Review: SONIC FRONTIERS was a bold direction for Blue Blur

In late 2022, SEGA launched Sound frontiers. I really wanted to try it at the time, but I was swamped with other projects. My schedule recently became a bit freer and I was able to take some time to visit this game which turned out to be an interesting journey. SEGA gave me a code on the Xbox Series X, but the thoughts below are my own. you can play Sound frontiers now on Nintendo Switch, PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X | S (affiliate link) with physical copies available at your favorite retailers such as GameStop (affiliate link) and digital copies from their respective stores and Humble Store (affiliate link).

Worlds are colliding in Sonic the Hedgehog’s all-new high-speed adventure! In search of the missing Chaos Emeralds, Sonic becomes stranded on an ancient island teeming with unusual creatures. He takes on hordes of mighty enemies as you explore a breathtaking world of action, adventure and mystery. He accelerates to new heights and feels the thrill of high-speed, open-zone platforming freedom as you race across five massive Starfall Islands. Dive into adventure as he wields the power of the Ancients and fight to stop these mysterious new enemies. Welcome to the evolution of Sonic games!

I want to be honest about something. I don’t have much experience with Sonic games and most of what little experience I have is on 2D titles like Sonic the hedgehog on SEGA Genesis (thanks Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pass). That said, I’ve always wanted to play more Sonic games and the trailers have always looked intriguing to me. Plus, the track used in the promotional material (“Vandalized” by One OK Rock) is a banger and I’m slightly obsessed with it. Also, I had listened to the review episode of Let yourself play where they covered Sound frontiers and the more they talked about it, the more it intrigued me.

In Sound frontiers, Sonic is tasked with rescuing his friends from cyberspace and saving Koco. The story isn’t bad, but I feel it suffers from the crux of the game – it’s a slow open world game. I remember when the game was first shown, many compared it to The Legend of Zelda: Wild Breath. It certainly seems like SEGA has taken a lot of notes from the success Zelda game that isn’t inherently bad, but they picked a fair number of elements that make the game feel slow. Sonic is supposed to be fast, but the way the game progresses feels slow.

The way in which Sound frontiers it is typically played that you go to an area and then have to collect memory tokens that belong to that area’s designated Sonic friend (e.g., Amy Rose, Knuckles, etc.). You will also need to complete portals to earn Vault Keys and once you have enough Vault Keys you can get a Chaos Emerald. Once you have enough Chaos Emeralds, you can fight the boss around the area. Other aspects of gameplay include obtaining gears to open portals, collecting Koco’s to increase speed and ring capacity, completing challenges to unlock parts of the map, and obtaining items to improve your defense and offense skills and just run around the islands.

In case you’re keeping track, that’s a lot of collectibles. Technically, you don’t have to collect all of these things to progress the story, but you’ll want to engage in at least some of them (actually the only optional one in my opinion is the Koco collection). This is all to illustrate that there are so many different things that need attention, meaning that the story really seems to take a back seat to the collectathon aspect of the game.

Once a portal is unlocked, it changes the gameplay quite a bit. You’ll end up in a section of cyberspace that takes you to a level of a more traditional 2D or 3D game Sonic game. Honestly, I have only two complaints about portals. First, I hate that you have to use gears to unlock them. Second, some of them are really tough, but I’m not even the best Sonic games so it can be about me. Portals are where Sonic is able to do what he does best: make you feel like you’re going incredibly fast. Outside of my two gripes, portals are one of my favorite things Sound frontiers.

As mentioned above, there are some stats that can be increased for Sonic. Attack and Defense are self-explanatory and very useful. Speed ​​seems to only affect your boosted speed and takes some time to be noticeable. Finally, Ring Capacity increases the number of rings you can carry. This last statistic is honestly a bit baffling to me. When you max out the number of rings you have Sonic gets a speed boost which is very nice. Why would you make it harder to get it? I guess that means you essentially have more health, but I question the opportunity cost.

Another thing I’m not a huge fan of is the way the map works. You have to find spots in the world that involve a little challenge or you just have to Cyloop around them. Again, this isn’t inherently bad. However, you unlock so little of the map and the area you unlock feels random. There are times when you don’t even know where you are! I could forgive the first complaint if the second weren’t there as well. Again, this seems like one way the team is trying to slow you down. You just want to run through a Sonic game? Not on their watch!

One thing I want to mention is that I feel I would be remiss to mention an unspoken influence. As mentioned above, many people have compared Sound frontiers TO Breath of the wild. However, there is a lot of influence from The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. The game’s aesthetic features a lot of “broken” digitized objects and artifacts that remind me of some of the art direction of twilight princess. Also, using the Cyloop to attack enemies in a circle reminds me a lot of fighting as a wolf. I’m just saying. This is not a joke Sound frontiers or else, it seems to me that nobody talks about it.

Sound frontiers looks good and sounds good. It’s strange to see Sonic and his friends placed in an environment with a different art direction. It works though. Music does a good job of reflecting the world. The overworld’s main music is epic and empty. There’s a juke box feature and you unlock songs for it as you run around the world and collect yet another collectible. However, once you get to a boss fight, you’re in for a real treat. I fought the first boss and the music kept me going. It reminded me a lot of 2000s hard rock and metal and I really like it.

I like how SEGA has taken a bold move Sound frontiersdirection though I don’t think it paid off as they hoped. I enjoy the game when I run around aimlessly. I’m just frustrated with the slow progress in the game. When I decide to pursue a goal, it feels like a grind. The game has too many collectibles in my opinion. If you’ve ever wanted to play it, I’d recommend waiting for a good sale before picking it up or trying to borrow a copy from your one friend who still insists on getting physical copies of the games. I’d honestly give this rating about 6.5/10, but I’ll round up for the nice graphics.