“I feel validated.” YES, that’s the exact feeling I had too. The story was like a reward being so invested in this franchise. I’m so happy Sonic respects itself again.
@@flameosaurus1832 It was more meta in the sense of "rectifying past mistakes and fixing inconsistencies" rather than "ha ha, look at this thing, it sure was good/bad, now laugh!" I was never against the series going a bit meta, Pontaff's implementation just sucked compared to Flynn's.
Getting Ian Flynn to write the story was the best decision for this game. The interactions between Sonic and his friends are much better than what the stories were like in previous games. It honestly feels like the characters are actually growing from both their experiences and dialogue that feels much more natural than what Gamma, Shadow and Silver got in previous games. It’s like Sonic Team were like “Oh shit, we should’ve hired this guy from the start.”
I cannot wait to see how they plan to develop these characters going forward. Frontiers' story made me so excited to see the next cutscene the whole time I was playing.
The plot is still the same Sonic does all the saving while his friends cheerlead, evident in how them helping Sonic out of his cyberspace problem was resolved that easily, still not on Adventure's level where the other characters actually each did something important in the plot, but it is a step forward in character interaction atleast.
@@islandboy9381 Im hoping all the character development they did for tails, knuckles, and Amy, in this game leads up to something. This game almost feels like the start of a new era .
I gotta admit, I love the call backs to old games, and Eggmans development really was standout to me, and I love that reading those memos not only explores his relationship and eventual love of Sage as his daughter, but also gives us some really interesting context on some small things and things not really considered before: - It was Sonic who gave him the nickname "Eggman", and he just rolled with it and turned it into his own - He was deeply jealous of Maria for all the love and attention that she got, and implies that because of that he himself was neglected as a child - Revealing Eggmans opinions on Sonics companions, like that he considers Amy to fairly bright and someone who has come a long way since the Sonic CD days, that he thinks Tails has a very keen mind and that he's glad he's wasting his potential worshipping Sonic rather than being a thorn in his side, and him calling Knuckles "a rube" cracked me up more than I like to admit - Eggman being "man enough" to admit Sonics speed impresses him
Oh look! Finally character development is happening for the main cast of Sonic?! I'm genuinely quite shocked... Well... for the rest of the story... it's okay I guess...
The thing about sonic giving eggman his nickname and him rolling with it has been a known thing for a while now, I think one of the manuals for one of the classic games mentioned it either sonic 2 or 3
@@Zerovin It's already common knowledge Eggman was always been named Eggman since the Japanese Version of Sonic 1. He's given a new name Dr. Robotnic during the game's western release because Westerners accused "Eggman" being a dumb and non-threatening sounding name. Sonic Team then acknowledges the name Eggman in the U.S. release of Sonic Adventure 1 with a line of dialogue from Sonic himself.
@@Zerovin it's been a known thing but I think this is the first time in a game itself, in voice acted dialogue and everything that its acknowledged. Before this we went from the name being dropped in sonic adventure 1 with him getting offended at it, to sonic adventure 2 where he has a whole song about it being his name and the name robotnik not being g acknowledged again till generations.
In Sonic Unleashed it's been stated that the chaos emeralds can pull the world back together but at the end of the game chip made it perfectly clear that he was the one who specifically was in charge of bringing the planet back together so when he was awakened before he needed to he was not as powerful as he would be if his pressure cooking was done the chaos emeralds were used more as a Slap Chop cast for the planet to bring it back together.
I saw a theory floating around that the reason the Master Emerald pulled the Chaos Emeralds into the planet was exactly because it could foresee Light Gaia needing some extra help in the next awakening, with the temples being either made by the ancients themselves or the next civilization to find the emeralds.
Honestly, I just interpreted it as "The Chaos Emeralds are wherever they need to be whenever they need to be there." And if that means they'll go into fuckin space, then I guess they'll go into fuckin space.
@@DIRTYSOUTHSHINOBI His sonic videos are the best to me. And I was eager to see his take on Sonic Frontiers given how he is a huge Sonic fan, and throughly analyzes the strengths and flaws of Sonic games.
God, I love the endings to these Sonic videos. Not many jokes, just genuine talking. Johnny grew up with Sonic, and so did we. Sometimes, unlike most other reviewers I’ve seen, these videos actually feel like I’m sitting down with a good friend and talking about one of our favorite video game mascots. Your writing is fantastic, John. Thank you for this.
Johnny is usually more comedic in the videos discussing more subpar/bad Sonic games, like Lost World, Shadow the Hedgehog and Sonic '06, but still respects when an entry has ambition or has genuinely good ideas. It's one of the many reasons I like his content.
I've never liked Sonic at any capacity so I didn't grow up with the series but watching Johnny is always a pleasure, such a genuine guy. I love his humor and serious moments.
21 year old here. Played my first Sonic game when I was 6 and thought it was the coolest thing ever. Can you guess what my first was based on the timeline? >:)
johnny is an OG in this i remember seeing his adventure vids for the first time around 10 years ago and loving them. stopped watching for a long time but i came back just for this review, and it's nice to see he's still got it
Y'know... I never noticed this was a 41 minute long video. It felt so naturally paced, I didn't mind. Felt more like a 20 minute long video, maybe 25. Everything was kept nice and streamlined and engaging throughout. Loved the review!
The ancients actually landed on earth "tens of thousands of years ago" conveniently the same time professor pickle describes the written documents of dark gaia's calamity. It very well could have been the reason the master emerald dragged down their ship so that the ancients would help fix the planet. The Gaia temples also share an uncanny resemblance to the ruins on the star fall islands.
Now that I think about it, the very thing that awoke Dark Gaia in Unleashed was a space laser f*cking up the planet's surface. It's not impossible that Dark Gaia got awakened by The End's attack, forcing the Ancients to deal with a brand new calamity right after they barely managed to seal away the first one.
The best way to describe Frontiers to me after fully completing it is “flawed, but extremely promising”. And I don’t mean promising in the way Lost World was where, it was okay and there was room to improve. Promising in that it is good, and I WANT it to improve. And that makes me feel a little at ease, even with the numerous problems.
Its a flawed masterpiece. I haven’t been this happy at a 3D Sonic game since… I wanna say Gens. Its up in the S Tier Sonic games for me with Sonic 2, Sonic Adventure, Sonic Unleashed and Sonic Generations. A game does not need to be perfect… so long as its fun which… I’m just kinda upset people don’t see Sonic like that. I’m still pissed that this game got NOTHING at TGA but who am I kidding… the show is fucking rigged anyways
It's caused this interesting divide where people like King K were (understandably for him at least) not content with the end product because they see the improvements but they think the series deserves better than this. At the opposite end there's people like J's Reviews who remarks that he was feeling mixed at the end but he genuinely wants to acknowledge the things the team got right, especially in the writing department, because he wants the team to know they did good and wants them to take that feedback, because to him it DID matter and what they got right should be kept in mind instead of having the team start from scratch again like with Lost World. For me personally, I lean more towards J's stance as I'm happy the fanbase is passionate for their series again and have something positive to look forward to in the forseeable future.
I hope that they keep Ian Flynn as the games' (co-)writer for the foreseeable future. It seems that his affinity for character-driven stories will be one of the major boons that the franchise will seriously need if it wants to keep the positive momentum that Frontiers is generating.
Apparently due to the success of this game and the Sonic Movie 2, Sega is now setting up a “lore coordination team” which includes Tyson Hesse and iirc Ian Flynn as well among others to keep things consistent across all things Sonic regarding lore. Almost sounds like they want to setup a multiverse thing regarding Sonic because Prime was mentioned in the lore coordination thing too and that show is suppose to deal with multiverses.
Not only that, Sonic Team are now hiring new crew members and one of the jobs is "lore navigator". This means Sonic Team seems to be more invested in expanding the lore and acknowledging past events.
@@SonicXAmy121Gamer I don't need things to be 100% consistent and lore being referenced every 5 seconds, but having some sort of continuity would feel nice after...like i think it was Unleashed where it started? Sonic games pretend like the previous games didn't happen, or barely do
Having Ian Flynn involved to write the story for Sonic Frontiers was the best thing Sega did. This is a huge step in the right direction and if Sega continues this path, they could step up their work and create more interesting stories and gameplay. Let's hope they stay on the right path
The dynamic between Eggman and SAGE hits even more when you consider that Mike Pollock himself is an actual father in real life. Also, can we just talk about the fact they basically just casually confirmed that the IDW characters are now part of the main series canon.
Actually listening to the first credits song (Dear Father) makes it hit even harder since it cements the fact that she really does love him and wants more than anything to be a family with him and her two idiot brothers Orbot and Cubot
I've been watching this guy since I was 10 years old. His sonic reviews were always so entertaining for me, years later and I'm still tuning in for a sonic review in college.
As one of the like 3 people who became a Sonic fan because of Lost World, I totally get the way there's a huge split in the franchise, but I think Frontiers definitely does succeed at bringing us together in our take
@@jayandjlps i see what you mean. The vibrancy of lost world is really fun to me while seeing a blue hedgehog in a drab, realistic setting is kinda jarring.
Issues 1 through 50 are what I like to call the goofy era. Follow that with the Kenders Era and after that the comics finally started getting their s*** together
@@generaljimmies3429Ken didn’t do as much as many think. After issue 50 he drops off from the Sonic book, and starts writing the Knuckles series. Karl Bollers takes over completely. He introduces some of the best and worst from series. I love Ixis Naugus, Nate Morgan, the Xorda arc is good. Ken starts picking up the book again during the SA1 adaptation and after issue 31. Ken still garbage though
They nailed the writing and continuity respect with this one. "Validated" feels like the perfect way to describe it. Every Sonic fan, be they classic, 00s, modern, ect wins with this game. Even comments about the actual game aside, this is the most fun I've had discussing a Sonic story with other fans in ages.
Welp. Even Sonic haters are impressed with the games writing, I'll admit to this. Let's see where the writers can take Eggman as a character. To Be Honest.
14:30 one detail I appreciate is that the further in the game is that Sonic’s idle animation does change as he goes thru different islands, it isn’t much for the plot point but it’s a really good touch
The ending song (Dear Father) hit me so hard with emotion. I’m a big Sonic Unleashed fan I loved the friendship between Sonic and Chip but the song “Dear My Friend” always had me feeling emotional. This game brought out that exact same feeling in me. Sage is a very well written character and I really hope we see her again.
I would definitely like to see her interact with Orbot and Cubot if she does come back. I can imagine Orbot trying to act like her big brother, much like how he adored Metal Sonic as his big brother.
@@philithegamer8265I don’t know, I can see Sage returning in both future main series games. Having her in spin-offs would be good, too. I wanna see her blowing people up on the racetrack and, no matter what Olympic sport you were to put her in, it would look hilarious 😂
You have no idea how good it felt to tear a new one into Metal Harbor while boosting since Cyberspace's controls are an improvement over SA2's (but a downgrade from Generations and even Forces). I still have PTSD over the normal and hard mode missions.
Wait but can we talk about how Big didn’t even need saving in Cyber Space and they didn’t even acknowledge him at the end? Maybe he’s secretly the strongest in the series 👀
Considering how Big casually ended up in Cyberspace (while not at all worried or scared), it might double as how he got out. Probably just found his own way out and thought very little of it. Lol
Dude... you JUST NOW realized that? Big picks up a car and throws it like it's nothing, gets crushed by a giant truck in City Escape and gets out of it perfectly fine and hits enemies with a belly slam that has AoE properties. What more proofs do you need to validate him as the MVP of the Sanic universe?
This review was a treat. I can hear the conflict and uncertainty in your voice knowing we may finally have a strong product but don't know where Sonic Team will take it and what the characters like Eggman will do going forward Genuinely happy to hear the open world treatment worked wonders for Sonic
21:45 Agreed. I don't think it's a coincidence that the devs not only allowed you to be able to jump over the drift panels, but also leave a convenient trail of rings on most of those turns that you can lightspeed dash instead (which is faster and easier than the drift platforms, might I add.) I think even they knew this part was bad.
Shadow's is a peculiar case. He seems to respect Sonic enough in games up to Generations, but his relationship with him in Boom and the Sonic Twitter Takeover seems rocky at best. I'd like to see how he's written in a modern game as a role more meaningful than another Sonic cheerleader.
@@MOORE4U2 Those three would fit right in to the new direction the Sonic series is heading. They're the downright most serious and pragmatic characters in Sonic's main cast currently, though it'd suck bad if the writers decided to make Silver go the Future Trunks route again.
I think Sonic Prime might be the key to fixing Shadow. While the series isn't fully out (Thanks Netflix...) the way they characterized him feels like he was in Sonic Adventure 2 or Sonic X. (Hope this carries over to the Third Sonic Movie...)
The fast way to kill Shark, and a surprising amount of Gurdian mini bosses, is to use the quick cyloop to extend the amount of time they are vulnerable so you can whale on em. Its also one of the most important combo tools for opening up the depth of the combat system, along with the dodge which allows you to cancel the special move animations, and allows you to chain them together more smoothly.
It does make you appreciate the combat a bit. It's easy to just mash buttons at random and you'd probably can still one or two cycle it, but then there are all sorts of neat tricks you can do to be efficient and/or flashy
@@beesree39 You can, provided you don't waste it on soldiers. Its also not too hard to build up to it in a fight with a guardian, but the meter is something I'd like to see improved in a sequel, a long with more moves with different utility, and more than 1 melee attack button (seriously slide is not useful in this game, and cyloop could just be two buttons).
This has certainly been an eventful year for Sonic. Origins finally rerelaseing Sonic 3&K, the Sonic 2 movie, Mecha Sonic finally got brought back in official Sonic media (the IDW scrapnik island comics) since his creation in Sonic and Knuckles, that whole Sonic Omens drama, Sonic Prime, Frontiers, and Yuji Naka got arrested.
The whole character interactions and how tight knit they are is definitely ian flynn. When watching the cutscenes, its like im reading the archie comics again. The only thing missing is sonic calling knuckles "rad red"
@@sezunemizuhana3870 there are times when i enjoy archie stories....but then there are also stories where im like "wtf am i reading?" I remember intentionally skipping the arc where sonic met a bunch of aliens while trying to return to mobius.
33:11 Big………I forgive ya ……..well not really for this It took 10 years for Johnney to barely Forgive Big The Cat Sonic Adventure - Nov 12th 2012 Sonic Froniters Nov 20th 2022
I broke down completely by the ending... this game got me so emotional that it opened up old wounds and I had to put it down after getting the platinum trophy. To be honest, I'm not too sure if I am okay right now XD
I'm glad Sonic is moving in the right direction after all these years. My biggest dream for a game is still simply just the inclusion of a new Chao Garden.
100%. They are literally burning money every second they don't do a modern chao garden. I think it would fit in a sonic frontiers sequel, you could find eggs as an open world collectible like in the original adventure games, along with just the story elements with the emeralds/chao/ancients, possibly still being important in the sequel. BEST thing they could do is a sonic frontiers sequel with chao garden with a mobile game connected and synced to your console game save. This could be a freaking cash cow with cosmetics and multi-player elements. SERIOUSLY?!?!
A massive step up from Forces but Frontiers is still probably one of the most 7/10 game I've played in a while and while I do love it as a whole don't get me wrong, I can't pretend it doesn't have severe issues holding it back. Some of which can be blamed on Sega for pushing it out before the game was ready of course but also Sonic Team's general design choices. It seems like for every 2 cool things I see with this game, there's at least 1 baffling design choice in there. The Cyberspace physics, the jump killing your momentum, the parry not actually being a parry, the "economy" with Big's fishing, the continued overuse of basic 2d segments in Chaos Island, the entire ending sequence being clearly rushed out the door with just the essentials, these are all things that hold the game back and the weirdest part is that the modding community has already worked out a lot of these issues to at least some degree in a matter of 2 weeks. Obviously these tweaks have their own issues but it really makes me wonder why Sonic team continues to commit to such weird design choices. The game needed another year but as is, I still had a great time with it and I will continue playing it here and there for sure especially after more polished mods come out. I even got into playing the cyberspace stages despite the flaws, they're just fun to speedrun for me.
If the game gets patched I could easily see it being more than excellent But that’s the thing… *if* it gets patched. Would legit not surprise if Sonic just up and went “games out sorry guys xD” and just left it as is
I personally think it’s fine as is. If anything, the flaws of frontiers have to do more with a lack of budget and manpower. Not time. 5 years is plenty and I don’t wanna wait another year over flaws that I think are nowhere near as bad as you say they are. Sonic Frontiers to me is a great game on its own. Not just a stepping stone.
The game is definitely flawed, but I feel like it is more of a "every 4-5 things that's nice, there's just an odd execution or a lack of." I feel that it does a lot to be an enjoyable experience especially when compared to lost world and forces. It may not be perfect but it does enough to be a 7.5 to 8 for me.
ngl I feel the busted fishing economy was pretty smart. Can't find enought tokens or struggle with collecting the keys? Go to the place with the relaxing Lo-Fi music and fish for a bit. Enemies keep decking you? Go to the place with the relaxing Lo-Fi music and fish for a bit. Maybe you could enjoy some lore on the way as well or get a small chuckle out of the stuff Sonic fishes etc It's honestly a cool way to keep players from getting stuck, takes care of the roadblocks and the frustrations (It's also kinda funny on a meta level because in SA1 fishing was annoying)
@@digimonlover1632 I also agree that this game is more than a stepping stone. To me, it's just a good game. A good game, with a few flaws, but plenty of games are like that. And some of the complaints didn't bother me as much, like the Cyber Space levels. I think including traditional stages within the open-zones is a great idea. And while there were definitely some stages that frustrated me in all the wrong ways, I remember enjoying S ranking stages more than I do dreading the experience. Would've been nice if they didn't just come in 4 themes though.
As someone who's favourite story in a game is Gamma's story from Adventure 1, hearing that Frontiers is more character driven makes me want to pick up the game even more.
I completely agree with everything said. When a game review is just this good (in my standards) I just imagine the board of directors and devs of the game sitting down and watching game reviews like this together while taking notes. I wish the world was like this.
I decided to rewatch all your sonic reviews again as a fun countdown for sonic x shadow gens and man getting to this point it was super bittersweet man, I felt like I sort of grew up with you even though I am younger I still feel that way because I got to see you go from a kid in your 20s ho had these funny outburst in certain reviews to a more a mellowed out adult, if your reading this Johnny thank you for making my childhood an amazing one even during the dark times and I'm glad to still be able to watch you as I enter adulthood. You really are the GOAT and one of my biggest inspirations man
I've waiting for this review. I'm glad sonic team is taking sonic in the right direction and I hope they take a look at the criticism as well to make a stellar sequel.
As a big fan of the earlier 3D Sonic games I was all for the callbacks in frontiers. I definitely see how a new player wouldn't get it at all but I just love how they went about it. They didn't go the route of the typical fan service where it's in your face about it. They chose to make it a quick mention here or there and if you get it you get it. I really appreciated that.
Also to note the end credit music was awesome ! Idk if you talked about in the video or not I might missed it but Sage singing and telling Eggman she is sorry made me so teary eyed it was incredible and apparently sonic team also added a song basically telling us fans they have our back and they don’t plan on letting us down anymore.
The game does have some rough spots, but I think it has some of the highest highs in the franchise’s history and I really hope they go further with the ideas here in the future.
This was the first game in a while where I had to make myself disengage from the internet just so I can experience it blind, and boy do I appreciate having done that. Frontiers has its flaws, and I understand many people's hesitance with whether or not this formula will stick considering last time Sonic Team changed things up (for mainline games) was Lost World and they very quickly backpedaled with Forces, but they also have to remember a few noteworthy differences with then and now: 1. Lost World was made mostly in response to a lot of staff on Sonic Team leaving for Nintendo following Generations, with the ones sticking around deciding to try something new since the new folk likely have very little experience with the boost formula. Frontiers also had a relatively small team working on it (iirc it was some 60 devs?) for the scale of game they were going for, but these guys have the experience with Sonic now. 2. Lost World had a very polarizing reception when it came out, with many split on it either being a great game or a terrible game. This is probably one of the bigger, if not the biggest, reasons why Forces went back to the boost formula. Frontiers, while still not received amazingly, has a closer general consensus of it being at least decent, with many reading the game as more of a test ground to see if people will like a new gameplay loop for the series going forward. 3. Related to the above, the games they followed up after. Generations was very much appraised as a great game and a fantastic celebration of the blue blur's 20-year history, only to be followed up with a middling and polarizing game almost completely disconnected from it. Forces was panned as a boring and middling experience both as a standalone and an anniversary game, so to see Frontiers be so accepted by many is a massive breath of fresh air for us. 4. Sonic Team has more or less stated that if Frontiers does well- which definitely does seem to be the case- that, again, they're willing to go this path for the series going forward. I don't remember if they said anything similar for Lost World, though I doubt that's the case.
There are mods available that actually restore momentum and make the game feel a little closer to older 3D titles, Showin's feeling like the best one. It's not perfect by any means but the open zones turn into a parkour playground once you get the hang of it. I'm glad you mentioned wanting to carve your own path around because that's the exact reason why I DLed the mod in the first place and it delivered
The open zones already had momentum that was pretty close to the classics, but the mod I used (BeatzYT3's mod) overexaggerated it. I kept missing rail sections, launching myself into the ocean, and more. I feel like Sonic fans just overestimate how much impact momentum is supposed to have. Frontiers has the right level of momentum for a game where Sonic has a bit more weight.
@@coreyferreyra I agree that Beatz mod is over the top in how it handles it. The main reason why some Sonic fans want momentum and value it is because it gives intrinsic motivation towards playing the game and getting better at handling the speed. The vanilla game is fine as is but you're limited in what you can and can't do by jumping canceling momentum as well as the only air you're getting being off of rails or air tricks (which is super inconsistent if you're trying to use level geometry for it.) It's really an each his own thing but that's why it's valued so much and why it's very noticeable for people like myself when it's lacking. We "want" that split second decision making to prevent yourself from missing rails or flying off into the ocean. Game is 100% solid either way though.
This game gave me the feeling that SA1 and Unleashed gave me when I first played them, and the story, despite the issues at the end, was a fantastic ride. Honestly one of my new favorite Sonic games of all time
That reminds me, are they ever coming back? They've been on hiatus for a couple months, and they said that they'd be back but just needed a break. But I'm kinda worried that they're not coming back. Which would suck because I love BrainScratch and I love watching them while falling asleep.
I was thinking the same thing a few days ago. Jokes aside... unless BSC is interested in getting together for a 24 hour livestream, I don't think he COULD play this entire game live, and even then, the main group, Clement, and Gareth would all need to have the stamina for it. And before that can happen, BSC needs to actually start uploading again.
Feeling acknowledged by the story is exactly how I described it when I was playing. Made me feel like I was watching the characters I had kept up with for years, and not just another episode of the week. Also the music in this game is the best goddamn thing ever. Love the metalcore boss themes, love the Cyberspace music.
Man, over a decade later and I’m still here making sure to tune into Johnny’s reviews. Watching this took me right back to watching his sonic generations review when it was new.
I actually loved the Cyberspace levels. They felt odd at first, given the new controls, but by the time I S ranked 1-2, I had a pretty good understanding of how to play efficiently. To me, it felt amazing! There are a lot of actions that can halt or slowdown momentum, but in the end, it feels so satisfying.
21:01 While I was playing the game I ended up kinda realizing as to why the boost was put on the right trigger. It's there so you can steer Sonic with more ease in the open world with the right analog stick, since when you're boosting and you turn the camera to the left or the right, Sonic turns to that direction as well, and if the boost was mapped to a face button, it would make it harder to also steer with the right stick (Yeah, it is confusing at first, but I ended up realizing that it was a smart idea)
Your take on how you view stories and how the genre doesn't affect how you look at it is rather refreshing. I have a tendency of delving deep into stories of certain games in genres that aren't particularly known for expansive stories (Kirby and Ratchet and Clank for platformers, and Guilty gear, a fighting game). I know people who prefer not having a plot in their platformers, but I always like it when devs go the extra effort in trying to make an interesting world and plot.
Story isn't entirely the most important thing in an video game. Just as long as the game as an whole is well crafted & fun, that's all it matters. Story is nothing more than an distraction.
To me, Sonic Frontiers feels like a more mature Sonic game. It seems more focused towards the older Sonic fanbase instead of trying to pull in new people. Every character appears more seasoned, even Eggman. I like the idea of a shift from shallow character arcs and new introductions, like the OC in Sonic Forces, to keeping a small cast and going deeper into them.
It’s interesting. I just finished rewatching Jonny’s review on Adventure 2 and jumping onto this one. His voice and mannerisms have changed dramatically over the years. Almost as if I’m listening to someone else entirely. Had to rewind a few times cause his drawls and deep cuts were so surprising that I had to make sure I caught what he said lol
When you brought up how The End was a Kirby final boss slapped into a Sonic game.... I also had the same thought. Sudden gameplay change into a shoot'n'up playstyle. A death God sealed away by the ancients. That alone sounds like Kirby lore. Heck, even the name... The End, reminds me of a Kirby final boss. Void Termina, or as it's named in Japan.... Ende Nil. "I am nothing."
I had similar feelings going through my head in Chaos Island after the Dark Gaia reference and throughout the game. And then I went on TV Tropes when I was taking a break between the final boss (bullet hells stress me out), I saw WMG posts that supported my theory on that said final boss in Frontiers is another incarnation of Void/Void Termina.
It _cannot_ be understated just _how_ good Ian Flynn's writing is. Comic fans in the know have been asking for him to work on a game for the longest time, and now that he's here, I want him to _stay_ He alone quite honestly bumps up my personal score of the game like 2 grades, it's quite excellent. Round of applause to him, and the narrative team too!
Frontiers is officially my fourth favourite Sonic game and my new favourite modern Sonic game. I didn’t have as many gripes as you or others did and while there are some issues I think could be ironed out or replaced with better options altogether, my overall experience with the game’s core gameplay and the majority of what I was doing never shifted my experience from very positive to anything less I hope all Sonic Team keeps the musicians and Ian Flynn for the foreseeable future. Fantastic game from beginning to end
I actually really liked the Pinball section; I actually managed to beat it on the first attempt with only one ball and was pleasantly surprised since everything I saw online about it was hostile. If anything, I wish there was a way to go back and play it again after you reach the goal, though I do wish the table itself was a bit bigger. As for the plot, the Ancients being Chaos ancestors was something I found out before I even saw them in a flashback, so I kinda screwed myself out of a neat reveal. That being said, them being the ones to bring the Chaos Emeralds and create the ruins from the OG 2D games, especially Angel Island, was really cool even if it contradicts with Unleashed a bit. It's even got me theory-crafting a bit. Since Chaos is supposed to be a Chao that was mutated by the energies of the Master Emerald, that would also suggest that the Chao are the descendants of the Ancients. Lore-wise, that means that the Ancients that escaped the Starfall Islands with the emeralds evolved (or more specifically, DEVOLVED) into a less threatening race to avoid The End if it ever broke free. The emerald's power just tapped into Chaos and re-evolved it into the form of its ancestors. That explains why they completely vanished without a trace prior to the Echidna tribes taking over. It also explains why the Koco are so similar to them in appearance AND why there are no Chao on those islands. Plus, it's even foreshadowed by the Knuckles prologue and the Chao's interest in a Koco mask. For all the stumbles the gameplay has, the worldbuilding this time around it top notch.
I absolutely agree on Sage. She’s an amazing addition to the Sonic cast. While it’s nothing new to me since I’ve experienced the likes of Aigis from Persona 3, Sonic needed someone like this.
Fun fact: During the infamous pinball section, I was just about to finish the whole thing, but my thumb accidentally pressed the circle button. Most games would ask “are you sure you want to quit”, but it just kicks me out of the minigame immediately with no warning, causing me to start the whole thing over. 💀
Also, I just found out…I don’t think I actually fought The End. I legit don’t remember the Ikaruga segment. I…might have somehow skipped the final boss?????? It says online you only fight The End on hard mode, it’s just QTEs for Normal and Easy….WHY!?
You make a really good point at 10:29 The Unleashed continuity could still work here. My theory is that the chaos emeralds themselves aren't necessarily from *any* planet, but are a bi-product of the creation of the universe itself (whether that mean they were created by gods, the big bang, or some other entity remains ambiguous). The emeralds dictate the balance of power between negative energy and positive energy. I think that even if the writers *really* did forget about Unleashed continuity, they still have room to explain how the chaos emeralds ended up on The Ancients planet at some point in time. This could be a good way to set up a future plot that further explores The Ancients, as there's still a LOT of unanswered questions: How did the chaos emeralds get on their planet despite being needed to restore Sonic's planet from Dark Gaia since the beginning of time itself? How were The Ancients wiped out by The End if they managed to escape to Angel Island/ Sky Sanctuary? If Chaos is related to The Ancients but is still considered a mutated Chao, how do The Ancients, Chaos, Chao, and the Koco all relate to each other? Are the chao decedents of the Koco? What the hell even IS "ZAP" in the first place? One of my favorite aspects about the franchise is the ambiguity and unknowing of the lore, and how much Sonic & friends have to discover the truth about this lore in each new adventure they go on. It's an aspect I think was really missing for the last decade that I'm VERY glad to see they're trying to make work again. Here's hoping that the new "lore master" SEGA is hiring can work together with Ian Flynn to help build a really ambitious and fully fleshed-out follow up to Frontiers 🙏
Your review is awesome. I think it's the best review so far. BTW 38:58 You can skip this fight if you put the difficulty to normal. It was a wise choice for Sonic Team to make it optional
Whenever you up your ring cap, it still only requires 400 rings for the super boost, so you don’t have to worry about a higher requirement. The ring cap goes to 999 rings at lvl 99 which I did and it still was only 400 for super boost.
John: People are gonna hate this, another gameplay shift Me: After forces was so brain dead easy, I welcome some kind of difficulty. This is the apology boss. What a god send
Really happy to hear good things about the story and character work. Ian Flynn has been doing amazing work with the Sonic comics and Im glad that has translated well to the video game stage.
Fun fact: Vandalize, the ending song that plays after Dear Father when you beat the game on normal or easy mode has an explicit version that drops the F-bomb like 5 or 6 times. And also changes the meaning of the song from a father grieving the loss of his daughter to an angsty teen dealing with a breakup!
It’s so crazy to think I’ve been watching your videos for a decade Johnny. This review really made me smile and I’m glad that we felt similar about it. It wasn’t perfect but as a long time Sonic fan who is very critical about a lot of the from the past 10 years, I can say that this is a step in the right direction. I’m always looking forward to the next one.
I really hope Sage becomes a main stay character because I just like the influence she had on eggman and how it made him more humanize, who knows maybe he'll be up there with bowser as best dad
I think the story to this was very good. At points where the gameplay was rough or frustrating, the desire to see the character development kept me powering through.
@@RiceCooker-san I’m really surprised and happy with all the content they’ve put in these 2 updates alone the music, the better momentum, the spin dash, the new challenges, sonic frontiers has been one of my favorite games in years, it’s so damn good
I honestly had a lot of fun with the cyber space levels, though I felt they varied too much in difficulty for the S-rank. It was really rewarding getting the few harder ones, but most were just a one try S-rank
It’d be so hype if Johnny did videos on Spark the Electric Jester 2 & 3. 2 is a good Adventure-inspired platformer, but 3 takes it to a whole other level in terms of gameplay, presentation, and story imo
Actually, on the whole corruption thing, apparently Sonic was actually supposed to lose his memories too. Yeah I found some voice clips online where Sonic is struggling and trying to remember his friends, and I think that ended up getting scrapped
I'd love for them to take the open zone idea and flesh it out into a hub like world like in OG Adventure 1. being able to run and jump all over the city sounds amazing. I personally didn't have an issue with the cyberverse zones. The 2D oriented ones were my least favorite but they weren't unbearable.
One of things that Eggman having a daughter made me do was recontextualize his old plans and just add "for my daughter" at the end. For instants, "I am going to destroy the world so that I may make an amusement park, for my daughter."
![[#2024MAMA] G-DRAGON - 무제(Untitled, 2014)+POWER+HOME SWEET HOME+뱅뱅뱅+FANTASTIC BABY | Mnet 241123 방송](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Ox29z5Nf1Uk/mqdefault.jpg)
Go to buyraycon.com/somecallmejohnny for 20% off sitewide! Brought to you by Raycon.
I mean, of course.
Love your stuff Johnny! Keep up the awesome videos 👍
Perfect for listening to the *checks Spotify*
120-TRACK OST FOR SONIC FRONTIERS!???
Got raycon and surfshark only using your codes. Ill support u till the end!
Lol no.
SAGE... I see what they AGES there!
“I feel validated.”
YES, that’s the exact feeling I had too. The story was like a reward being so invested in this franchise. I’m so happy Sonic respects itself again.
What's up dude? Love your memes, really enjoyed this story too!
Its the voice actor! Love your work
I love how Frontiers is more meta that the entire “meta era” combined yet nobody points it out
@@flameosaurus1832 It was more meta in the sense of "rectifying past mistakes and fixing inconsistencies" rather than "ha ha, look at this thing, it sure was good/bad, now laugh!"
I was never against the series going a bit meta, Pontaff's implementation just sucked compared to Flynn's.
@@tastethepainbow Great explanation
I could never forget that pain in Robotnik's voice when he said this line.
"Go. Fulfill your function."
It just isn’t a sonic game without a Johnny vs video
In some regions it’s not offically out until Johnny Posts
He's not a millionaire then...
Exactly
Or Cybershell doing a history lesson
You can say that again
Getting Ian Flynn to write the story was the best decision for this game. The interactions between Sonic and his friends are much better than what the stories were like in previous games. It honestly feels like the characters are actually growing from both their experiences and dialogue that feels much more natural than what Gamma, Shadow and Silver got in previous games. It’s like Sonic Team were like “Oh shit, we should’ve hired this guy from the start.”
I cannot wait to see how they plan to develop these characters going forward. Frontiers' story made me so excited to see the next cutscene the whole time I was playing.
The plot is still the same Sonic does all the saving while his friends cheerlead, evident in how them helping Sonic out of his cyberspace problem was resolved that easily, still not on Adventure's level where the other characters actually each did something important in the plot, but it is a step forward in character interaction atleast.
@@islandboy9381 Im hoping all the character development they did for tails, knuckles, and Amy, in this game leads up to something. This game almost feels like the start of a new era .
He wrote the Dialogue, not Story.
@@ataladin87 ^this
Way too many people are quick to forget when Flynn stumbles, he stumbles *Hard*
I gotta admit, I love the call backs to old games, and Eggmans development really was standout to me, and I love that reading those memos not only explores his relationship and eventual love of Sage as his daughter, but also gives us some really interesting context on some small things and things not really considered before:
- It was Sonic who gave him the nickname "Eggman", and he just rolled with it and turned it into his own
- He was deeply jealous of Maria for all the love and attention that she got, and implies that because of that he himself was neglected as a child
- Revealing Eggmans opinions on Sonics companions, like that he considers Amy to fairly bright and someone who has come a long way since the Sonic CD days, that he thinks Tails has a very keen mind and that he's glad he's wasting his potential worshipping Sonic rather than being a thorn in his side, and him calling Knuckles "a rube" cracked me up more than I like to admit
- Eggman being "man enough" to admit Sonics speed impresses him
Oh look! Finally character development is happening for the main cast of Sonic?! I'm genuinely quite shocked... Well... for the rest of the story... it's okay I guess...
The thing about sonic giving eggman his nickname and him rolling with it has been a known thing for a while now, I think one of the manuals for one of the classic games mentioned it either sonic 2 or 3
@@Zerovin It's already common knowledge Eggman was always been named Eggman since the Japanese Version of Sonic 1. He's given a new name Dr. Robotnic during the game's western release because Westerners accused "Eggman" being a dumb and non-threatening sounding name. Sonic Team then acknowledges the name Eggman in the U.S. release of Sonic Adventure 1 with a line of dialogue from Sonic himself.
@@philithegamer8265 and in the Mega Man series Dr Wily and Dr Light being rivals was something created for the US edition as well.
@@Zerovin it's been a known thing but I think this is the first time in a game itself, in voice acted dialogue and everything that its acknowledged. Before this we went from the name being dropped in sonic adventure 1 with him getting offended at it, to sonic adventure 2 where he has a whole song about it being his name and the name robotnik not being g acknowledged again till generations.
In Sonic Unleashed it's been stated that the chaos emeralds can pull the world back together but at the end of the game chip made it perfectly clear that he was the one who specifically was in charge of bringing the planet back together so when he was awakened before he needed to he was not as powerful as he would be if his pressure cooking was done the chaos emeralds were used more as a Slap Chop cast for the planet to bring it back together.
The servers are the seven slap chops.
@@SomecallmeJohnny Chaos is Power, enriched by the slaps. The wielder is the one to unify the Chops. Only you cann do this... Stop the Slap Chops!
I saw a theory floating around that the reason the Master Emerald pulled the Chaos Emeralds into the planet was exactly because it could foresee Light Gaia needing some extra help in the next awakening, with the temples being either made by the ancients themselves or the next civilization to find the emeralds.
Honestly, I just interpreted it as "The Chaos Emeralds are wherever they need to be whenever they need to be there." And if that means they'll go into fuckin space, then I guess they'll go into fuckin space.
Is there anything the Chaos Emeralds can't do? These emeralds has so much infinite powers, it can practically just about anything
Probably my most anticipated review for a game in a long time.
same.. kept checking his channel to see if he uploaded it
For me it was metroid dread last year. But I also knew the game was gud as I beat it within a week
He finally got DK64 out the way for me.. I'm not a huge sonic fan but I still enjoy his Sonic videos
@@DIRTYSOUTHSHINOBI His sonic videos are the best to me. And I was eager to see his take on Sonic Frontiers given how he is a huge Sonic fan, and throughly analyzes the strengths and flaws of Sonic games.
Eldin ring?
Can we just talk about how Johnny Wished for Ian Flynn to be involved in the writing of sonic games and got his wish granted?
It wasn't just him who wanted this to happen.
He manifested him
@@garyconstanza3120 Yeah but he was the one that created the original “& Knuckles” meme and that became a full fledged mode in Mania so……
@@tjz3158 BREAKDANCING EGGMAN
Johnny is a Sega executive confirmed
God, I love the endings to these Sonic videos. Not many jokes, just genuine talking. Johnny grew up with Sonic, and so did we. Sometimes, unlike most other reviewers I’ve seen, these videos actually feel like I’m sitting down with a good friend and talking about one of our favorite video game mascots. Your writing is fantastic, John. Thank you for this.
fr
Johnny is usually more comedic in the videos discussing more subpar/bad Sonic games, like Lost World, Shadow the Hedgehog and Sonic '06, but still respects when an entry has ambition or has genuinely good ideas. It's one of the many reasons I like his content.
I've never liked Sonic at any capacity so I didn't grow up with the series but watching Johnny is always a pleasure, such a genuine guy. I love his humor and serious moments.
21 year old here. Played my first Sonic game when I was 6 and thought it was the coolest thing ever. Can you guess what my first was based on the timeline? >:)
johnny is an OG in this
i remember seeing his adventure vids for the first time around 10 years ago and loving them. stopped watching for a long time but i came back just for this review, and it's nice to see he's still got it
Y'know... I never noticed this was a 41 minute long video. It felt so naturally paced, I didn't mind. Felt more like a 20 minute long video, maybe 25. Everything was kept nice and streamlined and engaging throughout. Loved the review!
The ancients actually landed on earth "tens of thousands of years ago" conveniently the same time professor pickle describes the written documents of dark gaia's calamity. It very well could have been the reason the master emerald dragged down their ship so that the ancients would help fix the planet. The Gaia temples also share an uncanny resemblance to the ruins on the star fall islands.
Now that I think about it, the very thing that awoke Dark Gaia in Unleashed was a space laser f*cking up the planet's surface. It's not impossible that Dark Gaia got awakened by The End's attack, forcing the Ancients to deal with a brand new calamity right after they barely managed to seal away the first one.
That's a good point, that could explain why even after they stopped the end, the ancients died out within a generation.
@@LeeQuackAttack Would this mean the Light Gaia Colossus is a fifth titan?
You are 5heading rn, The Colossus even uses all the chaos emeralds.
Yea actually
I remember the 6th emerald on the last island I said to myself
“This kinda reminds me of the gaia temples”
The best way to describe Frontiers to me after fully completing it is “flawed, but extremely promising”.
And I don’t mean promising in the way Lost World was where, it was okay and there was room to improve.
Promising in that it is good, and I WANT it to improve.
And that makes me feel a little at ease, even with the numerous problems.
It's "diamond in the rough" for me because everyone sees it's good but needs proper care and polish.
Pretty much how I'm feeling with Scarlet and Violet right now.
@@CBreezie scarlet and violet is awesome in every way it just runs like ass, which is a different issue
Its a flawed masterpiece. I haven’t been this happy at a 3D Sonic game since… I wanna say Gens. Its up in the S Tier Sonic games for me with Sonic 2, Sonic Adventure, Sonic Unleashed and Sonic Generations. A game does not need to be perfect… so long as its fun which… I’m just kinda upset people don’t see Sonic like that.
I’m still pissed that this game got NOTHING at TGA but who am I kidding… the show is fucking rigged anyways
It's caused this interesting divide where people like King K were (understandably for him at least) not content with the end product because they see the improvements but they think the series deserves better than this. At the opposite end there's people like J's Reviews who remarks that he was feeling mixed at the end but he genuinely wants to acknowledge the things the team got right, especially in the writing department, because he wants the team to know they did good and wants them to take that feedback, because to him it DID matter and what they got right should be kept in mind instead of having the team start from scratch again like with Lost World.
For me personally, I lean more towards J's stance as I'm happy the fanbase is passionate for their series again and have something positive to look forward to in the forseeable future.
I hope that they keep Ian Flynn as the games' (co-)writer for the foreseeable future. It seems that his affinity for character-driven stories will be one of the major boons that the franchise will seriously need if it wants to keep the positive momentum that Frontiers is generating.
After a decade of bad stories, SEGA would have to be stupid to not bring Ian Flynn back to write another game.
Apparently due to the success of this game and the Sonic Movie 2, Sega is now setting up a “lore coordination team” which includes Tyson Hesse and iirc Ian Flynn as well among others to keep things consistent across all things Sonic regarding lore. Almost sounds like they want to setup a multiverse thing regarding Sonic because Prime was mentioned in the lore coordination thing too and that show is suppose to deal with multiverses.
Not only that, Sonic Team are now hiring new crew members and one of the jobs is "lore navigator". This means Sonic Team seems to be more invested in expanding the lore and acknowledging past events.
@@SonicXAmy121Gamer I don't need things to be 100% consistent and lore being referenced every 5 seconds, but having some sort of continuity would feel nice after...like i think it was Unleashed where it started? Sonic games pretend like the previous games didn't happen, or barely do
Ian Flynn sucks
Having Ian Flynn involved to write the story for Sonic Frontiers was the best thing Sega did. This is a huge step in the right direction and if Sega continues this path, they could step up their work and create more interesting stories and gameplay. Let's hope they stay on the right path
Eeeeehh.
The dynamic between Eggman and SAGE hits even more when you consider that Mike Pollock himself is an actual father in real life. Also, can we just talk about the fact they basically just casually confirmed that the IDW characters are now part of the main series canon.
Actually listening to the first credits song (Dear Father) makes it hit even harder since it cements the fact that she really does love him and wants more than anything to be a family with him and her two idiot brothers Orbot and Cubot
@@Zerovin defiantly one of best new sonic characters IN A WHILE
They also confirmed that Sticks from Sonic Boom is part of the main series canon now, too.
I've been watching this guy since I was 10 years old. His sonic reviews were always so entertaining for me, years later and I'm still tuning in for a sonic review in college.
Me too!
I agree! I definitely think that his Sonic reviews are some of the best on this channel!
13:00 Oh NOOOOOOOOOOOOO SONK IS GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY
SAME
I've watched that 06 review at least 50 times
As one of the like 3 people who became a Sonic fan because of Lost World, I totally get the way there's a huge split in the franchise, but I think Frontiers definitely does succeed at bringing us together in our take
Honestly, Sonic Lost World looks much more visually pleasing than Frontiers. I think Frontiers visually looks very bad
@@jayandjlps yes but no
The mods of lost world sonic in adventure or 06 levels made me see the potential of lost world
@@jayandjlps what an awful opinion
@@jayandjlps i see what you mean. The vibrancy of lost world is really fun to me while seeing a blue hedgehog in a drab, realistic setting is kinda jarring.
I was genuinely surprised to see Johnny not only acknowledge the Archie comics again, but to have Locke be the first one to get some shine lol
Daddy Locke getting represented is a big dub
Issues 1 through 50 are what I like to call the goofy era. Follow that with the Kenders Era and after that the comics finally started getting their s*** together
@@generaljimmies3429 Flynn's takeover and what followed is so freaking fantastic as a whole
@@generaljimmies3429Ken didn’t do as much as many think. After issue 50 he drops off from the Sonic book, and starts writing the Knuckles series. Karl Bollers takes over completely. He introduces some of the best and worst from series. I love Ixis Naugus, Nate Morgan, the Xorda arc is good. Ken starts picking up the book again during the SA1 adaptation and after issue 31. Ken still garbage though
They nailed the writing and continuity respect with this one. "Validated" feels like the perfect way to describe it. Every Sonic fan, be they classic, 00s, modern, ect wins with this game. Even comments about the actual game aside, this is the most fun I've had discussing a Sonic story with other fans in ages.
Welp. Even Sonic haters are impressed with the games writing, I'll admit to this. Let's see where the writers can take Eggman as a character. To Be Honest.
14:30 one detail I appreciate is that the further in the game is that Sonic’s idle animation does change as he goes thru different islands, it isn’t much for the plot point but it’s a really good touch
The ending song (Dear Father) hit me so hard with emotion. I’m a big Sonic Unleashed fan I loved the friendship between Sonic and Chip but the song “Dear My Friend” always had me feeling emotional. This game brought out that exact same feeling in me. Sage is a very well written character and I really hope we see her again.
Which likely means we won't see her again.
@@EdmacZ Most likely never again. It's most likely for the best Sage doesn't return aside from spin-offs...
I would definitely like to see her interact with Orbot and Cubot if she does come back.
I can imagine Orbot trying to act like her big brother, much like how he adored Metal Sonic as his big brother.
Songs like “Where we belong” from Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is WAY better.
@@philithegamer8265I don’t know, I can see Sage returning in both future main series games. Having her in spin-offs would be good, too. I wanna see her blowing people up on the racetrack and, no matter what Olympic sport you were to put her in, it would look hilarious 😂
After just hitting the 10 year anniversary of the Sonic Adventure vs, this just feels right
The Adventure 2 cyberspace levels are definitely the best ones. I’ve gained a new appreciation for Sky Rail’s layout
You have no idea how good it felt to tear a new one into Metal Harbor while boosting since Cyberspace's controls are an improvement over SA2's (but a downgrade from Generations and even Forces). I still have PTSD over the normal and hard mode missions.
I liked the ones with new level design, a lot of the ones on the final island were like that (4-2 being my favourite)
@@MaxusFox23 Cyberspace Controls pre Updates were NOT better than SA2's.
"I'll get into Locke microwaving his baby later."
I eagerly await that day. Johnny vs Archie Sonic, a true ride through insanity.
i can't wait for him to explain the insanity in human form that is Ken Penders lol.
@Blur4strike going into Flynn's run after Penders' is like tasting ambrosia after subsisting entirely on seawater
Wait but can we talk about how Big didn’t even need saving in Cyber Space and they didn’t even acknowledge him at the end? Maybe he’s secretly the strongest in the series 👀
I don’t think that’s the real Big
@@DiscordedHaru honestly that probably would make sense lol
Considering how Big casually ended up in Cyberspace (while not at all worried or scared), it might double as how he got out. Probably just found his own way out and thought very little of it. Lol
All the while Sonic ending up with a reaction that pretty much says, "You know what? I don't think I wanna know anymore"
Dude... you JUST NOW realized that? Big picks up a car and throws it like it's nothing, gets crushed by a giant truck in City Escape and gets out of it perfectly fine and hits enemies with a belly slam that has AoE properties. What more proofs do you need to validate him as the MVP of the Sanic universe?
I love when Jonny said "It's reviewin' time!" and reviewed all over the Frontiers. Truly one of the videos of all time.
Watch out, he's gonna review.
My favorite part is when Johnny said “Sonic Frontiers really showed me that I was the real SomeCallMeJohnny all along”.
He truly broke through it all.
@@starcannonsupernova293 He is here.
nope. ITS VERSUS TIME!!!
This review was a treat. I can hear the conflict and uncertainty in your voice knowing we may finally have a strong product but don't know where Sonic Team will take it and what the characters like Eggman will do going forward
Genuinely happy to hear the open world treatment worked wonders for Sonic
21:45 Agreed. I don't think it's a coincidence that the devs not only allowed you to be able to jump over the drift panels, but also leave a convenient trail of rings on most of those turns that you can lightspeed dash instead (which is faster and easier than the drift platforms, might I add.) I think even they knew this part was bad.
Wait... YOU CAN DO THAT?!
@@PoisonDuckAnimations yes you can
For the future, I would love to see how characters like Shadow and even Silver and Blaze would work in this new tone
Shadow's is a peculiar case. He seems to respect Sonic enough in games up to Generations, but his relationship with him in Boom and the Sonic Twitter Takeover seems rocky at best. I'd like to see how he's written in a modern game as a role more meaningful than another Sonic cheerleader.
@@MOORE4U2 Those three would fit right in to the new direction the Sonic series is heading. They're the downright most serious and pragmatic characters in Sonic's main cast currently, though it'd suck bad if the writers decided to make Silver go the Future Trunks route again.
agreed.
I think Sonic Prime might be the key to fixing Shadow. While the series isn't fully out (Thanks Netflix...) the way they characterized him feels like he was in Sonic Adventure 2 or Sonic X. (Hope this carries over to the Third Sonic Movie...)
And they seem to be bringing back multiple playable characters sooooo if silver comes back we may finally be able to play him more refined hopefully
I love the fact that Johnny is wearing the same outfit he wore in the old Johnny Vs Sonic videos from a decade ago.
Oh God. A decade ago.
We old
It’s his signature
The fast way to kill Shark, and a surprising amount of Gurdian mini bosses, is to use the quick cyloop to extend the amount of time they are vulnerable so you can whale on em. Its also one of the most important combo tools for opening up the depth of the combat system, along with the dodge which allows you to cancel the special move animations, and allows you to chain them together more smoothly.
Ooh, I was wondering what sorts of intricacies this combat system had; thanks for the tips!
It does make you appreciate the combat a bit. It's easy to just mash buttons at random and you'd probably can still one or two cycle it, but then there are all sorts of neat tricks you can do to be efficient and/or flashy
the problem with the quick cyloop is that you can't start with it
@@beesree39 You can, provided you don't waste it on soldiers. Its also not too hard to build up to it in a fight with a guardian, but the meter is something I'd like to see improved in a sequel, a long with more moves with different utility, and more than 1 melee attack button (seriously slide is not useful in this game, and cyloop could just be two buttons).
This has certainly been an eventful year for Sonic. Origins finally rerelaseing Sonic 3&K, the Sonic 2 movie, Mecha Sonic finally got brought back in official Sonic media (the IDW scrapnik island comics) since his creation in Sonic and Knuckles, that whole Sonic Omens drama, Sonic Prime, Frontiers, and Yuji Naka got arrested.
Iwl, i forgot the arrest, but.... damn
@@TARDISES Goddamn it, you beat me to it.
Naka got arrested? What’d he do?
@@El_Mince Insider trading at Square Enix.
@@El_Mince He knew who the devs for the next Dragon Quest game were before it was officially announced, & did some stocky shit
The whole character interactions and how tight knit they are is definitely ian flynn.
When watching the cutscenes, its like im reading the archie comics again.
The only thing missing is sonic calling knuckles "rad red"
So glad to see a fellow Flynn Archie fan.
@@sezunemizuhana3870 there are times when i enjoy archie stories....but then there are also stories where im like "wtf am i reading?"
I remember intentionally skipping the arc where sonic met a bunch of aliens while trying to return to mobius.
As for the Dark Gaia thing, maybe it was the Master Emerald's job to do that before the Chaos Emeralds showed up.
At this point I think I've been more excited for this video than I have been for the actual game.
Same 🤣🤣🤣
For some weird reason, i honestly completely forgot that this game would be on Johnny's radar.
Same here, and I bought the game day one and already beat it!
33:11
Big………I forgive ya
……..well not really for this
It took 10 years for Johnney to barely Forgive Big The Cat
Sonic Adventure - Nov 12th 2012
Sonic Froniters Nov 20th 2022
Johnny is the Sonic guy
The slot wheel thing being right smack in front of the screen for 15 minutes is absolutely ridiculous and I'm glad you pointed it out
As soon as I finished playing Frontiers, my first thought was "I can't wait to see Johnny review this".
I broke down completely by the ending... this game got me so emotional that it opened up old wounds and I had to put it down after getting the platinum trophy.
To be honest, I'm not too sure if I am okay right now XD
I'm glad Sonic is moving in the right direction after all these years. My biggest dream for a game is still simply just the inclusion of a new Chao Garden.
100%. They are literally burning money every second they don't do a modern chao garden. I think it would fit in a sonic frontiers sequel, you could find eggs as an open world collectible like in the original adventure games, along with just the story elements with the emeralds/chao/ancients, possibly still being important in the sequel. BEST thing they could do is a sonic frontiers sequel with chao garden with a mobile game connected and synced to your console game save.
This could be a freaking cash cow with cosmetics and multi-player elements. SERIOUSLY?!?!
A massive step up from Forces but Frontiers is still probably one of the most 7/10 game I've played in a while and while I do love it as a whole don't get me wrong, I can't pretend it doesn't have severe issues holding it back. Some of which can be blamed on Sega for pushing it out before the game was ready of course but also Sonic Team's general design choices. It seems like for every 2 cool things I see with this game, there's at least 1 baffling design choice in there. The Cyberspace physics, the jump killing your momentum, the parry not actually being a parry, the "economy" with Big's fishing, the continued overuse of basic 2d segments in Chaos Island, the entire ending sequence being clearly rushed out the door with just the essentials, these are all things that hold the game back and the weirdest part is that the modding community has already worked out a lot of these issues to at least some degree in a matter of 2 weeks. Obviously these tweaks have their own issues but it really makes me wonder why Sonic team continues to commit to such weird design choices. The game needed another year but as is, I still had a great time with it and I will continue playing it here and there for sure especially after more polished mods come out. I even got into playing the cyberspace stages despite the flaws, they're just fun to speedrun for me.
If the game gets patched I could easily see it being more than excellent
But that’s the thing… *if* it gets patched. Would legit not surprise if Sonic just up and went “games out sorry guys xD” and just left it as is
I personally think it’s fine as is. If anything, the flaws of frontiers have to do more with a lack of budget and manpower. Not time. 5 years is plenty and I don’t wanna wait another year over flaws that I think are nowhere near as bad as you say they are. Sonic Frontiers to me is a great game on its own. Not just a stepping stone.
The game is definitely flawed, but I feel like it is more of a "every 4-5 things that's nice, there's just an odd execution or a lack of."
I feel that it does a lot to be an enjoyable experience especially when compared to lost world and forces.
It may not be perfect but it does enough to be a 7.5 to 8 for me.
ngl I feel the busted fishing economy was pretty smart. Can't find enought tokens or struggle with collecting the keys? Go to the place with the relaxing Lo-Fi music and fish for a bit. Enemies keep decking you? Go to the place with the relaxing Lo-Fi music and fish for a bit. Maybe you could enjoy some lore on the way as well or get a small chuckle out of the stuff Sonic fishes etc
It's honestly a cool way to keep players from getting stuck, takes care of the roadblocks and the frustrations
(It's also kinda funny on a meta level because in SA1 fishing was annoying)
@@digimonlover1632 I also agree that this game is more than a stepping stone. To me, it's just a good game. A good game, with a few flaws, but plenty of games are like that. And some of the complaints didn't bother me as much, like the Cyber Space levels. I think including traditional stages within the open-zones is a great idea. And while there were definitely some stages that frustrated me in all the wrong ways, I remember enjoying S ranking stages more than I do dreading the experience. Would've been nice if they didn't just come in 4 themes though.
I have to say. The games story was so amazing. I’m glad you put so much time into dissecting it.
As someone who's favourite story in a game is Gamma's story from Adventure 1, hearing that Frontiers is more character driven makes me want to pick up the game even more.
I completely agree with everything said. When a game review is just this good (in my standards) I just imagine the board of directors and devs of the game sitting down and watching game reviews like this together while taking notes. I wish the world was like this.
I decided to rewatch all your sonic reviews again as a fun countdown for sonic x shadow gens and man getting to this point it was super bittersweet man, I felt like I sort of grew up with you even though I am younger I still feel that way because I got to see you go from a kid in your 20s ho had these funny outburst in certain reviews to a more a mellowed out adult, if your reading this Johnny thank you for making my childhood an amazing one even during the dark times and I'm glad to still be able to watch you as I enter adulthood. You really are the GOAT and one of my biggest inspirations man
I've waiting for this review. I'm glad sonic team is taking sonic in the right direction and I hope they take a look at the criticism as well to make a stellar sequel.
As a big fan of the earlier 3D Sonic games I was all for the callbacks in frontiers. I definitely see how a new player wouldn't get it at all but I just love how they went about it. They didn't go the route of the typical fan service where it's in your face about it. They chose to make it a quick mention here or there and if you get it you get it. I really appreciated that.
The Egg Logs is where the fan service is actually located. And it's optional, locked behind big's fishing game.
They also showed screenshots that scream "it's from other games, play them too to find out".
I appreciate how level headed and well thought out your Sonic reviews are.
Also to note the end credit music was awesome ! Idk if you talked about in the video or not I might missed it but Sage singing and telling Eggman she is sorry made me so teary eyed it was incredible and apparently sonic team also added a song basically telling us fans they have our back and they don’t plan on letting us down anymore.
Damn, back in the old room and even futon for this review are we? Good to see Johnny embracing his legacy
Didn’t his futon break during an SGB video?
@@michaelrhett4958 it did! But I'm assuming either they got a new one or the set was recreated just for the Sonic reviews
The game does have some rough spots, but I think it has some of the highest highs in the franchise’s history and I really hope they go further with the ideas here in the future.
Easily one of Johnny’s best reviews. This totally encapsulates how I feel about this game.
I love the sonic series, it’s been with me all my life and I’m glad that after all those rough patches it’s finally looking good for the blue blur
This was the first game in a while where I had to make myself disengage from the internet just so I can experience it blind, and boy do I appreciate having done that. Frontiers has its flaws, and I understand many people's hesitance with whether or not this formula will stick considering last time Sonic Team changed things up (for mainline games) was Lost World and they very quickly backpedaled with Forces, but they also have to remember a few noteworthy differences with then and now:
1. Lost World was made mostly in response to a lot of staff on Sonic Team leaving for Nintendo following Generations, with the ones sticking around deciding to try something new since the new folk likely have very little experience with the boost formula. Frontiers also had a relatively small team working on it (iirc it was some 60 devs?) for the scale of game they were going for, but these guys have the experience with Sonic now.
2. Lost World had a very polarizing reception when it came out, with many split on it either being a great game or a terrible game. This is probably one of the bigger, if not the biggest, reasons why Forces went back to the boost formula. Frontiers, while still not received amazingly, has a closer general consensus of it being at least decent, with many reading the game as more of a test ground to see if people will like a new gameplay loop for the series going forward.
3. Related to the above, the games they followed up after. Generations was very much appraised as a great game and a fantastic celebration of the blue blur's 20-year history, only to be followed up with a middling and polarizing game almost completely disconnected from it. Forces was panned as a boring and middling experience both as a standalone and an anniversary game, so to see Frontiers be so accepted by many is a massive breath of fresh air for us.
4. Sonic Team has more or less stated that if Frontiers does well- which definitely does seem to be the case- that, again, they're willing to go this path for the series going forward. I don't remember if they said anything similar for Lost World, though I doubt that's the case.
There are mods available that actually restore momentum and make the game feel a little closer to older 3D titles, Showin's feeling like the best one. It's not perfect by any means but the open zones turn into a parkour playground once you get the hang of it.
I'm glad you mentioned wanting to carve your own path around because that's the exact reason why I DLed the mod in the first place and it delivered
The open zones already had momentum that was pretty close to the classics, but the mod I used (BeatzYT3's mod) overexaggerated it. I kept missing rail sections, launching myself into the ocean, and more.
I feel like Sonic fans just overestimate how much impact momentum is supposed to have. Frontiers has the right level of momentum for a game where Sonic has a bit more weight.
@@coreyferreyra I agree that Beatz mod is over the top in how it handles it. The main reason why some Sonic fans want momentum and value it is because it gives intrinsic motivation towards playing the game and getting better at handling the speed. The vanilla game is fine as is but you're limited in what you can and can't do by jumping canceling momentum as well as the only air you're getting being off of rails or air tricks (which is super inconsistent if you're trying to use level geometry for it.)
It's really an each his own thing but that's why it's valued so much and why it's very noticeable for people like myself when it's lacking. We "want" that split second decision making to prevent yourself from missing rails or flying off into the ocean. Game is 100% solid either way though.
This game gave me the feeling that SA1 and Unleashed gave me when I first played them, and the story, despite the issues at the end, was a fantastic ride.
Honestly one of my new favorite Sonic games of all time
Alright, all that’s left is for Lewis to play this game live for Brainscratch
That reminds me, are they ever coming back? They've been on hiatus for a couple months, and they said that they'd be back but just needed a break. But I'm kinda worried that they're not coming back. Which would suck because I love BrainScratch and I love watching them while falling asleep.
I was thinking the same thing a few days ago.
Jokes aside... unless BSC is interested in getting together for a 24 hour livestream, I don't think he COULD play this entire game live, and even then, the main group, Clement, and Gareth would all need to have the stamina for it.
And before that can happen, BSC needs to actually start uploading again.
…now i miss Gareth (TheRealFTA) from FTCR and some BSC.
Feeling acknowledged by the story is exactly how I described it when I was playing. Made me feel like I was watching the characters I had kept up with for years, and not just another episode of the week.
Also the music in this game is the best goddamn thing ever. Love the metalcore boss themes, love the Cyberspace music.
Man, over a decade later and I’m still here making sure to tune into Johnny’s reviews. Watching this took me right back to watching his sonic generations review when it was new.
We need to get him to 500,000 subscribers, he deserves it
I actually loved the Cyberspace levels. They felt odd at first, given the new controls, but by the time I S ranked 1-2, I had a pretty good understanding of how to play efficiently. To me, it felt amazing! There are a lot of actions that can halt or slowdown momentum, but in the end, it feels so satisfying.
36:05-I went to this exact spot now with the new spin dash from update 2 and it felt great launching right off of it
Man can't wait for the inevitable Round 2 when the game's updates are all out
21:01 While I was playing the game I ended up kinda realizing as to why the boost was put on the right trigger.
It's there so you can steer Sonic with more ease in the open world with the right analog stick, since when you're boosting and you turn the camera to the left or the right, Sonic turns to that direction as well, and if the boost was mapped to a face button, it would make it harder to also steer with the right stick
(Yeah, it is confusing at first, but I ended up realizing that it was a smart idea)
Your take on how you view stories and how the genre doesn't affect how you look at it is rather refreshing. I have a tendency of delving deep into stories of certain games in genres that aren't particularly known for expansive stories (Kirby and Ratchet and Clank for platformers, and Guilty gear, a fighting game). I know people who prefer not having a plot in their platformers, but I always like it when devs go the extra effort in trying to make an interesting world and plot.
Story isn't entirely the most important thing in an video game. Just as long as the game as an whole is well crafted & fun, that's all it matters. Story is nothing more than an distraction.
To me, Sonic Frontiers feels like a more mature Sonic game. It seems more focused towards the older Sonic fanbase instead of trying to pull in new people. Every character appears more seasoned, even Eggman. I like the idea of a shift from shallow character arcs and new introductions, like the OC in Sonic Forces, to keeping a small cast and going deeper into them.
It’s interesting. I just finished rewatching Jonny’s review on Adventure 2 and jumping onto this one. His voice and mannerisms have changed dramatically over the years. Almost as if I’m listening to someone else entirely. Had to rewind a few times cause his drawls and deep cuts were so surprising that I had to make sure I caught what he said lol
Frontiers was such a fun game, can't wait for the next game that Sonic team has in store
When you brought up how The End was a Kirby final boss slapped into a Sonic game.... I also had the same thought.
Sudden gameplay change into a shoot'n'up playstyle.
A death God sealed away by the ancients. That alone sounds like Kirby lore.
Heck, even the name... The End, reminds me of a Kirby final boss. Void Termina, or as it's named in Japan.... Ende Nil.
"I am nothing."
I had similar feelings going through my head in Chaos Island after the Dark Gaia reference and throughout the game. And then I went on TV Tropes when I was taking a break between the final boss (bullet hells stress me out), I saw WMG posts that supported my theory on that said final boss in Frontiers is another incarnation of Void/Void Termina.
I only wish it had a unique design akin to Kirby's final bosses as opposed to a 1 to 1 moon.
Let’s be honest this is the review we’ve all been waiting for
It _cannot_ be understated just _how_ good Ian Flynn's writing is.
Comic fans in the know have been asking for him to work on a game for the longest time, and now that he's here, I want him to _stay_
He alone quite honestly bumps up my personal score of the game like 2 grades, it's quite excellent.
Round of applause to him, and the narrative team too!
Good? LOL, that’s a joke right?
@@alexgomez6723 get over yourself
Frontiers is officially my fourth favourite Sonic game and my new favourite modern Sonic game. I didn’t have as many gripes as you or others did and while there are some issues I think could be ironed out or replaced with better options altogether, my overall experience with the game’s core gameplay and the majority of what I was doing never shifted my experience from very positive to anything less
I hope all Sonic Team keeps the musicians and Ian Flynn for the foreseeable future. Fantastic game from beginning to end
Nothing makes me happier than seeing Johnny vs a sonic game
This makes me feel even more excited for the next game because it seems they finally have a solid foundation for 3D Sonic
I actually really liked the Pinball section; I actually managed to beat it on the first attempt with only one ball and was pleasantly surprised since everything I saw online about it was hostile. If anything, I wish there was a way to go back and play it again after you reach the goal, though I do wish the table itself was a bit bigger.
As for the plot, the Ancients being Chaos ancestors was something I found out before I even saw them in a flashback, so I kinda screwed myself out of a neat reveal. That being said, them being the ones to bring the Chaos Emeralds and create the ruins from the OG 2D games, especially Angel Island, was really cool even if it contradicts with Unleashed a bit.
It's even got me theory-crafting a bit. Since Chaos is supposed to be a Chao that was mutated by the energies of the Master Emerald, that would also suggest that the Chao are the descendants of the Ancients. Lore-wise, that means that the Ancients that escaped the Starfall Islands with the emeralds evolved (or more specifically, DEVOLVED) into a less threatening race to avoid The End if it ever broke free. The emerald's power just tapped into Chaos and re-evolved it into the form of its ancestors.
That explains why they completely vanished without a trace prior to the Echidna tribes taking over. It also explains why the Koco are so similar to them in appearance AND why there are no Chao on those islands. Plus, it's even foreshadowed by the Knuckles prologue and the Chao's interest in a Koco mask. For all the stumbles the gameplay has, the worldbuilding this time around it top notch.
I absolutely agree on Sage. She’s an amazing addition to the Sonic cast. While it’s nothing new to me since I’ve experienced the likes of Aigis from Persona 3, Sonic needed someone like this.
Fun fact: During the infamous pinball section, I was just about to finish the whole thing, but my thumb accidentally pressed the circle button. Most games would ask “are you sure you want to quit”, but it just kicks me out of the minigame immediately with no warning, causing me to start the whole thing over. 💀
Also, I just found out…I don’t think I actually fought The End. I legit don’t remember the Ikaruga segment. I…might have somehow skipped the final boss?????? It says online you only fight The End on hard mode, it’s just QTEs for Normal and Easy….WHY!?
Made the same exact mistake. At first I was like "ok, no biggie I'll just do it again", after all I got it my first try. Oh how stupid I was
I’m impressed that Johnny put out a movie-length review of Sonic Frontiers 12 days after the game launched.
Honestly my most hyped video of this year ever since they announced the game, I knew it was coming we all knew it was coming.
Can I just also say Mike Pollock's performance didn't just knock it out of the park, He Yeeted the Goddamn Stadium to Outer Space!
You make a really good point at 10:29
The Unleashed continuity could still work here. My theory is that the chaos emeralds themselves aren't necessarily from *any* planet, but are a bi-product of the creation of the universe itself (whether that mean they were created by gods, the big bang, or some other entity remains ambiguous). The emeralds dictate the balance of power between negative energy and positive energy. I think that even if the writers *really* did forget about Unleashed continuity, they still have room to explain how the chaos emeralds ended up on The Ancients planet at some point in time.
This could be a good way to set up a future plot that further explores The Ancients, as there's still a LOT of unanswered questions: How did the chaos emeralds get on their planet despite being needed to restore Sonic's planet from Dark Gaia since the beginning of time itself? How were The Ancients wiped out by The End if they managed to escape to Angel Island/ Sky Sanctuary? If Chaos is related to The Ancients but is still considered a mutated Chao, how do The Ancients, Chaos, Chao, and the Koco all relate to each other? Are the chao decedents of the Koco? What the hell even IS "ZAP" in the first place?
One of my favorite aspects about the franchise is the ambiguity and unknowing of the lore, and how much Sonic & friends have to discover the truth about this lore in each new adventure they go on. It's an aspect I think was really missing for the last decade that I'm VERY glad to see they're trying to make work again. Here's hoping that the new "lore master" SEGA is hiring can work together with Ian Flynn to help build a really ambitious and fully fleshed-out follow up to Frontiers 🙏
Your review is awesome. I think it's the best review so far.
BTW 38:58
You can skip this fight if you put the difficulty to normal. It was a wise choice for Sonic Team to make it optional
Whenever you up your ring cap, it still only requires 400 rings for the super boost, so you don’t have to worry about a higher requirement. The ring cap goes to 999 rings at lvl 99 which I did and it still was only 400 for super boost.
John: People are gonna hate this, another gameplay shift
Me: After forces was so brain dead easy, I welcome some kind of difficulty. This is the apology boss. What a god send
Really happy to hear good things about the story and character work. Ian Flynn has been doing amazing work with the Sonic comics and Im glad that has translated well to the video game stage.
Fun fact: Vandalize, the ending song that plays after Dear Father when you beat the game on normal or easy mode has an explicit version that drops the F-bomb like 5 or 6 times. And also changes the meaning of the song from a father grieving the loss of his daughter to an angsty teen dealing with a breakup!
It’s so crazy to think I’ve been watching your videos for a decade Johnny. This review really made me smile and I’m glad that we felt similar about it. It wasn’t perfect but as a long time Sonic fan who is very critical about a lot of the from the past 10 years, I can say that this is a step in the right direction. I’m always looking forward to the next one.
SAGE was adorable. Imagie her interacting with Orbot, Cubot and Metal.
Cubot being stupid and Orbot being the Sarcastic jerk that he is, metal probably beeps and boops
I really hope Sage becomes a main stay character because I just like the influence she had on eggman and how it made him more humanize, who knows maybe he'll be up there with bowser as best dad
I think the story to this was very good. At points where the gameplay was rough or frustrating, the desire to see the character development kept me powering through.
There were cut lines implying that Sonic was losing his memory as he kept attempting to corrupt himself.
Binge watching Sonic reviews is something I'll never get tired of.
Yours being my favorite one yet.
Once all 3 updates are out this needs a round 2!
I'd be satisfied with a round 2 with just the current version because the game is so much more fun now
@@RiceCooker-san I’m really surprised and happy with all the content they’ve put in these 2 updates alone the music, the better momentum, the spin dash, the new challenges, sonic frontiers has been one of my favorite games in years, it’s so damn good
I honestly had a lot of fun with the cyber space levels, though I felt they varied too much in difficulty for the S-rank. It was really rewarding getting the few harder ones, but most were just a one try S-rank
Surprised how good the story/ characters are this time.
It’d be so hype if Johnny did videos on Spark the Electric Jester 2 & 3. 2 is a good Adventure-inspired platformer, but 3 takes it to a whole other level in terms of gameplay, presentation, and story imo
Actually, on the whole corruption thing, apparently Sonic was actually supposed to lose his memories too. Yeah I found some voice clips online where Sonic is struggling and trying to remember his friends, and I think that ended up getting scrapped
I'd love for them to take the open zone idea and flesh it out into a hub like world like in OG Adventure 1. being able to run and jump all over the city sounds amazing. I personally didn't have an issue with the cyberverse zones. The 2D oriented ones were my least favorite but they weren't unbearable.
Love this game, it was everything I wanted as a kid playing Sonic Adventure DX.
41 minutes!? Time to bundle up! Get my snacks and food ready for this feature-length presentation!
One of things that Eggman having a daughter made me do was recontextualize his old plans and just add "for my daughter" at the end. For instants, "I am going to destroy the world so that I may make an amusement park, for my daughter."