Sonic Frontiers seems to have finally transitioned the Blue Blur to an open world, and with it comes a noticeable shakeup in gameplay. Sonic the Hedgehog's last new entry arrived in November 2017 via Sonic Forces and was met with a mixed reception. However, this time Sonic Team is looking to change the status quo and redefine the heroic hedgehog with a radical departure from the 2D and 3D formulas employed over his 30-year life cycle. Sonic Frontiers is looking to recapture the iration of players from years ago.
Sonic's status as an endearing mascot and beloved video game character persists, but his track record involving video games is rocky. But, of course, there's usually a rough one for every fantastic Sonic title soon to follow. Since the critically panned Sonic 2006 release for Xbox and PS3, Sonic Team has been looking to redefine the Sonic experience through every subsequent entry. Instead of focusing on a sense of speed, however, the team has opted to introduce more characters and mechanics instead of prioritizing Sonic and the sense of speed he brought during the "Blast Processing" era of the Sega Genesis. As a result, no two Sonic games ever follow a similar path from motion-controlled linear storybook adventures to grappling hooks and slow-paced puzzle-solving.
From the latest reveal for Sonic's new adventure, Sonic Team has decided to start borrowing several mechanics from just about every open-world game that has come out in the last ten years while sprinkling in classical 3D mechanics from as far back as Sonic Adventure 2. In the Sonic Frontiers gameplay trailer, Sonic dashes through the hills and zips onto grind rails suspended in mid-air while hopping on classic springs to reach new heights. However, Sonic can now traverse along rocky walls, climb flat surfaces, and give himself 90-degree vertical momentum to ascend towers like the ones seen in The Legend of Zelda: The Breath of the Wild or Assassin's Creed. Sonic Frontiers seems to have borrowed quite a bit from Breath of the Wild in general, from the eclectic piano music down to the rolling green ruins.
Sonic Frontiers Embraces Open World Puzzle Solving
Short puzzles similar to ones like Genshin Impact's many stone puzzles also litter the world to provide a change from the speed and grind actions taken across the overworld map. Some are marked by white caution signs that encourage the player to come to a dead stop and investigate. Solving these small puzzles, such as lining up icons on a stone slate or running in a tight circle to create winds that extinguish flames, can cause new platforms or items to appear, for what purpose is not yet known. Again, the formula shakeup follows the Sonic Team trend of experimenting with new mechanics and elements, but this time it seems they're making an effort to keep in mind that Sonic's speed is what makes him Sonic.
This first trailer for Sonic Frontiers focuses on open-world traversal, most likely leaving in-depth combat to be saved for future exhibitions. Though Sonic does retain many of his old skills like the homing attack and the quick drop, some skills not shown off were the classic spin dash or the figure-eight dash. As this is the first full reveal of Sonic's new outing, it's hard to say what the entire experience will be like and what full range of gameplay features will be offered when the game launches. To continue to modernize the mascot and keep up with the competition, Sonic Team knows that Sonic Frontiers will need to bring significant changes to the Sonic gameplay formula - hopefully, this time, they can stick the landing.