A Deep Dive On Sonic Frontiers Combat And Boss Battles

Sega’s swift blue hedgehog has been crushing Badniks from his first encounter in Green Hill Zone with a Motobug. However, combat has always been secondary to speed and platforming. Sonic Frontiers is looking to expand that aspect of the game’s gameplay, unlike previous games, such as Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) and Sonic and the Black Knight.

Sonic Team was determined to allow players greater freedom when creating Sonic Frontiers. This was achieved by creating an open-zone model that lets players explore and move through different biomes, without any predetermined paths. This shift from linear stages to large open zones is perhaps the most significant in the new Sonic the Hedgehog. However, I found that combat played a larger part than I anticipated as I walked through Kronos Island over my three hours.

Director Morio Kishimoto explains that Sonic games are stage-clear, action games with a long history. “Sonic’s focus has not been on combat or battle in Sonic’s past. We are adding a core battle system to this title because it is essential in creating an open-world game environment.

A few minutes after running through the open area, I run into a group of simple enemies. Sonic’s trademark “homing” attack lets me get in close to enemies and bounce around between them. It feels similar to previous Sonic games. However, once you are within close range, you can press that button again to unleash a melee attack on your target. These early enemies don’t require much thought, but as I approach my first destination – an in-world boss labeled “formidable enemy” – I see that combat in Sonic Frontiers is not going to be about mindlessly bouncing from enemy to enemy.

Takashi Iizuka, Sonic Team’s creative officer says that combat in previous Sonic games was more like an accent. This gave high-speed action a rhythm. We’re creating a stronger sense of tension, and more tactical combat this time. The tactics have been used to design all of our enemies.”

When I reach my destination, I am immediately able to see the results of this shift in design philosophy. At the point I had set, a Ninja, a large robotic animal with cutting blades and arms is waiting for me. The Ninja is not as fast I was with my other enemies. I try to rush him, but this proves foolish. I sprint towards it, and then use my homing attack as a way to close the gap. Unfortunately, there are only a handful of melee attacks left before the Ninja loads up, and starts slashing at Sonic with its sharp bladed arms. Sonic goes flying (along with the rings I collected) and the Ninja continues its warpath. It dances in the distance and I begin to piece together its attack patterns. Sonic’s speed is faster than the Ninja, however.

Once the Ninja is done with its spinning maneuver, in which it wields its swords in an ominous fashion, I am ready to strike. The boss is my target. I unload the previous combo and start chipping away at its decently-sized health. This is how I continue to do it a few more times. Portal Gears can be found in the Cyber Space areas scattered across the open spaces. Some Bosses also allow you to enter new areas. I was able to gain access by using the Ninja, which allowed me to see a larger portion of Kronos Island.

After my encounter with Ninjas, I am able to earn enough skill points for Cyloop. It is one of Sonics new abilities, which can be found within Frontiers’ skill tree. The reveal trailer shows Cyloop. It is also featured on the cover of the magazine. Cyloop creates a glowing trail that leads to the Blue Blur and creates various effects when it’s drawn into a circle. It creates several rings by performing it in the middle. I use it later to extinguish multiple torches at once to solve a puzzle. Cyloop’s greatest utility is in combat. By drawing a circle around a group of enemies, I create area-of-effect damage; it doesn’t deal devastating damage by any stretch of the imagination, but it helps with crowd control. 

You can expand your skill tree by accumulating more skill points. I spot abilities like Sonic Boom (shoot projectile blades mid-combo), Wild Crash (run towards enemies with a zig-zag pattern to avoid their attacks), and Accel Rush (increased power when you max out your combo meter), in addition to hidden skills that unlock as you play through the campaign. Iizuka says that Sonic starting at maximum power would have made combat tedious and boring. So we designed the skill tree to gradually unlock Sonic’s abilities.

Kishimoto states that there are many fighting games, however, this game focuses on how Sonic fights. What kind of enemies Sonic should face, their skills, and what Sonic needs to do to win them. “We are not making a Sonic game where the combat and fighting is the core fun element, rather we want to present a game that has a fun combat that suits Sonic’s character – that’s the fundamental idea.”

Sonic can unlock those various abilities as he progresses through the game, but for now, I just have Cyloop. Tower, the boss next to me is a good example of this ability. A tall, multi-stacking creature appears in the distance. As I race towards it, I use the shoulder buttons to avoid the projectiles. When I get there, my homing attack allows me to close in on it and offer another option. Every section that I remove makes the task shorter. This gives me flashbacks of Sonic the Hedgehog 3’s Egg Rocket boss at Sonic the Hedgehog 3’s Launch Base Zone. Although the combination of homing and melee is very effective, the circle that revolves around the Tower can slide up or down to defend me if I am too close. Thankfully, melee attacks aren’t the only way to knock the Tower down a notch; by drawing a Cyloop circle around the base, I can also destroy the boss’ segments.

It moves quickly after I have taken out some pieces of the Tower. It continues to attack me as I chase it. It is able to catch me and I launch another attack on it, shrinking it further. My systematic approach to destroying the Tower makes it enjoyable, and you can watch each piece fall. Finally, I finish the job by repeating the entire process again. 

The Tower was the first to show me that Sonic Frontiers’ boss battles will be different. Kishimoto explains that boss battles in Sonic 2 were more like minigames, which would allow you to access the next world once cleared. It was an accent to the main Sonic game experience. Sonic Frontiers will be breaking from the old’minigames boss battle’ mindset and designing boss battle experiences that make the most of the new open-zone format. Although this may not be something that’s been attempted before in this particular genre of games, I believe the Sonic movie could serve as an example. [one of the] battles.”

Maybe the boss Kishimoto meant Asura. It is a giant beast that can reach the height of a building. Sonic slams Asura’s arm into the ground, but it is not my fault. I continue running up its arm toward the top while it is still on the ground, and avoid any obstacles. After reaching the top, I use a combination of melee and a homing attack to target another nearby spire. Asura violently shakes Sonic to get Sonic off the ground after it has destroyed the first three of its spires. After the massive boss has thrown its arm in the ground, I continue the task two more times. Due to new obstacles, each successive ascent becomes more challenging than the one before. I made it to the top of the last spire, where the boss was erecting its tower.

Sonic Frontiers is a solid experience in the early hours. A couple of cutscenes are shown after I have completed the Cyber Space third stage. While the first shows Dr. Eggman struggling to find a way out of Cyber Space, Sonic is in his own dilemma. Over the Blue Blur, a huge creature called a Titan towers. Sonic meets a child-like creature who tells him that he is not strong enough and not to attack Titan. Sonic disregards this warning and speeds at the beast. Sonic is sent flying in opposite directions by the Titan with seemingly little effort. Sonic quickly realizes that the Chaos Emeralds are what he needs to defeat something as powerful. While I did not get to fight Titan in my demo of the game, the cutscene does set the scene for an encounter later in the game.

After the cutscene ends, I continue to roam Kronos Island, meeting more simple enemies as I go. While these are more complex enemies than the first enemies that spawned by me at the start of my demo, they fall well short of how involved the Ninja, Tower, and Asura battles were. A spherical, blob-like creature is one enemy I found. It also has an electric current, which it activates when I stay too long. This forces me to think strategically about my combos. You must get into it and perform a fast combo to break down its armor. Then wait until the electricity stops flowing. It will then regenerate my armor if it hits you or is too slow with its follow-up attacks. 

An enemy I also found was a highly-armored, unbreakable creature. However, my initial assumptions proved false as it is easily accessible by simply making a Cyloop circle. I finally encountered a wheel-like enemy. It doesn’t seem to pose a great threat to Sonic until he gets too close or it is defeated. Sonic can be spotted following the enemy at high speed, until it becomes too close to Sonic.

Sonic gives me a quick tutorial to learn how to counter, which I use to get to my next boss. Another Ninja appears to be nearby. Although the first encounter was difficult, I manage this second one with relative ease. While I think the majority of my success can be attributed to me still learning the controls from the initial encounter, I also found the parry helpful. Sonic responds to the Ninja with a massive combo. Then, it is time to clean up any remaining health before I can challenge the bosses that remain in the game.

Before my time with Sonic Frontiers comes to a close, I spot one more thing I want to do before I hand over the controller. Iizuka said that there are large enemies you can see far from home. To progress in this game there is no specific order. You can go wherever you like, the player will be able to move forward by taking on that interest.

A Flyer is the name of the flying creature that I see soaring above the landscape. The Flyer glides through the sky like a dragon and has a tail that resembles a ribbon. Follow it by foot until it reaches a height where I can leap onto its tail. It turns the tail into a kind of treadmill, where it shoots projectiles down its runway while I dodge and make my way towards its head. After I have avoided enough lasers, and I reach the front of the Flyer, I land my homing attack. The Flyer then becomes stationary. This makes the encounter more traditional and arena-style.

While The Flyer made me laugh, I still remember it as one of my most memorable moments in my time with Sonic Frontiers. Sonic Team was determined to provide unique encounters with bosses and enemies that reflected Sonic’s new abilities. This is the part that I look forward to the most, especially the encounters with bosses.

Sonic Frontiers will arrive this holiday season on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S (PSP), PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Switch.