Sonic is back in 3D with a new open world in Sonic Frontiers. In SEGA & Team Sonic’s latest attempt at modernizing the blue Hedgehog outside of his 2D glory, you travel across an open world facing off against mechanical monsters across cyberspace. Using new techniques for Combat and traversal, Sonic enters the next generation with gusto.

Sonic Frontiers is a 2022 open-world platform game developed by Sonic Team and published by SEGA. It is available on PC, Playstation, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch.

Editor’s Note: Near complete spoilers for Sonic Frontiers’ story may be present within this review. The PlayStation version of Sonic Frontiers was played, and the editor purchased the review copy.

The blue blur is back in 3D for Sonic Frontiers.

Sonic the Hedgehog returns to 3D with the release of Sonic Frontiers. For years, SEGA and Team Sonic have attempted to bring the character into a 3D medium. Some of those attempts were far better than others, but they always felt mediocre to solid at best. With Sonic Frontiers comes an extreme, almost obsessive effort to finally prove that Sonic can and will work in 3D. Though Frontiers has its issues, this game builds a foundation and a much brighter future for 3D Sonic titles, bringing a long-term goal for Team Sonic closer to reality.

Take the battle to giant mechanical beasts as Super Sonic.

THE GOOD: Sonic Frontiers opens with Sonic, Tails, and Amy flying through the skies on Tails’ plane before being sent to a new world portal. The portal being opened was due to Dr. Eggman tinkering with ancient technology by alien beings known as the Ancients who have a relation to the Chaos creatures. An advanced computer program named Sage is hacking the portal on Eggman’s behalf. Instead, she sends him, Sonic, and the others into Cyber Space, the latter investigating the Chaos Emeralds’ attraction to the islands with the ancient tech. Sonic escapes Cyber Space in the real world, but Amy, Tails, and Knuckles remain trapped. Finally, he’s informed by a mysterious voice to defeat the islands’ Titan creatures and break the real and digital worlds’ boundaries.

As Sonic defeats the Titans one by one as Super Sonic, he meets Sage, who works to free Eggman. Sage locked Amy and the others in a digital cage for their protection, having previously calculated that Sonic would fail in his task. However, while breaking his friends free from their cells, Sonic slowly becomes corrupted by digital data. Sage tries to get Sonic to leave the islands by influencing the Titans and mechanical creatures to attack him. he eventually understands Sonic more through his actions and rivalry with Knuckles. She convinces Eggman to work with Sonic to save himself, Sonic, Amy, Tails, and Knuckles.

While continuing his Journey, Sonic and his friends learn of the history of the ancients and the horrible past they endured. After defeating the third Titan, Sonic becomes completely corrupt, leading Amy, Tails, and Knuckles to sacrifice their freedom to save him temporarily. With Sonic revived, he disables three towers that kept the boundary between the digital and real worlds in check. The voice revealed itself to be The End and was the cause of the ancients’ destruction attacks on Earth, but Sonic, Sage (who sacrifices herself), and Eggman work together to defeat it. Finally, Sonic and his friends are free and return home while Eggman successfully revives Sage.

Have fun with some costumes and a few side activities like fishing.

Sonic Frontiers is a great first try for Team SEGA’s renewed interest and enthusiasm for 3D Sonic titles. Though initially appearing plain, the open world has some certain level of life breathed into it as you continue your playthrough. As you unlock and open up more world maps, rails are also unlocked for further ease of travel and certain secrets to help Sonic throughout the game. These rails usually lead to XP for super moves and character medals to progress the current story point and map unlocks. There are some optional quests to gather further intel on the story, but if you have enough keys (usually about 30) to unlock all the Chaos Emeralds, you can speed through this. You can gain keys by playing the Cyber Space levels presented as Classic Sonic platforming level designs. These levels are unlocked by defeating mini-bosses spread throughout the map and spending coins fishing with Big the Cat. You can also unlock keys through Big’s shop.

The super moves unlocked through XP help Sonic unleash powerful new combos to help wind down the health of more formidable enemies. Some super moves also help Sonic navigate more of the world map, such as the Cyloop, which, more often than not, is the go-to move if you see something strange that looks like it can be activated. ‘Frontiers’ has a solid difficulty curve, especially if it’s harder to get the hang of specific mechanics such as parry and cyloop. Some bosses and enemies, including the Titans, require parrying & cyloops to be defeated. Every Titan boss fight has Sonic transforming into Super Sonic upon collecting all seven Chaos Emeralds. There’s no traditional health bar, so you can stay alive until you lose your final ring giving you one last shot at defeating the enemy or gaining more before death. In Titan battles, the rings consistently drain until hitting zero, taking Sonic out of Super Sonic and forcing you to try again.

The story is acceptable on a basic level, and it’s an original adventure not connected to any one game or storyline. However, it does sprinkle in several references to other characters and past events throughout, so there’s some connection to the overall multitude of Sonic lores and canons. Sonic Frontiers also features a satisfactory score in the background, giving off a relaxing vibe as you play. The music kicks up in intensity during enemy and mini-boss encounters surprisingly effectively. There’s an original soundtrack present for Titan boss fights that range from Hard Rock to Metal soundtracks performed by Sleeping with Sirens’ Kellin Quinn and DangerKids’ Tyler Smyth. One Ok Rock, Nathan Sharp, and Quinn Barnett performed the ending themes. Although I was surprised by the boss music, it gave off Devil May Cry vibes, which works for Sonic. Sonic has a history of using metal and rock tracks for its 3D titles, and this was my first time experiencing it myself.

Ride the rails of Sonic Frontiers’ new open world.

THE BAD: Though the scale of Sonic Frontiers’ world is sizeable, it often gives off the impression of being lifeless. There’s not much wildlife outside, maybe some birds you’ll see in the sky, fish you’ll have to go to Big to catch, and the Chaos-like creatures. In the game world that was almost limited to those above and some enemy encounters, it seemed as if they oversized the map somewhat. While fine on a surface level, Combat often feels too basic, which is a shame, given that Team Sonic got creative with several attack animations, especially with the super moves.

Even in new territories, Sonic Frontiers always remember its origins.

OVERALL THOUGHTS: Sonic Frontiers wants to change the public perception of the franchise’s future 3D titles and mostly succeeds. It’s an ambitious entry into the series that SEGA can use as a foundation and building point for future entries within the 3D. If they can figure out better ways to adjust Combat and travel, that is. Suppose the game is commercially valid enough for a sequel. In that case, I’d recommend diving into the open-world aspects with more side quests and non-story-based activities to toy around with without being too bold. Otherwise, there’s no shame in going back to the drawing board with what was learned from Sonic Frontiers and trying again with way more optimism going in than before.