Somehow, we’ve managed to make it to the end of 2022, so with that in mind, we’re celebrating some of the best games to have launched in the past 12 months. Today, it’s the turn of a game that might not be perfect, but still has a lot to love: Sonic Frontiers.
Look, I’ll be the first to admit that my initial impression of Sonic Frontiers when that first IGN gameplay trailer dropped was a negative one. Something about the gameplay just wasn’t clicking and looking back, I’m not sure I can put my finger on what the issue really is. Maybe it was the slower pace that didn’t even go near the boost button, or perhaps the graphics weren’t refined enough yet.
Regardless of that, the final product has somehow managed to pull it together to become one of the more enjoyable releases of 2022. Sonic Frontiers is far from flawless, don’t get me wrong. The object pop-in even on Xbox Series X is downright laughable, the RPG-lite mechanics are straight-up busted, especially if you spend about half an hour fishing to earn the items you need to progress or level up, and the physics in the open world can be ridiculously inconsistent. Sometimes, you’ll be able to run up a steep hill, other times Sonic will end up sliding like it’s the Cha-Cha.
Despite all those issues though, Sonic Frontiers just about manages to be the best that the 3D branch of the series has been in a long time. Sonic Mania is still untouchable, don’t worry. The open world exploration feels like what the Sonic franchise has been leading towards for a long time, allowing you to zoom across the map and actually utilise Sonic’s main trait for once: his speed. Yeah, it might handhold the player with excessive grind rails and boost pads, but it’s still incredibly fun to just run around in this world.
Without going uber Sonic nerd either, the character development and relationship building in the story is a cut above many Sonic games that have come before. We get to see who characters like Tails, Knuckles, Amy and even Eggman outside of their relationship with Sonic, which makes the whole cast feel a bit more fleshed out than just Sonic and friends/enemy. We also get to see the story of Frontiers take its toll on Sonic, which is certainly more growth than what was shown in Sonic Forces. He spends six months in prison in Forces, but immediately busts out and starts cracking wise? It no-sold the stakes of the entire game. Frontiers is at least a step up from that.
If anything, that’s why Frontiers works so well, at least for me. Sure, it might be a shameless Breath of the Wild clone in terms of formula, but then you follow the story and get to the massive boss fights and it becomes clear that Sonic Frontiers is just an anime in game form. It’s all about big, super-powered fights and the power of friendship, with the boss fights in particular feeling like a hedgehog-themed version of Asura’s Wrath.
Those similarities might explain why Sonic Frontiers’ reaction has been so mixed from a lot of people, as Asura’s Wrath was gaming Marmite. I happened to adore it though, so obviously it’s no surprise that Sonic Frontiers just so happened to be one of my favourite games of 2022 as well. Could it be improved? Sure, but us Sonic fans are always waiting for the next game to make things better anyway.
READ MORE:Â 20 Best Sonic Games of All Time
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