Ever since Yuji Naka departed from Sega in 2006, Sonic the Hedgehog has been on a roller coaster ride when it comes to the franchise’s quality, creativity, and narrative. While there have been a few gems in the last fifteen years (namely Sonic Generations, Sonic Colors, and Sonic Mania) the spark we saw in much older games like Sonic Adventure 2 was missing. Now, here’s a new Sonic the Hedgehog game to celebrate the franchise’s 30th anniversary — Sonic Frontiers.
Five years in development, Sonic Frontiers was originally meant to be released in 2021 but saw numerous delays between the COVID-19 pandemic and Sega wanting to assure the game’s quality. This is the longest time gap between game releases, which raised a lot of speculation and worry among fans about how well (or disastrous) Sonic Frontiers would be. Since its first teaser in May 2021, Sega has rolled out a lot of marketing for Sonic Frontiers, including an animated prologue short focusing on Knuckles the Echidna. The video prepares longtime fans and newcomers alike with a lore recap to prepare you for visiting the Starfall Islands.
Well, let it be stated that Sega and the game’s director, Morio Kishimoto, have delivered what I can call, without a doubt, the best Sonic game ever made.
Our review will be kept as spoiler-free as possible.
Story
When Tails picks up on the chaos emeralds emitting odd signals from uncharted islands, he, Sonic, and Amy set out to find out what’s happened. Upon reaching the Starfall Islands, Sonic is separated from his friends and comes to discover that the island is linked to a digital world known as Cyber Space. His friends? Caught between dimensions. The chaos emeralds? Locked in mysterious vaults. And the islands are inhabited by an oddly adorable tribe of stone creatures known as the Koco.
That’s not all. Evidence found on the islands points to the previous inhabitants being of an ancient race that predates the Echidna clan, and even the Black Arms (an alien race from Shadow the Hedgehog). As Sonic ventures between dimensions to save his friends, he starts to uncover the history of the Ancients and learns the true origin of the chaos emeralds.
And so Sonic Frontiers begins!
The characters are similar to what we saw in Sonic Adventure 1/2, but better. Amy’s endless flirting has ceased. Knuckles isn’t so pinheaded, and Tails is treated as a developing character instead of a childish sidekick. Sonic is significantly less cocky and cheesy (no breaking the fourth walk to talk to the player or calling Eggman ‘Baldy McNosehair’). Most of this can be credited to Ian Flynn being brought onto the writing staff. In the past, he had worked on the IDW Publishing of the Sonic the Hedgehog comic, meant to be a tie-in with the previous game, Sonic Forces. While the previous game wasn’t so well received, the comic was praised for its creative storytelling.
With a few added throwbacks and mentions of events from previous titles, it feels like Flynn wanted to connect the franchise and acknowledge the flow of time and sequence of events, which adds a mature element to the game. It isn’t just another story about Sonic stopping Eggman… again.
Oh, and did we mention it’s an average of 15-30 hours of playtime? That makes it the longest game in the franchise!
Gameplay
We’ve seen hub worlds and overworld maps before in several Sonic games, but not like this. For the first time ever, the overworld is a completely realized open-world level. Each island is filled with hundreds of mini-challenges, puzzles, mini-bosses, trials, and platforms that keep the players engaged every moment. Loading screens are interactive tutorials, which come in handy since Sonic Frontiers has more controls and combat combos than any Sonic game before it. You won’t get through this game with just the homing attack, not this time. There are even a few little surprises paying homage to obscure Sonic games such as Sonic Spinball.
But no amount of action-packed boss fights, riveting stories, and diverse mini-challenges can compare to the greatest character in video game history making his BIG return to a mainline game.
Big the Cat returns to provide Sonic and the player with a little relaxing fishing minigame that has vastly improved since Sonic Adventure. This time, it’s easy, fast, and it’s fun. Those who give it a play will find it rewarding to learn about Dr. Eggman’s involvement in Cyber Space and the origin of Sonic Frontier‘s new enemy, Sage.
On a side note, while Big’s voice still sounds the same as it has since his first appearance, Kyle Hebert’s performance is much less annoying and portrays Big in a way that isn’t meant to mock others. Now, Big is just a friendly guy who takes everything a little slower than others.
Soundtrack
The one factor of Sonic games that has always remained consistent (even in terrible games) is the fun and exciting soundtrack. Sonic Frontiers keeps it going, and with one of the best soundtracks in the franchise. It’s a little bittersweet to not hear fan-favorite group, Crush40, composing the main theme, but ONE OK ROCK’s “Vandalize” is one of several hard-hitting tracks that keeps energy pumping and spirits high.
Cons
Sonic Frontiers has a few issues with physics. As you upgrade Sonic’s speed limit, Sonic’s boost will be so fast that he can trip over a rock and get launched into a trick-action sequence, making him difficult to control. Other small issues mainly involve camera positions, getting sucked into fighting enemies, or stepping on a hidden dash pad to be thrust into a mini 2D platformer challenge on the overworld map. All of these issues can be remedied quickly with a bit of backtracking or running as far away from enemies as possible, but it’s still a bit annoying. Hopefully, these will be patched out in the near future. Until then, players might want to adjust Sonic’s minimum and maximum speed in their game settings (a nice thought they had to include for accessibility).
Level designs are fun but, after seeing Green Hill Zone, Chemical Plant, and Sky Sanctuary in the majority of games, these zones become redundant, predictable, over-exposed, and boring. It was fun in Sonic Generations, but to see these same locations so often ever since feels lazy, even if there is a lore reason for including these levels this time around. Sonic needs new-level aesthetics and locations and this would have been the perfect time for it, considering that the Starfall Islands had diverse environments. We could have gotten a new oasis or volcano-inspired stage, for example.
Final Verdict
Despite the few cons, Sonic Frontiers is a standout for the franchise, pushing it to new heights and faster than ever before. For the first open-world style game for Sonic, it’s a home run, a clean sweep, and an absolute triumph. I’m so happy to see Sonic Team deliver such a great game. It’s got nostalgia, a great story, a high fun-factor, spirit, and what’s been missing for so long: heart.
Sonic Frontiers is available now on all current-gen platforms and PC.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CuTcBAkyNL4
