The blank button prompt on the launchers isn't actually a glitch. It's supposed to signify that you can press either button and you can go either forward or upwards, but I could see how it could be confusing.
I feel like those should've been substituted with some sort of two-way launcher, because there isn't really a good way to replace the button prompt on the graphic to indicate "Either are good" lol
Sonic games were ALWAYS terrible with visual suggestion for weird things like this. It's a weakness Sonic Team inherited from, I'm sad to say, Yuji Naka himself. He was never the best at anticipating how others would think; he was actually surprised playtesters of Sonic 1 tried to go fast right out of the gate. People want to do that with a character suggested to be fast? OMG! True, it led to the idea of rings saving you from death and being retrievable, but perhaps going fast with less danger should've been more fundamentally facilitated as well with a more forward-panning camera to give you the time to see the shit you're otherwise gonna crash (Ah!) into. And control simplicity and manuals don't excuse a lack of tutorializing in case, say, people forget about subtleties like rolling when it becomes vital to avoid damage *coughKoronevsScrapBrainflames* . I'm thinking even the Genesis games could use little fixes like that to truly be great, and I'm the type who usually sticks to original versions, warts and all, barring super-major bugs.
Same. Half salt and half "y'know this is actually pretty good!" is a good balance. Hope we don't go back to another time where it's 8 months ranting about Pokemon.
@@ViltrumiteIsRite99I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you seem to have used the incorrect terminology. The term you were looking for is Pog, what you used was PAWG which is an acronym for P- Phat A-Booty W- White G- girls
I do admire that the guy in charge of this game interacts with people on Twitter all the time, just listening to people and taking everything into consideration while also not promising that everything will be fulfilled. But! He does want to redo the final boss so that it's an actual boss
1:48:54 That is exactly why the last island reuses assets from Kronos. Kronos, Rhea, and Ouranos were originally one giant island. But they eventually split them into two separate islands. I say two because Rhea is still physically connected to Kronos. You can go out of bounds on Rhea to go to Kronos, and you actually fight Giganto in Rhea.
@@noone-be1zgeah, but that's like saying the pop-in is intentional and totally not an engine/console issue that could have probably been the fault of also designing the game for Switch (I love the Switch, but damn do some games not like it.). Sure you can say it's intended but... was it really, or are you just trying to save face?
@@dragon1130 Gonna have to say this is a false equivalency. Pop-in is definately on them, but the style not working out and being a sore on the eyes is more of an unintended consequence of their choice of design, not really an "intended" feature.
The bullet hell final boss was so stupid that I kinda began to like it ironically. Also love the implication that Big either entered cyberspace on accident or is the most power being in their world and figured out how to enter and leave cyberspace before sonic.
I do love how almost the entire fandom genuinely fell in love with Sage and Dad Eggman and we all got legit sad when it looked like she died. Sega I swear to God Sage better be a recurring character from now on.
@@theironicmonsterin between the knuckles punch, unleashed intro, and this, I think it's safe to assume that staying super has to do with maintaining focus. if Sonic gets caught off guard he can kiss that super form goodbye. otherwise, he can stay in it for days at a time like advanced 2.
@@FusionCometAlso it's likely that beings or contraptions that can utilise Chaos Energy can do the same. Knuckles can harness the Master Emerald's power, Eggman's trap in Unleashed looked to have been made to harness the Emerald's power and the Ancients' machines were heavily reliant on the Chaos Emeralds and Chaos Energy.
Just seven minutes in and I'm pretty certain that at this point, the guys doing the time schedule for the 3D sonic games need to offer more time. Don't know if Radical brings it up, but the fact that even the director for the Frontiers game had to fight {Not literally throwing hands} to delay the game is kinda wild.
I think it's even crazier that they actually got Sega to delay Frontiers. After rushed games have held this franchise back for so long, they actually got Sega to do the smart thing for once. Begging Sega to delay the game is one thing, getting them to actually listen is another beast entirely
@@zeroattentiongaming820 Oh absolutely, previous games that could of been something good has become bad by being rushed - Sonic 06 besides the story could of had more time for polish, Sonic Frontiers to actually make it.. Interesting. As much as Sonic Frontiers could of used more time in some areas, the fact that the game BENEFITED from the Director fighting for more time should be a clear sign to actually give them much more time. As much as it has flaws, Frontiers feels like they were actively trying to make something fun and unique - Even if the free dlc/updates feels like it's stuff they wanted to add in originally, but didn't have enough time. Tldr: give sonic games more time to come out good.
The 3D Sonic games? I'd say sonic games in general need a lot more time in the oven, Origins was rushed and that was a bunch of ported roms, so who knows what kind of "fun" crunch stories Superstars will have
2:03:20 As far as I know, Sonic Team intended to make it go raw but due to the lack of time even with a year delay, this was the fight. Although Kishimoto, the director of the project is planning to revamp Supreme and The End but time will tell what happens by then.
Ik this game wasn’t amazing but I fucking loved it when it came out and after the past 2 updates they’ve made the game 100x better with simple changes. It’s just plain old fun and an even better feel now. I absolutely loved update 1 and especially 2. The features should’ve been in the game but them being communicative, giving what the fans want and putting content out to make the game feel fresh enough to play again is fucking amazing. Hell, this might show that I’m easy to please and idk about that tbh. However, with the state of games these days I’m so damn down for Sonic Frontiers and the future for Sonic. Most of the issue’s I had have been ironed out. The only thing I have a problem with now is how you can’t complete the game fully if you don’t talk to sage before the boss fight on the third island- if you missed her or used the speedrun skip you can’t physically complete it. Luckily I had a save before hand and did it then- it just sucked that I had to do everything after the boss fight all over again. Another issue is how some of the obstacles/collectibles are a pain due to them not being built around the insane speeds you can get with the new updates. I’ve had to adjust my settings a few times for that exact reason and the new Koco’s can be confusing due to pop ins not loading or it not being obvious. They still haven’t fixed some of the other stuff but what they have fixed has made up for it in some ways. I hope to see it polished but still- I love the fun feel they’ve already done. They upped the challenges with each update and the platforming in the new stuff is way better and at times harder. The building blocks are there and I’m happy with it. However, flying around is great and I love the feel. It’s not perfect but by no means is it not fun now. I just hope they carry this momentum and fix things even more into the actual updates and the new games.
Oh TIL they plan on revamping those two bosses, that’s honestly great to hear those bosses were easily the weakest in the game so it’ll be amazing to see them be revamped. Especially Supreme, there’s so much content that was cut from it that deserved to be in the game
Ok so off topic but, does anyone know what specific mvt (movement) of Kronos Island that was playing in the background of this section of the video? Because it sounds so good and I can't find it, even though I've listened too all 7 😞.
These long-form planned/edited rants of yours are *significantly* more entertaining than a modest majority of feature length films with budgets in the millions
i think the lighting and FOV are what makes the cutscenes look so much like SFM but also, the _official character models_ look less on-model than fanart, maybe because of the materials? really can't tell
Yes! I’ve been looking forward to watching this, your reviews are always the best. Funny, clever, exciting and so much more. Ty for being so a big inspiration and for making our days. Frontiers for me is my new favourite sonic game especially after all the new updates they have brought out, while it definitely has its problems most stuff that people aren’t a fan off or don’t like I found ok or enjoyable. Hope vid does well, been looking forward to this review. Ty again Radicalsoda. ❤️🌌💫
"Sonic's dead? *FINALLY!!!"* That sounded like it came from the heart. Anyways, can't believe I just watched _A Sonic Frontiers Review: The Movie._ It was a roller-coaster of emotions; so many ups and downs and Chemical Plants. But hey, it was a good time! You certainly got some smiles from me too. Thanks~ I look forward to better Sonic games in the future and your next ridiculously long review~
1:45:49 I do like how Radical says that he wants a game where Sonic gets to use Chaos Emerald's powers a bit better, and hey, look at that, they're actually doing that in Superstars.
I can't get over how clever his sense of humor is. Even if a joke isn't that well thought out or hard to come up with, it's perfectly timed. It cracks me up every time. ...abusing the little fansLMAOOOOOOOO.
I'm glad this game was a step in the right direction, but it is still important to point out the flaws so they may be improved. Especially given the current director actually seems to be taking an implementing feedback lately
Why did it take this long, though? It feels like Sega is content cranking out mediocre Sonic games, because like Pokemon, they learned that any steaming pile they release will sell gangbusters just on the IP alone.
@@WobblesandBean Literally, only about 60 people were actually working on the development of the game, and SEGA being SEGA, they mostly didn't respect that development process and wanted to rush a November release to get those sweet and juicy Christmas sales
@@WobblesandBean Sega is just a bad at handling Sonic. Frontiers director had to fight Sega to delay the game, Sega doesn't care what it puts out as long as it sells
@@WobblesandBeanthe thing is, Sega doesn’t really care about Sonic. He’s never really been all that popular in Japan, at least not until recently, and they have eight million other games that they’d rather put resources into that actually make them money
the only parts of frontiers that stood out to me: - Chaos has a more depressing backstory - they finally acknowledged Cream exists for like the first time in a decade - they acknowledged Sticks in a mainline title - AMY ACKNOWLEDGED STICKS AND CREAM BOTH AT THE SAME TIME AND IT MAKES ME WANT A HEROES 2 - they acknowledged some comic characters off-handedly - Sage is the closest we're getting to eggette being canonized
I think it's dumb that they mentioned Tangled and Sticks in Frontiers. Even didn't like the lore of the chaos and the emeralds. I wish they just stayed mysterious instead of being basic and unnecessary.
2:35 FINALLY someone else pointed this out. I felt the same way but didnt want to say anything to my siblings but the cutscenes do feel fanmade. I think it's because Sonic Omens came out earlier that year and its cutscene use a similar presentation, with the black bars and motion blur but that's my guess.
Luckily in the update, they allowed you to choose the amount instead of just leveling one at a time with the hermit. And finding old sonic music was fun af
Since this review was likely recorded before the first DLC Update...and as of today, we have two of the DLC updates released, I can say this much. Sonic's controls feel way better due to the added customization, all the new things we can do in the island are awesome (Action Chain for example), and the Spin-Dash (from what I hear) is very fun to control. While I haven't looked too much into the Update 3 Leaks because I want to avoid script spoilers, it is known now that Tails, Knuckles, and Amy will be playable in the open world ALL with their own skill trees and combat systems...this is extremely exciting as Knuckles and Tails haven't been playable in a 3D environment for 17 years...while Amy hasn't been playable on her own in 25 years (this is ignoring Sonic Heroes).
I honestly feel like with all of the updates, we're actually seeing Sonic Team feel out what works and what doesn't and actually implement it all into the game proper. Including them all as toggles is also really smart, because part of the reason that Sonic Team seemed so hesitant to put momentum into your jumps and proper deceleration was because so many players just can't seem to react to things at high speeds and end up bouncing off the game because they just can't get a handle on Sonic's movement. I really think that they want to stick with this style, and maybe with all of the success that the brand is having SEGA will finally take note and actually put in the same care that they give to more successful Japanese franchises like Persona and Yakuza. And in a semi-unrelated note, I genuinely think that's the main reason that the franchise has been so mismanaged. SEGA of Japan have always been incredibly prideful and pig-headed to the point where they seem unable to look past their own culture. It's that attitude that led to their downfall in the first place, and I don't think that it's left them after all this time. To SoJ, Sonic is just kind of an obligation. They throw out something Sonic related with a small team and tiny budget because they know that it sells internationally and then put their real resources towards the franchises that they see as more valuable.
They don't put their money on ANY FRANCHISES. Megaten has become low budget under sega and only had two higher budget console games in a decade, yakuza is recycling constantly due to low budget and dev time, super monkey ball is fucking dead and doesn't have an original game, etc. Sega since 2005 merged with the gambling company sammy, and focused most of their shit on pachinko and gambling with the games being a pr front and a source of merchandise. They get 3/4ths of their money from pachinko. They did konami before konami and hid it to their western audience so well
@@thatitalianlameguy2235This. Sega doesn't exist anymore. They have been acquired by the Pachinko company Sammy, who has no interest in videogames aside from using Sega's IPs as a family friendly front for their gambling business. The merge with Sammy was probably the reason why Yuji Naka and many other key Sonic Team devs left Sega, Naka's departure coincides with the merge. The people who worked on games like Sonic Unleashed, Colors and Generations are now working for Nintendo. The majority of Sega's IPs are either dead or in life support. Most Yakuza games are asset flips or remasters, Persona is a little it better, but it is also mostly munching off P5 success. I heard Sakura Wars is on a terrible spot. Monkey Ball was abandoned by its devs so they could make Yakuza, most SMB games afterwards are mediocre and the two most recent ones are a remaster of one of the worst entries and a compilation of old favorite levels. Sonic Team is borderline a indie studio tasked with making AAA games under severe crunch, on top of developing technology for other Sega games (the Hedgehog Engine 2 is also used in other non-Sonic games). They never get time and resources needed to achieve the vision they have. It is a miracle Sonic Frontiers wasn't another buggy mess like 06 or Boom. Takashi Iizuka had to beg Sega for another year to at least polish what they had, otherwise the game would have released in 2021.
Same, and I've never played a sonic game in my life other than unleashed as a kid who couldn't even beat it. Really is a "come for the guy not the game" situation.
I feel like what Sonic Team needs to do going forward is have some sort of demo/beta period where people can try the games and give feedback so most of the issues can get fixed.
1:51:08 The blue ring octopus, man that just brought back childhood memories of my school here in australia saying " Now kids if you ever see this RUNRUNRUN FOR YOUR LIVES FUCKING RUN"
with the last update of frontiers being a new story section with playable characters, 100% radical is probably gonna return to frontiers to cover that, with all the changes that will possibly be made (i hope) maybe the game can be raised even higher (i enjoyed the game btw)
Honestly I would recommend doing a replay once the third update comes out because not only do the quality of life changes make the game WAAAAY more palletable, but according to the road map, the 3rd update will actually add more story!
In spite of Green Hill’s overuse, I would be down for a sequel set on just South Island, like that place is also home to the zones in 8-Bit Sonic 2, Sonic Chaos, and Sonic Blast and along with new zones, I’d be interested in seeing how they and the zones of Sonic 1 could be connected. Like maybe Underground Zone leads into Red Volcano, a tunnel that connects Spring Yard, Labyrinth, and Jungle zone, Aqua Lake itself being near Labyrinth zone as well, and Yellow Desert being in a remote part of South Island surrounded by mountains. Hell the equivalent to Cyberspace could be themed around the various special stages across the series like some levels are based off the half pipe.
That would be a pretty neat idea. Or hell, if they want to bring in all new ideas, maybe do Christmas Island! That's, apparently, Sonic's birthplace, and that's still a place we've never seen before!
I wish there was more aesthetic variety to the cyber space levels, but i did enjoy trying to figure out which levels the geometry was based on, almost like a memory test (which makes sense given the game's narrative) Also, I really do feel like the pop-ins are caused by the game also having a switch release and having to be held back, because there were mods made to improve the render distance almost immediately
Yeah, if the short render distance on non-geometry objects was an intentional part of the design, there would have been some form of 'cyber' effect as they appear, instead it's a raw pop in as they render, implying that's the best they could do with the constraints they were working with.
The Super Sonic boss fights are my favorite part of this game, I had a lot of fun with the whole game, definitely my favorite sonic game but the boss fights are like half the reason I love it so much and the boss music specifically is some of the best in the sonic series
At 1:31:25, you would say that the game uses a buffer system. Basically, the game reserves a small amount of frames for another valid input to be registered near the end of whatever input was given to Sonic, which lines up another action to be executed as soon as it's available. If used correctly, buffer allows for a bit of leniency in the player's timing in combat and platforming. Some fighting games use a buffer system to make combos and button chains a bit easier to execute, since they would have to be nearly frame-perfect at all times without any buffer in place. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is a perfect example of buffer being great and terrible at the same time. Lots of input chains are easier, but so many players have accidentally lost stocks in tournaments due to buffered inputs that leave them completely helpless.
"And I'm not funny at all." You take that back! As someone who isn't a Sonic fan and who has only played one game in the series (Adventure 2) I sat here the whole 2 hours laughing and giggling to your jokes/writing even though I have no idea what a chemical plant zone is (and at this point, too afraid to ask)! This was a great review!
Glad you've done this - I enjoy your very critical approach, but you give credit where it's due. I am not a huge Sonic fan (last game i played was Unleashed on the *PS2*), but i hope Sonic Team gets the opportunity to continue in the direction of Frontiers in the future. With any luck, the next one won't have such a large decline in quality in the latter half of the game... I think it's almost better for the game to be shorter, but extremely refined and polished, if that's what needs to be done.
I like your take with Sonic being a shorter game being a good thing. I played Unleashed on the PS3 (I think it’s a little different?) and I’m sure you could probably finish that game in a few hours, but it was very very replayable. The levels could take up to six minutes on a first playthrough, but playing them over and over to get your time down was really, really fun! My best Sonic memory is the vertical tree level in Maizuri, and finally nailing all the inputs to get a super fast time was so fun. I also loved that slide section in Windmill Island Act 1, I know it’s a weird thing to remember the specific spot where you have to slide once in one level but nailing just feels good for some reason. Sonic kinda reminds me of Pikmin in that sense. I can beat Pikmin 1 in like five hours, but it’s so fun to replay and get a better result that the time I’ve spent on the game greatly outweighs just a playthrough.
The launchers that don't show a prompt is not a bug, it just means you can press either button to launch upwards or forwards. The ones that do show a prompt only that button can be pressed. Edit: I just remembered Unleashed has ones that have a question mark in place of a button prompt.
2:11:07 In case you were wondering why there are no tracks from Sonic 1 and Sonic 2 included here, it’s because they don’t actually have the rights to the music from Sonic 1 and Sonic 2. You heard me right. Dreams Come True composed the music for the first two games. They wanted to be paid more to compose the music for the third game, so they ended up being dropped instead. So, to this day, if SEGA wants to use the music from those two games outside of those games, they have to pay them a special licensing fee. I believe they did this for Sonic Generations so they could include remixes of the songs, but that was about it. Apparently they didn’t want to do something similar for this game. 😔
It's badass where it absolutely counts, but most of the stages and the island themes blend together so much that if there is something in there that I want to go listen to again, I have to spend 10+ minutes hopping through the soundtrack to try find it. Boss themes, including overworld bosses, at least they're easy to find and their music is pretty instantly recognisable.
IT'S TIME TO FACE YOUR FEAR CUZ WHEN YOUR TIME HAS COME AND GONE I'LL BE THE ONE TO CARRY ON AND YOU CAN THROW ME TO THE WOLVES CUZ I AM _UNDEFEATABLE!_
Also love the implication that Big either entered cyberspace on accident or is the most power being in their world and figured out how to enter and leave cyberspace before sonic.
I was starving for new content of you. So much so, that you are the ONLY channel here on TH-cam where I activated notifications. And of course. You don't fail to deliver.
You might not see this comment. You are my all time favorite TH-camr. I’ve been a long time viewer of your content. Thanks, you’re an important part of my childhood
1:10:23 The game is so old it doesnt matter now, but in the update the other day on sonics birthday, they DID add a controls option to maintain momentum in a jump. In fact a lot of your issues have been addressed, like leveling up at the elder koko can be done in bulk, more interesting overworld collectables, a bunch of physics changes, and a lot of quality of life stuff. Theres no denying that the game was clearly released unfinished, but yeah at least they havnt abandoned it
I feel what this game needed was for the platforms, rails and other assets to be made to look like they belonged in their respective environments. Right now, the game just looks like one of those GTA V on pc custom race courses in the sky. It feels like it was made by modders.
If you haven't already gotten it yet, I'd definitely recommend you unlock the Spin Dash. It's like the Boost, but way better and has some momentum to it. Spin Dashing around the islands is easily one of, if not, the most fun you can have in the game.
@@soraiiro_ It is nothing like the SA2 one, the SA2 spindash is exactly like the SA1 spindash except you have to hold a button to trigger it. The one in Frontiers is internally called the spinboost and is basically the boost but it has a spinning animation put on it, with some weird variables put onto it like how it moves in the air. So it's basically not a spindash and doesn't function like one really. Charging it doesn't even make it go further it just does nothing, it constantly propels forward and runs on the stamina meter lol. It's nothing like the spindash.
It's sad that despite the games many flaws, it is still one of the best Sonic games to ever release especially from a more casual point of view! No weird gimmicks, fairly well made, fairly long, a half decent story that at least tries, and gameplay that feels rewarding and is open to experimenting with! Now, that isn't saying much but I'd say Frontiers is better than every game past Unleashed easily!
Hope you can finally have some luck settling down after all the moving and unstable internet BS. Banger vid as always and hope Scott invades your streams more often.
43:30 In regards to this puzzle before the titan fight. I actually quite enjoyed it, it's one of the few puzzles in the game that sorta needed you to use your head. It was really satisfying for me when I solved it.
(21:57) Can we please talk about how, like, the Koco are literally the departed, haunting spirits of a long dead alien race of Chaos? That they're the still beating hearts of their bodies, unable to manifest their corporal forms? And somehow Sega is making them cute and marketable? LOL
Dude you’re a great artist and reviewer. You’re a bit late to the Frontiers hype train but that’s actually great. I’m still glad this game still gets amazing amount of attention and love. It offers more then any other game and the concepts are very well done. I wished though a long time the whole game could be all CG including all the cutscenes but we never got that.
To be honest with the whole purple coin thing radical you did tell them to learn a thing or two from the people who somehow did rolling better. So yes I do entirely blame and thank you for the purple coins
Playing this game was an… experience. I loved it to bits. Corruption being solved as it was was a punch to the face. Doing the 5th island was frustrating, and I spammed fishing to get the tokens I needed. Then the ending (I was on easy) just confused me. Fortunately I had a friend who told me to do it in hard mode. Why is the final boss a bullet hell. That was torture. That was pain. I love the game, though. Just it fell off at the end.
Been watching you for the past 6 years. Keep it up. Take your time. We all understand you work hard into putting your videos together. We understand. Take care.
1:21:50 Those "blank" launchers literally exist in Sonic Unleashed HD, but they showed a "?" and you could press either Cross or Square to clear them, your choice. I'm not sure why they don't just show a "?" in this game, but it's definitely not a glitch. In Generations all these launchers were replaced with a similar object where you hold a direction (left stick or dpad) and get launched in that direction, and once again, not sure why they didn't just keep that design.
1:30:55 Actually this is a you thing / a seperate design choice issue. You CAN do Double jump > Bounce > double jump > boost, What actually happened is that you double jumped too early after the Bounce. The double jump cancels all other vertical movement, including the bounce hight you should have had. It looked like a normal jump/bounce due to where you hit the button but In the frame by frame at 1:31:08 you see the flash of from you pressing the jump button.
did you know that you can press a button to stop the slot machine wheel early? That way, you can just spam the thing while you collect the star fragments and get even more coins
I have a bestie that's way into sonic, day one of this game coming out I watched her play it, and I kid you not, we spent half an hour on that pinball segment, it was both hilarious and insanely painful, but oh my gods I never wanna experience it again. As soon as I saw the thumbnail for this on my notifications, my first immediate thought was "oh I CANNOT WAIT for him to complain about the pinball segment" The pure joy I felt at that part combined with the horrid flashbacks is an emotion I'm not quite sure how to put into words, but it was truly beautiful...
40:54 IM GLADD YOU SAID THIS CAUSE I ALSO GOT NIER AUTOMATA VIBES FROM THIS GAME. I was so confused why the main comparison was BOTW cuz NieR vibes were WAY stronger
Man, I can't wait for a RadicalSoda Sonic review where he isn't _dripping_ in rage and sarcasm. One of these days, it's gonna happen! Some thoughts I had while I was watching: 2:50 I got a similar impression for some of them. Is it because of their occasional stiffness? 16:55 It's called the Power Boost. 18:50 Thanks to a certain update, L2 now has a _very_ good use. 21:48 I could have gone my whole life without knowing this. 34:36 That's _Hermit_ Koco, thank you very much! 36:18 This makes me glad I waited until the first update to play this game. 40:55 Not weird at all. 46:03 I wonder how many people noticed? 48:10 Some secret tech: circling the analog stick works like mashing, but faster. 51:05 It's actually harder _and shorter_ if you boost, since you complete the rings faster but have less time to react to the attacks. 59:20 You had the perfect setup for a Sonic 4 joke _right there!_ 1:03:18 You literally just included the caption where she says that, my guy. 1:12:50 Is that a Melee Mewtwo moment? 1:17:55 Now that you bring it up, some of the lines have been written pretty weird. I still appreciate the sentiment and personality behind them, though. 1:29:40 Wait, Nier had a color-swapping mechanic? 1:38:40 You're like the third person I've seen make that joke, I guess we all think the same. 1:45:05 Don't forget the Time Stones from Little Planet! 1:47:07 Oh, if only... Man, I wish Sega didn't rush these games out. Imagine if we had the Update 3 content in the base game! 2:08:09 Oh _boy,_ do I have news for you!
It’s really sad to think this game has less level variety than Sonic Adventure did back in goddamn 1998 on far less powerful hardware. Sonic Adventure has 11 unique level themes, 3 unique hubworld themes, and 2 sub game themes (one of which being a desert level with unique assets featured nowhere else in the game) for a total of 15 unique locations. Frontiers has 3 overworld themes, 4 level themes, and… well, that’s it. There are 7 total locations to visit in Sonic Frontiers, and you’ve seen it at all before you’re even half way done. If you want to count the final boss locations, then that makes it 16 vs 8 unique areas… aka Frontiers has HALF the amount of variety as Sonic Adventure. Astounding.
This game had no fucking budget and barely even got an extra year of development to not suck, unlike that game which was a launch title showcasing a whole console and had everything behind it.
I think the reason Sonic never uses Chaos Control is because, as far as he knows, it's just a teleport. We as an omnipresent observer are allowed to know that Shadow can stop time, but as far as everyone else is concerned, it's functionally indistinct from a teleport, and it wouldn't benefit Shadow to let people think otherwise. Of course, that's only a hypothesis.
Honestly that take makes sense. Shadow at least previously was a more subdued character as far as info goes and seemed like a keep it close to the vest kind of archetype. Granted sonic would see in the shadow game that you can do more but could also not want to use it due to him thinking that they are more shadows specialty and I imagine sonic isn't the type to actually practice something like that to get a full grasp of the limits of abilities granted from emerald manipulation. Could just be the 5am haven't been able to go to sleep brain talking so grain of salt this. Also could be limited by shadow not knowing his own limits with the whole amnesia plot. Comics have some clarity on this but been years since I've read them. Edit spelling*
1:10:25 seeing some ppl point out this is fixed in the comments but actually it's not lol. the reason this happens is some parts of the ground are marked with a "decelerate" flag which prevents the jump from being as free as it should be. that's separate from the new "maintain boost during a jump" option they added in update 2, which still leads to that issue with the flag happening regardless.
1:31:20 I believe what that's called is input buffering, it's more common in fighting games but games like dark souls have it too. In fighting games it's to allow you to input the motion for another attack mid-animation but in other games it tends to result in that clunky feeling since animations are a lot simpler and faster.
21:13 most of the cyberspace levels take level design from past games with the one shown here being 1-2 based on Windmill Isle. Now, I've found that if you listen closely to some of these (and also suspend your disbelief a little) you can make some small comparisons between the cyberspace track and the original level theme. These mostly consist of things like tempo or a similar beat and are probably not intentional, but I find it neat how the vibe of each level theme is still somewhat intact. Just try to compare the v i b e of every song in cyberspace to the song for the level its based on and you might see what I mean! (Or maybe I'm just crazy and no one else will make this admittedly very stretched connection.)
Radical called Generations a "recent" game. It came out 12 years ago. Kids who grew up on it will be like... 18 now. And also probably liking the reference to it.
This game is without a doubt quite flawed, but I still really loved it and found nearly every aspect of it really fun (I did all challenges on all cyberspace levels out of my own volition, not even expecting a reward) The open zones are fun to maneuver for the most part, the music is fantastic and fighting new types of enemies is fun. I also really enjoyed the story and especially the character writing, I really loved Eggman and Sage's relationship, and it seems like they want to work more on the characters moving forward. I'm really looking forward to what Sonic Team will be able to make next with this game as the base, it's certainly got a lot of potential
1:21:45 actually this isn't a bug, for some reason there are some launchers that give you a choice depending on where you want to go compared to the ones where you are restricted to go into that specific place
49:08 even before then, as us older fans know, even then wasn't the 1st time, Lost World and Boom trilogy weren't peaches either, then before them it's the storybook trilo- I mean duology and Sonic 06. Even people telling me now with Origins Plus and the Murder of Sonic, even with Superstars on the horizon, gotta be honest guys and gals... I'm not hopeful, even if this is a Sonic renaissance well so was Generations, and Mania a blip of that between Lost World Boom and Forces. You tell me this is a Golden year for Sonic... I'm still going to be skeptical.
![BOWKYLION - วิงวอน (ex-change) [Official MV]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/cLdnZWDaO-w/mqdefault.jpg)
The blank button prompt on the launchers isn't actually a glitch. It's supposed to signify that you can press either button and you can go either forward or upwards, but I could see how it could be confusing.
I feel like those should've been substituted with some sort of two-way launcher, because there isn't really a good way to replace the button prompt on the graphic to indicate "Either are good" lol
@@Triff3599 Probably a ? like Unleashed had would have worked fine. If I remember correctly, anyway.
Sonic games were ALWAYS terrible with visual suggestion for weird things like this. It's a weakness Sonic Team inherited from, I'm sad to say, Yuji Naka himself. He was never the best at anticipating how others would think; he was actually surprised playtesters of Sonic 1 tried to go fast right out of the gate. People want to do that with a character suggested to be fast? OMG! True, it led to the idea of rings saving you from death and being retrievable, but perhaps going fast with less danger should've been more fundamentally facilitated as well with a more forward-panning camera to give you the time to see the shit you're otherwise gonna crash (Ah!) into. And control simplicity and manuals don't excuse a lack of tutorializing in case, say, people forget about subtleties like rolling when it becomes vital to avoid damage *coughKoronevsScrapBrainflames* . I'm thinking even the Genesis games could use little fixes like that to truly be great, and I'm the type who usually sticks to original versions, warts and all, barring super-major bugs.
@@Triff3599 How about something like:
×↑
□→
all on one icon?
@@CarbonRollerCaco I feel like that would just clutter what little space there is to work with on a tiny little circle.
I love how long the script is to the point where you can’t even remember if you mentioned a specific point from earlier lmfaoo
Not only that, Radical may have been forgetting points on purpose to reference Sonic forgetting things as the game goes on
1:22:10
how tf did you make this comment 2 days ago
@@sonicdude210 i support him on patreon so we get to see early viewing of his videos before they’re released publicly
it made me drop my spliff many a time, truly a comedic genius
Its nice to see rad in a state that isn't complete anger and sadness
Same. Half salt and half "y'know this is actually pretty good!" is a good balance. Hope we don't go back to another time where it's 8 months ranting about Pokemon.
@@raze2012_ Dear god I hope not
@@raze2012_I really hope the next isnt about a completely broken game on launch, that wasn't even fixed until 4 months later. That would be very sad.
@@raze2012_it'd be *nice* if pokemon games *weren't* soul-shatteringly shitty
@@chainswordcsAnd that Pokemon fans didn't had so heart-stoppping low standards for such games
9:05 This is actually the best transition I've ever seen for anything. Pure genius.
It was genius and totally did bit see it coming lol
Owen: *Wow* into *pog face*
@@ViltrumiteIsRite99I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you seem to have used the incorrect terminology. The term you were looking for is Pog, what you used was PAWG which is an acronym for
P- Phat
A-Booty
W- White
G- girls
@@mistertomater6913 aw fuck 🤭🤫
I wonder how he did it
I do admire that the guy in charge of this game interacts with people on Twitter all the time, just listening to people and taking everything into consideration while also not promising that everything will be fulfilled.
But! He does want to redo the final boss so that it's an actual boss
Isn't that Ian Flynn? Or am I mistaken?
@@justaghostinthesea Nah op's talking about Kishimoto, the director of the game.
@@PyeFive I figured
Nothing will make me forget that he liked porn on that same account, though
@@DanielFerreira-ez8qd Was it good porn?
1:48:54 That is exactly why the last island reuses assets from Kronos. Kronos, Rhea, and Ouranos were originally one giant island. But they eventually split them into two separate islands. I say two because Rhea is still physically connected to Kronos. You can go out of bounds on Rhea to go to Kronos, and you actually fight Giganto in Rhea.
The best part of Big’s fishing sections is that they’re a perfect case study on how not to use screen space reflections in your games.
I legit can't tell if it's an intentional design choice or not, cuz the lake gives my eyes an ache just looking at it sometimes lol
@@Triff3599 I mean it is in cyberspace, so all the glitching would make sense
@@noone-be1zgeah, but that's like saying the pop-in is intentional and totally not an engine/console issue that could have probably been the fault of also designing the game for Switch (I love the Switch, but damn do some games not like it.). Sure you can say it's intended but... was it really, or are you just trying to save face?
@@dragon1130 Gonna have to say this is a false equivalency.
Pop-in is definately on them, but the style not working out and being a sore on the eyes is more of an unintended consequence of their choice of design, not really an "intended" feature.
@@kyperactive fair enough.
Knuckles was originally Sonic’s rival, not Shadow’s, so it’s a bit surprising to see them kinda bring it back.
I always saw Knuckles as an older cousin to Sonic.
@@VictoryOnTH-cam honestly, that dynamic would be better for the two, still butting heads a bit but still being close pals.
At the time shadow was introduced Knuckles was starting to soften up so they needed a new rival
And newer ones after that
@@Perdix64 👍🔥
The bullet hell final boss was so stupid that I kinda began to like it ironically.
Also love the implication that Big either entered cyberspace on accident or is the most power being in their world and figured out how to enter and leave cyberspace before sonic.
I want sonic not touhou
@@notdeadever I want touhou
@@YouCanCallMeIz tbh I want both but separate
@@notdeadever It's not Touhou it's Ikaruga.
@@notdeadeverwtf is touhou
I do love how almost the entire fandom genuinely fell in love with Sage and Dad Eggman and we all got legit sad when it looked like she died. Sega I swear to God Sage better be a recurring character from now on.
She does appear in the murder of sonic the hedgehog
Shes back
the explanation for how the cannons were able to stop super sonic is basically that they were all eclipse cannon levels of powerful
i just think about how knuckles has ppunched them out of sonic before. maybe its just some weird secret way to do it xD
@@theironicmonsterin between the knuckles punch, unleashed intro, and this, I think it's safe to assume that staying super has to do with maintaining focus. if Sonic gets caught off guard he can kiss that super form goodbye. otherwise, he can stay in it for days at a time like advanced 2.
@@FusionCometAlso it's likely that beings or contraptions that can utilise Chaos Energy can do the same.
Knuckles can harness the Master Emerald's power, Eggman's trap in Unleashed looked to have been made to harness the Emerald's power and the Ancients' machines were heavily reliant on the Chaos Emeralds and Chaos Energy.
So what you’re saying is the Ancients can piss on the moon all they want? 😮
@@thesmashinghit6868Then they would have no Moon to piss on
Just seven minutes in and I'm pretty certain that at this point, the guys doing the time schedule for the 3D sonic games need to offer more time. Don't know if Radical brings it up, but the fact that even the director for the Frontiers game had to fight {Not literally throwing hands} to delay the game is kinda wild.
I think it's even crazier that they actually got Sega to delay Frontiers. After rushed games have held this franchise back for so long, they actually got Sega to do the smart thing for once. Begging Sega to delay the game is one thing, getting them to actually listen is another beast entirely
The DLC/Updates make the game fell like another different beast
@@zeroattentiongaming820 Oh absolutely, previous games that could of been something good has become bad by being rushed - Sonic 06 besides the story could of had more time for polish, Sonic Frontiers to actually make it.. Interesting.
As much as Sonic Frontiers could of used more time in some areas, the fact that the game BENEFITED from the Director fighting for more time should be a clear sign to actually give them much more time. As much as it has flaws, Frontiers feels like they were actively trying to make something fun and unique - Even if the free dlc/updates feels like it's stuff they wanted to add in originally, but didn't have enough time.
Tldr: give sonic games more time to come out good.
@@mrlobsterguy4928Takashi Izuka wasn't directing Frontiters. It was Morio Kishimoto, but I agree with you.
The 3D Sonic games? I'd say sonic games in general need a lot more time in the oven, Origins was rushed and that was a bunch of ported roms, so who knows what kind of "fun" crunch stories Superstars will have
2:03:20 As far as I know, Sonic Team intended to make it go raw but due to the lack of time even with a year delay, this was the fight.
Although Kishimoto, the director of the project is planning to revamp Supreme and The End but time will tell what happens by then.
I just read the leaks for the 3rd DLC
Yes, they will get better, a lot
Ik this game wasn’t amazing but I fucking loved it when it came out and after the past 2 updates they’ve made the game 100x better with simple changes. It’s just plain old fun and an even better feel now.
I absolutely loved update 1 and especially 2. The features should’ve been in the game but them being communicative, giving what the fans want and putting content out to make the game feel fresh enough to play again is fucking amazing. Hell, this might show that I’m easy to please and idk about that tbh. However, with the state of games these days I’m so damn down for Sonic Frontiers and the future for Sonic.
Most of the issue’s I had have been ironed out. The only thing I have a problem with now is how you can’t complete the game fully if you don’t talk to sage before the boss fight on the third island- if you missed her or used the speedrun skip you can’t physically complete it. Luckily I had a save before hand and did it then- it just sucked that I had to do everything after the boss fight all over again. Another issue is how some of the obstacles/collectibles are a pain due to them not being built around the insane speeds you can get with the new updates. I’ve had to adjust my settings a few times for that exact reason and the new Koco’s can be confusing due to pop ins not loading or it not being obvious. They still haven’t fixed some of the other stuff but what they have fixed has made up for it in some ways. I hope to see it polished but still- I love the fun feel they’ve already done.
They upped the challenges with each update and the platforming in the new stuff is way better and at times harder. The building blocks are there and I’m happy with it.
However, flying around is great and I love the feel. It’s not perfect but by no means is it not fun now. I just hope they carry this momentum and fix things even more into the actual updates and the new games.
Based on the trajectory of the most recent updates, this game is going to turn into one of the greats (for Sonic, at least)
Well then, can't wait to see what they have planned! Would have been nice to get it at release, but hey... better late than never.
Oh TIL they plan on revamping those two bosses, that’s honestly great to hear those bosses were easily the weakest in the game so it’ll be amazing to see them be revamped. Especially Supreme, there’s so much content that was cut from it that deserved to be in the game
40:40
fun fact, the time actually goes by faster depending on how fast sonic is moving
So it's less that Sonic has super speed, but more that he passively fucks up time when he moves.
@@skelebrowhovian6817 Looks like he's still not very efficient at Chaos Control...
Which is interesting because in real life the faster something goes, it’s relative flow of time actually slows down
Ok so off topic but, does anyone know what specific mvt (movement) of Kronos Island that was playing in the background of this section of the video? Because it sounds so good and I can't find it, even though I've listened too all 7 😞.
These long-form planned/edited rants of yours are *significantly* more entertaining than a modest majority of feature length films with budgets in the millions
You said it.
i think the lighting and FOV are what makes the cutscenes look so much like SFM
but also, the _official character models_ look less on-model than fanart, maybe because of the materials? really can't tell
They actually are kinda off-model
Oh my god I've been waiting for this for so long
This is unironically like a movie release lmao
Truly.
_Where were you... when RadicalSoda made HISTORY?_
@@aidangordon2713 wdym
Yeah, glad this vid finally came.
RS: "Here's my ass!"
Longer than the Sonic 2 movie
Yes! I’ve been looking forward to watching this, your reviews are always the best. Funny, clever, exciting and so much more. Ty for being so a big inspiration and for making our days. Frontiers for me is my new favourite sonic game especially after all the new updates they have brought out, while it definitely has its problems most stuff that people aren’t a fan off or don’t like I found ok or enjoyable. Hope vid does well, been looking forward to this review. Ty again Radicalsoda. ❤️🌌💫
"Sonic's dead? *FINALLY!!!"*
That sounded like it came from the heart.
Anyways, can't believe I just watched _A Sonic Frontiers Review: The Movie._ It was a roller-coaster of emotions; so many ups and downs and Chemical Plants. But hey, it was a good time! You certainly got some smiles from me too. Thanks~ I look forward to better Sonic games in the future and your next ridiculously long review~
Surely he was ecstatic at the announcement of The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog.
is it weird i wouldn't mind sonic dying and other characters taking charge of the series for a bit?
@@purpledragon1945That’s literally the plot of Forces, but if they actually executed on it..
@@ViltrumiteIsRite99 Oh, they definitely "executed" it all right.
1:45:49 I do like how Radical says that he wants a game where Sonic gets to use Chaos Emerald's powers a bit better, and hey, look at that, they're actually doing that in Superstars.
Monkey paw strucks again
I can't get over how clever his sense of humor is. Even if a joke isn't that well thought out or hard to come up with, it's perfectly timed.
It cracks me up every time.
...abusing the little fansLMAOOOOOOOO.
I was coming down to make sure to mention how much of an absolute banger that joke was. 😂
Idk why I found his black joke so funny could be cuz I’m black or I was high😭
He's like if JonTron were Australian and not a millionaire for some reason.
@@Morbius-Tension I'm with ya there 🔥 🎄 🌬️
Sonic Forces is a bad game
I'm glad this game was a step in the right direction, but it is still important to point out the flaws so they may be improved. Especially given the current director actually seems to be taking an implementing feedback lately
Why did it take this long, though? It feels like Sega is content cranking out mediocre Sonic games, because like Pokemon, they learned that any steaming pile they release will sell gangbusters just on the IP alone.
@@WobblesandBean
Literally, only about 60 people were actually working on the development of the game, and SEGA being SEGA, they mostly didn't respect that development process and wanted to rush a November release to get those sweet and juicy Christmas sales
@@WobblesandBean
Sega is just a bad at handling Sonic. Frontiers director had to fight Sega to delay the game, Sega doesn't care what it puts out as long as it sells
...why are you doing this to yourself?
@@WobblesandBeanthe thing is, Sega doesn’t really care about Sonic. He’s never really been all that popular in Japan, at least not until recently, and they have eight million other games that they’d rather put resources into that actually make them money
the only parts of frontiers that stood out to me:
- Chaos has a more depressing backstory
- they finally acknowledged Cream exists for like the first time in a decade
- they acknowledged Sticks in a mainline title
- AMY ACKNOWLEDGED STICKS AND CREAM BOTH AT THE SAME TIME AND IT MAKES ME WANT A HEROES 2
- they acknowledged some comic characters off-handedly
- Sage is the closest we're getting to eggette being canonized
I think it's dumb that they mentioned Tangled and Sticks in Frontiers.
Even didn't like the lore of the chaos and the emeralds. I wish they just stayed mysterious instead of being basic and unnecessary.
Sticks isn't mentioned in the Japanese version apparently, and the IDW characters they mention are units in Runners.
@@TactlessC Units in Runners? The mobile game?
@@nerodoesart5886 Yes. Tangle and Whisper both had events in Runner to get them as characters.
@@TactlessC It's werid since I don't think the mobile games should be considered canon.
2:35 FINALLY someone else pointed this out. I felt the same way but didnt want to say anything to my siblings but the cutscenes do feel fanmade. I think it's because Sonic Omens came out earlier that year and its cutscene use a similar presentation, with the black bars and motion blur but that's my guess.
Luckily in the update, they allowed you to choose the amount instead of just leveling one at a time with the hermit. And finding old sonic music was fun af
Since this review was likely recorded before the first DLC Update...and as of today, we have two of the DLC updates released, I can say this much.
Sonic's controls feel way better due to the added customization, all the new things we can do in the island are awesome (Action Chain for example), and the Spin-Dash (from what I hear) is very fun to control.
While I haven't looked too much into the Update 3 Leaks because I want to avoid script spoilers, it is known now that Tails, Knuckles, and Amy will be playable in the open world ALL with their own skill trees and combat systems...this is extremely exciting as Knuckles and Tails haven't been playable in a 3D environment for 17 years...while Amy hasn't been playable on her own in 25 years (this is ignoring Sonic Heroes).
heck yeah
25? She was featured in '06 alongside Knuckles and Tails.
@@alejjtheninja5803 I don’t remember her being playable in that game.
Apparently they are only playable on one island though.
@@TheHyperTuber-VantaBlack I think she was playable,wasn't she able to go invisible?
I honestly feel like with all of the updates, we're actually seeing Sonic Team feel out what works and what doesn't and actually implement it all into the game proper. Including them all as toggles is also really smart, because part of the reason that Sonic Team seemed so hesitant to put momentum into your jumps and proper deceleration was because so many players just can't seem to react to things at high speeds and end up bouncing off the game because they just can't get a handle on Sonic's movement. I really think that they want to stick with this style, and maybe with all of the success that the brand is having SEGA will finally take note and actually put in the same care that they give to more successful Japanese franchises like Persona and Yakuza.
And in a semi-unrelated note, I genuinely think that's the main reason that the franchise has been so mismanaged. SEGA of Japan have always been incredibly prideful and pig-headed to the point where they seem unable to look past their own culture. It's that attitude that led to their downfall in the first place, and I don't think that it's left them after all this time. To SoJ, Sonic is just kind of an obligation. They throw out something Sonic related with a small team and tiny budget because they know that it sells internationally and then put their real resources towards the franchises that they see as more valuable.
They don't put their money on ANY FRANCHISES. Megaten has become low budget under sega and only had two higher budget console games in a decade, yakuza is recycling constantly due to low budget and dev time, super monkey ball is fucking dead and doesn't have an original game, etc. Sega since 2005 merged with the gambling company sammy, and focused most of their shit on pachinko and gambling with the games being a pr front and a source of merchandise. They get 3/4ths of their money from pachinko. They did konami before konami and hid it to their western audience so well
@@thatitalianlameguy2235This. Sega doesn't exist anymore. They have been acquired by the Pachinko company Sammy, who has no interest in videogames aside from using Sega's IPs as a family friendly front for their gambling business. The merge with Sammy was probably the reason why Yuji Naka and many other key Sonic Team devs left Sega, Naka's departure coincides with the merge. The people who worked on games like Sonic Unleashed, Colors and Generations are now working for Nintendo.
The majority of Sega's IPs are either dead or in life support. Most Yakuza games are asset flips or remasters, Persona is a little it better, but it is also mostly munching off P5 success. I heard Sakura Wars is on a terrible spot. Monkey Ball was abandoned by its devs so they could make Yakuza, most SMB games afterwards are mediocre and the two most recent ones are a remaster of one of the worst entries and a compilation of old favorite levels.
Sonic Team is borderline a indie studio tasked with making AAA games under severe crunch, on top of developing technology for other Sega games (the Hedgehog Engine 2 is also used in other non-Sonic games). They never get time and resources needed to achieve the vision they have. It is a miracle Sonic Frontiers wasn't another buggy mess like 06 or Boom. Takashi Iizuka had to beg Sega for another year to at least polish what they had, otherwise the game would have released in 2021.
There are few things I enjoy on TH-cam as much as RadicalSoda talking about Sonic
Same, and I've never played a sonic game in my life other than unleashed as a kid who couldn't even beat it. Really is a "come for the guy not the game" situation.
I feel like what Sonic Team needs to do going forward is have some sort of demo/beta period where people can try the games and give feedback so most of the issues can get fixed.
1:51:08
The blue ring octopus,
man that just brought back childhood memories of my school here in australia saying " Now kids if you ever see this RUNRUNRUN FOR YOUR LIVES FUCKING RUN"
with the last update of frontiers being a new story section with playable characters, 100% radical is probably gonna return to frontiers to cover that, with all the changes that will possibly be made (i hope) maybe the game can be raised even higher
(i enjoyed the game btw)
wtf you're here??
10:32 I know this was probably recorded before the first DLC update, but there is an extreme difficulty. You get hit once, you die
So an actual challenge then?
Yeah, you can tell as soon as when he criticize the leveling up with the elder koco.
Yeh no, noone will re-review this with the update, cos that means they have to be less negative and gaming youtube hates that! lmao.
True. 2nd DLC is awesome
@@levilurgywell actually thats just not how reviews work
HE'S BAAAAACK!
Great to see ya again, Rad!
Feels like I accidentally summoned you by watching your Zavok Frontiers VOD yesterday lol
Honestly I would recommend doing a replay once the third update comes out because not only do the quality of life changes make the game WAAAAY more palletable, but according to the road map, the 3rd update will actually add more story!
Why are you doing this to yourself?
@@Tonjit41because the game is flawed but good and now it's much better
1:21:42 Rad that’s not a bug, you’re supposed to choose which if you want to go Horizontal or Vertical
In spite of Green Hill’s overuse, I would be down for a sequel set on just South Island, like that place is also home to the zones in 8-Bit Sonic 2, Sonic Chaos, and Sonic Blast and along with new zones, I’d be interested in seeing how they and the zones of Sonic 1 could be connected.
Like maybe Underground Zone leads into Red Volcano, a tunnel that connects Spring Yard, Labyrinth, and Jungle zone, Aqua Lake itself being near Labyrinth zone as well, and Yellow Desert being in a remote part of South Island surrounded by mountains.
Hell the equivalent to Cyberspace could be themed around the various special stages across the series like some levels are based off the half pipe.
That would be a pretty neat idea. Or hell, if they want to bring in all new ideas, maybe do Christmas Island! That's, apparently, Sonic's birthplace, and that's still a place we've never seen before!
The idea of using old models for the cyber space levels would be GOOD, GREAT, AWESOME, OUTSTANDING, AMAZING!
Would have been better if they brought back the old level instead of make almost all of them green hill or chemical plant
GOOD
GREAT
AWESOME
OUTSTANDING
AMAZING!
I wish there was more aesthetic variety to the cyber space levels, but i did enjoy trying to figure out which levels the geometry was based on, almost like a memory test (which makes sense given the game's narrative)
Also, I really do feel like the pop-ins are caused by the game also having a switch release and having to be held back, because there were mods made to improve the render distance almost immediately
Yeah, if the short render distance on non-geometry objects was an intentional part of the design, there would have been some form of 'cyber' effect as they appear, instead it's a raw pop in as they render, implying that's the best they could do with the constraints they were working with.
I have a sneaking suspicion after two hours of listening…that Radical…doesn’t like Green Hill zone or Chemical Plant
As someone who has watched dozens upon dozens of his videos, I gotta say; I think you might be onto something
46:52 Man I had that exact same reaction lmao. You never fail to disappoint aha
I don't play sonic games, I'm more jrpg and stuff with like 80 hour story
But holy shit that was my same reaction. Music SLAPS
I hope you meant "you never disappoint".
The Super Sonic boss fights are my favorite part of this game, I had a lot of fun with the whole game, definitely my favorite sonic game but the boss fights are like half the reason I love it so much and the boss music specifically is some of the best in the sonic series
At 1:31:25, you would say that the game uses a buffer system. Basically, the game reserves a small amount of frames for another valid input to be registered near the end of whatever input was given to Sonic, which lines up another action to be executed as soon as it's available. If used correctly, buffer allows for a bit of leniency in the player's timing in combat and platforming. Some fighting games use a buffer system to make combos and button chains a bit easier to execute, since they would have to be nearly frame-perfect at all times without any buffer in place. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is a perfect example of buffer being great and terrible at the same time. Lots of input chains are easier, but so many players have accidentally lost stocks in tournaments due to buffered inputs that leave them completely helpless.
"And I'm not funny at all."
You take that back! As someone who isn't a Sonic fan and who has only played one game in the series (Adventure 2) I sat here the whole 2 hours laughing and giggling to your jokes/writing even though I have no idea what a chemical plant zone is (and at this point, too afraid to ask)! This was a great review!
Glad you've done this - I enjoy your very critical approach, but you give credit where it's due. I am not a huge Sonic fan (last game i played was Unleashed on the *PS2*), but i hope Sonic Team gets the opportunity to continue in the direction of Frontiers in the future. With any luck, the next one won't have such a large decline in quality in the latter half of the game... I think it's almost better for the game to be shorter, but extremely refined and polished, if that's what needs to be done.
Get out while you can.
I like your take with Sonic being a shorter game being a good thing. I played Unleashed on the PS3 (I think it’s a little different?) and I’m sure you could probably finish that game in a few hours, but it was very very replayable. The levels could take up to six minutes on a first playthrough, but playing them over and over to get your time down was really, really fun! My best Sonic memory is the vertical tree level in Maizuri, and finally nailing all the inputs to get a super fast time was so fun. I also loved that slide section in Windmill Island Act 1, I know it’s a weird thing to remember the specific spot where you have to slide once in one level but nailing just feels good for some reason. Sonic kinda reminds me of Pikmin in that sense. I can beat Pikmin 1 in like five hours, but it’s so fun to replay and get a better result that the time I’ve spent on the game greatly outweighs just a playthrough.
The launchers that don't show a prompt is not a bug, it just means you can press either button to launch upwards or forwards.
The ones that do show a prompt only that button can be pressed.
Edit: I just remembered Unleashed has ones that have a question mark in place of a button prompt.
2:11:07 In case you were wondering why there are no tracks from Sonic 1 and Sonic 2 included here, it’s because they don’t actually have the rights to the music from Sonic 1 and Sonic 2. You heard me right. Dreams Come True composed the music for the first two games. They wanted to be paid more to compose the music for the third game, so they ended up being dropped instead. So, to this day, if SEGA wants to use the music from those two games outside of those games, they have to pay them a special licensing fee. I believe they did this for Sonic Generations so they could include remixes of the songs, but that was about it. Apparently they didn’t want to do something similar for this game. 😔
Wasn't the ending of Sonic 2 just the Instrumental of Sweet Dreams
Whether you love it or not. One thing we can agree on is that the music is BADASS AF.
It's badass where it absolutely counts, but most of the stages and the island themes blend together so much that if there is something in there that I want to go listen to again, I have to spend 10+ minutes hopping through the soundtrack to try find it.
Boss themes, including overworld bosses, at least they're easy to find and their music is pretty instantly recognisable.
IT'S TIME TO FACE YOUR FEAR
CUZ WHEN YOUR TIME HAS COME AND GONE
I'LL BE THE ONE TO CARRY ON
AND YOU CAN THROW ME TO THE WOLVES
CUZ I AM _UNDEFEATABLE!_
Boss themes? Absolutely. Everything else? Ehhhh......
@@markandrew287 bro the 1-2 song is so good
Music is objectively the worst in the series next to Forces
Also love the implication that Big either entered cyberspace on accident or is the most power being in their world and figured out how to enter and leave cyberspace before sonic.
01:21:40 That’s not a bug it’s intentional. It means you can go either direction you want with the launchers.
19:50 gotta say, took me quite a few tries to get an S rank on that bloody level.
Undefeatable, is by far, my favourite track of the game
The super sonic segment that SLAPS has big "What I'm Made Of" vibes and I am LIVING for it.
I was starving for new content of you. So much so, that you are the ONLY channel here on TH-cam where I activated notifications. And of course. You don't fail to deliver.
You might not see this comment. You are my all time favorite TH-camr. I’ve been a long time viewer of your content. Thanks, you’re an important part of my childhood
1:10:23
The game is so old it doesnt matter now, but in the update the other day on sonics birthday, they DID add a controls option to maintain momentum in a jump. In fact a lot of your issues have been addressed, like leveling up at the elder koko can be done in bulk, more interesting overworld collectables, a bunch of physics changes, and a lot of quality of life stuff. Theres no denying that the game was clearly released unfinished, but yeah at least they havnt abandoned it
The drift segment is also reused as it was an unleashed day act challenge.
I feel what this game needed was for the platforms, rails and other assets to be made to look like they belonged in their respective environments. Right now, the game just looks like one of those GTA V on pc custom race courses in the sky. It feels like it was made by modders.
If you haven't already gotten it yet, I'd definitely recommend you unlock the Spin Dash. It's like the Boost, but way better and has some momentum to it. Spin Dashing around the islands is easily one of, if not, the most fun you can have in the game.
is it like the spin dash in lost world but better?
@@Josuh I have not played that one.
@Josuh Way better. It's like sa2 spin dash, and Lost World spin dash had a baby.
@@soraiiro_ It is nothing like the SA2 one, the SA2 spindash is exactly like the SA1 spindash except you have to hold a button to trigger it. The one in Frontiers is internally called the spinboost and is basically the boost but it has a spinning animation put on it, with some weird variables put onto it like how it moves in the air. So it's basically not a spindash and doesn't function like one really. Charging it doesn't even make it go further it just does nothing, it constantly propels forward and runs on the stamina meter lol. It's nothing like the spindash.
@Squishito u can charge it, so it is the spin dash
Holy cow I didn't expect you to drop the entire thing on us all at once
It's sad that despite the games many flaws, it is still one of the best Sonic games to ever release especially from a more casual point of view! No weird gimmicks, fairly well made, fairly long, a half decent story that at least tries, and gameplay that feels rewarding and is open to experimenting with! Now, that isn't saying much but I'd say Frontiers is better than every game past Unleashed easily!
Well said.
Cyberspace 4-2 actually had a memorable track that blended with its set pieces for me.
Agreed, that track is actually really nice!
Whoa I’m excited because he’s back after only 8 months. That’s less than 9
Hope you can finally have some luck settling down after all the moving and unstable internet BS. Banger vid as always and hope Scott invades your streams more often.
43:30 In regards to this puzzle before the titan fight. I actually quite enjoyed it, it's one of the few puzzles in the game that sorta needed you to use your head. It was really satisfying for me when I solved it.
(21:57) Can we please talk about how, like, the Koco are literally the departed, haunting spirits of a long dead alien race of Chaos? That they're the still beating hearts of their bodies, unable to manifest their corporal forms? And somehow Sega is making them cute and marketable? LOL
41:37 had me in tears for some reason
1:35:30 I laughed all over again. That scene was so random.
Dude you’re a great artist and reviewer. You’re a bit late to the Frontiers hype train but that’s actually great. I’m still glad this game still gets amazing amount of attention and love. It offers more then any other game and the concepts are very well done. I wished though a long time the whole game could be all CG including all the cutscenes but we never got that.
To be honest with the whole purple coin thing radical you did tell them to learn a thing or two from the people who somehow did rolling better.
So yes I do entirely blame and thank you for the purple coins
Playing this game was an… experience. I loved it to bits. Corruption being solved as it was was a punch to the face. Doing the 5th island was frustrating, and I spammed fishing to get the tokens I needed.
Then the ending (I was on easy) just confused me. Fortunately I had a friend who told me to do it in hard mode.
Why is the final boss a bullet hell. That was torture. That was pain.
I love the game, though. Just it fell off at the end.
Been watching you for the past 6 years. Keep it up. Take your time. We all understand you work hard into putting your videos together. We understand. Take care.
1:21:41 I could be wrong but I believe that the blank ones let you either press X or Square to let you choose the direction
1:21:50 Those "blank" launchers literally exist in Sonic Unleashed HD, but they showed a "?" and you could press either Cross or Square to clear them, your choice. I'm not sure why they don't just show a "?" in this game, but it's definitely not a glitch.
In Generations all these launchers were replaced with a similar object where you hold a direction (left stick or dpad) and get launched in that direction, and once again, not sure why they didn't just keep that design.
1:30:55 Actually this is a you thing / a seperate design choice issue. You CAN do Double jump > Bounce > double jump > boost, What actually happened is that you double jumped too early after the Bounce. The double jump cancels all other vertical movement, including the bounce hight you should have had. It looked like a normal jump/bounce due to where you hit the button but In the frame by frame at 1:31:08 you see the flash of from you pressing the jump button.
21:00 Shylily jumpscare
Also I think your nostalgia idea is great
I laughed for literally 133 minutes straight. Of all the Frontiers reviews, I knew this would be the most fun to watch. Good shit as always! 😅
did you know that you can press a button to stop the slot machine wheel early? That way, you can just spam the thing while you collect the star fragments and get even more coins
50:31 I swear, I thought of “Go Through All The Rings!” from the Finding Nemo game when I was doing these challenges on the ground
2 hours of Radical Soda?
What a treat.😌
1:15:18 That must've been Knuckles snickering instead because, unlike Sonic, he doesn't chuckle.
I have a bestie that's way into sonic, day one of this game coming out I watched her play it, and I kid you not, we spent half an hour on that pinball segment, it was both hilarious and insanely painful, but oh my gods I never wanna experience it again. As soon as I saw the thumbnail for this on my notifications, my first immediate thought was "oh I CANNOT WAIT for him to complain about the pinball segment"
The pure joy I felt at that part combined with the horrid flashbacks is an emotion I'm not quite sure how to put into words, but it was truly beautiful...
I have been on a RadicalSoda withdrawal lately, so glad you put this out.
1:13:41 I had to do a double take because I thought YOU edited that in. What an unnatural transition to a screenshot image
40:54 IM GLADD YOU SAID THIS CAUSE I ALSO GOT NIER AUTOMATA VIBES FROM THIS GAME. I was so confused why the main comparison was BOTW cuz NieR vibes were WAY stronger
Cuz the gaming community only knows botw and shits on anything that looks different
@@ctpp64 LOL true, they act like BOTW was the first to do the whole open world thing n’ all
Man, I can't wait for a RadicalSoda Sonic review where he isn't _dripping_ in rage and sarcasm. One of these days, it's gonna happen!
Some thoughts I had while I was watching:
2:50 I got a similar impression for some of them. Is it because of their occasional stiffness?
16:55 It's called the Power Boost.
18:50 Thanks to a certain update, L2 now has a _very_ good use.
21:48 I could have gone my whole life without knowing this.
34:36 That's _Hermit_ Koco, thank you very much!
36:18 This makes me glad I waited until the first update to play this game.
40:55 Not weird at all.
46:03 I wonder how many people noticed?
48:10 Some secret tech: circling the analog stick works like mashing, but faster.
51:05 It's actually harder _and shorter_ if you boost, since you complete the rings faster but have less time to react to the attacks.
59:20 You had the perfect setup for a Sonic 4 joke _right there!_
1:03:18 You literally just included the caption where she says that, my guy.
1:12:50 Is that a Melee Mewtwo moment?
1:17:55 Now that you bring it up, some of the lines have been written pretty weird. I still appreciate the sentiment and personality behind them, though.
1:29:40 Wait, Nier had a color-swapping mechanic?
1:38:40 You're like the third person I've seen make that joke, I guess we all think the same.
1:45:05 Don't forget the Time Stones from Little Planet!
1:47:07 Oh, if only... Man, I wish Sega didn't rush these games out. Imagine if we had the Update 3 content in the base game!
2:08:09 Oh _boy,_ do I have news for you!
It’s really sad to think this game has less level variety than Sonic Adventure did back in goddamn 1998 on far less powerful hardware.
Sonic Adventure has 11 unique level themes, 3 unique hubworld themes, and 2 sub game themes (one of which being a desert level with unique assets featured nowhere else in the game) for a total of 15 unique locations.
Frontiers has 3 overworld themes, 4 level themes, and… well, that’s it. There are 7 total locations to visit in Sonic Frontiers, and you’ve seen it at all before you’re even half way done.
If you want to count the final boss locations, then that makes it 16 vs 8 unique areas… aka Frontiers has HALF the amount of variety as Sonic Adventure. Astounding.
This game had no fucking budget and barely even got an extra year of development to not suck, unlike that game which was a launch title showcasing a whole console and had everything behind it.
@@thatitalianlameguy2235 all very true, it’s sad how much has regressed in the last 20 some years
I think the reason Sonic never uses Chaos Control is because, as far as he knows, it's just a teleport. We as an omnipresent observer are allowed to know that Shadow can stop time, but as far as everyone else is concerned, it's functionally indistinct from a teleport, and it wouldn't benefit Shadow to let people think otherwise.
Of course, that's only a hypothesis.
Honestly that take makes sense. Shadow at least previously was a more subdued character as far as info goes and seemed like a keep it close to the vest kind of archetype. Granted sonic would see in the shadow game that you can do more but could also not want to use it due to him thinking that they are more shadows specialty and I imagine sonic isn't the type to actually practice something like that to get a full grasp of the limits of abilities granted from emerald manipulation. Could just be the 5am haven't been able to go to sleep brain talking so grain of salt this. Also could be limited by shadow not knowing his own limits with the whole amnesia plot. Comics have some clarity on this but been years since I've read them. Edit spelling*
1:32:18 Idk why, but the “Nitshovel” thing just kills me.
1:02:53 That's just masterclass editing
1:35:35 I don’t know why but even before radical slid in I was laughing at the absurdity of the scene.
1:10:25 seeing some ppl point out this is fixed in the comments but actually it's not lol.
the reason this happens is some parts of the ground are marked with a "decelerate" flag which prevents the jump from being as free as it should be. that's separate from the new "maintain boost during a jump" option they added in update 2, which still leads to that issue with the flag happening regardless.
1:31:20 I believe what that's called is input buffering, it's more common in fighting games but games like dark souls have it too. In fighting games it's to allow you to input the motion for another attack mid-animation but in other games it tends to result in that clunky feeling since animations are a lot simpler and faster.
god it feels like Ive been waiting years for this one
47:09
Why does RadicalSoda remind me of the noseless squidward here? ^^
21:13 most of the cyberspace levels take level design from past games with the one shown here being 1-2 based on Windmill Isle. Now, I've found that if you listen closely to some of these (and also suspend your disbelief a little) you can make some small comparisons between the cyberspace track and the original level theme. These mostly consist of things like tempo or a similar beat and are probably not intentional, but I find it neat how the vibe of each level theme is still somewhat intact. Just try to compare the v i b e of every song in cyberspace to the song for the level its based on and you might see what I mean! (Or maybe I'm just crazy and no one else will make this admittedly very stretched connection.)
33:50 love the Zazz lost world reference lmao
Radical called Generations a "recent" game.
It came out 12 years ago. Kids who grew up on it will be like... 18 now. And also probably liking the reference to it.
This game is without a doubt quite flawed, but I still really loved it and found nearly every aspect of it really fun (I did all challenges on all cyberspace levels out of my own volition, not even expecting a reward) The open zones are fun to maneuver for the most part, the music is fantastic and fighting new types of enemies is fun. I also really enjoyed the story and especially the character writing, I really loved Eggman and Sage's relationship, and it seems like they want to work more on the characters moving forward. I'm really looking forward to what Sonic Team will be able to make next with this game as the base, it's certainly got a lot of potential
1:21:45 actually this isn't a bug, for some reason there are some launchers that give you a choice depending on where you want to go compared to the ones where you are restricted to go into that specific place
Yeah weren't these in unleashed as well
@@alphax-shroom6781 given that some of there usages were in stages ripped from Unleashed would I assume so
49:08 even before then, as us older fans know, even then wasn't the 1st time, Lost World and Boom trilogy weren't peaches either, then before them it's the storybook trilo- I mean duology and Sonic 06. Even people telling me now with Origins Plus and the Murder of Sonic, even with Superstars on the horizon, gotta be honest guys and gals... I'm not hopeful, even if this is a Sonic renaissance well so was Generations, and Mania a blip of that between Lost World Boom and Forces. You tell me this is a Golden year for Sonic... I'm still going to be skeptical.
Your sonic reviews are honestly the best on TH-cam