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The #1 Comprehensive Gaming Magazine!

Sonee k

12. 5. 22

THE SEGA DREAMCAST

What Went Wrong?

INSIDE: The Game Awards, Hottest Items of Christmas, Biggest Gaming Mystery of 2022, and more!

Table of Contents

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the fall of the sega Dreamcast

10 shopping catalogue (Christmas edition) 12 how to... progress through Earthbound 14 Nier: automata mystery 18 interview with hideo kojima 20 Sonic frontiers review

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Editors note Here at Soneek, we aim to bring the reader the latest in not just gaming news, but gaming culture and trends as well. This magazine will serve as the premier spot for all things happening in the online-sphere, the industry, and the overall scene.

We love video games and we’ve been commited to their entire history; think of this magazine not just as a current one-stop shop for the most recent news and releases, but also as a chronicle of the decades of moments that have lingered in players’ minds; from the launch and eventual demise of SEGA’s Dreamcast, to the infamous blunders of E3, to the digital revolution of Y2K gaming, Soneek remembers it all.

This magazine will release on a monthly basis, and feature articles from original contributers and even personal readers who are interested in having their opinions heard. We believe that a true gaming magazine in this modern age should strive to stay true to what players are saying and thinking.

Our journey into the world of gaming starts here, and it starts with you. We thank you for your purchase of this magazine, and we promise to make your voice heard and bring you only the best in gaming news.

With that said, happy reading!

THE FALL OF THE SEGA DREAMCAST on the next page...

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the fall of the sega DREAMCAST

by simon jenner

dramatic failure or underrated gem?

The Sega Dreamcast. A legendary games console that came and went too soon. Sporting better graphics than any other console on the market at the time, even trumping the later released Playstation 2 in terms of textures, anti-aliasing, and image quality, the Dreamcast is remembered as being a pioneer of the gaming world, introducing a series of industry firsts and leaving a mark so profound that fans are still hankering for a sequel.

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So why is it seen as a failure? With so many revolutionary feats surrounding the console, why did the Dreamcast have one of the shortest lifespans in video game history, and, more tragically perhaps, how did it lead to Sega’s departure from the home console market? The truth lies somewhere between mismanagement and uncertainty.

Sega’s Saturn

The system failed to meet industry expectations and caused an estimated loss of $43 million in 1998 alone.

In 1997, in order to rectify the substandard release of the Sega Saturn, which sold 9.26 million units worldwide compared to its competitor, the Nintendo 64, which sold 32.93 million, Sega’s President, Shoichiro Irimajiri contracted two teams to come up with the design for their new console. In Japan, he enlisted Sega Saturn designer, Hideki Sato and hardware developer PowerVR (formerly known as VideoLogic) to come up with a new chipset design for the Dreamcast with the goal of one-upping Nintendo and propelling the gaming world into the 128bit era.

One of the Saturn’s downfalls was the fact that it ended up being more expensive to build than to sell, costing roughly $380 to produce and as low as $300 to buy at retail price (reduced from $400 to compete with the Sony Playstation). Thus, when designing the Dreamcast, Sega concentrated on utilising economically efficient parts, such as the PowerVR2, to sustain the console’s profitability.

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The road to 9. 9. 99 After the initial launch of the Dreamcast in Japan in 1998, Sega managed to sell all its units within the first 24 hours. Priced at JP¥29,800 (about $290), Sega’s plan to outshine its competitors seemed to be succeeding.

However, with only four games available at launch, one of which was a visual novel, the company soon suffered a backlash from fans, many of whom reportedly began handing in the console in favour of the Sony PlayStation.

In order to regain some of their losses, Sega decided to drop the price of the console to $199 for the North American release, hoping to spark a boost in software purchases. Yet, while the release of Soul Calibur did manage to secure 17% of Sega’s shares, the console became unprofitable, and more expensive to build than sell, mirroring one of the key issues of the Saturn. This was made worse when EA, one of Sega’s main developers for the Saturn, refused to support the Dreamcast, demanding exclusive rights to sports games on the console. Citing a rift between him and former Electronic Arts CEO, Larry Probst, then CEO of Sega of America Bernie Stolar explains that his recent purchase of 2K developer, Visual Concepts, prevented him from accepting EA’s demands: “Larry came to me and said, ‘Bernie, we’ll do Dreamcast games, but we want sports exclusivity.’ I said, ‘You want to be on the system with no other third-party sports games?’ I looked at him and said, ‘You know what? I’ll do it, but there’s one caveat here: I just bought a company called Visual Concepts for $10 million, so you’ll have to compete with them.’ Larry says, ‘No, you can’t even put them on the system.’ I said ‘Then Larry, you and I are not going to be partners on this system.’”

- Bernie Stolar, SEGA of America CEO

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Sega was in a state of near-financial crisis, dropping shares, losing partners, and lacking games. But with the lead up to the North American release, things started to pick up, due in large to a unique advertising campaign, and the memorable launch date of 9/9/99.

Created by Brian Bacino, former Creative Director at respected advertising house Foote, Cone & Belding, the famously weird “It’s Thinking” advertisements, along with the memorable release date, were carefully designed works of marketing gold, working to catapult the Dreamcast into North American homes. Capitalising on the console’s innovative capabilities, the campaign utilised a weird cyberpunk vibe to accentuate the futuristic design choices of the Dreamcast.

It was through this marketing campaign that the Dreamcast exploded across North America, selling over 500,000 units in just over two weeks. And while Bacino’s campaign certainly helped to spread the word about Sega’s new console, much of the Dreamcast’s early success can be attributed to its impressive launch gallery, which included titles such as Soulcalibur, Ready 2 Rumble Boxing and of course, Sonic Adventure.

Promo Art for Sonic Adventure, released for the Dreamcast on September 9, 1999 in North America. The title, which was the first 3D game in the Sonic the Hedgehog series, went on to become the best-selling game for the console with 2.5 million units worldwide.

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The beginning of the end It seemed Sega had learned its lesson from the lacklustre Japanese release of the console and ensured to have 19 titles prepared for the Dreamcast’s American release, yet the truth of the matter is that there was another monster on the horizon: the Sony Playstation 2. On paper, a superior console, with DVD playing capabilities, larger memory space and an in-built modem, Sega was aware of the hype for Sony’s sophomore console and determined to develop and nurture a loyal fanbase for the Dreamcast months before the release of the Playstation 2.

Selling over 600,000 units in just over 24 hours on launch in Japan, the Sony Playstation 2 took the reins of the Japanese market and put the record-breaking success of the Dreamcast on the back burner. In an effort to combat Sony’s bouldering success, Sega decided to focus its efforts on the North American market, having sold double the amount of units there than in Japan.

To make matters worse, in March of 2000, Microsoft announced the Xbox, another console which, like the Playstation 2 (and unlike the Dreamcast) required no external modem to use the internet. In a last-ditch effort to bolster consumer incentives, Sega announced SegaNet, the company’s own internet service which allowed for fast online gaming and web browsing for only $21.95 a month. Moreover, with the purchase of a two-year subscription, consumers would receive a Dreamcast and keyboard for free.

Yet, with the North American release of the Playstation 2 looming, and the announcement of the Nintendo GameCube in September of 2000 to further put a boot in SEGA’s butt, the lifeblood of the Dreamcast was beginning to drain.

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(pictured above) The Playstation 2, unveiled in March 1999 with a planned North American release date of March 2000.

With surplus inventory stacked up, Sega determined that due to a lack of sales, and a market quickly overloaded by competing devices with similar capabilities, there was no need to produce any more consoles.

In 2001, Sega announced that they would be pulling out of the hardware business, officially stating that they would now only be making games for third-party platforms. With many new games still releasing for the Dreamcast, and even a few accessories such as a broadband adapter, Sega decided that the console was on its way out.

After less than two years in the North American market, the Dreamcast was quickly axed, marking the end of Sega’s 18-year lifespan in the home console market.

the dreamcast in 2022 As of 2007, the Dreamcast had sold only 10.6 million units, falling short of Sony and Microsoft by a landslide. While sporting an incredible selection of iconic games including the slick Jet Set Radio, the manic Crazy Taxi and the legendary Shenmue, unfortunately, the system which pioneered the use of internet connectivity, propelled gaming marketing into the world of the weird (an aspect later picked up by Sony and Nintendo), was unable to sustain itself for longer than three years. A uniquely designed console that has gone down in history as the gaming gem which came and left, in the blink of an eye, or the swirl of a dream.

However, it’s through the cutting-edge efforts of Sega that the Dreamcast’s legacy has been solidified as one of the most innovative consoles of a generation. A forward-thinking, highly original device that despite enjoying a banging launch gallery, an iconic marketing campaign and a few industry firsts (the revolutionary PowerVR2 and the aforementioned internet capabilities), couldn’t get over the haphazard blunders made by the Saturn, with Sega rushing towards a release that could likely have benefitted from a longer development cycle and a streamlining of marketing efforts.

Dreamcast Logo (1998-2001)

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Christmas 2022 shopping guide

by

soneek

Playstation 5 God of War Ragnarok Digital Edition Bundle $459.99

Splatoon 2 on-sale for $24.99

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Nintendo Switch Super Mario Odyssey Bundle $349.99

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild on-sale for $39.99

As the holidays approach, we at Soneek have compiled a list of the hottest items you can buy at superior prices. Sonic Frontiers and God of War: Ragnarok round out as the most popular games one can buy this holiday season, with the Playstation 5 still the most elusive top-seller for people to get their hands on. Meanwhile, the Nintendo Switch and its games are offering good bundles and sales right now.

Sonic Frontiers on-sale for $49.99

Super Nintendo Classic Mini (2017 Limited Edition) $199.99

God of War: Ragnarok on-sale for $49.99

Xbox Series S Holiday Console on-sale for $229.99

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how to progress in...

by tristen cortez

The saturn valley waterfall When it was released in 1995, Earthbound was a commercial stinker. The game failed to meet internal expectations at Nintendo’s sales division, and was met with confusion by the general public for its odd premise and baffling marketing campaign which involved scratch-n-sniffs (vomit flavored).

The commercials literally proclaimed, “ This game stinks!” as a quirky way of asserting the game’s image to those who might be intrigued. For those that followed the rabbithole and played it, they came to find that Earthbound is one of the most delightful and innovative role-playing games this side of the gaming sphere.

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It’s design and aesthetic have paved the way over the years for many other titles, from Undertale to South Park: The Stick of Truth, to further develop the game’s themes and ideas and weave them into a more modern context for players. One such evolution might come in the abandonment of Earthbound’s notoriously unclear and befuddling puzzles. Having come from an era where games expected the player to really experiment and figure it out on your own, Earthbound has become a bit difficult to progress through for some nowadays.

Enter the Saturn Valley Waterfall, a moment in the game so obtuse you might wanna sit down when you hear how you have to progress through it. Here’s a breakdown and tutorial for those who may not understand what to do in this section of the game.

So by now you have Paula and Jeff in your roster and you’ve arrived to Saturn Valley, home of the weird and wacky Mr. Saturns. You’ll make it to this part that leads you into a waterfall before you find the base behind it. There is only one problem. Going inside the waterfall does nothing...

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Unless you press up on the d-pad upon going inside.

Okay, standard procedure.

Anyone fiddling with the controller would figure it out.

But here’s where the real fun part comes in.

The entity asks for a password. At this point you may be compelled to try and type something in, but it won’t let you. You may leave and go looking for clues in one of the many Saturn huts. You may go stumblng around for hours not knowing who to go to or what to do. Maybe there’s some button combination like the Contra code?

Alright, get ready for this.

So, turns out there is a Mr. Saturn in the cave near the middle-left of Saturn Valley. If you find him, he’ll tell you that in order to pass through, you have to wait three minutes... so what does that mean?

Go to the waterfall, press up, when the creature asks you for the password, put your controller down for three minutes, and voila, he’ll let you in.

Thats how you progress through the Saturn Valley Waterfall. Unbelievable.

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the hidden church in nier: automata

Scrolling through Twitter, Daniel Griffiths’ interest was piqued when he saw a post describing a mysterious phenomenon being shared in the Nier: Automata community: A2 opening a hidden door in The Copied City and strolling into a secret, never-before-seen area. Curious, he decided to pursue more knowledge, and landed in the Nier modding Discord server.

Like him, many other Nier: Automata players who caught wind of the phenomenon sat upright - metaphorically and perhaps literally - and flocked to both Reddit and Discord to check out what exactly was up with the secret area.

It was dubbed the “church mystery” or “sadfutago’s posts”, among other monikers.

In a time when information is at the very tips of our fingers, where even a badly worded, vague Google Search can lead to the results we want, a mystery has an irresistible allure. It’s hard to accurately capture the phenomenon around a mystery afterthe-fact, after the dust has settled and an answer plopped in our laps. So consider this an oral history, in a very loose manner, more than a full recreation of what went down.

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by jenny zheng

june 18: the beginnings On June 18, a mysterious user named “sadfutago” posted a video to the Nier Reddit, showing the path to the hidden door notably with a shaky hand, as well as repeated (mis) use of the dash button. You can see the comments left by other Reddit users, ranging from advice (“You’ll go faster if you press dash once and then run”) to suspicion about this almost entirely clean account posting never-before-seen footage, to asking for more images. “ That’s what we wanted,” Devolas said, in regards to users asking for more proof. I connected with the people known as Devolas, RaiderB, Woeful over Discord in August, almost a month after the hunt for the church took off like a firework and, subsequently, exploded brilliantly. They are the talented trio behind the church mystery, the mod yes, a mod! - that sparked endless speculation. It started, they tell me, as a way to troll the modding server, but blew up into a phenomenon far beyond what the trio expected.

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The inside of the church as seen in the June 18 video (pictured left)

In a follow-up to the June 18 post, sadfutago posted more of the church on July 25, and this time it wasn’t shaky handheld footage. It showed A2 traveling through never-before-seen hallways with structure sticking out of the sides. But the church mystery videos Devolas posted under the moniker sadfutago didn’t immediately blow up. “ The Reddit posts barely had over 10 upvotes initially, and the first video we posted just got 100 upvotes and died for a month,” Devolas said.

That all changed when Lance personality on Twitter and YouTube, ald claimed that “It’s not yet possible ing credence to the theory that it was

McDonald, a well-known PS4 modding tweeted out the July 25 video. McDonto mod Nier Automata in this way”, lendindeed an actual secret area in the game.

This was the “oh, sh-t” moment for Woeful. “When Lance McDonald found the whole thing and made his post on Twitter,” Woeful said. “ The amount of views/likes/retweets it started getting made me so giddy and absolutely inspired all of us, I think, to continue working and trying to make it bigger and better.”

“After Lance’s tweet, the videos on Reddit and all the posts started to blow up and it began to trend,” Devolas added. Following the viral circulation of the church mystery, Nier: Automata producer Yosuke Saito and creator Yoko Taro posted some seemingly-cryptic tweets. Saito commented “Eternal Mystery”, while Taro wryly gave no insight when asked about the church mystery, and instead followed up with, “I love sausage and beer.”

Nier: Automata creator Yoko Taro playing along with the mystery (pictured right)

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july 25-29: the ending Everybody had a theory, but there were three main camps: 1) sadfutago was telling the truth and this secret church door was actually in some super specific version of the game; 2) sadfutgao was lying and was secretly Square Enix PR, concocting an elaborate marketing campaign for some future Nier release; 3) sadfutago was lying, and the church mystery was actually a mod created with tools the widespread modding community hadn’t seen yet.

Near the end, the prevailing attitude on Reddit was that the church mystery was likely “official content” of some sort, but regardless of the outcome, most people had enjoyed the ride. It was around then that Devolas decided to end things with a since-deleted Twitch livestream, revealing that the church mystery had been a mod all along.

The mod was surprisingly challenging to make. “On a technical side, literally everything is hard and iffy with the game engine,” Woeful explained. “ The things we found the Platinum devs did were bizarre and sometimes finding something as small as a sound effect could take an entire day. Anyone on the server or who has touched the engine can testify to it never playing along and always being wack.

Luckily most of the big parts of the map tools I had finished months (and some years) prior, so we focused more on the scripting and getting things looking nice.”

A lot of the way the church saga mystery unfolded wasn’t intentional, but that’s what made it all the better. Whether it was fate or luck, the church mystery played out eerily to the “true ending” of Nier: Automata, where players can choose to work together. You, as the player, can choose to see all your save files sacrificed, but in exchange find out that even after the credits, the story doesn’t end. The church mystery similarily felt like a joint effort in exploration. From a poorly sung rendition of “Weight of The World”, created by the Nier: Automata modding Discord to cheer sadfutago on in their fight against bloby, to the coming together to trade theories, all of it felt incredibly, harmoniously in line with Nier: Automata’s own spirit.

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Hideo kojima answers our questions about Death stranding by joe juba

q and a The last week has been a busy one for Hideo Kojima. Even with Death Stranding in the final stretch approaching release, the legenda r y c r e a t o r t o o k t h e s t a g e a t To k y o G a m e S h o w f o r t w o s e p a r a t e l i v e presentations showing off his unique and difficult-to-explain project.

While we learned a lot from watching those demonstrations, they also raised many questions about how Death Stranding works and what it t r i e s t o c o n v e y. W h a t i s t h e g o a l b e h i n d t h e a s y n c h r o n o u s m u l t i p l a y er? What do “likes” do? How has the game changed since its inception?

To g e t t h e a n s w e r s t o t h e s e q u e s t i o n s a n d m o r e , w e v i s i t e d t h e K o j i m a P r o d u c t i o n s s t u d i o i n To k y o f o r a n i n t e r v i e w w i t h H i d e o K o j i m a h i m s e l f .

Q : O f a l l t h e n e w f e a t u r e s t h a t y o u r e v e a l e d a t t h e f i r s t T G S l i v e s h o w, w h a t w a s the one you were most excited to finally talk about?

A : P l a y i n g t h e g a m e i s a l o n e l y f e e l i n g , b e c a u s e y o u p l a y a l o n e u s u a l l y, e v e n t h o u g h y o u ’r e o n l i n e . A l o t o f p e o p l e p l a y o n t h e c o u c h , a n d p e r h a p s t h e y f e e l l i k e , “ O h , I ’m l o n e l y, a n d I ’m m a y b e s t r a n g e , p l a y i n g a l l a l o n e .” A n d y o u ’r e d o i n g i t o v e r a n d o v e r.

Yo u ’r e t r a v e l i n g w i t h B B , a n d m a y b e y o u f e e l l o n e l y. N o r m a n [ R e e d u s ] a c t u a l l y g o t t h i s p o i n t a s w e l l – y o u ’r e s t r u g g l i n g a l l a l o n e . B u t a t a c e r t a i n p o i n t , y o u r e a l i z e , “ T h e r e i s s o m e o n e r e a l l y s i m i l a r t o m e w h o f e l t t h i s l o n e l i n e s s ,” b e c a u s e y o u s e e i t w h e n y o u ’r e i n d i r e c t l y c o n n e c t i n g . L i k e i n a m o v i e t h e a t e r – t h e r e a r e m a y b e 2 0 0 o r 3 0 0 p e o p l e w a t c h i n g a m o v i e t o g e t h e r.

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Q : We ’ v e s e e n m a n y c r y p t i c t r a i l e r s f o r D e a t h S t r a n d i n g o v e r t h e y e a r s . I n t h e final game, where does it fall on the spectrum between ambiguous storytelling – s o m e t h i n g l i k e Tw i n P e a k s ­ – a n d m o r e s t r a i g h t f o r w a r d d e l i v e r y ?

A : I h ave n’t l i e d at a l l – I j u s t c re ate t h e s to r y a s - i s. I n t h e t ra i l e r s, m ay b e I j u s t p u t out the scenes in between. But if you play from the start to the end, you will unders t a n d b e c a u s e i t ’s a l l c o n n e c t e d . A l l t h e s i d e p l o t s a r e k i n d o f r e c o v e r e d , a l l t h e s m a l l stories and things like that. But I am a great fan of David Lynch as well, so, yeah.

Q: Sam has a lot to manage – his health, his equipment, etc. A lot of people turn to games to escape these kinds of responsibilities. How do you approach taking mundane maintenance tasks and putting them into a game so they don’t feel like work?

A : P r e v i o u s l y, i n d e s i g n , y o u h a d to create the rule because you co u l d n’t d o t h e re a l i s m , r i g ht ?

In our everyday lives, there are so many mechanisms we have to work through. So I wanted to free the game design concept that we h a d to l i ve by b e c a u s e we d i d n’t have the technology to do so in the past. I wanted to add the real essence in Death Stranding.

N o r m a n R e e d u s a s S a m B r i d g e s i n D E AT H S T R A N D I N G

Q: The game is so close to being complete. Now that you can see the near-final product, what is the biggest difference you notice from how you first envisioned Death Stranding?

A : Th e co n ce p t h a s n’t c h a n g e d at a l l f ro m t h e s t a r t. O n t h e v i s i o n s i d e, ye s, I i m a gi n e d I c o u l d d o m o r e – l i k e , P l a y S t a t i o n 6 f o r t h e v i s u a l s . B u t i t ’s n o t a l l a b o u t g r a p h i c s . A l o t o f p e o p l e w e r e a g a i n s t m y f i r s t c o n c e p t , a n d I ’m r e a l l y h a p p y t h a t t h e s t a f f m a d e i t t o g e t h e r w i t h m e . A l l t h e s t a f f r e a l l y l i k e d p l a y i n g t h e g a m e a n d I r e a l l y f e e l h a p p y.

A n d I j u s t f e e l i t ’s t h e u s e r ’s t u r n n o w.

Q : H a v e y o u e x p l a i n e d D e a t h S t r a n d i n g t o a n y o n e a n d h a d i t c l i c k i m m e d i a t e l y, instead of taking a while to understand?

A : Ye s , t h e r e w e r e s o m e p e o p l e . E s p e c i a l l y c r e a t o r s w e r e q u i t e q u i c k t o c l i c k . L i k e [ d i r e c t o r ] G e o r g e M i l l e r, w h o i s k i n d o f m y m e n t o r – m y g o d . H e k i n d o f s t a r t e d t o d r a w a d i a g r a m , h e h a s t h i s t h e o r y, s o h e s a i d , “ W h a t y o u ’r e t r y i n g t o d o i s c o r r e c t .” I s h o u l d have recorded that! I should have sent it to the staff! That was really a happy moment.

M a y b e n o t p e o p l e i n t h e g a m e i n d u s t r y, b u t m u s i c i a n s , d i r e c t o r s , a n d c r e a t o r s . S o , t h a t ’s w h y I t e n d t o k i n d o f o v e r l a p w i t h m u s i c i a n s a n d f i l m d i r e c t o r s m o r e t h a n t h e game industry people – because they kind of tend to synthesize with me in that way a n d c l i c k f a s t e r.

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sonic frontiers

review by Tristen Cortez

good time to be a sonic fan Since the last year or so, I’ve found myself falling into the Sonic rabbit hole. Who can blame me? It’s like the damn hedgehog is everywhere. He’s got two movies, a niche but successful ongoing comic strip, an upcoming animated series, spin-off shows in development at Paramount+, a third movie on the way, and an online memetic presence that has pervaded in an irony-based generation.

It’s all been just dandy, unless you were a fan of the games. Ironically enough, Sonic’s games have been its weakest point. Following the maligned titles of the “dark age” from the 2000s, along with the mediocre reception of Forces and Origins, it seems like giving the property over to a different group of developers entirely might fix things (well... assuming it went so well last time they tried that in 2014).

Sonic Frontiers felt like the last chance this series had to redeem itself and show some signs that Sonic the Hedgehog could be cool, fun, and non-glitchy. The hype, while a bit stressful, was indeed palpable. I was excited and nervous for this game unlike any game previously.

Loading in on my first playthrough, we get some cutscenes that show a change of pace. The characters are a bit less goofy, the plot seems to be aiming for something actually dramatic and interesting.

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And then, bam! You’re in Green Hill Zone. Or a weird cyber-corrupted version of it. This is Cyberspace, one of Sonic Frontier’s gimmicks. The first thing I noticed right off the cuff was just how insane this music went. There’s no other way to describe it; a mix of techno 2000s Drum N’ Bass with club trance practically ready to break my bassy speakers. I was enthralled. While the controls were awkward at first, this game had hooked me. The presentation, the style, the effort! This isn’t the Sonic you knew from a decade ago.

Journeying through the Starfall islands, uncovering the story, I was met with issues. My playthrough, while not buggy, was far from perfect. Some issue on Steam’s end kept causing crashes at one point, nearly prompting me to uninstall the game and try later, until finally it worked properly. From there, it got smoother.

My initial experience, while occasionally grating, with some design choices that left me saying, “Oh, I would have done this differently,” soon became more appealing.

After beating Giganto, I felt a rush I hadn’t felt in a while. That first boss tells you that it’s going down, and you better bring it. Admittedly, the game isn’t very difficult at all, and the puzzles are child’s play. However, nothing quite matched the exhiliration I felt when I was going puzzle-to-puzzle bolting through Ares island while the beautiful sunset awaited me. When Sonic Frontiers is fun, it is so much fun, and provides a thrill you won’t find in many other places.

Story-wise, I was equally compelled. It’s not The Last of Us, but newcomers to the series might be surprised at the level of depth and care put into the dialogue.

It’s a far cry from the awkward days of infamous line reads like, “Watch out! You’re gonna crash! Ah!”. If it weren’t for the admittedly not-too-impressive animation in some cutscenes (likely a result of having a development team totaling 60 people), I would have been tricked into thinking I was watching a feature-length film.

The characters are at their most entertaining and engaging here. The game uses a neat setup story-wise involving Amy, Knuckles, and Tails having their own “koco” (a cute island creature that totally doesn’t have serious lore implications), and these koco help symbolize each characters motivations and emotions. Tails’ koco for example is a pilot in the shadow of his idol who wants to prove himself, leading to a conversation between Sonic and Tails regarding their friendship that nearly had me misty-eyed.

It shows the kind of results you’ll get when you actually allow your audience to care about the characters they’ve invested so much time into. The game introduces new ones, like Sage who has already left a huge impact on me. While far from perfect, and definitely in need of some refinement, Sonic Frontiers is the return to form people have been waiting for. For the first time in a long time, I can confidently recommend you pick up this game if you want to experience a good Sonic game.

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e h t t i s i v d n a e ! m s o d C n a l s i l l a f r sta

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