Frontiers begins with Dr. Robotnik transported to cybserspace after tampering with an ancient portal. On investigating what has happened, Sonic and his friends also get sucked into the portal. Sonic then finds himself on a mysterious island where he has to save his friends and confront a strange new villain called Sage.
There are five islands in the game and each is one big sandbox of short platform segments that lead to rewards that can be used in the open zone progression. Anyone who has played or watched a previous sonic game, old or new will recognise these staples of the series. You will be speeding through a lot of loop the loops, bouncing through the air and using your homing attack from one enemy to the next.
The platforming is the real star of the show, while not particularly complex the platform sections have this quick, snappy feel to them as you get from point A to B. These little sections don't last for long as you reach your eventual reward and return to the open world. But the game quickly finds a rhythm that becomes a bit addicting, there will be a lot of repetition but it all feels so good and satisfying. One moment you are bouncing through the sky and the next you are sliding along a rail from one side of the map to the next, all at a speed that few games can offer. Much like Assassin's Creed, Frontiers is one of the few games where its open world is built around its gameplay mechanics.
Sonic controls really well for the most part, so exploring the islands is a lot of fun. Points of interests can be unlocked on the map by completing mini tasks. But I never once looked at the mini map at all, it was a joy just to go from one place to the next, picking up my rewards as I went and progressing at my own pace.
While the look of the islands fit nicely within the context of the story, there could have been more imagination used in their design. The colour palettes are bland and bleak, two words which you'd not usually use to describe a Sonic game. Although each island has a different biome and their own level designs, they are all just a little too generic. They are for better or worse just sandboxes so Sonic can run around and do stuff in, a backdrop for the gameplay to loop around. I can only imagine what it would be like to fully explore a highly realised Green Hill Zone or a Carnival Night Zone.
And while each of the islands are little more than palette swaps, they do have breathtaking locations that can be explored. Whether that be a floating temple or a sky high tower.
The variety of enemies does change up with each island, some of them have their own unique ways of being defeated. One stand out mini boss on the second Island, Ares, was a shark that swims in the sand dunes. You defeat it by the grabbing onto its tail, which then thrusts you into a frantic quick time event as you speed around the island waiting for the chance to attack it.
To get from one island to the next you have to collect Chaos Emerald's, and there are six to collect on each island, with the last taken from a boss fight. You can only unlock these emeralds by completing the cyberspace levels, completing these levels will grant you vault keys which unlock the emeralds.
The cyberspace levels are in the tradition of what you might expect from a Sonic game, where the goal is to reach the level's end point. These levels mix it up between 3D and 2D sections and don't last for two minutes or more. There are objectives in these levels that grant you more rewards. Such as collecting a specific number of rings, collecting five red stars, and finishing the level under a time limit.
Unlike the open zone islands, the cyberspace levels are full of splashy colours. They are short bursts of fun that divert from the main game, and while they have their moments of frustration they aren't particularly difficult. So you will be trying them over and over until you've completed all of the objectives.
But the big issue with these levels is that they eventually get boring and feel like they get in the way of the more interesting open zone stuff. It would have helped if it wasn't just the same four level types that are repeated, two of them taken from classic Sonic stages, Green Hill and Chemical Plant zone. It would have been so much better if at least half of the cyberspace levels were original and none of them had to be played through more than twice.
It's not just the open zone islands where the formula has changed, Sonic can now kick and punch. So it's more than just his homing attack that's at your disposal this time around. The combat can be upgraded via the skill tree in the main menu, you can do this by picking up skill points by completing tasks and defeating enemies. The combat is basic but engaging, the latter skills you unlock come in handy when you are fighting enemies in large numbers.
But the biggest change in Sonic's movement is the cycloop ability, this allows Sonic to leave a trail when he moves. It does have combat functions but it's for the most part used as a tool to solve puzzles and reveal secrets. It is a neat little addition to the series and going forward there is a lot of room to expand its role within another open zone game.
The Sonic series has always had elaborate boss battles. These worked far better in the classic games where all you had to do was avoid Robotnik's attack patterns before you were given a small window to attack back. The same is the case for the boss battles in Frontiers, with mixed results.
The boss battles are utterly breathtaking in terms of scale, not just the sheer size of them but the way the game puts you into a cinematic fight as you control Super Sonic. Like the classic games, these boss battles have attack patterns that you need to learn, but be prepared to die a lot through trial and error. As soon as you clock onto their patterns of attack they are relatively simple to beat.
It was only in these boss battles that I had an issue with the camera, which can sometimes not keep pace with the action. So the few visual clues given to the gamer can easily be missed and incoming attacks are often not seen until the last second.
For the first time in a while I am excited about Sonic's future, Frontiers should be a a blueprint going forward. Keep the engaging story, make the open zones a little more colourful and their design unique to the gameplay. Any fan of the series will need to pick this up, it's the most interesting Sonic game in years. With rewarding platforming and an intriguing story, there's plenty to like for newcomers as well.
Verdict: 7.5/10
