Sonic Frontiers
Excellent!
Enemy Designs
I’m strongly considering an article about the various robotic enemies that Sonic fights. Their rigid forms make for an interesting contrast against the usual bubbly and rounded designs of Sonic characters. They feel alien, which fits with the spacefaring Ancients who are key to the game’s story.
Sage (brief spoiler talk)
At first, I rolled my eyes at Sage because I assumed she was yet another dull villain of the week. To my surprise, I ended up liking her, even though it took until late-game for my opinion to change. A computer program “daughter” is such an Eggman move, and I like the brief moments where he shows vulnerability over her safety. Sage is leagues better than the nonexistent development Infinite had in Sonic Forces.
Also, her name is an anagram of SEGA… Goddammit, that’s brilliant.
Zone: 4th island
Thankfully, Frontiers offers at least one genuine challenge on one of its islands. This one takes a break from exhausting collect-a-thons and makes Sonic climb up a series of towers. The obstacle courses to their tops require good reflexes, and due to their vertical orientation, it’s easy to fall off and lose a significant chunk of progress. The towers were my favorite platforming segments in the whole game.
Infinite Sprint Secret
I had the joy of discovering this Easter egg without spoilers. Normally, Sonic’s boost has a stamina meter. However, by drawing an infinity symbol with a Cyloop, he temporarily gains infinite stamina! It’s a darling and highly useful feature.
AWFUL
Zone: volcanic archipelago (3rd island)
Large chunks of this map are traversed via rails. A reminder: rails are colored gray, and they’re placed against an ashen gray backdrop. It’s easy for them to hide in plain sight from your peripheral vision.
Fishing & Purple Coins
As much as the fandom hates Adventure 1’s fishing mechanics, at least they’re more engaging than in Frontiers.
It could be argued that the fishing mechanics are simplified like in Animal Crossing, only requiring positioning and a button press (or two in this game) to snag an underwater prize. For me, however, Frontiers doesn’t replicate that magic.
Also, I never ran into duplicate fish or rubbish. It made progression a “one-and-done” deal. I have no idea if this was intentionally coded in, or if my luck was that busted.
In order to cast your reel in the first place, purple coins have to be exchanged. Some are found in the overworld, but there’s one more way to obtain them: through random chance during the equivalent of Breath of the Wild’s blood moon.
For a few minutes, an obnoxious chunk of the screen is blocked by a slot machine pop up. Favorable outcomes reward the player with more coins. Collecting limited-time shiny McGuffins feeds the slots… but you don’t get a say on when they stop rolling.
It’s just the ear-bleeding sound effect for the slots over and over, until you either run out of credits or the sun rises. As if I needed another incentive not to fish.
At least all this is completely optional? I guess?
Eggman has nothing to do
For almost every cutscene, Eggman sits around contributing nothing to the plot. He can’t do anything even if he wanted, because Sage locked him in Cyberspace. He sits around grumbling until his cue for the twist with him and Sage.
Outside of that, Eggman’s biggest lore contributions are dumped in text logs. They’re at least voice acted, but nothing else accompanies the text. Worst of all, these logs have to be purchased from Big… so fishing becomes mandatory if you care about the story at all.
Plot points: Tails’s arc, story climax
As I acknowledged in the main review, Sonic’s friends have story arcs that are likely tailored for a fresh audience. However, Tails’s character development is the most frustrating.
Tails goes through the expected plot beats of a young kid yearning to be as strong as his older best friend/brother. The problem is that this exact arc was done in the Sonic 2 movie. Newcomers to the series already have a way to experience this. This is beyond redundant.
As for the overall story, its climax is deflating. Up until then, it does a great job ramping up tension. Sonic’s constant exposure to the digital realm slowly corrupts his body. It weakens him to the point that his idle animations change, which is a fantastic subtle addition.
Eventually, the corruption immobilizes him between both dimensions. But don’t worry, Sonic’s friends resolve it in the next 30 seconds. They simply use the power of friendship to purify him like they’re Celebi in Pokémon Colosseum. We can’t have the story get too serious for the young'uns!
