"We focused on bringing Sonic to the next level and ensuring that he's fully represented as the character that fans know and love while still making his new form exciting."- Takashi Iizuka, from Games Radar article.
The internal struggle of 3D Sonic gameplay
As a long time Sonic fan, I've loved the series through thick and thin. I've experienced titles
like the absolutely abysmal Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) to loving Sonic Adventure 2: Battle so much that for a period of time it was my most played Xbox game for years in a row. Being a long time fan however, I can also critically see the shortcomings with the series and the fight with identity the series has had since the late 90's.
So the knee-jerk hot take will instantly be "3D Sonic is bad", which is always a ridiculous exaggeration. Sonic 1, 2, CD, 3 & Knuckles are some of the best platformers of all time, nothing will ever take that away, but we have to understand that when the original Sonic Adventure came out in 1998, NOTHING at the time looked like or played like Sonic Adventure. I love the original Sonic Adventure, but it definitely had some rough edges, but as an amazing first leap for a 2D franchise into the 3D realm, Sonic Team did a fantastic job.
The sequel, Sonic Adventure 2, further refined the gameplay of Sonic Adventure, and truly showcased what a "AAA" Sonic the Hedgehog experience was. A varied story mode, an addictive post game mode with the Chao Garden which kept you revisiting previously beaten levels, a mission structure, Kart racing minigames, Boss modes and a really fun local multiplayer mode. Sonic Adventure 2, especially the enhanced Nintendo Gamecube port, Sonic Adventure 2: Battle, was truly the full package and offered so much to not only Sonic fans, but platformer fans in general.
The Sonic Adventure formula was altered for proceeding titles like Sonic Heroes, Shadow the Hedgehog and the infamous Sonic the Hedgehog (2006). With the abysmal responses to the later games, it was clear that there was a changed needed for the Sonic franchise. While Sonic Adventure 1, 2 and Sonic Heroes could be considered the formula of how Sonic can work in "3D", the duality of the franchise began to show. While Shadow's solo game and Sonic 06 showcase everything WRONG with Sonic in 3D, games like Sonic and the Secret Rings and Sonic and the Black Knight further split the fanbase in half while 2D focused Sonic the Hedgehog titles continued to be a solid alternative with the Sonic Advance trilogy and Sonic Rush titles receiving high praise from fans and critics.
So where does Sonic go from there? Go back to the 2D roots, or once again innovate and make Sonic work in 3D? Well the answer would end up being yes to both aspects, with Sonic Unleashed establishing the "Boost" formula for the Sonic franchise going forward. The addictively fast paced "Daytime" stages in Sonic Unleashed swapped back and forth from 2D and 3D gameplay with a high emphasis on speed and level memorization and the "boost" mechanic lifted straight from the Sonic Rush series. While Sonic Unleashed was critically paned for the "Nighttime" stages that featured the horrid Werehog, the "Boost" formula was further refined with Sonic Colors, and the apex of the style with Sonic Generations. While Sonic Colors and Sonic Generations were highly polished products, Sonic Forces was considerably lower budget in scope and presentation, but ALL three suffered from a common issue: the lack of content.
How does Sonic the Hedgehog compete in the modern gaming sphere?
As games were significantly shorter in the early 90s, a platformer was typically more than enough for the standard gamer. As the gaming industry advanced and got bigger and more expansion in storytelling and scale, game franchise in the past had to adapt or fall to the wayside. Nintendo properties faired much better than most, with Nintendo's forward thinking design in many of it's titles transition from 2D to 3D with Super Mario 64, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and Metroid Prime, however Sonic the Hedgehog transition wasn't as seamless.
As I stated before, Sonic Adventure can rough around the edges, and Sonic Adventure 2 was undoubtedly a full "AAA" experience from the time, however this emphasis on content did not last. While Sonic Adventure 2 was feature packed, the direct follow-up, Sonic Heroes, was deciding not. Sonic Heroes took a more Sonic 3 & Knuckles approach to its gameplay design in the idea that every team of characters (Team Sonic, Team Rose, Team Dark, Team Chaotix) would also experience the exact same levels, but each team's experience would be slightly different.
While this approach worked very well for the franchise in the 90's it quickly wasn't going to cut it in the mid-2000's. With a less emphasis on story, and small changes between character teams and level structure, and the baffling decision to remove the Chao Garden, Sonic Heroes feels like a much lesser product when compared to Sonic Adventure 2: Battle from just a few years prior. The fight for the "right" content for 3D Sonic games continued to be the issues in the following games with Shadow the Hedgehog removes gameplay variety for more mediocre levels, and Sonic 06 gives us three different playing characters in a unnecessary hub with tons of replayed stages and areas between each character's campaign.
A huge issue with Sonic Unleashed was the "Nighttime" stages which served as a way to pad out the gameplay to play in contrast to the quickly paced "Daytime" stages. Every Sonic fan that plays Sonic Unleashed typically praises the "Daytime" stages, as the core mechanics were fresh and new for Sonic and brought a rush of excitement that was never found in previous games. Sonic Colors and Sonic Generations essentially stripped away the "fat" found in Unleashed, and left us with the short but sweet "Daytime" stages. This however showed a fallacy in the "Boost" gameplay. With the rising cost of video game development and the time and resources it takes to create stages in the "Boost" formula, games like Sonic Colors and Sonic Generations had to sacrifice the amount of content available for the game in place of high quality, fast paced levels.
So how do you justify charging $60 for a 3D Sonic the Hedgehog, which in turn, could possibly only give under 10 hours of gameplay for the player? Which the same $60 could get you massive amount of gameplay with titles of the time like BioShock Infinite, Halo Reach, Super Mario Galaxy and Mass Effect 3...for the same price of a 6 hour Sonic game. This isn't as sustainable practice, especially since a 3D Sonic game takes many years to produce. So it seems that Sonic must do once again what he did in the past...adapt and build a new identity in the 3D space.
Sonic Frontiers' dream and promise of an open world Sonic the Hedgehog game.
Open world or open environment games isn't anything new in the gaming industry. For the past 15 or so years in the industry it's actually more common to find games that fall into the open world environment. But when it comes to platformers, their transition into open world environments largely goes against the core idea of a linear platformer experience.
With linear platformer game design, the developer can tailor make the use experience through the level design, enemy placement and boss encounters. One of the standout aspects of classic Sonic level design in the diverging paths in which characters could take, essentially have varied experience through level playthrough. However in a 3D space a lot of this level design is lost. Sonic Adventure gave us a hub world yes, but it really wasn't much of an "open world" design, as it was a glorified level select in most cases and utilized to advance the plot along.
With a clear distinction on exploration and freedom of movement or objectives, how will Sonic Frontiers play? The Sonic Adventure engine made the characters slower, but in turn, allowed the characters to be more easily controllable in a 3D space. The "Boost" engine sacrificed character control for speed, which worked as the level design was built around tight corridors, fast movement and very linear design. So how can Sonic Frontiers control Sonic in a way that is fast and exciting, while still giving the player a level control that isn't frustrating and easy to grapple with?
As of yet we haven't seen any gameplay of Sonic actually interacting in the world, so we can't speculate on how he will move around in the environments. But the most recent trailer from December 2021 showcased large, vast environments for Sonic to traverse. My initial reaction (poor framerate aside) is how will Sonic actually interact with these set pieces? While obviously fan games are just that, fan games, but they tend to offer a huge amount of creativity when it comes to Sonic the Hedgehog. One of these games is Sonic Utopia, which features a "open world" environment, which essentially serves as a sandbox for Sonic to explore and interact with.
Now Something like Sonic Utopia, while nice, cannot really be touted as a deep "AAA" gaming experience. There needs to be more to the bulk of the gameplay, and while it can be fun, it's not going to justify a $60 price point for the title. And this is the awkward position that Sonic Frontiers finds itself in. What was shown in the trailer looks fairly realistic in its art style, and now showing much of the half-pipes or loop-de-loops level design Sonic is known for. This begs the question now, how will gameplay work?
Will Sonic Frontiers feature more mission base objectives in the map with tons of activities and "things to do" ala Far Cry or Halo Infinite? Or will we see an "closed open environment" structure like Monster Hunter or Super Mario Odyssey in which you play in smaller portals or parts of the map with multiple "stage clears" within that portal. Or maybe they just go full on Breath of the Wild and just give you the whole world to explore at your leisure and find things on your own. There's so many possibilities for this to work, but also so many possibilities for it to fail.
How Sonic will control is key, how varied and interesting the environments are essential and most importantly, the game just has to FEEL good. So much about Sonic is based on how how he feels and interacts within the environment. Physics play a huge role in Sonic the Hedgehog games, see Sonic the Hedgehog 4 as an example of how NOT to do physics right. Will these environments be filled with enemies? Will it be as bare as the trailer has shown? How will the camera work, especially with a character as fast as Sonic? How will combat be handled? A system relying on the homing attack or will be see a return of hand-to-hand combat ala Sonic Boom? There's so much worry that can go into this game...but at the same time a ton of hope as well.
I want Sonic to be considered a heavy-weight in the gaming world again. I love that blue little needle-mouse, but love for a franchise can't sustain it alone, the games has to be good. Sonic Team is focused on bringing Sonic to the "next level", and if that means a highly-polished, engaging open world with dozens and dozens of hours of fun content, then so be it. But it has to represent an a clear and focused evolution of the series, not something that is slapped on to follow a trend. The game launches this year "Holiday 2022", which given most Sonic trends, that places it right in the November slot. Regardless of quality, I know I will be there to support Sonic the Hedgehog, so let's hope that Sonic Team has really put a lot of time and thought into making Sonic Frontiers a top tier Sonic the Hedgehog experience for the fans.
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