Ranking Sonic Forces Levels

 Sonic Forces is one of those games I have so much fascination with. I really think this could've been one of my favorite Sonic games because it gets so much right. I love how it looks, how it sounds, the whole war theming for the story is really fun, I love how responsive and tight this game feels at high speeds, and everything about the Avatar is brilliant-implemented from the robust customization, to the varied Wispons offering plenty of replay value, to their surprisingly cute little character arc. However, Forces' critical flaw is that it just feels so undercooked. I wouldn't necessarily call it too short because it's roughly the length of Colors and Generations both casually and if you go for 100%, but it does feel like it didn't have enough time to fully explore all of its ideas and the unrefined platforming only adds to the feeling of unfinishedness. Still, if there's one thing I can give Forces, it's that it's able to make most of its levels feel memorable in some way, so I wanted to go ahead and rank them.

Also just to make things easier for myself, I won't be including the boss fights or the short unlockable bonus levels. It just didn't feel fair to compare them to the actual stages. I will be including the levels in Shadow's campaign though since they do feel fleshed-out enough to count. So without further ado, let's get to ranking:

26. Aqua Road
The vast majority of Aqua Road is spent on waterslides, which sounds like a fun spectacle until you realize how much it limits your control. As in, you can really only move left and right. No jumping, no wispons, no gaining speed, and this all makes the stage feel really static and unengaging. Sure, you can make leaps of faith by steering off the edge of a slide and landing onto another, and pulling that off can be exhilirating, but that's just not enough to make up for how dull this stage feels to play. And don't even get me started on the several frustrating do-or-die collectibles on said slides that also make this stage an absolute pain to fully complete. The gorgeous moonlit setting and phenomenal vocal track try their damndest, but they can't save Aqua Road for being a pretty glaring weak point for Forces.

25. Eggman's Facility
Episode Shadow may be short but I think it does a good job at taking pre-established levels and making them more complex and engaging, with one unfortunate exception. Eggman's Facility tries its best to make Aqua Road work by adding more hazards on the slide, but it's still pretty one-note and once again suffers from some obnoxious collectibles with long runbacks. Not much else to say here, this is the one major stinker of Shadow's campaign for me.

24. Lost Valley
When I think of automation in Sonic Forces, Lost Valley is the first stage to pop up for me. Because at the very least, most Boost stages in this game give you wiggle room to move left and right, grab some rings or blast through some enemies for those extra points. This does not apply in Lost Valley though where all the 3D sections straight-up magnetize you to the middle while boosting, so the stage really does play itself for most of it. Thankfully, the 2D section is decent and has a few branching paths but the stage as a whole is so short that it really doesn't add up to much. At least this is only the prologue stage but still, Sonic games have made much stronger first impressions than this.

23. Sunset Heights
Despite being the first level shown for Forces, Sunset Heights is kind of the biggest disappointment in the entire game for me. This should be the big showstopper stage, Sonic finally arriving in the wartorn city to save the day. The music is heroic, the backdrop is thick with atmosphere... but the level itself is mostly just Park Avenue again, with most of that stage's depth and complexity stripped away and replaced with one of the most linear 3D sections in the game. I really don't know what happened here because this is the only time Forces flat-out reuses stage layouts, and this feels like the worst possible stage for this to happen with.

22. Final Judgement
In general, I think Forces has a pretty strong final third but Final Judgement is easily the one notable weak spot in an otherwise great finale. To be fair, this stage comes after the final gauntlets for all three major gameplay styles and is clearly trying to capture the same vibe as Terminal Velocity. And in some ways, this is a better level. The quickstep section at the start is genuinely pretty tight, and is more varied and challenging than Terminal. And the Heart Of Nova-esque midboss is also pretty neat. But then... the stage just ends. Final Judgement is half the length of Terminal Velocity and lacks its same atmosphere and sense of urgency. I still found this to be a more fun stage than the ones earlier on the list because what is here is pretty neat, but man it really needed to be longer. 

21. Luminous Forest
Man, Modern Sonic's first few levels are pretty mindless, huh? Luminous Forest is infamous for its lengthy opening that really just has you run in a straight-line for like 20 seconds, and while rings and robots do encourage you to at the very least steer yourself left and right for points, it is a pretty boring start. However, once you hit the 2D section, this stage does actually pick up with some solid platforming across rotating platforms, branching paths, and even a few skips you can make with boost jumps. And the following 3D section while back to being pretty linear does have a few important cuts to take, but the stage does end on a whimper with a QTE. So on the whole, Luminous Forest is a mixed bag which really stings coming off a solid streak of stages.

20. Chemical Plant
Despite Classic Sonic's physics quirks, I actually think most of his levels are alright. They tend to have the most fleshed-out design and sprawling layouts, and it helps that Classic Sonic can actually handle precision platforming decently well, not to mention how good the drop dash feels in this game specifically. Chemical Plant is almost a perfectly solid Classic Sonic stage. There's plenty of big ramps that you can get a lot of speed rolling down, and a decent amount of secret paths. However, this is also one of the flatter Classic Sonic stages and lacks some of the tighter jumps of his other stages. But what really drags down Chemical Plant for me is the water sections. I'm a Sonic water physics hater and while I'm glad this is the only time it shows up in Forces, it feels particularly sluggish and unbearable in this game.

19. Green Hill
The most average stage in the entire game. Green Hill doesn't do anything particularly wrong (except that music), but like, it's a basic Green Hill stage. There's plenty of branching paths, it's a decent length, you have some solid platforming at points, and the Drop Dash gets plenty of very fun application here... but it's still Green Hill. Very light on interesting gimmicks or mechanics, and this far into the game, it just brings the tone Forces had built up to a screeching halt. Still, as basic as it is, Green Hill very much does the job and it was an enjoyable stage to master.

18. Park Avenue
Park Avenue is a solid Avatar stage that starts off a bit slow but really gets going in its latter half with a wide variety of paths, some of which showing off a variety of Wispons. I spent a while replaying this one just to see everything it had to offer, and it can prove to be especially fun with some of the more speed-focused Wispons like Drill. Not to mention the heart-pumping Justice being one of my favorite tracks in the game. If I had any major nitpicks, there are way too many of those scripted grapples even in cases where they didn't really seem needed, and I do wish the brief 3D section at the start had a bit more going on. But overall, this stage was a fun time and easily the superior city stage over Sunset Heights for me.

17. Ghost Town
As a debut stage for this iteration of Classic Sonic, Ghost Town isn't half-bad. Being set in the city biome definitely helps it stand out already, and I like how visually distinct the upper paths on the rooftops and the lower paths in the sewers look. There may not be much in the way of cool gimmicks here, but the level design is tight enough for pretty fun Drop Dash-focused speedruns that almost feel too fun for a tutorial level. Also it helps that Ghost Town easily has the best Classic Sonic music track both in terms of composition and sound quality.

16. Spaceport
Spaceport primarily stands out for being one of the longest stages in the game. It's got 3D sections, 2D sections, a mercifully short first QTE, the introduction of rail-grinding, the first truly well hidden Red Coin in the game, and on top of all that, it does a very solid job of introducing the Avatar's gameplay and how it all works. Being a tutorial level, I do wish it had more application for Wispons that aren't Burst or Lightning, but it's still a complete package that serves as a breath of fresh air coming off of Lost Valley. While Forces is still a pretty simple game, at least this level showed it's not gonna be that simple.

15. Arsenal Pyramid
Arsenal Pyramid is definitely one of the most unique settings in the game being mostly set in a factory filled with gears to platform across. As the first Tag Team level, this stage has a little bit of everything from platforming to combat to branching routes to game-breaking Wispon skips to clever collectible placement to skydiving, and the soundtrack is an absolute banger across the board, but it does also have some clear flaws. The outdoor section is too short to the point where you barely get to hear its unique theme song, the Double Boost is a token example of Forces automation, and the Lightning Wisp skips might be a bit too broken for their own good especially with how much more enjoyable playing the stage casually is. 

14. Iron Fortress
Iron Fortress is the most divisive level in Sonic Forces, with some loving it for its challenge and others hating it for its slow pace. I'm right in the middle on this one, myself. As a final platforming gauntlet for Classic Sonic, Iron Fortress definitely does the job. The original gimmicks like the firework hazards and spinning wheels that can launch you are well-implemented, and Classic Sonic's movement can actually handle the tight platforming this level demands very well. However, what really drags this stage down for me is its absolute bore of an autoscrolling section, which is not only at odds with what Sonic as a franchise is, but it's also just too slow and kills the pacing. So yeah, this one's a mixed bag with some high highs and low lows.

13. Guardian Rock
Guardian Rock is one of the more inventive levels in Sonic Forces, having you dodge the giant legs of robot crabs. It's a solid cycle-based platforming gimmick that offers a decent challenge even if it also kinda exposes how much the Avatar struggles with precise platforming. Being a late-game Avatar stage, there is a metric ton of branching Wispon paths here, and it even has my favorite QTE as the ending escape from a giant crab is actually just mostly quick-steps. If Guardian Rock had like one proper 3D section to round it out, we'd probably have something pretty special on our hands here.

12. Casino Forest
I was expecting to hate this stage going in knowing how much I hate it when Sonic forces janky pinball physics on you, note Sonic Heroes and Sonic Frontiers. So imagine my surprise when I realized Casino Forest's pinball physics are not only perfectly functional, but might even feel better than Classic Sonic's normal physics. Sure they may not be pinball accurate, but once I got a feel for how the bumpers in Casino Forest work, I was able to guide Classic Sonic around with a surprising amount of confidence and intentionality. On top of that, Casino Forest has all the staples of Classic Sonic's stage like a solid array of branching paths, but it also really benefits from being having of the more original premises as well. We've seen plenty of casino levels but built into a forest is novel, and really helps this stage stand out.

11. Null Space
Null Space seems to be one of the most beloved stages in the game and I'm not sure I fully get the hype unfortunately. This stage's best attribute is how open it is, with tons of branching paths that loop around on themselves, and since this is a tag-team stages, there's also a whole bunch of Wispon paths that add even more complexity to the layout. Most of the stage is rail-grinding and combat arenas, even Arsenal Pyramid has more actual platforming, but there also aren't any easy skips. You will have to engage with the level design pretty much throughout here. However, the stage is dragged down by one critical flaw. The null space opening is not only a very underwhelming waste of a cool concept, but it also means every playthrough of this stage starts with an unskippable 20-second Double Boost before you can actually start doing anything of substance. It's still a pretty solid stage with more freedom than most Forces levels, but seeing as it's surrounded by two of the game's best levels, it does feel a bit lacking in areas. 

10. Mortar Canyon
Mortar Canyon is one of the most awe-inspiring stages in the game, a Star Wars-esque trench run set entirely downhill giving you multiple opportunities to take in the scope of Eggman's colossal fortress. This is also one of the most open stages in Forces, ripe for exploration and filled with hidden paths and cool nooks and crannies. And since it's all downhill, the shortcuts here are an absolute blast. Making a leap of faith with the air boost and nailing that landing is exhilirating. However, this is also easily the most "too short" Forces stage especially with how much time you can shave off of a casual run. Double the length and Mortar Canyon would be an easy Top 3 level for me, but even as it is now, it's still really fun.

9. Enemy Territory
Now THIS is what Sunset Heights should've been. Enemy Territory is the first stage of the Shadow DLC and it makes a great first impression through how well it touches up Sunset Heights and Park Avenue, combining them to add multiple paths to the opening 3D section and introducing a variety of fun original gimmicks like balloons that keep your momentum, chains of enemies, and rotating spike balls to dodge. There's a perfect blend of speed and platforming, barely any automation, plenty of challenge, and a solid amount of tight cuts to take. And all packed into a level that's also a fairly decent length for Forces to boot.

8. Death Egg
While Green Hill and Chemical Plant retreads have been done to death, Sonic 3's Death Egg stage doesn't actually get referenced much so this is a much more welcome homage than other Classic Sonic stages, and it's pretty fun too! While maybe not as speed-focused, Death Egg is a very tight platforming gauntlet with conveyor belts, lasers, alternating paths, gravity-flipping, moving platforms, and lots more. The teleporting rings are still as boring as they were in the original S3&K stage but there's less of them here, and you can even skip one of them with clever play. 

7. Egg Gate
Despite how weak Modern Sonic's first few stages are, Egg Gate is a surprising exception that actually gets a lot right. The 2D sections are very fast-paced and tight, having to speed through crushers, use the air dash to hit collapsible staircases at the peak, and dodge cleverly-placed wall turrets. The major 3D section is also pretty cool, offering a small but memorable dose of branching paths and platforming. And in general, the whole stage has this exhilirating pace buoyed by its fantastic music and awe-inspiring setting. This really could've been a top-tier level... if it didn't end with not just a QTE, but one of the longest QTEs. We were so close...

6. Prison Hall
Prison Hall is a shining example of why I like the Avatar stages so much, this stage just feels complete in every sense of the word and you can put most of your Wispons to solid use here. The first third introduces drifting which despite being automatic is actually really fun because steering your drift onto ramps is a solid challenge that rewards you with shortcuts. The second third is a fun 2D platforming section involving elevators you can activate, and you can do some pretty solid skips with them both intentional and unintentional. And the finale is a quick step sequence which is always something I find enjoyable in these games. The darker lighting compared to other Death Egg stages along with the especially bleak vocal track also gives Prison Hall this menacing feel that really helps it stand out to me. Super underrated level, I actually really like this one!

5. Metropolitan Highway
Metropolitan Highway is probably the fast-paced stage in the game, there are no breaks here. There aren't many game-breaking shortcuts too, it's lots of small cuts that are satisfying to pull off especially in the 2D sections. The main gimmick are these moving platforms that quickly snap into place, and not only are they a pretty great gimmick with a lot of speedrun potential but they're also explored quite well. The 3D sections are unfortunately just straight-lines outside of that one cool bridge cut, but the lack of guardrails means there's still a bit of tension here and getting to see the sprawling backdrops of Metropolis gives this stage a visual flair all its own.

4. Imperial Tower
While Sonic Forces' story is generally pretty hard to take seriously, there is one element that works really well and it's the Avatar's character development. The game puts a lot of effort into selling their growth for a scared, traumatized rookie to a true hero, and Imperial Tower is the culmination of that arc. The atmosphere of racing up towards the sun that's about to scorch the earth is thick, and between plenty of tight jumps and insta-kill lasers, this level is quite the challenge. Being the final Avatar stage, basically every Wispon has their own dedicated path here and unlike in, say, Arsenal Pyramid, all of them require some level of effort. Even the Burst path which lets you skip a lot of the platforming still requires some dexterity hitting all the capsules less you fall back down to the bottom, not to mention it's not even the fastest route. With a decent runtime, a solid escalation of its main mechanics, and some legitimate challenge, this is pretty much everything I could want from the final Avatar stage.

3. Virtual Reality
This is Shadow's take on Guardian Rock and it is borderline unrecognizable, even replacing the giant crab robots for an entirely new gimmick involving dodging Infinite's cube trails. It's all very tightly-designed and can be a bit tough to deal with at first, but all the platforming feels perfectly tailored around Shadow's moveset. And most of all, fully completing Virtual Reality is the most rewarding out of any stage in Forces. Episode Shadow already has tough S ranks, but this one requires a nearly perfect run lest you get caught out of a cycle. It almost makes me wish we got more Shadow-ified levels like Enemy Territory and this one because I think they could've really buffed up some of Forces' more underwhelming stages.

 2. Network Terminal
Speaking of stages that feel complete, Network Terminal may not be particularly noticeable on a setpiece front but it makes up for that with razor-tight design. The outdoor 3D section not only looks very distinct with its snow-frosted take on Chemical Plant, but it offers up a pretty solid amount of branching paths and cool shortcuts. The 2D section is even better though, a very sprawling platforming gauntlet where you have to deal with waterfalls of goo that can even spin the platforms you're on. This was the stage that made me get good at Forces platforming because you will slip and fall if you're not attentive here, and the shortcuts actually make use of the slide move in some pretty fun ways. There's little automation, constant inputs, and the typically fantastic music ties it all together. There's a reason this level is still in the good graces of even the most ardent Forces haters, and it kicks off easily Forces' best streak of levels.

1. Capital City
Capital City is a great example of how linearity doesn't inherently kill a Sonic stage for me. I'd be perfectly fine with Forces being a more linear installment if all the stages were this goddamn creative. Capital City is all about Infinite messing with the Resistance's minds, including yours! He'll start flipping around gravity making you run on ceilings and on the sides of buildings, and summon giant Infinites that break the terrain you're on. Sometimes in Forces, it feels like all the losses and wins are happening off-screen, but this stage is so frenetic and tense that it really feels like you're being swept up in this devastating loss and are just barely trying to make it out alive. It's also mostly in 3D and there's a nice balance of proper platforming, Wispon application, and quick-stepping to make this level feel all rounded-out and developed. Out of every stage, this is the one that does the most to show what Sonic Forces could've been.