#shit i wrote a novel oooooops

[dmbakura]

i beat sonic frontiers and i have many thoughts so imma just compile them here. overall im really happy with the game and i’d love see sega build off of this going forward. spoilers ofc

the good:

-open world (or ‘open zone’ as they called it) works surprisingly well for sonic. i hate open world games so the fact i like what they did here certainly means they got something right lmao

-sonic controls really well. it’s not perfect and i wish they’d refine some physics but i was so worried about this game because of the early footage making it look automated and stiff. im really happy to say it didnt feel like that at all. blasting through the islands and stringing together rails and platforming and just doing sonic stuff feels amazing and like it justifies the space being used. this and elden ring are both unironically amazing examples of how to do open world well.

-the combat and expanding sonic’s moveset was long overdue honestly. there’s only so much you can accomplish with homing attacks. the cyloop and various other attacks added were fun additions even if overall it’s quite simplistic (definitely no devil may cry lol). im not sure how other people like this change? i found it snappy and satisfying but ive seen some say it slows the game down for them? good thing about it is you can automate it if you dont want to deal with it at all.

-the story is actually engaging and taking itself seriously. it also expands on established series lore (so many callbacks to adventure 1) and it’s very nice to see. the plot isnt all that unique or original but it’s been so long since it felt like the game’s were trying to tell a story that wasn’t some bullshit meta nonsense or complete half assed shit like forces.

-the characters are the narrative highlight, same as above, they’re written like actual people and not mouthpieces for stupid jokes. it made me remember why i like these characters. the new addition, sage, was also handled well i think, even though she’s pretty annoyingly vague at the start. she has good development and her relationship with eggman is pretty heartwarming.

-the BOSSES are the definite highlight of the game. the fourth titan and final boss is an interesting, though kind of underwhelming fight, but the other 3 are absolute PEAK. holy shit. best bosses sonic has ever had for sure

-banger music. see above, the bosses have the best tracks in the game but i also found myself really enjoying the overworld themes and cyberspace tracks. sonic games usually have amazing osts and this one is no exception.

-the last island’s cyberspace stages were very solid and i enjoyed them

neutral:

-i can take or leave the baby mode puzzles scattered around tbh. some of the puzzles were satisfying to do but others were just like... walk over and tap a button. not obtrusive but also not really engaging

-i actually did end up liking the overworlds despite initially thinking they looked like awful generic botw inspired crap, but i still think i’d like to see more stylized worlds that are characteristic of sonic going forward. it might have made sense in this game given the lore of the koco/ancients and how desolate and isolated they are but yeah, they’re not the most visually appealing at times- especially the third island which is quite barren for large stretches of it. so i guess this is more a future note?

the bad:

-the cyberspace stages. like i said above, i felt the last island ones were the strongest, but most are just kind of... there. they use themes and aesthetics pulled from green hill, chem plant and sky sanct (as well as an ambiguous city stage) and this is the one area of the game that made it obvious to me sega doesnt want to move on completely. i would have preferred they make new original stages but if they HAVE to use past ones, wouldnt it make sense to use adventure stages or something, given the story relevance? man im just so sick of green hill lmao. 

-on top of this, the physics in these stages are pretty bad. so many times ive just blasted off the side for no reason. it feels like these were slapped in last minute or something, like they’re not compatible with the engine. they break up the gameplay pretty awkwardly and i found myself leaving them until i absolutely had to do them

-there’s unfortunately a lot of polish missing from the animations. it’s serviceable and definitely not the worst sonic has had but i noticed quite a lot of snapping/popping. even some of the cutscenes look dull in the character animation

-polish missing from the game performance as well. most egregious were the various pop-ins that people have been pointing out from the very first gameplay footage. it’s pretty ugly sometimes and can make navigation a little awkward. the game functions perfectly fine but i really hope they can get more people/time to add finishing touches like this in their next game. i didn’t get frame drops or anything, but it still didn’t feel quite optimized. it would be really nice to have a sonic game that you can say is all around polished and amazing for once

SO YEAH it’s got jank. it’s a bit experimental and weird. but it also does so much right and its flaws didnt take away from the fact i was having so much fun while playing it. i was immersed, i wanted to see where the story went, i loved how sonic controlled. i loved that there was a clear direction for this game and that it actually felt like it was trying to be something. im just so happy that for the first time in what. 10 years? i came away from a sonic game feeling satisfied and optimistic about where they can go from here ^w^

#what a ride #shit i wrote a novel oooooops