Recent reviews by Illusiv

This game is the epitome of SEGA believing that they can get away with anything and Sonic fans will eat it up, which is abundantly clear by the other reviews on this page. Not only is the sad attempt at a breath of the wild clone poorly executed, but in the 2020s Sonic Team still being unable to make a compelling and interesting story remains to be seen.

Firstly, the worlds/islands are an offensive excuse and a sad attempt of pre-existing asset flips stuck around the world protruding from the hills like a forge world map made by my seven year old brother. There isn't even an attempt to make the assets that are used with the world have some kind of cohesiveness to make it seem like they actually do or do not belong based on what they are. Secondly, for the world itself, interesting design does not mean a bunch of floating assets strewn about the map with no real intent, and dash panels that lead into one another just because. I was hoping for some actual terrain terra-forming, but we didn't get that. We got 5 islands of asset flips and boring, grey design, that only goes away once the mini-bosses are defeated, and even then that gets reset by their poor attempt at a blood moon mechanic which floods your screen with slot machine UI that put Konami's gambling machines to shame.

Secondly, the story and enemy design are lackluster. Not only are there giant plot holes strewn about the story, that start to exist at the most important parts, they're complimented handsomely by the enemy design that if I closed my eyes and crushed a bag of Doritos in my hands, would probably get the same results of boring, menacing triangles, except Doritos are delicious and don't lock me in to a five second animation every time I encounter them. If you're looking for all of you're favorite characters - they're not here. After two decades of adding interesting and under-developed characterss beginning with Sonic Adventure, don't worry - they're still not here. And any side story information or content regarding our new character, Eggman, and Sonic and friends are relegated to poorly placed side content.

While the islands are lackluster, and there aren't any interesting complete story beats, our final nail in the coffin is SEGA proving once again that they're out to prove you to be the stupidest consumer they know by making all of your beloved levels from before not only worse, but with worse controls and lifeless. If I was a youtuber I would create a soul vs. soulless video unironically to talk about how the Sonic Adventure 2 version of Metal Harbor has life and is an exciting, riveting one and a half minute experience, while the Sonic Frontiers version is an overstimulating eyesore of reused assets with Skrillex at home playing in the background. This game also forced me to play sonic Unleashed, which is an egregious enough offense for a game that already has no redeeming qualities.

There is nothing from this game I would want to see again. Nothing in this game is a new idea, and is uninspired. The game tries to be Breath of the Wild and fails. The game can't even do UbiSlop collectathons well, so it fails. The mini-games for revealing the map give you two and a half minutes to parry 3 spheres with an auto-parry because SEGA thinks you're stupid. If SEGA wants to retain any semblance of dignity they may have left, they will never make a Sonic game like this again, and no positive reviews for this game actually explain why they think the game is good. This game is the epitome of everything a video game should not be.

Come up with new ideas. Expand on the dozens of characters you introduced from 1999-2019. Stop doing the same tired things. Do not trust people who speak highly of this game or the boost games. These games are not what Sonic is or was.

SEGA your last line of defense for this franchise is your American audience. Japan hates Sonic and you know this. Don't screw it up any further than this dumpster fire here.

At least Sonic's arms weren't blue.

One of my favorite games of all time growing up. As an adult, I can say with confidence that this game has aged well, mechanically and graphically. (Although a Fullscreen or windowed option implpemented would be nice, if you tab out... your computer will do... something else.) Great game to waste time on and spam cheats on though. Pllay with hundreds of troops or go classically through the campaign, quick and easy. Best game of the entire series before Sarge's Heroes came around. And the stuff when Sarge's Heroes came out and after still doesn't compare to Army Men II.

Fantastic game!

P.S.: When all else fails...

Great game if you like repeatedly slamming your head against a wall (figuratively speaking) repeatedly to get better at a game. Actaully fun with a whole group. Not terribly recommended solo unless you're into that sort of self inflicted pain.