Sonic Frontiers Is The Game Of All Time
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 31 พ.ค. 2024
- Sonic Frontiers is most certainly, without a shadow of a doubt: THE Game Of All Time!
0:00 Intro
1:29 Frontiers IS THE GAME OF ALL TIME!!!
15:20 Frontiers is... the game of all time...
38:23 I am tired
RazorX: • (Best Known Time) Soni...
Kleric: • Shrines in Seconds - R...
Sweet MJ: • STANDING HERE, I REALI...
Donguri: • Devil May Cry 5 - COMB...
Channel Icon by:
/ whaddupnico
Script: docs.google.com/document/d/19...
Patreon: / kingdomklannad
Twitter: / kingklonoa
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#KingK #SonicFrontiers #review - เกม
This is definitely THE Sonic Frontiers review of all time, and no one can take that away
we are all waiting for yours as well
By golly, I’d have to agree
I disagree, it started good and then the complaints went off the rails.
I finished the game and 100% disagree with most of his problems. It’s clearly to me that he was nitpicking way way to much when he had to put Metal Gear Rising and or DMC to try to justify his combat complaints. SONIC game combat have always been about avoiding attacks and jump over the boss 8 or 10 times. Frontiers has a vastly supperior fighting mechanics and I enjoyed the variety that they offer to keep the gameplay fun.
The ONLY LEGIT mechanic problems that he mentioned were the 2D to 3D platforming changes in between obstacles. Thats it, everything else he was just ranting and complaining over nothing. The cyberspace levels are like 8 or 10 different versions of classic Sonic ZONES, meaning many Green hill levels, City Escape, Speed Highway, etc. THEY ARE BASED on them, they are not supposed to be the same. They are altered variations and here he is complaining how they are not similar or whatever.
At some point on this review I understood why he no longer like Sonic games, he has a very narrow subjective view on it, at least gameplay wise.
@@powerhouse884hardcore sonic fans coping that the game is mediocre and a great concept at best
@@thatitalianlameguy2235 Cool story bro. I actually finished the game and can tell when they suk or not.
The weirdest thing about Frontiers for me, is that I ended up not hating the cyberspace stages in the end. Like I hated them at first and everything you've said about them is 100% correct. They're not very good. The bizarre control changes (I SWEAR someone on Sonic Team just has a weird control preference) and the boring asset/layout reuse. I HATE that we're stuck with only 4 stage themes with only 1 being even semi original with the rest being the most overplayed ones that we were already sick of over 5 years ago. Even with all that, I ended up having a pretty decent time with them as a whole. Getting an S Rank on 1-2 gave me the same feeling as getting better times in Neon White. I adjusted to the controls and even kinda loved some of the city stages that had original level layout. I'll take these over anything from Forces...but man this still ain't great.
I love the idea of the Cyberspace stages as a break in the core gameplay loop like Shrines in BoTW. I hope this concept doesn't get thrown away entirely due to the generally poor reception they rightfully got but please, let them be designed with the same control scheme as the open world in mind. Give them new stage theming, new layouts etc. Have real missions that actually challenge the player to learn the level instead of these throwaway red rings and piss easy s-rank times, give me an actual skill ceiling for once. There's nothing wrong with linear stages taking a backseat with more simple modular level design but in the future, please don't cheap out on this concept so hard like they did here.
I just want the 2D cyberspace sections to feel like actual genesis/mania controls. Its just so baffling that they can’t get sonic correct from his origins, from what made most of us fall in love with him from the start
I loved the first few but then they were either hit or miss the rest of the game.
@@anthonybarnes706 all the cyberspace levels on the last island were good
The ones on the last island were all better, but I do think their existence helps to validate the open zone gameplay loop. They’re conceptually on point. They feel like a break from exploring, they’re quick enough to not make it feel like the world isn’t the most important, and they’re spread far enough across the islands to actually FEEL like a discovery. The soundtrack goes hard.
I just wish the physics felt better and there were more themes. So I’d be curious what the future of those micro challenges are
The music slaps at least
I think all of the issues Sonic Team has had ultimately boils down to not having enough MANPOWER. A decent chunk of the developers of Unleashed- Generations moved over to Nintendo to work on Mario Odyssey once Generations was out. Frontiers had ONLY 60 developers for the entire game. SEGA time and time again has consistently been the biggest contributing factor at how much they choose to limit what Sonic Team can do, and their mandates are literally screwing Sonic Team over. It's why we keep seeing Green Hill. It's why they keep changing the gameplay style. People have been upset with Sonic Team for such a long time, when it ultimately boils down to SEGA thinking they know best. I think if we REALLY TRULY want to see actual change for this franchise, we need to push SEGA *specifically* to giving Sonic Team a larger development team. They have the money (especially after the movies success). There just needs to be enough outcry that it can reach SEGA's ears.
UPDATE: SEGA of Japan has posted a listing for job applications to work on the Sonic franchise. It doesn't specifically state working on Sonic Team, but this is still a good first step. Let's keep pushing ‼
Yes, now let's push Sega to change their dumbass mandates.
I don't think it is the manpower. Or more specifically, I think is something that causes a lack of manpower, and that is just budget. Sega wants to make the games cheap, maybe because they think sonic sells on its own.
I don't honestly understand it, Yakuza is doing great and are very succesful triple A games, The persona/shinmigami tensei games, Phantasy Star Online 2: New Genesis, Bayonetta, retro compilations are great and retro revivals like streets of rage 4. Sega is neither a bad developer nor publisher. But for whatever reason they seem to care the least about sonic and sonic team.
They are going to release a triple A remake of a japan exclusive yakuza spinoff, and I am fully confident that it will be great. But porting some of the most important and influential games in the sonic franchise? Staple that thing in a couple of weeks and release mobil phone or wii ports with almost no changes, or even with new bugs and glitches.
@@diegog1853 phantasy star is where the open world assets and enemy designs came from, as cheap as possible with frontiers . Sonic sells with kids and merch and retarded old fans like pokémon. So it doesn't need quality. It just sells
How do you even know they migrated over to Nintendo? Did you painstakingly look through the credits and connectioned job postings?
@@diegog1853 When i say manpower, budget is implied within that. You obviously can't just hire more people without an overall increase in the scale and scope of the overall budget, and I think everyone knows that. It's VERY clear that Frontiers had a decent budget, but not enough people to fulfill the scope of the project. There is an *astronomical* amount of cut content from Frontiers you can find if you do a bit of digging. There's cut dialogue that suggests entirely new areas to explore, huge story elements, new enemies, etc. that all never made it into the final game. And while I do think SEGA is primarily the main contributing factor into the issues that current Sonic Team games have, that doesn't mean I don't excuse some of the poor directing/ execution problems from Sonic Team themselves of course.
There's obviously a lot of individual factors that go into game development, but I think ultimately having more people on the team can lead to creative decisions and ideas not otherwise considered due to not having a big development team (and in this case a budget as well) in the first place. It all comes down to convincing SEGA to give enough of a shit to actually make these changes, since that's all that we as fans and/or consumers have the power to do at the moment.
Sonic Frontiers is truly the first open zone game
I'd personally say that Solar Ash beat Frontiers to that
@@FlareFoot57 Solar Ash is so undernoticed. Frontiers is better, but Solar Ash is very worth playing.
@@Gnidel damn how bad must Solar Ash be??
Just looked the game up that shit looks amazing. Only con is its short. Now I'm baffled as to how you say Frontiers is superior
It is very strand-like, in that sense
U beat me to it
Basically all of the issues here come down to manpower. Sonic Team is a glorified indie studio at this point backed by one of the biggest publishers in gaming.
"Biggest" publishers who did so badly with marketing and underestimating consumers that they were hemorrhaging money for 5 years and stopped making game consoles, and didn't lift a finger to save Bayonetta 2
@@secoTheSonicFan Explain to me why Frontiers was the game that got the mainstream interested in the series again since the Adventure titles
@@AkameGaKillfan777 What you mean by the Bayonetta 2 part?
@@daeryk6424 SEGA could've given Platinum Games more money to finish development, but they turned a blind eye to it, just like Sony and Microsoft. But now they just slap their name on the series so they have a poor excuse to take some of the game's profits for themselves.
People say the same thing about game freak and pokemon, don’t make that excuse for them
Sage is pretty much a mixture of Shadow and Maria’s characters while also being superior to Infinite in every way. And I love her for it.
I wanna see more of her in the future for sure
@@jayceallen6530 thankfully Eggman saved her. And given how calculated he is and how he has build many robots with varying personalities; on top of his Grandfather creating Shadow, no reason to believe that Eggman won’t build a new body for Sage.
... They called a character Sage in sonic? Great, now ill get comments about my name.
@@dizzynarutofan100 Your name is Sage? That’s awesome! I love that name.
Well sage IS Maria
When Sonic said "We cannot cross the frontier. We better call Saul" i had tears in my eyes. One of the sonic of all time
"You don't get it, Sage. I am Breaking Bad!"
- Dr. Heisenbeggman
“Sonic, am I breaking bad to you?” -Tails
Once again, fishing mini games prove to be the most important factor in determining whether the game is worth it.
The only aspect of this game that matters. People joked, belittled, but truth is, even in Yakuza you know which games are the bangers from the presence of fishing.
The montage at 37:21 was fucking hilarious because it’s edited like a late-2000s amv, has eggman and sage in one place, and all of their interactions was Eggman bickering at Sage, all set the lovely tune of what I can only guess is Sage sobbing. It was one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen in a game
I saw the very early leaks before getting the game.
I literally thought someone purposely, poorly edited that clip for comedy.
they would have done way more by just showing static drawings of eggman creating sage or her growing up in the metaverse or swhatever, instead of these, remember the only cutscenes we had together in this game? so sad.
For real, I actually thought it was the most embarrassing cutscene I think I’ve ever seen in a game. I’m so glad I was alone while playing it cos I would have had a lot of second hand embarrassment 😂
What goes through their mind when making stuff like this haha
idk I personally liked it
@@BlakeAtStake to each their own.
5:43 it isn’t shallow at all. Music is a powerful thing and it’s insane how much an OST can really shape the mood and feel of a game. Loved this video man! Can’t wait to see where you go from here
Huge agree. Music is a largely overlooked aspect of games and can often be a better story-teller than the game itself. I do largely believe if Sonic didn't atleast deliver bangers, he'd be in a much worse off state.
Music literally bumped my rating of this game to 7.5/10 up to 8/10
I agree lol. If a game is fucking garbage but has good music I'll simply enjoy it more
@@CreationsFlare NieR Automata would be a much weaker game without the incredible soundtrack backing some powerful moments.
even the devs know it. I remember recognizing this importance when hearing this come from one of the old halo dev leads, how marty was like the one guy who made the game like 50% better singlehandedly. music and sound design is OP
and here I am going through all the final fantasy games where the music hard carries all of it
I’m inclined to agree. Sonic Frontiers is, in fact, a game.
No it's not
Why would you say something so controversial yet so brave?
Can't argue with that assessment
The game ever
I hate this meme
I really appreciate the way they portrayed Eggman in this game, although most of his dialogue is locked behind the fishing minigame (at least it's simple and relatively quick), his developing relationship with Sage and his views on all the different characters, like his genuine respect on top of his hatred for Sonic. It just shows Ian Flynn tried his hardest to re-establish a feeling of character instead of caricature in this story.
So a person needs to have endearing or pitiable qualities to qualify as a person? If only real life worked that way...
@@LordExor Not sure if you're joking, but that's a basic aspect of good writing
@AkameGaKillfan777 No it isn't. That's a basic aspect of good writing for protagonists since we're meant to relate to them on some level, not necessarily antagonists.
@@LordExor Good stories are driven by good characters, the antagonist is no exception
@@AkameGaKillfan777 And you're conflating "good character" with a character we're meant to empathize with.
One thing I love about Frontiers Story is that it would not work as well as it does without Ian Flynn writing the dialogue. The entire plot relies on Sage being more and more sympathetic towards sonic by seeing his interaction with his friends. Imagine if the interactions with Amy, Knuckles and Tails were all of the same writing quality as some of the 2010’s games….yeah that would fall soooo flat. But here since the dialogue and chemistry is so natural between the characters to totally buy that angle and I love that.
I think the game would look like described in leaks - only open empty space with bosses, Cyberspace and Chaos Emeralds before fighting Titan. No collecting tokens, no platforming in the open world, no other characters.
@Gnidel That's probably what the game was before the year delay. It's why all platforming in the open world is done with rails and floating platforms that feel super out of place. Hell, I'd hazard to guess that Amy, Tails, and Knuckles were entirely absent until then, where playtesters expressed their distaste with the game's direction and Sonic Team fought for a delay.
For one, Sonic and Amy can finally have normal conversations without her simping or Sonic running away, it’s something I never knew I wanted. I love all the interactions and references to other games.
I miss Fan Girl Amy but I'm also really glad they matured her relationship towards him, it's still there, but she has so much more to her now that she should've had since CD.
The thing that gets me is, I feel like there's not enough angle, and I also feel like, It's not the writer's fault, but more or less, what Sega could generally put into the game in the end.
Gotta love how they replay the exact same scenes we already scene, except brown, to show Sage is sad.
Don't forget to save tails!
Fun Fact: The Japanese dub was actually recorded second for this game, and they had a BAD time translating Ian Flynn's script into Japanese because the game's director decided to do it himself instead of hiring professional translators to localize the script for the Japanese language. Many Japanese players have complained that the Japanese cast sound like they are reading a Google Translated script.
That is entirely on SEGA, btw, because Sonic Team would have gone over budget if they hired professional translators. And Takashi Iizuka admitted recently that he was almost fired just because he begged the SEGA higher-ups to give them just a few more months from their original target deadline.
Thankfully, he also said that Frontiers' success got them to promise Sonic Team a higher budget and dev time for the next Sonic game. (It only took them about 20 years, but they finally said they would, according to Iizuka)
I feel like, with their fast-paced over-the-top action, Platinum Games would make an insanely good Sonic game.
I had the same idea during the bossfights hell rising I think is the closest thing we got to what elements it could use, the parkour system, raidens speed, sonics doing combat now so they got some roots to work with. They could totally pull it off.
The guys who make devil may cry should team up with sonic team. seems like a nice combo
@@YeTism platinum has a ton of people on it who made the first DMC game. Idk about the new DMC games. I still need to play 5
I don't really feel like Platinum would work that well with Sonic, their 3rd party output has been, to put it lightly, chaotically mediocre. We've got a lot of examples of "what if Platinum made this" with TMNT or Babylon's Fall to prove that they are not a bandaid solution to anything. And knowing that Sonic Team totally does not get enough time or budget, it's more likely to turn out like those two or like Korra/Transformers at best.
I also don't think their combat would work quite well - although I'm not a huge fan of combat in Frontiers, you at least could do most enemies in one cycle and keep going your way. With Platinum it would at best turn into juggle fest or, at worst, into using nothing but projectiles or not engaging at all, like Automata. Wonderful 101 is one of my favorite games of all time, but I genuinely like combat in this game more than in Automata because every move has some meaning and you do need to use most of your movelist to get rid of your enemies.
Sonic Team is -almost- there with their current formula, they just need to experiment a bit more, and I hope they do since this game seems to be selling very well.
I like how Chaos Island being a 2D fest means 4and 5 are exactly the same when, they’re not at all
Sonic Frontiers is probably the Sonic Adventure of the 2020s, the whole canon feels fresh like a clean slate even if characters like Tails reflect back on his helpless moments and wants to strive to be a better person for himself and Sonic.
Lets hope sonic frontiers 2 is the sa2 of the 2020’s then
And let's hope, this time, that there will be a "sa3"
Sonic Frontiers has been the most interesting game in the series for me. Frontiers is a game where I recognize all the problems from critics and content creators and understand them all... but I still like the game a lot regardless. I have not been this engaged with a Sonic game since I first played Generations. Despite the very flawed base and presentation of the game, I genuinely enjoy it throughout its inflated runtime. It helps that the soundtrack is absolutely fantastic and has me singing the lyrics of every major boss theme when I fight them. Even thought I enjoyed Frontiers, I still don't have any high hopes for whatever is next. Like you, I've been burned by this series too many times to put my faith in whatever Sonic Team cooks up next. It truly is a gamble with this team. Great video as always KingK.
play fsngames they're actually good lol
Is that way it still feels rushed and jank? Lmao
@@xXDexter3000Xx eh, fangames are very wildly different in quality.
@@tigerfestivals5137 yea some are good and some are bad, as opposed to the main series which has been exclusively bad for almost ten years now (except for the game that's literally a fangame)
@@xXDexter3000Xx “Exclusively bad”? I beg to differ.
Great review once again. One weird thing about the Japanese voice acting though is that the script does not follow the English script. Many JP players have been complaining about the slapdash localization. The characters will sometimes talk about completely different different things (usually LESS interesting things too, imo). They tend to dump exposition more in the JP version, whereas the EN version cares more about character writing. As a result, the JP voice acting sounds wildly jarring to me, since it is disconnected from the animation and subtitles.
I don't really understand why they went through the trouble of having Ian Flynn write this script in an attempt to course correct the continuity and character direction, and then throw it out in the localization. I guess it just sort of speaks to how little time the team ended up with towards the end of development.
It also hopefully takes the "Japanese good, everything else cringe," schmucks down a peg
@@AkameGaKillfan777 Because we all know English Localization doesn't already butcher enough japanese characters to the point of killing their charm.
@@LoliconSamalik because we all know not all localizations are like that, the Japanese localizations do the same as does every localization of countries that aren't the og to try and adapt games to their demographics more or for laziness/limited time/lack of knowledge of the material...
@@LoliconSamalikfun fact: nobody claimed anything like that, in fact OP most likely agrees.
Despite that I still think the Japanese cast still do great in this game, Kanemaru's lines when Sonic is getting corrupted during the second to last island genuinely sounds like he's dying.
Meanwhile the English dub is probably the worst it's ever sounds, Roger made Sonic sound deeper which I guess fits the narrative but now the cost of it makes him sound awkward now to the point where I'm laughing at it because clearly he's never had to voice Sonic like this before
Amy sounds boring now and her lines fall flat, Cindy Robinson is always a great VA but she was never my favorite Amy. She does great as The End tho
Knuckles had yet another recast and he's somehow worse than Travis Willingham's take, sounding more like a 2000s cartoon bully.
Tails sounds...okay but that's really it. And obviously the only character whose voice is great is Eggman as usual because Mike Pollock has been doing this character for so long (wish everyone else from the 4kids era would as consistent)
I've given the 2010s actors a chance and everyone keeps saying they sound great but I'm still not feeling it so I'll stick to Japanese until I actually hear something cool in the dub that I haven't heard in over 14/15 years.
After seeing this comment section, I can understand why you want nothing to do with the Sonic fanbase.
I just dont get why people decided to protect fronteirs and be so positive toxic. What this mediocre piece is software has that people want to protect so much?
@@mechakirby9576 a blue rat
does your comment section look different than mine? because all i'm seeing is people talking about their own experiences with the game and giving their own thoughts while staying respectful and not flaming anyone else for their opinions. unless that's what you're referring to? if not, and you're seeing nothing but actual negativity and hate toward this review, then i definitely understand. the sonic fanbase can be especially toxic and aggressive when peoples opinions don't line up with their own, and it's exhausting dealing with it. i really can't blame anyone for wanting to distance themselves from the fanbase because of that
To me, when I played this game I initially felt the same way. Besides the cool super sonic fights, I felt oddly disconnected from the game. Yet for whatever reason, whenever I look back at the game, I only remembered the good parts of the game, I same way I look back at stuff like SA2 and Unleashed, suddenly all these flaws just...don't exist when the credits roll.
I thought it was recency bias, but then I 100%d again and I again had the same thing. Now whats even weirder is that I booted back up generations only for *that* game to be the one that feels off. Suddenly I can't speedrun the game anymore, suddenly I can't stand the cutscenes and suddenly I open some random YT video to keep myself busy during Planet Wisp. Frontiers just clicked for me in a way that I didn't feel since Unleashed, and it's honestly the most fun I had in a Sonic game for ages. Its a shame it didn't click for you though.
All in all, I actually loved Frontiers but I am in an odd position where I just don't know why. Something about it just captivates my mind in a way that actually impacted me. Even after beating it, I just want to play more and more. I know I am repeating myself, but it reminded me back when I was 8, S ranking every stage of SA2 on a dreamcast emu on a fucking android tablet with touch controls. It didn't matter to me that half my inputs didn't exist or the game would just crash at random intervals or that King Boo is nearly unbeatable because his shadow doesn't even render in the emulator. Despite all that, I just kept playing and playing. (until I eventually realised I needed to actually raise Chao for the full 100% lmao.)
To me, Frontiers was a return to form that I adored, and it's honestly quite funny how different the impacts games have on individuals based on their background stories. Anyway man, great video.
Yep same here. I’m still playing the game. I’m having quite a bit of fun. Leveling up his stats and blasting around each island. I love the freedom of movement. I have almost none of the movement issues he’s mentioning aside from maybe a couple of hiccups on the rails. I honestly feel like we are at the point where it is kind of the norm for any sonic game to be dragged a bit because people are often expecting a different type of game other than the one that is released. I personally enjoy it because it allows me to do exactly what I want when I play a sonic game - - run really freaking fast, kill robots and test my reflexes. I don’t really require a lot of depth in the combat system, I’m usually moving around too fast for that. This is a very common criticism I’ve heard from people who didn’t like the game and it doesn’t make any sense to me. If it were crash bandicoot, it would make sense. You’re not moving around at blistering speed. But this is sonic the hedgehog!
Overall, I believe this was a very enjoyable game that has a lot of potential. I would love to see a sequel in a similar format, with a little bit more variety in the stages.
You got used to garbage controls and end up preferring a game with cheap adventure fanservice and mediocre gameplay over a game with bad story and actually good consistent gameplay
@@thatitalianlameguy2235 you are fun at parties I am sure
@@yeetdiscreet1278 Running fast is all I want, so why does Frontiers look so slow even at max speed?
@@Squant why are you bashing on someone’s opinion? You bash on the Sonic fanbase for liking this game, but you guys aren’t any better
They made Big a god in this game he's got his own little pocket dimension where he can fish to his hearts content. And he gives you damage and defense upgrades.
Always been on the fence with Big but after this game, he's on my good list. His fishing mini game saved me from the last several cyberspace levels that I just didn't feel like doing. Also he almost single-handedly leveled my stats up to 99 all on the final island so GG BIG, ya did it!
@@MerabuHalcyon Ayyy someone else who waited to the final island to have Big max out their stats, seriously I wish the Elder Koco let me level up my stats in multiple increments instead of one at a time, the real end game grind was mashing through the EK menus over and over
And I've always loved Big (for mostly ironic reasons) but his new voice direction and sick lo-fi tune solidified my love for him and it's nice to see everyone else come around to him because of this game.
Somehow, the line “I have other games to play from franchises I care more about” felt harsher than any criticism I’ve ever heard levelled at a sonic game
I still care so much about Sonic.
His entire review fell apart for me after he basically admitted he’s bitter about Sonic.
KingK is very much in the minority on this review. Almost everyone including game outlets are praising this game. Of you just listen K. You’d think this is Sonic 06 again and it’s no where near
@@TheMegadude123 Yeah, as long as the majority of people like this game and genuinely love Sonic still, I’m happy and comfortable.
@@TheMegadude123 the weird thing here is this is one of those reviews where he makes points that are very agreeable but depending on who you are those points lead to a different conclusion overall.
@@TheMegadude123 Just because a game has good reviews doesn't mean it's objectively good. I really wanted to like Frontiers but it has so many glaring issues I was just left disappointed.
Imo the best moment in the game is when sonic said "it's fronting time" and frontiered on all the bad guys
I'm coming to the end of my playthrough right now, and I have to say, I was ready to say "This game was good, it has a ton to fix but I liked it, it wasn't as good as I wanted though"
But as I started to think about ending my playthrough, and not having much left to do since I'm also close to 100%ing it at the same time, I felt honestly sad to see it go. I kind of just kept wishing I could play more and had more worlds to explore. And the final island really solidified this game to me as a package that's worth recommending and playing, I really ended up liking this game
The story that I liked (especially the character writing) but wasn't exactly gripping me a lot really came together on this final island for me, the Cyberspace stages that I didn't like at first slowly became really fun for me to play as I got used to the new control scheme (still needs to be improved in the next game ofc), the combat is flashy and punchy, the music is insane, the bosses are nuts even with the presentation flaws, just man, I haven't felt like this for a Sonic game since Unleashed maybe, which is in my Top 3 Sonic games, possibly my favorite period
Frontiers really was something special, and the fact it was up and down like it was, and still came out on top, to me will stick in my mind far more than a game I just think is solid and that's that. Something about it was so free and unique in the current gaming landscape, even with the shortcomings that need a lot of work. Here's to a hopeful future I suppose
Well, it’s looks like we’ll be getting more for Frontiers with the upcoming DLC packs for next year.
I’m getting tired the “of all of time” meme but either way it wasn’t perfect but I still enjoyed it.
That song that plays in the sad Sage cutscene is literally the same thing as the dream eater song in KH3D
This video made me tragically sad. It wasn't a love letter to Sonic. It was a letter of love lost.
36:54 huge *huge* agree here, absolutely hated that he said absolutely *nothing* about Sage, not even a sad expression flying in or anything
I really enjoyed this review! Your opinions mirror a lot of what I felt leading up to the game's release, and for my first few hours of play time. I eventually talked to my therapist about the grief I was feeling over the Sonic franchise (this is not a joke), and decided to focus on what I enjoyed about the game, accepting the rest as whatever it may be. I'm pretty optimistic about the series going forward, but I must admit, in a lot of ways this game still felt like a step down from what I want to see. There's a line in this video, towards the end, that I could feel reach into my chest and crush something important: "Remember when Generations came out, and everyone was like 'hey, this game is really good, and gets a lot of things right! i can't wait for the next game to refine this gameplay even more, with original stages, and a better story, and maybe even more playable characters!'
... and then we got Sonic Lost World"
While I understand your apathy, Izuka and Sonic Team itself have already stated that they will stick to this formula and improve following the criticisms of the game.
I myself haven't enjoyed a 3D Sonic game since Generations, so Frontiers was a nice and positive change to me. I feel like Sonic is way too unique a franchise to just let it go anyway, there's always something to love in this series. Good game, overall.
Exactly my thoughts. Frontiers critically isn't a great game but it at least deserves to be called a GOOD game. Its honestly a new favorite for me just for how much fun I had and how invested I was
@@nattyice23 Critically it's doing fairly well
@@AkameGaKillfan777 And that makes me happy.
@@AkameGaKillfan777 As long as more people DO like the game and are less like this guy, I can rest easily.
you can also do a momentum move by activating boost right after a spped increase in the air, like after a speedpad and falling of a ledge, or even after a homing attack works (as long as you boost before touching the ennemy or bumper) , and you can fly really far like that, it's super fun to pull off
I'm sorry to hear that you didn't like it that much. I do agree with a lot of your points, but for me, I can look past some of the roughest points because the game just felt enjoyable to play. For every bad cyberspace level or weird bug that I found, there were several more points where I fought a cool enemy/boss or found a way to bypass a platforming section using intuition and rail jumps. Also, I personally liked Rhea a lot because of its place in the story and it's the only time where I felt challenged by the 2D platforming. I understand why some don't like this game, but at the very least, I hope the fanbase can come to an agreement that this is better than Forces and that the concept shows promise. I don't want Sonic Team to abandon this and start from scratch all over again.
I agree with you, there's a lot of potential here but I just wish they actually fully pulled it off instead of making us wait til the next game to see where it goes. I was willing to overlook a lot of problems until the end when the asset reuse became so comical that it put all the other issues into perspective. Sonic Team NEEDS a budget in the future
Frontiers is a weird game for me. It has a lot of issues, it definitely feels like a prototype in a lot of ways, Cyberspace is a mixed bag and the ending feels super abrupt and hurts the pacing the rest of of the game set before. Yet.... I loved it. It gives me Sonic Adventure 1 vibes that I haven't felt in a long time, the fully 3D Cyberspace levels, even if they are short and reuse a lot of assets, end up showing that Boost and Adventure gameplay can work together fully, the music is right there with Sonic Adventure 2 and Unleashed as my favorite, the character writing is some of the best in the franchise since Unleashed and Black Knight, and the Starfall Islands might be some of the most fun I had since Fallout 4's Boston, SMT V's Da'at, and XC3's Aionios with an open world setting. I do wished that this game was a perfect 9 or even an 10, but I do feel Sonic Team might be going with a new direction with the series following this title. With all it's faults, this game, at least to me, screams confidence, and that ending song "One Way Dream" definitely feels like while it may take a while, we're on a road to recovery after Lost World, Boom, and Forces screwed the series over.
Let's just hope Sega doesn't screw over Sonic Team or any devs working on Sonic in the future now like they have in the past...
I wouldn't say lost world was bad, unless you mean the writing, but most people didn't like the game overall for some reason
@@SonicBalance Felt really half baked and kinda all over with it's ideas
@@jasoninkurai5463 that's true, some gameplay mechanice were just there for a single level which was dumb, and i guess the level design could use the parkour more. Imo the game isn't bad, its just decent and pretty much depends on the person if they like it or not.
Lol behold they are finally going to stick with the formula for once
As much as the game has its problems that prevents the critics from giving it a high score, in terms of the most important aspect of gaming (enjoyment), I can’t help but give Frontiers full marks. This game means so much because finally, my faith in Sonic is back.
This is sincerely the best analysis of the story and characterisation in Sonic Frontiers; for a lot of parts the story carried the game for me cause it was surprisingly good. Same thing as you I love the lore details it added to the Chao's, giving them an ancestor that makes the whole Chao In Space thing more than just something to reference; it made an effort to attempt to connect the games again and the characters for the most part finally were like their old selves. Probably the best review thus far to acknowledge all the good things in the story.
Your relationship with the Sonic franchise really mirrors my relationship with Pokémon. I personally think Sonic fans have been eating way better than Pokémon fans while Pokémon fans have been trying to convince themselves that sludge is gourmet food for the past few years. My last 3D Sonic was Colors FOR THE WII. It's been THAT long for me and I decided to buy Frontiers on a whim, ironically really close to the release of Scarlet/Violet. As janky as the game was, I don't regret the buy and I felt a little bit of hope for this series as the characters behaved more like characters than any of the games between Colors and Forces. It's probably just me, but I kinda prefer reference central than this trend of making Tails a coward or Knuckles a clowny lug. I really hope Sage returns for future titles because I want her to meet her robot brothers. Eggdad was NOT something I was expecting to be interested in seeing. I really hope future titles bring back Sonic's speed momentum because I really wanted to jump while maintaining boost/spindash speed. Modders are apparently already working on it. I hope we also get to play as other characters again some day because that really contributed to people connecting to these characters-I was really hoping that was going to be the case when Sonic got corrupted. Was also hoping the final boss was going to be a lovecraftian abomination, not a ball bullethell minigame. Yeah, was very half-and-half on that ending, but Eggdad touched my heart in a weird way and I really wanna see how this develops.
Alright, back to dooming about Pokémon. Maybe they'll get it right by gen 14 or 15. (if we're lucky)
IKR if therse anything im excited for after frontiers, it's eggman's storyline with sage. i'm so excited for there to be more eggman development. it's been so long since we've had meaningful character development for anyone that has been within the span of a single game (sa2 imo). the only char development we've gotten recently is like the slow decent of tails into being a super OP genius who doesnt do much for himself and knuckles into becoming stupider and stupider because the writers forgot knuckles is gullible, not dumb. i'm super hopeful the next game goes heavy on the story with eggman and sage as a main focus.
This review was really cathartic to hear because everyone was claiming this game was finally a good sonic game after all these years and then when I come to play it all the problems you listed are issues I had with the game but there wasn’t anyone actually saying anything about them, the most people would criticize was the pop in.
This game cemented that I will never buy a sonic game at launch again, if this is considered one sonics best then I don’t want to see anything more from this franchise
I was confused by the hype leading to Sonic Frontiers, and I was even more confused by the insane praise it got afterwards. I felt like I was in some type of alternate dimension for a moment.
My prediction came pretty much true though. I predicted this would be an okay sonic game, but because there hasn't been a good Sonic game (aside from Mania) for pretty much a decade, people would be singing praises on this game like the best thing ever. And that's exactly what's going on currently.
I'm hearing people say this is Roger's best Sonic voice, and that Sonic's animation is very good, as if it was a brand new thing in gaming.
I really enjoyed the first 2 islands, but I wouldn't call them memorable. The Super Sonic boss fights are awesome, but they're all spectacle and almost no substance. That's alright though.
The bad sides of Frontiers are really glaring, very terrible to see, and really sticks out. And yet I'm hearing Sonic fans call this the best Sonic game ever. Calling this a 9/10 game. And also on that topic, Sonic fans suddenly started caring about review scores now.
I've never seen this Ian Flynn guy's writing before, but Frontiers gave me a bad first impression. Sometimes the dialogue sounds like Family Guy cutaway gags with all the references each sentence.
And of course there's cyberspace. Cyberspace feels soulless. I don't know how even the fanservice dropped in quality.
Over all, not a bad game. Just very okay in my opinion.
100 agree
Spot on. It is just okay.
This is pretty much exactly what happened with pokemon legend arceus
To me the hype is absolutely justified, its my favorite entry in the series since Sonic 2. I got the first one as a pack-in with my Genesis in like 1990 or 91
I think the review praise phenomenon is a combination of a couple factors.
Most critical reviews for AAA games tend to just be 8-9/10 hype pieces, even for generic COD garbage. It's something just short of an advertisement
As for fan opinions, gamers are pretty fickle and the bar for AAA games is pretty damn low these days. especially for games like sonic and pokemon.
26:52
Fucking thank you. 1-2 was literally an insult to the platforming philosophy of the Boost Games.
I burned ages until I figured out the lower pathway was faster.
7:44 This one second where Sonic has a legitimate facial expression conveys more emotion than the last decade of meta writing
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Ever since I finished the game, I'd kinda been wondering just how to describe how I felt about it. The glass half full/empty remark at the end perfectly captured my feelings. There are a **lot** of problems I have with the game, most of them mentioned in this video, but damn it all if I didn't enjoy this game's positives, and that's what I choose to focus on. I'm hopeful that Sonic Team will take notes from this game as the open zone format has a lot of potential for improvement. This game has me feeling hopeful for the hedgehog again, and I think that's important
Unleashed had better combos tho
Generations had people feeling hopeful for the Hedgehog again too...
@@StoneyBluntz Can you name another example? Can you name another time where Sonic Team had a winning formula and dropped it for something else?
It was one damn time. Boost games are demanding to develop. Y'all need to stop overreacting
Why is it soo hard for them to get jumping momentum right? It's the single most important aspect of platforming.
Try playing the game now, lol
Feels like whenever a more critical review comes out, people in the comments just drop random happy stories to try to drown out the serious problems this game has.
The Sonic fandom has grown to accept awfulness and thus it will continue to get awfulness.
The fandom keeps talking about next products, as if the quality of THIS game doesn't matter.
The sonic fandom is now in a long dream and they don't wish to be awakened.
I however, cannot accept what Frontiers is. I cannot accept that this took 5 years. I cannot accept the janky physics, the ground-sticking, bugged out code, the cynical reuse of nostalgia...AGAIN. I cannot overlook the weird acting with awful sound quality, and the unfinished cutscenes. I cannot justify the blatant, horrendous technical bugs and pop-in, or the blatant reuse of levels in the end game. And most of all, I *cannot forgive* the Sonic fandom for trying to oversell this dog shit to unsuspecting people as if it's a 10/10 game and then dogpiling people who don't like it.
The fans have gone after people for non-opinionated art tutorials for fuck's sake desperate to shield a cynical billion dollar company, Sega, and Sonic from bad press.
For the guys who feel disappointed by the game, I’d like to recommend a little indie project by the name of Spark the electric jester 3. Like Frontiers, it’s a mix of combat and platforming, but it just has significantly better versions of both. I haven’t finished it yet but from my own experience and steam user reviews, this game is the 3D Sonic game we’ve been dreaming of for the last 20 years. Go try it
this man knows
I've seen this. Wish it was on consoles.
I'm a member of the project's Discord group. lol
After reading your comment and watching gameplay of it, yeah you're right, this is what 3D Sonic should be. A Sonic game doesn't need to have an open world, it just needs to have fun stages to play.
For God's sake, this stupid game is everywhere!
It's definitely one my top games that's for sure, I think I Sonic continues with this style and builds on it, we can have a really great future for Sonic games
Thank you for your well thought out perspective King K. I find it very interesting where we agree and disagree. I find myself agreeing with everything your saying except for a part at the end. I get a sense of apathy and uncertainty at your predictions for the future of Sonic. Oddly for me, despite my bitterness to Sonic in the 2010s, I walk away from Frontiers ultimately happy for the experience with a certainty that the next Sonic game will continue certain trends. I'm not hopeful. I'm prepared for things to go south and I feel oddly content about the series for the first time in 13 years. Frontiers reminded me how I used to feel and I'm just happy it could break through my bitterness.
Awesome video. I would be very interested in hearing a follow-up verdict on Frontiers after the 2023 DLC drops.
Already, one of the major issues is being addressed with Knuckles, Tails, and Amy becoming playable.
10:20 A sonic story making someone actually feel something
We are officially out of the meta era let’s go 😭😭😭
babe wake up new kingk sonic video
strong enough to pull me from a coma
One thing that I appreciate a lot about Frontiers is that it never stops giving you new stuff you hadn't seen before in the game. There are much better games than Frontiers that will still by the endgame be giving you the same bosses, enemies and map minigames, just upgraded, but even by island 5 you're still getting new map-revealing minigames, enemies and guardians you've never seen before along with upgraded ones. It's not revolutionary or anything but I was appreciative that I was still able to see unique stuff even just before the end. I also really liked the bosses for the most part, though I'll admit I didn't usually like to fight them more than once unless I really needed a gear. I also found the combat a lot of fun and I think that was because I completely avoided parrying unless I really needed to, not an excuse but if you're feeling the combat is boring I'd just say don't parry lol
Also just to add, I personally disagree when it comes to the characters referencing old events a lot. Though you could say some are unnecessary (the Dark Gaia one was a bit dumb tbf) I actually really like that these characters feel like they have a tangible history that affects how they react to current events. I don't like it when Sonic games feel like completely self-contained stories taking place in separate universes. If those lines were constant or in-your face like Forces I'd maybe agree, but they're few and far in-between enough for me to not be too distracting. I'm able to remain cautiously optimistic, though I say this as a very new Sonic fan. I played my first Sonic game, SA2, in May of 2022, but I definitely can't blame a longtime fan for being tired after all this. I hope I don't end up disappointed lol
damn you can feel on his voice how tired he is
I actually really like all the bosses in the worlds, and the super sonic bosses are amazing as well, I don't even care that they're easy personally (though the criticism stands)
Always great to get a video from you, but I almost wish we could have gotten retrospectives on Unleased onward! Looking forward to whatever you make next.
39:15
*Fans:* "This game is rough around the edges, but it's not a bad first step for this gameplay style. We can't wait to see how you guys iterate on and improve it."
*Sonic Team:* "..."
*Fans:* "...You are going to keep this style and improve upon it in the next game right? You aren't going to switch it on us again, right?"
*Sonic Team:* "..."
@Keith Sciacca Do you have an example of this besides Generations > Lost World? Can you name another example? Can you name another time where Sonic Team had a winning formula and dropped it for something else?
It was one damn time. Boost games are demanding to develop. Y'all need to stop overreacting
“Yes we are!”
*looks at roadmap of free updates* Well what do you know...
@@seematahir5970 I think people also seem to forget that sonic has been under the tight grip of sega and their weird contract decisions. Sonic lost world was only made because of the limitations that was provided by Sega due to signing a contact with Nintendo to make some exclusives are a certain amount of years. Hence the sonic and Mario Olympic Games, sonic lost world, that weird sonic boom shit trying to make a region type of game for western audiences, etc. Sonic Team has a lot of short comings because of their parent company in Sega. They even said they were fighting for 2 more years of development, and sega gave them barely one, and that was after a lot of fighting. Sega literally could give less of a fuck about sonic games, and it shows in how they treat sonic team at every point. Who knows how much Sonic Mania took their attention away from forces, forcing them to question even making a sequel, or who knows if them trying to be ambitious with frontier even asking for a longer development time made sega put them on the short leash. Whatever the reason it could be, all I know is sega could care less if sonic team needed 3 years to make a game, they will try and force sonic team to pump that game out in a year.
@@GAPSYO3O1 It actually impresses me how badly SEGA runs things. You'd think that after '06 they'd really try to at least pump out a finished product, but they don't.
The SEGA that fucked up '06 is the same SEGA today. It's unbelievable.
The exact same.
This is one of the videos that really articulates best how I feel about this game, and even Sonic as a whole. There's glimmers of potential here and there, but Sonic's embarassing track record with even the most basic releases in the past decade gives me little faith that Sonic Team can, or will, make something of that potential. I want to see the glass as half full, but it's hard to feel that way when most recent Sonic games have left me feeling empty.
Can you please explain? I keep hearing people say that the 2010's were an awful decade for Sonic, but the only lackluster titles to come from the blue blur that year IMO were Lost World and Forces.
2 games. That's 2 mid games. The 2010's were also the decade we got Sonic Generations, Colors, and Mania, and we had Unleashed just 2 years before that. And before you say Boom, it was a spinoff, it hardly counted.
I'm not tryna antagonize you or anything, I'm just genuinely lost as to why Sonic fans are so distraught and think Sonic team is so incompetent when they made 2 mediocre games recently. ALL game franchises have slip-ups, even Mario had Sunshine.
@@seematahir5970 when I say past decade. I mean the last 10 years from now, not the 2010s specifically. That means Lost World, Boom, Mania, Forces, Team Sonic Racing, Colors Ultimate, Origins, and now Frontiers. Mania is the only release in the past decade that I can honestly say was good, and everything else has ranged from mediocre to straight up terrible. Colors Ultimate and Origins are especially egregious because they took good games, releases that should've been easy slam dunks, and still treated them with such little regard and care. If they can screw up something like Origins, a collection where the hardest part of remaking the games was already done, how can I trust SEGA when it comes to original games?
I like Unleashed, Colors, and Generations, but the Sonic Team that made those games does not exist anymore. The key figures who made them great have moved on to greener pastures, and Sonic Team keeps bleeding talent because SEGA keeps treating them like garbage. Recent releases are proof that the same business practices that birthed some of the worst games in the series never left.
@@hollowhenry04 and that whole fiasco stemmed from their exclusivity deal with Nintendo. Every problem Sonic has had leads back to poor management.
I completely disagree
@PhantomLee Why did you add the “XD”?
Gosh dangit that music sends chills up my spine. I've been eyeing this game, once I finish God of War Ragnarok this may be next on my list but perhaps I'll wait for a sale... or maybe I'll just listen to the OST and call it good! The music is straight fire.
That said, from what I've seen this looks like it could be a really interesting start to a new style of sonic game. I hope they take what works and running with it. I would be delighted to see the best version of this game that we could get. There are some cool ideas on display and some obviously not so good ones.
I'm kind of with you on the burnout though, it's just been bad/bland game and ports... the Sonic Colors port hurt me so much... I'll always have the music though! And I look forward to listening to you talk more about the franchises you love.
Just finished Frontiers earlier today and I shared the same sentiment about wishing I was playing past games a lot during my playthrough. Running around the beautifully rendered overworlds made me miss the globetrotting adventures of Sonic Unleashed, S-Ranking and Red Ring hunting in Cyberspace made me miss the controls and speedrun-adjacent thrill of beating my best times in Sonic Generations, and the more freeing movement and ancients backstory along with the throwback stages made me miss the Sonic Adventure games.
man, the end of of this review mirrors J Review's energy hard. Guess the game is pretty devisive.
I wasn't expecting you to actually make the video
It's good to see it
Thanks for getting this out relatively quickly. This was a video I needed to see to help sort out my feelings on the game, and I think it's done that and more. I'm choosing to remain hopeful of the future since Sonic Team seems willing to acknowledge that they've made mistakes in the past (I recall Kishimoto saying in an interview that the past 10 years have been a little rough, which lines up with my interpretation), and they seem ready to adopt this style as the standard and iterate upon it for future games (I know Unleashed was in a very similar position, but I like to think the lesson has been learned from that). I do think, however, that something needs to change with SEGA as a company if we ever want Sonic to reach the same heights as Mario ever again, but seeing he's been stuck as a B+ grade franchise for my entire tenure as a Sonic fan I'm not necessarily going to write off the next title if it looks a bit unpolished. If they start over again with another gameplay style though, I'm done. For now, I see the glass as half-full.
Honestly, frontiers is the first 3d sonic I've loved for a long time. I was never into the boost games, so having a 3d sonic that actually felt 3d again was amazing.
Every Sonic game even the 3D ones I’m really into.
I admit all your criticisms on this game are valid and I experienced much of the jank you mentioned but while I was playing I found myself in the "I'm having too much fun to care!" camp...except when it came to the final boss. Then I was harshly reminded why I never liked bullet hell games and decided much to my disappointment to settle for the cut scene. Overall I had a blast with this game!
Honestly, given the recent updates, along with the last one to come later this year, you MIGHT want to take a crack at reviewing it again.
It’s not the same game anymore, that much I’ll tell you
Edit: …………….okay yeah, this video is poorly aged now. It’s time to do another review for this game
Funny enough the last two islands ended becoming my favorites weirdly enough. The 4th because of how fun it is to run through untouched fields and boosting off trees to gain a lot of air. Frankly boosting off certain walls and inclines was my main source of traversal. Boosting off Asura’s arm, ignoring the the blue rings, and climbing his body was how I got the most out of those fights.
Island 5 was a fav because the land marks were areas seen in pre-release footage I wanted to explore further. Again I was also doing trick jumps on whatever inclines I could find in order to sequence break a fair portion of platform challenges. It’s this island in particular that has this particular land structure above one of the mini-bosses and below an emerald chamber, where the walls and ceiling are runnable like a select few walls found in other islands. Running along that ceiling is crazy amounts of fun and I wish they make more areas with that freedom of movement in minds.
For me, the game is... alright. Not amazing, not terrible - just alright.
Love the song 'Undefeatable', I'll say that much.
This is honestly probably my favorite 3d sonic. The platforming challenges are all really fun getting into that flow state is quite nice. Even the 2d ones are nice as they test your reflexes and all your moves moreso than the 3d ones. The islands are a nice size and this is the best Sonic has moved in a 3d space since SA1 & 2. The titan battles are pretty epic and the longer platforming sequeneces like the ones on Rhea Island or going to the top of Chaos Island are fun. I like that you can play your own way withing the context of the activities. I rarely engage in combat as i prefer the platforming challenges and use the purple coins to buy portal gears so i can go to cyberspace without fighting the mini bosses. Its all good stuff. And its a fufilling exp. I wish the last island was a different biome but its the biggest island and has a lot to do so its a nitpick. I love all the references to past games actually acknowledging they exist. Characters finally act like characters and the story is finally a more serious tone without overdoing it. The egg memos are a nice bit of lore. This is a great start to the open zone format. I dont feel its unfinished just a little rough at times but ultimately a really fun and fufilling exp for me. Cyberspace is alright not the best but you get used to it. Stop reusing Green Hill and Chemical plant please tho. 9/10 game. Also will disagree with you on the state of the franchise. 2 good movies espcially the 2nd one, Origins is decent, Colors was rough but still enjoyed it we have Superstars coming out the DLC for Frontiers has been great so far. This is the best Sonic has been since 2010/2011 imho. Sorry youre over the franchise tho. I get it. Shit happens with franchises
this game feels like a start to a new era of sonic even with all its flaws. Or at least I hope it is.
I've said it in your Heroes video, but since you probably don't read that comment section anymore, I'm gonna say it here again:
At the same time it sucks you made some of these Sonic videos worrying about stupid algorithm shit, it's also evident in them how much you care about Sonic. Not about the future of the franchise or whatever (in this sense it's very clear you are too tired to care) but about how much it has impacted you as a person in your formative years.
As a huge Sonic fan myself (been playing the franchise for almost 30 years by now, SA2 and S3&K are my favorite games ever created) who enjoy almost all of your videos, I'd like to say that it's okay if you want to stop talking about Sonic. Trully. I always feel the video turns out better when the youtuber is creating what he wants, what makes him happy with his work and creation. And not trying to please the viewers or the algorithm.
"The joy of movement" feels like the most important tenant for a sonic game.
And they still couldn't be bothered to implement actual satisfying physics that fit Sonic
@@maude7420 How so?
True, it's one of the most crucially important aspects of a good Sonic game. Which is hilarious because they don't focus on it and even actively fuck it up so regularly these days.
@@seematahir5970 Mainly because the air boost sucks and sonic feels so much slower in cyberspace, doesnt feel as satisfying to pull off timed tricks such as jumping and boosting into a dash ring, i still loved the game but sonic isnt my favorite to control in levels, Hell even forces managed to pull off the boost where he actually goes fast and actually keeps your momentum when you jump while boosting, too bad the level design sucked in that game
@@maude7420 this comment didn't age well...
As someone who absolutely loves Frontiers, I agree with a lot of the criticism you gave here (except for the voice cast)
Only thing is that those problems just weren't enough to break my enjoyment of the game.
Yes!
Sonic Frontiers is basically 2007 type of fun.
I just watched your sonic 06 video before playing this game thinking aww man I hope he likes this one bc it’s great
Alpharad`s video made me want to play this game and even after all this time after everyone said their thing about the game I like it, unironically.
The last 3D Sonic game I loved was Sonic Adventure DX on GameCube. It’s the only Sonic game I 100% aside from Sonic Chronicles on the DS and now Sonic Frontiers. Those 3 games are my favorite Sonic games and they all have their own flaws, but the lore and characters are what I love most. Gameplay I thought was amazing for Adventure and Frontiers (not Chronicles) but I think honestly I might not ever give up on Sonic as a series. I hope you don’t lose hope in the series completely, but I completely see where you are coming from.
That was quick! So so excited to see another kingK masterpiece in my subscriptions
Definitely one of the Sonic games ever made
Is this a meme?
Best games
I would say it’s one of the best Sonic games ever made.
@@benmalsky9834 most of them are mid and this one is overpriced too
@@panik9122 No it’s not and they are not overpriced.
Honestly, while I can see the issues you have with the game and agree with most of them (personally I liked the zones design and haven't really had much trouble traveling through them in my playthrough), I still loved Frontiers. I loved the boss fights, how fun it was just run around the islands with Sonic, I liked the fishing because of the chill music playing in the background, I even liked the cyber stages despite the issues people have with them. Sure, other games have done it better than Frontiers did, but when I was playing through it I wasn't thinking that, I was just having fun with the game and enjoying the story too much to really think about it. To me, yeah there's issues and there's a lot of jank, but above all else, I had fun with the game despite it's flaws, and that's good enough for me, it isn't gonna be winning any GOTY awards but it's still fun and I'm looking forward to what the next game will bring if they bring this style of gameplay back, I think it has a ton of potential.
I understand your sentiments entirely. As great as Frontiers' release has been for a lot of people, including some I know personally, it does have it's shortcomings that you have laid out in great detail. I could say that it comes with the attempt to do something as ambitious as an "open zone" archetype of gameplay, but I can also say that the cracks within are hard to fully ignore. I still believe that this game has marked the start of a new phase for the franchise much like Kirby and the Forgotten Land has marked the start of the next big phase for the Kirby Franchise. I guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens next going forward with cautious optimism, which is what I've done with this game since it's initial announcement.
BTW, when's the next Kirby series retrospective video gonna come out? I'm interested in hearing your thoughts on the 2000-2010 era of games.
Also, do you plan on doing a video comparing the original Pac-Man World with Re-Pac?
Watching the whole review... I dunno, I can't help but feel bad for King. It sucks when you feel really sad about a franchise you like, especially one that's honestly as cool as Sonic.
Its funny, I did a Sonic Marathon a little over a year ago bc I was feeling the same way about him, just... tired. But playing through his whole History... I really found something to appreciate out of most every game, even some of the ones I detest like Lost World. Though I've always been a Glass Half-Full guy. Sometimes you have to keep looking forward & moving towards that light end, even with a hard path.
You made a fantastic video & even if I disagree on a good chunk of parts, it felt very personal. I hope you enjoy other franchises & games in the meantime. Always lookin' forward to more... well, just of you bein' a chill dude.
I love Sonic but I feel like the series as a whole gets away with so much jank that other companies would be ridiculed over. The pop in is so inexcusable but Sonic gets away with it just because? This entry hurts a lot because it has a lot of potential, but missed in so many areas. I guess that is not new for Sonic, but if Sega ever wants Sonic to succeed again they need to give them more time and resources.
I can generally ignore small issues like pop-in. It just doesn't bother me that much.
Smaller issues like that can be excused because the little jank moments in this game can be blamed on SEGA either not giving enough time or money (or both) to actually fix the issues. When I heard this game was only made by roughly 60 people, I was thinking it was gonna be another Forces or worse... then my older brother played it, I watched and my god, I wanted to play it so bad because my brother was enjoying it so much and I could feel his excitement just by watching too. If this game was given another year or two for development, I guarantee most people would only have good things to say about it but the current limitations for Sonic Team just simply didn't allow for it it seems.
@@lukasruston8618 I don’t believe ANYONE should be blamed for ANYTHING. It all comes down to opinion and what YOU think of the games. And I have a very optimistic outlook.
KingK’s exhausted attitude towards Sonic is the same I feel as well. Like I don’t hate Sonic but the hyperbolic fanbase and it’s ups/downs turned me off giving the franchise another shot.
Although I do like watching peoples’ reviews and KingK is someone I just love hearing his thoughts on.
Just enjoy the games for yourself and ignore the internet entirely.
@@benmalsky9834 I did and I give it a 6.5 out of 10 or a 7/10. Cyberspace was frustrating but I liked the open world. I also didn’t like the combat at all. It was an okay experience.
@@markcampbell8590 I don’t like to give numbers myself, but I would give it an 8/10. Unlike you, I loved the combat and Cyberspace I had some fun with. (Although some S-ranks were very hard to get.)
@@markcampbell8590 Again, it’s best to just ignore the internet and play some games.
Man I love Frontiers. This is coming from someone who believes SA1 and SA2 were the best games.
The music in this game blew me away. I nearly shed a tear when I fought the first boss. The way the music came in gave me chills. When the heavy 7-9 string guitars started playing it felt like a dream that made no sense. It was sensory overload. Playing an epic boss fight with music that made my heart rush. I couldn't believe it. Nothing sunk in. After I defeated the first titan I sat there for a while trying to process what just happened. I was so happy as well. This brought me back those powerfully happy emotions I had as a kid playing SA1.
This game was awesome. I finished it in 3 days. What I love about this game is that I recognized what Sonic was. In my opinion, Sonic physics/gameplay is close to Classic Sonic physics and I think it's a good path. Even though, for some, rolling is a plain thing, it still represents a part of Sonic's identity and it's cool to get it back. Although, they need to fix in future patches some bugs related to dropdash and rolling because sometimes it stops while moving weirdly. Cyberspace levels were pretty good, 3D and 2D. Moreover as I said before, modern physics are closer to classic Sonic, especially in 2D levels, and it feels so good playing it. Story and cutscenes were interesting and brought me back to the coolness of Sonic. However, it could be more challenging and better as well. First, even if I like the actual physics, they still can better it. Plus, I'd like less spectator mode that's to say, I don't like having a few seconds in the game where the camera shows Sonic and we, as players don't interact with him. I'd like to control him all the time in order to be more challenging. For example, damn it, I'd like to pass these damn loops by controlling Sonic for example. That's something we got too much in Sonic games, that's so say automatic parts. Maybe enhancing Sonic controls as well in the classic levels in turns. Maybe drifting could be the key to the problem even though I wouldn't like to drift again. Therefore, this game felt really like a good mixture between the boost and adventure formula.
However I feel that they have a stock of ideas to bring to the next game in order to better their actual formula
It blows my mind that it's 2022 and we still don't have full button customization for EVERY game. Super Metroid and Megaman X did this on the freaking SNES. With obvious exceptions (for example, no one expects you to be able to map the L joystick to the A button, but the idea that I can't go in on say MGSV and make reload 🟥 is absurd. Or having something you know will be tough like the N64 virtual console and not have customizable button mapping or even GCN controller support for OoT is just headscratching. I'm sure there's games I'm not thinking of where certain things are designed around the controls in a way that isn't changeable, but offering players 2-4 stock controller options 25 years after the Dualshock standardized controllers is just unacceptable, and yet, accepted by almost every dev.
I really like this review. It does a really good job of pointing out the goods and bads of the game. However I do look foward to the future. Because honestly this game is some of the most fun I have had with sonic since generations and for me the references aren't really forced. Comparing the power of the end to to dark Gaia for example. Helps to set an expectation (although the game sadly does not achieve anything with this expectation) and usually help either bring a scene to life or just a fun reference to light up the mood a bit since not everything can be serious and helps strike a balance. The core of the problem for me is the end game. It really feels rushed and out of nowhere with sonic having no decernable reaction to sage for example or the sage memory tokens being the same as Amy's. I really do wish the endgame actually did to ehat it was leading up. However even then I do look foward to the future. Because if I am gonna be honest I am not tired with sonic just yet but rather I am tired of always having a pessimistic view on sonic team. It's clear they want to improve. They want to make the best game they ever had. It's just they are trying this on the roughest spot they have ever been on. Which is very sad to me. However, as I always say. When you are in the lowest low. You can do nothing but improve
Biggest sore point of the game is Cyberspace to me. It's just depressing when I remember what we had in Unleashed 14 years ago. The fact that air actions don't reset without touching the ground is absurdly bad, and there's really no room for exhilarating boost gameplay with such low speed. They're really shooting themselves in the foot by dumbing the difficulty down.
I do like Roger's voice direction though, and thought most of the Guardians were pretty nice. And honestly, despite Cyberspace being ass, finding the portals was always fun, the change in pace works really well for the game. I also think Ouranos, despite just being a cut up Kronos, is actually the 2nd best island after Ares. Really sucks that Chaos is littered with so many 2D sections, the layout itself with navigating all the different parts of the island is really cool imo.
The island challenges themselves are too easy, but I don't mind it as much as I thought I would. Quickly going from one to another, clearing them in combination with all the other activities has a nice flow to it.
My biggest worry is the critical reaction to the linear levels in particular, it's awfully positive. It feels like all the bad parts are getting praise and vice versa. All in all though, I find this series at its worst is still more fun than most games at their best, perhaps in part due to the jank that further enables abusing the mechanics, so I can't help but look forward to what comes next.
I love your edit during Sonic’s super sonic boss scene. Top notch reviews, sir!
It’s not top notch when you’re negative and you won’t enjoy the game for what it is.
@@benmalsky9834 heaven forbid someone have a different opinion then yours. Especially when sonic has been pretty mediocre-to-down-right-terrible over the last decade and a half. Sonic fans deserve better, and it’s sad that some fans are now content with poorly stitched together games because either they suffer from Stockholm syndrome, or overdose on copium on a regular basis
@@hiotsobo The kind of comment that drives me crazy.
@@hiotsobo I HATE these kinds of comments.
@@hiotsobo It’s all based on personal opinions and in my opinions, the games HAVE been really good.
I just think that there needs to be more post game content, like maybe the ability to play a Sonic's friends in the post game, maybe some added challenges that you can go complete or do over and over again, maybe the ability to play a supersonic in the open world and rechallenge the Titans.
Also I think it'd be cool if they do a return to Angel Island DLC that has some unique areas like carnival night zone, you can use marvel garden zone as some of the ruined backdrops, throw in launch base zone and mushroom Hill zone as areas in the open world, have there be perfect chaos as a Titan boss.
yeah im also hopeful for some post-game dlc and a patch that improves the pop-in. idk if it'll happen but it'd be nice
Are we all just going to ignore the fact they left Big in cyberspace...
It's been months since I've seen your videos and the suddenly deeper voice caught me off guard lol
Having just finished it, I liked Frontiers but still agree with a lot of your points. Particularly Cyber Space, both in gameplay and story applications. You can tell that the story purpose is less about introducing the concept of some sort of digital prison for The End and more about finding a way to write Sonic's friends in while justifying why you cannot play them or have them really affect the story. And as for the gameplay... well the reuse of assets from Generations is _criminally_ lazy. I can't help but wonder if there were planning meetings at one point where they were trying to decide if they could get away with just putting Generations levels in whole-cloth.
Also I feel like it's weird to put that -game of Ikarugal- final boss behind the wall of hard mode. I mean I get having the option to skip past it on Easy but I feel like the final final boss should be on normal mode.
So sad you didn’t like it, I loved it! Best Sonic game I’ve ever played in years. Great video btw +1 Sub!
I'm VERY curious to see how the fanbase's opinion on Frontiers will change as the years go by (Espeicially once the frustrations with the "Meta Era" become a distant memory). I'm not expecting the game to become disliked in the future, but I wonder what new criticisms and praises will emerge once fans look back on it.
Anyways, interesting review. It's a shame that Frontiers didn't change your thoughts of the series, but I understand why this is the case.
Frontiers is a _really_ circumstancial game, it _had_ to come out at this exact moment to receive such a big positive response; the drought, the games that came before it, basically everything that happened in the past decade left a perfect setup for Frontiers to come out.
I'm just as curious as you on how the game will be perceived once the dust has settled, because it's already being very divisive; the general public and even the press seem to be enjoying it, but the fanbase is really really split on it.
@@CableSpark872 it has a 72 on METACRITIC, even the press think it's as mediocre as past games
@@jesusbarrera6916 since when is 72 mediocre lmao
If we go off that metric, an 8 is just good when most great games out there hover in the 8s.
@@walter4180 for gaming press reviewsit is mediocre since hey overvalue everything
@@jesusbarrera6916 you think DMC 5, Elden ring, Sekiro or Doom are any less than an 8 or 9?
You're implying critical consensus follows a strict logic and isn't inherently nebulous.
Critic's don't magically make a 4/10 game a 6/10 all the time. It's too inconsistent.
I always have to have the free time to absorb your content but thats what makes it so special ❤
Watching footage in this video, i am getting a Nier:Automata vibe. The semi-open world, toned down colors, forced perspective in some sections, titanic size bosses, cinematic combat animations, and astonishingly the characters introspection in dialog scenes. Even the cyberspace aspect has a parallel to the hack space accessed by 9S in Nier: Automata.
Great critique. I didn't enjoy Frontiers, I really tried with it because I desperately wanted to like it, but it just falls short in so many aspects. My biggest gripe is the random railings and platforms everywhere......I just can't get over how ugly they are, nor can I comprehend why anyone thought it was acceptable. Second biggest gripe are the cyber space levels and their copy/paste laziness, taken from previous and BETTER games. Unleashed had the best 3d sonic levels ever, I just went back to watch a clip of Rooftop run, and it's just as amazing as I remember it being. Frontier's cyberspace levels pale in comparison.
Poor guy is jaded as hell from getting bad Sonic games...Damn.
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I started watching and after a few minutes...I think I have to pause and play this game! This is great.
Another great video! I liked this game a lot more than I thought I was going to, yet I agree with just about every single point you made. I want to believe Sonic Team will improve on what they've done here, but it's hard to say that with how inconsistent the series is
Fronters is the first "Sonic-y" Sonic game since Black Knight I'd say