Topic: Sonic Frontiers: Will Sega Nail It or Drop the Ball?

There's no question that Sega has absolutely been on a roll these past couple years. Sonic Mania is widely regarded as the best 2D game in the series for years, Sonic Colors Ultimate was extremely well received, and Sonic 2 has officially outdone its predecessor at the box office.

So I'm cautiously optimistic.

I've only played the aforementioned titles, but as I've heard from the very vocal Sonic fan community, there have been a lot of high highs and a few really low lows: the series has been really hit or miss. Nonetheless, Sega seems to have put in significant time and effort to make this a worthy addition to the Blue Blur's legacy. I don't know about it being truly open world, nor do I particularly care (although that would of course be, to quote Palpatine, "a surprise to be sure, but a welcome one") so long as the game both respects Sonic's history and plays well, while also maybe giving us some advancement in how we play the game.

But these are merely my thoughts; what are yours? Are you like me in thinking this could be Sonic's return to form? Or are we setting ourselves up for disappointment by keeping hopes so high? Feel free to reply and discuss.

Sonic Forces chemically changed my brain. I don’t feel any anticipation for Sonic anymore as a game that will look good to me. Maybe ‘the next one’ will be good, but it’s not something i think about anymore. I just enjoy the classic 2D games now and maybe that’s it forever 🤷‍♂️

shrugs

Based on past history, the safe assumption is it will either be awesome, good despite itself, or a disaster. I'll be honest, I'll be mad if its not close to like a 9/10 for me, because its been eons, they had it right for two games in a row a decade ago, and then fumbled it for no good reason. And then won't rely on the success and acclaim of Sonic Mania, presumably because they hate me. After I played that a couple of years ago and then watched OK KO's incredibly charming love letter to Sonic like days later, I decided I never want Sonic to be less awesome then this again.

I'll probably be more fair whenever I play it, but Generations came out more than a decade ago, and I'm not interested in wasting much of my time wondering "WILL IT BE GOOD THIS TIME?!" after all this time. Until its a released game with reviews out, I don't care.

As with any game, it is a coin toss.

Pretty much have to wait and see, never know with sega.

After Sonic Forces please forgive me but my enthusiasm remains quite low and tbh a short trailer showing Sonic running through a forest doesn't really do much for me either plus by all accounts the Developers of Sonic Mania and Sega have parted ways too meaning Sonic Mania 2 is not happening now putting even more of a damper on Sonic Frontiers, at least for me.

Hopefully I'm pleasantly surprised instead.

I want it to be good

It's good that they're actually trying something new and innovative for Sonic, but I fear the lack of Sonic-ness to it may be a detriment, making it feel like any other open world game but with a blue hedgehog. That's just my two cents at least.

I think it'll be an awkward one. That the game itself will be liked but the Switch version (which most wanting to play Sonic Frontiers will pick up as Sonic games sell the most on Nintendo hardware) ends up having major performance issues.

Based on everything they said, they are not taking shortcuts with this game, you don't say you are awaiting high scores by rushing the game, so I have high hopes for this one.

@Grumblevolcano its guaranteed the Switch version will have performance downgrades. And performance downgrades mean that version wasn’t the priority. So downgrades and secondary dev priority almost always mean issues..

The fanbase doesn't quite agree with you that Sonic was "on a roll" lately, the last few games have underwhelmed. Forces was somewhat of a mess, and Colors Ultimate took one of the few good 3D games and made it a glitchfest. All of the goodwill Sonic amassed in the early 2010s with games like Colors and Generations has eroded with games like Lost World, RoL, and Forces.

I'm hoping that they get this right, I really am, but I have a feeling that they're going to drop the ball. They just haven't been able to get the level design right since Generation, and contrary to what that trailer for Force said, the level designers that made Colors and Generations so good are NOT with SEGA anymore, Nintendo poached them. SEGA seems to have a problem with attracting, developing, and retaining competent game and level designers and I don't think that's changed for the better recently.

@Bolt_Strike My gut is telling me the game will play more like Adventure as opposed to the recent boost formula, the "hub" they showed seems way too open to effectively navigate with those controls. And if the levels are similar then we can't really base expectations on the dev's previous efforts.

They say that they're pushing for Holiday 2022, which I doubt will happen. If we don't get a trailer by September, I'm going to place my bets on a Delay to mid 2023.

Doesn't mean I'm not hype tho.
I'm actually speculating that Frontiers will connect to the 2D Sonic game that may or may not be in development (https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2022/05/rumour-sonic-team-is-working-on-a-brand-new-2d-sonic-game) in the same way Forces was connected to Mania via the Phantom Ruby.

Edit: I was right! Kind of!

Sonic Team doesn't make great Sonic games.

@Yoshi2 My hopes were dashed the moment we saw it tbh.

I just don't like the concept of Sonic in an open world. The best Sonic levels are tightly-designed roller-coaster type experiences, albeit with some level of choosing your own path. Allowing Sonic free rein in a somewhat barren open world just...does not seem exciting to me.

Plus I've kinda lost faith in Sonic Team. People will talk endlessly about the "Dark age" of Sonic in the late 00s but I'd argue that the 10s were far worse for the hedgehog. Forces wasn't abysmal but just so underwhelming in every area that I'd easily take Sonic 06 over it. It's quite sad that Lost World was our last semi-decent 3D Sonic game, and that was 9 years ago...

Sega needs to just make SA3 already. But if they're not gonna consider continuing the Adventure titles, at least make a game very close to it and improve on SA2. (come on they know every wants the return of Chao garden!)

oh and I'm so tired of the boost mechanic.

Who knows. I was already hesitant about sonic going open world.
Though knowing my easily impressed self I’ll end up getting the game and end up enjoying it.
(I’m the same idiot that liked rise of lyric for gosh sake!)

@itsadrian I think sonic fans actually have a good reason to be fed up, forces sucked, lied about who developed it, lied about bosses!

Sonic colors ultimate ran worse then the original at launch and the switch version which colors was on a Nintendo console, was treated worse then all the other versions.

Just a warning, on Amazon UK there are preorders:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/SEGA-Sonic-Frontiers-Switch/dp/B0BBS...
But looking at them they are put there by Séga
Think it might be a scam