An incredibly solid game that, for me, spells a lot of exciting potential for the future of Sonic. A focus on wider narrative, alongside smaller, touching character moments between Sonic and various others, and an open world that, while I was originally highly skeptical about it, proved to be a lot of fun.
The open world aspect felt initially to me like chasing Breath of the Wild while not really truly understanding the specific aspects of BotW's world that made it special for that game in particular. However, Sonic Team instead honed in on things that would make the open world fun for this world. Tiny platforming challenges and the sheer joy of running fast in a wide open world, zooming around enemies, and doing what you can to try and break the physics bit by bit using your vast speed to get where you might not need to yet. It's a lot of fun, and I enjoyed spending a ton of time just running around and doing the overworld challenges before even attempting the stages.
Speaking of the stages, I think they start very weak on the first island, but get better and better as you go on. The worst part is probably just the music, but that's just me not being as big on the electronic music they went, as opposed to the fun, upbeat, energetic (butt)rock they used in the Adventure games.
But oh, the Titan battles? That gave me the music I wanted in spades. The bosses really have an intensity and weight to the gravity, with Super Sonic going up against massive titans to try and take them down. The music is the exact Sonic fare I love of over the top music that might be a bit corny or cheesy, but it works so well.
It's just a shame that the Titan battles... don't feel as good. There's a solid concept there, but the controls feel a bit too loose at times and the Titans themselves become a bit too easy to just burn down with high damage attacks the later you are in the game, that they cease to feel like major, epic fights.
Overall, I think Sonic Frontiers is a game with a lot of potential for the future of the franchise. Iteration, refinement, and a bit of extra polish, and I think this could spell a really good future to Sonic that would bring me back in more and more, and I really look forward to seeing what's next!
The open world aspect felt initially to me like chasing Breath of the Wild while not really truly understanding the specific aspects of BotW's world that made it special for that game in particular. However, Sonic Team instead honed in on things that would make the open world fun for this world. Tiny platforming challenges and the sheer joy of running fast in a wide open world, zooming around enemies, and doing what you can to try and break the physics bit by bit using your vast speed to get where you might not need to yet. It's a lot of fun, and I enjoyed spending a ton of time just running around and doing the overworld challenges before even attempting the stages.
Speaking of the stages, I think they start very weak on the first island, but get better and better as you go on. The worst part is probably just the music, but that's just me not being as big on the electronic music they went, as opposed to the fun, upbeat, energetic (butt)rock they used in the Adventure games.
But oh, the Titan battles? That gave me the music I wanted in spades. The bosses really have an intensity and weight to the gravity, with Super Sonic going up against massive titans to try and take them down. The music is the exact Sonic fare I love of over the top music that might be a bit corny or cheesy, but it works so well.
It's just a shame that the Titan battles... don't feel as good. There's a solid concept there, but the controls feel a bit too loose at times and the Titans themselves become a bit too easy to just burn down with high damage attacks the later you are in the game, that they cease to feel like major, epic fights.
Overall, I think Sonic Frontiers is a game with a lot of potential for the future of the franchise. Iteration, refinement, and a bit of extra polish, and I think this could spell a really good future to Sonic that would bring me back in more and more, and I really look forward to seeing what's next!