Pros:
- A genuinely strong evolution of the "Sonic" formula that points to a bright future (which says a lot for a franchise you just can't predict the quality of).
- Fantastic sense of freedom in the overall gameplay, and despite its length, it never loses its luster.
- Sonic's movement is smooth as hell, and his new combat controls like a dream.
- The open-world itself flows nicely, and surprisingly doesn't feel empty (and even the parts that are the smallest bit empty are counterbalanced by the fact that you're playing as an extremely fast character).
- Cyber Space levels offer a lot of replayability and a fun little challenge in the Boost gameplay formula.
- Some fun minigames here that add to the gameplay variety (Big's fishing is actually good this time).
- Epic, large-scale boss fights that make for impressive action set pieces.
- A lot of loving odes to the franchise's past, even going so far as to include some more obscure titles.
- As you would expect out of the series, the soundtrack absolutely goes off.
- A genuinely well-written "Sonic" story with plenty of emotion and excellent attention to character work.
Cons:
- The pop-in can be a little bit frustrating at first, though there are enough visual indicators to help along the way.
Consensus: And I thought that "Sonic Generations" would never be topped. Maybe this game just grabbed the "Sonic" fan within me, but "Sonic Frontiers" has genuinely become A. my favorite "Sonic" game, and B. my favorite game that I've played so far in 2022. Beyond being a wonderful love letter to the franchise, the game offers up a wonderful evolution of the series that exceeded all of my expectations. I would honestly go as far as to say that this could very well lay a new groundwork that future entries in the series can continue to polish and improve upon in the future. Regardless of where they go, "Sonic Frontiers" is a wonderful new direction for the "Sonic" series to take, and I'm so happy with how it turned out. Sonic Team, please, PLEASE keep this going with the next game. I really hope we can get into some kind of consistent groove with "Sonic" in the future, and I think we've got a good avenue to do so with this one.
Final rating: 10 out of 10 "Fantastic"