Sonic Frontiers: new demo a clear step forward

Unbelievable but true, the disastrous game played just a few months ago is just a memory. After that Tested at Gamescom 2022 Sonic Frontiers, we couldn’t believe our eyes: the product has improved in practically every respect. The latest version that Sega brought to Germany blew us away with a better framerate, higher resolution, far fewer pop-ins, and a much more interesting level design. Is it finally time for Sonic fans to celebrate? The answer is not so obvious, let’s try to find out why …

without borders

an idea sonic open worldAt open levels, it’s not bad at all, and in fact with Sonic Frontiers that was never an issue. Fans of the Sega mascot know this very well: We’ve always dreamed of running alongside the world’s fastest hedgehog without obstacles or borders. However, it is not an easy task to convey the unique concept of the Sega platform game, which is also a bit of a racing game, in a similar context. It’s been hard for Sonic to even embrace 3D, let alone 3D, a level design that can no longer lead you to the finish line.

To do this, Sonic Frontiers is doing what many platform games before it did in the past to reinvent themselves: it gives up some of the series’ cornerstones, turning them into little exciting moments to reward the user during exploration. Scheduled routes? Now they drive a few minutes between platforms suspended in the sky. Fights? It is divided into more or less elaborate battles with small enemies and in some cases those that will have the honor of small but interesting boss fights.

Sonic Frontiers is divided into islands: We were able to try the first in Los Angeles, where we were allowed to try the second at Gamescom. The verdant plains seen in California have been replaced by large orange beaches lined with rugged plateaus and speckled with refreshing oases. The goal was always the same: to do everything we were commanded from the altar to collect enough gems to continue. It’s now possible to see important parts of the levels even from far away, whereas previously they weren’t visible until they were within an inch, making it very difficult to even orient yourself.

same pop-in phenomenonis the name of this pesky effect that suddenly reveals what should have always been visible, is still present among some group of platforms, and is more severely on the myriad tracks where Sonic loves to run around to reach places that are otherwise inaccessible.

Welcome Coco!

Is it serious? Much less than in the past, but it continues to bother because it affects the user’s ability to choose the direction to go. To understand where we could find something new and interesting, we once again had to shift our eyes to the game’s minimap; here the icons show with great care what we are doing and what needs to be done. What the map doesn’t show is where to hide. very cute coco, small creatures made of stone that need to be brought back by Hermit Koco and Elder Koco for some big rewards. But some Koco groups will choose to transport us around the island, acting as a kind of fast travel, this ensures the typical and inevitable functioning of every open world. But we have reason to believe that Koco is hiding something else, at least that’s what Takashi Iizuka, the historical producer of Japan’s Sega, allows us to understand, as we spent a few pleasant moments chatting about Sonic Frontiers in particular.

Mysteries, meteors and sharks

Iizuka San excludes that Koco could have been raised like Sonic Adventure’s Chao, but acknowledges that Frontiers was born to take the beloved – but also flawed – episodes that appeared on the Dreamcast to the extreme. One of the elements we are focusing on is the design of Sonic’s enemies in this new game. Takashi Iizuka deliberately identifies as enigmatic, alien. In fact, this is the first time Sonic encounters dangers unrelated to his historical nemesis, Doctor Ivo Robotnik. This change could lead to a complete reinterpretation of not only the graphics style, the enemies, but also the game world, as Sonic will be transported to a different reality than usual in this adventure where he runs extremely fast. decades.

And this second island seems to hide many mysteries. During testing, we found a sand shark that had to cling to it using its sharp tail and was trying to stay attached during its daring escape through the dunes, and we tried to fight it; we witnessed at night colorful meteor shower once these were collected they activated a slot machine full of possible power-ups and we fought on the first island and with Sonic Frontiers another big boss much more challenging and fun than we found in our first test.