Sonic Frontiers really is a diamond in the rough.

I think Sonic Frontiers is a diamond in the rough. Conceptually, the ideas displayed in this game for 3D Sonic are wonderful, allowing for Sonic to freely explore the world without any limit to his movement or powers, giving the player full freedom on where to go and what to do and how to get there.

However, the game constantly feels like it is about to fall apart at the seams. There is only the smallest amount of polish required to keep Sonic from flying out of the world, and that is only sometimes enough. There are times where Sonic would defeat an enemy, and its collectable would fall to the void with no way for Sonic to return and grab it.

I like the higher emphasis on story and lore and continuity, but the writers and directors weren’t able to make the game feel anything but dreary and depressing, which is not what I’d consider Sonic to be. Even in its most heavy story-based games like Sonic Adventure 2, there was levity and style to support the plot, which isn’t really present here.

The visuals and music are amazing as always from Sonic Team, but the art design sometimes makes it tough to find some collectables. The small distance the game uses to cull in objects also makes it slightly harder to navigate the world without constantly using the map.

I do think this is a great path for Sonic Team to take for future 3D Sonic games though.