Sonic Frontiers Review – Into The Wild Blue Yonder

In Sonic Frontiers, Sega finds the intersection of the series’ linear past and its “open-zone” future, paying capable service to both eras of the franchise. Open Starfall Islands provide an engaging experience, and linear Cyber Space stages offer the same speed-based Sonic experience. Frontiers has its faults but it is a great experience for franchise players.

Sometimes running through the open spaces is a joy. Sonic runs effortlessly through lush green fields and sandy straights. Sonic has a lot of fun running through the island playgrounds. He can grind, boost, bounce, jump, or hit a dash button that will send him up a rail, over a spring, into a series of rings. The tight 3D gameplay makes it even more satisfying to link these segments together.

The most notable new ability in Sonic’s arsenal is Cyloop, a blue trail you activate with a push of a button. Cyloop has utility in combat – drawing a circle around enemies deals damage, stuns them, or breaks off armor – but its primary use is in exploration; if ever I didn’t know what to do, the answer was typically to draw a Cyloop around the object in question. Even running in circles can spawn infinite rings. I used this method often in boss battles. Although I enjoy this mechanic, it sometimes feels a little too restrictive.

On top of that, several areas of the open zones aren’t optimized for exploration. The most dangerous obstacle courses in the real world are some of them. The number of times that I attempted to travel in one direction and hit a dash board sent me flying in the opposite direction hundreds of miles before I realized what was happening. Atrocious pop in, which affects only the platforming and rail elements, makes it hard to know how to navigate. Others segments will force you into 2D and lock you onto a path that you must follow until the sequence is completed or you can retrace your steps. When combined with various dead-ends and areas that feel overtly tucked away, the world design of Sonic Frontiers doesn’t reach the standard of modern open-world games.

Although there is a lack of cohesiveness in the open-zone layout, the islands are able to provide the main gameplay loop. While exploration rewards you with memory tokens that allow you to advance the side-character stories and lore drops, the actual experience of exploring every island on an island is not as rewarding.

When you’re not sprinting between destinations, Sonic Frontiers gives players the most comprehensive combat mechanics in the series’ history. As you encounter new foes who are able to counter or block your attacks, what started as simple button-mashing for melee combinations evolves. You can unleash more devastating damage to your enemies by increasing the level of your skill tree. Combat isn’t my favourite part of the game, but I did enjoy engaging with enemy foes when they appeared. The collectibles made it worthwhile, and there were skill points that could be used to increase your collection.

The greatest reward is overcoming enemies or mini-boss Guardians. The Guardians provide unique battles against many monsters and require that you use different strategies to win. From creatures that take you on an adventure through the land to tanks that form a closed circle and make the encounter more intense, it was exciting to find out who the boss of the next island.

Cyber Space Gears can be obtained for defeating Guardians. They allow you access to the traditional 3D Sonic levels. The stages are short and concise, and often last less than two minutes. Four objectives are included in each stage, which grant the Chaos Emerald Vault Key. This key is the primary collectible that allows you to progress the main story.

To achieve these goals, I enjoyed playing through the levels multiple times. The satisfaction of speedrunning these branching stages was beyond words. Unfortunately, S-Rank times don’t always work out well. I might be able to beat the time the first time, and others will not happen unless I do a flawless run.

The culmination of each island is a massive boss battle against that area’s Titan. Although each Titan battle will be different, they all involve you taking on an enormous foe like Super Sonic. Since Sonic’s golden form is invincible but slowly depletes rings, the battles are more about beating the clock than worrying about damage. As their attack and projectile spam aim to slow you down, frustration can often result. These battles are a joy to watch, with their epic battles and climactic music.

Juxtaposed against the grand scale of these bombastic boss battles, Sonic’s adventure is a largely solitary experience. Except for occasional encounters with his friends, and an occasionally mischievous A.I. The hero does it all alone. This, combined with the minimalistic music score, sets a contemplative tone that I rather enjoyed despite its seeming opposition to the series’ theme of speed.

The more serious narrative is complemented by this tone. Blue hedgehog, the eponymous species, is still a fun-loving speedster. This story takes place around an unknown species, which seems to have suffered a terrible fate long before. It works well, though. This story has some of the most memorable character moments and context callbacks from series history. Sonic 3 through Sonic Forces fans will enjoy the references that the characters make back to previous adventures. I won’t spoil the conversation, but one chat Sonic has with a friend about personal growth is as heartfelt as the franchise has ever been.

Though it’s rough around the edges, Sonic Frontiers is the best 3D Sonic game in years. This first attempt at the open-zone concept is an admirable effort, and I can’t wait to see how Sonic Team iterates on this formula in future entries, but it’s obvious this is not the formula’s final form. For now, Sonic Frontiers stands as a solid first foray into a brave new world for Sega’s speedy mascot.