4/5 ★ – Oin's review of Sonic Frontiers.

Gameplay loop: Cutscene > Open world platforming > Cyberspace levels > Character development > Chaos emeralds > Titan fight > repeat. I fully expected this to be a subpar, or even bad game due to the reputation Sonic games have had for the past few years. Because of this, I waited to be gifted the game and instead picked up Pokémon Violet. That game was nowhere near as fun as this one. I still haven’t finished it at the time of writing this review. The Titan fights themselves are what drove me to play this game, but besides that, I believe that this is a step in the right direction for the Sonic series. The story and gameplay were great, and none of the characters felt one-sided. While I don’t see SEGA making another open-world game like this, I’m still excited for where they’ll take the series next. My biggest gripe about this game is the final boss (no spoilers). It just kinda felt… underwhelming. A certain unlockable ability allowed me to take it out in around a minute, while the Titan fights took me much longer. Then, to even play phase two, you have to turn on hard mode. That’s a terrible design choice. I very much prefer the other boss fights, with the second one being my favorite. Also, I didn’t realize there was a fishing side-mode until the last island. I still didn’t play it. Sorry, Big. Overall, this game is a step in the right direction for the Sonic franchise in terms of both gameplay, storytelling and character arcs. The ending of this game made me excited to see where SEGA will take the characters next.