The Sonic Forces Demo Is Pointlessly Short

So there’s some good news and bad news for those of you that want to give Sega‘s Sonic Forces a test drive before it releases next month.

First up is the good news. A new demo is available for the Nintendo Switch in Japan, and there’s a pretty good chance that we’ll be seeing the demo as part of the eShop update sometime over the next couple of weeks.

And the demo gives you a lot to do. There are three different scenarios that you can play through in it, including a boss battle with classic Sonic, a run through Green Hill Zone with modern Sonic, and a Space Port level where you can run through with your Avatar character. Better still, the demo runs in beautiful 720p at 30 frames per second, so you can enjoy its visual splendor whether you’re on the go or at home.

Now…for the bad news. The demo comes with a ridiculous limitation that we can’t quite figure out. See, you can try all these levels out at your leisure. But the thing is, you only have one minute to do so. Each.

That means you’ll be running through your boss battle with classic Sonic and just when you’ve got him on the ropes, you get a message telling you “Thank you for playing!” Uh…what?

Sega hasn’t provided comment in regards to the limitation of the demo, and also hasn’t noted if the U.S. version will be the same. But one minute really doesn’t seem to provide that much time to enjoy what the game is about. Sega has hosted Sonic Forces at trade sessions over the summer, and while they were short, they did provide a good idea of what it would be like to go through all these stages. This demo really doesn’t seem to do that.

The game isn’t bad, by any means. Based upon what we’ve seen thus far, it’s a pretty impressive set of demos. But, seriously, a time limit? Imagine going to a store and playing Super Mario Odyssey on a kiosk, and just when you’re about to get your first Moon, it resets. C’mon, Sega, give us a prolonged demo already.

Sonic Forces releases on November 7th for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch and PC.