DISCLAIMER: This review was originally written for Qualbert at qualbert.com as a member of their review team, and the digital code was provided by them for the purpose of this review. The review as originally published can be found on their website HERE.

Sonic the Hedgehog recently raced past his thirtieth birthday, a milestone decorated by dozens of games, television shows and feature films. The iconic blue mascot of SEGA has sped his way through countless 2D and 3D adventures but for the first time in the franchise, Sonic has finally found himself in his very own open world adventure, Sonic Frontiers.

Referred to as open-zone rather than open world, Sonic Frontier’s approach the genre is appropriately experimental, bringing with it multiple gameplay mechanics, ideas and characters that worked in previous titles, culminating in a definitive Sonic experience that is ultimately unlike any that has come before it.

Freedom to explore, new takes on classic stages and the chaotic fusion of speed and combat take Sonic into a new frontier of possibilities that works far more often than it doesn’t. Sonic Frontiers isn’t just a great Sonic game, it’s a great take on the open world, platforming formula.

Spanning five explorable worlds that comprise the Starfall islands, a handful of narrative threads weave in and out of relevance towards a predictable outcome that doesn’t feel as fleshed out as it could have been. Sonic family favourites Tails, Amy and Knuckles are each tied to one of the worlds for players to collect Memory Tokens to further these individual threads. There is a disconnect between almost every individual plot thread and the overarching story that prevents the whole thing from feeling complete or meaningful, the emotional weight of what the story is ultimately trying to accomplish feels undermined as a result.

The mysterious Sage and Dr Robotnik/Eggman admittedly introduce an interesting antagonistic dynamic to multiple layers of the narrative, despite the latter being featured less heavily than one might expect given his decorated past with everyone’s favourite hedgehog. Sage speaks in brief, vague bursts that animate her in a fashion consistent with her nature and purpose in the story that compromised her development just enough to keep her from feeling as emotionally relevant as she otherwise could have been.

The supporting cast of Sonic, be it friend or foe, has never seen the in-game depth that they received in Sonic Frontiers. Tails finally feels like more than a side kick and Knuckles’ rivalry with our hero has never felt as playfully explored and examined as it has been here, an extremely refreshing feeling for a franchise that has consistently put Sonic at the forefront of every single adventure.

Despite the shortcomings, the highlights of the story are well executed, particularly the focus given to an extinct race of alien beings and the general David vs Goliath scale boss encounters Sonic finds himself in against each world’s Titan. To the surprise of no one, the tiny pop-culture phenomenon that is Sonic is always the smallest dog in the fight, always having to punch up in order to succeed and overcome the colossal odds stacked against him.

Players just looking to race through the story are looking at a 10-12 hour playthrough if ignoring the extra curricular activities that Sonic Frontiers has to offer. Completionists however will be able to do all the game has to offer, including unlock all of its achievements/trophies, in less than 20 hours total. As a pioneer in the speed-running space of video games, Sonic Frontiers actually presents a way to essentially unlock story progression without having to properly work for it with its surprisingly implanted fishing system, more on that later.

At its core, Sonic Frontiers places its largest emphasis on speed and exploration. Each of the five explorable worlds is packed with enemies, giant Guardian enemy variants for late-game conquest, challenges to complete that defog the map, character interactions to find and portals to activate and subsequently complete.

Navigating these worlds is accomplished by (surprise surprise)… sprinting. It’s no secret that Sonic is fast, that’s kind of his thing but Sonic Frontiers finally takes his speed to a whole new level. Not only can Sonic’s running speed be upgraded in-game by trading creatures that can be rescued, the settings of the game itself offers a host of sliders that can be adjusted that relate to Sonic’s base, top and turning speed to name a few, a very surprising yet welcome suite of tools to allow players to further feel the sense of speed that Sonic has long been associated with.

Each world has a handful of challenges to complete that defog the map and uncover new locations. These challenges can be as simple as platforming from point A to point B, successfully completing jump rope activities, triggering pressure pads and recreating Tetris structures to name a few. There is an impressive variety to keep them interesting and most can be completed in as little as a few seconds or as much as a minute or two.

Completing all of the challenges for a world fully defogs it and opens up the ability to fast travel between Portals. Like many things in Sonic Frontiers, at no point is the information revealed before the fact, leaving players thinking that fast travel isn’t an option unless they happen to complete all of the challenges in a given world.

Traversing the world is made easier by completing challenges, not just because it ultimately opens up fast travel but because new pieces of the environment are added to these locations such as rails to grind, launch pads to leap from and platforms to jump to that allow Sonic to reach areas that may otherwise be very tedious to figure out and overcome.

Portals populate the world and serve two functions. Their primary function is to be activated by collecting Gears, found as random drops from enemies, to transport Sonic to more traditional stages that feature the player trying to complete the run as fast as possible and with as many rings and Red Rings as they are able to collect. These stages feature some classics that have been masterfully reimagined and executed in the new style of Frontiers that are an absolute joy to experience. The secondary function of Portals is fast travel, unlocked by completing all of the challenges in a world as mentioned earlier.

Completing these stages awards up to 4 Vault Keys and can be replayed at any time. These Vault Keys are used to activate Vaults that award Sonic a Chaos Emerald, and collecting all 7 of the Chaos Emeralds allows Sonic to transform into Super Sonic.

Super Sonic is implemented differently in Sonic Frontiers with the form tied to a singular, story related boss battle in each world. Transformation isn’t possible outside of these encounters and the reason is perhaps as simple as the sheer boost to attack and speed that would otherwise make traversal and combat far too easy.

While it’s disappointing to not be able to activate the transformation as freely as previous titles, Super Sonic is epic, impactful and downright fun to play as and watch in action-packed cinematics that are interlaced with the battles themselves.

Combat is undeniably the weakest aspect of Sonic Frontiers by a wide margin. There is a skill tree with nearly a dozen abilities to unlock and experiment with but the core combat consists of button mashing in a manner that just doesn’t feel fun. Certain enemy types can’t be attacked straight away, instead requiring an opening to be created via the Cycloop ability, which is easily the coolest new ability Sonic has seen since the Super Sonic transformation.

Cycloop is used by holding a single button down while creating a loop by running around. Once the loop is complete, the player can release the button and the enemy inside will be damaged or exposed, presenting a window for Sonic to unleash melee attacks to finish the job.

The Cycloop can be used at any time, even outside of combat, which always generates rings, and is also required to solve some challenges and dig up treasure spots which may also include Vault Keys, Memory Tokens and Gears.

Purple tokens can be found in each world that are used to activate fishing Portals, transporting Sonic to a fishing spot with fan-favourite Big the Cat. Here, players can play a very simple fishing task that consisted of casting a line and reeling in their catch with a QTE. Every catch awards the player tokens which can be spent to obtain Memory Tokens, Vault Keys, Gears and a host of items required for upgrades to Sonic’s attack, defense, speed and ring capacity.

Dependant on the world the fishing is being played in, their is a varying cost of purple tokens to activate each cast. For instance Kronos Island, the first island, only costs one purple token whereas the final island costs eight. Proportionately though, the number of tokens awarded for each catch is also scaled to reflect the cost, making it ultimately more rewarding the more expensive it is to play.

This function, if known before starting out in Sonic Frontiers, essentially allows players to bypass the scavenging and collecting of Gears required to activate Portals and therefore unlock Vault Keys. Savvy players could find enough purple tokens to outright buy all of the Vault Keys they need to unlock the Chaos Emeralds without having to actually earn them all by playing the stages within the portals. They could also buy the Memory Tokens which are also required for story related interactions with Sage, Amy, Knuckles and Tails. Story progression can, for lack of a better term, be bought out for the most part which would allow players more interested in just experiencing the story to be able to do so with out spending a dozen hours collecting things.

Sonic Frontiers doesn’t attempt to raise the bar in the visual department. It does offer charming models of the uber-popular cast but definitely plays it safe in terms of environmental design and general art direction. Each of the five worlds all look distinct which is nice though a general sense of emptiness is present throughout all of them, there just isn’t enough meaningful content to populate them.

Easily the biggest issue in Sonic Frontiers is the distasteful texture popping that occurs with alarming regularity. Designed to allow Sonic to travel at ridiculous speeds, this title somehow managed to release without the realisation that the environment drops in around Sonic constantly as players whizz around at high speeds. It is distracting to no end, on many occasions it leads to the player running into something that wasn’t there until it all of a sudden appears. This unfortunately breaks a lot of the immersion established by the otherwise excellent sense of speed.

It is worth noting that Sonic Frontiers offers a default 4K mode as well as a 60 FPS mode, with the latter adding an unbelievable layer to the sense of speed. As a player who typically favours visual fidelity over performance, I can not recommend 60 FPS enough for Sonic’s latest adventure.

As always, Sonic is complimented by an electric, upbeat and energetic soundtrack that goes into overdrive with the Super Sonic boss battles in particular. Sonic titles always deliver a soundtrack that matches the energy of its protagonist which adds to the fun factor and chaotic speed of the gameplay.

The voice acting does little to add any emotional weight to key story beats though it does feature voice artists reprising their roles from other Sonic titles.

Sound design is wonderfully on point, with the familiar and satisfying sounds of rings being collected and lost always triggering a nostalgic sense of joy.

Sonic Frontiers is the culmination of three decades of gameplay ideas that have been cherry picked for experimentation in this new take on the Sonic formula. The inclusion and reimagining of the classic Sonic stages in both 2D and 3D work excellently, offering an authentic past and present vibe that compliments the mostly familiar gameplay mechanics.

There are some features, particularly fast travel, that aren’t explained that could deepen and enhance the initial experience of more casual players. There’s no escaping the poor combat and disastrous texture popping situations that unfortunately hold this experiment from reaching further heights.

There’s no denying that Sonic Frontiers is a risky take on the franchise but it’s one that ultimately pays off. The ideas experimented with mostly work and with a few tweaks here and there, the future of Sonic continues to look bright and another open zone outing is something that seems more certain than ever considering the positive strides the series has just taken with Sonic Frontiers.

+ Incredible sense of speed

+ The open-zone worlds aren’t unnecessarily oversized

+ Most in-depth characterisation of Sonic family

+ Perfect amount of things to do

+ Nostalgic reimagining of classic stages

+ Best original Sonic game in years

 – A lot of things are poorly explained, such as fast travel

– Super Sonic is tied to the four boss battles only, missed opportunity

– Minimal replay value

– Constant texture popping

– Poor combat

Developed by: Sonic Team

Published by: SEGA

Release Date: November 8 2022

Platforms: Xbox One/Series X|S, PlayStation 4/5, Nintendo Switch and PC

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All digital imagery was captured by Games of DAYNE in-game on Xbox Series X

The post REVIEW – Sonic Frontiers first appeared on Games of DAYNE.

*Disclaimer: This review was originally written as a member for One More Game and Xbox Gamer Dad, edited by co-founder Adam Potts and/or founder Matt Brook. A review code for this title was provided by OMG/XBGD. This review was written from my perspective with editor input. Click HERE to read this review as originally published on onemoregame.com.au*

It’s been 10 long years since PlatinumGames Inc.’s Bayonetta first graced the previous generation of consoles as somewhat of a cult classic. With a fresh coat of paint and technical improvements, Bayonetta is back and better than ever.

An action-adventure hack and slash that oozes sexuality of its eponymous protagonist, Bayonetta, who is just as beautiful and stylish as she is brutal and violent. Throughout the 10-12 hour story, players can expect to defeat angelic enemies with flair, an accessible combat system and see a lot of her “assets” while doing so. 

Set in Vigrid, a fictional European city, Bayonetta awakens from a 500-year slumber unaware of where, who or what she is. As the narrative and her memory unfolds, players are introduced to new combat and gameplay mechanics, ultimately controlling this shape shifting, gun toting and blade wielding Umbran witch with magical abilities. Bayonetta is pivotal to maintaining the world balance of darkness, represented by the Umbra Witches of which she is aligned and light, represented by the Lumen Sages. Bayonetta’s journey of rediscovery and restoration of divine balance after the mysterious disappearance of both factions half a millennium ago takes her and the player through both angelic and demonic realms, each artistically brought to life through excellent environmental detail and appropriately diverse enemy design. 

A blend of melee and shooting mechanics allow for a wide array of combos for Bayonetta to unleash. Uninterrupted combos fill a magic bar that once complete can be used to trigger Quick Time Event (QTE) sequences where the player must press certain buttons, as per on screen prompts, to deliver some satisfyingly brutal and gory torture attacks and executions. The magical abilities that can be used are, no pun intended, tied to Bayonetta’s incredibly long jet-black hair that form creatures and limbs that deal significant damage.

The combat is very artistic with its design so cleverly entwined with her body. Bayonetta is able to preserve her combo by balancing short and long range attacks, as well as precision dodging which actives Witch Time, slowing down time for a short duration allowing for massive damage output before the enemy has the chance to react. Combat is rarely one on one with the exception of some boss battles, so successful use of Witch Time is essential to clear the area of all enemies before the magical barrier can be destroyed by a kiss from Bayonetta and allowing progression to the next area. Every battle and chapter awards the player a score and medal based on time taken, items used, number of deaths and damage taken and rewards the player with Halos. 

Defeating enemies rewards the player with Halos which can be spent at the in-game store, located in the Gates of Hell at various locations throughout the games 16 chapters and also accessible from the save screen between chapters. These Halos can be spent on new abilities, techniques, weapons, outfits and items for health and magic restoration as well as temporary attack and defence boosting consumables to name a few. Majority of the consumable items that can be bought here can also be crafted, or concocted as it is referred to, by collecting varying amounts of three coloured components found by smashing objects in the environment. 

In moonlit sections of the game, Bayonetta is able to Witch Walk, allowing her to jump to walls that can then be traversed. This reality bending mechanic takes a little getting used to, particularly with combat where enemies either move from one wall to the next or are present on more than one at a time, especially boss battles. Yet another layer of creativity to make the gameplay more unique and challenging, this world is one that pushes boundaries in all aspects of its gameplay that consistently leads to satisfying results when mastered. 

Unlocking some abilities later in the game allow for transformation into a panther, crow and bats, each opening up new traversal, combat and puzzle solving options. Featuring light puzzles throughout, usually requiring use of Witch Time to traverse, they are not overly complicated or excessively used and actually welcome a nice breath of fresh air in between the relentless and frantic combat. 

Some of the boss battles can be punishing, requiring careful observation of attack patterns and environmental changes. Death through trial and error in Bayonetta is something that most players will experience a lot. Frustration soon turns to satisfaction when these encounters are completed and lend to making future battles less challenging as the lessons learned previously eliminate a lot of the trial and error aspect. Later boss battles have several health bars so inventory management will play a massive part, ensuring several health items are stored in particular to avoid having to replay the battles from where they auto-saved last. 

Narratively, Bayonetta asks a lot of the player in terms of paying close attention to and understanding the divine backstory that drives the present motivations of all parties. Some of the cut-scenes are fully animated while others are static but use various tracking shots to breathe life into them. It is a fairly complicated plot but one that resolves with satisfaction and is ultimately enjoyable.  

Bayonetta may have released a decade ago but with its upgrade for this release it does not feel out of place among majority or current releases. With a soundtrack ranging from upbeat, to divine and hellish, style is certainly a word that sums up the game overall. There is more to Bayonetta than her appearance lets on and on several occasions all but lets out, and it is her personality and charm that carry this title and its legacy into the future as one worthy of attention.  

Final Verdict: 

+ Fun gameplay 

+ Artistically creative 

+ Visually complimented combat 

– Story is a little complicated at times 

– Difficulty is brutal, particularly on Hard 

Games of DAYNE Rating

Developed by: Platinum Games

Published by: SEGA

Release Date: February 10 2020

Platforms: Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch and PC

The post Bayonetta – 10th Anniversary Edition Review first appeared on Games of DAYNE.

*Disclaimer: This review was originally written as a member for One More Game and Xbox Gamer Dad, edited by co-founder Adam Potts and/or founder Matt Brook. A review code for this title was provided by OMG/XBGD. This review was written from my perspective with editor input. Click HERE to read this review as originally published on onemoregame.com.au*

A decade after it’s initial release, Vanquish has firmly established itself as a dark horse of a hit, underrated and under the radar of many. With a complete technical overhaul and enhanced visuals, Vanquish is back and ready to take new and returning players on an adrenaline fueled ride.

Vanquish is a fast-paced shooter that is just as stylish as it is intense and engaging. Like the rest of the 5-6 hour campaign, the intro wastes no time putting players through a brief tutorial before throwing them right into the break neck, unrelenting pace of the combat in this single player, campaign only experience. 

SC-01 Providence is a space colony launched by the United States in an effort to provide alternative energy sources to cater for the demands caused by the overpopulation of Earth using a solar energy microwave transmitter. A rogue sect of the Russian military, known as the Order of the Russian Star, have overthrown their government, infiltrated and captured Providence and weaponised the transmitter to obliterate San Francisco. Led by Victor Zaitsev, the Order of the Russian Star demand the US government surrender or New York City will be destroyed next.

Lieutenant Colonel Robert Burns is sent with his Bravo company by the President of the United States to regain control of Providence, along with Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) soldier Sam Gideon, the protagonist. Armed with a prototype Augmented Reaction Suit (ARS), a state of the art military exo suit capable of jet-fueled power slides, acrobatic evade manoeuvres and the ability to slow time, the combat moves at a pace unlike any other third person shooter to date, a statement that holds true nearly ten years after its initial release.  

If the player takes too much damage the suit automatically enters Augmented Reality (AR) mode, which slows time temporarily and allows for Sam to take cover behind walls and barricades look or to take advantage of his enemies with his newfound reflexes. This AR mode can be manually triggered too but requires an energy bar to be refilled over time before it can be used again. Utilising the boosters to power slide too often will also cause the suit overheat, requiring an additional cool-down before use.  

Equipped with an experimental Battlefield Logic Adaptable Electronic Weapon System (BLADE), Sam is able to scan new weapons that the suit can then transform into as an extension of itself. Capable of switching between three scanned weapons at a time, this negates the need for an inventory system and instead allows for simple navigation by using the D-Pad. This approach lends well to the fast paced dynamic of the gameplay and switching weapons on the fly allows for appropriate reaction when dealing with the more specialised and larger enemy variety that accompany the lower level grunt infantry. Boss battles bring even larger enemies into the fold, each with numerous weak spots to exploit before being able to defeat them. These battles are fun and add a manageable challenge to an otherwise run and gun affair. Enemy design is pretty impressive and they each have their own tactics to observe and counteract.  

A pleasant surprise to the campaign is that there are no loading screens. Seamlessly weaving between gameplay and cinematics, the only time a load screen is encountered is upon death, and even then it was only taking less than 2 seconds when played on an Xbox One X. This is an amazing feature that should be incorporated into more titles where possible but it certainly feels fitting given the high octane speed of Vanquish, the thought of having a load screen in between the action would actually kill a lot of the momentum it manages to build. 

Armed with sarcastic wit and roguish charm, Sam’s personality manages to draw some differing interactions from the supporting cast that often results in some amusing banter, particularly with Burns. Surprisingly, Sam’s character is the only one to receive much meaningful attention throughout the narrative that is otherwise bogged down by some very corny dialogue and a fairly predictable plot that fails to really accomplish anything.  

Luckily, the gameplay is focused enough to keep Vanquish on course and deliver an overall fun, unique and exciting experience. Celebrating its tenth birthday early, ahead of its actual October anniversary, Vanquish has benefitted immensely from the visual, performance and technical enhancements of this Anniversary Edition release, looking and playing like a game of todays standards. The electronic heavy soundtrack fits perfectly within the tone and style of the game, the tempo appropriately reflecting the world it inhabits. Vanquish was an absolute joy to return to and seeing it with this polish gives hope that just maybe we won’t have seen the last of Sam Gideon and his incredible suit. 

Final Verdict: 

+ Fast paced gameplay 

+ Relentless pacing 

+ No loading screens 

– Too short, especially with no other modes 

– Predictable story and underdeveloped cast 

Games of DAYNE Rating

Developed by: Platinum Games

Published by: SEGA

Release Date: February 10 2020

Platforms: Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch and PC

The post Vanquish – 10th Anniversary Edition Review first appeared on Games of DAYNE.