Game Review: Sonic Frontiers

A good first step towards open world Sonic.

Screenshot of the main menu.

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Sonic Frontiers is the latest single-player entry in the Sonic the Hedgehog series available on all major platforms, including the Nintendo Switch, the platform I played on. Everyone's favorite blue hedgehog is speeding through an open world, sort of. After playing for over nine hours, I wanted to share my thoughts.

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Gameplay:

Screenshot of the skill tree for Sonic's abilities.

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The gameplay of Sonic Frontiers takes the kind of gameplay that you would expect from a Sonic game; 2D platforming, 3D platforming, going fast, grinding on rails, collecting rings, and destroying enemies with spin dashes; then adds a lot more, maybe a little too much. The main gameplay loop is to run around the open world area collecting coins, gears, the little creatures called Kocos, and fighting mini bosses scattered across the map, then using those gears to unlock portals. The portals take you to contained, straightforward, more classic Sonic levels, both 2D and 3D, where you try to make it to the goal as fast as possible while running down enemies and collecting stars and rings scattered around the level. You get vault keys based on how many objectives you complete for that level, and once you have enough vault keys, you unlock the vaults holding chaos emeralds; after collecting all the chaos emeralds, you can take on the big boss of the island and repeat the process for the next island. Sonic Frontiers also added a lot to the combat system. Now not only can Sonic spin dash, but he can also punch, kick, shoot projectiles, perform combos, and “Cyclone Loop,” which is the mechanic you use the most, where the player can hold down a button to leave a trail behind as Sonic runs and if he connects the loop enemies inside will get sent flying; this is the primary way for Sonic to interact with the environment. The gameplay was fun and stayed true to classic elements while adding new things to freshen it up. By far, the main boss fights at the end of each island are the highlight of the gameplay. Not to spoil too much, but the gameplay is speedy and cinematic and just what you want from a boss fight. On a slightly less positive note, I found the gameplay and controls in the “open zone” areas counterintuitive. As Sonic, you want to go fast and speed through the map, but in open areas with ruins and places to explore, you want to take your time, especially when looking for hidden items. Imagine this; you’re speeding through the open areas when you see something shiny in the distance, and right when you turn towards it, you hit a spring or dash panel ending up across the map in the other direction.

Graphics & Art style:

Screenshot of Sonic standing at the beginning of an island. Enemies and landmarks can be seen in the distance.

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Sonic Frontiers is 3D with a semi-realistic look, especially with the environments and textures. The “cyberspace” aspects of the game are shown through the use of digital or “glitchy” particles and effects used around the robotic enemies contrasting the more “realistic” natural elements in the environment. The semi-realistic look did help make the game feel more “next gen” with an overall clean aesthetic; the metallic textures were especially eye-catching. The unfortunate part about playing on the Nintendo Switch is that, unlike PlayStation and Xbox, the graphic capability doesn’t do the game justice. Overall, with what it had to work with, the game looked decent but seemed more pixelated, with some instances of trees or mountains blinking in and out of existence, but this was probably more of a console issue than the game. One gripe with the game is that there was a mini-game where you had to use your cyclone loop to clear weeds within a time limit, but if you attempted this mini-game at night, it was painful trying to differentiate between the weeds and the cleared floor.

Sound:

Screenshot of the start of a 2D level. The screen appears glitchy at first to show the transition into cyberspace.

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The music in Sonic Frontiers did a great job of matching the atmosphere and gameplay. While in the open-world areas, the music was ambient and calm, once in range of an enemy, the music became more intense. The music during the more traditional levels was much faster and upbeat, matching the gameplay and reminiscent of previous Sonic games. My favorite is the music during the main boss fights, with each boss having a different song. The music is intense and fast-paced, and unlike the rest of the music, the boss music has lyrics giving the feel that the scene is a step above the rest. The boss fights already felt grand and cinematic, but the music added an extra layer to the experience. Of course, aside from the background music, there are all the classic sound effects you expect from Sonic, collecting rings, metallic grinding of the rails, exploding robots, voice acting, and more.

Story: Minor Spoilers below!

Screenshot of a desert area, with Sonic standing in front of a group of Kocos. Landmarks and enemies can be seen in the distance.

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The story of Sonic Frontiers is interesting in that although you can play the game without any prior information, the Sonic Team released a short comic on different social media platforms, as well as an animated short for the prelude to the story of Sonic Frontiers, providing a little more context and set up for the start of the game. The Story starts with Dr. Eggman in ancient ruins, where he uses a device and gets sucked in. Cut to Sonic, Tails, and Amy flying on Tails’ plane to investigate Starfall Island. When approaching the island, they get sucked into a portal. When Sonic comes to, he’s alone, and a voice in the sky calls Sonic the “key” and says he needs to defeat the Titans and “tear down the walls between dimensions.” Sonic then finds Amy trapped. He eventually frees her, but she looks like a hologram. Sonic's friends are between the real world and “cyberspace,” and Sonic’s the only one able to break them out. Sonic must save his friends from cyberspace and figure out the mystery of the island and the mysterious child keeping her eye on him.
The air of mystery in the story is very intriguing, especially around the Kocos, a species of little sentient stone figures. There are flashbacks to some sort of war on the island involving the Kocos, but I don’t want to go into too many details. Although some parts of the story are interesting, the rest seems to follow the Sonic formula; an event happens, Dr. Eggman is involved somehow, and Sonic is miraculously the only one who escapes and must save his friends. It is common for games to follow a similar pattern, and the main character has to save the day. Still, with such a large cast of characters in the Sonic universe, it would be great to see them utilized for more than something to rescue.

Replayability:

Screenshot of the beginning of a 3D level, Sonic is running into a tunnel in an industrial level.

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Sonic Frontiers encourages players to replay levels with the grading system. After completing one of the contained levels, the player gets a letter grade based on how many objectives they achieve. Anyone who wants to 100% the game or anyone who won't accept anything less than an “S” will be able to try those levels as many times as they want, and with so many different things for Sonic to collect, you could spend hours running around the map collecting them all. However, I don’t mind if I don’t get a perfect score, which is a common occurrence for me and platformers, I want to know what happens in the story, so I probably wouldn’t go back to the game once I complete the main story.

Personal Opinion:

Screenshot of a tutorial level that takes place during loading screens. Features plain white area with Sonic and a target.

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I think that Sonic Frontiers is a significant step for the Sonic games, but there are growing pains that come with the “open world” games and opportunities for the Sonic team to learn from. The boss fights are epic cinematic moments that feel like a boss rather than just a slightly bigger enemy. The music was great and caught my attention. The environments looked great in some places and okay in others, the metallic textures looking especially clean. The story, although somewhat predictable, is still intriguing. And the expanded combat system makes the game feel new. 
However, the combat system with the skill tree, move variations, and accompanying button inputs can be overwhelming. They tried to help with tutorials during loading screens, but I stuck to the basics or button-mashing when it worked. The “open zone” areas were fun to run around, but it felt counterintuitive to speed through areas that looked ready to explore; this is one of the main growing pains the Sonic team should address for the next 3D Sonic game. I still found this to be a fun game. I’m excited for what the Sonic team will do next with what they’ve learned, but before that, I’ll need to find time to jump back in and finish the game.

My Score:

Screenshot of Sonic in the rain surrounded by rings.

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84/100 Rings

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Game Status: On hold.