This Tuesday marks the big release of Sonic Frontiers on Xbox, and the first reviews have been dropping today! Unfortunately, we've only just received our code (our friends at Nintendo Life are in a similar boat), so we're going to need a bit of time before we give you some hands-on impressions here at Pure Xbox.
Still, not to worry! There are plenty of reviews doing the rounds right now, and they're looking pretty interesting. Some critics seem to love it, others appear to absolutely loathe it, and the majority are sitting somewhere in the middle.
Let's take a look at a handful of reviews we've picked from a cross the web:
Attack Of The Fanboy (4.5/5)
"Sonic Frontiers really picks up the slack where this franchise started to falter. It’s still a Sonic game at its core and makes sure to stay true to the name even when branching out into other areas unfamiliar to the series. With many risky elements implemented like the combat and open world, these were executed in a way that enhanced my time playing."
Push Square (8/10)
"Sonic Frontiers feels like a statement from Sonic Team after years of being treated like a joke. By no means is it perfect, but this is exactly the injection of life the franchise needed after the misstep of Forces, and it's the freshest Sonic has felt since Adventure first hit the shelves.
While it is wrought with minor issues, the overall package of Sonic Frontiers mostly hits the mark, with its satisfying gameplay, a storyline that will please long-time fans, and an absolutely phenomenal soundtrack. It immediately places itself among the best Sonic games ever made."
VGC (4/5)
"It may have had a mixed reception earlier this year, but Sonic Frontiers' final form is a brilliantly refreshing adventure that gives the series a much-needed shake-up. The occasional control and camera 'quirks' still pop their head up, but they appear far less frequently than Sonic fans will be used to, making for a much less frustrating experience overall. We would absolutely welcome more of this."
IGN (7/10)
"Sonic Frontiers is an ambitious open-world adventure that mostly succeeds at mixing up the Sonic formula, even when some of its ideas fall flat."
GameSpot (7/10)
"Sonic Adventure set the template for the last 24 years of 3D Sonic games, and I'm hopeful Frontiers will do the same for the next generation. It has its flaws, and there's definite room for improvement, but the spiky mascot is finally moving in the right direction."
Eurogamer (3/5)
"Frontiers is too often bogged down by very visible flaws, ones I can already see potentially meming the game into an early grave. That would be a shame, as when you're in the moment of the momentum, there's still an interesting and fun time to be had..."
GamesRadar (2/5)
"Sonic Frontiers features the kind of lightweight yet engaging storytelling that should easily enrapture fans young and old – though I'd hate to be a child forced to play through some of the abysmal platforming featured throughout. Was taking Sonic open world an ambitious endeavor? Yes. Did it pay off? Absolutely not."
Digital Trends (1/5) (Review contains some spoilers!)
"Even if Sonic felt good to control, a plethora of other poorly executed issues would’ve held the game back. The best thing I can say about this game is that it’s playable on PS5 — not exactly a glowing point of praise."
The scores are a bit all over the place, then! At the time of writing, Sonic Frontiers is sitting on a Metacritic rating of 73 for PS5 based on just under 40 reviews, and there aren't any reviews for the Xbox version as of yet.
Are you buying Sonic Frontiers on Xbox? Let us know down in the comments below.
Comments 21
Honestly around what I expected.
While it is understandable that even the best Sonic games aren't for everyone and negative opinions are valid, there is no doubt in my mind that some smaller outlets feel very comfortable dunking on the games for easy clicks.
It's great to have another solid 3D Sonic game after some 10 years. Hopefully it does well enough for Sonic Team to build upon it and make an even better sequel in the near future.
Of 39 PS5 reviews on Metacritic, 6 are below 7/10 and 33 are 7/10 or higher. So I'd say they're not that mixed, they're largely positive. There's always someone who goes off the deep end and Sonic is quite an easy target, but they are very much in the minority here. Push Square were quite snarky about the game early on, even having headlines like "Not another Sonic Frontiers trailer" and they ended up giving it 8/10, so I'm very much looking forward to playing it.
Tbh, I'm a little over the moon with some of these scores. Sounds like it's a pretty good game.
@BionicDodo yeah I noticed Push Square doing that too, as if they were expecting it to be horrible lol
I’d discard that 1/5 review as click bait.
It’s pretentious and written like someone trying to be cool by being controversial.
There is more talk about the reviewer themselves and their reaction and emotions than the actual game (at least in the first few paragraphs). They’re putting themselves ahead of the game they are reviewing and doing a disservice to both.
Glad that it’s getting some decent reviews at least. Will be interesting to see this site give its review.
I will buy this and play this before God of War Ragnarok, even though I do want to experience that game. Sonic just gets me in the feels. I'm elated it's not terrible and I feel confident this adventure will be well worth the price of embarking on it. To be honest I'm a bit exhausted from all the grim violence of the AAA scene and could really use a new... frontier... at the moment. It's a good day to be a Sonic fan!
@Sakisa The high scores or the low? Or the spread?
I haven't played a sonic game since sonic 2 on my game gear in 1993. Now that I think about it, I briefly played a 3d one on my friend's dreamcast, maybe. I'm kind of interested in this one. Free play days would be great, because I have no idea what to expect from this, especially after these reviews.
@Kienda That's right and also Sonic is a very easy target like @BionicDodo said, they wouldn't dare to do this to a Nintendo or Sony flagship game.
@BundyDanger the spread
Skill Up's review is very critical, and shows a very raw and poor developed game. That pop in is horrible.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORcvkz9QxqQ
@raftos that's terrible lol. The idea that the pop in is so bad that part of the gameplay loop is going around looking for traversal structures to pop in is just insane. wow
@EliJapan I hope that the game is balanced.
@CunningPig I haven't watched that but I'm interested in a Digital Foundry video. I wonder if Sega will fix the technical issues but after Sonic Colours Ultimate they should have learnt to polish games before releasing them.
For what it's worth, Digital Trends has all of the review integrity of a spoiled blueberry muffin. They often purposely run counter to popular opinion just for clicks. Ignore.
@EliJapan Really? Ugh, I hadn't looked that closely into it. Will add a warning now.
In terms of codes, I believe the PS5 codes were the only ones that were sent out prior to release, although we have now received our Xbox code and will be working on it over the next few days.
Yet another reason to ignore Digital Trends. One of the purposes of Digital Foundry's video will be to check the truthfulness of this statement: "Sonic Frontiers on Switch will be the same experience as other platforms and it's going to look very comparable." It seems impossible.
EDIT
Browsing, I found this:
“Uhhh…let’s just say, if you have another option, please consider that other option. If you only have Switch then you can still have fun, I think…somewhat.”
Digital Foundry, John Linneman
In regard to the Series X version, the one I'll get, I want to see if they have ironed it out or serious glitches are to be fixed in the coming weeks.
I'm looking forward to Pure Xbox review!
@Banjo- Reviewers If Sonic was:
A Microsoft game: 8/10
A Nintendo game: 9/10
A Sony Game: 14/10 Absolute masterpiece GOTY
@BoiAster And don't forget the strangely recurring statement, "The best game ever made" 🤣.
great game, now for the ugly
it has the same problem as Fall Guys on Xbox One, it's running at 30fps but it feels like 25
one thing in common that this and Fall Guys have, is that they're both targeting 1080p, then this happens
im enjoying it, but there's a glaring issue with it on Xbox One
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