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In a recent tweet, Sonic Frontiers director Morio Kishimoto checked in for the first time since the game’s release. While he seems relieved that the game has made its way into the hands of players safely, he acknowledges that there have been some valid criticisms made by fans and critics alike. He doesn’t go into specific details, but he does state that the team has “a long way to go”, and that they are in some ways thinking of this release as a “global playtest” as they take in player reactions.

Sonic Frontiers has received fairly positive reviews so far, but clearly the development team isn’t totally satisfied. We’ll have to wait and see how they manage to improve upon the Sonic Frontiers formula in the follow-up game.

If you’ve got something you’d like to see Sega improve upon, let them know, because it sounds like they’re listening! Find Kishimoto’s tweet below, along with a rough English translation.

I’m sorry I couldn’t contact you because I’ve been busy since the release date. I’m relieved that the release date has arrived and that it seems to have reached everyone safely. We are checking the opinions of the critics and everyone. As you pointed out, we still have a long way to go, and we take this seriously as a global playtest.

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Comments (3)

the_crimson_lure

1+ y ago

It's cool that they're taking opinions into account, but "we're treating the launch as a play test" is not the best way to phrase it when all the participants have paid full price to participate in what is now called a "play test."

Edited 1 time

Indeed. I have put about 8 hours into this game and the biggest issue I have with it are the controls. Sonic just doesn't feel good to play as, that boost mechanic has no ease in and the slightest tilt with your control stick can steer sonic way off course. The jumping is very floaty and the homing mechanic is more or less a crutch along with all these automated rails and boost pads. The combat is also a chore and the Cyloop thing has camera issues when you run next to walls. Jumping is also rather poor when your in top speed and certain moves feels tacked on like that stomp which barely ever gets used and is way to sudden.

Overall this game lacks flow. Momentum based player control certainly would have been the right choice to make but a quick fix to this non momentum based playstyle is to have more ease ins when using the boost mechanic and ditching the homing attack for a slow-mo drift mechanic that can lead into a quick turn or an aiming system to shoot Sonic at whatever target you need in that window.

Edited 2 times

d_says_hi

1+ y ago

But will they apply this to new games? They have been reinventing the wheel with each game.