Sonic Frontiers coming to PS4, PS5, Xbox, Switch, PC (Holiday 2022, from Sonic Team)

I honestly don't think this game is derivative because it falls on an anniversary (or was supposed to). It doesn't seem like a celebration of Sonic's history at all, I think the shoehorning of old stages is just a way to stretch out gameplay while also allowing the Cyberspace levels to not all be PSO2 cocoon-style environments that use the same "training room aesthetic" for every level.

Also @Starduster, I literally could not possibly have said it better myself. That definitely summarizes the way it feels seeing "thank god the cyberspace levels are the real meat of the game", they're kind of equally present. On one hand, even if there are a whopping 30 action stages and they each took 4 minutes (hands-on impressions have said they usually took around 2 minutes, but let's be generous because you'll probably replay them a few times to earn keys), that's only 2 hours out of an allegedly 20 hour first playthrough. But on the other hand, even if you spend most time in the overworld, the action stages are a huge piece of the objective. You can't move onto the next island without them. And it seems like a lot of the skill grinding you do in the overworld will reward you with fasters times in the action stages. The fact that it's a gameplay loop and a mixture of different tasks is what makes me really excited for the game tbh. It's not just one thing or the other, which is awesome for my incredibly short attention span.

 

Just read that the Game Informer preview mentions that one of the Cyber Space levels is based on Metropolis. Doesn't specify which Metropolis but I'd assume the Forces one... though I would not be opposed to seeing Sonic 2's Metropolis or Heroes' Grand Metropolis back in action, I think that'd actually be cool. The preview also mentions that Sonic controls differently in Cyber Space than he does in prior boost games and isn't slippery or tank-like.

 

Wouldn't even mind if it was the Forces Metropolis, it was one of the few stages in that game that looked decent. I just hope they can think of some good setpieces to put in this time around.

 

I don't think it's saying it's based on metropolis, since the guy mentions it being a "red-tinted" stage on twitter when asked (with pictures) if it was the S2 or Forces one. This implies to me that it's a stage called Metropolis, but doesn't necessarily resemble any of the levels that name brings to mind. I also can't be sure if this may also be the same as the gordian-knot highway zone we've seen.

 

Oh god…could he have gotten his wires crossed and really meant Eggmanland?

 

I don't think it's out of the question that they could hue shift assets to create something different. Perhaps it's set at a different time of day, Generations did this in some of the extra missions IIRC and they have proven that their current lighting engine can handle day/night cycles in the open zone.

 

this would follow suit with the other impression describing it as "metropolitan", rather than the proper noun Metropolis

 

I certainly hope so, I feel like I've spent a lot of time stressing how far I think they could stretch reused assets when crafting a large amount of stages if only they used different lighting and weather effects to differentiate them. Luminous jungle was always at night, Green Hill always at day, and both of them would've felt less stagnant if they bothered to change that.

 

Yeah, it's perfectly within reason for them to just change the time of day to make the levels believably different enough. Unleashed's daytime and nighttime stages are made of 99% of the same assets, just with different lighting and skyboxes, and Generations literally did exactly that for the missions. I see no reason why they can't do this, it'd make stage reuse so much more tolerable.

 

When Cyberspace was leaked/revealed, I was so relieved. I was scared it was just gonna be a bunch of stages that all used the same computer-y archetype, like BotW's shrines or Colors' Sonic Simulator. Instead, for the first time, Frontiers actually looked aesthetically like a Sonic game to me. They can mix-and-match assets all they need to as far as I'm concerned. That highway stage looks especially awesome, and I can't wait to play it.

 

I'm kind of at a point where I'm starting not care even if I fundamentally understand why they're reusing assets like this.

Like, its really hard for me to get excited when it doesn't feel like I'm getting anything new to play and just more of the same. And at that point, I could just a modded Generations and still get the same experience at a far cheaper pricem

 

Honestly at this point I've gotten over the reused assets. It's a thing and I'm disappointed but I've accepted it.

At this point I'm just excited to see what levels exactly they're gonna reuse, they have 15 years worth of HD assets to use so I'm curious as to their picks this time around. My personal choices would be Arid Sands from Unleashed, no real reason it was just my favorite level in that game lolo, and Sunset Heights would be really cool to bring back, too. It's a really pretty level aesthetically and its just the level design that kills it, I'd love to see that level return. There are gonna be a few original levels at least, too, so I wonder what they're gonna make for those.

 

I wonder if they’ll pull anything from Free Riders given that was a HD release and the vast majority of people won’t even realise if they reuse those assets.

Honestly, they do have a huge pool of assets to draw on which can be tweaked and put together to make new, visually distinct levels, so I’m inclined to say that reusing levels wholesale is very much a creative decision.

 

I keep on reading that and you can say that about almost any major IP these days and it's more of the same. I have no idea when Sonic or COD get called out for it when other's do it and get help up as classics like with R&C, God Of War, Drakes, Souls, Yakuza Ect

I wouldn't say much either, but Sonic Frontieres looks the biggest departure for a mainline Sonic game in decades Looks more like Sonic running in Shadow Of the Collus than reusing old Sonic games and going more open world too.

 

I think it's fair to be upset about the game reusing locales, I think the question of how big a problem it is will come down to the ratio between original and not. Saying "well X game does it too" isn't a great excuse when seeing colorful worlds is a core part of Sonic's appeal.

Also, most good games are smart about their asset reuse. For example, the only time a regular area from Dark Souls reappears is Anor Londo from Dark Souls 1 showing up in DS3, and even then, it's only the central cathedral, because the boss of the area is one of DS1's bosses, being puppeted and consequently devoured by a giant sludge monster (his model is not reused).

EDIT: okay, technically part of the demon ruins and sewers appear in the smouldering lake and the demon princes arena contains bits of firelink shrine, but they're heavily-altered to the point of being unrecognizable, I don't even think they're reused assets so much as recreated ones.

 

For the most part, I wouldn't recognise reused assets if they're like those of the city, because I see that highway and it only looks like a highway, not an specific highway level even if you notice the similarities. But Green Hill is Green Hill: brown checkered patterns, pointy sunflowers and totems here and there. As some of you say, people wouldn't complain if the use of the same assets time and again lead to a somewhat unique level or at least take on the old level, but when this return is spearheaded by Green Hill and they reuse Sky Sanctuary as is instead of using its assets to build some other location, people will only see that because it's the weakest link of this "chain".

 

Fair enough! It's just that "more boost stages that meet or exceed the quality of Generations" is pretty much all I've wanted out of 3D Sonic for the past 11 years, and y'know... here's hoping. :P Still, I think Frontiers looks like anything but just more of the same.

 

That's a good point, they totally could. Would any of the 13 people who finished that game mind letting us know if you see anything?

Given the sheer amount of stages, I think you just might get your wish! I've skimmed through the footage recently to see if I could identify all the different cyberspace portals. It's really hard to tell in some instances if 2 portals are actually just the same portal, but afaik there at least 4-6 in the footage we've seen so far (1 under the waterfall, 1 by the cliffside under the first tower Sonic climbs, 1 over on a grassy hill, and 1 more by a river where Sonic fights a flower enemy-thing), and that's just from the little footage we've seen of 1 single island.

 

The thing about Free Riders is that it uses a lot from the previous Riders game plus 06, Secret Rings and Black Knight.

Saying that, I believe TSR does use some updated stuff for Hidden Volcano and Frozen Junkyard. I vaguely remember seeing some stuff from Metal City in Forces' Metropolis but I'm not too sure.

 

To each their own. I wanted a dramatic shakeup given we've been with Boost style since 2008, almost half of the series' lifespan has been dedicated to this style and this style alone and I'm just bored of it now. So it kind of bums me out to see Mario and Zelda revitalize their own tropes that have gotten stale while Sonic is just content with pumping out the same thing from the 7th Generation. And the ironic part here is that Sonic was the one that established itself as the trend setter that upended the status quo held by Mario.

If that's your preference then hey, happy for you. But its not for me personally and I'm pretty adamant about it.