Sonic Frontiers Reviews
Overall, Sonic Frontiers takes the lovable blue hedgehog into new open world territory, while staying true to how Sonic should feel in a functional sense. There’s also a lot to unpack here, so don’t take on too much at once and just go with the high-speed flow.
Sonic Team has never been afraid to take risks and Sonic Frontiers is a good example of one that has paid off. There are some areas where it is lacking, such as the minimal number of Cyberspace settings and the Titan fights, but Sonic Frontiers is the best 3D Sonic games in a long time, with its open-world foundation offering something for the series to build on in years to come.
Sonic Frontiers is a fascinating game, mostly because of how little it actually feels like the rest of the series. The game’s marketing has called it an “evolution” of the Sonic formula, and that’s certainly accurate, but it’s still hampered by some growing pains. Sublime exploration and intuitive mechanics constantly clash with Sonic Frontiers’ insistence on introducing mandatory mini-games and one-off gimmicks, many of which simply aren’t engaging.
Another average, but ambitious, outing for the blue hedgehog.
Sonic Frontiers is an unsteady first run at the open-world genre for the blue blur but Sonic Team has crafted something endearing and immensely enjoyable all the same. Its core systems are fun, making Sonic's iconic speed an integral part of traversal and combat alike while paying homage to what has come before in its Cyber Space levels. It's not perfect, but it tries its heart out and I come away with warm memories of an uneven game.
There’s a real tonal dissonance in Sonic Frontiers. It wants to be a fun platformer. It wants to be a high-speed exploration puzzler. It also wants you to feel a sense of power as you take on towering bosses, and save a world from certain destruction. But in striving for success on multiple fronts, it achieves none of these goals – instead arriving as an ambitious but lukewarm adventure-platformer pockmarked by deflating choices.
It’s been 5 years since the last mainline 3D Sonic game, and the wait has definitely been worth it. The open-world structure really plays into Sonic’s strengths and it only contains a couple of gameplay issues that have plagued the series’ past. It’s just so satisfying to jump and run around these massive playgrounds while not having to worry about suddenly switching gameplay styles (like in the Sonic Adventure series) or turning into a godforsaken werewolf.
With Sonic Frontiers, SEGA is taking risks to modernize its iconic licence. Unfortunately, it doesn't work mostly because of the open world and its mechanics. On the other hand, classic levels are still very enjoyable and save the game. This isn't the return of a great Sonic that we could expect.
Review in French | Read full review
While it may be far from perfect, Sonic Frontiers is a colossal step in the right direction for the future of the neon blue needlemouse. Its issues are more stumbles than falls, with the action and exploration creating a memorable experience for everyone's favourite Hedgehog.
Combat especially with larger enemies is engaging even if it could use some basic quality of life changes. Sonic Frontiers has a lot of issues that it is constantly tripping over, but I cannot emphasize enough that I hope the series continues in this direction. For all its rough edges, this is still probably the most fun I've had playing 3D Sonic since 1999.
Solid and definitely have an audience. There could be some hard-to-ignore faults, but the experience is fun.
An animated film-like video game for fans of the series. The newly added 'open zone' system turned out to reveal more flaws than advantages, but the franchise's unique, high-speed action is well expressed. While the solid character settings and story for fans stand out, graphics quality that are hard to believe it's out in 2022 need to be improved.
Review in Korean | Read full review
Sonic Frontiers may not be the best Sonic the Hedgehog ever made, but it's definitely in the upper echelon of the franchise. The new open-world formula works surprisingly well even with its issues, and Cyber Space stages and combat are well-designed, engaging and, most of all, fun. With some tweaks, the Sonic Frontiers formula could be the basis for the franchise moving forward, potentially bringing it back to its glory days.
What Sonic Frontiers has in potential in everything it introduces to the long-standing franchise is immediately lost in the way it’s all executed. Poor environments and a less-than-stellar gameplay loop derail the entire experience to a crawl.
Sonic Frontiers begs, steals, and borrows to create a better 3D Sonic title than we've seen in quite some time. There's absolutely still room to grow, but this is a largely positive step forward for the franchise outside its 2D roots.
Sonic Frontiers is a brave new direction for the series, but this first 'open-zone' entry misses the mark by quite a margin. Traversal and combat annoyances plague the experience from start to finish, while structurally the game offers up very little variety, instead leaning on repetitive fetch quests that get exasperating after the first island. As far as the Switch version goes, it's quite comfortably the worst option available to fans, with graphical compromises that make it impossible to recommend if you're able to play it anywhere else at all. If you're going to get this game, we implore you to try it out elsewhere.
Ultimately, Sonic Frontiers struggles with creating interesting levels and challenges in its large maps filled to the brim with padding. But if you can look past that, there is fun to be had within its frustrating confines.
Sonic Frontier Unknown is a contradictory work. It breaks the doubts of many people, proves that the combination of Sonic's traditional series and the open world is feasible. However in the same time, the combination is still rough. Sonic Frontier Unknown has many flaws, but it's still a fun Sonic game, and also pointed out a new direction for the running blue hedgehog.
Review in Chinese | Read full review
When the blue hedgehog again runs on our television screen, it is with mixed results. For every part we genuinely like, there are elements that do their best to hack apart the joy of gaming. That's a shame, because this is in several ways the best Sonic game in three dimensions. If you're a big Sonic fan, Sonic Frontiers is still worth a look, despite all the problems.
Review in Swedish | Read full review
While there are certainly issues to be concerned about, the mix of the iconic high-speed platformer with the open world is innovative. It might be an excellent foundation to construct the franchise's future. If you can get beyond the technical issues, Sonic Frontiers plays quite well and will please longtime fans and those discovering the series for the first time.