Sonic Frontiers

My first Sonic games were Heroes and Shadow the Hedgehog on PS2. I had a blast with both. A kid's fun isn't something you can measure.

I didn't get an X360 until years later, and I had largely forgotten about the Sonic franchise.

Fast forward to 2020: Saw the Sonic movie in theaters & thought it was entertaining. Nothing more.

2022: Saw Sonic 1 again and then went to see Sonic 2 in theaters. Both were absolutely awesome. I started getting my hands on every Sonic game that I could and cemented myself as a worthy fan.

Let me begin by stating that I haven't yet left Kronos Island. But I am having an absolute blast since dropping into this new adventure.

It is a high claim I am making, but how does this game surpass the likes of Sonic Adventure 2 and Generations? Here are some reasons:

-Sonic's friends are fleshed-out characters

-Completely interactive overworld

-Deeply tantalizing OST

-Outrageous & cinematic story beats

-High-speed gameplay is at the forefront of everything.

A grind that goes off the rails, literally while you are grinding on the rails.

You have to unlock towers to play the original game style by collecting things in a desolate rainy open world.

Infuriating camera angles, horribly impossible first enemy giganto & unrewarding efforts after winning. The game doesnt even acknowledge your victory after you win the game, & rolls back to before the final boss.

For some reason, the best graphics are when you go fishing, which is the only way to speed up the progress quickly.

If you do play, just go fishing to level up quickly & use rewards to collect keys in order to skip to the end.

The good parts include moving quickly across the map & the original gameplay levels were decent.

This game is legendary, innovative and is the salvation of the franchise after the depressing sonic forces, it's satisfying to play, it has a beautiful story, amazing battles, unforgettable soundtrack, exciting ending and a more mature tone for the franchise because I think this is it the path that sega should follow, i was waiting for a game like this, because sega kinda got lost in the middle of the way because the critics seem like they just wanted to get into the games without analyzing it properly, this game was made with great care and he deserves your knowledge, don't care about criticism because he will suffer many, IT'S AMAZING!!!

When the teaser trailer for this game was out, I had somewhat very high and somewhat mainly low expectations. All the acclaimed rumors that this would be a "Sonic Ranger" game was thrown out the window on the game's release date. Sonic Frontiers is THE Sonic Game to play, and to be honest- Open World, Combat, Skill Tree are things I've wanted to see in a Sonic game for so long. The story they went with for this game really felt impactful, these characters have been a part of my childhood and it feels as if they all matured like I have. But beside that, the Super Sonic boss battles are breathtaking to play. The whole Super Sonic VS Titans gimmick had to stuck to this game for so long just for its gameplay and amazing OST. It even made it more better when Update 1 came out with the Boss Rush levels knowing I could replay these bosses and experience what I thought would be the end of a franchise after so many mediocre games, turned into an Ultimate Sonic Experience. Just when I thought my love for the series was dying, this game brought me back into the fanbase in a heartbeat.

Sonic Frontiers is Sonic's first open-world video game and it's not a bad foray by any means; but the grinding rails when you complete certain tasks can sometimes clash with the seamless open-world design and make things feel oddly rigid. Does this make the game bad? No. What about the story? Sure it's copying and pasting Zelda Breath of the Wild's homework in ancient technology (as well as Halo) and Evangelion's Herculean-scaled monsters, but it's still fitting the further you absorb the story and look over some of the obvious influences.

Basically, for a character as established as Sonic, Frontiers represents an interesting experimental phase for the character where SEGA's trying to see what sticks for The Blue Blur in the long run; and something tells me they're gonna keep trying new gaming twists (like JRPG stuff perhaps) alongside the more traditional platforming stuff the series has become known for providing; and it's nice to see open-world design finally in The Hedgehog's varied repertoire.

Sonic Frontiers is like a meal that tries having so many things all at once: some stuff works naturally, but the more 'far fetched' aspects give some nice flavour even if it's out of place for that part of the dish.

Sonic Frontiers is a good time with some flaws that are mostly forgiven here, and it's a bold playbook for franchise-'tweaking' in the 'Open-World Era' of gaming. 3.5/5 stars.