Sonic ventures into the Starfall Islands in the upcoming 3D platforming/action-adventure hybrid title Sonic Frontiers. This game sees Sonic in his first ever open world-inspired game that combines the classic platforming and traditional Sonic game tropes with new “Open Zone” gameplay elements. This is a first for the series, and today we will be looking into the Sonic Frontiers trailer, which offers a closer look into the game including a special appearance from Big the Cat!!
Sonic Frontiers will launch starting at $59.99 on PlayStation®5, PlayStation®4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch™ and Steam on November 8.
Trailer Overview
The trailer has a mix of gameplay and non-gameplay footage, and honestly at some sections it is hard to tell weather it is gameplay or not which is a pretty great sign for the games graphics. Keep in mind though, the gameplay is captured on a PC, so it is safe to assume that consoles, especially the Nintendo Switch in handheld mode, may suffer from slightly worse framerates or graphical fidelity.
The trailer starts off with our blue hero standing on a ledge over a clearing with an AI voice telling us to, “Find the Chaos Emeralds.” while over 80 red circles appear, spawning the metallic monsters we will fight throughout the game. Sonic proceeds to go into some slow motion sequences kicking and punching them out of existence. The trailer kicks it into high gear with the AI telling us to, “Tear down the walls between dimensions.” while seeing a hologram of Amy Rose. After many different scenes of gameplay and premade video, including seeing Big the Cat, the AI again talks to us, telling us to, “Destroy the titans.” with a cinematic of Sonic beating a large spider looking titan. When Sonic find what I believe is a chaos emerald the AI tells us, “You are the key.” to which Sonic beats up some more baddies and uses the chaos emeralds to turn into Super Sonic and go fist to fist with a large humanoid titan.
Trailer Analysis
We are provided with a lot of information in this trailer, but most of it goes unexplained. It is honestly a bit difficult to discern anything in particular in this trailer besides seeing the Blue Blur running through the new “Open Zone” sections in a variety of locals and partaking in a few fight scenes with the metal monsters. We do see a bit of the opening cinematic with Sonic, Tails and Amy riding in/on-top of the Tornado (Tails’ bi-plane) before they are sucked through dimensions. This is probably part of the opening scene we will see at the start of the game. We are also treated to a very short scene with Sonic and Big the Cat after Sonic assumedly fished up a golden octopus.
Big The Cac In Sonic Frontiers
The largest piece of information I felt we were given in this new trailer was that scene with Big the Cat. Seeing him now in the game, including having the trailer with Knuckles a few days prior, I believe it is all but confirmed that multiple Sonic staple characters will be pulled into this game and provide you with mini-games/side quests you can complete for either collectibles or resources. Seeing as how the open-world gameplay elements are being brought in with “Open Zone” sections, this only makes sense as most open world games need these side quests and mini games to keep the world from feeling empty in-between the fighting sections. We will just have to wait and see what other characters are officially brought in, and what roles they will play.
Conclusion
Sonic Frontiers looks beautifully put together so far, and seems to be efficiently implementing both original Sonic staple gameplay mechanics and new ones tailored to the new “Open Zone” gameplay sections.
But what do you think?
Let us know wherever you can online, and be sure to check out my YouTube and and Twitter online to tell me what you think personally, and tell me if you want to see me play this game!!
