace or form laser grids covering the canyons' bottoms.

Story
Having been saved from annihilation, the Resistance army continues the battle against the Eggman Army at the Eggman Empire Fortress. Meanwhile, Tails reveals over the radio that Infinite's Phantom Ruby prototype must have been weakened from forming a virtual sun (which was destroyed by the Avatar earlier on), and that this is their one chance to finish Infinite. This prompts Sonic to make his way to Infinite. While doing so, Knuckles commands all of the Resistance ships to attack, and take as much fire-power off of Sonic as possible. Eventually though, the Resistance's ships are forced into retreat by the Eggman Fleet. By the time of the Resistance's retreat however, Sonic has already reached the central tower where Infinite is.

Gameplay
Mortar Canyon puts a lot of emphasis on the player's platforming skills. Throughout the stage are small plaforms and narrow paths, all suspended over bottomless pits; one mistake, and Sonic will fall off the edges and to his doom. The stage also has several cannons that fire projectiles; both the projectiles and cannons can be targeted (and destroyed) with the Homing Attack. The stage also has several strings of Nebulas in midair for the player to skip across (and thereby cross gaps) using the Homing Attack.

Being a Sonic stage, Mortar Canyon has numerous Wisp Capsules filled exclusively with White Wisps along the way for the player to charge their Boost Gauge with.

Description
When beginning the stage, the player starts out by grinding along a Grind Rail until they reach solid ground. As the player then approaches the entrance into the first canyon, they can choose one of three main routes to follow; the first route can be followed by sticking to the leftmost paths that appear and then sliding through a narrow entrance; the second route can be followed by sticking to the rightmost paths that appear and then follow them through a shuttle loop and down a Zip Line; and the third (and most straightforward) can be followed by sticking to the middle paths.

All three routes will eventually rejoin each other in an underpass the player will arrive at. In the vicinity of this area, the player can find a Grind Rail that will take them to a highway. On this highway, the player will encounter ostrich-like Badniks that will run from Sonic while firing missiles at him. Eventually, the highway will end in another huge canyon with numerous plaforms dotting it. The player has to use these plaforms and their gimmicks and/or enemies to get to the other side of the canyon. Once there, follow the path down a steep slope to arrive at a highway with more ostrich Badniks. Once this road ends, the player arrive in another canyon, those path through it consists of parallel paths at different heights and long platforms. After that, the player will arrive on another highway that leads straight to the Central Tower. Along it, the player will encounter numerous Egg Pawns and more ostrich Badniks while jetplanes bombard the sides of the highway. Should the player survive this road, they will eventually arrive at the goal.

Video


Mortar Canyon