Today’s the day the review embargo lifts for Sonic Frontiers and Sonics latest adventure has received an average review score on Metacritic of 73 (as of 3.30pm UK time) with some praising the open zone game for being the best 3D Sonic game in years. Game Informer interestingly says that Sonic Frontiers builds a solid foundation for the future of the Sonic series. While it is not quite there just yet, it will be interesting to what comes next from Sonic Team. IGN reviewer Travis Northup played the game on PlayStation 5 and said that the powerful console just couldn’t keep up with the spiky blue blur with environmental elements literally popping up in his face while he was dashing around the levels, hopefully this can be fixed with a software update. Here’s a snippet from some of the Sonic Frontiers reviews:
“Though it’s rough around the edges, Sonic Frontiers is the best 3D Sonic game in years. This first attempt at the open-zone concept is an admirable effort, and I can’t wait to see how Sonic Team iterates on this formula in future entries, but it’s obvious this is not the formula’s final form. For now, Sonic Frontiers stands as a solid first foray into a brave new world for Sega’s speedy mascot.”
As frustrating as Sonic Frontiers
can be, I can’t say I didn’t enjoy this new, more flexible take on the timeworn series. Sure, the story, while intriguing at times, didn’t do much to keep me hooked aside from some unexpectedly funny deliveries from Sonic (who constantly brushes off lore dumps from other characters by saying he’s either gone through worse or he’s just here to save his friends). What’s more, the game often felt more like a checklist than, well, a game. I completed more minigames than I could count. The list of frustrations goes on.It’s unfortunate to see a Sonic game that tries, and often succeeds, in retreading past foundations and applying them to a different setting. But the highs of fighting the Titans or playing remakes of classic levels can’t justify the frustrations that constantly put stops along the way.
“The biggest shortcoming with this new open-world design, though, has nothing to do with the buffet of mostly amusing activities – it’s simply that Frontiers is not at all able to keep up with Sonic’s godlike speed on a technical level. I immersion was broken about every five seconds when large objects, like a section of a floating loop-de-loop or a huge tree, popped into view right in front of me. Granted, that’s sometimes hilarious but it’s always jarring and just plain ugly. Most of the time it’s a railing or platform that blips into existence a couple feet away from you, but sometimes it’s entire areas of the world. For all of its amazing quick-loading capabilities, the PS5 just couldn’t seem to handle how hilariously fast Frontiers let me go. Whether I was playing in the 4K resolution mode at 30fps or the much more desirable 60fps mode (seriously, what are we even doing here playing a game this fast at any less?), the pop-in was always an issue. In one case I even ran so fast the ground hadn’t loaded yet and I fell through the map. It’s not a unique problem for an open-world game to have, but Frontiers’ inability to load in a timely manner is so common that it just makes everything feel flimsy and unpolished.”
