User blog comment:Myself 123/Sonic Forces is Generations behind/@comment-2202259-20171208042631

All I can say is that all the excessive praise of Gens is exactly why Forces tried to bring back the Nostalgia. However there was a problem of inevitable whiners which was realized when making the bosses for the game, which were probably made last. You yourself complained about the nostalgia which is exactly why we didn't get the boss fight against Perfect Chaos created by the Phantom Ruby.

Shadow wasn't a boss fight because he never was intended to play the role of villain. From playing Episode Shadow it's clear that Infinite despises Shadow, & the promotional material depicting him as an antagonist was merely to trick us. Now for Infinite himself, he talks tough & is extremely overconfident of his own abilities which is the reason he let Sonic & the Custom Hero go. Now it's unfortunate we can't fight Infinite as Shadow, although he's definitely an enjoyable antagonist I want to see reused along with the return of the phantom ruby.

Now for the gameplay problems, I didn't notice any real problems with the Avatar stages, although the Homing Attack needs fixing as the lightning path in Null Space is broken with the spring getting targeted instead of the higher enemy. I still think the Sonic Fanbase caused the new engine & its problems by bashing the previous engine in Lost Worlds, which resulted in Sonic Team's choice to start over from the ground up.

I personally liked the way nostalgia was done in Forces better than how it was done in Gens. Forces used it as a seasoning/flavor opposed to Generations trying & failing to completely recreate the experiences of the games we enjoyed which only left us wanting more. Now I actually found Lost Valley more enjoyable than Green Hill Act 2 from Gens, although the Sand was really fun for me, you don't often get 1st Level Deserts. Forces spoke more to my childhood playing Adventure 2 & Mega Collection. So maybe I'm biased for being the targeted audience.

Still think about what I said about the fan/critic reception confusing Sonic Team. Also completely agreed on the "Not Gloom & Doom" section. We really should get more of the custom hero & the Hover Wisp being reworked for Tails playable would be fun in a future game. I really liked playing as Shadow, although want Blaze & Knuckles playable in future games as well.