2022's Sonic Frontiers is a game worth playing, it's no masterpiece, but it's definitely one of, if not Sonic's best outing into 3D. Sonic Frontiers is ambitious, though it falls on some of those ideas, you can tell that they cared about this game.
Ian Flynn's writing is really good, he fixes characters, making them feel like they genuinely progressed past Sonic Adventure 2, instead of reverting into one-note characters with simplified personalities. Sonic, while continuing to be his funny, smart mouthed character is able to understand when a situation calls for seriousness and sincerity. Knuckles, instead of being the quick to anger brawler shows aspects of his personality we haven't seen in a long time, showing he cares for his island and that though he isn't the brightest, he has a sincere heart and is willing to fight and take care of what he loves most. Tails, instead of being the coward that he was in Sonic Forces, continues off of his previous development, continuing to grow up and be strong in the face of adversity. I could go on about it, but I believe you should play the game and experience the story for yourself.
The game play in the overworld of Sonic Frontiers, though janky, is incredibly fun, speeding through the game's islands just feels great. My biggest issues were when you would accidentally end up in a 2d section, unable to leave them immediately. It would be annoying and frustrating to speed through the world and end up on a railing.
The overworld, unfortunately, is visibly empty. Mostly due in part by the games horrendous pop in, sometimes platforms and areas would not show up unless I was directly in front of them or in some cases about to land on them. The game's combat is quite fun, though it is noticeably underdeveloped, there are not many ways to create combos and the skill tree and moves you do get are not as large as other games, though I do understand that the combat is not as important as it is in games like DMC or Bayonetta. The combat, even being small, does show lots of promise with what they could potentially do in a future game.
Cyberspace is not good, though a few stand out levels, notably my friend's favorite being 1-2, I found myself more so frustrated going through them, not actually enjoying them. They are reused level designs from previous games, such as Sonic Adventure 2, Generations and Unleashed. This, to me, was upsetting, I would've loved to see new concepts built around the new speed and combat created for this game, though I do understand that it may be complicated and time consuming to create new levels and I preferred that they focused on the overworld instead.
That being said, Sonic Frontiers is clearly a game with flaws, though still a fun experience thats worthwhile and fun overall. You won't come away from it saying that it's the greatest game of 2022, but you will come away from the game feeling fulfilled and glad that Sonic was able to shine once more in his games following the dark storm that preceded it.
Ian Flynn's writing is really good, he fixes characters, making them feel like they genuinely progressed past Sonic Adventure 2, instead of reverting into one-note characters with simplified personalities. Sonic, while continuing to be his funny, smart mouthed character is able to understand when a situation calls for seriousness and sincerity. Knuckles, instead of being the quick to anger brawler shows aspects of his personality we haven't seen in a long time, showing he cares for his island and that though he isn't the brightest, he has a sincere heart and is willing to fight and take care of what he loves most. Tails, instead of being the coward that he was in Sonic Forces, continues off of his previous development, continuing to grow up and be strong in the face of adversity. I could go on about it, but I believe you should play the game and experience the story for yourself.
The game play in the overworld of Sonic Frontiers, though janky, is incredibly fun, speeding through the game's islands just feels great. My biggest issues were when you would accidentally end up in a 2d section, unable to leave them immediately. It would be annoying and frustrating to speed through the world and end up on a railing.
The overworld, unfortunately, is visibly empty. Mostly due in part by the games horrendous pop in, sometimes platforms and areas would not show up unless I was directly in front of them or in some cases about to land on them. The game's combat is quite fun, though it is noticeably underdeveloped, there are not many ways to create combos and the skill tree and moves you do get are not as large as other games, though I do understand that the combat is not as important as it is in games like DMC or Bayonetta. The combat, even being small, does show lots of promise with what they could potentially do in a future game.
Cyberspace is not good, though a few stand out levels, notably my friend's favorite being 1-2, I found myself more so frustrated going through them, not actually enjoying them. They are reused level designs from previous games, such as Sonic Adventure 2, Generations and Unleashed. This, to me, was upsetting, I would've loved to see new concepts built around the new speed and combat created for this game, though I do understand that it may be complicated and time consuming to create new levels and I preferred that they focused on the overworld instead.
That being said, Sonic Frontiers is clearly a game with flaws, though still a fun experience thats worthwhile and fun overall. You won't come away from it saying that it's the greatest game of 2022, but you will come away from the game feeling fulfilled and glad that Sonic was able to shine once more in his games following the dark storm that preceded it.
2 Comments
I agree. The 2d sections are annoying which I would use sonic doge roll and hopefully get out of them. I wish for more development on sage tho.
SiriusStarlight
1 year ago