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Sonic Frontiers | Review Thread

Draugoth

Gold Member
hero




Game Information

Game Title: Sonic Frontiers

Platforms:

  • Nintendo Switch (Nov 8, 2022)
  • PC (Nov 8, 2022)
  • Xbox Series X/S (Nov 8, 2022)
  • PlayStation 5 (Nov 8, 2022)
  • Xbox One (Nov 8, 2022)
  • PlayStation 4 (Nov 8, 2022)
Trailers:

Developer: Sonic Team

Publisher: SEGA

Review Aggregator:

OpenCritic - 73 average - 67% recommended - 26 reviews


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Metacritic (PS5) - 73 average - 46 reviews

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Critic Reviews


AusGamers - KostaAndreadis - 5.5 / 10
There's also a cartoon-like story too, but with one-note dialogue and equally bland voice work - the quality is a far cry from the recent films.

Checkpoint Gaming - Kolby James - 8.5 / 10
Put simply, Sonic Frontiers is the best 3D Sonic game ever made, and a fantastic step in the right direction that bodes very well for the future of everybody's favourite blue hedgehog.

Digital Trends - Tomas Franzese - 1 / 5
While not outright broken like Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) or Sonic Boom, Sonic Frontiers is a heavily misguided game that muffles good ideas with questionable narrative, technical, and gameplay design decisions.

Easy Allies - Brad Ellis - 7.5 / 10
Sonic Frontiers brings the Blue Blur to new horizons. And while it has problems, it's by far the most enjoyable and ambitious 3D entry in a long time.

GamingTrend - Jack Zustiak, David Flynn - 85 / 100
Frontiers boldly plants one foot into the future with its "open zone" structure while keeping the other stuck in the past with mechanics and level ideas that are over a decade old. This approach results in a satisfying game even if it does not push the series into as many new frontiers as it could. It still hits many of the right notes that long-time fans will appreciate and works especially hard to satisfy those who have felt like the past few Sonic games have been missing some personality.

Inverse - Hayes Madsen - 7 / 10
Sonic Frontiers is a fascinating game, mostly because of how little it actually feels like the rest of the series. The game’s marketing has called it an “evolution” of the Sonic formula, and that’s certainly accurate, but it’s still hampered by some growing pains. Sublime exploration and intuitive mechanics constantly clash with Sonic Frontiers’ insistence on introducing mandatory mini-games and one-off gimmicks, many of which simply aren’t engaging.

Kakuchopurei - Alleef Ashaari - 80 / 100
Sonic Frontiers is going to be a good first-time experience for many gamers who have never played a Sonic game, and the story/narrative is standalone enough that you don’t need to have played any other Sonic game before playing Sonic Frontiers.

PSX Brasil - Ivan Nikolai Barkow Castilho - Portuguese - 80 / 100
Sonic Frontiers manages to mix what we expect from a Sonic game with an open world full of collectibles. The gameplay is great, the soundtrack is fantastic and the graphics are good. The title lacks in the difficulty, story and in the visuals of the cutscenes.

SIFTER - Gianni Di Giovanni - Liked
SONIC FRONTIERS is clearly inspired by some of the best games of the last five years and on the whole is a fast, fun experience, with the odd speed bump along the way. It ties nostalgic classic Sonic courses with modern 3D platforming in a way that mostly works but isn't always seemless.

Skill Up - Ralph Panebianco - Unscored
Video Review - Quote not available

TheGamer - Rhiannon Bevan - 4 / 5
There are teething issues and a reluctance to let go of the past, but it’s also a daft Sonic game with a charming story told in the most competent way we’ve seen in years. Sonic might not be back in the big leagues yet, but he’s catching up. Like Sonic Adventure all the way back in 1999, Frontiers could give the series a new lease on life - Sega has to ditch the old ways and let it happen.

TrueGaming - عمر العمودي - Arabic - 6 / 10
Sonic Frontiers is not as polished as we had hoped, it suffers from repetition and mediocre execution, even the story is weak.
There are some good ideas presented in the game's open world, but past installments mistakes do come to haunt the new game as well.

Twinfinite - Justin Mercer - 3.5 / 5
Quote not yet available

VGC - Chris Scullion - 4 / 5
It may have had a mixed reception earlier this year, but Sonic Frontiers' final form is a brilliantly refreshing adventure that gives the series a much-needed shake-up. The occasional control and camera 'quirks' still pop their head up, but they appear far less frequently than Sonic fans will be used to, making for a much less frustrating experience overall. We would absolutely welcome more of this.

We Got This Covered - Jon Hueber - 4.5 / 5
Sonic Frontiers marks an ambitious, seismic shift for the series, with a massive open-world adventure that both honors its past and pushes the boundaries of what this franchise can look like moving forward.

Worth Playing - Chris "Atom" DeAngelus - 8 / 10
Sonic Frontiers is an all-around solid Sonic the Hedgehog game. The shift to a more open-world style of gameplay works almost entirely in its favor and allows the game to offer more freedom and exploration without resorting to werehogs. At heart, it's still the same basic 3D-style gameplay that the franchise has been doing lately, but the change in perspective works in its favor. Not every change is a winner, but enough are that I dearly hope that Sega sticks with this flavor instead of reinventing the wheel. Fans of Sonic will be delighted, and those on the fence should give Frontiers a shot. It's easy to see how the greater freedom (and lack of annoying gimmicks) could be the difference between frustration and fun.
 
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Punished Miku

Human Rights Subscription Service
Easy Allies - Brad Ellis - 7.5 / 10
Sonic Frontiers brings the Blue Blur to new horizons. And while it has problems, it's by far the most enjoyable and ambitious 3D entry in a long time.

Pretty much what I expected. I usually line up with Brad on most games. By far the most enjoyable in a long time, but not a flawless game. Sounds good to me.
 
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Bragr

Banned
Seem like any other Sonic game, it's for a certain kind of audience.

If it lands in the 70s, that's fair, but seems like we have to wait longer to finally get a good Sonic game.
 

Saber

Member
While not outright broken like Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) or Sonic Boom, Sonic Frontiers is a heavily misguided game that muffles good ideas with questionable narrative, technical, and gameplay design decisions.

Sonic Frontiers is not as polished as we had hoped, it suffers from repetition and mediocre execution, even the story is weak.
There are some good ideas presented in the game's open world, but past installments mistakes do come to haunt the new game as well.

There's also a cartoon-like story too, but with one-note dialogue and equally bland voice work - the quality is a far cry from the recent films.


Lmao, most of them are spot on.
 
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TintoConCasera

I bought a sex doll, but I keep it inflated 100% of the time and use it like a regular wife
Happy to see it's better than the later ones.

Still not the best tho.

 

Nvzman

Member
Seem like any other Sonic game, it's for a certain kind of audience.

If it lands in the 70s, that's fair, but seems like we have to wait longer to finally get a good Sonic game.
70s is still good dude. Not that I really give a shit about what critics think, given they usually tend to be overly harsh on Sonic games as they aren't very reviewer-friendly in the first place. Sonic is a game built on replayability, imo you cant just play through most Sonic games once and give it a fair review. They are built to replay and get better and better and have more and more fun mastering the mechanics and acing the levels. Frontiers may be different but we will find out in a day!
 

analog_future

Resident Crybaby
I'm going to go ahead and call a 74 for a 3D Sonic game a win. Best reviewed 3D Sonic game since Sonic Colors 12 years ago.

Also makes this the 4th highest reviewed 3D Sonic game in the franchise, only behind Sonic Adventure, Sonic Adventure 2, and Sonic Colors.

Will definitely pick this up for $30 or so when it's on sale.
 
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Bragr

Banned
70s is still good dude. Not that I really give a shit about what critics think, given they usually tend to be overly harsh on Sonic games as they aren't very reviewer-friendly in the first place. Sonic is a game built on replayability, imo you cant just play through most Sonic games once and give it a fair review. They are built to replay and get better and better and have more and more fun mastering the mechanics and acing the levels. Frontiers may be different but we will find out in a day!
If you have to play through something 2 times before it gets good, it's not a good game.
 

Nvzman

Member
If you have to play through something 2 times before it gets good, it's not a good game.
Its not "you have to play through something 2 times before it gets good", its "the more you master the game, the more fun the game gets". Its like an arcade game lmfao. Just because its not quite as pick up and play as something like Mario doesn't mean its not good. Its the same design as something like Dark Souls, where a first playthrough is a bit of a learning experience that can be frustrating but the game truly opens up and rewards you when you master its mechanics. And the truth is a lot of journalists don't give Sonic that type of love, so thats why fans tend to be significantly more positive towards the games than critics.
Its a different type of design, thats much more old-fashioned and arcadey. Nothing wrong with it at all.
 
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Fake

Member
Pop-in is understandable when you realize just how fast Sonic actually is. Much, much faster than other hedgehogs.

The pop-ins have nothing to do with Sonic speed at all. As Skill Up said, is like the hegdehog engine trying his best to load things up. Is probably a outdated engine for open world.

As you can see in the video, the pop-in appears even when you're doing nothing.

 
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TheMan

Member
Will probably pick up next year on sale, but yeah imma be balls deep in ragnarok this week, no time to waste on mediocrity right now.
 

SJRB

Gold Member
Watching the ShillUp review and man the graphics and technical performance... How is that okay by anyone's standards?

It really does look like they took the Switch version as the baseline and ported that shit to the other consoles. That pop-in is unforgivable, especially considering the SSD speeds PS5 and Xbox have.

Ridiculous.
 

AngelMuffin

Member
Skill Up said two important things:

- Has the worst kind of pop in in gaming to date.
- Guys that have acess to Sonic Frontiers preview told to SEGA to delay the game for polish. Totally ignored.
I don’t think Sega is in a position to delay their biggest game of the year past the holiday season. Hopefully we’ll see some polish by way of updates down the road.
 

Black_Stride

do not tempt fate do not contrain Wonder Woman's thighs do not do not
Yo thats actually impressive.

I was so expecting this to be a dud of a game, after the initial reveal trailer and early videos of the dead island I was like the team have officially lost it.
Glad the game is actually good.
Averaging the same as Modern Warfare II.......who would have guessed that?

Christmas saved!
 

Belthazar

Member
Some of those reviews sound really weird, praising the game to hell and back and then giving a 7. Also, that 20 really brought the score down, it's clearly a troll review for clicks
 
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TrueLegend

Member
I think a lot of people are having fun with the actual game but game is technically a mess and needs 6 more months of patches and fixes.
 

Fbh

Member
Better than I expected, seems like they decided to focus on the worst part of the game for that initial reveal.

Easy Allies - Brad Ellis - 7.5 / 10


Pretty much what I expected. I usually line up with Brad on most games. By far the most enjoyable in a long time, but not a flawless game. Sounds good to me.

That review was pretty weird, he made it sound like 6/10, then he goes and gives it a 7.5.
I guess it might be one of those "greater than the sum of its parts" type of game.
 
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