Y con esto, doy concluida mi maratón jugando los juegos principales de Sonic en 3D sin "spin-offs" o juegos extra, y que puedo decir, definitivamente fue un viaje lleno de altibajos muy marcados, pero me es casi imposible decir que a pesar de eso no lo disfruté, y sinceramente, Sonic Frontiers se consagra como uno de mis juegos favoritos del erizo no solo en 3D, sino posiblemente de toda la saga, sin ser obviamente una obra maestra y teniendo sus errores bien marcados, pero vamos por partes.
Sonic Frontiers nos coloca en una nueva aventura del erizo en donde esta vez nos vemos tragador por un agujero de gusano (más o menos) en donde nos vamos a otro mundo, si me llego a equivocar en algún punto de la historia no es mi culpa, muchas veces intenta profundizar de mas en cosas que no es necesario, además no quiero centrarme en este punto porque siento que más allá de la historia en si, el juego brilla por los temas que toca y la ambientación en si, a su vez de inspiraciones extremadamente marcadas que tiene, tanto como a Nier Automata, como a Evangelion (Así es amigos, esto es un juego de Sonic), y sinceramente, doy gracias que tome como base esto y trate de expandir otras cosas, es aquí donde puedo decir que eggman se convierte en uno de mis personajes favoritos de la historia por como lo presentan y la expansión de personaje que se le da aquí.
El tema jugable me sorprendió ya que siempre se vendió este juego como un mundo abierto (al menos por trailers o el boca a boca de la gente), y finalmente no fue así, si bien tiene elementos tomados de este genero como el mapa del mundo con marcas de todo tipo y cosas por hacer, finalmente me recuerda un poco más a lo que plantea xenoblade, escenarios enormes con mucho contenido por hacer, en sí no hay atalayas, y se siente muy bien el como están construidos los mapas, en ningún momento se hace pesado ya que estamos usando a Sonic, viaje rápido no eché en falta porque nuestro personaje corre rápido y los mapas están hechos para sentir progresión y no tener que hacer casi nunca backtracking, las mecánicas funcionan espectacular, no tuve problema con ninguna más allá de poder correr a velocidades enfermas cuando tienes el máximo de anillos, siento que el juego si bien tiene su historia y progresión a seguir, hasta cierto punto te suelta en los mapas y te dice "juega", y ese sentimiento es espectacular. La radio es uno de los mejores agregados ya que al estar jugando y recorriendo mapas grandes siempre es bueno tener una playlist y el juego te la da, las canciones son coleccionables repartidos por el mapa, pero se me hizo muy satisfactorio encontrarlas e ir cambiando de música mientras estaba jugando. Creo que el punto negativo que si encuentro de este es el hecho de que el juego tiene niveles típicos de Sonic en donde entrar y te dan llaves para progresar en la historia, pero estos sobran completamente, te hacen jugar green hill zone como 20 veces, los niveles duran menos de un minuto, se sientes puestos porque sí y sin ningún tipo de sentido, y los jefes si que es cierto que en escancia pasan a ser unos machaca botones sin mucho que pensar, pero ya vamos a llegar ahí.
Gráficamente el juego es hermoso, lo jugué en playstation 5 y sinceramente le encuentro muy pocas pegas, los escenarios tienen muy buenas texturas, siempre anduvo bien de fps, está todo muy bien detallado, si que es cierto que muchas veces el pop in de algunas cosas está raro, ya que hay veces que tienes que llegar a lugares elevados y no sabes como se llega a menos que te acerques y veas que la plataforma que tenias que usar no la veías por estar muy lejos. Los diseños de los enemigos pese a ser simples, cumplen bastante bien y son espectaculares, los encontré muy llamativos y no desentonan tanto con lo que debería ser un Sonic ya que son robots al fin y al cabo.
Ahora creo que voy a tocar el punto más importante para mi que es la música, si bien es cierto hay muchos temazos para los minijefes repartidos por el mapa o incluso el de las islas en sí, todos sabemos que el juego brilla por el ost de los jefes, y aqui quiero dar una pequeña historia. Hace mucho tiempo un pequeño Fanno estaba pasando por su adolescencia y pasó por "LA FASE" en donde se vestía de negro (aún lo hace) tenía el típico corte emo y escuchaba música de ese estilo de la época, y entre esas está la que nos ocupa hoy que es Sleeping with Sirens, y en serio, luego de muchos años, escuchar a Kellin Quinn que fue uno de los cantantes que más escuché en la época cantar canciones para Sonic es increíble, cada uno de los temas de jefes son demasiado buenos, y acompañan muy bien, me da igual que los jefes sean machacar botones, toda la epicidad que le dan con lo que son los visuales, Super Sonic haciendo técnicas muy vistosas y casi que vacilando a los robots gigantes con esa música de fondo (que aparte va cambiando dependiendo de la fase y el final de cada boss), estos momentos son donde el juego llega al peak más alto de toda la historia, hay hasta una puta referencia a Final Fantasy Sonic X (No es coincidencia, yo se que es una referencia directa y nadie me hará cambiar de idea).
En conclusión he de decir que a pesar de todo, está maratón me hizo aprender de como fue evolucionando una saga, todos los problemas que esta a presentado a lo largo de los años, sus problemas de identidad, ideas extrañas y otras bastante buenas, pero que terminaban ejecutándose mal, varios momentos pensé en tirar la toalla porque en serio habían juegos malos, pero creo que nunca bajar los brazos es una enseñanza que me llevo de esto, porque nunca sabemos que vendrá después, puedo decir que me convertí en un fan de Sonic, esperaré sus siguientes juegos, y espero que hayan aprendido con este juego todo lo bueno que se puede hacer con el personaje, y todo lo malo que se puede ir puliendo y arreglando, finalmente, voy a hacer trampa con el tema de la canción favorita porque lo amerita (muy difícil elegir solo una), así que subanle el volumen, sigan sus sueños y nunca se rindan, porque como dice el primer tema de los jefes, "Puedes tirarme a los lobos, PORQUE SOY INVENCIBLE"
Canciones Favoritas:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_FRDqHT5y0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QL0Z9UvDW3c
Sonic Frontiers nos coloca en una nueva aventura del erizo en donde esta vez nos vemos tragador por un agujero de gusano (más o menos) en donde nos vamos a otro mundo, si me llego a equivocar en algún punto de la historia no es mi culpa, muchas veces intenta profundizar de mas en cosas que no es necesario, además no quiero centrarme en este punto porque siento que más allá de la historia en si, el juego brilla por los temas que toca y la ambientación en si, a su vez de inspiraciones extremadamente marcadas que tiene, tanto como a Nier Automata, como a Evangelion (Así es amigos, esto es un juego de Sonic), y sinceramente, doy gracias que tome como base esto y trate de expandir otras cosas, es aquí donde puedo decir que eggman se convierte en uno de mis personajes favoritos de la historia por como lo presentan y la expansión de personaje que se le da aquí.
El tema jugable me sorprendió ya que siempre se vendió este juego como un mundo abierto (al menos por trailers o el boca a boca de la gente), y finalmente no fue así, si bien tiene elementos tomados de este genero como el mapa del mundo con marcas de todo tipo y cosas por hacer, finalmente me recuerda un poco más a lo que plantea xenoblade, escenarios enormes con mucho contenido por hacer, en sí no hay atalayas, y se siente muy bien el como están construidos los mapas, en ningún momento se hace pesado ya que estamos usando a Sonic, viaje rápido no eché en falta porque nuestro personaje corre rápido y los mapas están hechos para sentir progresión y no tener que hacer casi nunca backtracking, las mecánicas funcionan espectacular, no tuve problema con ninguna más allá de poder correr a velocidades enfermas cuando tienes el máximo de anillos, siento que el juego si bien tiene su historia y progresión a seguir, hasta cierto punto te suelta en los mapas y te dice "juega", y ese sentimiento es espectacular. La radio es uno de los mejores agregados ya que al estar jugando y recorriendo mapas grandes siempre es bueno tener una playlist y el juego te la da, las canciones son coleccionables repartidos por el mapa, pero se me hizo muy satisfactorio encontrarlas e ir cambiando de música mientras estaba jugando. Creo que el punto negativo que si encuentro de este es el hecho de que el juego tiene niveles típicos de Sonic en donde entrar y te dan llaves para progresar en la historia, pero estos sobran completamente, te hacen jugar green hill zone como 20 veces, los niveles duran menos de un minuto, se sientes puestos porque sí y sin ningún tipo de sentido, y los jefes si que es cierto que en escancia pasan a ser unos machaca botones sin mucho que pensar, pero ya vamos a llegar ahí.
Gráficamente el juego es hermoso, lo jugué en playstation 5 y sinceramente le encuentro muy pocas pegas, los escenarios tienen muy buenas texturas, siempre anduvo bien de fps, está todo muy bien detallado, si que es cierto que muchas veces el pop in de algunas cosas está raro, ya que hay veces que tienes que llegar a lugares elevados y no sabes como se llega a menos que te acerques y veas que la plataforma que tenias que usar no la veías por estar muy lejos. Los diseños de los enemigos pese a ser simples, cumplen bastante bien y son espectaculares, los encontré muy llamativos y no desentonan tanto con lo que debería ser un Sonic ya que son robots al fin y al cabo.
Ahora creo que voy a tocar el punto más importante para mi que es la música, si bien es cierto hay muchos temazos para los minijefes repartidos por el mapa o incluso el de las islas en sí, todos sabemos que el juego brilla por el ost de los jefes, y aqui quiero dar una pequeña historia. Hace mucho tiempo un pequeño Fanno estaba pasando por su adolescencia y pasó por "LA FASE" en donde se vestía de negro (aún lo hace) tenía el típico corte emo y escuchaba música de ese estilo de la época, y entre esas está la que nos ocupa hoy que es Sleeping with Sirens, y en serio, luego de muchos años, escuchar a Kellin Quinn que fue uno de los cantantes que más escuché en la época cantar canciones para Sonic es increíble, cada uno de los temas de jefes son demasiado buenos, y acompañan muy bien, me da igual que los jefes sean machacar botones, toda la epicidad que le dan con lo que son los visuales, Super Sonic haciendo técnicas muy vistosas y casi que vacilando a los robots gigantes con esa música de fondo (que aparte va cambiando dependiendo de la fase y el final de cada boss), estos momentos son donde el juego llega al peak más alto de toda la historia, hay hasta una puta referencia a Final Fantasy Sonic X (No es coincidencia, yo se que es una referencia directa y nadie me hará cambiar de idea).
En conclusión he de decir que a pesar de todo, está maratón me hizo aprender de como fue evolucionando una saga, todos los problemas que esta a presentado a lo largo de los años, sus problemas de identidad, ideas extrañas y otras bastante buenas, pero que terminaban ejecutándose mal, varios momentos pensé en tirar la toalla porque en serio habían juegos malos, pero creo que nunca bajar los brazos es una enseñanza que me llevo de esto, porque nunca sabemos que vendrá después, puedo decir que me convertí en un fan de Sonic, esperaré sus siguientes juegos, y espero que hayan aprendido con este juego todo lo bueno que se puede hacer con el personaje, y todo lo malo que se puede ir puliendo y arreglando, finalmente, voy a hacer trampa con el tema de la canción favorita porque lo amerita (muy difícil elegir solo una), así que subanle el volumen, sigan sus sueños y nunca se rindan, porque como dice el primer tema de los jefes, "Puedes tirarme a los lobos, PORQUE SOY INVENCIBLE"
Canciones Favoritas:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_FRDqHT5y0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QL0Z9UvDW3c
I can see its flaws and I've had my share of annoyances but this is a really fucking fun game. The titan themes go unimaginably hard, sonic is cool as fuck, exploring for hours and hours and just going with the flow feels like it could last forever. Fun as fuck game.
It has a lot of flaws but it's literally fun: the videogame
this game is pretty good but it doesn't really feel like sonic except for the fact that you're always running around. story was kinda interesting but a little boring, and the gameplay felt a bit clunky. the cyberspace levels felt lazy.
Tanto grind meu deus, mas é estranhamente satisfatório de se jogar enquanto ouve um podcast ou uma playlist personalizada, talvez um álbum novo. Repetitivo e sem cérebro, mas com bons visuais, perfeito para macacos como eu que querem passar o tempo (procastinar).
I'm pissed I had to play a tech demo for this soundtrack.
This beat Gens as my favorite Sonic game
As an 'open zone' game, I don't neccessarily think this game is bad, but I really honestly think Sonic games need to take a page out of Sonic Robo Blast 2 level design. A fine boost sonic game, but missing some of the things that could really make boost sonic shine in a real 3D platformer. The scenery is beautiful, but the flying rails, platforms, etc, they take away from the raw beauty of the rest of the game world. Combat is fine.
This game is awesome and a true return to form that we have not seen Sonic in for nearly a decade. This title has an outstanding soundtrack, full of all the rock you could ask for. This game succeeds at its amazing boss battles, which honestly made me feel as if I were playing a YouTube AMV from the early 2010's. It is badass, fast, new, and offers plenty of fan service in its gameplay and story, amongst its great tag along DLC which allows for multiple playable characters. I am excited to see where they take future installments with Sonic after this one.
Sonic Frontiers is, in fact, a game that exists.
Looking at all the hype this game was getting, I was reminded of the fact that, at one point in my life (at the ripe age of about 10/11/12 or so) I was in fact a Sonic junkie (in fact, I was in a bit of a chinnibiyou phase between Mario and Sonic, and then Xenoblade 1 happened to rip me away from that and leave me with indifference with both household series). And all things considered, I was expecting this game to make me feel like a kid again... only for it to fall short of that in ways that I don't... entirely think was its fault? But still left me with this abstract indifference regardless.
Let's start with the main thing that bugs me about this game - the exceedingly crude optimisation, and that shitty camera. Or rather, let's get some pre-amble out of the way as context for why those are (otherwise self-explanatory) problems. The massive hub worlds that comprise the islands of Cyber Space are... okay, overall, even if massive, MMORPG-esque areas like this are a bit tonally dissonant for a Sonic game. There's a bit of an interactive oxymoron in that Sonic (despite being a lot slower than he should be for his disposition) doesn't actually feel slow at all, it's just that the islands feel that big, and with the hodgepodge nature of the islands giving you plenty to find as far as collectables and other miniature platforming challenges (a few I accidentally cleared backwards lmao, thanks for giving us opinions, at least?), you're rarely unclear on where you need to go (even if this is the 2nd 3-star game made by either SEGA or ATLUS that feels like you're 'bumblefucking about' for a while (see my SMT IV review for more on that)).
So how do you wreck that immersion? A camera that either locks itself arbitrarily or will not stop spazzing the fuck out like the daughter of a mid-50s Karen who works at the local asylum for the epileptic, has no depth perception at times, making certain platforming challenges an utter chore, and on top of that, those same platforming challenges (most notably some of the tower climbing missions to get the Chaos Emeralds in alt story) have certain gimmicks that I swear hand to a cross only work whenever it feels like it.
There was one notable moment when fighting the 'Ghost' miniboss in DLC story (one that I didn't know was optional, but I'm going to say it anyway) where you have to jump on a lot of boxes (culminating in same over an insta-death pit) where, to accommodate for you and the boss, the game pulls the camera WAY back, and there's sod all you can do to fix it. To whichever of the devs on the desks of Nippon thought this was a good idea: you will now watch Leon Massey's "how high is this jump?" Video for the BASICS on this kind of camera design, and you will study that shit in your sleep until you're on the ground weeping for your crimes. I mean hey! The Japanese suicide rate is only a few million high! What difference is 300 of you in an office cubicle going to make?!
LowTierGod-esque salt and incitement disguised as humour aside, I guess we should move on to the story and characters, and to continue with the 'I wish this made me feel like a kid again' train of thought, the story of this game is... not something I have many thoughts on. I get this being as a result of being out of the loop for a good 10 years or so on Sonic stories, and me having not played either of the Adventure GCN games as of yet (of which I'm guessing that the Ancient's chaos species are supposed to be a nod to), but I went in expecting a neat, self-contained story as is to be expected with these games, and came out with... not a lot. The second that the Ancients tried being dramatic with their YTP forward-reversed 'state of the art sentence mixer' speech patterns, I had kinda checked out of the story. Which is a damn shame, because Roger Craig Smith is directed well as Sonic as far as the 'grittier tones' are concerned (there are even interviews he did joking about how taken aback he was about the changes in said direction), Mike Pollock is frankly hilarious as ever as Eggman, while his relationship with Sage gives him some more sombre tones that have no right working as well as they do, of which... speaking of Sage, Ryan Bartley did a great job bringing Sage's development to the fore (if you recall my opinion on Alex from Strange Journey Redux - the whole 'not that dynamic but at least compelling' thing applies equally here), and everyone else is about what I remember from when I last played Generations back in... I dunno, late 2013, early 2014 or so? I think the only time I didn't gel with a delivery was Cindy Robinson as Amy, and even that was more of a directional issue I'd allocate specifically to the DLC and not many places else off the top of my head.
Music's neat. I think we've all heard I'm Here (Remix), Find Your Flame and Break Through It All to know why this OST has been the subject of many Metal Gear Rising-esque memes in the past 18 months since it's release. And the game doesn't look bad, but I would note the extremely choppy draw distance (which I know seems rich coming from a Pokemon fan, and I'm not endorsing it there either), which I think brings us to... the Alt story [DUM DUM DUUUUUUUUM].
Now, you may recall my earlier salty comments about the 'Ghost platforming' incident earlier in this review, and while that is only one instance of my ire towards this mode, it is one microcosm of my issues with this free 'DLC'. If you're wondering what the big discrepancy between my 3-star rating of the main game and 1.5 star rating of the Final Horizon update is supposed to be, now you know (and that latter rating pertains ONLY to the story in question, and not the full update in the context of those who had played this game for a long time, of which I was not around for).
I'll say this now - I am in the process of brainstorming a Substack article in which I talk about bosses antithetical to game design and the... ahem 'accusation' that I somehow hate difficulty in games like this (Ft. Mem Aleph, Disciple Lorithia and Kevin Winnicott (I know you Enelcordians are hiding in the bushes, you can come out now...)), and at that point you're probably thinking 'oh boy, he's going to dunk on the remixed End fight, isn't he?' To which I say... yes and no.
Sure, Supreme + The End is piss annoying in Final Horizons if you go in blind (to say nothing of the low-to-the-ground FOV making parrying an abject headache because some pile of Asian cartilage thought it'd be a good idea to keep the camera deep in the bushes like a paparazzi hooked to the ass of a drag queen), but I think the more pressing issue is that you get the power to 'perfect parry' from the Trial before the fight... a boss rush of the other three titans not built with this power in mind, only for the Grand Master running the test to lock your stats to minimum, give you only 400 rings to ration across 3 fights unless you drop the difficulty to easy (in which you get 600, and get whatever attack stat you had going in), and basically say 'lmao, have fun suffering' with a PP window that only works if it's feeling especially generous that day (even with audio cues taken into account, it just did NOT want to respond sometimes) - ALL for a power that is only relevant for... 3/4s of a phase in what I can only describe as a 2.5-phase fight. And that's not even taking into account the fact that there are instances (this happens in main game, but especially in DLC) where you just end up clipping inside the Titan bosses and either hitting nothing, or the bosses just... do nothing, for long, protracted amounts of time.
One of the last things I'll mention here is that the the upgrade system, while at least functional, and allowing you to practice ability inputs as and when, varies in viability between using Unibeams to basically melt health bars once you figure out a specific input (and even THAT is particularly finicky sometimes), and the one or two powers that are never used (if using Cyloop to farm EXP wasn't a thing, the fact that quick Cyloop is a mandate for the Final DLC Boss would have probably made me quit).
Speaking of optimisation stuff for the player, I noticed that Koco drops on the final island are quite common, and while that's great... I feel too strongly that this only compensates the player for a final leg that feels like padding, even if the alternate playstyles with Tails/Amy and the like are appreciated, you get the sense quite early that they're only a temporary thing, so there isn't as much investing in them as there should be. You might notice that, from what I've put so far, the 1.5 star rating for Final Horizons might seem unwarranted, but as has been established, it's where the camera problems and other general issues became somehow even more pronounced, and made me go from 'OK, that's kinda annoying' to 'yeah no, this is bullshit'.
This might actually be my longest review yet next to... maybe my DDS2 and SJR reviews? (If not longer?) - so I'll wrap it up there.
Looking at all the hype this game was getting, I was reminded of the fact that, at one point in my life (at the ripe age of about 10/11/12 or so) I was in fact a Sonic junkie (in fact, I was in a bit of a chinnibiyou phase between Mario and Sonic, and then Xenoblade 1 happened to rip me away from that and leave me with indifference with both household series). And all things considered, I was expecting this game to make me feel like a kid again... only for it to fall short of that in ways that I don't... entirely think was its fault? But still left me with this abstract indifference regardless.
Let's start with the main thing that bugs me about this game - the exceedingly crude optimisation, and that shitty camera. Or rather, let's get some pre-amble out of the way as context for why those are (otherwise self-explanatory) problems. The massive hub worlds that comprise the islands of Cyber Space are... okay, overall, even if massive, MMORPG-esque areas like this are a bit tonally dissonant for a Sonic game. There's a bit of an interactive oxymoron in that Sonic (despite being a lot slower than he should be for his disposition) doesn't actually feel slow at all, it's just that the islands feel that big, and with the hodgepodge nature of the islands giving you plenty to find as far as collectables and other miniature platforming challenges (a few I accidentally cleared backwards lmao, thanks for giving us opinions, at least?), you're rarely unclear on where you need to go (even if this is the 2nd 3-star game made by either SEGA or ATLUS that feels like you're 'bumblefucking about' for a while (see my SMT IV review for more on that)).
So how do you wreck that immersion? A camera that either locks itself arbitrarily or will not stop spazzing the fuck out like the daughter of a mid-50s Karen who works at the local asylum for the epileptic, has no depth perception at times, making certain platforming challenges an utter chore, and on top of that, those same platforming challenges (most notably some of the tower climbing missions to get the Chaos Emeralds in alt story) have certain gimmicks that I swear hand to a cross only work whenever it feels like it.
There was one notable moment when fighting the 'Ghost' miniboss in DLC story (one that I didn't know was optional, but I'm going to say it anyway) where you have to jump on a lot of boxes (culminating in same over an insta-death pit) where, to accommodate for you and the boss, the game pulls the camera WAY back, and there's sod all you can do to fix it. To whichever of the devs on the desks of Nippon thought this was a good idea: you will now watch Leon Massey's "how high is this jump?" Video for the BASICS on this kind of camera design, and you will study that shit in your sleep until you're on the ground weeping for your crimes. I mean hey! The Japanese suicide rate is only a few million high! What difference is 300 of you in an office cubicle going to make?!
LowTierGod-esque salt and incitement disguised as humour aside, I guess we should move on to the story and characters, and to continue with the 'I wish this made me feel like a kid again' train of thought, the story of this game is... not something I have many thoughts on. I get this being as a result of being out of the loop for a good 10 years or so on Sonic stories, and me having not played either of the Adventure GCN games as of yet (of which I'm guessing that the Ancient's chaos species are supposed to be a nod to), but I went in expecting a neat, self-contained story as is to be expected with these games, and came out with... not a lot. The second that the Ancients tried being dramatic with their YTP forward-reversed 'state of the art sentence mixer' speech patterns, I had kinda checked out of the story. Which is a damn shame, because Roger Craig Smith is directed well as Sonic as far as the 'grittier tones' are concerned (there are even interviews he did joking about how taken aback he was about the changes in said direction), Mike Pollock is frankly hilarious as ever as Eggman, while his relationship with Sage gives him some more sombre tones that have no right working as well as they do, of which... speaking of Sage, Ryan Bartley did a great job bringing Sage's development to the fore (if you recall my opinion on Alex from Strange Journey Redux - the whole 'not that dynamic but at least compelling' thing applies equally here), and everyone else is about what I remember from when I last played Generations back in... I dunno, late 2013, early 2014 or so? I think the only time I didn't gel with a delivery was Cindy Robinson as Amy, and even that was more of a directional issue I'd allocate specifically to the DLC and not many places else off the top of my head.
Music's neat. I think we've all heard I'm Here (Remix), Find Your Flame and Break Through It All to know why this OST has been the subject of many Metal Gear Rising-esque memes in the past 18 months since it's release. And the game doesn't look bad, but I would note the extremely choppy draw distance (which I know seems rich coming from a Pokemon fan, and I'm not endorsing it there either), which I think brings us to... the Alt story [DUM DUM DUUUUUUUUM].
Now, you may recall my earlier salty comments about the 'Ghost platforming' incident earlier in this review, and while that is only one instance of my ire towards this mode, it is one microcosm of my issues with this free 'DLC'. If you're wondering what the big discrepancy between my 3-star rating of the main game and 1.5 star rating of the Final Horizon update is supposed to be, now you know (and that latter rating pertains ONLY to the story in question, and not the full update in the context of those who had played this game for a long time, of which I was not around for).
I'll say this now - I am in the process of brainstorming a Substack article in which I talk about bosses antithetical to game design and the... ahem 'accusation' that I somehow hate difficulty in games like this (Ft. Mem Aleph, Disciple Lorithia and Kevin Winnicott (I know you Enelcordians are hiding in the bushes, you can come out now...)), and at that point you're probably thinking 'oh boy, he's going to dunk on the remixed End fight, isn't he?' To which I say... yes and no.
Sure, Supreme + The End is piss annoying in Final Horizons if you go in blind (to say nothing of the low-to-the-ground FOV making parrying an abject headache because some pile of Asian cartilage thought it'd be a good idea to keep the camera deep in the bushes like a paparazzi hooked to the ass of a drag queen), but I think the more pressing issue is that you get the power to 'perfect parry' from the Trial before the fight... a boss rush of the other three titans not built with this power in mind, only for the Grand Master running the test to lock your stats to minimum, give you only 400 rings to ration across 3 fights unless you drop the difficulty to easy (in which you get 600, and get whatever attack stat you had going in), and basically say 'lmao, have fun suffering' with a PP window that only works if it's feeling especially generous that day (even with audio cues taken into account, it just did NOT want to respond sometimes) - ALL for a power that is only relevant for... 3/4s of a phase in what I can only describe as a 2.5-phase fight. And that's not even taking into account the fact that there are instances (this happens in main game, but especially in DLC) where you just end up clipping inside the Titan bosses and either hitting nothing, or the bosses just... do nothing, for long, protracted amounts of time.
One of the last things I'll mention here is that the the upgrade system, while at least functional, and allowing you to practice ability inputs as and when, varies in viability between using Unibeams to basically melt health bars once you figure out a specific input (and even THAT is particularly finicky sometimes), and the one or two powers that are never used (if using Cyloop to farm EXP wasn't a thing, the fact that quick Cyloop is a mandate for the Final DLC Boss would have probably made me quit).
Speaking of optimisation stuff for the player, I noticed that Koco drops on the final island are quite common, and while that's great... I feel too strongly that this only compensates the player for a final leg that feels like padding, even if the alternate playstyles with Tails/Amy and the like are appreciated, you get the sense quite early that they're only a temporary thing, so there isn't as much investing in them as there should be. You might notice that, from what I've put so far, the 1.5 star rating for Final Horizons might seem unwarranted, but as has been established, it's where the camera problems and other general issues became somehow even more pronounced, and made me go from 'OK, that's kinda annoying' to 'yeah no, this is bullshit'.
This might actually be my longest review yet next to... maybe my DDS2 and SJR reviews? (If not longer?) - so I'll wrap it up there.
Muito brabo.
shii got so boring at island 3
Прошёл на 100% и более чем доволен!
Im probably not gonna pick this game back up tbh
A bit of a mixed bag for me. Taking Sonic to an open-world format makes sense, but a lot of the tasks you're asked to do started to feel samey before long. Everything feels pretty nice control-wise, but the gameplay itself got a little stale the longer it went. Probably got halfway before I had my fill. It’s a decent game overall though; I probably just prefer linear Sonic. Shoutouts to the soundtrack by the way ---- some songs go way harder than most Sonic OSTs to date & really nail it.
Idk I think they tried and it's definitely better than forces but the world is so generic and there are barely any original stages
A return to form for 3D sonic, but still rough around the edges. I appreciate the jump into the open-world style, and it does work surprisingly well. The levels are well-designed (though most of them were designed a decade ago). They are small and short enough to make you want to replay them to get a better time, which is what a soni game really needs.
this game before dlc was pretty solid, although it was held back from it being rushed it was still a great experience and was good while it lasted. the dlc was horrible though and honestly ruined this game for me.
This is without a doubt the best 3D Sonic game we've got since Lost World.
The soundtrack was amazing as always, the combat was really fun, the open zones were cool to explore, and the more serious story and the change in the voice direction truly made this game something different from his games during the last decade.
i also consider this game to be Morio Kishimoto's redemption with the series, making not only an excellent game after the disaster Forces was, but also by making a good base for future games.
Give this game a shot, you will not be disappointed! :)
The soundtrack was amazing as always, the combat was really fun, the open zones were cool to explore, and the more serious story and the change in the voice direction truly made this game something different from his games during the last decade.
i also consider this game to be Morio Kishimoto's redemption with the series, making not only an excellent game after the disaster Forces was, but also by making a good base for future games.
Give this game a shot, you will not be disappointed! :)
Yea this is the best Sonic game ever.
Really fun gameplay, the story wasn't that interesting so i ended up skipping the cutscenes. The low render distance does get annoying, but besides that it's just a really fun game.
At least Adventure 2 had some original ideas!
This game goes so hard with mods
This game like a poop
Que jogo maravilhoso!
A experiência de Sonic num mundo aberto no inicio parecia algo que não ia dar certo, mas no começo não foi bem assim já que estava todo bugado.
Mas ainda bem que existem os patches!
A historia do jogo é confusa, porém muito boa quando ela começa a se amarrar direitinho. E ela explica MUITA coisa sobre a lore do jogo em si.
As musicas são incriveis, durante os passeios pelas ilhas são musicas ambientes, mas no Cyberspace são dubsteps muito loucos e as musicas dos bosses são COISA DE LOUCO!
Sonic em mundo aberto e lutando são duas coisas que achei que ou não ia ver ou não ia dar certo, e mudei de ideia TOTALMENTE
A experiência de Sonic num mundo aberto no inicio parecia algo que não ia dar certo, mas no começo não foi bem assim já que estava todo bugado.
Mas ainda bem que existem os patches!
A historia do jogo é confusa, porém muito boa quando ela começa a se amarrar direitinho. E ela explica MUITA coisa sobre a lore do jogo em si.
As musicas são incriveis, durante os passeios pelas ilhas são musicas ambientes, mas no Cyberspace são dubsteps muito loucos e as musicas dos bosses são COISA DE LOUCO!
Sonic em mundo aberto e lutando são duas coisas que achei que ou não ia ver ou não ia dar certo, e mudei de ideia TOTALMENTE
Ayo this actually slaps??
This game and its support confuses me. I don’t know if its because I played it on PS4 but it didnt play well for me. I encountered may bugs and little explanation on what to do. I love the open world aspect of it I just wish I could have had a better experience with it.
After playing 24 Sonic games, i finally end my journey here in this one (at least on the Modern sonic ones, now i'm going to Superstars)
Best OST in a while, excellent gameplay, fun open world to explore and a cool level design.
I don't like that the cyberspaces are one of 4 places in every level, they could get creative and bring a lot of cool stuff back, or create new ones.
I had a lot of fun, one of the best sonic games.
Best OST in a while, excellent gameplay, fun open world to explore and a cool level design.
I don't like that the cyberspaces are one of 4 places in every level, they could get creative and bring a lot of cool stuff back, or create new ones.
I had a lot of fun, one of the best sonic games.
You either like or dislike this one. Personally, I like this game, even if it is another "step in the right direction" without actually getting there.
I actually played this one when it came out on the Switch, but it didn't have all of the added content and improvements that it had almost a year later when I decided to revisit it on Steam.
I think this game is fun! I know that it looks and a lot of the time just feels like SEGA hired the man and made a "This is what Sonic's graphics will look like in 2015"...But running around as Sonic and doing random platforming challenges IS fun, I don't know what to tell you.
I think the key to this game's success is the fact that it doesn't give you much time to stand still and realize how empty these islands actually are. Each island is full of so many ramps and loops and rails and enemies and collectables... That you are going to keep yourself busy running from one place to the next, just doing cool tricks and going fast as Sonic.
I also don't hate the cyberspace stages as much as everyone else; sure, some of them are massive stinkers but when they are good...They are GOOD. I just wish that they hadn't brought back Green Hill, Chemical Plant and Sky Sanctuary for the millionth fucking time; also that more of these were more similar in difficulty to 1-2, because that is the only hard cyberspace stage in the whole game....And you play it literally in the first island.
But by far, the best part about this game are the Super Sonic boss fights. I can't believe they finally fixed Super Sonic....They finally made Super Sonic fights that actually feel good to control and cool to watch...And it only took them what, 30+ years?
Just the way these fights are presented, Sonic's enhanced moveset during these, how flashy he looks, the sheer scale of these titans, the quicktime events...Everything works! When Sonic grabs one of them, spins it around and tosses it against a fucking mountain...MAN!
And the music? .............HOLY SHIT! Sonic games are known for having great soundtracks at the very least, even if the games themselves are shit...But holy fuck man! This game's boss themes are absolutely spectacular and I never get tired of listening to them on repeat.
Anyway, there are a few things that I do dislike about this game; it takes itself a bit too seriously at times, 2D cyberstages are indeed big poopoo, the base momentum still isn't quite there, the artstyle sucks, the pop-in sucks, the combat is half baked, the final boss is a joke....
But you know what? I don't care.....Because they added the spindash- DUDE THEY ADDED SO MUCH STUFF AND THE SPINDASH!
I didn't get to play with the spindash when I played on Switch...But a year later on Steam?! With the added momentum and being able to maintain my speed after a jump? ..............AND THE SPINDASH?! I swear to god, this game plays completely different after the updates, and when you add all of these to Sonic's moveset, he feels SO incredibly good to control!!!
I also added a few mods to improve the movement since I was playing on PC and boy... I don't know how much they actually affected my experience...But it felt AMAZING to just fly around and reach insane distances and heights just by building momentum. Just thinking about it makes me want to play this game again.
Alright, that's it, I've gushed for long enough. Game good bye.
I actually played this one when it came out on the Switch, but it didn't have all of the added content and improvements that it had almost a year later when I decided to revisit it on Steam.
I think this game is fun! I know that it looks and a lot of the time just feels like SEGA hired the man and made a "This is what Sonic's graphics will look like in 2015"...But running around as Sonic and doing random platforming challenges IS fun, I don't know what to tell you.
I think the key to this game's success is the fact that it doesn't give you much time to stand still and realize how empty these islands actually are. Each island is full of so many ramps and loops and rails and enemies and collectables... That you are going to keep yourself busy running from one place to the next, just doing cool tricks and going fast as Sonic.
I also don't hate the cyberspace stages as much as everyone else; sure, some of them are massive stinkers but when they are good...They are GOOD. I just wish that they hadn't brought back Green Hill, Chemical Plant and Sky Sanctuary for the millionth fucking time; also that more of these were more similar in difficulty to 1-2, because that is the only hard cyberspace stage in the whole game....And you play it literally in the first island.
But by far, the best part about this game are the Super Sonic boss fights. I can't believe they finally fixed Super Sonic....They finally made Super Sonic fights that actually feel good to control and cool to watch...And it only took them what, 30+ years?
Just the way these fights are presented, Sonic's enhanced moveset during these, how flashy he looks, the sheer scale of these titans, the quicktime events...Everything works! When Sonic grabs one of them, spins it around and tosses it against a fucking mountain...MAN!
And the music? .............HOLY SHIT! Sonic games are known for having great soundtracks at the very least, even if the games themselves are shit...But holy fuck man! This game's boss themes are absolutely spectacular and I never get tired of listening to them on repeat.
Anyway, there are a few things that I do dislike about this game; it takes itself a bit too seriously at times, 2D cyberstages are indeed big poopoo, the base momentum still isn't quite there, the artstyle sucks, the pop-in sucks, the combat is half baked, the final boss is a joke....
But you know what? I don't care.....Because they added the spindash- DUDE THEY ADDED SO MUCH STUFF AND THE SPINDASH!
I didn't get to play with the spindash when I played on Switch...But a year later on Steam?! With the added momentum and being able to maintain my speed after a jump? ..............AND THE SPINDASH?! I swear to god, this game plays completely different after the updates, and when you add all of these to Sonic's moveset, he feels SO incredibly good to control!!!
I also added a few mods to improve the movement since I was playing on PC and boy... I don't know how much they actually affected my experience...But it felt AMAZING to just fly around and reach insane distances and heights just by building momentum. Just thinking about it makes me want to play this game again.
Alright, that's it, I've gushed for long enough. Game good bye.