Sonic Frontiers is out now and in the wild, and our own thoughts on the matter are that the game itself is great but has a few rough edges, primarily technical. Critical consensus has hardly been uniform, and the director of the title, Morio Kishimoto, doesn't seem to consider Frontiers a finished product, recognising that the game is "not quite there yet".
In a Tweet posted on Friday and picked up on by VGC, Kishimoto accepted feedback from the community, stating that "we are checking out the opinions of the critics and players. As you have pointed out, there are still areas where we are not quite there yet, and we will take this seriously like a global playtest.”
We don't want to read too deeply into that global playtest comment, as translations from Japanese regarding specific terms can be fluid, but the general tone of the Tweet is quite clear. It sounds like players can expect some fairly substantial patches over the coming weeks and months in order better to align the experience with the creator's intended vision. If you are thinking about diving into Frontiers, be sure to check this cool prologue animation featuring Knuckles, which sets the scene for the game.
Did you pick up Sonic Frontiers? What do you think of it so far? Run rings around the competition in the comments section below.
[source twitter.com, via videogameschronicle.com, eurogamer.net]
Comments 39
So why did they release it? This trend really needs to stop and we need to stop giving these companies so much grace.
@ShadowofSparta agile development using XP Methodology allows for games in this state to be released. I’m sure it’s playable but give it 3-6 months and will be how it should have.
So we're getting to the point where you should buy games 6 months after release, if you want the proper experience. Prior to that you become a tester paying for the privilege.
I've seen other sites translate that comment as they will learn lessons for a sequel. Though patches seem to be needed as the reviews really have ran the gamut from great to terrible.
I just finished and platinumed it yesterday. Really great game overall! I think the final boss was a bit disappointing compared to the others and it could stand to have a few quality of life improvements but this is easily the best 3D Sonic since Generations and might even be my overall favorite of the series.
I'm really looking forward to seeing how they build on the foundation Frontiers has laid down in the future.
The game is good, especially on PS5. But please Sonic Team, return better Action Stages in the next game.
Those Cyberspace Levels feel a bit cheap.
@Korgon I kinda agree with you, what did you think about the Cyberspace levels?
I got this at launch and have been having a great time with it, there are certainly a lot of rough edges but the core gameplay of running around as Sonic bouncing and grinding on rails is so much fun that make this one of the best games I've played on the PS5.
It's certainly the foundations of which Sonic should build upon going forward and I rather like the Cyberspace levels
@ShadowofSparta I agree. The big reviewers should award every unfinished game with a 1/10 score so this trend stops.
Eldritch wrote:
Frankly we've been there since the start of the PS4 generation. This isn't new, yet people keep buying unfinished games day 1. Truth is very few gamers are as engaged as us and buy day 1 regardless.
While i'm not defending it a possible explanation is that studios / publishers want to see whether a game is going to sell well before committing to another 6+ months of development. Which is a little chicken and egg. It might sell more if it played better and got higher reviews.
I've been delaying most purchases since the start of PS4/XBO and it's the best decision I made. No shortage of games to play in the meantime, and you get the complete game at half price games when you do purchase. Win-win, unless you want to be at the zeitgeist.
There are a few exceptions: most first party games are pretty polished Day 1, especially from certain studios. God of War Ragnarok for example...
Once a few patches are released and they fix the pop in issues, I'll give this game a go. Will probably pick it up during black friday or jan sales.
People should stop putting their money down so quickly... damnit the FOMO sickness that most gamers have really annoys me.
I still give Frontiers a 7 of 10 for the moment.
Could have been much better in a fair share of areas but I still enjoy the game overall.
It's a 3D Sonic game. I expected worse. If it shows up on PS+ I'll try it. That's it.
@bimboliquido To be honest I've been like it for a while. Got bitten so many times that unless it's by R* or Naughty Dog I wait. This has been going on since 2014 AC Unity. Though I think the difference is, now it's done deliberately rather than just being shoddy testing.
And with Google search filters it's not hard to avoid spoilers.
@Korgon that’s really awesome to hear, doesn’t look like I will get to it before the end of the year but that was a solid sell!
@Nintendo4Sonic
I thought they were fun for the most part although they could have used some more themes to work with. Plus the themes didn't really have any impact on the stage design itself. It felt like was just levels with the theme bolted on instead of how Chemical Plant for example always felt a little different from the rest of the stages in Sonic 2 due to all the water hazards and whatnot so I'd like to see that style of design return in the future.
@KaijuKaiser It's the desperate sonic fans' need for a sonic game to win, even the reviews are complimenting it like this site. This director just admitted to the lack of quality on release
imagine had god of war had released in this state and with comments that its a play test. would be uproar.
game has some of the worst pop in ever. can not have been missed in testing. it was chosen to release in that state.
then people are trying to claim an unfinished game is 8/9. Therefore if it was finished it would apparently be one of the best game EVER made.
its clear when people pay 50 for a game they want their purchase justified and dont give faults a true reflection.
So, wait for a patch. Got it!
I’ve been intrigued by Frontiers for a while but it’s outside my budget currently. I plan to wait for a sale and whatever patches drop in the coming months.
2023 is stacked with games so I’m not sure where Frontiers will slot in. Something for a rainy day, perhaps.
@Starkei Yeah that's the impression I got. They've openly said Frontiers is the foundation for the next decade of games, so it seemed natural to be talking about the next game.
@Eldritch "Getting to..."? Dude, we've been here for years. Don't buy games on release. Period.
Honestly, I think they’re only saying this due to the way the game has reviewed. If the game was universally ranked 8/10 or so, Sonic Team would be doing a victory lap instead. Still personally trying to figure out how some saw the game as a broken mess.
I definitely plan on playing this once I'm done with Ragnarok. A lot of my friends are really enjoying it so I'm looking forward to it.
@Eldritch I mean, we've been at that point since at least mid-PS4 generation (even earlier I'd say).
Frankly, unless it is an heavily multiplayer game, there is absolutely no reason to buy any game at launch.
Wait for 6 to 9 months, buy the deluxe edition for at 50% and enjoy the better, cheaper, more complete version.
Done that for years now, and I've never regretted it even once.
@Olmaz Agreed. As I said to someone earlier it's been this way a while but the point I was trying to make, although I didn't put across very clearly, is this is now a deliberate and deceitful act by developers as opposed to previously, where more often than not it was just down to shoddy coding and poor testing (here's looking at you Ubisoft). Neither is a good situation but I find this one leaves a very bitter taste in my mouth.
So whereas I used to pre-order lots of titles, like you and @bimboliquido I'm now willing to wait months so I can play the optimised and far cheaper version.
@Nintendo4Sonic I think the future for open zone is Sonic Adventure 3, with the open zone as an evolution of the SA1 hub worlds. All the bosses will take place there, as well as getting upgrades for Sonic like the Adventure games, and mini games, side quests, character interactions, and collectibles. Then instead of the Cyberspace, they can have the semi-non linear SA1 style stages serving the same purpose as Cyberspace, but actually fun
If Fontiers is not considered complete; that is an automatic 1/10 from me. Finish developing your games before releasing them.
@fromjtov @AndyKazama @themightyant @Eldritch @ShadowofSparta I'll also be waiting for future patches, haven't even bought the game yet.
Maybe next year when it's on sale for $20 New.
@KidBoruto I don't blame you. Although I have a weird thing for janky games, so I kind of want to try Sonic in its current state 😂
@Luigia Agile way of MVP releases works for most software but I think video games need to be treated differently. The impact of releasing an unfinished product is far more drastic than say releasing an online shopping experience without a cart. Its often not just about cut content, but genuine performance and technical issues that hamper the base experience (i.e non-functional requirements not realised). It’s an interesting one to think about, I may need to spend more time on it but feel like it’s worth an essay in itself. If anyone on this site is willing, it would be an interesting one to ponder.
@Darude84 Why does it have to go from one extreme to the other? Quite frankly if you think the game has technical issues, don’t publish a review score until it’s resolved. You can still review a game without a score (SkillUp does it all the time and his reviews are fantastic), there’s nothing wrong with that (didn’t push square do that for Cyberpunk?). But games getting an 8 out of 10, given that adhering to scoring means you have some standard of what an 8 out of 10 is, seems ridiculous if you compare it to other 8 out of 10s without performance issues. They’re arbitrary until they’re not.
@ShadowofSparta you have my attention and would love to hear more
@somnambulance its definitely unpolished
im playing on PS5 performance mode and some things i noticed -
the pop ins are absolutely horrendous, i don't even remember PS2 games having pop ins this bad.
Sonic can spindash through crates but cant boost through them?
Homing attack doesn't always register and cant lock on to off-screen objects
the amount of loading is unacceptable for a 2022 game on a PS5. which brings me to this -
that this game feels like a switch game , and is probably a switch port
the physics is all kinds of jank
hard difficulty is not hard difficulty
game forces your screen to pan to mini-bosses in the open-zone, which is really annoying
@nomither6 I didn’t think the loading times are particularly bad. I will agree with the pop-in being baffling at times. It’s inconsistent though. Most times I play the game, it’s fine, but there have been times where it’s almost like the game is loading while it’s running, I suppose. There’s no way this is a Switch port though. It seems that the game is currently best optimized for PS5 of all the platforms. While it could use some polish, it’s running well enough where the 1.5/10 review or 4/10 reviews seem incredibly harsh, in my opinion. Some reviews make it seem like the game is akin to a Sonic Cyberpunk.
You can only make one first impression and you F'ed it up such a waste.
@ShadowofSparta If you release your product its ready to be reviewed. This nonsense of no score is like giving them all a free pass to do whatever the F they want.
The guy said it the game is not ready but you still have the balls to release a early access at full price dont be ridiculous or can I pay when the game is fully finished.
The same goes for people who defend things like Cyberpunk and now the floodgates are open.
@AndyKazama I'll just watch youtube videos to satisfy that itch.
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