Upon taking control of Sonic in the world for the first time, I was immediately struck by just how bland, generic, and ugly everything looks on the Switch.

Most of the player’s time in Sonic Frontiers will be spent exploring the Starfall Islands, a series of five sprawling, self-contained “open zones” that make up the backbone of the game. After playing through a brief linear stage in this strange cyber-dimension – Sonic wakes up on a rain-drenched island, tasked with finding a way to save his friends. Fortunately, Sonic is able to escape, thanks to his ability to… you know… go super fast. Sonic, Amy, and Tails also get sucked in while attempting to fly to the Starfall Islands, which apparently is where the Chaos Emeralds are now, for some reason. Robotnik gets sucked into a mysterious dimension called Cyberspace after attempting to activate an ancient technology for his own gain. Sonic Frontiers begins with a stage-setting cutscene in which Dr.

I think the answer lies in that while Frontiers does indeed feel like a step in a new direction for Sonic, it also feels like someone read the textbook for “things an open world game should have” and just slapped a bunch of pieces together with Scotch tape, then haphazardly lathered it all with Sonic-colored paint, to mixed results.

Frankly, I was skeptical that an open-world gameplay structure would work for Sonic, and an opportunity to preview the game back in June left me both curious and cautious as to how such a bold idea could work. While I hardly consider myself a Sonic superfan, I’ve enjoyed previous outings to some degree or another I have some nostalgia for Sonic’s original 2D adventures, and the recent remaster of Sonic Colors hit a lot of the right gameplay and thematic notes for me.

Download live a live switch review