Sonic Unknown Frontier clearance experience: the best Sonic game in recent years

At the end of the year, there were a lot of big games piled up, and personally, I was quite busy. War God didn't even have time to play yet, and FF7CC came again. It wasn't until this month that I had time to finish a week of Sonic Unknown Frontier. Although there is still some way to go before Platinum, let's first type a few words and share with you the experience of passing the level as a novice Sonic fan.

This article is not a formal review, it is mainly based on my personal gaming experience, and the content is based on the PS5 Luxury Edition. Although I also bought the Steam Luxury Edition, due to my computer's inferior configuration compared to the PS5, let's talk about it based on the PS5 benchmark.

A Successful Attempt in the Sonic Series

I don't know how many people were not optimistic about the Sonic series trying "open field world" designs before, but I do have many around me, especially when I saw official "negative publicity" videos, even I repeatedly studied for a long time before daring to determine that it was a problem with editing and material selection. When I get started playing, it should be fun.

The reason why I dare to think so is because from a design perspective, the Sonic series is really suitable for open maps. This supersonic hedgehog, who loves freedom and likes to run around, has a huge innate advantage over other protagonists in open or semi open world games, which is speed.

The vast majority of open world games require creating a sufficiently large map and considering how to move in order to make the content rich and not crowded. Compared to torturous teleportation (especially in some slow loading games), horse riding that is prone to drowsiness, and driving a boat that is not very interesting, Spider Man's flying may be a good choice, but in the face of Sony's absolute speed and pleasure, it is inevitable that it is still being compared (sorry, I still like you, little Spider, but running around the world is really enjoyable).

In fact, from the overall composition of the game content, "Unknown Frontier" can be mainly divided into three parts: a large map exploration with a combat system, a series of classic fixed level racing (referred to as computer space levels in this game), and other small games. Compared to previous series of modern works such as "Power" and "Generation", "Unknown Frontier" greatly enhances the content of the "selection process". The process of running on the big map and unlocking levels is actually presenting "selecting levels" in a more specific way.

Some players may find it strange to place those mechanisms on natural islands, but there is a relatively consistent setting in the game that is somewhat integrated with the game experience (mind spoilers, don't watch): in fact, the islands appearing in the game are relics of ancient people, and the mechanisms can be seen as ancient people's works, and Sonic does need to complete various ancient people's trials to restore some relics to their appearance. As exploration increases, each island becomes a coherent level, with many mechanisms and scenes connected rather than fragmented.

Specifically for each local mechanism/puzzle, the work of "Unknown Frontier" can be said to have learned successful experiences from the successful master of "Breath of the Wilderness". In fact, compared to traditional works by Zelda, Breath of the Wilderness disperses the puzzles that used to be concentrated in several mazes around the world, and exists as themed trial temples. Unknown Frontier breaks down some common mechanism designs from the Sonic series and places them in each exploration area.

Relatively speaking, each individual mechanism in "Unknown Frontier" is not very difficult, and even if it accidentally fails, it can be attempted immediately at a very low cost. Therefore, my biggest feeling throughout the game is coherence. Most of the time, players can control Sonic to run freely and obtain rich prop resources on the map. Due to the excellent reproduction of Sonic's high-speed running in the open world (even if your speed level has not been improved), it is really relaxing for me.

Sonic, the most capable throughout history

Firstly, as the most classic ability of modern Sonic, "Boost" has undergone some new changes: it has changed from using Boost energy to an endurance system that can automatically recover at high speed, but no longer has attack judgment when using Boost sprint. It is estimated that since there is no need to eliminate enemies or obtain gold rings/items to restore energy, Boost's attack ability was appropriately removed and turned into a more pure mobile skill.

Secondly, although players cannot freely transform into Super Sonic in Unknown Frontier due to the plot requirements, the stagnant effect of Boost ability has been improved. After getting used to it, many times you can even fly and play, and the transformation experience is not much worse.

In addition, while a large number of abilities from previous works have returned to "Unknown Borders", there are also many new abilities added. For example, the aerial ground attack and the multi jump stacking that can be achieved when using the Water Shield in Sonic 3 not only enhance Sonic's maneuverability, but also unleash a wide range of shockwaves when launched three times in a row; Nowadays, modern Sonic can also use DropDash, which can launch accelerated movements with attack detection when landing from the air; Ringroad moving along the halo trajectory.

In conjunction with open map battles, Unknown Borders also adds various cool combat skills such as defense and counterattacks. As a side note, some new players may find it awkward for Sonic to fight with punches and kicks, but in fact, whether it's in old works such as GBA's Sonic Wars or the Sonic ADV series, Sonic has combat skills, among which Whirlwind Kick is a more classic move, and there are similar fighting scenes in official animations.

Finally, the ability to control halo is also worth mentioning separately, as its functions are simply too diverse. Mainly used for puzzle solving and combat in open domain exploration. Drawing circles on a map sometimes reminds people of "The Great God", which is more convenient to use than imagined, and can also randomly obtain gold rings and even some other props each time. More importantly, as long as players draw the Mobius Ring on the map, they can sprint through the slot indefinitely for a period of time, truly comparable to the official Golden Finger. I hope the sequel can still see it.

Infinite Sprint

Regarding the combat part, although the previous promotional video was really cut to a great extent, in reality, I found it much more interesting to play. Players can freely use dodge, defense, and sprint to cancel various actions and connect them with each other. In fact, as players become more capable, whether it's "a few fresh moves in a few powerful skills, devouring the sky" or developing gorgeous combos like "Ghost Cry", it's all possible.

Although I dare not say it is very excellent, the combat part of Unknown Frontier has never become a burden, because some of Sony's combat skills are really a bit handsome, and sometimes I even want to look for monsters to fight around the world. Finally, it must be said that the boss battles that transformed into Super Sonic several times were so cool!

Let AliExpress really be AliExpress

In terms of the number and capacity of computer space levels in this game, there is not much difference compared to previous works. Due to the absence of the classic "Little Sonic" and the integration of the aforementioned abilities, Sonic's abilities are the same in all computer space levels. There is no custom character to drag down players, and the player's route selection in levels is not limited by the chosen ability.

The most obvious improvement in level design is that, while maintaining the difficulty of racing, the game has removed the less cool and rhythm affecting forced cuts and QTE that were criticized in Power. Most of the levels in "Unknown Frontier" allow me to maintain a thrilling rush to the end, and the collection of red rings is relatively friendly. Even for beginners, most levels only require a few attempts to easily achieve the four achievements of the levels.

For fans of the series, the feeling of AliExpress is even more satisfying. Personally, I clearly feel that after the release of "Unknown Frontier", there are far more videos challenging AliExpress both domestically and internationally than previous works. Here are also some videos of myself to show off. Interested friends can take a look. In addition, after completing the level, arcade mode will be unlocked, allowing you to directly challenge all computer space levels.

Due to the above three points, combined with the consistently excellent musical performance of the Sonic series, and the overall OK visuals, my weekly viewing experience was overall great. It is not too much to say that this work is the pinnacle of recent years, even 3D Sonic works. It can be said that "Unknown Frontier" is definitely a successful attempt. However, precisely because it is my first attempt, the game still inevitably has some problems. Below are some of the issues in my personal opinion about this game.

The perspective and feel can be further optimized.

Firstly, Sonic's abilities in "Unknown Frontier" are indeed very rich, and it can be said that he has everything he needs. By the halfway point of the game, he can basically unlock all his skills. But this also made the experience points used to increase skill points quickly seem useless. I didn't explore hard to watch the plot, and still unlocked all the abilities at the beginning of Chapter 3.

Although the new combat skills this time are quite cool, the forced camera performance still appears a bit stiff when used. If you launch them against enemies who have been knocked down, it is easy to have a perspective piercing bug. For example, Lightning Kick, due to the lack of attack effect during the catapult process and the mediocre performance, it must be said that these mandatory fixed perspective performances have also led to negative effects in some previous promotional videos to a certain extent.

In addition, the defense and counterattack ability of "Unknown Frontier" is too strong. If you defend in the air, Sonic will hover... After getting used to it, it still feels a bit strange (you can even use defense actions to relieve Sonic from being hit in the air and not losing the gold ring on the ground). Although there are indeed different performance moves between spinning and kicking waves and flying X-waves around enemies, the difference is not that significant.

Anyway, for the first time, it's understandable. I hope there will be more skills that demonstrate Sonic's super fast speed for combat in the future (such as the Golden Ring Rush in Sonic battles).

The presence of fishing games is too weak

Unknown Frontier offers a relatively rich variety of small games, most of which run through the exploration process of the main storyline and are combined with Sonic's abilities. In addition, there are specialized fishing games. The former belong to small games with strong presence, while fishing is really easy to overlook.

But what's really important is that in addition to some rewards that players don't need to collect by running maps, there are also some particularly important contents in fishing rewards and token rewards. For example, Dr. Egghead's record is too important. It includes all the plot, Easter eggs, and Egghead's views on several characters.

unlocked the teleportation only after catching this one

There are also some props that affect the functionality of the system, such as teleportation scrolls, which can instantly bring you to the side of the enhanced Sonic Fairy, and each island is calculated separately. At first, I was thinking that even if Sony was running fast, occasionally they would still want teleportation function, but I didn't expect it to be fishing... I suggest everyone save more fishing coins on the night of Starfall and fish whenever they have free time (and the Starfall part is also too similar to Zelda).

Difficult to substitute plot

Since Sony's 2006, there have been few outstanding romantic scenes in this series, but unfortunately, 2006 was a disaster for gaming experience.

The plot of "Unknown Frontier" is somewhat unexpected. Due to the open map and the relatively easy progress of the main storyline, the collection requirements are not high. Therefore, if players do not explore carefully, they may miss out on some side storylines that deepen character development, or miss out on emotional scenes such as fishing, which may result in some delay in incorporating the plot when it arrives. The sequel may need to consider how to make the story more effective.

The plot of Dr. Egghead

Guidance and some details are still incomplete

Although the Sonic series is generally not very good in this section, it still needs to be mentioned again. Firstly, there is the guidance, which seems to be very detailed overall and there are rich tutorials, but there is actually no menu specifically for viewing. There is also a lot of guidance content that I haven't personally experienced and haven't known about the first time

The game has created a great user manual with rich content, but surprisingly, this manual is not included in the game! Need to scan the QR code on your phone to access the webpage. Another thing is that this time there seems to be no storyline animation/cutscenes overview mode, at least I haven't unlocked it until I pass the level, which is quite important in an open world. In addition, the character menu this time is too simple, to the point where even looking at a guidebook requires going to fishing mode, and the content that can be browsed in the guidebook is also limited.

In addition, the practice guidance function has been done so much, and it was actually done quite well. When it comes to reading, there are also tasks to do, so it should not be difficult to create a function that allows you to practice freely without limiting your time. The automatic switching of training content during the countdown in the practice mode is really unclear.

Localization quality is average

I won't compare the translations in the plot animation of "Unknown Frontier" one by one due to time constraints and the inconvenience of viewing the animations I have already watched. However, my impression is that the translations are not very good. The conversation in the previous recording of the guidebook is about Egghead's impression of Tales. Originally, it was said that Egghead suffered a lot from Tales during ARK (the story of Sonic Adventure 2, also included in the animated Sonic X), but it was translated as Tales causing Sonic to suffer

Relatively few characters appear on stage

There are relatively fewer characters to appear in this time, but there are actually many more characters and content that can be developed. I hope there will be more in the future. In addition, the upgrade function this time is quite good, but there are a few options available. I hope that in the future, new options can be added through updates, such as the Super Sonic or other historical styles.

summary

Overall, although there are still many areas that need improvement, the overall performance of "Unknown Frontier" can be said to be very good. It is definitely the best work in the Sonic series in recent years and worth playing. After playing it, it is not difficult to understand why the official dares to say that "Unknown Frontier" will be the cornerstone of subsequent works. I hope that future Sonic's new works can take the adventure of this supersonic hedgehog and his companions further on the basis of "The Unknown Frontier".