This little blue critter's franchise sure has had a rough journey. While the new Mario movie likely won't be a masterpiece, the trailers suggest an air of polish and prestige, to match a fairly solid run of games. All the while the Sonic movie might best be remembered for a botched first draft of the character ("uuum.. meow?") rushed back into post production. As someone who grew up with Sonic and not Mario, it's quite devastating to see the hedgehog undergo such an identity crisis. In fairness, the last game I completed was Sonic Heroes, but I've seen enough of the werewolf Sonic and gun-tootin' Shadow games to know things got rough early on.
Frontiers feels like Sega and Team Sonic setting out to reclaim some relevance and insist to be taken seriously once again. The game demonstrates this firstly through reinvention of past "classics" - you'll see the familiar Chemical Plant and Green Hill zones plus gameplay of Sonic 3D, Spinball and even fishing with Big the Cat.
The rest of the game borrows from elsewhere, literally any actual classic game is up for grabs: Zelda BOTW, Shadow of the Colossus (mixed with a bit of Neon Genesis Evangeleon) and even Death Stranding. Unsurprisingly, this creates a mixed atmosphere and, more often than not, clashes with the goofy-ass characters. The Sonic 'content' itself feels rather stale against its mish-mash of a backdrop: the voice acting now feels tired and without much conviction; the random platforms that render delayed into the map are repetitive and barely rewarding; the puzzle segments are just as mundane.
The main strength I reckon would be the boss battles, as the gigantic mecha demons each have specific ways of being taken down, whether its grinding along 'tail-trails' in the air or in a sort-of wrestling ring scenario. It's rather telling though when the game's other main strength is its mini levels that throwback to those 2D halcyon days.
It's a mess but undoubtedly an ambitious one. Frontiers may even be considered a step in the right direction, or at least a better one than before. But fast though the little guy can run, Sonic will still need to work to keep up with his Nintendo contemporaries.
Frontiers feels like Sega and Team Sonic setting out to reclaim some relevance and insist to be taken seriously once again. The game demonstrates this firstly through reinvention of past "classics" - you'll see the familiar Chemical Plant and Green Hill zones plus gameplay of Sonic 3D, Spinball and even fishing with Big the Cat.
The rest of the game borrows from elsewhere, literally any actual classic game is up for grabs: Zelda BOTW, Shadow of the Colossus (mixed with a bit of Neon Genesis Evangeleon) and even Death Stranding. Unsurprisingly, this creates a mixed atmosphere and, more often than not, clashes with the goofy-ass characters. The Sonic 'content' itself feels rather stale against its mish-mash of a backdrop: the voice acting now feels tired and without much conviction; the random platforms that render delayed into the map are repetitive and barely rewarding; the puzzle segments are just as mundane.
The main strength I reckon would be the boss battles, as the gigantic mecha demons each have specific ways of being taken down, whether its grinding along 'tail-trails' in the air or in a sort-of wrestling ring scenario. It's rather telling though when the game's other main strength is its mini levels that throwback to those 2D halcyon days.
It's a mess but undoubtedly an ambitious one. Frontiers may even be considered a step in the right direction, or at least a better one than before. But fast though the little guy can run, Sonic will still need to work to keep up with his Nintendo contemporaries.
2 Comments
I enjoyed the mini bosses as singular encounters but having to fight any of them more than once was a bit of a chore, so I'd just run away from them lol.
And yeah the last boss section was pretentious!
And yeah the last boss section was pretentious!
Shenobi
1 year ago