Sonic Frontiers: levels set in cyberspace resemble the legendary Sonic Adventure for Dreamcast!

Our first encounter with Sonic Frontiers was not the best. As you can read in our last test, the technical aspect of the game was so unstable that it cast a shadow of pessimism on the whole project despite some pretty good ideas. Today, however, we return to talk about the Sega game on the occasion of good news: the official announcement of Cyber ​​Space levels that can make this controversial open world a little more special!

Let’s discover them new Tried by Sonic Frontiers.

less secret

We liked some of the mechanics of the combat system in Sonic Frontiers, especially the ability to flank enemies with the trail created by the hedgehog line, and didn’t mind fighting someone who looked like the first island’s full-fledged boss. intro game. The open world itself could count on a tangible, impactful air of mystery if it weren’t for the violent popup that shows all parts of the levels a few feet from the camera.

but how much confusion, confusion It’s like talking about the most beautiful thing around this game, driven by vague strategies and rather singular choices, which has prevented us from speaking to you so far, among those discovered in the Sonic Frontiers demo. On the occasion of the Summer Game Festival. In practice, for almost a month we were unable to identify the only truly positive aspect of this open world: its linear parts!

But even in this case, a mistake was made: why call them? Cyberspace levels? Sonic wears neither VR glasses nor a netrunner suit, and his different settings are based on historical levels of the series, such as the classic and iconic Green Hill Zone, which we enjoyed finding the first CyberSpace level. is dedicated. . Once you find and decide to access one of these special levels, Sonic Frontiers will leave its distinctive open world to load what seems to all intents and purposes, such as the stages of a new Sonic Adventure: they’re fast, they’re full of detail, and they’re clear. through many inner intersections, even elegantly linear.

Always here, we’ll see all of them come back timed challenges, but let’s just remember that it was born as a platformer, that is not only what characterizes the games of the Sega mascot, which also borrows features from racing games. In Sonic you need to get to the end of the level but you have to do it as soon as possible and as such mechanics wouldn’t make sense in an open world, instead of setting them aside altogether, Sega decided to include them. These little gems of game design. Jewels, yes, but they have a value that is not yet understood.

How about Dreamcast?

Suspicions are once again technical, focusing on inaccuracies in commands and the protagonist’s often tense and schizophrenic response. Also, the three Cyber ​​Space levels we tried certainly didn’t shine: as we approached the funniest passages, the level ended with the best spins, spins, and loops as the background. However, it must be repeated that demo it only forced us to play at or near the beginning of the game, on a practically introductory island of a much larger and hopefully complex world.

Cyberspace levels can follow the same growth, becoming more fun and important over time. Also, their appeal is different, and not only because they trace the main stylistic features of the series (some will dust off the classic two-dimensional game while retaining a polygonal graphic), but also because it is absent. A heavy open world, they can certainly offer more engaging, colorful and meticulous graphics than the rest of the game.