This is our long awaited review of Sonic Frontiers. Released almost two months ago, I’ve been taking a lot of time to digest the ins and outs of the game and constantly updating this article as my opinion expanded. Finally out of the honeymoon phase, I can look at the game both for what it is and what it isn’t.

And it is certainly…a game. A game that sent me on an emotional roller-coaster since it’s first initial CGI preview in May 2021. The news cycle was very slow and there wasn’t any real news again until The Game Awards of that year where they finally showcased in-game footage and gave us the title after months of many referring to it as “Sonic Rangers” due to an incredible amount of leaks. June 2022 was when everything truly began. I’ll be completely honest, because of the first gameplay preview I was definitely one of the more pessimistic people regarding the state of the game and the future of the franchise as far as it’s games go. It looked incredibly rough and while that’s normal for a lot of games in development, as someone who’s been through the same song and dance with the Sonic franchise time and time again (especially the last ten years), usually gameplay by that time of the year is pretty reflective of the final product. I didn’t have much faith in Sonic Team given their track record.

However things took a strange turn for this game. In which the more gameplay came out, the better it started to look. My doubts were beginning to be replaced with hopes. Hopes that I didn’t want to regret on release, but as they showed more and more, that skepticism I had turned into blatant enthusiasm. I think the turning point for me was just a little after EGX/TGS and more people were posting to twitter about their experiences with the demos. I was intrigued and invested by the things I saw. For the first time in over a decade, I let myself become genuinely excited for a new Sonic the Hedgehog game. So did the game live up to my expectations? Well…

Warning: Spoilers Ahead

This is my full review after playing the game and completing it on Hard Mode/27 Hour Playthrough

Gameplay

The gameplay of this game is both unlike and very much like previous Sonic titles. Alike in the sense that if you’ve played any of the boost oriented games since Sonic Unleashed, the general controls and world layout is very familiar. You have your rails, dash panels, launch pads, dash rings, directional canons, etc. Essentially the islands that Sonic is tasked to explore are giant playground versions of the boost type levels.

Looking at this game from afar, it looks like it lacks direction and that everything is just placed randomly with no reason to them at all. However playing it is a very different story. Everything is very deliberately placed and you get a feel for the flow of the game pretty early on. Hopping on or through one of these standard gimmicks will always lead you to a path to find a puzzle, emerald, portal or general collectibles, most known as “Memory Tokens”. Memory Tokens need to be collected and brought back to the character trapped on an island to progress through the story.

Usually these paths will involve platforming and reflex tests, though these reflex tests rarely punish you harshly outside climbing back up to a path you fell off of that led you high up. You might even find that you didn’t fall off the path completely since many of these sections have built in tethers and boosters to get you back on track. Something that I’m actually not that fond of, but I’ll get to that later. Essentially, if you’ve played a Sonic game in the last decade and felt comfortable with those, these sections in the “Open Zone” should pose no problem for you.

However, this isn’t the only part of the main gameplay loop. As I mentioned before, there are “puzzles” and other collectibles. Puzzles range from light-up tile challenges where you try to clear the tile board in a certain order. Others require using Sonic’s new move the “Cyloop” to interact with various objects in the environment to complete an objective. Then there are time trial mini-quests where you have to reach a part of the island in a certain amount of time. There are a few others that shake up the flow a bit, but the aforementioned ones are the most common. They’ll pick your brain for about a second or two, but there’s nothing too mind boggling except a certain puzzle before the boss on the first island.

Completing puzzles usually rewards you with stat upgrade seeds and reveal parts of your map and add very long grind rails to the island that will shorten the time you need to get from one section to another. The map itself is essentially useless until you do them. When you complete the map by doing all the puzzles on an island, you get access to fast travel. I don’t exactly mind that condition, but I do find making the map basically unusable at the start for the player is an odd decision. It’s not too much of a hindrance however as there’s always a notification in the top-right corner of the screen letting you know what your next objective is and a tracker dot telling you where and how far away you are from that objective. It works out alright.

Besides, I often found myself getting side-tracked from my main objective a lot because admittedly I was having tons of fun just running through and exploring the “five” islands (Kronos, Ares, Chaos, Rhea, Ouranos). Doing the platform challenges for tokens became a bit addicting and by the time I remembered I still had story related objectives to do, I had enough to just progress without worrying about the amount I’d need to help one of Sonic’s friends out. It also helps that there’s also a ton of signs littered throughout the island that you can Cyloop and reveal a ton of that island’s character tokens. Traversal is great in this game and I think that mainly has to do with the controls of the game this time around.

Player Movement and Controls

This is the best Sonic has controlled in 3D in a very VERY long time. But what does that really mean? In previous titles, I’d find that Sonic controlled well enough to complete the objectives of the game like in titles such as Sonic Colors or Sonic Generations. It wasn’t my favorite because I still had my fair share of issues with how stiff/heavy Sonic felt when trying to turn or move in the air, but it worked with the level design. In Sonic Forces, his controls were absolutely abysmal and even the most basic platforming segments were a struggle to complete because it felt like you were fighting with the game itself. In games like Sonic Adventure and Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic is very floaty and you could practically fling him anywhere across the stage, but with a sense of purpose on where you want to land.

Sonic Frontiers has a very unique approach to how players operate Sonic because this time it’s up to the players themselves (mostly). Right off the bat when you boot up the game, you’re given the choice to play the game in one of two modes.

Action Mode and High Speed Mode.

Action Mode is described as for those who are unfamiliar with Sonic games while High Speed Mode is for those who have played the games before. However in reality what these settings actually do is adjust the in-game sliders to a certain degree. These sliders include many options to change things like Sonic’s starting speed, initial boost speed, turning speed, bounce height (launch height) and much more which you can adjust at any time during your playthrough if you’re still unsatisfied with the default controls given by your chosen mode.

I think this is a genius move by Sonic Team. One of the biggest issues people have always had with Sonic games is his movement and control. There’s very divisive opinions regarding what a “well-controlling” Sonic is. Some people prefer a tankier and tighter controlling Sonic and others want him to fly off platforms to the other end of stages. It’s basically been a losing battle for Sonic Team until now. I personally felt satisfied with the High Speed Mode set for the most part with slight changes to my acceleration.

Now it’s still not what I would call the perfect controlling Sonic since despite the many options, it still lacks the option to adjust air bound movement like the air boost, light speed dash and Sonic’s jump which I found myself a bit annoyed with in this game. I don’t like how you lose all your current momentum when you jump and the air boost also doesn’t really carry your momentum well enough either. Doing a light speed dash completely stops you on the dime once you reach the end of a trail of rings which feels really bad considering it didn’t do this in past games. It leaves an unsatisfying feeling of slowness especially when you get into the groove of things in particular sections.

That being said, given the level design of the various platforming sections in this game, I can understand why these design choices were made. If they didn’t work like this, I could think of several sections that would be much harder to complete because you’d have to worry more about flinging yourself too far and overshooting the platforms. In the end though, I think if it were another slider that could be left up to the choice of the player, I’d have been happier with that since I could change it at any time. I think the slider system should be a staple for Sonic games going forward. The ones in Frontiers doesn’t cover all bases, but it’s pretty good as is and I hope they expand it a little bit more in whatever the next main 3D game is.

Moveset

Sonic Unleashed is the last game I think Sonic had a decent moveset not including the Werehog’s combat. In Sonic Colors, there are some abilities locked behind wisps. You need the Spike wisp to use the spin dash and the Hover wisp to use the light speed dash which I always hated because I had to wait for the game to give me an opportunity to use moves instead of having access whenever I wanted. The drift and side step could only be used in designated sections.

In Sonic Generations, the spin dash can only be used by Classic Sonic and while the light speed dash returns, it can only be used in specific sections where rings have an aura around them. Sonic Forces was the most bare-bones Sonic had ever felt in a 3D game. He could only boost, stomp, homing attack and slide. Only the Avatar had access to wisps and the light speed dash via a specific weapon you needed to have and equip and only could be used on certain stages. Classic Sonic was once again the only one that had access to the spin dash/drop dash. The Avatar had an automated drift and Modern Sonic could not drift at all making some stages with twisting roads a pain if you didn’t let the game play itself for you. An actual drift for Sonic would’ve been preferred. Though my desire for a drift came from the fact that his controls weren’t good enough to make turns on his own.

All of this considered, this made Sonic Frontiers feel like an incredible fresh breath of air. Once again the homing attack is mapped to the X/Square button like in Unleashed, but without the issue of you launching yourself into the sunset by accidentally boosting because this time the boost is mapped to Right Trigger. Something I’ve been hoping they’d do for a while. Homing Attack being mapped like Unleashed again also means you can double jump without fear of accidentally locking onto something.

The drift still has not made a return (for the most part), but Sonic controls well enough in the open zone that it’s not really needed. The Drop Dash is available for the first time in proper 3D gameplay and somewhat satiates the desire for a spin dash. It’s not perfect, but is a welcome addition and can help with tricky platforming segments. It also feels nice to be able to use it on high ground to roll downward and switch to boosting on flat terrain. I like having the option to use both moves.

The stomp and slide are the same as usual and the light speed dash returns again, but this time without annoying restrictions. It’s activated pressing down the analog stick forward which was a bit odd to get used to as it was usually mapped to Y/Triangle in the past. However, the Triangle button is occupied by Sonic’s new ability in this game that I mentioned earlier. The Cyloop.

The Cyloop is basically your all encompassing action button. If you can’t figure something out, it’s your best bet. In combat, it’s usually the go-to when trying get around an enemy’s defenses. Speaking of the combat in this game, the existence of a combat system does go a long way in improving the overall experience with enemies.

No longer is it just monotonous homing attack chains, Sonic now has access to a variety of flashy moves and combo tools for the first time since Sonic Unleashed. The skill tree is not as big as Unleashed, but its sufficient for what’s needed in this game. There’s still the basic enemies that can be taken down with a single homing attack littered across the map, but there are tankier ones that require the other moves to be used. The mini-bosses or “Guardians” as they’re called are all unique enemies with their own unique gimmick, cinematics and boss theme for them. They’re essentially on the level of what zone bosses of previous Sonic games were. There’s quite a lot of enemy variety in this game always keeping the experience fresh.

I personally really enjoyed the combat of Unleashed, but it’s not hard to see why this shift over to more spectacle oriented gameplay may resonate more with people. For one, Sonic is still as fast as ever and his moves reflect that speed. I honestly think that is the main reason why the Werehog was so harshly received back then. If the skills and his movement as a Werehog were as fast and snappy as it is here, I think people would’ve liked it much more and Sonic Team maybe would’ve thought to expand toward this action-combat gameplay style much sooner.

I as well as many others yearn to play a Sonic that’s as cool as he looks in the story, TV shows, comics and now even the movies. For many years, I’ve personally wanted a Sonic game that takes an over-the-top approach to gameplay like games such as Devil May Cry and Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. I think for a franchise like Sonic that’s as sporadic in tone and ridiculous in nature as it is, it needs to go all the way in presenting that even as a platformer at it’s core. In Sonic Frontiers, Sonic Team nearly achieves that.

Titan Fights

The first boss of Sonic Frontiers is an experience in of itself that not many games ever pull off. The feeling it invokes on the very first play-through of a game can not be recaptured. The feeling of obtaining Super Sonic to fight this massive titan, it’s almost final boss worthy the way it’s presented (difficulty is another story) and then you have the realization that this is just the beginning. The sheer scale of what’s happening is sure to give anyone both familiar and unfamiliar with the series a surprise because in the long history of Sonic the Hedgehog, boss fights were never this fun and this cool.

Coupled with the metalcore vocals of Kellin Quinn (from the band Sleeping With Sirens) quite literally descending from the heavens as Sonic transforms and gives a cocky smirk, it’s basically everything I wanted. Sonic is finally doing something cool again and it’s great.

These boss fights don’t hold back in it’s presentation and really showcase how much an unstoppable force Super Sonic is. His fighting style becomes much more brutal and erratic. All your basic attacks speed up, your combo meter fills rapidly and there’s a unique counter attack for (almost) every boss following a parry. It’s not the deepest combat system, but everything is satisfying to pull off with the unique button combinations and the addition of the quick Cyloop skill adds to battle variety as well. Something different occurs for each titan when you Cyloop them and its worth exploring.

All of this is accompanied by music that’s the edgiest it’s been since Infinite’s theme in Sonic Forces and Shadow the Hedgehog. It’s a wonderful experience that left me wanting more.

For the games going forward, I really do not think they can go back to how boss fights were before this game. It wasn’t until this game that I’ve ever genuinely wanted to replay a Sonic game’s boss battle more than once for the fun of it. Majority of the time, they’re not usually anything to write home about. They were just run of the course elements in the game to get you from one area to another and you didn’t think about them much past that. Very few bosses from the series remain in my mind even years after playing their respective games. However, that’s usually due to how it fits into the story of the game or the music (or both). The gameplay usually boils down to evading it’s gimmick and using the homing attack to attack a weak point a certain number of times until the boss is destroyed. Even the final bosses, while slightly more cinematic, eventually come back around to this standard formula.

One of the only bosses I can remember being different is the Egg Dragoon fight from Sonic Unleashed which is fought in Sonic’s Werehog state, but it’s incredibly reliant on QTE segments (which are present in Frontiers, but not to that level). In Sonic Frontiers, there’s just something much more enticing about battles against Sonic’s foes where he’s free to make his move as they fight back. Diving in and whaling on them unrestricted and with much more moves in your arsenal to do so. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a Super Sonic fight all the time like in this game either. I just do not want to go back to sitting on platforms waiting for the boss to look me in the face so I can use a measly homing attack ten times in a row. Combat should remain in the series as far as the main 3D games go. There’s a new standard set by Frontiers, I expect Sonic Team to continue with it.

Cyberspace

Now for the other major element of the new Open Zone style this game has to offer. Often downplayed as not necessary for progression, Cyberspace is essentially the gateway to the standard boost levels we’ve come to know in the past decade and a half. After defeating mini-bosses in the island you’re on, you’re rewarded with what’s known as a “Portal Gear”. These gears are needed to access Cyberspace portals which send you to a much more contained stage and completing said stage and it’s objectives reward you with “Vault Keys”. Vault Keys are needed to unlocked the Chaos Emeralds on the island. Now technically, you can get these collectibles via mini-games like fishing with Big or exploring the map and coming across signs that reward you with such items. However, it’s undeniable that the most efficient way is via this gameplay loop making Cyberspace feel much more important than originally let on.

Cyberspace levels…are polarizing to say the least. Once again we’re seeing the likes of Green Hill and Chemical Plant in a brand new Sonic game. This time they’re even accompanied by Sky Sanctuary. A slightly less used, but still ever tired level theme. These three areas along with a new city area (that looks like an amalgamation of every city level in the series) are the only themes you will see across the thirty of these Cyberspace stages.

Not only that, the recurring gimmick for a large majority of these stages except for the last few is that they all take level design from preexisting stages from past games like Sonic Generations, Unleashed and Adventure 2. In game, the story reason for this occurring is that it’s…memories? As a result of The Ancients technology being built to store data of that nature. Now that’s neat and all except for the fact that this aspect in regards to Sonic isn’t really expanded upon or used that much in the plot at all. It really does just feel like a shoehorned reason to have these stages exist.

It starts falling really flat when you encounter Sky Rail coated in Green Hill textures and remember this wasn’t even a stage Sonic went through back then. In regards to Cyberspace, all I can really say is…Why?

Playing these stages, it’s extremely obvious that most of the level assets are taken directly from Sonic Generations. It’s not necessarily a terrible thing as far as aesthetic goes. The stages are still as pretty as they were back then and in fact I’d say they look even better being used on the new engine. There’s also more variance in the time of day you approach these levels. I think I do very much prefer how Green Hill looks here compared to how much more basic it appeared in Sonic Forces. However, it’s concerning that Sonic Team felt the need to use the assets from an eleven year old game at all. And even more than that, considering they went this route, why not just go all the way and use all the level themes from that game?

Seeing the same four level themes gets boring really quick even if you’re not a fan that’s already been tired of the first three areas. I don’t want to seem like I’m advocating for Sonic Team to continue reusing more levels, but in the case of this game where they try to give it plot relevance, they could’ve been more convincing in selling us the memories plot line for the second time. There’s no reason for Green Hill, Chemical Plant and Sky Sanctuary to be the only things Sonic seemingly remembers considering all the references to past games he yaps about in this game’s main story.

When it comes to the gameplay of Cyberspace, things get worse. Sonic’s movement feels a lot different in Cyberspace than how he does in the Open Zone and not in a good way. All the stroke of genius in letting players decide how Sonic feels?

Gone.

The sliders/modes don’t affect movement in Cyberspace in any way. It has it’s own default control set that feels very questionable. It’s noticeable tighter when trying to move left and right while boosting and feels terrible compared to the freedom of movement boosting in the Open Zone has. Not only that, trying to control Sonic in the air almost feels like mission impossible. Trying to adjust Sonic’s position after a jump or air boost feels like you’re fighting your controller. It genuinely is almost as terrible feeling as Sonic Forces and the only saving grace is the level design that conveniently tends to have something to homing attack in range when you find yourself flying off the edge. This isn’t the case every time though.

If there’s one thing I did like about these stages despite my frustrations was the fact that there are no invisible walls blocking you into a set path. This is something I’ve been missing for a long time. Invisible walls in these stages have always annoyed me to no end because of how it boxed you in to set paths, so I was pleasantly surprised by this change even if I kept flying off the sides of stages a couple times. Stages are rather short though too, so replaying them is not too much an issue. When you get better at the levels, the skips you can pull off due to the lack of invisible walls are amazing and make for great speedrun potential.

Speaking of speedrun potential, this is another thing the Cyberspace stages did right. S rankings for these stages are all now time based instead of factoring score or rings. It provides the player incentive to replay and get better at the stage. At least as far as the casual audience goes. Those who are very familiar with Sonic games will most likely clear a majority of stages in S rank time with leftover to spare on the first run through with the exception of the infamous 1-2 level at the beginning of the game. Not exactly sure why Sonic Team decided to pick everyone’s brain with that one, but it was certainly a fun challenge that I wish there was a little more of with the needed S ranking times.

Another decision they’ve made regarding these levels (while not necessarily exclusive to them) is removing the hit-box entirely from the boost. It’s purely a traversal option both in and out of cyberspace rather than an attack and personally I prefer this compared to previous games. Having to actually think about when and where to use it feels a lot better than mindlessly pressing the boost to plow through everything in my way. I find it most fun in tandem with the drop dash which can make certain platform segments rather thrilling to pull off.

Cyberspace is easily the weakest part of the game, but there are aspects of it I did enjoy. I would not mind having extra stages like these appearing in another game of the same formula. That is if they all have original level themes this time with more original level design or they use level themes that haven’t been reused more than once. It’d be nice to see stages from more obscure Sonic games or handheld titles be used for these stages. I’d also like the controls to be more flexible like in the Open Zone. The last island, Ouranos, easily had some of the best cyberspace levels. Many were completely original in level design, had multiple pathways and prove that Sonic Team still has some ideas left in them. The only thing I think they’re missing are the stage specific gimmicks (not just enemies) and set pieces that tie into the theme of the level. It’s what made certain stages of old iconic and worth returning to.

Music

As you can see there’s a variety of elements that makes this game what it is and the same rings true for the music. Boasting over 150 music tracks, Sonic Frontiers now has the largest OST of any Sonic the Hedgehog game to date. There’s several music tracks for each island which change depending on your completion of it, tracks for every Guardian mini-boss with a dynamic shift for each phase, a track for every Titan boss, a track for each and every single Cyberspace stage, and three special vocal songs for the credits. All of these tackle various genres of music as well. The islands have more somber, orchestral tunes. Ares and Ouranos have my favorites. Ares has one that sounds almost like a remix of Dusty Desert from Sonic The Hedgehog (2006) which is quite fitting.

The Guardians typically have a techno(?) vibe with orchestral undertones and some heavy synth usage that is quite ominous most of the time while the Titans (as I’ve mentioned before) have some intense metalcore themes. They’re songs that while almost feels out of nowhere, completely knock it out of the park for me. Kellin Quinn absolutely needs to come back for another main 3D game, this is not up for debate. I love how his vocals amplify the feeling you get while fighting these bosses. Tyler Smyth as well for the third titan fight.

Previously heard on Infinite’s theme in Sonic Forces, he’s back again rapping lyrics that feel like a direct antithesis to the aforementioned song. The songs sound edgy like those of Shadow The Hedgehog, but with cheesy, uplifting and motivational lyrics that I’ve come to love from Sonic games.

The music of Cyberspace is yet another stark change of pace when it comes to the OST this game has to offer as all the music tracks are EDM with sub-genres of Drum/Bass, Breakcore, House and more. This is to fit the overall digital/glitchy aesthetic of these stages and I think it works really well. I just wish the level themes reflected this better too, but I’ve already stated my gripes with that. There’s also a bit of an issue with the boost filter drowning out the music too much. I think there really should’ve been a setting to turn that off because every level theme sounds pretty good, but I can barely hear them when I boost. I can’t say there’s any track I definitely dislike, however I think the music of stage 4-1 might be controversial for many.

All in all though, this has become one of my favorite Sonic game soundtracks and I think that says a lot considering the series is known for it’s incredible music. There’s a lot of tracks that leave me wanting more.

Though that’s kind of an issue I have with the soundtrack and what keeps me from saying this is my favorite soundtrack of all the games. There’s such a wide variety of different music genres at play here that I somewhat wish this OST was more consistent. Some tunes scratch an itch I didn’t realize I had and then leave me with several more. The island tunes are great for what they’re used for, but when it comes to the Guardian mini-bosses, a part of me felt like more high-octane tunes should’ve started playing instead of dramatic and ominous techno/orchestra especially with how flashy the combat is.

Some mini-bosses do have very standout tracks like the Shark in Ares, the Spider in Chaos and the Ghost in Ouranos, but all three of those feel like songs that should’ve come from another game’s soundtrack. The Spider especially with it’s second phase’s melody sounding like something that came straight out of Sonic Unleashed with the intense trumpets, violins and beat. It’s definitely my favorite mini-boss theme of the whole game, but there’s not really any others that have that same triumphant high energy. I understand that isn’t the point of the game, but then why throw a curve ball here at all?

This is also what makes the Titan boss songs feel a bit out of nowhere because until you encounter the first boss, most of the music sounds pretty subdued for the most part. All of a sudden there’s screams, guitar shredding and intense drumming that makes me question where all of this was for the rest of combat in the game. Then it just becomes a series of anticipation for what the next boss theme will be. Which is fine, I just think there should’ve been more to meet you in between in that regard.

And as much as I enjoy the Cyberspace themes, there’s something it lacks for me. I personally enjoy EDM a lot, so realizing the route they went for these stages made me really excited. I remember the likes of Imperial Tower from Sonic Forces being one of my favorite tracks from that game for it’s high energy coupled with speedy gameplay. I used to love speedrunning that stage while using the Drill weapon and the music definitely played a large part in that.

Though when it comes to the music here, I find that many are very relaxed. It’s not a bad thing, I still loved the music a lot. However, something about many of them feel a little too relaxed for the speed Sonic is going at. I understand that the theme of the game was supposed to be more somber in tone, but there needed to be a better balance I think. 1-2 opens up really well, but then the following stages don’t really match that same energy or pick up much throughout the entirety of their duration. This is essentially how I feel for a large majority of the cyberspace music with some exceptions. The amount of energy the stage music 4-3 has is more along the lines of what I was hoping for. 1-5, 3-2, 3-6, 4-5 and a few others are also up there.

There’s something else that gets to me though as far as music in the games go. I would like for them to keep exploring this EDM style of music, but a part of me wishes for other styles of music from previous games as well. Other styles that I associate with Sonic like those used for the mini-game here in Frontiers. Maybe something more like the Sonic Riders games (4-9 lightly touches on that). There’s also a funky tune that plays for some of the mini-games that I wanted more of. I also miss when they would use rock (or even orchestral rock) in the main stages/content instead of relegating that type of music to just the main theme and bosses.

I like that vocals returned in stage music since back with Sonic Forces after being absent for a while, but this is only the case for the EDM style songs and that trend continues here. There’s a disconnect somewhere. There’s just not enough of all the other styles of music this game introduces besides the EDM (since they’re contained to Cyberspace) and the Orchestral Island themes. I think I would vastly prefer a more consistent OST for the next game.

Story

After all I’ve already said, there’s still so much more to cover with this game. The story is an interesting subject in the case of what this game is and what it represents for the future of the franchise.

I will get this out of the gate right now, the story isn’t that remarkable by regular standards. It’s very repetitive in it’s plot beats, mainly because of how the game operates and the route it goes up until near the end is rather predictable. You spend time with each of Sonic’s friends after rescuing them on each island, they “help” you find the Chaos emeralds, the last one is on the titan of that island, Super Sonic defeats it and then gets shot out of the sky on the next area. In between you get little breadcrumbs of lore indicating the backstory of the new Koco creatures and what they really are as well as hints about the Chaos Emeralds and their origins. There’s not really whole lot going on outside of that.

Overall it’s a serviceable story that does it’s job and takes itself considerably more seriously than games like Sonic Colors or Sonic Lost World. It definitely harkens back to the tone of older 3D Sonic games and I for one welcome that with open arms. It doesn’t go all out crazy with it’s ideas like those games, but it feels like they’re testing out the waters again to see how much people will accept. It’s a step in the right direction.

However as someone who’s practically been raised on this franchise, it means so much more. It’s been so SO long since any of these characters felt like real characters to me. The dialogue in this game is absolutely it’s strongest point no doubt thanks to Ian Flynn and his influence this time around. The chemistry between all the characters is the best it’s been in ages. Which I know doesn’t sound like a lot when the stories have mostly stagnated for twelve years until now, but it’s hard to overstate the relief and happiness I felt from seeing these characters act like themselves again (for the most part, I do feel like Amy got the shorter end of the stick here).

The voice actors as well have improved all around from their last showing in Team Sonic Racing. Roger especially I absolutely adored hearing. The voice he’s doing for Sonic now just feels so much more natural and easy to listen to and I can just happily take in the story. There’s a lot more nuance in how he delivers certain lines and I think his performance was the best of all the games he’s voiced Sonic in. I’d like to hear more of this kind of voice direction Roger had going forward. It’s so neat to hear this more mature side to the characters after how long the stories have just revolved around cracking a joke every five seconds in effort to land forced jokes.

It wasn’t just stagnation in terms of the story, for more than a decade I had to sit and watch characters I once loved regress and become hollow shells of what they once were. All brought upon by this weird self-shame the series had for itself at the time. Back then, it was all about ignoring Sonic’s “annoying friends”. The franchise taking itself seriously was ruining it. Everything established by games released in the mid 2000s needed to go because Sonic is just “a blue hedgehog”. Return to happy, no brain, silly times with light “drama” (if you could even call it that) while we pretend the past decade doesn’t exist to appeal to people who didn’t care about the franchise (and still don’t) that much to begin with.

Yeah, this is personal to me.

This game not only served to characterize everyone well, it goes the extra mile of fixing them (for the most part). Using aspects of the past decade (that deep down I would’ve preferred to forget) to further the growth of these characters. To turn these aspects into something that can do well. I respect that decision a lot because really who would I be to say everything we got from the games written by Pontac and Graff were completely terrible.

It sure felt like that to me, but for all I know, there could be new fans who really enjoyed this take on the franchise that I did not. It’s better that they don’t get alienated in the same way I felt how many years back. Back when the general consensus was that “serious stories, werehogs, humans and Sonic with a sword” were the things that were holding the franchise back and needed to be erased. The series doesn’t need to ignore more than a decade worth of itself in an effort to please a singular crowd of people again. I think tying the games together like this was the best choice Ian Flynn and Morio Kishimoto could’ve made.

I’m genuinely excited to see what the future has in store for the series now that it seems like everything from the games is fully available for usage again. It no longer feels like there’s some arbitrary barrier of shame preventing them from wanting to address established parts of the series canon. This game goes out of it’s way to proudly display that with ever abundant references and callbacks in and out of the story. Sometimes it’s flashbacks to help reestablish a character’s story that hasn’t been touched upon since games from twenty years ago. Other times it’s Sonic’s comments that occur every so often while exploring the islands. Usually he mentions locations and/or other characters relevant to the situation he’s in. One of these characters happen to be one that debuted exclusively in the IDW comics, canonizing the series characters (and potentially the stories) to the games.

I do think that maybe they put a little too many references, but it’s not that bad as in the average playthrough (or even multiple playthroughs) you will never cycle through all of the ones Sonic says while exploring. In the main story it’s much less abundant. In the end, I think it was very necessary for them to do this considering how long it’s been since any of the things mentioned were relevant.

After Sonic Forces and the absence of many notable series staples, people had begun to question if any of the things from the past were canon anymore. No GUN, lack of Chaos Emeralds, no humans except for Eggman mentioned, the world was taken over yet very little mention of locations that should’ve been acknowledged, characters were very out of character, etc. The story itself while promising to take itself more seriously flopped in every regard. For a while, we were to assume that the new direction the series had taken was here to stay. I’m glad that wasn’t the case.

Now for all this praise I’m giving the story on personal merit, that doesn’t mean I don’t have my gripes with it.

Sage is a new character in this game and her role here is much different from what the trailers lead you to believe. What originally seemed to be this menacing child that looked almost like main antagonist material actually turned out to be something much more bittersweet. See, the game starts off with Dr. Eggman installing disk-like hardware (Code named as SAGE) on an ancient looking structure that we later come to call Cyberspace portals. His technology predictably backfires on him, but not by turning on him like most of his creations do when he messes with things he shouldn’t.

Instead it activates a safety protocol to protect him while he gets sucked into the portal. Later on we learn that his hardware had been given a physical form courtesy of the mysterious wonder that is Cyberspace. From there, we get to see him slowly get attached to her, even to the point where he starts to see her as his own daughter. Sage also goes through her own arc where she comes to terms with her newfound humanity and feelings. Feelings that make her yearn for family and friendship in the same way she witnesses Sonic and his friend have. It’s a touching narrative really.

If it had proper development.

I really appreciate what the writers tried to do here, I do. I’m excited for how things will turn out in the next game with her added dynamic with Eggman and his new apparent role as a part-time father. I just wish it was focused on here more in the main cutscenes. Unfortunately the development I’m looking for is tucked away in optional extra voice lines you can only access via fishing.

In the fishing mini-game shop, there are these items called “Egg Memos” you can buy. These are audio recorded voice logs by Eggman recalling his time spent trapped in Cyberspace and it’s truly interesting to listen to. For once, he actually starts to sound like the renowned genius he claims to be when he’s not just going on about world domination and you really get a good look at the way he thinks. Of course there’s many logs with more references to past games and series lore too, but some logs are surprisingly touching. There’s one where he takes a moment to ponder about his relatives including Maria, whom he compares Sage to wondering if Maria was anything like her.

However, the most important logs are the ones where he talks about Sage. You can listen to how he progressively gets attached to what was originally just supposed to be his AI program. It’s honest to god endearing to hear and I never thought I get to see a side to Eggman like this in the games. The problem with this though is how it’s only really seen (heard) through the Egg Memos. Such important moments of character growth is relegated to being optional content and without checking these out, the story the main game tries to sell about these two comes out of nowhere and falls flat.

In the main story cutscenes, interactions between these two basically boil down to Eggman yelling at her to find him a way out of Cyberspace and Sage saying that she hasn’t found a feasible way out yet (or one that he approves of). All of the hints toward familial love are completely one-sided from Sage’s perspective while watching Sonic and his friends from afar. There’s a really awkward cutscene with her crying (and singing? badly?) while it flashes back to previous cutscenes of her and Eggman in an attempt to pull at your heartstrings. It doesn’t come across well at all though because there weren’t many scenes of them together to begin with and again, they’re all mostly of him yelling at her except for the one where she saves him. It’s also the one cutscene in the earlier part of the game that remotely tries to indicate he’s starting to feel anything toward her by saying that he’s proud of her.

Then it’s not really touched upon until basically the end of the game where he starts showing real emotions toward her in the main story cutscenes and calling her his daughter. Again, this is really out of nowhere if you have no knowledge of the contents from the Memos. I feel that if the developers/writers for whatever reason really couldn’t afford to make these into real cutscenes, it shouldn’t have been tucked away in a mini-game. I think they should’ve been something you’re rewarded with per completing each island and you could access it via a sort of objective board almost like how Codecs were done in Metal Gear Solid V. Obviously I don’t mean for it to be anywhere near as extensive as that, but it really should’ve been more in the player’s face to check out instead of tucked away in fishing of all things. A mini-game a lot of players might not even find on some islands during their first playthrough.

Now regarding the end of the game, things fall apart at the seams pretty quickly after you disable the towers that emerge on the fourth island (Rhea) right after defeating Chaos Island’s titan. There’s a lot of aspects of the game that try to resolve itself too quickly and clearly didn’t have enough time left for.

Another ongoing plotline of this game is how Sonic is slowly getting corrupted by the cyber energy that he absorbs after rescuing his friends on each island and even more from disabling the towers. There’s a good build up and progression of it until the end. Each island he ends up looking worse, noticeably in more pain with his movements, holding his stomach or his head. Often coughing or very out of breath until he can hardly move. By time he shuts down the last tower, he’s completely corrupted and is stuck in an unmovable limbo state.

Amy, Knuckles, Tails, Eggman and Sage all surround him to witness the state he’s in and it’s at this point I almost thought they were about to pull an 06. In that game, there’s a part near the end where the game has you play as all the characters in an effort to save Sonic since he’s unavailable due to plot circumstances. That’s not what happens though. Instead, everything they’ve been building up toward for several hours at this point in the game is resolved in…

Two minutes.

My disappointment is immeasurable.

Using the power of friendship, Amy/Tails/Knuckles hold hands around Sonic and go back into Cyberspace which somehow cures him of all his problems in an instant. It didn’t have to do something like making the other characters playable to make this worthwhile, Sonic’s corrupted state should’ve just lasted way longer than it did for all the build up it got. For the average player that just goes through the motions of story objectives with some side exploration, this is about fifteen hours into the game (ten to eleven if you’re a Sonic fan playing similarly). You watch as Sonic’s idle animation in game reflects how he’s feeling from the corruption until the point where he finally gives in. All that just for basically no payoff at all. The plot line might as well not even have existed, what was the point? I’m not saying I didn’t expect the power of friendship to come into play, I’m saying it shouldn’t come into play so quickly.

I wish I could say my issue with the story stops there, but it doesn’t. The last island and final bosses of the game just screams untapped potential and not enough time to work out everything both in story and gameplay. It’s incredibly unfortunate because there was truly something special on their hands here as far as Sonic game standards go.

Flaws

You know I originally didn’t think I had many issues with the game at first until I realized how long my notes for this section had gotten. Though, most of them are pertaining to a common element between Cyberspace and Chaos Island and the game’s overall weird direction with it’s difficulty. I’ll start with the first thing I mentioned because I think this needs to be addressed.

2D Gameplay.

2D gameplay is not inherently a bad thing. It can be designed well, it can be fun and in Frontiers it’s…alright as far as the level design goes. I mean in Cyberspace, all the 2D levels except for one is either a 2D stage from Unleashed/Generations or a 2D section ripped from one of those game’s hybrid levels turned into it’s own short level. Those games were fun.

Though the controls for those games were built with those stages in mind and here in Cyberspace it’s incredibly obvious how much worse Sonic feels to control in 2D than he did in those games. It’s a slog to get through, so I’m glad there’s much more 3D stages than 2D. I also appreciate that instead of combining these two styles like they usually do, they’re completely separated. Only fully 3D stages or fully 2D stages here.

Wish I could say that about Chaos Island.

I just don’t understand what happened here. They were doing so well with the introduction to the new game format on Kronos. Ares was that, but far bigger and all the level assets flowed together nicely. It was fun, it was fresh, I was having a good time. I did not have a good time on Chaos Island.

Who’s brilliant idea was it to put 2D gameplay in the 3D sandbox game designed around going where you want to go and playing how you want to play? It’s quite annoying. I just want to explore the island and I found myself actively avoiding springs and boosters because I didn’t want to be thrown into a 2D section that would inevitably lock me there when I’m just trying to go from point A to point B. If I have to actively avoid the game’s gimmicks to play it, something is wrong here. This is not a matter of whether of not the 2D gameplay is good or not, it’s the fact that it goes against the very nature of the game itself. And there is absolutely no reason why any of these sections had to be in 2D either with the exception of wall-jump sections. However even using that as an excuse is weak when it could just pan the camera to 2D for just that section and go back to 3D view after like it does on other islands. Not even doing it for the sake of vertical platforming sections are an excuse as majority of the towers save for about two on Rhea Island execute it quite well.

I wouldn’t be that upset if it were just a shake up for maybe one or two platforming challenges, but no. At least ninety percent of Chaos Island is made up of 2D platforming challenges. Sonic’s controls are also dialed back here in the Open Zone much like in Cyberpsace when it switches to the 2D perspective and it feels pretty crap I won’t lie.

I think there needs to be an intervention with whoever at Sega or Sonic Team keeps insisting on putting 2D gameplay into their 3D games. We’re at the point where it’s actually harming the quality of the game. Originally the reason for incorporating 2D gameplay into this hybrid style back in Sonic Unleashed and onward was to “go back to Sonic’s roots”, but is that really the case when it’s designed with none of the aspects that made it fun back then?

You could also argue that the reason 2D gameplay was present in those games were to shake up it’s already simple gaming experience. After all, games like Sonic Colors and Sonic Generations were incredibly short with not much else but it’s stages to do. Incorporating 2D gameplay gave the player more ways to experience levels and the developers access to more variety in level design. However, that’s not really necessary in a 3D Open Zone/Sandbox game like this where there’s already a variety of ways to tackle the game in 3D as well as various tasks that shake up the main gameplay loop while still being in 3D.

I think it’s time the developers realize that most people are indifferent at best to the 2D gameplay unless it’s done exactly in the same way as the classic games + Mania (and to an extent the Advance/Rush games). It has to be a legitimately 2D game. There’s a reason why people are less favorable toward Sonic Colors these days, there’s a reason why when people go back to play Sonic Generations the Classic Sonic stages are barely mentioned, there’s a reason why despite mixing a lot of Classic Sonic elements into Sonic Lost World not whole lot of people talk about that game, there’s a reason people hated Classic Sonic in Sonic Forces, etc.

There’s a reason why people liked Sonic Mania (an actual 2D game and is marketed as such) and want a sequel.

Yes, a lot of that has to do with momentum and rolling physics and the level design involving a lot of hills and slopes. Things that are notably absent or botched terribly in the other games I mentioned with 2D gameplay. However, I’m going to raise another point. Even if say, they managed to finally replicate these physics in this style for the sole reason of making it better in their main 3D games… why wouldn’t the whole game be 3D at that point? Better yet, why wouldn’t the player want to do these things in 3D when they bought the game for exactly that?

One of the number one complaints throughout the news cycle of Sonic Frontiers and is still a constant hot topic of debate post release is the usage of physics and momentum. People desperately want this kind of gameplay in a 3D space.

Sonic Team and Sega really need to take a moment to consider the audience the game is for and why they’re buying it. As much fans as there are for 2D gameplay and for the Classic games, that audience is not buying a game marketed as a 3D Open Zone/Sandbox game for 2D gameplay. At best, people will simply just be fine with it and at worst the people who are buying these games for 3D gameplay will be upset. The novelty of it wears off after the first few times because this isn’t that kind of game. I’ve yet to see anyone absolutely begging for more 2D gameplay in the way Frontiers or past boost oriented titles does it. It’s still inferior in every way to what people keep referring to when they say they want 2D gameplay to return.

Meanwhile there still hasn’t been a fully 3D mainline Sonic game since Sonic the Hedgehog (2006). I don’t see fans of 3D Sonic gameplay suddenly clamoring to buy Sonic Mania just because the special stages are in 3D, so why would the reverse be true? If you already bought a game like Mania or Frontiers, you go in expecting to play exactly what advertisements tell you it is. I wish the developers would put a little more trust in what the player decides to play.

Speaking of trust in the player, this game has almost none whatsoever. The balancing for this game is basically nonexistent. What is the point of having an Easy, Normal and Hard mode if the differences between them are negligible? This was something done in Sonic Forces as well and it also basically had no impact on the gameplay either. In Sonic Frontiers, it affects the combat in the sense of enemy aggression, health and attack power. Which is a step in the right direction like a lot of this game is. However, there are just too many other aspects of this game that honestly should’ve been affected by a setting like this.

I should not be given more than a hundred seconds to complete a puzzle that takes less than twenty seconds to beat. Most of these puzzles that aren’t based around getting from point A to point B on the map take less than thirty seconds to complete. Even then, those kinds of challenges are particularly generous with the time needed to complete them. Then there are these combo damage challenges that require you to hit an object and deal a certain amount of damage within the time limit. It could’ve been nice combo practice, except the required damage can usually be done in a few skills and it gives you a ton of time to do them, so you end up far exceeding the damage needed by an incredibly large amount every time. What’s the point?  

There’s only one puzzle in the game that you could call even remotely difficult and it’s on the very first island. The tombstone puzzle needed to progress onto the first Titan boss. It’s a definite head-scratcher for many people. You’re expected to line up the tombstone lights alongside a pattern on the ground. It doesn’t sound that hard at first, but then you realize that moving a tombstone also control others and you have to rotate them in a specific order to get them all to line up correctly. It does take a while, but this puzzle isn’t timed at all so you have all the time in the world to keep rotating them all until you get it.

It took myself about five minutes to get through and to be completely honest, it was an accident. I feel bad for the little child that probably gave up on this. This puzzle is really jarring as it’s at the beginning of the game. In terms of difficulty and what’s been done for the rest of puzzles in the game past that point, this feels like an endgame challenge. I don’t think challenges like this one specifically are ideal for a Sonic game, however if the developers going to continue with this format of gameplay style, something has to improve difficulty-wise and the order of which you receive this difficulty.

Then there’s the cyberspace challenges. I actually think the objectives like red rings and getting a specific amount of rings are fine. The biggest issue is the time required to get an S rank per each level. I mentioned earlier how stage 1-2 was a great challenge. Unfortunately, that challenge is nowhere to be seen for the rest of the game and it feels like such a slap in the face when the next few stages you do are finished well before the S rank time needed. I found myself consistently beating these stages with at least twenty to forty seconds left to spare. I wouldn’t chalk that up to me being good either because this happened on stages where I did run into multiple enemies or died. It doesn’t feel great when you know you did terribly and yet you’re still rewarded for it.

1-2 was a great level to get an S rank on because it legitimately forced you to find the best route to secure that time. It wasn’t enough to just play well and figuring that out was a lot of fun for me. It also somewhat baits you into doing this because the stage itself is short. On average you will beat it within a minute. So when you see the S rank time being fifty-five seconds, you’ll probably think to yourself “Oh yeah, I can do that” and then five minutes later you’re still here racking your brain on how to shave a few more seconds off your time. The moment you do get it feels very good. You feel like you actually mastered something, there’s a great sense of accomplishment. A feeling you don’t get much at all in this game.

The rest of cyberspace stages are still fun enough to do and thankfully not as plain as the short stages in Sonic Forces, but you never quite get the same feeling 1-2 brought.

My last issue with difficulty in this game comes with the open zone itself. The platforming challenges are fun enough much like cyberspace, but there’s a certain thing that eventually does get tiring. The amount of dash panel automated segments. I understand placing the panels around as extra help to steer toward certain locations and puzzles, but I don’t think it’s necessary to line up multiple in a row on several occasions. It’s excessive. The wall-running/wall-climbing mechanic seemed pretty interesting to me at first, but majority of them are plagued with dash panels so you’re never really actually doing those yourself. Dash panels are just littered everywhere and it gets to a point where all I need to do is hit one, put down my controller and somehow Sonic makes it to the other side of the map by himself.

It gets especially annoying when I accidentally run into one and I can’t get out of the segment, much like my issue with the 2D sections in Chaos Island. Another issue with the overall design of the Open Zone is how many safety nets there are. Obviously not actual nets, but more so things to keep you from completely failing the platforming challenges mentioned earlier in this review. Should you ever fall off a platform sequence, there’s usually extra rails below you that you don’t see until you fall or tethers you can hook onto to pull yourself straight back to where you were before.

I understand not wanting newcomers to get frustrated, but in turn it frustrates a more seasoned player like myself when it feels like I never truly get punished for messing up. There’s just never really anything to worry about difficulty-wise because I know these safety measures are there.

Difficulty preferences should’ve affected things like this. I know that Sonic Team is worried about having legitimate difficulty in a Sonic game after years and years of people bashing previous games for reasons that boil down to them not really being good at those games. However, that’s why difficulty settings affecting more than just combat could be a benefit. Easy/Normal mode can include these super easy S rank times, the safety nets, the excessive automation and the ample amount of time to do puzzles and challenges.

Hard mode should be focused more on tightening up those requirements considerably. If players make the conscious choice to pick hard mode, they are expecting to be challenged. Give them that challenge, trust the decision they’ve made. If they complain about the difficulty at that point, it’s on them because they made that decision themselves. Plus they have the option to switch difficulty at any time if it’s really too much for them. Some players don’t want their hand held.

Combat being the only thing affected by these difficulty settings has just too little impact in the grand scheme of things. And even then on hard mode it still doesn’t feel like combat is affected much as some of these enemies aren’t aggressive enough as far as the one on one battles go. Many take too long to swing and have very obvious openings for when you have to parry. The Titans especially take years to swipe at you and it feels awkward to slow down your attack string to sit for a few seconds holding your “parry”.

The “parry” that you can hold for fifteen seconds. It’s absurd. Even disregarding that it’s not timing based, fifteen seconds is way too long. Something like that absolutely needs to be adjusted per difficulty. Maybe fifteen seconds on easy, five seconds on normal, timing based on hard. Changes like these are what I’d like to see in the next game. If the next game goes through a similar play-testing phase like that of Frontiers, there should probably be a group that focuses on testing harder gameplay specifically in the effort of not alienating those who would like a challenge.

Graphics/Performance/Animation

This section will be a bit smaller compared to the other points made in my review already.

Graphics in this game are very nice, no doubt thanks to the Sonic Team’s in-house engine “Hedgehog Engine 2”. Every area is still vibrant and bright even in it’s dreariest moments. There’s also a Day/Night/Weather cycle for all of the areas and makes the islands much more visually engaging.

The biggest issue the game has graphically is the abundantly noticeable pop-in. It’s quite bad. Many objects don’t load in until you’re just a few feet away and there’s no real fade-in animation for this. They just spawn into existence on the spot. Hopefully this can be patched, but as of right now it’s an issue.

Other than that, I can’t say I really ran into any bugs, slow-downs or game breaking glitches throughout my whole playthrough. The game runs quite smoothly and I’m glad for that.

The animation in this game is relatively good for the the most part, but there are parts where you can tell some are not as fixed up as the rest.

Back during the initial previews for this game, the animation for many combat skills, traversal and trick animations looked quite rough, but it was later revealed to be an early build. Combat animations in the final game have much improved with necessary particle effect additions and flare to make them much more satisfying. Trick animations were also sped up considerably compared to past footage and I do enjoy mashing the stick while watching Sonic pull off many poses while flying through the air. These were great improvements.

Titan battles definitely have the best animated segments of the game, but the last one (Supreme) noticeably falls flat in the spectacle department compared to the first three. There’s a lot of jarring cuts between QTEs that make the fight confusing both to understand and look at. Supreme is also just Giganto’s fight, but with more projectiles. It’s very underwhelming for the final titan fight of the game.

Aside from that, I just have one little nitpick regarding Sonic’s animation while getting hit by the titans. For all the titans except the Knight, Sonic gets blown back, but snaps back into his flying pose within a frame and it’s a bit awkward looking. Yet in the fight with the Knight, there’s a proper animation of him getting slammed into a wall, shaking himself off and getting back in the fight. It’s a minor thing really, but I genuinely liked that and wish that in the other fights something similar would occur.

Lack of QoL

(At the time of writing this review, the road map and DLC content had not been announced yet.)

This game lacks a lot of basic features. I don’t think this is on purpose, I think it might’ve just been an instance of not having enough time to be implemented. These aren’t big enough to be a detriment to the game as a whole, but would’ve improved the quality overall. However, instead of making a long winded paragraph on this, I’m just going to list them off as bullet points.

-There’s no way to switch the time of day. This is annoying given that there are puzzles you can only do at night.

-There’s no photo mode which is strange given the type of game this is.

-There’s no cutscene theater or any way to re-watch the story.

-The prologue comic and animation are not accessible in the game itself.

-There’s no online ranking or leaderboard for Cyberspace levels

-There’s no damage falloff or anything to dissuade the player from using the same move repeatedly during combat.

-There’s no combat scoring system.

-There’s no way to fight the Titan bosses again outside of replaying the whole game or having a data slot saved just before these fights.

-All cosmetics are DLC rather than a feature built into the game.

-There’s no way to traverse the full island of Kronos, Rhea and Ouranos combined post game completion.

Final Thoughts

Sonic Frontiers as a whole is a step in the right direction both in terms of gameplay and story. It’s definitely an improvement from previous Sonic games, but still feels a like there’s a lot more work to be done. I know a lot of long time series fans were hoping for more than just a step, but I think this was a necessary game to help Sonic Team find some solid ground to work off of. Now that they have it, I sincerely hope they improve and polish up everything they introduced. The platforming, the combat, the challenges and even the extra side stages. They have something good in their hands, I just hope they can capitalize on it properly. For what it is, Frontiers is a fun and overall solid experience. And perhaps, that’s all it needed to be.

Final Score: 7/10

Review Code provided by SEGA