Sonic Frontiers Thread - PS4, PS5, Xbox, Switch, PC

The leakers were very negative of the game's quality but I wouldn't worry much about their opinions. They most likely played a very early build and I guarantee that literally all games are probably very rough around the edges and not particularly fun to play in their earliest states.

They don't even elaborate on what specifically wasn't fun. Was it buggy and glitchy? Was Sonic's movement un-interesting? Level design?

 

I seem to recall them mentioning the open world was empty, but of course it was that was an early build what would be there yet?

 

They also mentioned that combat was very "button-mashy" if I recall correctly. Though, personally, I don't think thats inherently a bad thing.

 

Yeah they said combat was a bit shallow, but Sonic is a platformer first and foremost so I don't really think combat needs to be that deep.

If they truly actually are focus testers, I hope they're being vocal and giving actual constructive critiques that the team can work with.

After all, isn't the point of focus testing to provide quality feedback before it's too late to fix?

 

Yeah, button mashing isn't inherently bad. Batman: Arkham City is an open-world game in which you beat the shit out of criminals in button-mashy combat, and it's considered one of the greatest games of all time. As long as it's handled well, button mashing can be fun.

 

The mere thought they were doing focus testing mid-development already shows they want to make a good game instead of the same mentality in game development they had since 91 where they planned the game, then just develop it quickly without stopping to think about how to improve it.
Here's hoping they really took note of all the feedback and are working on a good experience. It sounds the most ambitious Sonic game since Unleashed, and if they're backed by good money and enough time to figure it out it could be a great game. The series really needs such a fresh title after more than a decade of piggybacking nostalgia. I'm cautiously optimistic, can only hope the gameplay is good whenever they show it.

 

I really have little to say about this game, but I do hope they show some gameplay soon! Cautiously excited, but... I'll take an interesting experiment over Forces haha

That said, the spincycle move mentioned in the leaks sounds cool... I'm thinking it's like NiGHTs loops but on the ground. Would be an interesting way to involve movement and skill into combat, and a nice way to kinda re-integrate something like the Blue Tornado, as opposed to static actions like Lost World's kick.

 

I'll make this post and leave since I don't want to rain on everyone's parade, but I'm surprised by how many fans are interested in this. It's very common for games to go open world when they run out of ideas because they know it's a popular trend. It's usually always dreadful when that happens. The fact this game will have Ubisoft towers is a worrying sign in that direction I think because it's such a cliché move. So I don't think this project necessarily has anything to do with Sonic Team being ambitious. if anything I think it suggests they have now completely run out of ideas and are just chasing trends from a decade ago.

I also have reservations about how well platforming games, including Sonic, work in open world. I like platformers because they give you clear challenges to overcome, and I imagine that'll be a nightmare to do in open world. They might make it a collectethon, and if so fair enough, but I'm not really into that.

This might be like the Sonic movie (which I've never seen), in that maybe it just doesn't appeal to me. I'm not a huge fan of open world games honestly, except for GTA and other standout titles in the genre, But I also think this game has massive red warning signs. An open world game made by a studio who have no experience in the genre (and let's be honest, aren't even very talented, I doubt they can pull it off). The gameplay from the tester sounds awful (button mashing combat, collecting orbs to access Generations style levels). This isn't just the fact it's unpolished, it's the fundamentals.

So yeah, I'll leave it at that not to be spamming misery, but I'm not into this at all.

 

Sonic Rangers is all but confirmed to be the title. THEIR OWN PRESS RELEASE called it Sonic Rangers, but that was quickly changed, according to EuroGamer.

"'Announcing new console experiences, Sonic Colors: Ultimate and Sonic Rangers, further details on Netflix's Sonic Prime, mobile news, musical events and much more!'"
became
"'Announcing new console experiences, Sonic Colors: Ultimate and further details on Netflix's Sonic Prime, mobile news, musical events and much more!'"

 

I'd bet this game was meant to release at the end of 2021 before the pandemic hit, so it was probably pretty far along in 2020. They just did the smart thing and delayed it.

 

So it seems like they were going to announce the game was called Sonic Rangers in the stream until the very last minute, when they decided to just show that weird symbol.

 

I'll take the leak with a wide berth for the moment despite all the matching factors because the game is still a year away and a lot can change in even a single month of a game's dev time. Especially with that boss spiel.

Wouldn't be too surprised, something about the entire set of announcements felt off. Sonic Colors Ultimate had its trailer desaturated with contrast and bloom turned way up when press screenshots show it to look more like the original game, without highlighting any new game features besides cosmetics. Sonic Origin straight up has no actual footage to show, just "it's a WIP wait for info", in a way that makes it feel like it only just began development. And the whole Sonic Rangers debacle reminds me of Doom 2016's announcement, where the developers don't really have confidence in their product so they barely reveal anything yet and then try to contain future reveal information carefully.

Plus if Sonic Wars into Forces was anything to go by, I wouldn't even be surprised if Rangers was an in-development name and it gets changed.

 

I need to see gameplay before I can really tell if Rangers will be something I like or not, but open-world Sonic is something that I think could absolutely work. It might not be what everyone (or even I) wants, but I've always looked at Utopia and thought an open-world Sonic game could be really fun. The general direction of the series in 3D has always been games that were more linear than the last (for the most part) I always wondered what a game that evolved Adventure 1 in the opposite direction (more open, expansive levels) could look like. I'm actually excited to give this a try. Rangers might end up being the Sonic CD of the 3D games, but some people really love that. I know I enjoy just messing around sometimes in the classics (and even the Mystic Ruins in SA1), so as long as A) Sonic still feels fast and B) there's fun stuff to do, then this sounds great to me.

What kills me the most about this though, is that we all should have seen this coming. Sonic Team has been known for having a surface-level understanding of feedback to their games, yeah? I imagine the idea for Rangers came about like this:

People who played Forces: The game and levels are too linear!
Sonic Team deciding what the next game should be like: *Slams hand on table* OPEN WORLD!

 

To be fair, "open world" doesn't really tell us that much. Even if it took inspiration from BOTW, it doesn't necessarily mean they're cloning it. It could just be a more open world; from the way the "leaker" described it, it sounds like there's almost a "hub world" and then some "Generations-style" levels that you access from the hub. I definitely wouldn't mind that kind of structure if it's done right. The "Ubisoft tower" thing seems directly at odds with the "Generations-style" level thing, though.

I could be wrong, and we could have another "Mario Galaxy? never heard of it" scenario on our hands. If that's the case, I hope it actually draws from the good qualities BoTW had and doesn't just try to ride the "open world" wave. There's a reason BoTW was popular with so many players, and it's definitely not because they just copied the last game that did well before them.

On that same front... the forest in the trailer has me kinda scared. I think a woodsy setting looks good for Sonic, but if the leak is true and this ends up being Sonic vs. a giant tree idk how I feel about that. I'd kind of like a slightly more deep narrative and a bit of continuity in the franchise. Changing stuff up is great, but I'm not a huge fan of introducing a new cast of villains every single game and 10 years later only seeing them in "Mario and Sonic" titles and Hardlight mobile games, where most people will either go "who the hell is Zavok?" or "why didn't they just put this character to rest?"

 

If you wanted another reason to believe this is true, here is another leak from AUGUST 2020 describing the exact same thing

 

I understand people's skepticism toward an open world game made by Sonic Team, but to me it looks more ambitious and fun than everything we've gotten since 2010.
I really hope it's true and not an elaborated hoax. This could be the beginning of something great.

 

Frankly, this is the most interested I've been in Sonic for a long time. I fell off the wagon around the time of Colors and it's cool to actually be interested in a Sonic game again, just for the curiosity of what it will shake up to be.

 

I have a policy of not believing leaks ever, but I'd be down to try an open-world Sonic, much as I don't trust Sonic Team.

 

re: genre and open world, I've always had this concept in my head of a Sonic game with open levels that you need to navigate, but more like an arcade game like Crazy Taxi rather than a "platformer", and I still think that would be the best tack to take with an "open world" Sonic. Trying to do collectables in huge areas (I still hate the stupid bottles in Sly 2 despite not having played it in several years), or reconciling "no this MUST be a platformer" with huge areas both seem like the most annoying things in the world, and very likely to fail. So I'm hoping that there's more emphasis on running and traversion like that as opposed to precision jumping.