“There’s always another secret.” ~ Kelsier, Survivor of Hathsin, Mistborn: The Final Empire
Since his debut 31 years ago on the Sega Genesis, Sonic the Hedgehog emerged as the edgy and cool alternative to Nintendo’s juggernaut, Super Mario. But despite his supersonic speed and radical attitude, the hedgehog could not catch up to the consistent quality Nintendo’s famous plumber delivered to players time and time again. That isn’t to say that Sega’s blue blur has been an outright failure. In fact, as a character, his popularity has never been greater. Sonic is on par with Mario as a universally recognized character by the public. He has two successful movies under his belt, numerous animated shows and comic book series, merchandise, and concerts. He also made two appearances in Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
His games, on the other hand, have been all over the map.
Woes Of The Old Era
Sonic 06 was a greatly maligned and buggy game and is an early example of the effects crunch had on development. Sonic Mania was positively received and a return to the formula that worked well for the series. Sonic Generations improved the boosting formula and level designs introduced in Sonic Unleashed while successfully celebrating the character’s 20-year legacy. And games like Sonic Lost World and Sonic Forces received myriad mixed responses, from an odd control scheme and poorly developed villains in the former to bland animations, and weak characterization and level design in the latter.
Even recent remakes and re-releases like Sonic Colours Ultimate and Sonic Origins haven’t escaped scrutiny. Colours Ultimate was an unfinished mess on release and required many patches to make it playable. Origins was also released in a bug-riddled state with divisively revised music for two zones within Sonic 3 and Knuckles. The compilation series even led to a falling out of sorts with Sega’s development partner, Headcannon, after they accused the former of using an unfinished version of the Sonic 3 and Knuckles port for the final release.
Sega and Sonic Team have not been able to escape the shadows of many of these poorly received Sonic titles. People questioned if they still have what it takes to make a good Sonic game and if Sonic could ever transition properly into a 3D environment.
Their answer to both questions was Sonic Frontiers, the subject of today’s critique.
A New Frontier
Following the mediocre reception to Sonic Forces, Takashi Iizuka, head of Sonic Team, stated that the next title of the series would need to be as defining and innovative as Sonic Adventure was back in 1998. The team also realized that fans of the series would not sit well with the linear level design of 3D Sonic games popularized in Sonic Unleashed. Thus, as the character entered its third decade, there was a real need to redefine what a modern Sonic game should be.
Sonic Forces was heavily criticized for its short length and poor design of its levels. Morio Kishimoto, the director of Sonic Forces, even concluded that the current level design left little room to evolve and there was not much room to progress further from its current state. Iizuka stated as well that the current state of 3D Sonic games was failing fans in their desire for more freedom and less linearity in their levels.
Kishimoto was the one who pitched the idea of an open-world Sonic game as a way to address these issues. He stated that he enjoyed watching the evolution of the world map concept from its beginning in Super Mario Bros. 3, and its use in Sonic Adventure. Kishimoto felt that combining the world map mechanics in the latter game with actual gameplay would satisfy players’ desires for more freedom within the game itself. To that end, he was named director for Sonic Frontiers, with art director Sachiko Kawamura acting as producer.
Developing The Open Zone
Frontiers’ development lasted for five years – longer than any other Sonic game that came before it. Director Kishimoto stated that the development length was due to the fact that they could not reuse existing game elements. Sonic Team essentially started from scratch with Frontiers and had to use trial and error to nail down the game’s direction. COVID-19 also affected development, as Sonic Team had to migrate to a remote working situation – a first for the company.
Designing the Open Zone concept relied on transitioning Sonic’s speed and abilities to an open-world design while ensuring the spirit of the previous games remained intact. Open Zone specifically refers to a freely explorable field in a Sonic game, as opposed to the generic definition of an open world. The term itself is a combination of Zone – what the playable worlds within Sonic games are called – and Open – referring to a freely explorable field. During its construction, the team used Sonic’s speed as a barometer to determine how large the open world would be. Sonic Team also passed on progressive difficulty increases, instead relying on their Open Zone concept to provide players with plenty of content.
Within the Open Zone, there was a need to balance exploration, combat, and platforming elements. Sonic Team’s solution was to provide challenges that rewarded players by opening up the world for further exploration. In essence, Sonic Team tried to implement non-linear exploration, where it’s not what you obtain at the end that’s the reward, but the journey itself. However, the sheer number of collectibles available to find hampers its implementation.
What’s Old Is New Again
Right out of the gate, exploring the Starfall Islands feels similar to the Adventure Fields (read: hub levels) in Sonic Adventure, but grander in scale. Whereas Adventure’s hub worlds were static and flat in nature, highlighting their utility as gateways to new levels, Frontiers’ design is more complex and dynamic. A variety of elements, like cliffs, forests, lakes, valleys, canyons and deserts to name a few, help elevate Frontiers’ level design from its humble beginnings in Adventure.
Continuing with the Sonic Adventure theme, Frontiers revisits the approach the former game made in terms of gameplay content. Sonic Adventure was jam-packed with different types of game modes. Sonic’s stages were straight action levels, Tails’ levels were races, Knuckles had treasure hunting levels, etc. Frontiers makes reference to Adventure’s gameplay diversity through its Challenges, which unlock portions of the map.
Combat also makes a return to the series, its last appearance being Sonic Unleashed. Instead of controlling a slow, plodding Werehog with stretchy claws, Sonic here utilizes his incredible speed and agility to lay the hurt on enemies. It’s an imperfect, albeit welcome change.
The writing also references events that have happened throughout Sonic’s 30 years of adventure. It ties into the full-circle narrative that we’ll be delving into later in the critique.
A Breath of The Wild
It’s not lost to this writer that Sonic Frontiers feels similar to Nintendo’s The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. From the music to the terrain and to the mysterious atmosphere, Frontiers unintentionally takes a lot of influences from the Zelda title. Iizuka went on record to state that Sonic’s essence as a 3D action game separated the game from other action and adventure titles. Despite his claims, it’s hard not to make comparisons to the Zelda title.
One glaring similarity is that enemies are revived during a Starshower in the same way the Blood Moon mechanic works in Breath of the Wild. The only difference here is that Frontiers added a slot machine mechanic, where you collect meteorites and use them to earn rewards. Another is the reliance on finding waypoints to fill out the map (Sheikah Towers vs. Challenge markers). One thing that does separate Frontiers from Breath of the Wild is that weather effects, like rain, do not affect Sonic’s movement on vertical terrain.
Choose Your Destiny
The beautiful thing about Sonic Frontiers is that there are multiple pathways to accomplishing goals within the game. It’s akin to the classic Sonic games, where the game rewards or challenges players based on the path they take.
The primary goal on four of the five islands in the game is to collect the Chaos Emeralds. Four of the seven Emeralds are found in vaults and are opened using Vault Keys. Sonic can pick up keys in one of three ways: by completing Cyberspace levels, purchasing keys from Big using Fishing Tokens, or by random enemy drops. Collecting keys through Cyberspace is by far the most straightforward path to getting keys. However, if the levels aren’t your cup of tea, the other two methods offer a path forward.
The five islands are Kronos, Ares, Chaos, Rhea, and Ouranos. You can revisit these islands at any time as the story progresses.
How to Handle Your Hedgehog in the Open Zone
The left analog stick controls Sonic, while the right handles camera controls. The camera is a big improvement over previous titles. It can be finicky in a few spots where movement is tight, but it’s manageable in most cases. Sonic retains his basic abilities from previous titles: he can run fast, grind on rails and perform air tricks. His sidestep move also makes a return, handled by the L and R buttons. At top speed, this allows him to quickly maneuver around obstacles without slowing him down.
Sonic jumps with the B button and can double jump by pressing the button again in midair. Sonic can also perform his Drop Dash move from Sonic Mania by pressing and holding the jump button again after his second jump. Pressing A while standing still will make Sonic crouch; while running, he executes a slide that can break objects or hit enemies. Sonic can also do a stomp by pressing A while airborne. Holding the button while stomping will cause him to do a stomp combo.
The Y button causes Sonic to punch and he can perform a basic combo with repeated presses. Hitting Y while airborne executes the Homing Attack. The Homing Attack is used to reach springs, poles, and other gimmicks to quickly traverse the land. It also functions as a way to close in on distant enemies for follow-up attacks.
Parkour from Sonic Lost World makes a welcome return in Sonic Frontiers. Sonic can only execute parkour on black walls by holding ZR. He can also scale these walls by hand like in Breath of the Wild. Sonic can also use his Light Speed Dash by clicking the left analog stick in the presence of a line of Rings.
Degrees of Freedom
Of all previous games, Frontiers grants Sonic the greatest amount of moveable freedom available. Compared to a much more linear, rail-like style of control, Sonic’s movements feel less loose and slippery, and more fluid and snappy. During my playthrough, I made a lot of comparisons to how Sonic Lost World handled Sonic’s movement. In Frontiers’ case, movement is much more refined and sophisticated.
Going at such high speeds, one would expect Sonic to go flying off every sloped surface. Miraculously, that’s a rare occurrence. Sonic Team seemed to have figured out how to have Sonic traverse sloped or angular surfaces. It almost feels like he lightly adheres to surfaces as he’s running, so as to avoid flying off. Granted, if he is at maximum power and boosting, no game developer in the universe will be able to stop Sonic from veering off into the unknown at the peak of a slope.
Speaking of boosting, Sonic Frontiers seemed to take cues from Breath of the Wild by implementing a stamina meter that refills when Sonic is not boosting. Sonic boosts using the ZR button. Sonic can freely boost anywhere at anytime so long as the gauge is not empty. Once emptied, players will have to wait until the meter fills up to use it again. Not only can Sonic boost on the ground, but he can also do an Air Boost that’s akin to an air dash in the Mega Man X series.
Cyloop
One of the first abilities Sonic gains on the Starfall Islands is the powerful and useful Cyloop. By holding X while running, Sonic leaves behind a trail of blue light. The trail of light lingers for as long as you hold down the button. Drawing a circle with a light trail creates a burst of wind that triggers certain effects. It can launch enemies into the air for follow-up aerial attacks, it can put out torches in puzzles or it can reveal hidden secrets and treasures.
In combat, the Cyloop can ensnare a group and send them all flying for follow-up attacks. It can also temporarily remove barriers or reveal weak points in certain foes. After purchasing the skill for it, players can perform a Quick Cyloop mid-combo to open foes to additional aerial attacks and increase the combo chain.
Cyloop also has a hidden function. Drawing an infinity symbol grants Sonic a brief Infinite Boost perk. There’s no limit to how many times you can activate this perk, so players can regain it by drawing the shape again once it ends. Sonic also earns this perk once he collects his maximum number of rings.
Sonic the Fighter
As stated previously, combat makes its first return in a mainline Sonic game since its last appearance in Sonic Unleashed. Sonic Team took inspiration from the Sonic the Hedgehog film when creating the combat system for Frontiers, and is considered one of the three pillars of the game. The other two are platforming and the Open Zone.
Aside from the standard four-button combo, Homing Attack, Stomp, and Cyloop, Sonic can learn new moves and combo finishers from the Skill Tree. The Phantom Rush skill is one that’s quite essential. After building up the combo meter from performing a chain of combos, Phantom Rush activates, causing all further attacks to be 20% stronger than usual. Another versatile skill is the Sonic Boom. When activated in the air or during a combo, Sonic rapidly throws out kicks that send shockwaves to his target. It’s a great long-range attack. Additionally, Sonic also learns three other moves by rescuing his friends. More on that later.
Pressing the L or R buttons allows him to dodge while locked onto enemies. Holding both buttons together will put the hedgehog into a parrying stance. The game generously states that you do not need perfect timing to parry; holding the buttons down well before an enemy strikes is acceptable. To further ease combat, Frontiers included an Auto Combo skill for players to unlock. When enabled in Options, Sonic automatically uses one of his learned skills during battle, depending on the situation. In turn, it reduces the damage dealt. It’s a useful skill for players who aren’t into the combat aspects of the game.
Unlocking new skills requires Skill Points. Sonic accrues points by collecting Skill Shards within the Open Zone. Shards are found by defeating enemies or by breaking containers.
Cartography: Like How The Ancients Did It
Part of Sonic Team’s vision for the game was for the world to open up to players as a reward for their efforts. To that end, they included various challenges that tested players and rewarded them by filling in parts of the map. Dotted around the landscape around each of the four islands are markers denoting challenges. Many of these challenges require a puzzle to be solved, but some also require quick reflexes in order to pass them. A few challenges task players to either reach a goal or pass through beacons as quickly as possible.
Once Sonic completes the challenge, a portion of the map opens up to reveal any important landmarks and pickups nearby. These include locations of Vaults, story events, Memory Tokens, Cyberspace Portals, and additional map challenges, among other things.
Not all map reveals show the location of the next nearby challenge. This appears to be by design, as Sonic Team encourages players to explore and uncover secrets without having to continuously open the map. Once players complete all challenges on the island, they can freely Fast Travel to Cyber Space portals on that island.
Overall, Sonic Team delivered on their intention, however, the map progression feels a little too similar to Breath of the Wild’s take with the Sheikah Towers. Some players may bemoan the lack of a mini-map, but with the numerous collectibles available, I’d find myself staring at the map more than at the scenery.
Time to Collect
Despite Sonic Team’s adhesion to the term “Open Zone,” Sonic Frontiers still shares the DNA of most open-world games, especially on the collectibles front. Sonic’s main goal is retrieving the seven Chaos Emeralds. He can find four of those Emeralds inside Vaults. Each Vault requires a number of Vault Keys to access. Vault Keys can either be randomly dropped by enemies, purchased for fishing tokens in the fishing minigame, randomly dropped by using the Cyloop, or by completing Cyberspace levels.
Thing is, Sonic will need to pick up Portal Gears to unlock the Cyberspace portals. He can obtain these either through fishing token redemptions, random drops, or by defeating Guardians. Guardians are larger and more powerful enemies that require various strategies to defeat. Some Portals require multiple gears to open.
On top of the main collectibles, Sonic can also grab his trademark rings around the islands. Rings act like HP for him in this instance; when hit, he loses only a few rings, not all of them at once. Sonic can also collect Power and Defense Seeds which he uses to increase his attack and defense respectively. As mentioned above, Skill Shards are used to accrue Skill Points. Sonic can also collect purple Fishing Coins for the fishing minigame.
Memories of Friends
Still with me so far? So, to gather the remaining two Chaos Emeralds, Sonic needs to first free his friends from their Cyberspace prisons. To do that, he needs to collect Memory Tokens. Hearts represent Amy’s caring nature, Medals represent Knuckles’ valor and Wrenches represent Tails’ intelligence. Once freed, Sonic will need to keep collecting and delivering Tokens in order to “stabilize them” as they hover between the real world and Cyberspace. Sonic also gains a new Skill once one of his friends is freed.
After collecting a few Emeralds, the game will direct you to find one of your friends in order to progress through the plot. One of Sonic’s friends will each give him a mission to complete in which the reward is a Chaos Emerald. Memory Tokens don’t have much use apart from the main quest and some side stories. However, collecting them on the map can be a fun way to test your skills with platforming and with the game mechanics.
In the end, Frontiers devolves into a collect-a-thon and it is the biggest criticism I have for the title. Thankfully, the game spells out exactly what you need to do and provides ample opportunities to collect things. I do wish there wasn’t so much to gather though. It can be quite overwhelming. On top of that, there’s no further incentive to collect additional items once their purposes have been fulfilled.
Cuckoo for Koco
Almost as common to find as Rings, Sonic can find Koco’s around the Starfall Islands. Players can easily identify these cute little buggers thanks to their charming chimes, trills, and adorable babbling noises. In the game, Sonic delivers them to the Elder Koco in exchange for Speed and Ring upgrades. Speed increases Sonic’s top speed, while Rings increase the maximum amount Sonic can hold at one time. Prior to the end of March, Sonic could only increase these levels one by one. With the new DLC released on March 22, 2023, Sonic can now increase Ring and Speed levels all at once if he has enough Koco on hand.
Aside from the Elder Koco, Sonic can also visit the Hermit Koco. This Koco is responsible for increasing Sonic’s Attack and Defense stats. Additionally, he can transfer Sonic’s Speed levels to his Ring levels and vice versa.
Lore-wise, the Koco served as accessories for the Ancients and they housed their will inside of their little bodies. The Ancient souls sealed up within each Koco drive them to accomplish their last desires. Once that’s achieved, the souls they house inside them leave their bodies and they become inert. Also, a strange symbol appears in the sky when it happens. The game doesn’t explain its purpose, but it could be a euphemism for the afterlife. Sonic Team has not expanded on that mystery as of yet.
Constraints in CyberSpace
We now move on to the next portion of Sonic Frontiers, the Cyber Space Stages. While Sonic Team focused on developing the Open Zone, Director Kishimoto was adamant about wanting Sonic to “once again stand amongst the other ‘stage-clear’ action games” such as the classic Genesis Sonic games, Super Mario and Kirby.” The Cyber Space stages were included to cater to the fans of 3D Sonic games. At the same time, Sonic Team ensured that the stages would not be a mandatory requirement to finish the game in order to maintain a level of accessibility.
Sonic Team stated that they put a bigger emphasis on the quality of the Cyber Space Stages, and it shows for the most part. Each stage is varied and can be completed quickly – between 40 seconds and just under 3 minutes. Stages have multiple paths and shortcuts that can help shave seconds off your time. Within each stage are five Red Rings – a staple collectible of Modern Sonic games. Completing the stage in the main game earns a Vault Key to use at a Chaos Emerald Vault. Players can earn additional keys by collecting all the Red Rings, finishing under a certain time and with a certain number of rings in hand. Fulfilling all four conditions will earn Sonic three additional keys.
While the levels are neat distractions from the main game, the stages suffer due to Sonic’s handling in the stages. Unlike in the Open Zone, Sonic’s movements feel restrained and stiff in the Cyber Space levels. Playing some stages becomes janky due to this restrictive movement and has caused me to fall to my doom a few times.
Hey! This Level Feels Familiar…
Another concern with the Cyber Space levels is that there’s little variety in their aesthetics. Each level uses visual elements from either Green Hill, Chemical Plant, Sky Sanctuary or an unnamed city-themed area. It’s this last one that is the most intriguing and fun to be around – The other three Zones have been featured for long enough.
Some stages are 1-to-1 recreations of previous stages in the Sonic Gaming Universe. Some notable examples are Metal Harbour and Sky Rail from Sonic Adventure 2 and Rooftop Run and Dragon Road from Sonic Unleashed. Going through the levels, I start to understand Sonic Team’s reasoning for their inclusion. Not only do they appeal to the 3D Sonic crowd, but they also make reference to Sonic’s many adventures. The game’s lore reveals that Cyber Space uses his memories to create these stages.
Battlin’ the Baddies
Over to enemy designs, enemies are classified into three groups: Grunts, Guardians, and Titans. Grunts are the standard issue foes you encounter while exploring the islands. The majority of these are foot soldiers, but you may also encounter other types of enemies that require quick thinking and the Cyloop to take out. One enemy type hides in a shell that can be briefly removed using the Cyloop. Another enemy scatters orbs that you can Homing Attack to reach its position in the air. Beware though, as some orbs explode on contact, sending Sonic to the ground with lost Rings.
The second type is Guardians. These enemies are easily identified not only due to their size and appearance but from the fact that the camera zooms in on them and a banner pops up stating the name of the Guardian. Guardians hit hard and require a strategy to take out. One example is the Tower Guardian on Ares Island. To get to its level, Sonic must hop on grind rails, collect a light trail and complete a circle with this trail on several rungs of rails just to approach it. Another is the Ashura on Kronos Island. Sonic must use the shockwaves the behemoth generates with its massive hands to travel up and destroy the three control spires on its top.
By far, the most popular and well-known Guardian of the lot is SQUID. This enemy is notorious for its tendency to hilariously contort itself to face the player when approached. And I’m not talking about Sonic, I’m talking about the player controlling the hedgehog. The Squid will leave behind a cyber trail for Sonic to run on and give chase.
Over The Top Boss Battles!
The final enemy type is the Titan. These hulking monstrosities serve as the main boss for each island. Sonic can face them once he retrieves six Chaos Emeralds and solves all of the Island Mysteries. The first half has Sonic climbing up the boss’s body in a similar vein to the classic PlayStation title Shadow of the Colossus. Blue boost rings on the body help him to ascend faster. Nodes on the Titan’s body emit rings of light that will hamper Sonic’s progress. The second half of the fight begins once he reaches the top and pulls out the Chaos Emerald on its head.
Using the Emeralds, Sonic turns into Super Sonic and begins a blistering offensive. His moveset is the same as his normal form, but his damage output is increased tenfold. Maintaining Super Sonic also consumes a ring every few seconds. The fight mainly hinges on the number of skills Sonic has learned from the Skill Tree. Phantom Rush becomes especially important at this stage as the attack boost can help whittle down the Titan’s health.
Titan’s telegraph their attacks well in advance, giving players enough time to parry. Parrying the advance will not only stun the boss, but it will also provide an opening to use the Grand Slam skill to do a tremendous amount of damage. At half health, the Titan becomes more aggressive and begins to incorporate different attacks along with body lasers to halt Sonic’s advances.
There are QTEs in the fight, but thankfully, they are not excessive. In terms of the bosses, the Titans are some of the biggest and most intricate in the series. The fights are engaging and the combat avoids devolving into a complete button-mashing frenzy, thanks to the number of available moves Sonic has in his arsenal.
A Big Fishing Bonanza
If combat and Cyber Space levels aren’t your cups of tea, you can also play a fishing minigame to collect items needed to advance the plot. During your travels, you may run into a Cyber Space portal that’s shaped like a fish. By entering the portal, Sonic will emerge at a fishing spot where he meets Big the Cat. Big offers Sonic a chance to fish and unwind in exchange for Purple Coins. Players can find Purple Coins around the islands, mainly near overlooked or hard-to-reach areas.
With the rod in hand, press A to cast your line. Pressing A again once a fish bites will cause a red ring to appear. Pressing A one more time when the white ring of light intersects with the red ring will cause Sonic to automatically catch the fish. If there are multiple red rings, you must press the button each time the white ring overlaps each ring. Small red rings are usually small catches. Large or multiple rings denote rare finds.
Sonic earns Fishing Tokens that can be redeemed for many items, such as Vault Keys, Koco, Portal Gears, Memory Tokens, and so on. On occasion, Sonic will reel in a treasure chest. Inside the chest are Gold Tickets, which are used to earn an item without spending Fishing Tokens. One notable collectible only available in the fishing game is Eggman’s recordings of his experiences within Cyber Space and the creation of his AI, Sage.
Sonic can also fish out either a Hermit Koco or Elder Koco scroll. Returning to the islands with the scrolls in hand, Sonic can fast travel to the Elder or Hermit Koco from the map screen.
Island Mysteries
As Sonic makes progress on the islands, there will come a point where he has to investigate one of its many mysteries, which are labeled on the map. Completing these Island Mysteries is essential for Sonic to continue exploring the islands. If he approaches them too early, Sonic will hear the guiding voice telling him he’s not ready to tackle the mystery. However, they will unlock on their own as you continue to feed your friends Memory Tokens or find Chaos Emeralds.
These mysteries task Sonic to solve a puzzle or play a minigame to progress. One of the more interesting mysteries to solve involves a light direction puzzle on Kronos Island. Sonic needs to rotate pillars to direct a beam of light to the center monument. Doing so unlocks a path to the Titan, Giganto. On Chaos Island, Sonic has to play (of all things) an Ancient’s version of Pinball to progress. He even makes a snarky comment about it. Other minigames and puzzles include a top-down shmup, a crane game, and draining water using Ancient technology.
The Island Mysteries were an interesting way to bring insight to the supporting cast by exploring and developing their characters. Sonic Team’s approach to these mysteries in Frontiers reminded me greatly of Sonic Adventure, in that the latter game packed in a diverse number of game genres. What I mean by that is Adventure had snowboarding, fishing, shmups, pinball, slot machines, etc. Frontiers maintains that tradition by including those same minigames.
A Sagely Character Appears
Frontiers starts out like every Sonic game since Adventure: Dr. Eggman finds some sort of ancient technology and tries to exploit it for his nefarious schemes. In this case, he travels to the abandoned Starfall Islands and uploads his new AI, Sage, to one of the Portals. As it’s downloading data, a security protocol activates and summons robots. Fearing for the safety of her creator, Sage warps Eggman into Cyber Space and leaves him there while she searches for a way to get him back out safely.
At the same time, Sonic, Tails and Amy are travelling to the Starfall Islands to investigate why the Chaos Emeralds have gathered there. As they approach, a wormhole sucks the three of them into Cyber Space. Sonic manages to escape the dimension into Kronos Island and starts hearing a voice. It instructs him to gather the Chaos Emeralds and destroy the Titans that maintain the barrier between the real and digital worlds. Confident that this would save his friends, Sonic agrees and begins his journey.
Sage actively stands in the way of Sonic’s mission, influencing the machines and Titans to stop him. She seems to understand what will happen if he succeeds, based on her cryptic monologues to herself during cutscenes. She also managed to capture the digitized version of his friends (including Knuckles, who found himself on Ares Island while investigating Ancient ruins on Angel Island) and trap them in cages. As Sonic frees his friends, his body becomes increasingly corrupted due to cross-contamination between the real and digital worlds. Though Sage is focused on getting her creator freed from his prison, she also comes to respect Sonic’s determination to save his friends, regardless of the consequences.
The End Is Nigh!
Eventually, Sonic and his friends uncover the mysteries behind Starfall Islands and its inhabitants. Long ago, an ancient race of extraterrestrials did battle with their ancient nemesis, The End, who destroyed their old world. These creatures, who look similar to the Water God Chaos from Sonic Adventure, used the Chaos Emeralds to travel the stars in search of a new home. The Master Emerald, found in Sonic’s world, drew the Chaos Emeralds in like a magnet. Crash landing on the Starfall Islands, the ancients decided to resettle here. Soon enough, their nemesis caught up to them and began to repeat what it started eons ago.
Using their knowledge of the Cyber Space dimension, the Ancients managed to imprison The End. It wasn’t until Sonic annihilated three of the Titans, and the control towers on Rhea Island that maintained the dimensional separation, that the entity was freed. It also revealed that it was the voice guiding Sonic all along. Sonic was also corrupted in the process of The End’s release, his body ending up being trapped between dimensions. Luckily, the power of friendship once again comes through with Sonic’s friends sacrificing their physical forms to rid him of his corruption.
Sonic, Eggman and Sage then team up to gather the Chaos Emeralds one last time and prevent The End from regaining its true form. In the final battle, Sage sacrifices herself to end The End. One thing I did not enjoy about the final battle was that it relied on QTEs to complete. It was an incredibly anticlimactic fight. The build-up to Frontiers’ finale was strong, but its conclusion was the weakest point in the game’s story.
Everything is Canon, After All
Canon is a hotly discussed topic within the Sonic franchise. Even the Sonic social media team veered into this discussion with the hilarious and infamous Twitter post that declared “Everything is Canon.”
After Sonic Unleashed, and prior to Sonic Frontiers, Sonic Team took a more laissez-faire approach to the story of Sonic the Hedgehog. Part of it was due to writer’s interpretation. Another part was due to changes around how Sonic stories would be handled. This was a result of a lawsuit between SEGA and the former editor of Archie Comics Sonic division, Ken Penders. At the lawsuit’s conclusion, SEGA listed several restrictions for how Sonic and his stories would be depicted.
In Frontiers, it seems that Sonic Team and SEGA have loosened those restrictions and put their focus on how the entirety of Sonic canon is connected. From the writing to the designs of the Ancients and to the Chaos Emeralds being extraterrestrial objects, it appears that Sega and Sonic Team are charting a course correction on the franchise in order to move it forward. The game’s writer, longtime Sonic comic veteran Ian Flynn, attempted to connect events and storylines over the last thirty years to Sonic Frontiers in order to make the canon more cohesive for future games to work with. SEGA recently ran a job posting for a Sonic Loremaster, indicating that consistency within canon will be a prime focus for the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise going forward.
Character Development in a Sonic Game? Really?
Sonic Frontiers marks the return of character development in a Sonic title. Overall, Ian Flynn did a great job of fleshing out each character.
During their time on Kronos, Amy realized that she wanted to share the love she felt for Sonic with the world. She comes to this decision while fulfilling a determined Koco’s last wish of reuniting with their lost love. Though it meant leaving Sonic behind, she understood that she needed to go on this trip in order to grow as a person.
Knuckles’ duty was to stay on Angel Island and guard the Master Emerald. During the events on Ares Island, he reveals to Sonic that he’s envious of the hedgehog’s lack of responsibility. He’s free to do as he pleases. Sonic reminds him that though the echidna’s job is an important one, it shouldn’t be at the expense of his whole life. Knuckles then resolves to explore the world himself when the journey is over.
Of all the character arcs, the strongest centers around Tails. Mr. Flynn went so far as to address the inconsistencies in the fox’s characterization and focused on his gnawing self-doubt. During his many adventures with Sonic, Tails went from sidekick in his introduction, to a solo hero in Adventure, to a wimp in Forces. In Sonic Frontiers, Tails believes he’s a burden to everyone. Sonic tells him that self-doubt is a part of growing up. Despite always being a duo, Tails recognizes that it’s time to step out of Sonic’s shadow. Sonic not only understands his desire but actively encourages him to be the hero he wants to be.
Eggman’s Most Cherished Creation
Even Eggman’s character is explored. The story in Sonic Frontiers reveals that he isn’t just a one-dimensional evil genius. He’s in fact a multifaceted character who holds a begrudging respect for Sonic. He also has a huge soft spot for his AI, Sage, in which he treats her almost like a daughter instead of one of his machines. You can see and hear his transformation through cutscenes and recordings that you can listen to from the fishing minigame.
At the same time, Sage also holds strong feelings for her father. She goes so far as to lock him in Cyber Space for his protection. As she fends off Sonic’s attempts to free his friends and destroy the Titans, she also keeps her creator safe from Cyber Space threats. Sage is also the one who suggests that Sonic and Eggman team up to ensure his survival, much to the doctor’s chagrin. It’s interesting to watch the development of both Eggman and Sage as the story progresses.
Sonic Frontiers marks one of the rare instances in which Eggman doesn’t double-cross Sonic at the end. Instead, he follows Sage’s advice and teams up with him to defeat The End. Eggman even shows a vulnerable side at the end when Sage and Super Sonic confront The End in space. With a heavy heart, he tells her to fulfill her function, knowing that she may not survive the encounter. When she does die, we see Eggman at the end using both the Ancients’ technology and that strange symbol to bring her back.
Pop-In For A Spell
Arguably the largest criticism of the game’s visuals has to be the infamous pop-in. For those who don’t know, pop-in is when gameplay elements like platforms, rails and the like “pop-in” to existence. Other games in the open-world platforming genre would gradually bring elements into existence in a more subdued fashion. From the first trailers up until now, the pop-in issues haven’t been truly addressed or mentioned by Sonic Team. It’s interesting that the developer still struggles with this issue, let alone doesn’t acknowledge that it’s a problem.
Throughout my playthrough, I have noticed pop-in at several instances. It was a bit frustrating to watch the graphical phenomenon occur, especially when compared to other open-world titles like Breath of the Wild. I feel that with a bit more time, Sonic Team could have found a way to reduce these instances. It’s unknown at the current time if future DLC will address pop-in, but it’s definitely something the team needs to work on for the next installment. More importantly, the pop-in issue didn’t detract me from going through the game. So, while it’s a minor inconvenience, it’s still something I’d like to see addressed in the next Sonic title.
The Open Zone’s Unrealized Potential
Another missed opportunity in Sonic Frontiers revolves around seemingly underutilized environments. A big problem with open-world games is that the world itself looks or feels empty. Games with bland, similar-looking environments, or plain and uninteresting features that don’t encourage the player to explore are some of the many problems developers have when it comes to making these games. Players want unique, lived environments that play upon their natural sense of curiosity.
On the surface, Sonic Frontiers seems to have those same troubles. However, once you dig deeper into it, you can see that some of the environments are varied and complex. Add in springs, rails and platforms and you can easily find yourself in a new section of the island that you haven’t explored yet. There are underground cave systems, a desert oasis and even volcanoes that spew out dangerous lava, so there’s much to explore. Some spots, however, haven’t been used to their fullest potential.
Rhea Island is a bridge between the first three islands and the final act of the game. There’s little to do here, aside from destroying the Cyber Space towers. However, the island is brimming with interesting architecture that I feel wasn’t utilized properly. There are ruins sunk into a lake that could have been used in a story event. There’s a deep valley on one edge of the island where you need to boost properly to get out of. Ancient monuments and ruined statues dot the land. I would never have seen these if it wasn’t for the Jukebox mode in the latest DLC.
The Future of Sonic The Hedgehog
Sonic Frontiers represents a new era for Sonic the Hedgehog. Sonic Adventure and Sonic Unleashed reinvented Sonic with more serious storylines, 3-D gameplay, blazing-fast level design and boost mechanics. In that sense, Sonic Frontiers redefined what it means to truly be Sonic the Hedgehog thanks to an almost unfettered, open environment that was built from what came before it. Though the plot was convoluted and the implementation of the Open Zone was clunky at times, there were glimpses of future ideas for new games and storylines in the series.
Though we may never see the end of SEGA rehashing stories from previous games (see: Sonic Origins), Sonic Frontiers gave a blueprint of what comes next. Will we see more of the Ancients? Will we get new games and adventures starring Tails or Knuckles? More importantly, will we see the meaning of the strange symbol that kept popping up in the trailers and the game itself? Well, as Kelsier from Mistborn would say, “There’s always another secret.” We just have to wait for them to be revealed.
As a game, Sonic Frontiers is a flawed, but fun title and is easily one of the best Sonic Team has put out in recent years. As a proof of concept, Sonic Frontiers went above and beyond its mission objective. It proved that Sonic can play and thrive in an open-world setting. It proved that fans liked the interesting and complex character development of their favourite anthropomorphic heroes. And it showed that, despite a certain plumber lapping him over and over again, there’s no stopping this hedgehog. Frontiers sets the stage for what will be an even bigger Sonic title, and I for one am thrilled at the prospect of playing another, huge open-world game with the Blue Blur.
The 8-Bit Review
Visuals: 7/10
Sonic Frontiers has some pretty environments, however, three of the islands look similar to one another (Kronos, Ouranos & Rhea). I would have liked to see more variety in the island types. Chaos and Ares, on the other hand, are much more fascinating to explore. Visuals do suffer from the aforementioned pop-in issues. The game ran smoothly on the Nintendo Switch, clocking in at a steady 30fps.
Cyber Space level environments utilize the same four classic designs: Green Hill, Chemical Plant, Sky Sanctuary and an unnamed city Zone reminiscent of Sonic Adventure and Sonic Adventure 2. Again, more visual variety in these levels would be welcome, but I do like how the city Zone looks completely unlike the other cookie-cutter Zones from classic games.
The game does suffer from pop-in issues, that is, gameplay elements that “pop into” existence. It’s a visually jarring phenomenon. Regarding Sonic’s attack and movement animations, they were pleasing to the eye. You can get a sense of speed and power from the bright flashes and sonic booms Sonic emits. The Cyloop light trail contrasts greatly with the environment, which helps players complete loops with ease.
Audio: 9/10
Once again, Tomoya Ohtani and the SEGA SOUND TEAM have created an epic soundtrack befitting of the hedgehog. Clocking in at over 6 hours, the soundtrack includes several genres. The islands consist of movements, each dominated by soft and mysterious piano themes accompanied by brooding orchestrals. Cyber Space levels are punchy, high-energy tunes that compliment the frenetic pace of travel. Guardians have their own themes and they are much more subdued than the jazz-inspired fight tunes of Sonic Unleashed.
It’s the Titan fights that really bring out the best of the soundtrack. Each fight starts with a tense, cinema-esque score that highlights the harrowing climb Sonic must undertake to get the seventh Emerald. It then transitions to a heavy metal track once Sonic goes Super, again calling to attention the ferocious fight between the Emerald-powered hedgehog and Titan.
Sound effects and mastering are well-handled for the most part. I take slight umbrage with the explosion sounds – they seem a touch too artificial. Voice acting is also a plus. Roger Craig Smith and Mike Pollock delivered stellar performances as Sonic and Dr. Eggman respectively. Ryan Bartley also is a standout performer as Sage. She did an excellent job at balancing the character’s drive for efficiency with her anxiety over her creator’s well-being.
Gameplay: 8/10
The Open Zone gives Sonic the opportunity to show what he’s truly capable of. He handles incredibly well in an open-world environment. I seldom had to fight the controls to get the hedgehog where I wanted him to go. One thing I do miss is the ability to freely drift like in Sonic Unleashed, but given how well he handles tight turns, I find myself not missing it too much. Conversely, control in Cyber Space is greatly limited and I did find myself fighting the controls to get Sonic moving where I wanted him to. I found the turns to be more difficult to navigate in the Cyber Space levels than in the Open Zone.
Sonic can interact with staple platforming elements – springs, rails, boost pads, and rings, etc. Elements either lead toward new, unexplored areas or provide shortcuts to get around the island easier. Battle-wise, Sonic’s combat abilities are limited, but they are fast and furious. I’m glad Sonic Team included a training simulator during loading screens. It helped since I had a hard time remembering the button prompts for certain moves.
The Cyloop ability is a versatile tool used both in exploration and in battle and lends itself to secret abilities, like infinite boost. It can uncover secret springs and boost pads, solve puzzles and launch enemies into the air.
Narrative: 8/10
Sonic Team took a bold turn in the Sonic the Hedgehog lore by examining the connections between the mainline games, the Ancients, Chao and Chaos, and the Chaos Emeralds. Ian Flynn handled the story and took it in a more serious direction. Sonic Frontiers is one of the rare Sonic games in which Eggman is not the true antagonist. It’s the first since Sonic Adventure 2 where he goes out of his way to help his nemesis face off against a greater threat.
What stands out the most is how much time was spent on character development. At the end of the game, the main cast disbands with each member going on their own adventures without Sonic. During their time on Starfall, Sonic’s friends realize that they all need to live their own lives in order to grow as individuals. Eggman also shows compassion towards his AI, Sage, going so far as to treat her like a daughter. He even finds a way to revive her after her sacrifice at the end of the story
At this time of writing, there are more questions that have gone unanswered in this game. A prime example is the meaning behind the strange symbol that appears when a Koco dies. It’s unknown at this time whether this will be answered in future DLC or in a sequel to Sonic Frontiers. Another unexplored connection revolves around the Ancients and the Echidna tribe, specifically how the former’s demise led to the latter’s ascension.
Accessibility: 8/10
Sonic Frontiers gives players the freedom to choose how they want to approach the game. While it’s implied that players should go through the Cyber Space levels to obtain keys, the game includes other means to achieve the same goal, such as the fishing minigame. Sonic Team also included a training simulator that players can access at any time to practice moves. The training simulator also plays while transitioning between the Open Zone and Cyber Space levels. Players can also tune various parameters such as top speed and cornering ability to their liking. Sonic has an Auto-Combo skill, where he automatically uses a skill in combat in exchange for reduced damage. The game offers multiple difficulty settings and players can change them in the options menu.
Sonic returns to the last spot he touched the ground if he falls off the island in the Open Zone. Dying against a Guardian respawns him just outside the engagement zone giving players the choice to reengage or move on. Players can also select between two control styles. The game encourages newcomers to use the Action Style. High Speed Style gives Sonic more speed to work with and is suitable for veterans.
Challenge: 7/10
Speaking of difficulty, Sonic Frontiers is not an overly difficult game. The Open Zone is very forgiving to players, giving them many opportunities to explore the world at their leisure. The training simulator gives players ample opportunities to practice skills. The difficulty ramps up gradually as Sonic moves through each island and there are very few difficulty spikes to overcome.
Replayability: 9/10
Aside from the DLC content, Sonic Frontiers’ open world offers a near-limitless amount of exploration and combat opportunities. Players can return to Cyber Space stages and complete all objectives. You can also complete the fishing encyclopedia. The game also offers an Arcade Mode where players can replay Cyber Space stages from the main menu
DLC includes a Jukebox mode, where players can hunt down various tunes and play them in the open world. There are also Enemy Rush and Cyber Stage Challenge modes. Enemy Rush has players take on a gauntlet of enemies, including Titans. Cyber Stage Challenge tasks players to go through each Cyber Space stage in succession. Future DLC, including new story modes, are to be released sometime later in 2023.
Personal: 9/10
I didn’t think there would be a 3D Sonic game that would dethrone my beloved Sonic Unleashed as my absolute favourite, but Sonic Frontiers has done that in spades. Sonic feels at home in an open-world setting. I didn’t mind the Cyber Space levels too much. They felt to me more like a tribute marking an end to an era, rather than an ongoing thing. Boss fights were epic and the musical score was straight-out phenomenal. I was initially hesitant about the story, but I’ve warmed up to it in recent months. I can’t wait to see what comes next for Sonic and the gang.
Never before had I felt the simple joy of zooming over an untamed landscape at incredible speeds than I did with Sonic Frontiers. I’ll easily come back to this and play it several times over, just as I did with Breath of the Wild.
Aggregated Score: 8.1
Ryan Cheddi – our friendly, neighbourhood caffeine addict – is a man of many talents: an engineer, a gaming historian, a fiction writer and a streamer. He is also a self-avowed Sonic the Hedgehog fan. You can check out his cool beans at his site – Games with Coffee – or find him on Twitter as @GameswCoffee, and Instagram as @games_with_coffee. He streams on Twitch, also as GamesWithCoffee.
