The Sonic games of the past have always felt enjoyable but safe. Doing enough to be different, but never utilising those ideas to the fullest. So, what happens when the next game is described as open-zone? Does that freedom to do what you want get utilised to its fullest and break from the safe feeling of the past? It’s going to be a yes and no from me, but this is still one of the most enjoyable Sonic experiences there has been for the past ten years.
The premise is simple. The chaos emeralds have somehow found their way to the Starfall Islands, with Sonic, Tails, and Amy flying in to check things out. Dr Eggman has already set dark deeds into motion, however, corrupting the defences of the Islands but getting trapped within. The same fate befalls our heroes, with only Sonic able to get free. Our first introduction to the gameplay comes with one of the cyber space levels, but those are but part of the overall experience. And mostly optional.
It does make sense to have you start with one, being locked into a corridor as you get used to the controls before being granted the freedom of travel these open zones give you. The controls are also a bit more complex than with previous games. Jump and homing attack are again on separate buttons, but then so too is the boost. The homing attack button is also the basic attack button, with combat opening up a lot more as you progress.
Yes, combat is a big focus of the game, but there’s plenty of variety to that. As you fight, you’ll gain skill chunks which form into skill points. Those points can then be used to further boost the combat options you have beyond those unlocked from story progression. Along with previously mentioned moves, you have a parry (which requires no timing to execute perfectly) and a dodge. Additional combat options use a combination of buttons to execute, but unlike with Unleashed’s werehog combat, there’s no need to memorise strings of button presses.
Rather, the attack button is combined with another to perform that specific move. Dodge then attack to perform a zig-zagging air strike. Press jump while in a combo to buzz saw your way around an enemy. If you’d rather not memorise even those combinations, there’s an auto combo option which will utilise a random option to either start or end the combo. Sonic’s new cyloop ability can also be used for combat, destroying the guard and shields of enemies along with dealing them a bit of damage.
All of these combat options are only available in the open zones, which do need to be talked of, being where you’ll be spending most of your time. Having escaped from the cyber space, the tutorial section of the first island sees you learn the combat and other things you’ll be doing around these open zones. The challenges that are dotted around offer some light puzzles or skill events, which when completed will reveal more of the map. That map will show where the memory tokens can be found, as well as more challenges.
It’s those memory tokens you’ll be needing to progress the story. Having reached the larger landmass, Sonic starts looking for his friends. The first one he finds being Amy, trapped within a container of sorts. A passage between the dimensions. With enough memory tokens, he can break his friends from that container, allowing them to freely wander the land. But they are still technically trapped within cyber space. Only by defeating the titans can they fully be free.
At points during the story, you’ll need to find more gears to gain access to the cyber space portals, completing more levels to gain keys. Those keys are used to free the chaos emeralds that are trapped around the island, with some being given for completing challenges during story progress. That progress being divided between searching for memory tokens in order to talk to the friend and gaining keys to free the emeralds.
The island is complete when you face off against the titan. With six emeralds found, Sonic will travel to the point of no return – an area of the island where he’ll face off against the titan. The first phase of these fights involve getting the last emerald from the titan. With it claimed, Sonic turns super, some awesome boss-beating music kicks in, and the fight really begins. Each of these titan fights are varied, with Sonic flying around, dodging attacks, and landing some of his own. With the titan down, Sonic will fly off to the next island, which will activate its defences.
With the chaos emeralds pulled from Sonic, he’s now got to repeat everything from the first island to claim them back. It’s not exactly a story-rich game, then. The interactions, however, are what sells it as a story. There’s nothing here that feels forced. The characters are allowed to be themselves, talking of the situation and their surroundings in a way that feels natural. References to past games are to be found here, with events from past games acknowledged in the same natural manner as the rest of the interactions.
And it’s not just the story making references, as almost every level contains recreations of one from the past. Though there’s only a few level themes present, the layouts will give fans of the series something to notice as they encounter sections of levels taken from Adventure 2, Generations, and others in between. And though they might be short, there’s four challenges to complete within each. Get to the goal, beat the time, finish with a certain number of rings, and collect all red rings. Completing each will give you one of those keys, with completion off all granting an extra three.
Are you seeing why I called the traditional stages mostly optional, now? Since only three chaos emeralds require the keys to get, and the number to get them all small, you only really need to have visited two or three of the seven each island holds should you complete all the challenges of them. They’re all fun to run through, so it’s worth it to get the gears needed to open them all.
The Switch version runs well. There’s pop-in and a few low-quality textures when things fail to render during cutscene camera changes, but the graphical quality is otherwise fine. Though you will see some fuzziness when a large amount of effects are happening, namely when it rains.
In terms of controls, everything works as it should. There’s plenty of platforming to be done around them, though plenty do lock things into a 2D style of play. Except when it doesn’t. On the odd occasion, it can fail to recognise the fact it’s meant to transition to a 2D style of play, causing movement to still be 3D with a 2D-locked camera, or platforming that’s meant to be done with a 2D-locked camera remaining 3D. It will fix itself upon hitting one of the speed boosts or springs around these sections, however.
I think I’ve presented enough to say why I’m answering both yes and no to the question of does this game do enough to break free from feeling safe and utilise what it brings to the fullest. To round it all together, there’s enough here to build on. It’s a great foundation in which to build the series on. As I’ve said, the story might be content light, but does more than enough with its natural interactions and world building that I’m fine with it.
The reliance on 2D sections in what’s supposed to be a full 3D experience annoys a bit. It feels as though confidence in 3D platforming still isn’t fully there. Nearly all of what’s here could work with the unlocked camera, which further fuels that annoyance. Such says to me that maybe the confidence isn’t with the developers, but on them make certain sections easier to those players who perhaps don’t have the confidence to navigate them with no restrictions. It’s commendable for them to be thinking that way, and it does save me the trouble of being annoyed at those sections when my overconfidence stops me from doing them right.
If this is the future of Sonic, then I am happy with it. This game shows a solid foundation for that future. While traditionalists might not have the variety to the level themes or the level length they might like, I’d say it’s still worth a shot. Those cyberspace levels are solidly crafted, with some great music to accompany them. The open zones are also great to explore with plenty of light platform challenge. If you’ve been hesitant about previous Sonic games, I can say for sure this one is worth your time to play.
Images Taken From:
Sonic Frontiers | Original Screenshots
