Ahem. With that out of the way...
If you were to ask me what my least favorite genre of game is, I'd probably say... Visual novels. I don't read a whole lot, the last book I actually finished was back in 2014 or something. Open world games are a close second, though. Sure, "Open world" is not exactly a genre, but come on, most if not all of them share certain elements and design choices that codify what these games are all about. And none of them ever did anything for me.
I play them for a bit, f*cking around and exploring, until fatigue inevitably sets in about 4 hours after starting. I don't derive the same feeling of wonder and excitement that other people get from these kinds of games. Everything is too expansive, most of the time points of interest are too far apart from each other, with only minor distractions peppered in between A and B. I mean, one of the defining features present in open world games is "Fast travel"; Why would I want to do that? If the point of these games is to explore and immerse yourself in your surroundings, why make it so that players are encouraged to skip and ignore traversal for the sake of time and efficiency? Sure, no one has to use fast travel, but it's a fact that the majority of players make use of it liberally.
I might be missing the point entirely, but if I'm not having fun, I don't care what that point is, which is why I always drop them, no matter how highly regarded they are. Even Elden Ring couldn't hold me in. Hell, Monster Hunter used to be one of my favorite franchises, but you bet your ass I soured on it big time the moment MHWorld came around, simply because maps were far larger than they used to be, even if they weren't exactly "super" open.
Actually, yeah. I'll use Monster Hunter to illustrate one of the things that irks me the most about these games.
You just broke into my house, pointed a gun between my eyes and told me "Open up paint and draw every single MH1 area from memory". I'd be able to do that in a heartbeat, down to the smallest detail. I could do that with 95% of maps from every single MH entry before World, and that's because maps in those games were segmented. Hardware limitations didn't allow Capcom to make expansive locales, they were forced to chop them up and place them between loading screens. This, in turn, led the team to fill every area with unique landmarks and environmental flourishes.
The grassy hills of MH1's Forest and Hills Area 1, the claustrophobic hellscape of Area 9, the beautiful view of the trees revealed by the cave's gigantic window from MH2's Jungle Area 7, the massive drop into the sea from MH3's Area 8, the breathtaking amber heights of MH4's Area 7, the list goes on and on.
They couldn't just go for scope, so they had to make sure all segmented areas left an impression, and it works to a tremendous degree. I can walk around these games as I would my own backyard. Not the case with World, once technology made those charming diorama-esque areas obsolete.
Scope for the sake of scope, that's what most open world games feel like to me. I prefer my environments packed with detail, while remaining compact enough to be memorable after a single visit.
All this is to say, I was very skeptical heading into Sonic Frontiers, my personal "end goal" in this marathon. After Forces left an incredibly sour taste in my mouth, the next game I have to look forward to is an open world experience? Hoo boy...
... Imagine my surprise, then, when Frontiers turned out to be more like a skateboarding park rather than a traditional Open World McGee. All they had to do was put this blue bastard in it! Problem solved!
Frontiers foregoes the whole immersion approach and instead offers you 5(actually 4) massive obstacle courses for your speeding pleasure. I mean, there's floating platforms and rails and structures all over the place with no rhyme or reason, how could anyone feel immersed in a world like this?
But to me, that didn't matter. The moment I boosted off a cliff and completely bypassed a set of bumpers to reach an objective, I immediately saw the vision here. This is Sonic's take on the concept, and what does he do best? Going fast.
It takes a while to learn some of the game's weirdest quirks. You can't do boost jumps from anywhere since trying to do it from the very tip of a cliff will kill all your vertical and horizontal momentum somehow, certain areas will trigger camera movements which throw your well thought-out leap of faith out the window, and the way Sonic interacts with things such as climbable walls isn't exactly clear from the get go. But once it clicked, it immediately turned one of the biggest problems I have with open world games into one of my favorite aspects of Frontiers. Why fast travel through a drab, boring ass map menu and sit through a loading screen when you can BECOME the fast travel? Jump off this incline just right, catch a ride through the next rail on your way down and boost jump out of it, and you'll be in your destination faster than ANY other open world protagonist would under normal circ*mstances.
It doesn't undo all of my grievances with the "genre", of course. Even though I mapped all of these areas thoroughly and collected all trinkets, I couldn't tell you where anything is. There are a couple of memorable landmarks here and there, but nothing compared to any of the previous 3D games. I could probably walk around Soleanna better than I would in any of these islands.
But Frontiers wants you to live in the moment; these islands aren't meant to feel like your digital home, they are playgrounds, each and every one of them. In my Sonic Unleashed review, I commented on how that game(and by extension most Boost era entries) feel more like racing games rather than "traditional" Sonic games. Going by that logic and bringing back what I said before, Frontiers feels a lot like a skateboarding game, filled with tons of mini objectives and side missions plastered all over the park, with little logic except "they're cool and you look cool while doing them :)". Sonic may not control like Tony Hawk, but that feeling of "Holy sh*t, I just made that jump into the rail and now I can grab this last video tape" is all over this game. The open zones and all the obstacle courses placed throughout were a joy to experience.
That said, running through these virtual trick parks isn't all that you do during your playtime. They tried their hand at some dedicated combat for the first time since Unleashed, and honestly, it feels about as good here as it did in that game. This isn't a compliment, since it's evident that Frontiers wants to be more. It wants to give Sonic a new gameplay pillar upon which to stand, but enemies simply don't follow suit. With the exception of intrusive shield-bearing/perfect-blocking enemies, none of the regular mobs give you any trouble or demand any thoughtful approach. Granted, that also applies to Unleashed, but the way encounters are structured and highlighted here just scream "We want to do character action combat SO BAD, PLEASE give this a shot", while Unleashed felt more like "yeah, the kids will dig it, heh". Paired with the fact that Guardians often feature intrusive mechanics that get in the way of combat, forcing you to play "regular" Sonic until there's an opening, fights here end up feeling like an afterthought. Speaking of which...
Cyber Space. These stages are worthless. I can practically hear the meeting over at SEGA H.Q. where they decided to include them.
"We're working hard at the open zones, but there probably won't be enough time or budget for a fourth fully fledged island."
"That won't do. The game needs to be longer. Uhh... Grab some Generations assets and bring back stage layouts from older titles. Make a side game out of them."
Why else would they go for these tired retreads of older games? It's nothing but padding, especially considering that Sonic's new physics are constantly at odds with these stages. Over before you know it, lacking in mechanical depth that made Unleashed/Generations' stages work, and somehow slow as molasses. No. (also, how did they screw up Red Rings? I swear, 90% of the time, I took a secret route around a stage thinking "well, this is where the red ring is gonna be, right?", only to miss like, 2 rings because they were placed at the regular, easier to reach route. why.)
Combat and Cyber Space were distractions from the main meat of the game: that extremely gratifying, city sized obstacle course. I really wouldn't mind if the entire game's progression was tied solely to exploring these. Cut out the combat, make it so that in order to progress I have to pull off a series of extremely tricky boost jumps and carefully timed homing attacks over a massive chasm or something. Although, to be fair, if that was the case, I would've missed one of Frontiers' stellar highlights.
The combat is an afterthought. These Boss Battles are not.
Don't get me wrong, they're not mechanically deep or any more intricate compared to regular encounters. Instead, what we have here are playable late 2000s AMVs featuring some of the best boss themes I've heard in a VERY, VERY long time. Never in a million years did I imagine that Sonic "Ogilvie Maurice" the Hedgehog would genuinely get me into emocore metal, yet here we are.
The presentation in these fights is insane, extremely gratifying and awe inspiring. My jaw dropped after blasting clean through Giganto's chest, and I popped off INCREDIBLY hard when Super Sonic used Knight's sword to slice him in half, complete with the massive mech slowly splitting apart and then exploding. Anyone who lived through those Final Fantasy X Sonic flash animations back in the day knows EXACTLY what I'm talking about. This is Super Mario Bros. Z-tier extravaganza, and I was ALL for it.
Speaking of music! Cyber Space might have sucked, but damn, the music selection for these stages is amazing. So much DnB goodness, a 1h+ mixtape courtesy of Tomoya "The Goat" Ohtani and guest artists.
Also, dynamic music that evolves as you progress? Check, check, check, for all islands. Great sh*t.
I guess all that's left to mention is the story. The emocore energy isn't limited to the boss themes; this story is a lot more melodramatic than any game before it. But hey, this time, they actually committed! It doesn't try to punch way too far above its own weight. It knows what it is and pulls it off pretty well, I felt. Plenty of character interactions despite the tiny cast, continuity welding out the wazoo(to mixed results), and an adorable new addition to the roster. I love Sage and I WILL protect her.
I still think that the series desperately needs a continuity reboot. Frontiers tries to acknowledge a TON of things from previous games, but considering how shaky this series' narrative foundation is, the result feels less like "this is how far we've come, huh" and more like "oh yeah, that did happen. crazy! anyway,"
What a pleasant surprise. I went into this expecting the worst thanks to my negative bias towards open world games, and came out with a very positive experience. That said, do I want this to be the new future for Sonic? Not really. I don't think this format is ideal or sustainable for this series, especially considering how the team often slaps in unnecessary sh*t to make up for limited time and budget. But Frontiers still gets a pass.
Of course f*cking Sonic the Hedgehog is the one that got me to finish an open world game lmao
(Final Horizon review coming at a later time. I started up Another Story, and once I saw I had to map everything again and each character had their own skill trees to level up, I felt pretty exhausted.)
