Sonic Frontiers

 Switch
User Score
8.2

Generally favorable reviews- based on 446 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 364 out of 446
  2. Mixed: 26 out of 446
  3. Negative: 56 out of 446
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  1. Mkienanbriscoe
    Dec 29, 2022
    2
    The only fun I had playing Sonic Frontiers was within the first 30 minutes of “oooh, ahhh” an “open world Sonic Game”…that quickly wore off when I realized nothing about Sonic Frontiers is “open world.” From getting locked in to 2-D segments (sometimes at the risk of failing a platform attempt; to realizing each of the five islands (which cannot be traversed seamlessly) are just a largeThe only fun I had playing Sonic Frontiers was within the first 30 minutes of “oooh, ahhh” an “open world Sonic Game”…that quickly wore off when I realized nothing about Sonic Frontiers is “open world.” From getting locked in to 2-D segments (sometimes at the risk of failing a platform attempt; to realizing each of the five islands (which cannot be traversed seamlessly) are just a large area to run around with very definitive borders and “shrines” that transport you to the true “levels” of the game - 2D track-based platforming levels; to even running into invisible walls that tell you you can’t go further; Sonic Frontiers is an extremely linear, HIGHLY repetitive game that gets old quick. Every area is the same: collect this, now collect that, talk to this person now collect some more, often times requiring you to even replay “levels” to get a better score and get more collectibles needed to progress. The only way I can compare this process, without spoiling, is to point at games like Overcooked where you need to get a better “score” in a stage before you can progress further. Not only does this get old quick but the level designs for the “open world” segments (effectively just a big playground over world to get to one level to the next) are nonsensically organized. It’s like the level designers just threw a bunch of springs and rails all over the place because they didn’t know what else to do, or how else to make it feel like a Sonic game while banking off the success of Breath of the Wild. The islands remind me of a 10 year old (or a very drunken person) trying to make a Tony Hawk Pro Skater custom skate park. The story is lackluster at best (but who plays Sonic for the story anyhow) and yet I found myself yearning for the next cutscene just so I could take a break from the arduous task of treasure hunting. Probably the most frustrating thing about Sonic Frontiers, however, is the horrible controls (at least on Switch). It’s like the console can’t keep up with the game’s speed; unresponding to jump commands, veering left when you hold down straight, your normal jump doesn’t seem sufficient to make most platforms but the air dash is too pronounced leading you straight off the edge. There’s even a penalty for going too fast (in a freakin Sonic game) where you’ll fly off the map and sometimes end up dying. Not too mention the map doesn’t fully render until you’re close enough to an object leaving you scratching your head how getting to certain quest markers is even possible, or not even seeing platforms your supposed to land on (flying through the air) until you’re just about to land. This game feels like an uncooked prototype of a “could have been” open-world Sonic game that nobody playtested and the designers were like “ehhh it’s good enough.” I couldn’t wait until the end so I never had to touch it again.… Expand
  2. WooingUover
    Nov 13, 2022
    3
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. This review isn't meant to be for hate or anything, just to air some gripes about the game, I had some fun with it, but going for 100 Percent by mapping out all the islands, S ranking all the cyberspace worlds, and even catching all the fish, it shows how Sonic Team can make an open world the right and wrong way. Running around is fun for the first island, but by the second one I was tired by the end and the Third one was the worst when it came to slamming you into a 2D section sometimes because you misstep or thought a treasure spot was going to contain some valuable tokens, only for it to be a dash panel that'll shoot you in the direction you didn't want to go, And the last two islands are just the first island, but they feel like they were cut from the first one just to make into two separate islands to make the game feel longer with the fourth island just being the story cutscene island, and the fifth being annoying as you're always running into mini-bosses or more of those stupid 2D sections. The story plays up a mystery that delivers almost nothing of note other than the chaos emeralds are from space and the alien race that brought them are now dead, big surprise there. I know people are gonna defend the characterization of Sonic's friends in this game just cause Amy isn't trying to get Sonic to marry her every sentence like the older titles, they are just there in my opinion the only interesting thing of note is Eggman and Sage for maybe a moment or two, Sage getting the only thing that I could consider Character growth before the end of the game. The gameplay isn't much different as Sonic can run around, jump and do challenges, but now there's combat that doesn't just involve you homing attack every enemy, now you homing attack and kick. I literally only did like one move by the end of this because of how spammable it is, the combat isn't fun, some mini-bosses can be fun to take down, though the rest can be a chore, and the titan bosses are all Super Sonic spectacles that have you flying around, parrying then attacking the weak point while someone screams in the background, wait that's just the music, I didn't enjoy the music, was never a fan of the lyrical music in sonic, and this is more apparent in the titan fights. The world themes, Cyberspace themes, and even the titan fights range from ok to the first one annoying me a little bit, but it's all harmless or somewhat forgettable. I'm not gonna say it's completely worthless, there's a blueprint, Like other people have said there's a blueprint, that Sonic team can polish up, and hopefully make into something much better, but this is where the cynical side of me takes over, I don't know how much Sonic Team would follow up on this, seeing their track record, outside of Adventure and Adventure 2 and even then I'd argue they changed stuff between the titles to make them different outside of them keeping a chao garden. I don't have confidence in Sonic Team that they'll follow it up even with how much people wanna argue they're "listening" to fans. We had Mania five years ago, and to date, I don't see them trying to plan out more. Sonic Team likes to do one thing, and move on that's something you can see with some of their titles after the Adventure Series, and it feels more apparent now with how they went from Generations, Lost World, Boom, then Forces. I'm trying to make just a word of caution that while this is a step in the right direction, I think we should believe it when we see it if Sonic Team/Sega will actually continue to make something that is worth the 60 Dollars, or if they'll just continue to milk this franchise and now have consumers pay them for a full price game when the experience at best was probably less then that. Sonic Frontiers wasn't the worst game I've ever played, this was the first 3D Sonic I've played since Sonic Unleashed. But seeing how I didn't pay full price for that, I regret paying full price for this game in general. Save the 60 dollars, and pay for it later if you wanna try it out. It'll probably be fun for a lot of people, but I can see this game being the most mixed Sonic Game to release for a lot of people.… Expand
  3. Blank7676
    Nov 15, 2022
    4
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Now to give some background information. I am a modern sonic fan. If it weren't for Mania releasing, Sonic Generations would be my number 1 favorite Sonic game as I am a big fan of the boost styled sonic games. Forces proved to be so much of a dissapointment to me that it easily became the worst game I have ever played. I really hoped that Sonic Team would bring their A-game back and strive to make an steller video game. They succeeded, but not quite. At first I absolutely did not like the game, but I grew to like it more during my second playthrough. The reason for my low score however, is due to the fact that the things that made me hate this game during my first playthrough were still present in my second playthrough.

    Now this game can easily be an 8 or even a 9 with a couple of hefty patches, but Sega for some reason decided to make some of the world's dumbest decisions imanginable. Firstly, Sonic moves quite slow. Now I get why as one would need to do so, but I am talking about cyberspace Sonic. Cyberspace can easily be the best part of the game as, while mostly containing stages as bad and short as Forces, the cyberspace level designs were pretty good, even though they steal a lot from the previous games. For some reason, instead of giving Sonic the power boost that he gets upon reaching max rings, they give him his unempowered boost instead, making Sonic SUPER slow. Not only that, but they gave Sonic magnetic shoes as jumping makes Sonic lose ALL of his momentum. That last point even applies to the open-zones where now you can't jump boost over canyons, you have to find a higher spot and just boost off it. It is only worse with Sonic's air boost being the worst I've ever seen. This is the same team that made Forces' superb airboost so I do not understand why they won't take that and put it in this game? Instead we got a flimsy air boost that doesn't get refilled after touching a spring and only acts as a sort-of third jump which most of the time gets you killed. The combat itself is decent, with the exception of that one sonic boom beam thing that is easily spammable and the parry NOT being a parry, but the enemies you fight are absolutely not. By the second island, the basic enemies get this annoying shield cylinder move that they can activate whenever. This mostly happens while in the middle of a combo, making your combo stop dead in its track so you can draw a circle around it. It only gets worse on the fifth island when that move gets spikes. Some of the minibosses are really bad, like Asura and all of its bugginess, Shark being ONLY slow quick time events, Squid and Fortress being the literal same boss with the only difference being that one is one rails, and that weird gigantic boss on the second island whos name I can't remember. That thing was quite agrivating with its fireballs moving from rail to rail. These problems I can slightly ignore, with the exception of cyberspace, but what I ABSOLUTELY cannot ignore is the idiotic forced 2D sections. This is an open world game and freedom of movement is a key component of open world games, like how climbing in BOTW made that game so much more fun! To make specific segments that lock Sonic from moving forward and back is BEYOND stupid. It only gets worse on the third island where accidentally touching a spring can push Sonic into an unescapable 2D section. This is beyond aggrivating and the third island is FILLED with them. This is not a minor annoyance, this may as well be a major bug in the game that needs to be patched out. If Sega is afraid of players being unable to properly control Sonic in those specific sections, they can easily solve it with D-Pad support. This brings up another issue. The things that fill these islands are not particularly fun. Most of these "challenges" are really easy and simplistic. There are also grind rails everywhere. It didn't feel like a bunch of Sonic stuff lying around. It felt more like a bunch of automated sections were floating above the land. It would be appreciated if they cut back on the dash pannels and let the player take control. It is clear that Sonic Team wants to take a step forward, but they clearly hesitated in doing so.

    Now I have to end this review short due to the character limit, so I apologize that this review is purely negative. I have good things to say about it. This game is so close to being amazing, but I still see the common Sonic Team issues that were present in Sonic Forces. Now some of these problems can be fixed with an update, hence why it is a 4, but if Sonic Team refuses to do so, then I no longer have any hope for Sonic Team. It is clear to me that all of the people who made our beloved Sonic games are gone and the new workers have A LOT of training to do. It really shames me to put this so low as I hope I could call this game the game Forces should have been, but I can't. I really hope one day we could get a Sonic game that rivals Mario.    … Expand
  4. Begad02
    Nov 17, 2022
    0
    So what's the hype all about ? The game doesn't even smell of any polish like generations, it doesn't look as beautiful as colors or unleashed for a ps5 game. it doesn't have a good story , just a pile of cringe like a 12 year old wrote this going through an emo phase. Animation is hilarious lmao
  5. Rakso78
    Nov 15, 2022
    0
    No me parece una buena entrega en lo absoluto, deja bastante que desear en sus mecánicas
  6. Weyfet18
    Nov 29, 2022
    0
    El juego es verdaderamente una gran mejora desde forces, me atreveria a decir que es uno de los mejores si no el mejor juego de sonic 3D que jamas se ha hecho, una de mis pocas quejas con el juego es antes del tercer jefe, el minijuego de pinball es simplemente muy tardado sin abusar de estrategias como esperar a que el siguiente anillo apareca mientras no haces nada pero fuera de eso meEl juego es verdaderamente una gran mejora desde forces, me atreveria a decir que es uno de los mejores si no el mejor juego de sonic 3D que jamas se ha hecho, una de mis pocas quejas con el juego es antes del tercer jefe, el minijuego de pinball es simplemente muy tardado sin abusar de estrategias como esperar a que el siguiente anillo apareca mientras no haces nada pero fuera de eso me ha parecido un muy buen juego que deberia darsele una oportunidad si o si si alguna vez haz jugado aunque sea un solo juego de sonic. por cierto el OST es buenisimo Don't look down!
    Show yourself!
    I've been here waiting for the longest time
    I can't believe it's real
    You lose the battles that you never fight
    Can't hide from what you feel
    No more compromise, this is do or die
    And now you've crossed the line
    You'll wake the beast inside
    No more compromise, this is do or die
    I'll warn you one last time
    You'll wake the beast inside!
    You'll wake the beast inside!
    You'll wake the beast inside!
    Don't look down!
    Show yourself!
    So break through it all and don't look down
    You won't fade out, 'cause the fire in you never dies
    It comes around to light the flame
    They'll know your name, burned into their memory
    (So break through it all)
    Don't stop, we're on a mission
    Overdrive and overrun the competition
    Countin' up the damage when it's done
    (So break through it all)
    We can't pretend to listen
    Sorry if it puts you in an imposition
    We won't stop until the battle’s won
    What goes around comes back around again
    And if we don't come down, we'll be lost in the wind
    (What goes around comes back around again)
    I know that we will find our way
    We'll do whatever it will take
    (And if we don't come down, we'll be lost in the wind)
    And if we never reach the crowd
    We'll take the whole thing down
    Don't look down!
    Show yourself!    … Expand
  7. iprod61
    Nov 15, 2022
    2
    This game is a scam, it’s the worst sonic game.
    Always the same paterns for all the islands, the cyber levels are the worst levels in the entire series even worst than forces and i don’t gonna talk about the game physics.

    Good try sonic team but for me It’s definitely a no.
  8. Jollyraffy
    Aug 22, 2023
    2
    Dropped it after a few hours of game. Hope this is the last Sonic open world because this clearly isn't a good nor funny idea: combat is boring, enemies are boring, open world environment is boring, open world mechanics are not working well, 2 times out of 5 you'll fall without even knowing why, and the list goes on.
  9. DizavidHZ
    Jan 6, 2023
    2
    This game is sad in the same way seeing aging in your dog feels sad: the way Sonic controls, (just look at how metrics for control they give you in the option screen; it's extensive) Sonic controls like an aging refrigerator that has a bad habit of bolting no matter what. The aging thing comes also in just how much Sonic likes to off himself via cliff despite pressing the exact oppositeThis game is sad in the same way seeing aging in your dog feels sad: the way Sonic controls, (just look at how metrics for control they give you in the option screen; it's extensive) Sonic controls like an aging refrigerator that has a bad habit of bolting no matter what. The aging thing comes also in just how much Sonic likes to off himself via cliff despite pressing the exact opposite direction. This game is nothing but a frustration, and given the build up the team gave for so long, I really don't see any upper management intelligence in doing anything kinder than dividing them into other groups who actually know what a good game is, vs this entire team that acted almost giddy about their game only to find it's a Christmas stocking Santa vomited all his cookies into. Don't buy. I wouldn't even rent. Borrow it from someone else who made the mistake of thinking the Sonic team finally had their stuff together; clearly they don't. If Pokemon Scarlet/Violet deserved refunds, THIS game deserves refunds for sure. Skip this cellar dweller; a year from now it'll be just another sad joke in the series of sad jokes that is the Sonic profile.… Expand
  10. BlastedBukowski
    Jan 13, 2023
    3
    The performance is absolutely horrendous. It is like playing something from 15 years ago. This doesn't belong on the Switch in this state. It's actually a pretty decent game otherwise.
  11. Sonicfanboy006
    Nov 30, 2022
    0
    A fresh new release with upcoming dlc to a packed with content game enjoyable combat amazing ost and a story that rivals sa2. Cyberspace while not amazing and is ctrl c and ctrl v is a fun distraction. I don’t really care about pop in and graphics, it is all about gameplay and this is a strong foundation for years to come
  12. Fuyoshu
    Dec 1, 2022
    2
    This is the first game I buy after years of practicing game piracy and I am completely disgusted, the game not only have an incredibly uncontrollable Sonic, but it also has the worst introducing of anything in the history of gaming.
    I was gonna rate the game 8.5/10 at the beginning but after playing it a bit more I can only realize how of a time wasting this game is.
  13. Davidtheking
    Feb 9, 2023
    1
    I had been buying Sonic Frontier at 29 December 2022 and the game still playable. The worst experience of the game is every 15 minutes, you should rest your eye for 5 minutes if you play it on switch Oled or connect it to the TV. The reason is because the Graphic of this Sonic game was worst more then 90% of others switch games out there. Although I manage to buy this game £30 in UK butI had been buying Sonic Frontier at 29 December 2022 and the game still playable. The worst experience of the game is every 15 minutes, you should rest your eye for 5 minutes if you play it on switch Oled or connect it to the TV. The reason is because the Graphic of this Sonic game was worst more then 90% of others switch games out there. Although I manage to buy this game £30 in UK but still I Dont think it worth the money. If possible just play it on PS5 or Xbox except if you wish to wear glass at a young age. In conclusion please Don't buy this game, except if you could accept (240p) of graphic resolution!!!!!! Good luck for those who had buy it. For those who still about this game just forget about it. That's all my honous review of this game. 1/10 of game experience!!!!!!!
    1/10 highly no recommend!!!!!!!!
    1/10 no worth the money!!!!!!!!!    … Expand
  14. Tweetyty
    Mar 24, 2023
    4
    A thirty dollar game pretending to be worth 60. Try to buy it on sale if you want to play, but you really aren't missing anything.
  15. Mastermaxx
    Aug 7, 2023
    0
    Sonic Frontiers is the WORST Sonic game ever made.
    There's no freedom in this open world game, cyberspace is just copying and pasting previous Sonic games, and Sonic is janky.
    SEGA doesn't know how to make video games anymore.

Awards & Rankings

10
#10 Most Discussed Switch Game of 2022

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
69

Mixed or average reviews - based on 22 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 9 out of 22
  2. Mixed: 12 out of 22
  3. Negative: 1 out of 22
  1. Nintendo Force Magazine
    Mar 30, 2023
    70
    Sonic Frontiers is a brave experiment that struggles to express its intentions while still committing many of its series' 3D sins. But if you're able to commit to learning its idiosyncrasies, you'll discover a fun, addictive journey unlike any in Sonic's past. [Issue #64 – March/April 2023, p. 71]
  2. Universo Nintendo
    Jan 20, 2023
    85
    Sonic Frontiers tried so hard to bring new elements to the game that it ended up forgetting to put more of the personality of its own franchise. However, they managed to create a dynamic, captivating and fast game - as good as any other in the Sonic franchise. It's the kind of game where time passes like lightning, blue lightning.
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  3. Nintendojo
    Jan 19, 2023
    50
    Sonic Frontiers deserves credit for being a true departure from previous series installments. The open-zone structure is a great concept that frees the developers up to experiment with Sonic’s speed and abilities in new ways. Where the game comes up short is in its stale rehashing of classic stages, a control setup that could stand to be simplified, and performance woes that suck players out of the gameplay experience. With plenty of DLC and patches on the way, hopefully Frontiers can become a better version of what came out at launch. In the interim, it’s a buggy affair that entertains and frustrates in equal measures.
    Read full review
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