Sonic Frontiers

2 hours in, I might change my view as I play further. First, the positive: the music, voice acting, and sound design are genuinely top-notch. Some of these soundtracks might genuinely be among the best in gaming. I vibe with every single one, and Sonic's voice is iconic as always. But that's about where the positives end. The game is currently a 5/10. - On first boot, the game started at the lowest resolution. The menus are also annoying, with irritating sounds and weird design choices. Why does the game ask me to save after every single change I make to a category like sound or graphics? Just let me make my changes and ask me once when I leave the options menu. - Why are most cutscenes pre-rendered? - The movement feels clunky and annoying, especially for a fast-paced game that expects precise jumps. - The game looks horrendous for a franchise this big, especially for 40€. The world feels like random assets thrown together, and the constant pop-in doesn't help. - I've already encountered several bugs in less than 2 hours. - The gameplay is mostly just overworld-collectible slop. You're constantly doing the same things over and over again, and it's not particularly fun. - There are unnecessary tutorials everywhere, yet when you actually need one, the game doesn't explain anything. - “The symbol with the camera crossed out means the camera is not available.” Was this pop-up really necessary? The game is filled with this kind of pointless hand-holding. - The squids and regenerating balls might be two of the worst enemies I've seen in a long time. They mostly exist to waste your time in a fast-paced game. - The game is capped at 60 FPS??? Why?? It's a fast-paced game. And even with my powerful PC, I still get performance issues. - The whole game feels like it was vibe-coded by a teenage student. - The Second Cyber Space S Rank was ridiculously hard, while the Third was basically a freebie. - Enemy tracking randomly disappears when you're barely too far away. - I can't open the map while an enemy is targeting me. - I can't save during puzzles. Not necessarily a huge flaw, but it feels like the devs could have easily handled puzzle progress properly. - No widescreen support. - Like I said, this game has precise jumps, so tell me: when I'm trying to make a precise jump, why does the camera randomly make a 200-degree turn and point somewhere completely different? - I also think it's ironic that the most important move in a game like this is the stomp, which I need to completely kill my momentum and speed just so I can actually manage to make some jumps. - No minimap. Seriously? It's unbelievably annoying having to open the map every few seconds just to figure out where I'm supposed to go. And on top of that, there isn't even a way to place markers on specific locations. After 2 hours, I can confidently say this is a 5/10. Typical open-world slop. I don't understand how this game has an 89% rating. The presentation has some genuinely great aspects, but almost everything surrounding the core Sonic gameplay feels mediocre or frustrating.