Sonic Frontiers Hands-On Preview: A New Field For An Old Hedgehog
Sega's upcoming open-zone platformer Sonic Frontiers is a bold new direction for its iconic hedgehog mascot. As beloved as the character of Sonic the Hedgehog is, his video game history is spotty at best. Following a pair of successful movie releases, Sonic is returning to the video game scene with a journey to the Starfall Islands, a mysterious environment that stands in stark contrast to the more cartoonish realms that usually serve as the hedgehog's stomping grounds. During Summer Game Fest, Screen Rant got a chance to go hands-on with the game in a brief demo that outlined some of the mechanics fans can look forward to when the game finally launches.
The Sonic Frontiers demo begins with Sonic waking up in the Starfall Islands, following an unidentified traumatic incident that has separated him from his friends. A mysterious voice gives him a nebulous goal and he jets off. The Starfall Islands are clearly unfamiliar to Sonic, and the visual dissonance between the cartoonish hedgehog and his photorealistic surroundings helps highlight this unfamiliarity. Despite all the visual realism, though, the area is still cluttered with the franchise's usual collection of bounce pads and rails, tailor-made for Sonic to speed through quickly. The more linear sections of the demo were littered with alternate paths accessed through these special mobility aids, and multiple types of collectible await players capable of navigating brief obstacle courses.
Related: Why Sonic Frontiers' Gameplay Looks So Different From Past Games
When Sonic Frontiers' level design opens up, the game introduces minor puzzles. Solving these distractions rewards players with increased visibility of the surrounding area on their map screen. Some of these
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