A number of previews rolled out this afternoon for Sonic Frontiers, the big new 3D Sonic game from the Sonic Team. The majority of the previews seem to be fairly positive about the game, which is something given the general response to some of Sonic the Hedgehog’s other 3D games. Several previewers said that they were intrigued by what they played and enjoyed the sense of discovery the game offered them. The biggest gripes from previewers seem to stem from the emptiness and harshness of the world that Sonic is exploring and some technical issues such as excessive pop in, which is even evident on the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S versions of Sonic Frontiers, see below.
Six minutes of Sonic Frontiers gameplay
Okay, Chaos Island looks cool (if somewhat barren); definitely loved the suped up version of the Kraken boss from Chronos island
Agreed.
Okay, I don’t want to come off as a pessimist here, I really do want this game to be good. But it still looks like a tech demo or a game still in the testing phase rather than something ready for sale.
Why is the ground one color and not have a variation of that grey tone? Why does Sonic get launched into orbit where you see the entire stage and it’s short boundaries? Why does it take so long for rings to spray out after you get hit? Why is the area devoid of anything other than rock formations, Sonic Assets and a space ship (I presume)?
I would love a good open world Sonic game (outside of fan games). But every time I see footage of this game outside of catered trailer clips I tend to worry. The gameplay still looks like its in its somewhat early stages of development and needs about another 4 months before its ready.
There are some good ways for going for a desolate world setting in a open-world action game, but I’m not seeing any of them here sadly enough.