Sonic Frontiers Review – GamesReviews.com

Sonic Frontiers is the best Sonic game of a generation. It doesn’t make much sense if you’re running faster than the blue blur. Congratulations. Win the Internet Original of the day. But trust me when I say that this is the new direction for previous console mascots.

Remember the Saturday morning cartoon Sonic? He could run on any surface, seemingly an invisible blue line, bouncing from one area to another. That’s the hedgehog I’ve always wanted to play. did. And the adventure was on the horizon before Sega decided to put its most famous creation on the track.

The track is now deleted. Well, mostly. And Sonic is free to go wherever he pleases. Well, hey.

Okay, Sonic Frontiers is “almost” a “kind of” game. As a fan, I put up with the odd to enjoy something exquisitely good.

But if you’ve never lost interest or lost trust after so many disappointments, don’t sleep on Frontiers. It’s the future – most of the time.

roll at the speed of sound

Sonic Frontiers is two games. The first is set in a vast open world. There is nothing to do, but running around is incredibly rewarding. It feels dark and depressing, with ruins and destruction everywhere you look. Sad music emphasizes that something is wrong. Add to that the ability to run from one corner of the world to another in minutes, proving that Sonic is finally the speed demon he deserves.

The second game is a Sonic game. That means stupid aims, poorly designed “action” stages, and bugs. So many bugs.

All things considered, this is a net plus for the franchise. But I think a senior came in during development, saw what was going on, and later came back with a copy of Sonic Forces and said, “This is Sonic.” is the only explanation for the part of

The gameplay loop is overly simple and complex at the same time. On each island Chaos can collect his emeralds to defeat Titan, a giant boss who keeps one of his friends trapped in digital purgatory. However, you must complete the objective first. Find friends, talk to them, collect items to help free them, do occasional missions for your friends, find gears that unlock action stages, clear action stages to unlock Chaos Emeralds. Get the key to unlock it, find your way to the Chaos Emerald, then rinse and repeat.

For those on the track: find dozens of friend items, find gears, find keys, find chaos emeralds. By and large, this is easier than it looks, as it just follows objective markers.

There are also optional collectibles that increase speed, ring capacity, strength, and defense. More on them later.

blur the lines

This is where my two-game comment comes from. Running around from point to point is great. Sonic moves like Sonic and never gets boring. Fighting enemies can be satisfying at times, a little boring at times, but it’s by no means Sonic. I can’t wait.

That’s why I can forgive Sega’s open-world strategy of “Run this way, interact with things, run this way.” that’s what i want.

Large structures in the sky and grind rails provide a slightly more difficult traverse. And despite the negative comments about this from the trailer, it was exaggerated. They never feel out of place.

By the way, the feel is great. Melancholy Sonic is exactly what you need. It’s never the best. The characters don’t feel like caricatures. No geeky sidekicks to provide laughter for kids. This is a serious game, but never too serious. The writing has taken a big step forward, but don’t expect it to be Citizen Kane. There are sweet moments, and there are callbacks that feel natural and nostalgic.

The biggest problem is when Sonic Frontier tries to become a Sonic game.

New Frontier Hedge

Each island has a set of totems that advance to action stages. All of these stages are based on the same old levels as Generations and The Force, which kept Sonic on track. These are traditional his 3D stages and don’t work as well as the rest of the game. Thankfully they tend to be short, under 90 seconds with a few exceptions.

This sets the tone for the rest of the game. Whenever you have to do something “older” Sonic would be better suited for, it feels like a slog. doesn’t get any more interesting.

But then you have to climb the Titan before the battle begins, and if done right it feels like the most epic thing ever. That’s the beauty of it. Sometimes I feel like a pro, other times I mistime a jump or fall and have to start all over again.

There are other issues with how you set it up. Game collectibles are weird. Level up your strength and defenses in seconds, especially with the fishing mini-game ripe for exploitation. I don’t mean a cheeky little trick, I mean it’s right in the game. With seemingly endless currency, you can buy anything you want for upgrades for almost free.

Speed ​​and ring limit upgrades are frustrating. You must collect smaller creatures to exchange for upgrades and each upgrade one by one. I have to click the dialog every time. Each skill has 99 levels. I’m sure someone can do the math.

Not much side content to talk about. To complete all islands 100%, you need to solve all puzzles and complete all challenges. It’s not voluminous, but it’s plenty. I believe the mileage is different.

graphics and sound

Sonic Frontiers is a beautiful game in motion. Gorgeous and fast, especially at 60fps in performance mode. In many cases. a little.

Because pop-ins have horrible problems and negatively affect your game. Sometimes something pops up in front of you, which isn’t great when you’re running really fast. Also, the answers to puzzles and explorations may not be visible even if you look straight ahead.

It’s amazing what brilliance it feels since Sonic Forces, which was decent but a bit generic.

But the flaw is obvious and should be patched. Others are difficult to talk about. It’s not fair that pop-ins just dominated the conversation. Fix it, Sega.

Music is great. The melancholy wouldn’t have been so prominent without the incredible score. That doesn’t mean you won’t be treated to some interesting tracks along the way, especially in boss fights.

The voice work is also a big improvement over previous games, and that’s mostly due to the direction. My only complaint here is that Sonic and Knuckles are too similar.

Sonic Frontier Review – Conclusion

Sonic Frontiers are diamonds in the rough. Its positives are huge and its negatives are small but many. There needs to be a spring jump in new and incredible directions that Sega needs to grasp. And I hope they do. Sonic finally feels like Sonic.

Delete an action stage. Be a happy man without ever seeing the Green Hill Zone again. Smooth out the RPG elements. Adds some side quests and a little life to the open world. And then keep the movement intact.

Easy to recommend to fans and worth a look for anyone else who wants to see where something special really started. Because Sonic Frontiers is the beginning of something special. This is the return of Blue Blur in a way we haven’t seen since 1998’s Adventure. Follow-up under the right leadership makes Frontiers a hassle-free one.

But until then, I know I’ll be back often to rip an island or two apart at the speed of sound.