I don't want to be a hater, but this really wasn't it. I am a Sonic fan, I don't believe in the stupid ""Sonic Cycle"" and I think everyone just parrots their favorite youtuber's opinion instead of playing it for themself.
To start positive, here's what I liked:
1. Cyber Space stages - These were a blast. Weird, remixed versions of old stages reminiscent of Generations. Each one had a section that would immediately make you go "OH IT'S THIS STAGE!!" and it was really fun.
2. (Half of) the Soundtrack - The Cyber Space stage music kicks ass. They're either cheesy classic techno with soulful 90's style vocal lines or modern styles of electronic music, DnB, dubstep, future bass and they're all so catchy and groovy They perfectly capture the high energy, high speed essence of Sonic. The boss themes also excel at matching the vibe of Sonic, though these are more about the attitude. Heavy, chugging guitar riffs with the corniest AIM away message lyrics and screams. It's so good. They fully embraced the cringe and own it.
3. The concept of open world Sonic - Some of the islands really had me down for the idea of open world Sonic traversal. I could see why this is appealing, and as someone who normally hates big open "you can climb those mountains" style games, I was actually kind of loving it. Briefly. Then I played more than an hour.
The more time I spent with the game, the more the issues kept piling up. I can't really even concisely list them because they all sort of bleed into each other. I was just finding myself constantly asking "Why would you make it like this?"
Why am I punished for being Sonic?
Moving around goes from fun and novel to frustrating and annoying very quickly. Hitting a hill or random pebble in the environment too fast causes you to lose complete control of Sonic as you go into trick mode and can't move. You run over a boost pad that you couldn't see because of the draw-in and it sends you in the opposite direction and LOCKS YOU INTO A 2D SECTION THAT YOU CAN'T ESCAPE, forcing you to do a series of platforming that winds up placing you halfway across the map from where you were trying to go.
Why such a strong emphasis on combat?
For some reason there's a skill tree that I maxed out in the 2nd map and for the rest of the game the skill points were completely worthless, so I had no incentive to do extra platforming challenges or explore. The skill tree also contains hardly any movement skills and is essentially combat abilities. I do not care about combat in Sonic. This isn't why I play these games. When I get to a new island and I have to defeat world bosses to play the platforming stages I lose all desire to play the game. Certain enemies completely steal your camera control, even when you're running full speed away from them. Every single time it just caused me to run off a cliff and force me to retrace my steps to get back to where I was.
Why are there stat points?
I understand increasing health and attack. Easy upgrades that you can place in the map to incentivize exploration. And I was fine with these. The speed stat also makes sense, but why can you only increase it one level at a time? With a max level of 99, I was mashing A for a FULL TWENTY MINUTES last night, leveling my speed from 20 to 90. The health and power all upgrade at once, you turn in your heart and seeds once and you get levels for however many you had. Why not do the same for speed? And why even include the max ring stat? You get such a massive speed boost when you're at max rings, so why would I actively choose to carry more than 400? If I can carry 800 rings that just means I have to farm rings for twice as long to get my speed boost back. It's not only pointless, it's actively a DETRIMENT to players to level it up!
Why is there even a story?
I'm not expecting Citizen Kane from a Sonic game, but I had absolutely no clue what was happening at any point in the game. I don't need much. Forces was great, I knew why I was going to the stages I was going to, the writing was corny and funny and perfectly fit a Sonic game. With Frontiers, I felt like there was some sort of media tie-in that I missed, a comic series or youtube series explaining ANYTHING, and the game just expects that you already know it all! Like, they are saying things like "You know what the Koco are" and I'm sitting there going "no the fuck I don't lmao" I was actively watching and paying attention but at a point I broke and just alt tabbed and passively paid attention. I gave up. I don't care. Why am I supposed to feel something for Sage when she said 10 sentences and you don't even learn her name until the last 2 hours.
I don't know. If this was any other developer I would say that the sequel is probably going to kick ass. They could improve on the mountain of grievances I had and make the core concept really shine. But this is Sonic Team. They've been making the same mistakes for decades. I can only hope the next Sonic is back to stage based gameplay and the open-world aspect is dropped. But with the praise and sales this got, I'm not holding my breath.
To start positive, here's what I liked:
1. Cyber Space stages - These were a blast. Weird, remixed versions of old stages reminiscent of Generations. Each one had a section that would immediately make you go "OH IT'S THIS STAGE!!" and it was really fun.
2. (Half of) the Soundtrack - The Cyber Space stage music kicks ass. They're either cheesy classic techno with soulful 90's style vocal lines or modern styles of electronic music, DnB, dubstep, future bass and they're all so catchy and groovy They perfectly capture the high energy, high speed essence of Sonic. The boss themes also excel at matching the vibe of Sonic, though these are more about the attitude. Heavy, chugging guitar riffs with the corniest AIM away message lyrics and screams. It's so good. They fully embraced the cringe and own it.
3. The concept of open world Sonic - Some of the islands really had me down for the idea of open world Sonic traversal. I could see why this is appealing, and as someone who normally hates big open "you can climb those mountains" style games, I was actually kind of loving it. Briefly. Then I played more than an hour.
The more time I spent with the game, the more the issues kept piling up. I can't really even concisely list them because they all sort of bleed into each other. I was just finding myself constantly asking "Why would you make it like this?"
Why am I punished for being Sonic?
Moving around goes from fun and novel to frustrating and annoying very quickly. Hitting a hill or random pebble in the environment too fast causes you to lose complete control of Sonic as you go into trick mode and can't move. You run over a boost pad that you couldn't see because of the draw-in and it sends you in the opposite direction and LOCKS YOU INTO A 2D SECTION THAT YOU CAN'T ESCAPE, forcing you to do a series of platforming that winds up placing you halfway across the map from where you were trying to go.
Why such a strong emphasis on combat?
For some reason there's a skill tree that I maxed out in the 2nd map and for the rest of the game the skill points were completely worthless, so I had no incentive to do extra platforming challenges or explore. The skill tree also contains hardly any movement skills and is essentially combat abilities. I do not care about combat in Sonic. This isn't why I play these games. When I get to a new island and I have to defeat world bosses to play the platforming stages I lose all desire to play the game. Certain enemies completely steal your camera control, even when you're running full speed away from them. Every single time it just caused me to run off a cliff and force me to retrace my steps to get back to where I was.
Why are there stat points?
I understand increasing health and attack. Easy upgrades that you can place in the map to incentivize exploration. And I was fine with these. The speed stat also makes sense, but why can you only increase it one level at a time? With a max level of 99, I was mashing A for a FULL TWENTY MINUTES last night, leveling my speed from 20 to 90. The health and power all upgrade at once, you turn in your heart and seeds once and you get levels for however many you had. Why not do the same for speed? And why even include the max ring stat? You get such a massive speed boost when you're at max rings, so why would I actively choose to carry more than 400? If I can carry 800 rings that just means I have to farm rings for twice as long to get my speed boost back. It's not only pointless, it's actively a DETRIMENT to players to level it up!
Why is there even a story?
I'm not expecting Citizen Kane from a Sonic game, but I had absolutely no clue what was happening at any point in the game. I don't need much. Forces was great, I knew why I was going to the stages I was going to, the writing was corny and funny and perfectly fit a Sonic game. With Frontiers, I felt like there was some sort of media tie-in that I missed, a comic series or youtube series explaining ANYTHING, and the game just expects that you already know it all! Like, they are saying things like "You know what the Koco are" and I'm sitting there going "no the fuck I don't lmao" I was actively watching and paying attention but at a point I broke and just alt tabbed and passively paid attention. I gave up. I don't care. Why am I supposed to feel something for Sage when she said 10 sentences and you don't even learn her name until the last 2 hours.
I don't know. If this was any other developer I would say that the sequel is probably going to kick ass. They could improve on the mountain of grievances I had and make the core concept really shine. But this is Sonic Team. They've been making the same mistakes for decades. I can only hope the next Sonic is back to stage based gameplay and the open-world aspect is dropped. But with the praise and sales this got, I'm not holding my breath.
2 Comments
Summed it up excellently. Sonic Forces was a shitty game but it at least felt like a Sonic game. Sonic found a tone that worked with Colors, Generations and Lost World and now we're back to Adventure era "take this childish take on a mature story seriously, no, dont process that this is a blue hedgehog"
Frontiers was the first step of Sonic officially losing any sense of individuality. The art direction is gone, the 90s cartoon attitude is gone, the timed platforming segments that encourage memorization are shoved to the side.
Frontiers was the first step of Sonic officially losing any sense of individuality. The art direction is gone, the 90s cartoon attitude is gone, the timed platforming segments that encourage memorization are shoved to the side.
BlazingWaters
1 year ago