It has been well over twenty years since SEGA brought the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise to the realm of 3D platformer gaming, through the likes of Sonic 3D Blast and (the arguably better) Sonic Adventure. On the 2D side-scrolling platformer front, the series has continued to stay strong with classic and newer instalments alike continuing to be remarkable, in some cases timeless experiences. But the 3D releases have been tumultuous at best. For every excellent chapter such as Sonic Adventure 2 or Sonic Generations – we had something like Sonic Forces which presented an interesting concept but was a short-lived unmemorable experience at the end of the day – or the whole meme that was Sonic ’06. Five years have passed since the release of Sonic Forces, and we have released a new 3D platforming experience in the series, Sonic Frontiers. While initial perception from the gaming community was mixed, as further previews rolled out, the sentiment warmed up. But at the end of the day, how does the game fare? Read on to find out.
Comparisons between Sonic Frontiers and Nintendo’s The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wilds are apt, with both games taking place in large open worlds with subdued colour palettes, an air of mystery and welcoming players to explore. Going from the almost on-rail levels in Sonic Forces that could take a couple of minutes apiece to complete, it was nice to have the reins taken off and be left to explore the rather picturesque environment players have been provided with to explore. As with any open-world adventure game, each of the game’s progressively unlocked areas are full to the brim with puzzles to solve, from those that can be done in a few seconds to others that will take a minute or two. I feel that the difficulty of these is generally on the lower end, which is disappointing in some ways, but also a relief when an accidental boost can see you back at the start again. The scattered boss battles, on the other hand, are much more enjoyable. They fully utilise the assortment of skills available to Sonic and require more strategic thinking than just the boost + homing attack combo that has been so trusty in the past.
However, the limitation of the open-world environment is that it doesn’t always feel like the best fit for a Sonic the Hedgehog game. While open-world games are supposed to provide a sense of scale and adventure, given how quickly you can traverse each area, they feel smaller and more claustrophobic than they are. Furthermore, the strength of the open worlds found in games like Breath of the Wilds and Genshin Impact is that you can walk in a random direction and always find something new or aspect to appreciate. When you are running at sonic speed, not only do you miss these vistas, but it feels like world-crafting was held back to prevent you from running into obstacles and environmental hazards every 20 seconds.
Each region you visit in Sonic Frontiers contains multiple portals to regions of Cyber Space, unlockable (and pretty much mandatory) stages akin to the previous Sonic 3D platforming games where you progress through a (mostly) linear stage to reach the end goal. By completing objectives within these stages – from collecting 5 red rings to completing them in x time, you receive keys that can be used to unlock Chaos Emeralds and progress the story. While only a minute or two in length each, I have a hypothesis that with these stages not carrying the entire game, the development team were able to be a bit more creative with the design of these levels. I also appreciate that they have rectified my gripe from the past few games, where they broke up the pacing of each level by shifting between side-scrolling and fully 3D segments. Could they have been longer? Sure. But this is the first Sonic game in several years I feel they had many more hits than misses.
In my perspective, the big takeaway from Sonic Frontiers was that the development team are trying to change the perception of what a Sonic game is. While you have familiar characters and base gameplay elements, the narrative is tonally more complex and darker, the messaging that wouldn’t have been out-of-place in 90s/00s children’s morning cartoons was dulled, and they have opted for a complete change in what their brand of 3D story-driven platformer looks like. While still a bit heavy on the exposition, and the story doesn’t go too much beyond Sonic rescuing their friends trapped in Cyber Space, you can tell that they are striving to make changes for the better. Would I say the open-world exploration environment they have gone with is their future? I am not sure about that just yet, as it still remains a little jarring. But given the likes of Sonic Forces, I think they are on a much better track towards finding the golden formula for Sonic the Hedgehog in years to come.
Is Sonic Frontiers worth picking up? For long-time fans of the franchise or just the 3D platformers in the wider franchise, there is a lot to love about the game. It serves as both a solid foundation for the future of the series and more so, is an enjoyable game in its own right that provides enough to keep you wanting to play for “just 10 more minutes”. Granted, there are some not-so-successfully implemented ideas mixed in, but for the most part, Sonic Frontiers is an experiment done right. However, for those who have never enjoyed Sonic the Hedgehog in 3D, I doubt there is much here to change your mind.
An Xbox Series X review code was provided by Australian publisher Five Star Games for the purpose of this review.
Sonic Frontiers is now available to purchase on the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch and Windows PC.
