Why Sonic Frontiers Is One Of The Best Sonic Games 

Fun Fact: the Head of Sonic Team Takashi Izuka has fought SEGA to delay Sonic Frontiers to holiday 2022 as it was originally supposed to release at holiday 2021 to celebrate sonic 30th anniversary but he known that the game is not ready so I understand that thay didn't delay it again

12:00 They never said the chaos Emeralds originated strictly from the Gaia temples. Just that they were sort of like placeholders or locations to hide away the Emeralds.

I can't believe it's been an entire month since this game came out. What a wild month it's turned out as, I'm loving every second of this game!

I'm probably in the minority when it comes to how I feel about the after-credits scene. I fully admit that I'm an emotional baby who can barely handle sad endings because they make me feel sad and I already feel sad enough just being a Sonic fan as it is. But I don't think the emotional weight of Sage sacrificing herself as a payoff for her character arc is really undermined that much by her coming back. If anything it just seems like the right move for Eggman as a character because at his core he's a super genius with willpower and tenacity that can only be rivaled by Sonic's own, and the drive to bend reality itself to his whims, so to me it makes sense that he wouldn't be content wallowing or grieving but instead find a way to get back what's rightfully his. Hell, he already did the same thing reviving Metal back in Sonic 4. Eggman just loves his kids.

I like to think the ending where Eggman restores Sage happened after weeks or months of trial and error to bring his daughter being desperate. There is rarely an instance where Eggman does not monolog or hold a conversation while working on a computer. The fact that he does not say a thing conveys to me how important and complicated this is for him as well as how focus he is.

I always had a feeling Sonic Frontiers would be good. Even when people were saying the game looked bad a few months ago, I still had hope. Now that the game is out, it's great knowing that the game is good. The game has a lot of issues, and I wouldn't say it's "amazing," but there is still a lot to appreciate about Sonic Frontiers (Plus, it's a lot of fun to play).

This Game feels like there's Finally a Understanding of the World and Characters of the Franchise and a Love and Passion to it as Well,Sega and Sonic Team Knows what to Do Going Forward and what the Franchise Truly Needs.

One thing very worth mentioning is that Sonic Team addressed the "autonomy" issue with boosting. From the inception of boosting, you just press a button and Sonic is virtually invincible, can kill all enemies without much issue, and runs through the stage at lightning-fast speed. In Sonic Frontiers, to boost, you have to press the movement stick + the boost button, otherwise the boost button will do nothing. Also, Sonic can no longer boost through enemies. This makes boosting require much more prudence when executing. Also, they shortened the temporary invincibility after you lose your rings. For example, in previous games, after you were hit by spikes, there was a good few seconds that sonic could still run on the spikes while being invincible. In Sonic Frontiers, after you get hit by spikes, you cannot continue running on the spikes because you will immediately get hit again. Things like these make the game satisfyingly harder in my opinion. They enrich the experience and kudos to Sonic Team for adding them in. Also, love the soundtrack! Probably the best in the series. P.S. Sometimes it is not so easy for a game to be delayed even if it is in its best interest. All projects have stipulated timelines and hard budgets. Sonic Team probably depleted all its budgets and couldn't delay it any longer even if they wanted to. In my opinion, Sonic Team made the best out of their situation and offered us what they could given the circumstances. Hats off to them for giving us Sonic Frontiers.

Biggest surprise of 2022 for me. Already beat the entire game twice, and I loved nearly all of my time with it. Yeah, there’s definitely some major issues with it, but never enough to bring the game down. Honestly, if they do end up going through with this formula in the future like they said, Sonic Frontiers 2 will end up being one of my most anticipated games ever!

I never got the impression that the Chaos Emeralds were required to restore the world in Unleashed in the past. It just expedited the process since Dark Gaia was awakened early, and the temples were only truly necessary to restore the Emeralds' power. So I don't think that Frontiers retcons Unleashed.

27:29 On the last island, there's a conversation Sonic has with Sage in an optional conversation, and it reveals that Sonic was able to escape cyberspace because of them being his memory.

i think the cyberspace being based on sonic’s memories came from not only reusing level assets, but also the entire scrapped amnesia plotline that would’ve better explained the cyber corruption and lost sonic voice lines found in the game files where sonic slowly loses his memory while restoring his friends. all in all the story we got feel like a watered down version of what they’d planned which is disappointing but i still enjoyed it

the only thing that can top sonic frontiers is how much effort was put into this video. Good job Matt, this is probably the most in depth review on anything ive ever seen.

Unfortunately, the end boss was planned to be as epic if not even more epic than the previous titans, they even were going to use a different design, but they couldn't do it because due to time constraints

There’s a lot Sonic Frontiers did to innovate and try something new. Sure, there are also things that are not so great about Frontiers. But this is just the beginning for what is to come. I have faith that Sonic Team will continue to improve the Open Zone formula, listen to feedback, and create even more memorable stories as the years go by.

13:50 I think what happened in this scene is that they are basically soaking all the corruption away from Sonic, as the corruption itself came from rescuing Sonic's friends. By reversing this process, it brings Sonic back to normal, but causes them to be trapped into the digital dimension again, only this time they can't interact with Sonic right now. That's why after Sonic defeats The End, all of his friends pop out of this dimensional portal, ending the corruption in the process.

15:28 small correction. The purple moon is implied to actually be its true form and it appears in all difficulties, it’s just that the only way to properly fight it is in hard mode. 17:53 also the reason why The End blowing up isn’t a good thing is because it is still alive and is launching an attack, so what sage actually does is deal the killing blow. We can tell this because there is still a sliver of health on the health bar.

What i liked the most was the story, It builds up from the plot of the old ones, like Rider series, Adventure and the classic's

Imagine how much better this could have been with the actual finishing of the polish. The final boss could have be truly impressive instead of just a bit of gaming nostalgia.

the ending honestly excites me because I think there's a lot more to sage "returning". Eggman's hesitation to click the button, the fact sage would have seen this coming if it was so easy, implies to me something darker, that even if he has brought sage back, he's brought the end back with her. If they go that route there is a ton of amazing parallels with Gerald they can make with eggman looping his character around to SA2 perfectly and I think frontiers is setting up a major plot arc in these elements. I like the end boss fight but I do wish the prior boss had been more epic, I consider the end as a bonus because I don't think we're done with it, but Supreme being such a let down hurts that bonus. Also I think that symbol going forward represents the end, given it represented cyberspace that the end inhabited.

Dude, your delivery is so natural and seamless that I genuinely didn’t know if these were scripted or not until you showed it onscreen. Either you’ve got a teleprompter for all the live shots or you committed all of that to memory and actually pulled it off like a pro. I’ve tried it myself and I can say it’s NOT easy. Very, very impressive 👍

Great video! Love the format of it. This was well worth the wait 😄

53:14 while yeah, the devs probably never finished that part of the island, that part of the island is one of my favorites in the game, because you can just run around, have fun and look at the beautiful world around you without having to look at some ugly rails everywhere. I wish there was a mode that could turn all the rails and other stuff off, so you could just run around and look at the view

Ian Flynn (the writer for the Sonic comics in Archie and IDW) was a big help in terms of charcter writing. Also, Frontiers does indeed mention the events of Unleashed, so it doesn't really retcon anything about the Chaos Emeralds, but it certainly adds more questions to it, especially the Master Emerald now.

Fun fact about Chaos Island: It actually IS possible to 100% the island and *then* get the Emeralds. You know those flying enemy bird things? You parry the laser and then parry the bird and jump on its hook to swing on top of it. You can ride the bird to the small island without needing to activate the death egg robot.

Bro finally this review is out, always love to hear your opinion.

Finished the game with out mods. And I went back and installed the cyberspace and open world momentum mods. It really does change the whole game for me. It makes cyberspace actually fun more me.

this sonic game got great story and its fun to play love how you can even use mods with it and some of the themes are hits.

For a sequel, make Ian Flynn writer over the whole script, a singular open world. Oceans to run on, beaches to explore, cities to escape from, etc. And get rid of the boost and stick to a modern adventure style of momentum.

Not sure if somebody already said this but apparently in the Japanese localization of the game, Tails mentions that they can drive back Sonic's corruption since them being in cyberspace made them immune to it or something like that

i can't believe that i just watched a 1 hour long vid without skip that was wonderful keep up the good vid friend

I want to say for the after credits ending, in defense of it. As you said, this game thematically follows up on Adventure 1 and 2. Which they did very well, and I agree with you. One of those thematic callbacks is the way that Sage scarifices herself in the final fight, similar to how Shadow sacrificed himself in the final fight in SA2. And we all thought Shadow was dead after that game. What did Sega do next? They brought him back in the very next game, and it turns out he DIDN'T die when he fell back to the planet. Why? Because at that time, and what still mostly applies after even to this day...after Sonic, Shadow is the most popular character in the Sonic cast. And I think the same logic can be applied to why Sage survived. Looking online, I think it is safe to say that Sage is a successfully popular new character that Sonic fans have embraced with open arms. And I believe Sega thought, instead of spending at least two games "explaining and undoing" Shadow's death and new place in the canon...they just put her recovery in the post credit scene so fans can be assured now, instead of waiting who knows how long until the next game to see if Sega would say she survived or not. And Eggman using his genius to recover Sage's data from Cyberspace...is honestly a more neat and explainable reason for how she survived than Shadow surviving falling from orbit (though now Sonic can too from Unleashed...so I suppose it is at this point equal relative explaination between the two...) Point being: Sega figured Sage would be popular, and learning from how they handled Shadow, figured it would be best she survived in the post credits, so it would be a nice after bonus for fans who liked her, without "fully ruining" her sacrifice.

This game is quite literally the epitome of “The video game ever” Sonic Frontiers: _It sure is a video game_

51:30 speed highway intensifies rhea island is also an actual copy of kronos island, im not sure how different the two of them really are, but it was definitely a strange decision what they did with it all around. it could have easily been a complete island, with the towers instead of chaos emeralds

I actually like Rhea Island after completing it. It's very relaxing compared to the rest of the Islands and also refreshing to not seeing any bounce pads or grind rails everywhere. Just taking in the environment and atmosphere. Having to run around in the island freely without much in the way (aside from stupid pop-in) feels so good even if there's nothing much to do in the island after beating it.

your frustration at the final boss exemplifies my exact feelings 😅

Y'know... there's a lot of people saying that it retcons sonic unleashed But it doesn't? Yes, Chip said that the battle of light and dark has happened since forever, but he NEVER said that the emeralds had always been involved.

good thing final horizon solves the final boss problem and goes some way to explaining how the hand holding worked and what really happened there

Wow, this is a longer video than usual! No wonder it took a while

Enjoyed the format in this video - keep it up man

I belive the fact that the cyberspace stages is based on Sonic's memories makes sense and suit the whole concept of Cyberspace, since the anciens created it to save thier history, memories and wills. In other words, the game made it clear that the memories of those who are using Cyberspace affect it. Or maybe that's just me😛

It definitely would've been interesting if Sonics friends gathered the Emeralds to bring back Sonic and even unlock a new form combined with the corruption

I’m hoping to buy this game for Christmas. I can’t wait

Something I wanna point out about Rhea island is that it's not even a new island, it's just Kronos island stripped down to the bare minimum, put the maps side by side and you'll see it immediately, I realized this when I noticed the little tutorial island in the distance from the first tower, aswell as the spider web platform with the structure floating above it, and then later on when I got to the tower that's placed in the middle of the arena you fought Giganto in But that's all I wanted to say XD Overall, in general I love this game to bits, but I definitely won't deny the flaws with it

Hey Matt great review! This doesn't change or invalidate your criticism about cyberspace; I just wish to inform you (and perhaps other people so they can have better knowledge about how to configure Sonic's control) that the problem wasn't turning speed. In the control options menu "steering sensitivity" and "turning speed" are 2 completely different things: "turning speed" involves Sonic's acceleration when changing his direction (or how fast he runs when turning), meanwhile his steering sensitivity involves how responsive he is when a direction is pushed on the analog stick. The problem isn't his turning speed. Granted, if he ran slower when turning it would be easier to make curves, but it would be a bandaid for the real issue: his steering sensitivity (kind of). It seemed like they wanted to emulate his controls on the other boost games so they wanted to make his steering sensitivity more akin to that of a car. The problem lies in the fact that he also needed to turn relatively sharp turns without the drift to avoid confusion with the control scheme. So he will turn, but a little too late. He not only has a reluctance to turn when boosting, but he also seems to decrease his turn radius the longer you hold the direction in the analog stick: this causes you to miss something or over correct your direction. The problem most likely could've been easily fixed had they gone with open zone controls (even with the high speed mode preset, he still controls much better so the control sliders are not an excuse). Making him slow was probably a way of not only allowing them to use less assets by making the length of each "road" shorter, but also could be a way to compensate for the fact that his steering sensitivity was a weird middle ground between Generations and Frontiers control.

Matt the significance for the reused levels in cyberspace is because it says that sonic escaped cyberspace because the level design it tied to his memories so he's able to muscle memory his way out or something on that note

What’s really cool I noticed from playing the game is that they’ve really captured the feeling of freedom and feelings of loneliness and how sonic interacts with his friends on a much more emotional and understanding level then in past sonic titles which is awsome and the fact that sega were going for a good story rather than just the graphics

The cyberspace explanation is for how Sonic can go in and out of cyberspace freely

Momentum is a *MUST* for the game. However, the parts where Sonic gets sent onto high-up platforms into the various spring and rail areas, him not having momentum was good as it felt like several times I would slip off.

I actually liked the Ikaruga fight at the end. It's kind of par for the course for Sonic's final bosses to be cool in concept but have gameplay which doesn't really reflect what the rest of the game had been like up until that point. Don't get me wrong, it is still a shame because the Titan fights were such a remedy for everything Super Sonic fights in the past got wrong, but at the same time it's a pretty worthy challenge compared to those fights which were really meant to make Sonic feel "undefeatable". And at least the hacking mini-games beforehand get you accustomed to the controls before throwing you into the fray.

I must be in the minority, as I loved the Ikaruga-like boss fight. The music made me feel like I was going to cry, and controlling Supreme, I felt like I was one of the Ancients avenging the destruction of their homeworld.

every time they bring up a past game's story or events in a cutscene it reminds me of a family guy cutaway gag setup but without the cutaway gag

i actully have an idea on what the end is. based off of the color choices, the random glitching when an enemy explodes, how it can nock the chaos emeralds out of sonic, and how powerfull it states it is. that makes me think, what other thing in the sonic universe could do something like that and have the same history as that? the only thing that seems similer to this is...the phantom ruby. think about it; it has glitching effects that surround it when ever a boss gets destroyed like the phantom copies do, it has almost the same color pallet, they were the only things to truly nock the chaos emeralds out of sonic besides knuckles, there incredibly powerful, and its even sum what referenced multiple times in the game aka the ikaruga areas. the 1st referance is the thing you gots to destroy. notes how in the middle is pink and around it is a red and black vortex with red lines going twords the pink thing in the middle. kinda like what happened after the chaos emeralds were knocked out of sonic and summoned a portal. this is important because this whole game is about the chaos emeralds lore and that moment is a very significant part in there story espeshaly how the same thing happens in the game when super sonic gets hit and loses the emeralds. the 2nd reference isn't a clear one but its sort of related. the final boss said by quote that it was infinite. obviously it means that it has infinite power and cant be beaten. but what if it can be interpreted in another way like referencing infinite. if this was a 1 time thing then it could just be a quiescence but it also gets reference by tails when he remembers about what happened in sonic forces, and in this moment he brings up infinite. the only true charecter we know that relates with the phantom ruby the most. based on this evidence, its not far off. but there are things that seems like abit of a stretch, but personaly i think it fits pritty damn well

Rodger is definitely the best sonic voice. I will say i was totally thrown off when i heard sonic hit puberty like a GUN truck

Cyberspace having three pallettes sucks a lot. We could've had more looks like Rainy Rooftop, Fallen Kingdom Valley, Star Light Zone. But they need another chance on Cyberspace. They need to make things a whole bunch better.

I gave up on momentum, too many people fight us on it and it stresses me out. I chalk it to they hate fun and suck at games and I will continue to love Sonic and enjoy his games with or without momentum. But if we do get momentum gameplay again I will cry of happiness

I know the automated sections weren't that interesting but I just loved watching Sonic zip and zoom across the world,grind on rails and jump on balloons and do cool flips ^_^ It was really satisfying for me hehe.

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 (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 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(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(It's a little too hard to make simple jumps over small gaps). 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! Sry for the essay 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 WOOOOOOO (I got more to say in a reply below)

I absolutely love this game and I still do to this day. It's not my favorite Sonic game of all time, but it is my favorite 3d Sonic game. However if there's one thing I wasn't sure about (which there are a few), it's Eggman's portrayal in the story. Yes, he feels more human and less of a joke, especially in his father-like relationship with Sage, but when Sage suggests that he team up with Sonic in order to succeed and to keep Eggman safe, Eggman is so reluctant and negligent in doing so. This felt weird to me considering the fact that Eggman has collaborated with Sonic multiple times in past games, even in moments with stakes as high as in Frontiers. Idk it just felt weird to me.

"momentum based gameplay": *me deciding to spam spindash at every point i get to*

again, congrats on 30k! good luck on reaching 100k (by the end of 2023 maybe?) would be cool

That dang last tower on Rhea island was so annoying to climb because I kept either overshooting my boosts or not activating them at the perfect frame😭😭😭 literally took me like 25 mins

Was waiting for this video. Nice

I liked doing the little challenges to get the memory tokens, but only when the game said I needed more. For some reason, I only enjoyed those activities when I knew how many tokens I needed to find. I'll have to agree with you --- Sonic Team should make the platforming a bit more challenging going forward.

honestly I couldn't have agreed with you more on the momentum take, not even taking to consideration level design geometry that would benefit momentum, but just the ease of movement that it would apply to a game like sonic frontiers, if you've played the momentum mod for sonic frontiers it is a game changer, nonetheless great video

Frontiers is the Unleashed to Forces' '06 (If that makes sense), meaning the next games in the franchise are looking up to be good, if we think of it that way.

First video I’ve watched from you, really good stuff!

As far as the Cyber Levels go, I 100% agree that they could've gone with more original aesthetics. Hell, imagine if the Cyber Level aesthetic was influenced by the island you were on; maybe even the level designs themselves could've also been tied to the islands, and that would have been insanely cool. That said, I can't lie, there WAS a part of me that saw the old levels in the Cyber Levels and went "Oh, that's so cool!" I may or may not have lost my shit when I saw I was on Metal Harbor. But my biggest thing here is this: I see this game as a transitional game. It's the start of something new for Sonic, and I think there was a lot they had to cover and do to set up that something new. In that regard, I kind of don't mind them getting some of these things out of the way now, if that makes any sense? I'm not saying they didn't try with this game (because holy fuck you can tell they put a lotta heart into this game), but maybe they're setting up new foundation that they can improve on with this next game. Kinda like the rough draft of a story, y'know? Gotta make something, see what works and what doesn't, and improve on it. I ultimately had fun with this game and loved it, and I want to believe that Sonic Team will see our feedback and use it to make the next game utterly insane. (All while hoping SEGA gives them the proper time/budget to do so.) And lastly: "So if you give them a map of tasks to complete, and players can complete them really fast...well, you just created a killer formula for a video game." I was 1000000% ready for you to say "...well, you just created a killer formula for people with ADHD." LOL (AND THEN LITERALLY SECONDS LATER, YOU BRING ADD UP. What a legend.)

Btw Super Sonic in Free Riders has a deeper voice and I suggest going back to take a listen but there's a video on SS's voice in it, I have a video just slowing down few of the lines to show the voice & heard much clearer so you can notice the deep sounds parts of his voice.

Can’t wait for the DLC next year!

I agree on Rodger change in voice I love that its Sonic in Rodgers Steve Rodgers Captain America voice but its still in the range of Sonic. And given the last crazy event was Sonic in war it makes sense in a funny way.

I gotta disagree with you on bringing sage back. Especially younger fans or anyone who appreciates eggman and sages relationship the most would get the warm and fuzzies from this. I for one am happy they reunited. However I agree it is problematic on what can they do no next especially with Eggman and maybe Sonic. Personally having her alive at the end makes her marketable so though bringing her back in dlc would make her sacrifice more impactful it would tie their hands a little bit as not spoil anyone on such a thing. I think the choice works on both giving Eggman growth for a next story and there is certainly more she would know that could be in used in dlc story if they are going the sequel route.

Apparently, Because the cyberspace stages are based on Sonic memory's, he knows how far he has to run to escape them. Or maybe he's fast I dunno. I have a similar opinion about the Cyberspace levels with the exception of 1-2 and the Adventure stages. 1-2 is well designed and has a timing incentive that makes speed running it fun, and playing the Adventure stages w/ boost mechanics is neat. I've seen some mods that apply open zone mechs to cyberspace and the majority of them play much better.

28:01 meh... the only thing I can think of is, I remember The End saying that by Sonic 1st entering Cyberspace, it was able to analyze Sonic's mind and see his stubbornness and will to never give up. It then decides because of this, that Sonic is the key to escaping its prison. And one of the side stories with Sage mentions Cyberspace built its terrain based on environments Sonic has been to before, which is why Sonic was able to escape in the 1st place. He already knew where to go. So in that sense it DOES tie to the plot. But it's so minor, that I feel like they could've made it original levels and still achieve the same thing. But it's clear that this was due to a budget issue

i liked tripping over things and going flying, i dont know what it is. It was just so cool, and it gave me time to do tricks and gain points.

Loved your points about momentum and how it would improve the formula, still baffles me how people think physics aren’t important when rolling up into a ball is literally the entire reason Sonic is a hedgehog

If you boost and make a figure of a shape on the ground in sonic frontiers, then you’ll actually get infinite boost

I wasn't able to beat the game within it's first week because I was too busy with university, so I think the honeymoon phase wore off quickly; especially because the game frequently crashed due to issues relating to the Nvidia Linux driver (I had to use my Steam Deck for those parts, including the Wyvern fight because I couldn't get through the tunnel to that boss without the game locking up). As a result, I kind of feel good that this adventure is finally over? I'm definitely ready to move onto the next one; be it Frontiers DLC or a new Sonic game. I did enjoy the game however.

27:46 cyber space taking sonic's memories is because that is what cyber space is, it isn't a place it's more of a dimension that can fold into anything depending on who uses it. The ancients used cyber space as a way to revisit their old memories. If you ask me though, I think they should have picked out levels like speed highway or unleashed levels. Way better choices and I wouldn't have minded those at all.

I think the end credits with eggman recovering sage will be a big part of update 3,

After playing the game I think concept of the end is pretty cool and interesting. The way the dialogue is of them talking they are end all be all. Sonic Ann assume that it wasn’t their true form but could be an aspect of another entity.

I agree because on one hand if you give sonic momentum you can make the platforming more interesting and give a better sense of speed. but on the other hand sonic might go too fast in parts where you want or need to slow down but to be honest that's not even an issue because of the control settings

Sega’s biggest problem is the fans. The same people saying it’s been 5 years that’s too long for a new 3D Sonic are saying they needed to push the game another year or two.

Wow Matt everything you said about the game is valid. Actually on second thought most of the stuff you said about the game requiring polish is straight facts and for me what I personally was scared of with the game would have to be the lack of moment in speed in the game.But after observing the new boost feature my hope was suddenly increased as this new boost system actually works really well for the game.For me personally I just really hate the fact that SEGA keeps reusing level aesthetics from previous Sonic Games and keeping Sonic's character design stagnant like bruh this is just sonic forces Sonic again in a different game because if SEGA was planning on using the character module they could of at least taken one from either Amazing games like Unleashed or Generations.Since Sonic looks the coolest with those designs,but anyway that's all I have to say and also I do agree with you about what you said about Sonic having the voice of a teenager but the maturity of an adult,Craig really knows how to embody Sonic the Hedgehog. Anyways Peace

Sonic Frontiers doesnt retcon Unleashed by the way Its been direct in Unleashed that the Chaos Emerald never had anything to do with the Gaia Fights, and the Fight between them had allways been a thing since Creation Even Ian Flynn indirectly answered this question in his last Q&A that Ancients are infact responsible for boosting Light Gaia Strength, and the Chaos Emerald itself are never Stationary

Are you going to talk about the dlc road map soon I would love to hear your opinion on this

The mechanical parts collecting missiom was so difficult because it was unclear how you could collect the items as quickly as possible. I literally had to look up a youtube playthrough to find out you don't have to collect every tiny thing and that you can save time by skipping a few metal boxes and just destroy all of the grouped ones near the end of the mission.. Also the skydiving mission where you're supposed to figure out the right path as quickly as possible to lower the bridge took me like 6 tries and before my second to last try I just looked up another RU-vid vid to guide me,,,

I personally give it a 9.5/10. I really don’t have much bad to say about it aside from the pop in. The open zone is fun to just roam around in, the combat is excellent, the titan fights are a rush, the story is great, and my favorite part believe it or not is the Cyberspace. At first it was my least favorite part, but honestly the movement tech in Frontiers is amazing that allows you to pull off badass runs. Plus the level design in them is really good. I haven’t had this much fun in boost style games since Unleashed and Generations. If they fix the pop in and release the new playable characters then I would give it a 10/10 and it would be my #1 sonic game. As of now I have it at #3. 1. Unleashed: 10/10 (Werehog is based af) 2. Adventure 2: 10/10 3. Frontiers: 9.5/10 4. Adventure: 9.5/10 5. Generations: 9/10 Mania would also be a good contender for the top 5 I just had Generations edge it out.

I love this Game(Even though that I should've pre-ordered the Game but my brother wanted the Physical Copy) and it looked like Sonic is blitzing into a new Future. BTW,I love the OST and it reminds me of Transformers RID 2015 and Motorcity.

This is yet another amazing video good job

The road cyberspace theme is speed highway

Yeah! More Amy slander! Good to know that taking away character traits somehow equates to adding character

They said thy're gonna do DLC for the game. I think they're gonna add a super sonic segment to that final boss fight, they pretty much confirmed that they were running out of time but wanted to do SOMETHING for the people that went the extra mile. Now that the games a sucesss I know it'll get some polish in the coming year

If you want a slower super boost just turn down your top speed. This doesn't effect your running speed without the boost.

Sorry for spam but I just remembered in Sonic Riders Zero Gravity at the Crimson Tower, there are 2 Moons seen in the sky so I feel the second moon is one of the two but I don't remember what the two in the game looked like. I'm gonna get my Wii set up and get a shot of them for a video.

If you think the super boost is too fast, turn down top speed. I’m pretty sure it just affects straight up top speed when boosting, so everything else will feel the same.

Hopefully in fronteirs 2, the ikaruga sections will become mini 3D star Fox things, controlled by tail’s tornado. Like unleashed but better

YES SIR I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS. WOOOOOO i have beaten the game twice so far but i will beat it again also matt can i just tell you. I BOUGHT SONIC UNLEASHED FOR PS3 AND I LOVED IT thanks for saying its the best sonic game lol cuz i would have never bought it ( cuz of the werehog BUT I LOVED THE WERHOG but eggmanland made me prettt mad

I really enjoyed the skateboard parts of the city cyberspace levels ^_^

This needs so much more views.