late last year, Sonic Limits was first teased by Sega with a trailer hinting at putting Blue Blur in an open-world game. People were naturally curious and concerned about such a prospect. How well would Sonic work in an open world?

Then the first look at the actual gameplay debuted, and people weren’t happy.

The gameplay itself didn’t seem the most exciting and most importantly, the open world looked dull “realistic” and resembled the many Unreal engine tech demos and concept videos we’ve seen over the years.

Some fans even insisted that the game be delayed so that it could be reviewed.

Later, new images showed more traditional stages that we would expect from a 3D Sonic game.

Sega has stuck with the plan to release Sonic Frontiers this year (and the day before one of the biggest games of the year, God of War Ragnarok, no less) and that certainly doesn’t seem to be changing.

Have fun carefully

Several pre-order bonuses are advertised, game cases are on display on store shelves, and Sonic took up most of Sega’s booth at Tokyo Game Show 2022.

I’ve played the Sonic Frontiers demo twice at TGS 2022, and I still feel more or less the same about the game before I tried it – mixed with a bit of cautious optimism.

The demo popped Sonic into the open world that yes, still resembles a generic Unreal Engine environment. Undoubtedly, it looks dull with muted colors that are a far cry from the vibrant palette normally associated with Sonic.

It was honestly depressing to watch. Well, at least there’s plenty of room to go fast.

Moving Sonic through the open world was familiar enough. He could, of course, run and jump. Other moves included dash, spin, quick-step, crouch, slide and air boosting.

Some of these would be more useful when it came time to fight. There were rails to sharpen up quickly, speed boosters on the ground and springs to bounce off.

Because the camera was placed further away, there was a lesser sense of speed when Sonic moved, but it made it easier to control it and see the world. I met some enemies – geometric robots – and in combat it got a little more interesting.

There are the attacks players are used to: hitting enemies while curled up in a ball and the targeted attack holding for hits.

Tapping the square button while not jumping into a ball makes Sonic fight more bare-handed by kicking and punching upright. When enemies attack, Sonic can dodge using his various fast movement skills. But he can also parry if you time it right.

The biggest addition is the Cyloop ability. While holding the triangle button, Sonic begins to draw a green light trail behind him as if he were a light cycle from Tron.

Draw a closed shape and the Cyloop deals damage to everything within its confines. Sonic running circles around enemies can literally hurt them now. There were also items that required you to spin Cyloop to open or break them.

Back to basic

After progressing far enough, I reached a structure that led me to play a more quintessential Sonic stage. Sega calls these Cyber ​​Space levels.

The camera was positioned closer to Sonic racing through the level, giving the exhilarating sense of speed that fans love. The stage was an ancient city made of stone, filled with Sonic staples like ramps, platforms, wells, one-hit enemies, and so on.

Not only did it play like a typical Sonic level, it was more like it. The lighting and color palette were bright and colorful.

The camera wasn’t the best at times, causing me to miss the stage and reboot from the beginning. Nevertheless, here was the 3D Sonic gameplay we all knew until now.

Wanting to be optimistic

The bits of story I saw in cutscenes during my demo were quite serious in tone, but didn’t grab my interest too much. It seemed too heavy for the Sonic story and gave me a bit of Sonic 2006 vibes. That said, it’s still early to say how the plot will unfold.

All in all, I would say that the verdict on Sonic Frontiers is still unknown. I want to be optimistic as a fan. However, I think many of us are cautious after being burned one too many times. Here’s hoping for the best for the upcoming open-world adventure of the Fastest Thing Alive.

Sonic Frontiers will launch on November 8, 2022.

Thanks to Sega for granting my request for a PS5 version demo for this preview.