![]() ![]() All the core activities are based around currencies (bosses drop one to access the stages, which in turn grant keys to grab the Chaos Emeralds, and so on), but they never vary beyond asking for larger amounts of each currency after you grab a Chaos Emerald, forcing you to comb the island or retry past courses. This monotony permeates the main objective as well, making Frontiers a stilted procession of back-and-forth tasks. I appreciate the variation while tackling what is already a staple mechanic of open-world games, but they detract from the rest of the experience. But after doing more than a dozen of them per island, I quickly grew exhausted. Frontiers tasks you with completing minigames around marked spots to reveal fragments of the map’s surrounding area: These are basic tasks like kicking orbs through rings, or piling up Tetris-like puzzle pieces. The problem is that the novelty of the open-world setting wears off quickly, and you immediately begin to notice how tedious the overall structure is. They’re appropriately propulsive, even if the controls aren’t always as responsive as one would hope, which led me to fail sections time and time again. But once you’re going through them at full speed, they feel like sections from your usual Sonic levels with different camera angles, intersecting paths, and so on. It’s an odd sight to have familiar elements from the series contrasting with plain, open spaces that look nothing alike. There are floating platforming sections pretty much everywhere you look, with dozens of bouncing pads, climbable walls, and rings to collect. While the islands tend to be fairly empty in general, save for enemies, they’re often a thrill to navigate. Most of the time, however, you’re just roaming around a vast area gathering items to advance the story. These tasks lead you to gather the Chaos Emeralds so you can face against the Titans and bring your friends back to your realm. From there, you have to battle a gauntlet of minibosses on a series of islands, opening portals to take part in both new stages and re-creations of past Sonic levels, and completing side tasks and challenges along the way. ![]() In Frontiers, the blue hedgehog is cruising around with Amy, Tails, and Knuckles, until they’re suddenly dragged onto a barren island where everyone but Sonic gets trapped in a digitized reality. Placing Sonic in an open-world setting was only a matter of time. But it’s also a game plagued with uninspired minigames, repetitive objectives, and tedious mechanical issues. I spent 20 hours spinning around its open-world islands, beating my own high scores in more traditional levels to progress the story, and fighting all sorts of gargantuan foes. Sonic parried attacks and completed QTEs and multiplied himself, launching a flurry of fists and piercing through the Titan’s chest in dramatic slow motion. I was flying as Super Sonic through the air, getting up close and personal to bash the Titan’s head with my fists, and all the while, the soundtrack screamed at me with guttural voices and distorted guitar riffs. But I was not ready for what the boss fight would actually entail. This hadn’t been so different from what I had experienced in Sonic Frontiers so far, taking part in platforming set-pieces placed on top of all sorts of surfaces. The colossal creature made of chrome and bright red lights resisted, but I was able to dash over its legs. I had to find a way up to the very top of the Titan to grab the last Chaos Emerald. ![]()
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