Sonic has always been about speed, but Sonic Frontiers is the first time in years when that speed actually feels like it belongs somewhere.
The game gives Sonic these huge open zones and basically tells you to run wild.
I went in thinking I would play for a bit and move on.
Instead, I kept getting sucked in, mostly because the world constantly tempts you with one more thing just over the hill.
The Open-Zone Islands Kept Distracting Me in The Best Way
The islands feel like giant Sonic playgrounds built out of rails, springs, floating platforms, puzzle markers, and random structures that look like they fell out of the sky.
At first, it feels messy, like the game is daring you to make sense of it. Then you stop trying to play it like a checklist and start playing it like a toybox.
My first real okay, I get it now moment was a total accident. I boosted down a slope, clipped onto a rail I did not even aim for, got launched into the air, bounced off a spring, and landed on top of a tower I did not know was climbable.
I just sat there staring at the view like, “Wait… did I do that on purpose?” Five minutes later, I was doing it on purpose, trying to recreate the same launch just to see if I could land somewhere even higher.
Another time, I chased a glowing marker near a cliff and misjudged the jump.
I fully expected to fall and lose momentum, but Sonic snapped onto a rail below me at the last second like the game was saving me from my own bad decisions.
It felt less like careful exploration and more like the island was letting me improvise.
Sonic Feels so Good to Control that I Stopped Caring Why
Sonic’s movement is the reason the whole thing works. Boosting feels smooth, turning feels responsive, and chaining jumps, air boosts, wall runs, and rails creates this constant momentum loop. Even basic tasks feel fun because getting there is half the game.
I had one night where I told myself I was only logging in to grab a couple of memory tokens.
I picked them up, turned the camera, saw a rail line hanging in the distance, and thought, That has to connect to something.
Forty minutes later, I was on the other side of the island because that rail led to a tower, the tower led to a launch, and the launch dropped me next to three more things I suddenly needed to do. At some point, I realized I was not progressing efficiently. I was just having fun moving.
The Game Has Tons of Activities, But Not All of Them Matter the Same
This is where Frontiers gets a little tricky, because the game throws so many distractions at you that it starts to feel like everything is equally important.
But it’s not.
Some activities are huge for progression, and you can clearly feel the game pushing you toward them:
- Cyber Space stages that earn you Vault Keys
- Vault Keys + Chaos Emerald collecting, which is basically required to move forward
- Main objectives and quests that unlock story moments and island progress
- Titan fights, which are the real milestone moments
That’s the main loop, and when you focus on it, the game moves fast.
But then there’s the other side of the island, the stuff that doesn’t really change your progress much, even if it’s super fun:
- Random rails and platform chains that lead to cool views, more than rewards
- Puzzle markers that sometimes give small stuff, like tokens or map reveals
- Mini challenges that feel good to complete, even when they don’t move the story
- Exploration detours that basically exist just to tempt you into messing around
And the funny part is… I often liked those distractions more.
A typical session would start with me thinking I’d do something important for 20 minutes, like grab a key or work toward an Emerald.
But then I’d spend 40 minutes chasing a rail route I didn’t even plan to take, or trying to land a launch perfectly just to see where it could throw me next.
It didn’t always advance my story, but it made the world feel alive, as if the island were daring me to keep moving.
That’s the one thing I’d love to see improved: I wish some of those just-for-fun activities had more meaningful payoffs.
If the game is going to distract me this much, I want those distractions to sometimes hit harder, story moments, better upgrades, or character progress that make the detours feel important, too.
The Titan Fights Made Me Stop and Actually Smile
Regular combat is fine. It looks stylish, and it works, but it is not super deep. The Titan fights are different. They are the moments where the game feels huge and dramatic.
The first time I reached a Titan, the music kicked in, and I immediately thought, “Oh… they meant this to feel legendary.”
The scale is ridiculous, the presentation goes full spectacle, and it finally feels like everything you have been doing on the island is paying off.
After I won, I did not even rush to the next objective. I just stood there for a second because the whole thing felt like a real Sonic highlight.
The Rough Edges Still Show up when I Play Too Long
If I binge the game, the open-zone loop can feel repetitive. Some puzzles start blending together. Some challenges feel like filler.
Cyber Space stages are fun bursts of classic Sonic speed, but you can feel reused ideas.
And that activities problem shows up here too, because when you’ve been playing for a long time, you start noticing which tasks are actually worth doing and which ones are just there to keep you busy.
Still, the movement, the music, and those big Titan moments kept pulling me back, and that is why I ended up liking Sonic Frontiers more than I expected.
Conclusion
Sonic Frontiers surprised me. For the first time in years, Sonic’s speed feels like it belongs in the world.
The open-zone islands are messy at first, but they become a playground once you stop treating them like a checklist.
I kept getting distracted by rails, towers, springs, and one more thing over the next hill, mostly because moving Sonic feels smooth and addictive.
But not every activity hits the same. Some things are essential for progress, like Cyber Space, Vault Keys, Chaos Emeralds, and Titan fights.
Others are mostly just fun, like random platforming routes, puzzles, and exploration detours that don’t always give big rewards.
And honestly, I sometimes enjoyed the less important stuff more.
Combat is fine, but the Titan fights are the real payoff, huge, dramatic, and unforgettable. Rough edges exist, yet I kept coming back.