By default, the new release is set to Performance Mode, which targets 60fps and thankfully hits it more consistently than not. The drawback is that it’s visually very blurry, which is exacerbated further by the horrible pop-in. Quality Mode makes everything a bit more pleasing on the eye, but the frame rate drop to 30 doesn’t feel like a worthwhile concession.
To add insult to injury, the initial load into the game world on Switch 2 is actually longer: I timed it at 12.28 seconds on Switch 2 and just 8.59 seconds on Switch 1. Come on.
It doesn’t help that Frontiers is set in some of the most sinfully dull environments imaginable. I weep at the missed potential of an ‘open-zone’ Sonic game set in worlds that actually look like they belong – Emerald Coast, Studiopolis, and yes, even Green Hill Zone. Instead, it feels like the developers just googled ‘rural landscape’.
Gameplay remains unchanged, which means you’ll spend a good chunk of time jumping on grind rails and springs to commence an automatic sequence in which you race across a short gauntlet to obtain a collectible. Brief jaunts in Cyberspace levels — which often just reuse stage designs from prior games — offer a welcome change of pace, but they’re not a patch on those found in Shadow Generations.
It’s astonishing just how much Frontiers borrows from other games, too. Gigantic, hulking boss characters require you to climb up their bodies to reach their weak points, just like Shadow of the Colossus, while every world is littered with Koroks Kocos to collect in exchange for greater ring capacity or higher speed.
So what are you getting with Sonic Frontiers – Definitive Edition? Considering all of the ‘new’ content is free for all players anyway, better performance and slightly improved visuals are your lot. This could have — no, should have — been a free upgrade, or at the most a reasonably priced upgrade. That Sega is asking for full price is a joke.
- Performance and visuals are improved over Switch 1 (very low bar)
- You can fish
- Creatively bankrupt worlds
- Pop-in is still absolutely horrendous
- Blurry visuals, especially in Performance Mode
- Borrows too much from prior games, Sonic and otherwise
- Longer load times
- No upgrade path feels like an insult to Sonic fans
Poor 4/10
Review copy provided by SEGA
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