Around one year ago, the game “Sonic Frontiers” was released and was met with a mostly positive reaction. “Frontiers” has fun gameplay, an interesting, compelling story, and outstanding boss fights and music.
It seemed like fans were incredibly pleased with the game, leading game company SEGA to announce three free updates for the game that would add fun little additions. However, the third update, released Sept. 28 and later named “The Final Horizon,” caught the eyes of every fan with the inclusion of a new story and playable characters. People were extremely excited about this news, but did the update live up to the hype? Honestly, it did.
Each character is fun to play as throughout the main game. Each of them has their own set of strengths and weaknesses.
Amy controls the best out of the three, easily complimenting her character while having a great control on speed, an added jump and some decent attacks. Knuckles might be the worst to play as out of the three, lacking in combat abilities. His abilities are similar to those of the “Sonic Adventure” titles, but he’s not the best character to use all the time. Tails also controls really well – where he lacks in attacks, he gains in speed and flight.
Despite the claim that there’s a new story, this isn’t entirely true. The story for this update is a “what if” scenario for the final act of the game. Sage offers another solution where Tails, Knuckles and Amy can locate the Chaos Emeralds while Sonic unleashes the powers from the Ancients to stop the final Titan. While it’s not what fans were promised, the update clears up the lore in the main story and gives the audience some more background to the Ancients and Koco.
The final act of the story has a better final boss and a more satisfying conclusion. Not everything is done well with the story, though. The End is still a mysterious threat with an unknown origin that needs more exposition. The plot also feels slightly rushed. Maybe it’s because this is information fans are already familiar with, but it feels like it moves too quickly and the characters aren’t given much to do after their story section is completed.
There’s one thing about this added story that really shined above all else: the difficulty. A common thread that players and critics have been saying is how challenging the game is. And they are right to say that! Compared to the base game, “Final Horizon” is frustratingly difficult. The Cyber Space levels are fun with some challenge that can be mastered with improvement, but the enemies are ruthless regardless of who you’re playing as and the Koco trials are a nightmare, especially the Master King Koco Trial. When playing this specific challenge for the first time, it can take over an hour to beat it.
“Sonic Frontiers” is great on its own with its plot and gameplay surprising fans, both old and new. “The Final Horizon” is a great addition that adds new gameplay mechanics, a better finale and more depth to the established story set in the main game. It’s worth checking out for anyone who already has the game and for anyone who doesn’t.
