And like those games, Sonic Frontiers succeeds in making its boss encounters goosebump-raising, adrenaline-loaded affairs that effortlessly marries music with gameplay. The fusion of metal and vocals brought to mind games like Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance and Devil May Cry 5. The stars of the show, though, are the thunderous boss tracks. Cyber Space levels feature head-bopping EDM tracks, and playing them in quick succession made me feel like I was shuffling through an old Liquicity mixtape. But Ohtani and team aren’t afraid to kick it up a gear. The soft, melancholic melodies of the islands form a perfectly chill backdrop for casual exploration. Sonic and banger music typically go hand in hand, and returning composer Tomoya Ohtani doesn’t disappoint. Throughout it all, pumping alongside your adventure, is Sonic Frontiers’ phenomenal soundtrack. Ubisoft should take note for its next Assassin's Creed, to be completely honest. And I appreciate that the game is interested in keeping a brisk pace despite its open-world nature. Darting across the islands and completing the various platforming challenges is its own satisfying reward. Still, issues with collectibles don’t stop Sonic Frontiers’ from being utterly exhilarating to play. Most other collectibles suffer this fate, too, becoming surplus once you’ve completed an island. That renders your accumulating skill points, well, pointless. You’ll likely fill out Sonic’s skill tree of abilities before you’ve even finished the second of five islands. At a certain point, Sonic Frontiers’ collectibles become largely redundant. Though, if you are aiming for 100% completion, don’t hope for a big payoff for doing so. Plus, you can fast-travel between islands if you want to shoot for full completion. You’ll need to fulfill a collectible quota, but once you have, you’re free to progress whenever you like. Think of each island as a large playground. At roughly 20 hours (pushing 30 if you’re going for 100% completion) it doesn’t overstay its welcome. Throw in miniature puzzle challenges – pushing you to press buttons in a certain order or maintaining an extra long boost – and you’ll find that each island will keep you busy.ĭespite all this activity, Sonic Frontiers never feels overwhelming or overstuffed. You’ll need to take down a good number of these to access Cyber Space portals in the first place. Each requires a different strategy to overcome, and they’re surprisingly different from one another. Then there are the colossal mini-bosses scattered throughout the map. Areas are littered with platforming challenges that you’ll spring, slide, boost and grind through to obtain Memory Tokens that’ll unlock story scenes with the game’s various characters. Cyber Space portals are just the tip of the iceberg. The game is another success in the current era of the series, dubbed by many fans as the “Sonic renaissance.” With two successful movies, Sonic The Hedgehog and Sonic The Hedgehog 2, a new Netflix series, Sonic Prime, and now Frontiers, the Sonic The Hedgehog franchise seems to have made it out of the slump it was stuck in for the past decade.The same can’t be said for Sonic Frontiers’ islands. The game has faced criticism for low render distance and other mechanical issues, but was received better by critics than many of its 3D Sonic predecessors. The soundtrack, written by Tomoya Ohtani and featuring Kellin Quinn of Sleeping With Sirens and Tyler Smyth of Dangerkids, is very experimental, while still maintaining a style that suits the series. Many ongoing writing issues related to Sonic’s friends, who are likewise major icons of the series, have been remedied by the improved storyline and new writers. This is a return to the form of the early 2000s Sonic games, and it also helps the game be taken more seriously. The storyline takes a noticeably more serious approach than most of the recent Sonic games. One of the distinct aspects of Frontiers is the plotline. Overall, Frontiers includes much more content and offers more playtime than a majority of prior Sonic titles. However, the breakout “Cyber Space” levels still function as platforming stages that are more traditional for the series. This is an expansion of concepts seen in past games, but is also revolutionary in the fact that this game is fully built around the open world, which has not been seen in any prior Sonic game. The game is focused around open-world exploration and quest completion. Sonic Frontiers marks a return to greatness for the Sonic series as a captivating 3D platforming adventure, with content to offer for all types of players.
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