![]() Watch on YouTube Here's a look at Sonic Frontiers' combat and upgrades system. For those concerned whether they can keep up, you can also customise Sonic's speed settings, from acceleration to turning, though I was actually fine with turning it to max. It seems a no-brainer since, for me, traversal has always been one of the greatest pleasures in any open world game - my fondest memory of the sorely underappreciated Xenoblade Chronicles X is having an avatar who could bound across the world at a superhuman default running speed. Too fast for his own good, or for the camera to keep up, Sonic Team has opted to keep its mascot firmly within linear routes like a rollercoaster ride, hoping dazzling visuals would distract you from realising you were doing little more than holding up.įrontiers then is the team finally having the confidence to let Sonic roam freely in vast open environments at the speed you expect him to achieve. Eggman's nefarious schemes, 3D has been Sonic's long-running nemesis since his 3D debut with Sonic Adventure more than 20 years ago (although it arguably began with the cancelled Saturn game Sonic X-treme). Availability: Out 8th November on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch.Nonetheless, like those two allusions that fans have been making ever since it was announced, Sonic Frontiers is a necessary new direction for the Blue Blur to modernise with his peers - one that attempts to finally pull his speedy form into a genuine 3D game. Gaze upon this new frontier and it's clear this is no Sonic of the Wild, or Elden Hedgehog. That’s not a criticism, necessarily-getting around Starfall Islands and riding the rails feels amazing-but hunting for sparkly trinkets isn’t a great incentive to do so.Despite the joys offered, Sonic Frontiers is a hot mess of a reinvention that can't commit to its new direction. Traversal is more about testing your skills and pulling off rad stunts than actually looking around. It’s meant to encourage exploration, but it doesn’t quite work-instead it feels like you’re being pulled in 10 different directions at once because the world itself isn’t worth exploring. You’ll also need a load of other collectibles to upgrade skills and progress, but with so many twinkly objects to keep track of it’s hard to know where to focus first. To reach any of the Titans you’ll first need to collect the Chaos Emeralds, and to collect those you’ll need gate keys, but to get those you’ll need to collect gears to open cyberspace portals. The progression system is a mess of currencies. However, Sonic’s new Cyloop ability is great fun-it lets you draw paths around objects or enemies as you run to deal damage or solve puzzles. Hitting enemies causes you to dash to them with an impressive burst of speed, but as soon as they’re cleared you’ll come to a complete stop and have to build your speed up from scratch again. The camera often swings around to change your view and angle of running. The cyberspace sections provide the spectacle the overworld lacks, and are full of bright colours and giant loops for Sonic to sprint though. It’s really not a great start-the world feels cold and empty, but over time giant loops and bounce pads are added. You’re left feeling confused by an over the top light show. While the scale of them is exciting, the pacing feels so at odds with the rest of the game. While the Titans are intimidating to look upon, fighting them involves a mess of setpiece action sequences and free-form flying to take them down. Unfortunately that all goes to pot when you reach the Titan fight at the end of each area. For a game about running, fighting is weirdly at home here. Some you can watch for breaks in their movesets before striking, others, like the giant Asura, will need you to navigate a path up their bodies to find their vulnerable squishy bits. A few hits is enough to down basic enemies, but the new maps are also filled with Shadow Of the Colossus-style giants to take on that require more thought. Simple strikes can be combined together with more skills over time.
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