My favorite part of Frontiers is the open zone gameplay. I have so much fun exploring the islands, collecting various trinkets and taking down mini-bosses. Meanwhile, I also love the story.
I like how the opinion’s on Roger’s Sonic voice goes from “I like this new direction for the voice and he’s up there with Ryan and Jason” to “Roger Craig Smith killed my family” Also just wanna say Ian Flynn did NOT write the plot of the story, he was there to write the dialogue from the story, the plot was already made at that point
After watching the entire review, I'll say, you have made a good description to how I felt about the game. It was a fun game, like I enjoyed what the game tried to tell us more about the Sonic lore, one of the greatest stories ever since Adventure 2, however, the mechanics of the game, while alright, could've been reworked to ensure that it felt a little more polished, like omitting 2D sections in the Open Zone, Cyberspace, and seeing all the stuff from Green Hill, Chemical Plant and Sky Sanctuary, feels very weird. The voices, fit just fine with a handful, Roger's Sonic has been the most out-of-place voice of voicing the character, it doesn't work for someone who's suppose to be a teen, and this is coming from someone who's played the Adventure games and some of the modern titles. The gameplay itself, very jank, like thanks to those DLCs, it includes the Spin Dash, which is unlocked through the Chain Challenges, and you can snap the game in half with how wonky the physics are that you can send yourself off in to the air, that's how busted the Spin Dash is, also button combination is weird to initiate it. Overall, great review! I know this is after the DLC 1 and 2, and now soon, DLC 3, but you've done an amazing job! Don't let the Sonic fanbase let you down, your reviews are great and show how much passion you have for a series you love. I love Sonic as well, I just wish he was handled with as much love as the fans have, at least the good side of that fandom
That last message to sonic fans was comedy gold, but 100% true at the exact same time, actual feel that about the ost in cyberspace at times going so hard but the stages don't have the same feel with how slow they are. Amen to 1-4 being a god tier track.
This review was comedy gold Coop! Glad you included the little tangent about the fanbase on Twitter at the end as well. Criticism should be just as equally respected as praise as long as that criticism comes from those who genuinely want the series to improve or see the potential in the franchise. Bad faith criticism or people who make blanket statements saying things like “Sonic never worked in 3D” or “Sonic was never good” should obviously be ignored, but I think most fans or Sonic content creators definitely dish out reasonable criticism. You yourself made some good points about wanting a more fitting Sonic VA, less reuse of level themes and assets, and more fluid control/movement that I agree with!
First off I just wanna say thank you for sharing your experience with Sonic Frontiers and creating this review. Some of the weird things you mentioned that occur in this game, I wasn't aware of when I first played this game. Like I didn't know about them until I watched this entire review. lol. I've watched some of your other reviews too before, and I greatly respect of how honest, insightful, critical and in-depth you can be when you review video games, especially for Sonic games. So BIG props to you for that! Great work on the review! 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👍🏼
How do you feel about Sonic's voice in prime so far? Deven Mack imo is the perfect voice for Sonic if we're never getting Ryan (or Jason) back. He sounds like a natural progression from past actors its great.
I don't begrudge anyone their opinion, but I feel that the cyberspace levels are misunderstood and underrated. I've loved them, and I find their biggest flaw is that the s ranks don't push players to play them in the most fun way, which is to try to use this game's unique version of momentum (homing attack dash cancels and other similar techniques) to skip past large sections of each level at crazy speed. I can't be certain that it was the developers intention but it certainly makes them fun to me, and makes me not mind that the layouts are reused. In many ways this feels to me like an extension of what makes the moveset fun in the overworld. The rails and pads and other various "gimmicks" are there to get character tokens, or to go for rings/red rings in cyberspace, but it's always faster and trickier to go around them and use only a select few to keep your speed up or launch yourself. I also have come to appreciate the nerfed boost. It is still essential to gaining momentum, but it does not give it to you for free. For momentum you need some kind of traction, either from sonic directly touching something and boosting off of it, rolling down a slope (should be more momentum for this, but it is there), or from the "pull" of the homing attack. This in practice causes you to have to interact with the level or an enemy to get Sonic to a really high speed, rather than being able to generate max speed out of thin air with the boost alone. Unless you have blasted yourself off with great momentum, flying through the air is usually slower than boosting on the ground or grinding, making the stomp and drop dash more useful for retaining speed, because for the first time it is often better to get sonic back to the ground than to fly through the air as much as possible. Homing attack chains are no longer a braindead way to keep going fast, and now you have to engage with them more sparingly and thoughtfully, or you will be slowed down. This is also the first time I can remember where the smaller tighter finickier sections of platforming don't have too much momentum and speed, and it feels like because of some of the sacrifices to momentum, you can actually be precise sometimes when you aren't on rails. I feel like if some of these design choices were intentional, rather than done out of some limitation, they make sense from the perspective of them trying to de emphasize the automated segments as the fastest segments, perhaps in an attempt to respond to the longstanding complaints about 3d sonic games playing themselves too much. Anyway, tldr, I like cyberspace and just want some really demanding time challenges for them, which I think would make them shine. That said, none of this is intended to argue anyone out of their own opinion, only state my own.
Thank you, I thought I was the only one thinking Roger's voice here was not good at all. Many people gaslighted themselves, thinking "the script is more mature, so now Roger sounds convincing and everyone must admit is a great Sonic!"... like, no. Roger here sounds like he was constantly keeping his mouth in a "0" shape while reading his lines.
33:35 I'm 99% sure that Lost World's engine is based off of Colors' engine, both games actually make use of a modified Hedgehog Engine (though Colors only uses the non-graphical parts of it)
OH, and in Frontiers slope jumping along with running faster/slower based on slope angle are quite literally just changing a couple numbers in the game, I am not joking, I've done it myself.
The electric boost does make you move faster and i think it improves your combat abilities a little. Also i don't mind the boost working the way it does now since i got used to that kind of boost thanks to spark 2 and i find it surprisingly fun as just a start to gain speed and not something to rely on as well as a tool to navigate. Feels far more useful to change directions in an instant, gain extra air or vertically when moving. Basically it forces me to get creative with the level design as i see it.
I second that. I also think it's good that you can't just bowl enemies over with Frontiers' Boost, and you actually have to fight them. Granted, I think the fight system in open-zone areas needs some work, but it's more satisfying than just treating the enemies as Boost fodder.
I don't have a problem with the boost working the way it does because the old boost was designed for linear levels where the goal is to move from the start of the level to the end as quickly as possible. This is open world (or open zone) where the level design is mostly nonlinear. Most of Sonic's new controls have been designed to give the player as much control over Sonic as possible to make traversing these nonlinear levels easier. And while I think they definitely overcorrected a bit, I still prefer these slightly janky new controls over something like Unleashed physics. The islands would be a nightmare to travel with unleashed and generations physics. Really the biggest problem with the new controls pops up in cyberspace where they take this control scheme meant for the new level design and apply it to the old level design which doesn't really work as well. But at the same time, I actually found it really fun to work around the jank. Like, I had to gain a fundemental understanding of the game's controls in order to optimize my runs as much as possible to get the S ranks in each level, making it incredibly satisfying when I achieved it after several failed attempts.
I agree with you on Roger 100%, right down to loving his characters on regular show. His voice has never worked as Sonic, he was hired at a time when Sega wanted to entirely soft reboot the entire series into something it wasn’t in the aftershock of 06. I used to agree with the sentiment that he could potentially do a more serious sonic or that good writing could make him sound better, but after Frontiers I really don’t think he can pull it off. I liked some of his lines though.
Cyberspace definitely grew on me, I found myself replaying arcade mode a fair bit, but I hope they either drop it or improve it in the next game because the open worlds were really fun.
I prefer they keep linear Sonic levels if there's a sequel to this kind of Sonic game. They're a good break from the Open-Zone gameplay, and their inclusion makes me see the whole game as an upgrade to the concept first seen in Sonic Adventure 1.
God it’s been so long since I saw a Sonic review video in this length from you. I’ve been watching your channel since the cooper’s perspective series started on Sonic and have been watching after it ended. It’s weird and yet refreshing seeing the series in a much better and more exciting era than where we were 5-6 years ago. Frontiers has its issues but to me despite them I quite like the game and actually think it’s good and I’m happy to know you liked it too. Idk it’s weird how this is probably the first time where I’m actually excited for the future of the series so long as Sega doesn’t mess with Sonic Team to this degree. Great review
1:16:05 I'm calling it the playable characters + story are either going to be... A.) Sonic Generations like missions were sonic's friends help in a new mission mode. Or. B.) There only going to make 3 levels for each character. And see what they have been doing in Saber space. And the story will probably be like mania plus where they try to set up the story but it falls when you get to green hills zone and after that it's not nonexistent.
Well now with update 2 it seems that the characters are going to have full movesets and skill trees. Were still not sure how they are going to implement them though
16:37 Technically, we did meat her already. Sure Rio 2016 and Runners are most likely non-canon. She does also appear in a Sonic Channel comic book story that takes place in the main series cannon to celebrate Sonic’s 25th anniversary. The comic got an english translation in a Tomy Modern & Classic Tails comic book two pack. It was done to replace an Archie Sonic comic when that got cancelled. So we got to see what main series Sticks acts like. She is also partially created by Sonic Team, similar to the IDW characters who were changed up a little by them, so Sonic Team are probably more comfortable acknowledging them unlike Sally Acorn or whatever.
Wut Sonic team needs is MANPOWER. We have a team of 60(almost mostly newby sonic) devs workin on a AAA GAME while also havin to release the game on almost EVERY DEVICE under the sun(OG Xbone/PS4-Series X/PS5, THE SWITCH, & PC), While doin wut Sonic Team does best doin somethin completely diff that No ones done before(atleast not quite like them). It's hard to compare to somethin like GoW: Ragnarok which has the EXACT opposite situation i.e. HAS EVERYTHIN goin for it. But while not exactly even a 9 for me I love this game & the overall direction of the franchise & if they take the bulk of the criticisms (which they prob will) & SEGA HIRES MORE they'll do Amazin next time(I alr believe they did great despite it bein ROUGH imo). I have a few issues wit the story like wit wut they do wit Tails feels like an overcorrection for the past decade & that part in particular feels like Ian Flynn bein like "HEY LOOK AT ME I'M FIXIN IT THAT'S COOL RIGHT?" Completely forgettin Tails HAS been on his own before like say UNLEASHED. Tails was done "well" for the most part I feel but it wasn't so much execution or intentions but direction that bothers me. Puttin so much attention to the "inconsistency" doesn't help & only tends to backtrack his character to Adv 1 days which now that I think bout it might be the point for everyone to some degree. A spiritual reset that only regards the 2010's beyond the offhand reference cus that's wut ppl didn't like. U can def tell Ian Flynn is tryin little by little is tryin to insert HIS SONIC into the writin & even shows this wit the random refences to boom/idw stuff that wasn't a thing before like tangle/sticks. He's luckily bein held back by the overall plot by SEGA he still has to work under but who knows how long that'll last. Sometimes the writin feels like the WRITERS talkin to u DIRECTLY instead of lettin it jus play out in the story naturally. I'd have jus done Sonic lookin behind tails in slight amazement before smirkin at how focused tails is at the task. The references R great & I LOVE the continuity but that suffers a similar issue to a less egregious degree like when they haphazardly mentioned Dark Gaia jus cus they couldn't find a better way to integrate it. It jus feels so tongue in cheek like "don't wanna piss off unleashed fans"(I'm Unleashed fans & I'm pissed now so good job). Also Sages' relationship wit Eggman while endearin comes off a little cheep & is also HELLA inconsistent wit the egghead for the past 30+yrs(I do like Sage though). Knuckles was good don't get me wrong but he's def the more openly introverted type than Sonic is so him outright sayin he envies Sonic feels slightly out of character & I don't think it would be that hard to "fix" this, jus change/add a few parts while keepin the same overall conversation. Amy feels like her Boom self to an extent which makes sense but I think that's fine since Boom Amy is my fav ver(She actually was wut got me to like/understand main Amy after hatin her for yrs lol)but I will miss her more loud hyperactive self in the older 3D games(such character progression on my part lol). . Initially I was worried for the story CUS It was Ian Flynn, I got a love hate relationship wit his writin in IDW after bingin the past 50 odd issues. He created & I kid u not THE ABSOLUTE WORST "SONIC" I HAVE EVER SEEN IN MY LIFE! I CAN'T EVEN SAY IT'S ACTUALLY SONIC JUS SOME OBOMINATION THAT WEARS HIS SKIN THERE TO FRAME HIMSELF AS SUCH! But aside from mostly that in particular I can't deny he & his team know the characters really well for the most part. He's a really "good" writer but not the best "Sonic" writer imo. I'll say that while NOT "perfect" Frontiers Sonic is technically much better than before(even though I don't hate meta era Sonic lol(aside from Lost world). He feels like a nice in-between of OG/Meta era Sonic which is nice (Meta era Sonic has never outright gone against anythin that makes sonic, sonic & surprisingly keep a lot intact in the most subtle of ways despite the writers mostly never bein that familiar wit the games till maybe forces). This game from gameplay to story is the most ambitious since 06 & the third most ambitious of ALL the games under Adventure 1/06 & Imo it succeeds at it overall & I'm excited for the next thing to come but all this has made me come to a realization... Western writers shouldn't touch sonic games no matter how well they know the universe/characters or how "good" of a writer they R. I think it'd be best to jus leave it to Japanese writers mainly CUS of the way they write (that in particular is somethin hard to explain even if u're a weeb like me lol). They seemed to have a "finesse" to writin Sonic not jus in games but any media by them & always keep consistent to a surprisin degree(there felt like unspoken nuance to it). Western writers can't do it the same cus their priorities R diff. Sonic from the beginnin has always had trouble from the first game wit translatin himself over & funnily enough it wasn't till 06 where that was finally bein fixed for the main games but that only lasted till 2010 where SEGA tried addressin ppl's "issues" wit 2000's Sonic stuff & we're only jus fixin it now after a decade cus they were too afraid. & by usin Ian Flynn for writin it shows they still somewhat R. I jus hope the award they'll get for this doesn't get taken too far like wit Lost-World/Forces but the difference is the issues now will be so subtle unlike before even Sonic fans won't see an issue overall. I really liked the more questions than answers approach lore stuff with the Emeralds. I don't EVER want a true answer on wut they R or where they come from beyond the vaguest possibilities. From wut I can tell the ancients didn't CREATE them they jus used them before anyone we've known up to this point(which kinda leaves the Gaia temples up in the air but whateves ig). & EVEN THEN the M.E. IS STILL a HUGE MYSTERY cus IT WAS ON EARTH 1ST! I was initially VERY worried but save for wut may come in the future I LOVED THIS APPROACH SO MUCH!
I liked CS at the end despite agreein it's the worst part. The reused level design wit these controls is so unique in a fun way despite the awkwardness. That Should prob control either more like pure boost(say colors) or the open zone(FUCK THE DRIFT STAGE THO). No more SS/CP(I've given up on GH lol). While the 2D stages were the worst part of CS(I have NO issue wit 2D in modern Sonic AT ALL) for me I really liked it in Chaos Island(really adds to the Chaos lol) tho I admit it can be a bit much sometimes & ur not always afforded an easy exit when u enter accidentally. Chaos also prob should've had a diff sign to indicate if there was a collectable or a traversal object(i.e. springs etc.) to cyloop on the ground. I liked Unleashed combat more(despite not bein the best at DMC/GoW kind've games) but Frontiers has a mostly simpler "Sonic'y" approach that'll prob work for more ppl especially cus it's more directly integrated without havin to "completely change character/playstyle"(tho the parry is a bit too easy to use especially on hard where at least there they def could've tightened the window a bit). I think the last 2 "Islands" should've stayed as 1 but SEGA prob really wanted that "5 Island" headline as a strong markettin ploy. I also really liked the Final Final boss bein a Toho bullet-hell Ikaruga kinda thing(felt like somethin outta Nier). Though I did get the feelin playin it there was somethin missin(like there was supposed to be 1 extra faze that would truly cap it off that was left out purposefully). I think boost in Open Zone is nice but could do more, 1. Make the "super boost" mode after Ring collectin allow u to walk on water, 2. Let that same boost damage enemies a little(like a combo starter). It's def weird that that the boost won't jus go without needin the stick & I'm not the biggest fan. More carry over from jumps like other boost games would help immensely. Arcade mode could def use additions in the form of Boss Rush, the pinball minigame, & toho space shootin. GIVE ME PROPER DRIFT FOR CS AT LEAST! I'm sry for the paragraph but I needed to air my grievances/worries before I switch gears &... CONTINUE TO PRAISE THE FUCK OUTTA THIS GAME CUS SONIC IS TRULY BACK BABY WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Feeling like shit for the longest of times, gonna watch a bit and then head to bed. This notification made me cry and I don't no why. Sorry for rambling a bit hope you are doing well.
After multiple playthroughs of the game since it released, Frontiers is up there as one of my top favorite Sonic games. The open zone gameplay, along with its story, is what sold it for me since I had so much fun with exploring the islands and doing things at my own pace. Being able to adjust Sonic's controls to however you see fit is a quality of life improvement that I hope is a main-stay for the series. The only thing I didn't like about the game is the cyberspace levels and how janky and stiff Sonic controls in them. I wouldn't mind if Sonic Team gets rid of those levels and the boost formula as a whole in the next mainline Sonic game. I'm also excited for the upcoming updates, one of which enables you to play as Tails, Knuckles and Amy and adds more story to the game.
It's creepy that people would feel threatened over criticism of something they like. Video Games are a form of entertainment, not a lifestyle. Having passion for something you like is fine, but if it results in childish arguments or far worse, threats, then you are fucked in the head and got some SERIOUS growing up to do...
@@HiyaImGeo exactly and sadly it's not limited to Sonic fans at all it's come to a point where anything remotely popular has these types of fanatics. There's still tons of good in these fanbases but you gotta dig a little to find it lol
@@HiyaImGeo the reason fans are so sensitive is because Sega is hypersensitive to criticism but they never know what lesson to actually learn. People complained about multiple playable characters so despite every game using multiple gimmicks, they completely dropped the side characters since unleashed barring project shadow and the OC in forces. People complained about the melodramatic tone in the old games so we got a decade of baldy mcnosehair. When they did finally try to change the tone back, we got forces. People complained that they wanted boost back so we again got forces. People want Sega to stick with a style of game that is remotely good long enough to actually improve on a formula which is something heavy criticism threatens
@@buffkangaroodog I’d like to think though that the success and overall verbal praise this game is getting is breaking that mold. Frontiers is even having a strong spot in the Player’s Voice Award at the VGAs. If SEGA doesn’t see that then they are blinder than an earthworm
I don't think the cutscenes are really that good. They kinda went with the whole "and then everyone stood around" think that they've done since Unleashed with the incredibly stilted animations (though I will say Unleashed was still a fair bit better about it than the games that followed). These hand animated cutscenes just really haven't aged well animation wise to mocapping. Plus their acting is a bit too lifeless at times. I think it was the right move to move farther away from baldy nose hair and "what's the BBBE", but I feel they may have course corrected a bit too far. I like it when Sonic is comedic but knows when something is deep enough to be serious.
You’re not alone on the voice acting. I too think that Roger Craig Smith is just a miscasted choice for Sonic. And they should definitely get Ryan Drummond back. His voice for the hedgehog sounded better, and more fluid. No offense to Roger though.
Jason was pretty good and was let go of as soon as he perfected the role of Sonic. I adore Ryan Bartley as Sage seeing as she is the voice of Ram in Re zero.
36:06 You are able to manually increase Sonic’s base speed. Unless that was added in an update later? Either way, I think it’s stupid to make your character automatically play bad, forcing players to increase it manually.
I just like the fact I don't have to play as Sonic when he was a speedy bulldozer and sure The End is not what it is expected, but you know what that makes me quite intrigued the more I looked into it. But yeah, Sonic Team should leave the 2D perspective altogether and go full 3D as they used to do before. It's a good fun time of a game, it doesn't need to win any Oscar or anything, just good enough.
I heard some info on Roger's Sonic voice, along with other characters were a lot more toned down and even deeper to an extent because they were planning to age up the characters. This is only a rumor I heard, but if it is true then that makes a lot more sense for how Roger sounds. Honestly I still liked it overall, even if Ryan does fit a lot better.
Personally I don't see a problem with needing to hold the stick forward while boosting. Honestly I kinda always irked me that you didn't have to before. But no I doubt they were seriously considering analog boost. I think it's fairly clear looking at the game it was made with Switch in mind first and everything else got some polish on it. This sure as hell is no next gen looking game, it was clearly made with the Switch in mind and the pop-in is likely a side effect of managing for the Switch's anemic memory pool.
They took away boost dealing damage as its been a crutch on game design since it first showed up. If boosting takes you straight through enemies, how exactly do you trap the player, what exactly can we do to add a challenge? If enemies can't be the challenge you get more bottomless pits, nonsensical level designs, and enemies will bull ranged attacks. I mean what else can you do. Just look at every boost game and notice how the boost makes 90% of enemies completely pointless.
I dont really feel like writing a paragraph rn and i bet no one feels like reading one. So here is just some info for all of you The speed stat only increases boost speed, not regular running speed. With a maxed out speed stat sonic always moves as fast as he does with full rings. So a sonic with a 0 in speed but with full rings moves just as fast as a sonic with max speed. Speed stat only affects boost speed when you arent at max rings. As for what rings do, i think its more health but dont quote me on that, its definitely more time in titan boss fights but thats a given.
1:13:04 /j The End in Sonic Superstars be like: No, but seriously, I don’t get the criticism. It’s obvious that The End isn’t referring to Infinite the character.
I feel like I'm going crazy because i can't find other people taking about it, but am i the only person who really struggled with giganto? It seemed insanely buggy with Sonic and especially the camera constantly clipping into them or the view shifting to something completely random. The instakill qte also had a stupidly short time window, even after i switched to an easier difficulty. I'm playing on PS4, maybe there's something wrong with this version?
That conclusion about the game being too long to play through again is exactly a point Late Night Gaming made about a month before Frontiers came out. He was talking in general about the open world effect where they reboot a franchise with open world features. From his experience and those he hears from, people love open worlds, people almost always say they had more fun with the open world game than the linear ones, and feel it was more worth their money. But in the end people rarely ever seem to replay them. Go ask people how many times they've replayed Wind Waker and Twilight Princess, then Breath of the Wild. People almost always say they loved BotW when they played it, but they either never went back, or only went back once. It's a common trend in the open world format. But I totally agree on people oddly defending a lower quality product. This game had a 5 year development period and still ended up in a rather sloppy state. This was especially the time to bring back physics but they chose not to. They chose to just repaste old level layouts in Cyberspace. And they had 5 years to add in LODs for objects instead of pop-in. They chose not to. This is a AAA developer and have franchises like Yakuza and Persona being nearly in the upper echelon of games. Yet we're okay with Sonic being "good enough". If we just let them get away with it, it will never change.
Sonic DOES have momentum physics. Being able to stop on a dime is, simply put, for control reasons. Sonic was insanely slippery before and an open area with gens control would be awful. The magnet ground is annoying but ultimately it's there to keep you from going flying every time you boost with max rings. This is only the case with terrain, as objects don't have this magnetic property. It is actually pretty fun trying to get around by flinging yourself off of stuff but I'm glad the entire ground can't do it. To recap though, the game does have momentum. You do run faster downhill than up, even if only slightly
i remember getting downvoted on a reddit comment because i said frontiers still doesnt look that good despite all the info we got lol, and a couple people just kept calling me ignorant and pessimistic, and all i said was "this is the same thing that happened with forces, have fun when frontiers comes out". credit to frontiers, its a million times better than forces (id honestly rather play 06 again than forces, a hilariously bad game is infinitely more fun than a mind numbingly boring game with no substance or passion)
Beat the game myself, and overall, I think it’s good but has some thing’s I didn’t like. - Abilities not being activated at some point’s, like the Air-Boost after Double-Jump doesn’t work sometime’s. - DropDash not being able to move freely and is more tilting to move which I’m not a fan of. - Cyberspace, due to the worser physic’s and the 1st Sky Sanctuary Zone time (terrible imo). - Elder Ko ko (what’s it called and which one was it?) not letting me level all my stat’s right away. - Super Sonic not being playable in the “open zone”.
@@75JUNAKI nah idk what people you're around tbh the main complaint is how easy S ranking cyberspace stages are and 1-2 is the best because of how strict it is
I honestly liked a lot of small parts of this game, like most of the writing, titan bosses, and the open world control etc. But I felt like this game was not worth a half a decade wait. The controls in the cyberspace are not great, and the same 4 level themes for it are super lame and unexciting. The level design overall was very mediocre (they use like the same exact platform for all the platforming in the open zone). And I felt like, despite the character interactions/development in the story, the plot itself was very underwhelming. Like Eggman was barely in it (cutscene wise, I know about the egg memos). And the final boss was just a joke. I think stuff like the combat and puzzles were fine, but not amazing. Which led to overall gameplay loop getting rather boring to me, especially because of the level design. I felt there was not much to do, outside of just running and jumping everywhere. The game might have needed more fun challenges and stuff like that. I think this game is good, but overall it isn't exactly what I wanted the game to be, and the latter part of the game is pretty lazily put together, by reusing the same island twice. I feel like Sonic Team needs more employees to make a better game with a scope like this, but for now the future of the Sonic series looks rather murky to me, not bad, but not amazing either. That's all, it's a fun game, has good writing, but doesn't leave much of an impact on me.
Honestly my dude, it's your channel and you can complain about what you want. I think most people are just "you said your piece move on." But, eh, I watch your reviews for your content, critique and opinion. Course I think attacking people and getting irrationally angry is just... how the internet conditions people to behave. Also from the way it was told to me, Ian Flynn had nothing to do with the story, Sega already had something and kinda dropped it in Ian's lap and went "Make them sound right" and went back to the SEGA dimension to make the game, so he had little to no input nor was it 'his story'. As a long time sonic fan myself, I am the kinda fan who just, looks in on sonic as a friend who is struggling really hard but keeps slipping back into substance abuse where its more of a tragedy than anything else. I just, keep hoping things will get better eventually. As for Frontiers, the dialog was snappy the story was interesting, the game didn't seem fully optimized or realized and the controls were... weird, floaty, it just... felt really wrong. Honestly I am wondering if Sega rebuilt the Hedgehog Engine into a masterclass of speed and physics and do what capcom is doing, remake all the mainstay games and fix their problems, make a coherent story, ship it out to people who care. I'd like to see some of the 'failures' fixed, tweaked, I'd like an actually good Sonic 06 and Shadow the hedgehog.
Ok then, you wanted it, so you shall get it. Here's my *massive* paragraph about how much I prefer Roger's voice over the previous actors: I'm joking of course but here are some of my thoughts: He's good and I think I like the more "normal" sounding voice better than the over-the-top cartoony ones (not that the previous actors were bad or anything). Also because the game's graphics and atmosphere get more realistic with time as well as the story being more serious, I think it fits really well. Further I think that speech is always evolving with every passing generation, so I don't believe you could release a game today without reworking voice qualities, dialogue and especially the humor. They kinda have to adapt to today's new target audiences as well as the ones that grew up with the older Sonic games, like finding common grounds and working with that. Side note: as a native German speaker though, I'd advise to NEVER ever play the German dub. I endured it for about ten minutes and happily switched to Roger's voice immediately, lmao. Usually I think German dubs are pretty okay in games, but this time it sounded like they just got the script with no real context and were told "It's a kids game, so make ridiculous cartoony voices and sounds and get this over with" and I feel bad for German people maybe playing their first Sonic game and thinking it sucks because of the voice lines.
Man that short for voice acting... I'm disappointed 😔 Lol Edit: WAIT DON'T SWITCH TO JAPANSRE SCRIPT THEY COMPLETELY BUTCHRED SOMEHOW! YES ITS WEIRD BUT THEY SOMEHOW DID THE REVERSE AND MADE JAPANSE TRANSLATION NOT WORSE BECAUSE OF THE SCRIPT!
Now this is my opinion, I respect your opinion, I prefer Sonic Frontiers over Mario Odyssey, in fact I think Mario Galaxy is better then Odyssey based on controls. Sonic Frontiers made me like open worlds again because other open world games just feel boring, not Botw or Totk, those games have ways to make Traversing the world a lot of more. But Mario Odyssey, Skyrelme, hell maybe GTA made nit give a shit because how boring it can get, GTA is at its best with online multi-player and molding Community, but it doesn't excuse the fact something like Mario for me fucked up so bad with open worlds. I consider Frontiers to be the better game because how fun it is to run around the world. My biggest grabe with Frontiers is the missed Opportunity in online multi-player, to explore the star fall islands with your friends, hell maybe have modes like hide and seek, where the seeker starts in a cyber space level, giving everyone else a chance to find a place to hide. The hiders can run away from the seeker and you can have these fun chases, I'm also not a fan on how limiting the world can be. I wanted to go up the Ancient skyscraper in the last island but tye game doesn't let you for some dumb reason. My second biggest grape is something simmer, but Kronos island was supposed to be the first, fourth and fifth island all in one. I would've preferred that as a Bonus for beating the game. I have other issues as well but you pointed them out already, good video.
I heavily disagree with you about the boost. They neutered the boost because they are encouraging the players to explore instead of boosting to win. Frontiers is not a boost game and to judge the game based on that is unfair to the game it's self, it's like judging the adventure games for not being like the classic games.
and once again a youtuber views the defense squad thing as a one sided situation because yea its not like the positive people that arent defending the game with their life aren't being harassed too
@@coopercastille Yeah really the boost is not a boost anymore, it’s more of a sprint like this is such a non issue Sure the first time you realise it can be jarring but it really is not hard to get used to at all
We, the Sonic community, have been dealing with this hatred for almost 10 years now, we get wrongfully insulted, we get bullied for liking a game, and we are getting harassed for things we didn’t do, you don’t know how we feel, so you can’t speak on our behalf
I’m sorry but you lost me as soon as you said you didn’t care about the Sonic Boom TV show. That show is peak Fr tho I think it was a really interesting choice that they decided to go with the name “the ancients” in frontiers when that was the exact same thing a ancient race was called in Sonic Boom💀
I will never understand the sentiment people have towards Roger's Sonic voice. Ryan and Jason fucking sucked, the only time Jason was decent was in Unleashed. Roger's been the only one to do the character justice and that's mostly because of the absolute snark and sarcasm in his voice, but hey that's just my two cents.
What was your favorite part of Sonic Frontiers?
Story. Especially Sage's.
Definitely the titans boss fights
Climbing up the structures mostly. Has some of low floor. High skill celling platforming I love.
The part where Sonic Frontiered all over the frontier!
Jk it was the music, Knuckles and the Final boss
My favorite part of Frontiers is the open zone gameplay. I have so much fun exploring the islands, collecting various trinkets and taking down mini-bosses. Meanwhile, I also love the story.
Cooper went through some character development ACTUALLY praising Jason Griffith as Sonic
I was surprised to hear that.
Jason delivered the best portrayal of Sonic to date in my opinion.
Jason is still Barney Sonic to me.
This will become a certified coop classic
I like how the opinion’s on Roger’s Sonic voice goes from “I like this new direction for the voice and he’s up there with Ryan and Jason” to “Roger Craig Smith killed my family”
Also just wanna say Ian Flynn did NOT write the plot of the story, he was there to write the dialogue from the story, the plot was already made at that point
actually, the english script is the original.
He did have alot of input in the overall plot
After watching the entire review, I'll say, you have made a good description to how I felt about the game. It was a fun game, like I enjoyed what the game tried to tell us more about the Sonic lore, one of the greatest stories ever since Adventure 2, however, the mechanics of the game, while alright, could've been reworked to ensure that it felt a little more polished, like omitting 2D sections in the Open Zone, Cyberspace, and seeing all the stuff from Green Hill, Chemical Plant and Sky Sanctuary, feels very weird. The voices, fit just fine with a handful, Roger's Sonic has been the most out-of-place voice of voicing the character, it doesn't work for someone who's suppose to be a teen, and this is coming from someone who's played the Adventure games and some of the modern titles.
The gameplay itself, very jank, like thanks to those DLCs, it includes the Spin Dash, which is unlocked through the Chain Challenges, and you can snap the game in half with how wonky the physics are that you can send yourself off in to the air, that's how busted the Spin Dash is, also button combination is weird to initiate it.
Overall, great review! I know this is after the DLC 1 and 2, and now soon, DLC 3, but you've done an amazing job! Don't let the Sonic fanbase let you down, your reviews are great and show how much passion you have for a series you love. I love Sonic as well, I just wish he was handled with as much love as the fans have, at least the good side of that fandom
That last message to sonic fans was comedy gold, but 100% true at the exact same time, actual feel that about the ost in cyberspace at times going so hard but the stages don't have the same feel with how slow they are. Amen to 1-4 being a god tier track.
Well my first Coop review with a whole new identity, I missed watching these. Happy to see back at it Coop!
This review was comedy gold Coop!
Glad you included the little tangent about the fanbase on Twitter at the end as well. Criticism should be just as equally respected as praise as long as that criticism comes from those who genuinely want the series to improve or see the potential in the franchise. Bad faith criticism or people who make blanket statements saying things like “Sonic never worked in 3D” or “Sonic was never good” should obviously be ignored, but I think most fans or Sonic content creators definitely dish out reasonable criticism. You yourself made some good points about wanting a more fitting Sonic VA, less reuse of level themes and assets, and more fluid control/movement that I agree with!
First off I just wanna say thank you for sharing your experience with Sonic Frontiers and creating this review. Some of the weird things you mentioned that occur in this game, I wasn't aware of when I first played this game. Like I didn't know about them until I watched this entire review. lol. I've watched some of your other reviews too before, and I greatly respect of how honest, insightful, critical and in-depth you can be when you review video games, especially for Sonic games. So BIG props to you for that! Great work on the review! 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👍🏼
How do you feel about Sonic's voice in prime so far? Deven Mack imo is the perfect voice for Sonic if we're never getting Ryan (or Jason) back. He sounds like a natural progression from past actors its great.
Exactly!
I don't begrudge anyone their opinion, but I feel that the cyberspace levels are misunderstood and underrated. I've loved them, and I find their biggest flaw is that the s ranks don't push players to play them in the most fun way, which is to try to use this game's unique version of momentum (homing attack dash cancels and other similar techniques) to skip past large sections of each level at crazy speed. I can't be certain that it was the developers intention but it certainly makes them fun to me, and makes me not mind that the layouts are reused. In many ways this feels to me like an extension of what makes the moveset fun in the overworld. The rails and pads and other various "gimmicks" are there to get character tokens, or to go for rings/red rings in cyberspace, but it's always faster and trickier to go around them and use only a select few to keep your speed up or launch yourself. I also have come to appreciate the nerfed boost. It is still essential to gaining momentum, but it does not give it to you for free. For momentum you need some kind of traction, either from sonic directly touching something and boosting off of it, rolling down a slope (should be more momentum for this, but it is there), or from the "pull" of the homing attack. This in practice causes you to have to interact with the level or an enemy to get Sonic to a really high speed, rather than being able to generate max speed out of thin air with the boost alone. Unless you have blasted yourself off with great momentum, flying through the air is usually slower than boosting on the ground or grinding, making the stomp and drop dash more useful for retaining speed, because for the first time it is often better to get sonic back to the ground than to fly through the air as much as possible. Homing attack chains are no longer a braindead way to keep going fast, and now you have to engage with them more sparingly and thoughtfully, or you will be slowed down. This is also the first time I can remember where the smaller tighter finickier sections of platforming don't have too much momentum and speed, and it feels like because of some of the sacrifices to momentum, you can actually be precise sometimes when you aren't on rails. I feel like if some of these design choices were intentional, rather than done out of some limitation, they make sense from the perspective of them trying to de emphasize the automated segments as the fastest segments, perhaps in an attempt to respond to the longstanding complaints about 3d sonic games playing themselves too much.
Anyway, tldr, I like cyberspace and just want some really demanding time challenges for them, which I think would make them shine. That said, none of this is intended to argue anyone out of their own opinion, only state my own.
Thank you, I thought I was the only one thinking Roger's voice here was not good at all.
Many people gaslighted themselves, thinking "the script is more mature, so now Roger sounds convincing and everyone must admit is a great Sonic!"... like, no. Roger here sounds like he was constantly keeping his mouth in a "0" shape while reading his lines.
People liking roger's sonic in frontiers isn't them gaslighting themself lol
33:35 I'm 99% sure that Lost World's engine is based off of Colors' engine, both games actually make use of a modified Hedgehog Engine (though Colors only uses the non-graphical parts of it)
OH, and in Frontiers slope jumping along with running faster/slower based on slope angle are quite literally just changing a couple numbers in the game, I am not joking, I've done it myself.
57:05 who’s gonna tell him about update 3?
The electric boost does make you move faster and i think it improves your combat abilities a little.
Also i don't mind the boost working the way it does now since i got used to that kind of boost thanks to spark 2 and i find it surprisingly fun as just a start to gain speed and not something to rely on as well as a tool to navigate. Feels far more useful to change directions in an instant, gain extra air or vertically when moving.
Basically it forces me to get creative with the level design as i see it.
I second that. I also think it's good that you can't just bowl enemies over with Frontiers' Boost, and you actually have to fight them. Granted, I think the fight system in open-zone areas needs some work, but it's more satisfying than just treating the enemies as Boost fodder.
Brilliant review as always. Love your game reviews.
I don't have a problem with the boost working the way it does because the old boost was designed for linear levels where the goal is to move from the start of the level to the end as quickly as possible. This is open world (or open zone) where the level design is mostly nonlinear. Most of Sonic's new controls have been designed to give the player as much control over Sonic as possible to make traversing these nonlinear levels easier. And while I think they definitely overcorrected a bit, I still prefer these slightly janky new controls over something like Unleashed physics. The islands would be a nightmare to travel with unleashed and generations physics. Really the biggest problem with the new controls pops up in cyberspace where they take this control scheme meant for the new level design and apply it to the old level design which doesn't really work as well. But at the same time, I actually found it really fun to work around the jank. Like, I had to gain a fundemental understanding of the game's controls in order to optimize my runs as much as possible to get the S ranks in each level, making it incredibly satisfying when I achieved it after several failed attempts.
Sonic Frontiers is truly the Sonic game of all time
I agree with you on Roger 100%, right down to loving his characters on regular show. His voice has never worked as Sonic, he was hired at a time when Sega wanted to entirely soft reboot the entire series into something it wasn’t in the aftershock of 06. I used to agree with the sentiment that he could potentially do a more serious sonic or that good writing could make him sound better, but after Frontiers I really don’t think he can pull it off. I liked some of his lines though.
21:48
Honestly, this makes me happy
I really loved West in Time Force afterall
22:52 i have been waiting for this for 5 years
Cyberspace definitely grew on me, I found myself replaying arcade mode a fair bit, but I hope they either drop it or improve it in the next game because the open worlds were really fun.
I prefer they keep linear Sonic levels if there's a sequel to this kind of Sonic game. They're a good break from the Open-Zone gameplay, and their inclusion makes me see the whole game as an upgrade to the concept first seen in Sonic Adventure 1.
This video truly is Cooper's Perspective Reincarnated
And I loved it
Virgin jwedag1 vs chad coopercastille
I was too harsh on yakkocmn
God it’s been so long since I saw a Sonic review video in this length from you. I’ve been watching your channel since the cooper’s perspective series started on Sonic and have been watching after it ended. It’s weird and yet refreshing seeing the series in a much better and more exciting era than where we were 5-6 years ago. Frontiers has its issues but to me despite them I quite like the game and actually think it’s good and I’m happy to know you liked it too. Idk it’s weird how this is probably the first time where I’m actually excited for the future of the series so long as Sega doesn’t mess with Sonic Team to this degree. Great review
1:16:05 I'm calling it the playable characters + story are either going to be...
A.) Sonic Generations like missions were sonic's friends help in a new mission mode.
Or.
B.) There only going to make 3 levels for each character. And see what they have been doing in Saber space. And the story will probably be like mania plus where they try to set up the story but it falls when you get to green hills zone and after that it's not nonexistent.
Well now with update 2 it seems that the characters are going to have full movesets and skill trees. Were still not sure how they are going to implement them though
@@yourself1210true. I'm happy to eat my own words.
16:37
Technically, we did meat her already. Sure Rio 2016 and Runners are most likely non-canon. She does also appear in a Sonic Channel comic book story that takes place in the main series cannon to celebrate Sonic’s 25th anniversary. The comic got an english translation in a Tomy Modern & Classic Tails comic book two pack. It was done to replace an Archie Sonic comic when that got cancelled. So we got to see what main series Sticks acts like.
She is also partially created by Sonic Team, similar to the IDW characters who were changed up a little by them, so Sonic Team are probably more comfortable acknowledging them unlike Sally Acorn or whatever.
Wut Sonic team needs is MANPOWER. We have a team of 60(almost mostly newby sonic) devs workin on a AAA GAME while also havin to release the game on almost EVERY DEVICE under the sun(OG Xbone/PS4-Series X/PS5, THE SWITCH, & PC), While doin wut Sonic Team does best doin somethin completely diff that No ones done before(atleast not quite like them). It's hard to compare to somethin like GoW: Ragnarok which has the EXACT opposite situation i.e. HAS EVERYTHIN goin for it. But while not exactly even a 9 for me I love this game & the overall direction of the franchise & if they take the bulk of the criticisms (which they prob will) & SEGA HIRES MORE they'll do Amazin next time(I alr believe they did great despite it bein ROUGH imo).
I have a few issues wit the story like wit wut they do wit Tails feels like an overcorrection for the past decade & that part in particular feels like Ian Flynn bein like "HEY LOOK AT ME I'M FIXIN IT THAT'S COOL RIGHT?" Completely forgettin Tails HAS been on his own before like say UNLEASHED. Tails was done "well" for the most part I feel but it wasn't so much execution or intentions but direction that bothers me. Puttin so much attention to the "inconsistency" doesn't help & only tends to backtrack his character to Adv 1 days which now that I think bout it might be the point for everyone to some degree. A spiritual reset that only regards the 2010's beyond the offhand reference cus that's wut ppl didn't like. U can def tell Ian Flynn is tryin little by little is tryin to insert HIS SONIC into the writin & even shows this wit the random refences to boom/idw stuff that wasn't a thing before like tangle/sticks. He's luckily bein held back by the overall plot by SEGA he still has to work under but who knows how long that'll last. Sometimes the writin feels like the WRITERS talkin to u DIRECTLY instead of lettin it jus play out in the story naturally. I'd have jus done Sonic lookin behind tails in slight amazement before smirkin at how focused tails is at the task. The references R great & I LOVE the continuity but that suffers a similar issue to a less egregious degree like when they haphazardly mentioned Dark Gaia jus cus they couldn't find a better way to integrate it. It jus feels so tongue in cheek like "don't wanna piss off unleashed fans"(I'm Unleashed fans & I'm pissed now so good job). Also Sages' relationship wit Eggman while endearin comes off a little cheep & is also HELLA inconsistent wit the egghead for the past 30+yrs(I do like Sage though). Knuckles was good don't get me wrong but he's def the more openly introverted type than Sonic is so him outright sayin he envies Sonic feels slightly out of character & I don't think it would be that hard to "fix" this, jus change/add a few parts while keepin the same overall conversation. Amy feels like her Boom self to an extent which makes sense but I think that's fine since Boom Amy is my fav ver(She actually was wut got me to like/understand main Amy after hatin her for yrs lol)but I will miss her more loud hyperactive self in the older 3D games(such character progression on my part lol). . Initially I was worried for the story CUS It was Ian Flynn, I got a love hate relationship wit his writin in IDW after bingin the past 50 odd issues. He created & I kid u not THE ABSOLUTE WORST "SONIC" I HAVE EVER SEEN IN MY LIFE! I CAN'T EVEN SAY IT'S ACTUALLY SONIC JUS SOME OBOMINATION THAT WEARS HIS SKIN THERE TO FRAME HIMSELF AS SUCH! But aside from mostly that in particular I can't deny he & his team know the characters really well for the most part. He's a really "good" writer but not the best "Sonic" writer imo. I'll say that while NOT "perfect" Frontiers Sonic is technically much better than before(even though I don't hate meta era Sonic lol(aside from Lost world). He feels like a nice in-between of OG/Meta era Sonic which is nice (Meta era Sonic has never outright gone against anythin that makes sonic, sonic & surprisingly keep a lot intact in the most subtle of ways despite the writers mostly never bein that familiar wit the games till maybe forces). This game from gameplay to story is the most ambitious since 06 & the third most ambitious of ALL the games under Adventure 1/06 & Imo it succeeds at it overall & I'm excited for the next thing to come but all this has made me come to a realization... Western writers shouldn't touch sonic games no matter how well they know the universe/characters or how "good" of a writer they R. I think it'd be best to jus leave it to Japanese writers mainly CUS of the way they write (that in particular is somethin hard to explain even if u're a weeb like me lol). They seemed to have a "finesse" to writin Sonic not jus in games but any media by them & always keep consistent to a surprisin degree(there felt like unspoken nuance to it). Western writers can't do it the same cus their priorities R diff. Sonic from the beginnin has always had trouble from the first game wit translatin himself over & funnily enough it wasn't till 06 where that was finally bein fixed for the main games but that only lasted till 2010 where SEGA tried addressin ppl's "issues" wit 2000's Sonic stuff & we're only jus fixin it now after a decade cus they were too afraid. & by usin Ian Flynn for writin it shows they still somewhat R. I jus hope the award they'll get for this doesn't get taken too far like wit Lost-World/Forces but the difference is the issues now will be so subtle unlike before even Sonic fans won't see an issue overall. I really liked the more questions than answers approach lore stuff with the Emeralds. I don't EVER want a true answer on wut they R or where they come from beyond the vaguest possibilities. From wut I can tell the ancients didn't CREATE them they jus used them before anyone we've known up to this point(which kinda leaves the Gaia temples up in the air but whateves ig). & EVEN THEN the M.E. IS STILL a HUGE MYSTERY cus IT WAS ON EARTH 1ST! I was initially VERY worried but save for wut may come in the future I LOVED THIS APPROACH SO MUCH!
I liked CS at the end despite agreein it's the worst part. The reused level design wit these controls is so unique in a fun way despite the awkwardness. That Should prob control either more like pure boost(say colors) or the open zone(FUCK THE DRIFT STAGE THO). No more SS/CP(I've given up on GH lol). While the 2D stages were the worst part of CS(I have NO issue wit 2D in modern Sonic AT ALL) for me I really liked it in Chaos Island(really adds to the Chaos lol) tho I admit it can be a bit much sometimes & ur not always afforded an easy exit when u enter accidentally. Chaos also prob should've had a diff sign to indicate if there was a collectable or a traversal object(i.e. springs etc.) to cyloop on the ground. I liked Unleashed combat more(despite not bein the best at DMC/GoW kind've games) but Frontiers has a mostly simpler "Sonic'y" approach that'll prob work for more ppl especially cus it's more directly integrated without havin to "completely change character/playstyle"(tho the parry is a bit too easy to use especially on hard where at least there they def could've tightened the window a bit). I think the last 2 "Islands" should've stayed as 1 but SEGA prob really wanted that "5 Island" headline as a strong markettin ploy. I also really liked the Final Final boss bein a Toho bullet-hell Ikaruga kinda thing(felt like somethin outta Nier). Though I did get the feelin playin it there was somethin missin(like there was supposed to be 1 extra faze that would truly cap it off that was left out purposefully). I think boost in Open Zone is nice but could do more, 1. Make the "super boost" mode after Ring collectin allow u to walk on water, 2. Let that same boost damage enemies a little(like a combo starter). It's def weird that that the boost won't jus go without needin the stick & I'm not the biggest fan. More carry over from jumps like other boost games would help immensely. Arcade mode could def use additions in the form of Boss Rush, the pinball minigame, & toho space shootin. GIVE ME PROPER DRIFT FOR CS AT LEAST!
I'm sry for the paragraph but I needed to air my grievances/worries before I switch gears &... CONTINUE TO PRAISE THE FUCK OUTTA THIS GAME CUS SONIC IS TRULY BACK BABY WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
the sticks reference makes the game for me 🧡 amazing
Feeling like shit for the longest of times, gonna watch a bit and then head to bed. This notification made me cry and I don't no why. Sorry for rambling a bit hope you are doing well.
awesome video, Coop
Not a bad review tbh. I don't have the game yet...but the game ain't looking bad at all. Thank Christ Pontac and Graff are out of the series
Idk about anyone else but I would think about death and the afterlife a lot when I was 15 lol, I’ve always been one to question things about life
16:44
We actually already saw modern sticks in some comics from the japanense sonic website, sonic channel(she appears in 3 of them)
After multiple playthroughs of the game since it released, Frontiers is up there as one of my top favorite Sonic games. The open zone gameplay, along with its story, is what sold it for me since I had so much fun with exploring the islands and doing things at my own pace. Being able to adjust Sonic's controls to however you see fit is a quality of life improvement that I hope is a main-stay for the series. The only thing I didn't like about the game is the cyberspace levels and how janky and stiff Sonic controls in them. I wouldn't mind if Sonic Team gets rid of those levels and the boost formula as a whole in the next mainline Sonic game. I'm also excited for the upcoming updates, one of which enables you to play as Tails, Knuckles and Amy and adds more story to the game.
That last segment was nothing but facts like dang, Sonic fans really do be defending these games like their lives depended on it
It's creepy that people would feel threatened over criticism of something they like. Video Games are a form of entertainment, not a lifestyle. Having passion for something you like is fine, but if it results in childish arguments or far worse, threats, then you are fucked in the head and got some SERIOUS growing up to do...
@@HiyaImGeo exactly and sadly it's not limited to Sonic fans at all it's come to a point where anything remotely popular has these types of fanatics. There's still tons of good in these fanbases but you gotta dig a little to find it lol
@@HiyaImGeo the reason fans are so sensitive is because Sega is hypersensitive to criticism but they never know what lesson to actually learn. People complained about multiple playable characters so despite every game using multiple gimmicks, they completely dropped the side characters since unleashed barring project shadow and the OC in forces. People complained about the melodramatic tone in the old games so we got a decade of baldy mcnosehair. When they did finally try to change the tone back, we got forces. People complained that they wanted boost back so we again got forces. People want Sega to stick with a style of game that is remotely good long enough to actually improve on a formula which is something heavy criticism threatens
@@buffkangaroodog I’d like to think though that the success and overall verbal praise this game is getting is breaking that mold. Frontiers is even having a strong spot in the Player’s Voice Award at the VGAs. If SEGA doesn’t see that then they are blinder than an earthworm
boy coming back to this...
cooper is gonna shit himself when he sees what update 2 did
Hi Coop I love this and I hope you have a good day and you are awesome
Eggman questioning sage’s pronouns is freaking great!
Also just let Ben voice Sonic in the games!
1:22:19
That last comment.
I wonder if it was spelled like that to just be ironic.
I don't think the cutscenes are really that good. They kinda went with the whole "and then everyone stood around" think that they've done since Unleashed with the incredibly stilted animations (though I will say Unleashed was still a fair bit better about it than the games that followed). These hand animated cutscenes just really haven't aged well animation wise to mocapping. Plus their acting is a bit too lifeless at times. I think it was the right move to move farther away from baldy nose hair and "what's the BBBE", but I feel they may have course corrected a bit too far. I like it when Sonic is comedic but knows when something is deep enough to be serious.
You’re not alone on the voice acting. I too think that Roger Craig Smith is just a miscasted choice for Sonic. And they should definitely get Ryan Drummond back. His voice for the hedgehog sounded better, and more fluid. No offense to Roger though.
Jason was pretty good and was let go of as soon as he perfected the role of Sonic. I adore Ryan Bartley as Sage seeing as she is the voice of Ram in Re zero.
@Mushi Hime Ben Schwartz would be perfect for Sonic
Camera Control 40:37
36:06
You are able to manually increase Sonic’s base speed. Unless that was added in an update later?
Either way, I think it’s stupid to make your character automatically play bad, forcing players to increase it manually.
Why does everyone SKIP the fact RCS voiced the best character in video games... CHRIIIIIIIIIIIISSSSSSSSSS!
I just like the fact I don't have to play as Sonic when he was a speedy bulldozer and sure The End is not what it is expected, but you know what that makes me quite intrigued the more I looked into it. But yeah, Sonic Team should leave the 2D perspective altogether and go full 3D as they used to do before. It's a good fun time of a game, it doesn't need to win any Oscar or anything, just good enough.
I heard some info on Roger's Sonic voice, along with other characters were a lot more toned down and even deeper to an extent because they were planning to age up the characters. This is only a rumor I heard, but if it is true then that makes a lot more sense for how Roger sounds. Honestly I still liked it overall, even if Ryan does fit a lot better.
1:13:10
It actually said that?
I don’t know why it said it.
I think Deven Mack should be sonic in the games he's the best sonic right now and I'd think he'd be great
Personally I don't see a problem with needing to hold the stick forward while boosting. Honestly I kinda always irked me that you didn't have to before. But no I doubt they were seriously considering analog boost. I think it's fairly clear looking at the game it was made with Switch in mind first and everything else got some polish on it. This sure as hell is no next gen looking game, it was clearly made with the Switch in mind and the pop-in is likely a side effect of managing for the Switch's anemic memory pool.
They took away boost dealing damage as its been a crutch on game design since it first showed up. If boosting takes you straight through enemies, how exactly do you trap the player, what exactly can we do to add a challenge? If enemies can't be the challenge you get more bottomless pits, nonsensical level designs, and enemies will bull ranged attacks. I mean what else can you do. Just look at every boost game and notice how the boost makes 90% of enemies completely pointless.
Unwiished solved it with electric enemies and enemies with shields.
I dont really feel like writing a paragraph rn and i bet no one feels like reading one. So here is just some info for all of you
The speed stat only increases boost speed, not regular running speed. With a maxed out speed stat sonic always moves as fast as he does with full rings. So a sonic with a 0 in speed but with full rings moves just as fast as a sonic with max speed. Speed stat only affects boost speed when you arent at max rings.
As for what rings do, i think its more health but dont quote me on that, its definitely more time in titan boss fights but thats a given.
1:13:04
/j The End in Sonic Superstars be like:
No, but seriously, I don’t get the criticism. It’s obvious that The End isn’t referring to Infinite the character.
I feel like I'm going crazy because i can't find other people taking about it, but am i the only person who really struggled with giganto? It seemed insanely buggy with Sonic and especially the camera constantly clipping into them or the view shifting to something completely random. The instakill qte also had a stupidly short time window, even after i switched to an easier difficulty. I'm playing on PS4, maybe there's something wrong with this version?
I also played on PS4 and didn't really have any trouble with any of the Titan fights. Not sure what could have been going wrong for you
57:28 “Kellin Quinn of Sleeping Quinn”
I think you meant to say Sleeping with Sirens? Unless that was a joke I didn’t get
Listen,
_Devin Mack taking over Sonic for the games would be sick as hell if Sonic Team doesn't pull Ryan or Jason back in._
Hoping to get this game nearly soon.
That conclusion about the game being too long to play through again is exactly a point Late Night Gaming made about a month before Frontiers came out. He was talking in general about the open world effect where they reboot a franchise with open world features. From his experience and those he hears from, people love open worlds, people almost always say they had more fun with the open world game than the linear ones, and feel it was more worth their money. But in the end people rarely ever seem to replay them.
Go ask people how many times they've replayed Wind Waker and Twilight Princess, then Breath of the Wild. People almost always say they loved BotW when they played it, but they either never went back, or only went back once. It's a common trend in the open world format.
But I totally agree on people oddly defending a lower quality product. This game had a 5 year development period and still ended up in a rather sloppy state. This was especially the time to bring back physics but they chose not to. They chose to just repaste old level layouts in Cyberspace. And they had 5 years to add in LODs for objects instead of pop-in. They chose not to. This is a AAA developer and have franchises like Yakuza and Persona being nearly in the upper echelon of games. Yet we're okay with Sonic being "good enough". If we just let them get away with it, it will never change.
45:43 Morio Kisimoto. Это всё вина Morio Kisimoto. Он там главный последние 12 лет. Idzuka уже ничего не решает
Sonic DOES have momentum physics. Being able to stop on a dime is, simply put, for control reasons. Sonic was insanely slippery before and an open area with gens control would be awful. The magnet ground is annoying but ultimately it's there to keep you from going flying every time you boost with max rings. This is only the case with terrain, as objects don't have this magnetic property. It is actually pretty fun trying to get around by flinging yourself off of stuff but I'm glad the entire ground can't do it. To recap though, the game does have momentum. You do run faster downhill than up, even if only slightly
I thought Sonic's voice acting was fine, only issue I had with it was the that he occasionally drifted back into "meta era sonic" voice.
Wait, Roger Craig Smith was in Regular Show? That’s news.
Remember coop everything is cannon so that means the multiplayer is cannon
Lol
i remember getting downvoted on a reddit comment because i said frontiers still doesnt look that good despite all the info we got lol, and a couple people just kept calling me ignorant and pessimistic, and all i said was "this is the same thing that happened with forces, have fun when frontiers comes out". credit to frontiers, its a million times better than forces (id honestly rather play 06 again than forces, a hilariously bad game is infinitely more fun than a mind numbingly boring game with no substance or passion)
Isn’t the base running speed dictated by the gameplay style you pick from the start? Which did you pick?
Beat the game myself, and overall, I think it’s good but has some thing’s I didn’t like.
- Abilities not being activated at some point’s, like the Air-Boost after Double-Jump doesn’t work sometime’s.
- DropDash not being able to move freely and is more tilting to move which I’m not a fan of.
- Cyberspace, due to the worser physic’s and the 1st Sky Sanctuary Zone time (terrible imo).
- Elder Ko ko (what’s it called and which one was it?) not letting me level all my stat’s right away.
- Super Sonic not being playable in the “open zone”.
1-2 is praised BECAUSE of the time lmao
@@kaosagamerreal
I heard people say otherwise.
@@75JUNAKI nah idk what people you're around tbh
the main complaint is how easy S ranking cyberspace stages are and 1-2 is the best because of how strict it is
@@kaosagamerreal
(I know I’m late late)
I’ve heard that the 1-2 is just too hard for an early special stage.
Fun fact: kronos rhea and ouranos was supouse to be 1 big island
Really like this game but maybe forces was so bad ill take anything (all jokes aside had a great time with this game)
I honestly liked a lot of small parts of this game, like most of the writing, titan bosses, and the open world control etc. But I felt like this game was not worth a half a decade wait.
The controls in the cyberspace are not great, and the same 4 level themes for it are super lame and unexciting. The level design overall was very mediocre (they use like the same exact platform for all the platforming in the open zone).
And I felt like, despite the character interactions/development in the story, the plot itself was very underwhelming. Like Eggman was barely in it (cutscene wise, I know about the egg memos). And the final boss was just a joke.
I think stuff like the combat and puzzles were fine, but not amazing. Which led to overall gameplay loop getting rather boring to me, especially because of the level design. I felt there was not much to do, outside of just running and jumping everywhere. The game might have needed more fun challenges and stuff like that.
I think this game is good, but overall it isn't exactly what I wanted the game to be, and the latter part of the game is pretty lazily put together, by reusing the same island twice.
I feel like Sonic Team needs more employees to make a better game with a scope like this, but for now the future of the Sonic series looks rather murky to me, not bad, but not amazing either.
That's all, it's a fun game, has good writing, but doesn't leave much of an impact on me.
Honestly my dude, it's your channel and you can complain about what you want. I think most people are just "you said your piece move on." But, eh, I watch your reviews for your content, critique and opinion. Course I think attacking people and getting irrationally angry is just... how the internet conditions people to behave.
Also from the way it was told to me, Ian Flynn had nothing to do with the story, Sega already had something and kinda dropped it in Ian's lap and went "Make them sound right" and went back to the SEGA dimension to make the game, so he had little to no input nor was it 'his story'.
As a long time sonic fan myself, I am the kinda fan who just, looks in on sonic as a friend who is struggling really hard but keeps slipping back into substance abuse where its more of a tragedy than anything else. I just, keep hoping things will get better eventually.
As for Frontiers, the dialog was snappy the story was interesting, the game didn't seem fully optimized or realized and the controls were... weird, floaty, it just... felt really wrong.
Honestly I am wondering if Sega rebuilt the Hedgehog Engine into a masterclass of speed and physics and do what capcom is doing, remake all the mainstay games and fix their problems, make a coherent story, ship it out to people who care. I'd like to see some of the 'failures' fixed, tweaked, I'd like an actually good Sonic 06 and Shadow the hedgehog.
I like this review and I personally agree with most things you say but I'm not getting the game because I want playable characters and slope physics
Ok then, you wanted it, so you shall get it. Here's my *massive* paragraph about how much I prefer Roger's voice over the previous actors:
I'm joking of course but here are some of my thoughts:
He's good and I think I like the more "normal" sounding voice better than the over-the-top cartoony ones (not that the previous actors were bad or anything). Also because the game's graphics and atmosphere get more realistic with time as well as the story being more serious, I think it fits really well. Further I think that speech is always evolving with every passing generation, so I don't believe you could release a game today without reworking voice qualities, dialogue and especially the humor. They kinda have to adapt to today's new target audiences as well as the ones that grew up with the older Sonic games, like finding common grounds and working with that.
Side note: as a native German speaker though, I'd advise to NEVER ever play the German dub. I endured it for about ten minutes and happily switched to Roger's voice immediately, lmao. Usually I think German dubs are pretty okay in games, but this time it sounded like they just got the script with no real context and were told "It's a kids game, so make ridiculous cartoony voices and sounds and get this over with" and I feel bad for German people maybe playing their first Sonic game and thinking it sucks because of the voice lines.
Finally 29:19
Man that short for voice acting... I'm disappointed 😔
Lol
Edit: WAIT DON'T SWITCH TO JAPANSRE SCRIPT THEY COMPLETELY BUTCHRED SOMEHOW! YES ITS WEIRD BUT THEY SOMEHOW DID THE REVERSE AND MADE JAPANSE TRANSLATION NOT WORSE BECAUSE OF THE SCRIPT!
What do you mean by that?
But c’mon they totally could have made “Sonic LostWorld + Zavok’s Fury” instead and it would have been a masterpiece
Big’s preforming koco trafficking
You should try Solar Ash, is a lot like this game. Some even said better
Now this is my opinion, I respect your opinion, I prefer Sonic Frontiers over Mario Odyssey, in fact I think Mario Galaxy is better then Odyssey based on controls. Sonic Frontiers made me like open worlds again because other open world games just feel boring, not Botw or Totk, those games have ways to make Traversing the world a lot of more. But Mario Odyssey, Skyrelme, hell maybe GTA made nit give a shit because how boring it can get, GTA is at its best with online multi-player and molding Community, but it doesn't excuse the fact something like Mario for me fucked up so bad with open worlds. I consider Frontiers to be the better game because how fun it is to run around the world.
My biggest grabe with Frontiers is the missed Opportunity in online multi-player, to explore the star fall islands with your friends, hell maybe have modes like hide and seek, where the seeker starts in a cyber space level, giving everyone else a chance to find a place to hide. The hiders can run away from the seeker and you can have these fun chases, I'm also not a fan on how limiting the world can be. I wanted to go up the Ancient skyscraper in the last island but tye game doesn't let you for some dumb reason.
My second biggest grape is something simmer, but Kronos island was supposed to be the first, fourth and fifth island all in one. I would've preferred that as a Bonus for beating the game.
I have other issues as well but you pointed them out already, good video.
I heavily disagree with you about the boost.
They neutered the boost because they are encouraging the players to explore instead of boosting to win.
Frontiers is not a boost game and to judge the game based on that is unfair to the game it's self, it's like judging the adventure games for not being like the classic games.
The title is bit confusing ngl..
Why the fuck sonic has blue arms in the thumbnail
and once again a youtuber views the defense squad thing as a one sided situation
because yea its not like the positive people that arent defending the game with their life aren't being harassed too
Sonic dimensions is 3d sonic done right.
35:38 this is the stupidest fucking complaint I’ve ever heard lmao
not really
@@coopercastille Yeah really the boost is not a boost anymore, it’s more of a sprint like this is such a non issue
Sure the first time you realise it can be jarring but it really is not hard to get used to at all
8:27
It's pronounced re-ah island not rey
We, the Sonic community, have been dealing with this hatred for almost 10 years now, we get wrongfully insulted, we get bullied for liking a game, and we are getting harassed for things we didn’t do, you don’t know how we feel, so you can’t speak on our behalf
Your video is great but calm down you make yourself very tired
I’m sorry but you lost me as soon as you said you didn’t care about the Sonic Boom TV show. That show is peak
Fr tho I think it was a really interesting choice that they decided to go with the name “the ancients” in frontiers when that was the exact same thing a ancient race was called in Sonic Boom💀
😭 Promo sm!!
L opinion on roger craig smith's vo
I’m sorry but I just kept screaming over and over during the physics section YOU CAN TWEAK THE PHYSICS IN GAME PLEASE PLEASE JUST USE THE SETTINGS
I will never understand the sentiment people have towards Roger's Sonic voice. Ryan and Jason fucking sucked, the only time Jason was decent was in Unleashed. Roger's been the only one to do the character justice and that's mostly because of the absolute snark and sarcasm in his voice, but hey that's just my two cents.
👎👎👎👎
"Anyone would have been better than the previous two clowns"
𝘒𝘦𝘯 𝘗𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘵