We've Played Sonic Frontiers, But What Did We Think Of It?

16 minutes?! Can’t you just type a paragraph about it?

This will be The 3D Sonic game.

Looking forward to this one, nice to hear Alex's opinions on the game. Bigger question remains, are Alex's opinions the "most lovely?" We need to know!

@Fizza As a fan, I have enjoyed the previous Sonic games, even if it goes against popular opinion. Not counting Colors Ultimate as that was a port, I was thinking the other games like Forces, Boom (yes, I liked all three, despite popular opinion), and Lost World. Looking forward to this one too.

@Fizza We haven’t had to deal with anything. We as consumers aren’t obligated to buy ***** games. You can argue we were tricked into buying some games just because they had Sonic, but at a point us Sonic Fans only have ourselves to blame. I do agree that its really nice the YouTube commentators will have something positive to talk about.

@Jiggies While Frontier looks good, its gonna be hard to beat Sonic Adventure 2 and Generations. To each their own though, both SA2 and Generations have flaws (Also not everyone has to have the same opinion as me lol). Frontiers is looking like a solid 8/10 from me.

My kid likes sonic, so the quality of the game is basically irrelevant. What have I become?

@ChickenJoe You’ve become a good parent who just wants their child to have fun. I’ve played a lot of crappy games when I was young that I loved back then. To kids it doesn’t have to be a good game, it has to be a fun game. And they are the better for it.

If it gets atleast a 7/10 then it will be atleast something good in a long while.

Generations was 3d Sonic's best outing to date, while Mania is Sonic's best game since his Genesis days.

If it turns out good, great! Maybe it will teach Sega to stick to a winning formula and refine it rather than just throw Sonic in whatever.

I have no interests in Sonic anymore, but Mania was a fun throwback. So let's see how the end result comes out for Frontiers.

I generally say that Sonic has high highs and low lows. The failures are awful (06, Unleashed, Colors) but the good ones are really, REALLY good. This game is looking to be the first just ok Sonic Game, and that’s fine.

@Sunsy have it pre ordered for switch. Just like you I enjoyed forces and lost world. Never played boom though. Actually don’t shoot me but I actually really enjoyed playing sonic 06 too lol

This is shaping up to be better than expected.

I’m still interested to see how it’ll perform on Switch. I could get it on Steam but it would be easier for my son to play too if the Switch version is good. And then I can probably justify it as a Christmas present too!

@Jkr Nah, I'm not one of those "oh no you played Sonic 06" kind of guys. If anything, it's cool you enjoyed it. Never did play it, I did enjoy that GBA port of Sonic 1 at the time. It had its technical problems, but man, I just liked having a one of my favorite Sonic classics on the go before better portable versions came along.

I'm gonna wait on it, just in event I get it for Christmas. Happened last year with Colors Ultimate. Enjoy the game when you get it.

I can already hear everyone saying Nintendo needs a Switch 2 because of this game. If the game is genuinely good, it won't matter if the Switch version looks worse...but my goodwill for SEGA isn't what it used to be. So I'll just wait for reviews. But it would be lovely to have a solid 3D Sonic game to sit along side the stella Mario Odyssey.

I'm interested to see the reviews for this one. I'm not a big Sonic fan but I enjoyed Colors and Generations, so if this game is at least as good as those two, then I'll probably pick it up.

@ChickenJoe
Take it from someone who loved crash bandicoot: mind over mutant, on the DS, you are an awesome parent who just wants their kid to have fun.

I’m excited to see/hear more on this. I’ve enjoyed the other 3d Sonic games ( except ‘06-haven’t played it) but I wouldn’t call any of them great.

Hopefully this gets Sonic back on the right track again. No more fan made nonsense going forward this time. Atlus is suing the crap out of the Shin Megami Tensei MMO fans to teach them a lesson too.

https://www.siliconera.com/atlus-sues-smt-imagine-fan-server-for-copyright-infringement/

I am really looking forward to this gaaaaaaame!!

@ChickenJoe my kid likes Mario games and only Mario games, so consider yourself lucky ( coming from a hardcore MegaDrive fan).

@ChickenJoe Do you also buy licensed games from Outright Games?
Then you've become everything you once sought to destroy

Not interested in the Switch port which is inferior. It will be the version that leaks and give it a bad name. Play this on PS5 or PC before you judge.

I've actually been excited since it was annouced, i think it looks pretty damn fun and the open zone approach is exactly what the series needed.

I hate the way 3d sonic moves. In Mario 64, you had complete control of Mario, you could tilt the control stick very slightly and Mario would tip-toe, you run then pull in the opposite direction, and Mario does a skidding turn etc, complete control.

Sonic in 3d is jarring- try to make him walk or jog and the floor beneath his feet moves twice as fast as his legs are moving, he steers like a 18 wheeler lorry when running at full speed etc its tragic that they find this acceptable from sonic adventure to colours its the same experience.

From what I have seen of this new game, it doesn't look much better. they think putting speed rails everywhere solves the problem of a fluid moving sonic in an open space- I'm not convinced.

@Wesker I see your child managed to duck your bad taste gene. You should thank your significant other.

@piecez I think Sonic's speed is what hinders him when placed within a 3D plane. Mario works because he's one superpower fits well in just about any space.

Sonic on the other than is built always around the idea of never slowing down. That works great in on a 2D plane, but it's terrible in 3D. He just moves too fast even when going as slow as possible.

If I could change one thing it would be halving Sonic's speed. it looks like motion sickness in 3D.

That annoying british guy in the video, can’t stand him

Believe me, it will be bad, sega is not capable of making great games anymore, they can’t even remaster a game properly.

@ketrac
I am ashamed to own 3 separate paw patrol games. All 3 aren’t close to playable, one has a typo on the Home Screen, and far too much money was spent but as long as the kid is momentarily happy I guess it’s fine.

I've never seen anyone smile when playing a Sonic game, all the way back to the Genesis. I'm still convinced people play it because their brains are stimulated by the music and sound effects, meanwhile they're just tolerating the gameplay.

I wish Sega would have let Nintendo give Lost World or Boom to one of its internal teams or Retro Studios to develop. The games were exclusive to Nintendo consoles, so it's not like there was anything to lose. Imagine a Sonic game with the polish, creativity and attention to detail from the folks that gave us Mario Galaxy and Odyssey.

Sega would have gotten some great PR for Sonic and actually had its mascot's face out of the dirt for a few years, and Nintendo would have actually gotten a GOOD Sonic exclusive.

@SpaceboyScreams I don't smile when I play any video game, no matter how much fun I'm having. I'd imagine that the more fun I'm having, the less I'm smiling because I'm too into the game to use the muscles in my face. Remember when Nintendo's commercials used to feature families or a diverse group of friends in their socks in an unnaturally sterile room playing games while laughing and smiling like they just inhaled Joker gas? Talk about uncanny valley.

That being said, Sonic 2, 3 and Knuckles were all genuinely great games. I would feel that way if were playing them for the first time today as I did decades ago.

Looking forward to playing this, all I need to ask myself is whether I’ll go on steam with my sub-par laptop or on switch.

Can't be bothered watching that, what's the jist?

@piecez @Bratwurst35 Well, in the options for this game you can tweak Sonic's speed settings to slow him down if you want.

@burninmylight Well, Sonic boom was actually a disaster because of being exclusive to Nintendo consoles. The game initially was a ps4/xboxOne tittle until Sega forced them to port it to wii u because of a deal with Nintendo.

@Deezy340 the gaming landscape would be so much more positive and influential if more people thought like this. It's one of my main gripes when people say everything about a game is great but "OMG THE FPS/GRAPHICS SUXXXX". Like...idgaf? Loop Hero looks like the NES's wastewater, but is fun as hell. But bc of this, game devs end up having to focus way more on graphics than I think they should, instead of adding that extra polish to make the games fulfil their original purpose: fun.

As a non-Sonic fan, this actually looks fairly appealing. The background scenery looks great, and the movement mechanics look fluid. I would try it just to see what it's like.

That being said, can we do away with the weird dangly arm behind the back running at some point? It's not the right representation of the way ninjas/samurai ran to conserve energy. Whenever I see it in gaming, it looks limp and awkward.

@Dizavid Some people find high graphical fidelity to be part of the fun. If you don't, you can't just say "IDGAF" and blow off all the people that enjoy stuff like that. You're essentially pissing on the artists and animators that put together all the great art that we see appearing in games. They don't exist in a vacuum: you can still play low-poly games that focus on gameplay mechanics while other people can enjoy games that put more focus on mesmerizing graphics. There's literally room for both.

@Deemo37 we got «Might Pups Save adventure bay» as a gift. One of the first things that happened was a crash, for pressing the pause button. The game shipped that way, and wasn’t fixed for six months.

I believe we shouldn’t buy crap games for our kids, even if they like it for a moment or two. That only teaches crap companies that we’re willing to spend money on crap.

Super Lucky’s Tail or Mario Odyssey on assist mode are great for this sort of situation.

@Dizavid Graphical fidelity and performance are also part of how you experience a game. It’s obvious that Sonic Frontiers on Switch will be an inferior version. That is fine as long as it’s not a bad version, with input lag, bugs or crashes.

I’ve already clicked on the article, I just wanted a quick summary somewhere instead of a 16 minute video, as others have also said. And Alex tries WAY too hard to be funny/quirky it’s embarrassing

@ChickenJoe a dad. Believe me I know.

@BloodNinja Well, technically he/she can blow them off if they want. While there is room for both, it seems most of the time that games that focus too much on pushing graphics to the limits, tend have the worst and at best mediocre and boring gameplay.

Most of the budget goes to B+ Actors and crappy scripts C+ scripts. I personally don't care about the artists and animators work, if the final product is terrible.

It's not like many of them do it out of the kindess of their hearts. Most of them get payed a check to come in and do whatever job they were assigned to do, on a project I'm willing to bet many of them don't even like. It's called "keeping the lights on."

This will probably be one of the games of all time, honestly.

@WaffleRaptor01 So if you're going to dismiss the people who make the game, why should they acknowledge your desire for the types of games that you want? We love sitting here making demands of game devs without acknowledging their plight.

Like I said, these things don't exist in a vacuum. We literally have games that are fantastic graphically, deliver a fun gameplay experience, have good scripts, etc. There's a very broad spectrum of the different types of games that exist. Not every game needs to be top tier in each category; some are expressions of the artist themselves. If it doesn't gel with you, simply play something else because that particular game just isn't for you.

@Deezy340 Unleashed and Colors are excellent games not failures

@ketrac
Shoulda put /s there I think it’s dumb too. We own all 3. First one was playable. Second one wasn’t really and he bought the third with money he had saved up so there was no control there. I think he played that last one once because it was literally impossible to play. It crashed had 5 minute loading screens plus tons of lag. Even worse it landed on gamepass a month later. Those games we’re a huge mistake.

While I still have very big reservations about this game, there have been quite a few 3D Sonic games I have enjoyed a lot ...Adventure 1 wasn't the best, but its sequel was pretty fun and a true early 2000's time capsule. Heroes was not good IMO, '06 is an absolute travesty in every way ...but Unleashed ...Wow.

I played through it just last year after buying the backwards compatible 360 version through my Series S because of the lauded 60 fps upgrade, and with rock bottom expectations going in with how blasted it's been throughout the years ...I was blown away by how good it was. It's no masterpiece by any means, but in my personal opinion I think it is one of the most underrated games in the entire franchise.

Colours ...Well, duh ...Colours was good. Not the remaster, though. It was butchered. Then Generations ...The main acts were excellent, but a lot of the side missions were absolute chores ...Otherwise, great game. Lost World ...I tried pushing through it, but yeah ...It's not very fun. The controls were pretty bad. Forces, though ...Good lord above. What happened? Why, oh why?

So, overall ...Quite the mixed legacy for me. But I'll give them the benefit of the doubt ...I've blasted this game ever since that awful gameplay debut, but I'd love nothing more than be wrong about this one. I still want the Sonic IP to succeed and not keep getting so terribly mismanaged by the very team named after it.

I'll wait for your review.

Pretty hype about this Sonic!

@liljmoore Thank you. Just what I want to hear.

@FoxMcMuffin haha I only ever had 3 games for GG: Sonic 2, Tails’ Adventure (my personal favorite on the entire system), and Sonic Labyrinth.
You could imagine how happy I was when they released Tails’ Adventure on 3DS eShop!

@Vil Sonic has had a very rough transition into the 3d sphere. Too much gimmick ideas and bad decisions.

That's one of the core issues with Sonic. You have very good ideas, only they are buried underneath a pile of crappy ones.

Sonic Adventures games: Cut out everything that isn't Sonic and Shadow, you'd have very good games there.

Sonic Heroes: Cut out everyone else but the main team, you'd have a nice game there.

Sonic '06: Cut out management and you'd have good game.

Sonic Unleashed: Cut out the werewolf.

Sonic Wii Adventures, Shadow the hedgehog, Sonic Lost World, Sonic Boom, and Forces: Cut out everything and you'd have a great non existent series of games

I just don't get why Sega thinks Sonic needs some sort of gimmick to be appealing. It's really telling when the best reviewed Sonic game in decades is one that relies heavily on nostalgia.

Personally, I don't want the future of Sonic to be endless clones of Sonic Mania. As much as I enjoyed that game, I don't want to be what only works for Sonic as a concept going forward.

I do believe a 3d Sonic can achieve 10/10, just whoever is in charge and green lighting these awful ideas is what's hindering that.

@fenlix He was saying they should've been developed by Nintendo, not just exclusive to Nintendo consoles. Lost World and Boom's issues were because of SEGA and BRB's design decisions, not simply because they were limited by the Wii U. A Nintendo developed Sonic game on the Wii U would've likely been 10 times better.

this game is going to suck big time.. why? Sonics track record is absolute GARBAGE. Even the original Sonic on the genesis is extremely over rated. How this franchise still exists is beyond me, Sega has drove this series to dirt.

@SpaceboyScreams in the original sonic games he is literally meant to be akin to a pinball with momentum. They're actually quite brilliant in concept. The idea never transferred to 3D well. I grin my head off playing sonic 2/mania

No thanks.. just give me the game don't care to hear someone talk about it

I can find something positive even in the most broken Sonic games, so I'm gonna buy this no matter what critics say about it. I'm just glad it's not another pixel art 2D Sonic, I'm SICK of those games. I was actually alive when 16-bit was the thing, I don't need it in my life now. I want to see how far technology can go and how great graphics can be.

@piecez @Bratwurst35

I think part of the problem has been the way Sonic's speed is being implemented into a 3D control scheme. Rather than controlling like a straight 3D platformer, ala the Mario games, Sonic should probably utilize a hybrid control scheme with an accelerate trigger to switch between 3D platforming controls for walking / jogging and driving/steering controls for running.

i would like more something like Sonic Mania with improved graphics. Open world, 3D and Sonic: These are not words that go together well

@liljmoore Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but I disagree. half of unleashed isn't even a sonic game, rather a button mashing mess. And colors only has like 3 unique boss fights with mostly 2D gameplay. Again, its great if you like them.

@Dizavid this is why MDickie is the best developer (if you like the genres he makes)

A parent, @ChickenJoe, a parent

@fenlix I'm pretty sure it would have been a disaster regardless. The game was fundamentally bad, not merely a bad port.

Still, all the more reason why it would have been awesome for Sega to let Nintendo develop the game since it was Nintendo-exclusive.

I don't think Frontiers will become one of the greatest Sonic games ever tbh, but I don't believe it will fail either. It generally depends on how the gameplay (especially the open-world), amount of content, story, and replay vaule are handled in the end, but ultimately it probably be successful enough that we can expect atleast a decade or so of mainline open-world games like this (going by Sonic Team's earlier words).

@BloodNinja room for both, but gameplay should be priority. I NEVER said it shouldn't be focused on at all. HOWEVER, people like this are far more pandered to, and it often results in disappointing games. Very few beautiful games with no thought to gameplay are fun to play. Many ugly games are so immersive you'd feel odd seeing them any other way.

Edit: Here, an example. Close your eyes and imagine the fun new curse words people would invent if they focused hard on making Call of Duty look "stop and enjoy the view" breathtakingly beautiful. But bc of this, they kinda really didn't do so well on the controls, or the hit detection. They made the footsteps too loud/too quiet. One of the voice actors voice was way too cheesily overacted (like OG Resident Evil 1), etc. So many problems go wrong with more and more budget going to graphics and frame rate. It's why so many indie games keep blowing up.

99% of people who have played this most recent demo seem very positive about the game being good or even great, so I’m definitely really looking forward to playing it myself. I can definitely see this being a top 5 Sonic game for fans of the series.