Sonic the Hedgehog made a bold choice in the early 2000s to follow Mario and enter the 3D world of platforming. For a while, Sonic and Mario were two of the biggest mascots in gaming, so whatever success Mario had in that sphere (thanks to Super Mario 64, namely) was a good enough reason for SEGA to try it with Sonic.
Videos by ComicBook.com
Unfortunately, one had more success than the other. Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) is much-maligned, whereas even the worst-received 3D Mario game, which is probably Super Mario Sunshine, is still pretty beloved. Sonic hasn’t quite had that level of success, though the 2D entries have remained good.
That was until Sonic Frontiers in 2022. That game still didn’t get rave reviews, but it was a bigger success than most 3D Sonic games. However, that game still proves that Sonic needs to ditch the open-world concept and may need to totally revert to 2D platforming.
Sonic the Hedgehog’s Next Venture Should Be Linear Again
Sonic Frontiers was revolutionary in many ways. It put Sonic into a genuine open world with plenty to do outside the main levels. Unfortunately, that aspect of the game is arguably the weakest part.
On some worlds, it can be extremely difficult to navigate the open terrain and get to where Sonic needs to go. Plus, SEGA seemingly wanted to entice players to make use of this new feature, requiring them to spend much more time running around the island than in an actual Sonic level.
The levels are still good, showcasing that even after several missteps, SEGA can still make good platforming levels for their iconic mascot. They should’ve largely kept it to that. The open-world things are tedious at best and a major turn-off at worst.
Having to endlessly run around the slightly bland terrain to find 30 or so items, whether from enemies or by completing puzzles, was a bold swing that just didn’t work out very well. It was a respectable attempt by SEGA to change up the formula and go with what had been working extremely well in the video games industry (it’s like Sonic landed in Breath of the Wild, at least sometimes aesthetically), though.
What makes this part so frustrating is how annoying it can be to go from level to level. You might spend a long time just finding a new level to play. If you’ve reached the portion of the gameplay where you need to collect keys from levels but have either maxed out or done what you can do on previous ones, finding a new one is no easy feat.
And while games should be challenging, they should challenge in ways that don’t aggravate gamers. Sonic Frontiers players shouldn’t need to spend twice as long or more time just finding a level. Can you imagine if a Mario platformer made you search manually for a new level/world to try out? It would get old fast, and it did in Sonic Frontiers.
Perhaps the biggest issue is just how much of the open-world gameplay there is. Some would be fine. It wouldn’t be the end of the world if Sonic had to run around a little bit, collect a few items, and then play a level. The fact that there is an open world isn’t necessarily the worst part; it’s that it’s designed to beat players over the head.
At around 20 hours or so, Sonic Frontiers is far from a lengthy game, but it’s clear that the developers made a concerted effort to lengthen it. Cutting it down and reducing the time spent searching for the next actual thing to accomplish would make for a much better, more streamlined experience.
It’s unclear if SEGA is capable of this. They gave it a real shot, even mixing in some clever RPG elements to make Sonic Frontiers both a success and a unique game. Unfortunately, so far, we don’t have evidence that they can really balance everything they tried to do here.
And with the worst part (and the easiest part to remove or reduce) being the tedious open world, the solution and next steps for this franchise are clear. Either go back entirely to linear 2D platforming or restrict the world in which Sonic lives.
Most Viewed
-
South Park Studios -
Image Credit: DC -
20th Television Animation
