Sonic has had a pretty hard time over the last 16 years or so, where he’s never really reclaimed the glory of the 1990s, nor has his games elevated to the heights of his competitor Mario. Especially with the likes of 2006’s Sonic/Human romance (let's pray that never happens again!) and the legendary failure that was Sonic Free Riders. I feel for Sonic, I really do. It's been a long time since we had a proper good Sonic game, and it’s long overdue. When Sonic Frontiers was first announced earlier in the year, people were sceptical and for fair reasons. But now after playing Sonic’s latest adventure, I can finally reveal whether this is a triumphant return, or whether that storyline of Sonic falling in love with a human feels more warranted.
What is Sonic Frontiers?
Sonic and friends embark on their latest and (possibly) greatest adventure after being zapped away to a strange new land by Doctor Robotnik’s latest scheming project. While searching for a series of missing Chaos emeralds, Sonic and co become stranded on an ancient island far away from home. The island is bizarrely void of any organic life forms, and instead, the denizens are strangely mechanical and technologically advanced creatures, all of whom are extremely hostile to our lovable Blue Hedgehog.
It's up to Sonic to venture across the mysterious island, find his friends and battle all manner of dangerous enemies, in a bid to stop Doctor Robotnik’s latest and greatest plan.
Sonic Frontiers takes a lot of inspiration from various modern smash hits, including Zelda: Breath of the Wild, where players are introduced to a strange new world and left to explore, gather clues on the story and solve the grander mystery at hand. But taking the lead is the speedy blue hedgehog who can zip along rails, and run along the vistas of the ancient island and scale walls like it was The Matrix. He’ll be venturing forth, discovering strange landmarks, solving puzzles and fighting mechanical beasts ranging from low-level humanoid soldiers to mighty, and grand titans who destroy anything in their path!
Lighting Blue Critter
It's quite strange to say, but Sonic has quite a bit of lore and a fan base which is highly dedicated to the vast story which continues to thrive through good and bad. Sonic’s latest venture is one that has an immense sense of mystery that will intrigue any player from start to finish, with both high and low points.
The island is a grand mystery as you will ask “what has happened to everyone” and “why there are advanced killer machines roaming looking to harm our lovable Blue Hedgehog?”. The ghostly figures which linger across the land giving cryptic messages and harsh warnings only furthered my interest, despite plenty of gaps being laid out in the plot. Clearly, there is some hint of Dark Souls plot structure at play, with plenty of DC-style cheese to make certain factors overly dramatic, a tad bit gritty or provide a half-decent laugh.
I feel the story does get quite interesting at times but never has the focus or idea of what it wanted to conclude on. There are still plenty of questions and a feeling the writers might not have felt comfortable taking the story to new heights considering this is Sonic. Yet, it would have been neat to see a Sonic story be more captivating and take a different approach throughout until the very end. But there is also the problem of the ending as well.
Very light spoilers aheadTowards the end of the game, there is an immense build-up to the last boss, and I must say the period leading up to the “final” boss is one of the best in recent gaming memory. The final battle starts, the boss emerges, the fight begins in epic fashion and … it's over before you know it. Leaving me and surely other players asking, “is that it?”. But there is more, this is merely an end and not the true ending. So, you do some other bits and pieces and venture to the true ending and the boss before it.
This true and final boss … was not fun. This is something I will touch upon later in the review, but some bosses are bad, while strangely others are thoroughly excellent! But the true ending does resolve a few missing parts of the puzzle yet felt unneeded. If the developers managed to resolve these points and refine the previous boss, it would have ended on an amazing note!
But despite these issues, I really liked the pacing and certain aspects of the story were handled incredibly well when building up the mystery or a big boss battle. There are plenty of moments where Sonic just needs to venture to point A to point B and speak with someone to advance the story, but there are plenty of interesting side notes to find and discover more about the backstory.
Plus, I do like the gang, with Roger Craig Smith returning to voice Sonic (which I think is the best choice and a highly underrated voice actor) and Doctor Robotnik does have that charm to him. Would I have loved to see Jim Carrey be in this instead? Hell yeah! But everyone does a good job at being very likeable, delivering some gravitas when needed and being fun when the time calls for it.
Plus, there are no Hedge/Human relations here …. Thank god!
Run fast! Run Really Fast! 
Sonic’s latest venture sees plenty of discovery as you explore the massive island, spanning from foggy, sprawling hills to harsh and dry desserts. The story takes players across to key points where they will find out the truth behind the island, but in between that are a vast amount of side activities to accomplish for bonus rewards and lore.
Sonic is still fast, and can run along the entirety of the island as he pleases, riding the many random rails laid out or floating in the air, gathering a number of vital resources which will help strengthen him for the many tougher battles ahead and above all, collect those gold rings of course!
The best way to describe Sonic Frontiers is as an open world with plenty of flexibility and discovery. Around every corner is something new to find, whether it’s a rail to ride along, a stash of crates containing gold rings, a tower begging to be climbed or a deadly mini-boss that holds a vital upgrade for Sonic. What you do is up to you, with an immense amount of freedom to simply unveil every square inch of the island or just to tackle the main story. But whatever you do, there is still a vast and varied amount of stuff to do.
The island is massive and the landscape expansive, allowing Sonic to run to his heart's content, with plenty of platforming thrown in for good measure. The number of small puzzles, hidden items and mini-bosses to fight was quite exceptional, and while a lot of it is stuff we’ve seen before, its most engaging and fun. I would find myself simply running around the island, finding secret stashes, collecting random tokens and accessing quite possibly the best feature in the game, the vital levels.
Throughout the world, you will find strange monoliths, and by giving them a set number of cogs, you will unlock a special side quest, a vital simulation of a level that feels much more akin to the old days of Sonic. With an expansive race from point A to point B, where Sonic will have to speed through as quickly as possible, but can also collect rings, and special tokens and complete side tasks to earn a bonus. These levels were a great touch and broke up the pacing of exploring the island quite nicely.
There is plenty of platforming too, with a lot of variety thrown in to mix up bouncing off walls, running along edges and speeding across rails, overall looking and feeling spectacular. There were some minor control issues from time to time, especially on the wall running sections, but for the most part, Sonic’s movement was solid and responsive.
All of these inclusions make the island a lot more engaging, as the core of the island itself is something people will surely find interesting, or just plain dull. As I played this one evening, my partner walked in and ask if this was Sonic. I acknowledged it was and she then returned with “Why is he in something that looks like Final Fantasy?”. This was with the first island, which is seen the most in trailers and gameplay online. There are other islands which do range from “meh” to “okay, kind of cool”. I felt the jungle and dessert islands were the most visually interesting, as they had the lushest environmental elements and made the most use of the world when incorporating the rails, and the various towers and structures you can play around with.
I will say the environments in general do feel somewhat oddly clunky and just bizarrely random at times. There is a vibe of various bits and pieces being thrown onto an island setting, and much of it looks out of place. The more I ventured through, the more I did find myself questioning why there are floating rails, platforms in the air and speed pads embedded into the ground. There is a sort of story reason, but it still doesn’t ease the oddity of the randomness the world clearly has.
That being said, the world is still very enjoyable to venture through, as sliding on rails, boosting yourself via speed pads and running really fast through open fields, desserts and everywhere in between feels immensely satisfying and entertaining to do. It’s even more so as there is so much to do, and while most of the puzzles and side quests aren’t the most inventive, they are still varied, and highly enjoyable to seek out, accomplish and be rewarded for.
And then there are the other bits to mention.
Sonic …. Dis is the way! 
While there is a general clunkiness to the world design, some aspects feel a little undercooked. There are some things which are absolutely exceptional. The virtual levels are a great inclusion, simply replicating the old style of the game’s level design in a modern format. These are a blast to speed through, but better yet are some of the amazing boss battles to fight in. The bosses make the most of Sonic’s various abilities, such as his incredible speed and wall running.
My favourite boss tyles were these massive snake-like creatures which flew through the air, looking incredibly imposing and magnificent visually. After figuring out a way to land on them, would Sonic be engaged in a battle of speed and timing as the Snake’s body would grow, turning into a makeshift track for Sonic to race along. The goal was to run as fast as possible and catch up with the head of the mechanical serpent and battle it out until it perished. This, among a few other boss types, were incredibly fun to fight against. Everything from the presentation, the intensity and the action were all top-notch, being one of the best aspects of the game. There are quite a few different boss types in the game, including the mighty titans which you need to climb up and destroy a weak spot. Something akin to Sony’s cult classic Shadow of the Colossus.
Some of these weren’t as refined, as the controls for wall running (which I mentioned before) do hinder and became an annoyance in these instances. But generally, they’re quite fun still, if not annoying at times. In general, combat is solid and enjoyable, as you’ll fight a good variety of enemies, many with unique tactics, and there are plenty of skills to unlock, making Sonic a super-duper bad a**!
But if you fancy a change of pace, then there are other things to do. I talked about the exploration, but Sonic will encounter several side quests to complete. These are again nothing new, as they usually revolve around collecting lost critters or solving a light pattern puzzle in a certain set of moves, they are again fun, especially for younger gamers. And the sense of accomplishment and reward feels highly satisfying.
Plus, for me, Sonic Frontiers has by far, the best fishing mini-game ever! I loved the fishing mini-game, as it's simple, relaxing and immensely rewarding. The stuff you can fish for is cool, ranging from Big Red Tins, Chests of Golden Tickets, Big Springs and if I’m not mistaken, a Sega Megadrive. (Okay, that one I don’t believe is true!). This and a few other mini-games, including a cool Pinball one, are located throughout the world and they’re all good fun. But this fishing mini-game… is special to me.
Sonic Frontiers offers a lot of variety and activities to do, and while not all of it is perfect or refined, there are plenty of exceptional offers, epic moments of sheer fun and awesome little discoveries that make the open world vastly enjoyable.
Overall Okay, so I know a lot of people are and will continually be divided over Sonic Frontiers, and I understand both sides.
Despite the bad stuff, I can truly say this is a bold right step for the franchise. While a little rough in some places, I felt this is what a modern Sonic game is all about, speeding through a vast open land, finding all manner of cool stuff, fighting big bosses in the style fashioned to Sonic’s speed abilities and collecting all manner of cool tat. I had an immense amount of fun regardless, and for fans and people who love variety, cool activities, and random fun, Frontiers is a game most certainly for you!
But above all, this is a good direction for Team Sonic to invest in and develop for the future.
++ Lots of cool, fun stuff to do.
+ The environment is built for Sonic’s speedy nature and is engaging to explore
+ Some great side activities, including bosses, puzzles and hidden rewards
+ The fishing mini-game
- The world does feel randomly put together at times
- Some issues with controls in certain platforming sections and bosses
- Story fails to keep focus or end on a grand note
The publisher provided an Xbox Series X/S review code of Sonic Frontiers for this review.
