This review may contain some minor spoilers to the first part of the game but I'll try not to ruin too much.
I was very worried about Sonic Frontiers. I was thinking that it was going to be a lame rehash of 2017's Sonic Forces. Poor Sonic can't get a break these days with being the butt of the internet jokes about how bad his modern games have been lately. We've had lame games the past decade. Some have been a hit or miss. I liked Sonic Lost World despite everyone hating on it for whatever reason. Then the Blue Blur got redesigned for those dodgy Sonic Boom games back in 2014. What the heck was that all about. While Sonic Mania from 2017 was a love letter to the 2D era fans, Sonic Frontiers seems like a love letter to the Adventure Era fans.
Sonic Mania from 2017 was a love letter to the 2D era fans while Sonic Frontiers seems like a love letter to the Adventure era fans.
Of course despite how hard Sonic Team will try, and I am pleased they really did put a huge amount of effort into this game, making it not only a wide range of new and old experiences, I am certain a lot of critics and reviewers are going to bag on about this game simply because it's a modern 3D Sonic game, and that's what they do. I've already seen some good reviews and some bad reviews, but the bad reviews seem clickbaity as if they haven't really played a lot of the game to get the full experience, or aren't really Sonic fans at all.
Sonic Frontiers offers a new experience which is exactly the breath of fresh air that this franchise drastically needed. Instead of super linear gameplay , we are greeted with the 5 huge open worlds of the Starfall Islands, a new and mysterious zone full of exploration and wonder, bad robots and complicated puzzles to solve. While you are solving these puzzles and defeating these bad guys, you are shaping the world around you.
I wanted Frontiers to take me back to the 10 year old kid I was at SEGA World Sydney causing lines while playing the Sonic Adventure demos on the Dreamcast back in 1999. At first I was cautiously optimistic about this game to cautiously wary. Now since i've been playing this game today for at least 3 hours so far a lot of my fears have been put to rest. I really do like Sonic Frontiers!
The first time I jumped into the game I was greeted by a incredibly stressful tutorial level of Green Hill Zone messed up with AI glitches, and a electronic techno beat playing in the background repeating the phrase 'You are not in control.' over and over again. The Cyberspace levels are really wide, and although are mostly bite sized like 1 - 2 minutes, they offer a lot of exploration and you can even slow down and find new pathways here and there to unlock more Red Rings or areas in the stage.
I found the tutorial level to be most stressful. I accidentally fell off the stage more than once because I didn't know if the AI had a barrier or not. I just wanted to test stuff out. I thought I was literally going to die if I didn't complete this tutorial stage.
You then get thrown into the mysterious and arid lands of the Starfall Islands, the first one is the Kronos Island. You are not met with very many helpful hints. It's up to you to explore the whole island yourself. Then hints and tips start coming to you. Sonic has a brand new combat system in this game which includes punching and kicking. Classic moves such as the homing attack and bounce attack return, but we have new moves such as the Cyloop which allows you to turn into a lit up version of Sonic like in Sonic Adventure's light speed dash and can circle enemies to attack them. They will explode within the cyloop and their health will be significantly impacted.
There are different combinations of attack moves like in Sonic Unleashed but without the werehog. Also, Sonic Frontiers has its very own unique day & night cycle. Something that Sonic 06 was originally going to have.
For me it's just a joy to play something different and unique for Sonic that has never been done before. In the open world Island areas you run around in, you eventually discover a lot of these scary looking giant robots. They are called Titans. There are different types of Titans. I remember the Titans. There are, for example, Ninja, Squid, Tower and Asura, a large Titan that you run up to and hit him on the head to kill. I found the Titans to be quite scary. I think I was most terrified of the Tower Titan. I was hitting him for a while and I said 'wow that was easy.' then he starts chasing me around the place and shoots at me from all angles. I spoke too soon.
You eventually discover a lot of these scary looking giant robots. They are called Titans. There are different types of Titans. I remember the Titans.
I've currently been running around Kronos Island for about 3 hours and during this time i've only done about 4 Cyberspace levels. I don't really know how many full Cyberspace stages there are. There was so far only 1 I did that was a full 2D level played as Modern Sonic. Though some of the levels are alternative to Sonic Generations, others are different City levels. I haven't played the whole levels yet. I was at first disappointed that the game was reusing Generations stages like Green Hill, Chemical Plant and Sky Sanctuary but we gotta remember this was supposed to be an anniversary game to be released last year. The Cyberspace stages don't even take up the full amount of the game.
At one point I found Big The Cat who returns from his Sonic Adventure glory days. I got so pleased to see Big The Cat again that I cheered in excitement. He does a fishing mini game. Of course it's a Sega game so there's a fishing game in it. Big's fishing game is actually quite addictive and fun. I enjoyed my time on it and caught a few bangers before I ran out of tokens and got incredibly depressed.
The Cyberspace stages don't even take up the full amount of the game.
I think that a lot of the bad reviews i've had a look at for this game are seemingly confused as to who the game is for or aren't really Sonic fans to begin with. I think Sonic Frontiers has something really good going for it. I haven't really encountered any bugs or glitches yet. The open worlds are really super fun to explore and I really love the soundtrack , the new combat and the amount of time it takes to complete the game. I really want to take my time with it. I would like to 100% everything. I'm really enjoying what I have seen so far.
One of my very minor complaints though is the voice cast, sadly Roger Craig Smith is still voicing Sonic and for whatever reason he sounds really weird in this game. Like 10 times older than normal. Big the Cat sounds like Yogi Bear for whatever reason. Thankfully Sonic's mostly quiet during the game where you run around in the open levels and cyberspace levels. There's no completely irritating in game exploration dialogue or cringeworthy jokes like Forces had (Green Hill's lookin a bit more like Sand Hill!") which is really nice. Just the occasional 'AAAAAAAAAAAAH' when Sonic falls off a cliff or something.
There's no completely irritating in game exploration dialogue or cringeworthy jokes like Forces had which is really nice. Just the occasional 'AAAAAAAAAAAAH' when Sonic falls off a cliff or something.
Sonic Team did seem to put a lot of care and effort into this game. I really do love the new experience. As an Old-skool Sonic fan, I think that Sonic Frontiers is a step in the right direction after a lot of the lackluster games we've had in the past. If Sega still continue to go through this direction, then i'll be pleased to play more Sonic games like this in the future.
Sonic Team did seem to put a lot of care and effort into this game. I really do love the new experience.
I have not explored the full game yet but I do hope to come back to it and play it more. I can't wait to see what I can discover next.
Pros:
- Big, vibrant and impressive open worlds, full of things to explore, reminding me of the Sonic Adventure games
- The new combat system is super fun
- The soundtrack is absolutely brilliant
- I like the wide open Cyberspace levels
- Big's fishing game is addictive as heck
- Full of surprises and new discoveries that would even impress older fans
Cons:
- Some Cyberspace levels are just reused from Sonic Generations
- The Cyberspace worlds are very difficult to find within each islands
- Some of the boss hints should be explaind better
- Roger Craig Smith sounds as bland and lifeless as ever , just replace the game cast with the Sonic Prime cast already!
- Could use without Ian Flynn's lame writing
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