Sonic the Hedgehog thread

I am really hyped for Frontiers. It's really shaping up up to be a great game, in my opinion, and it's just the kind of change the Sonic formula needed. I just hope it's good.

 
So I've decided to go ahead and get my kiddo Sonic Frontiers for Christmas along with DVD copies of the 1993 Sonic SatAM cartoon where he's part of the freedom fighters. That cartoon was a favorite of mine growing up and he enjoys it as well.

That said, Sonic Frontiers... not sure if I'm going to get the PS4 or Switch version for him. I'm curious on how bad the pop-in is going to be? If pop-in is going to be bad on the Switch, than I'd rather just get him the PS4 copy... but if it's not bad at all, I'd probably lean towards the Switch version to keep kiddo games on the Nintendo.
 
I am getting the PS5 version, because I imagine the Switch will struggle and 60fps is just going to be much smoother with the open zone gameplay. If the Switch port is good, then it will serviceable and hopefully 30fps will be stable. But there is a chance the hardware will struggle and the port won't be up to scratch.

As it's for your kid though, I can understand wanting to get the Switch port. It's hard to advise until the reviews come out and we see how the Switch handles it.

Regarding pop in though, it seems to be an issue on all versions of the game.
 
Telekill said:
Please let us know if there's any slowdown, pop-in, etc. for the Switch version.
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There's definitely some pop-in, but not to the point that it really affects the actual gameplay. I haven't noticed any slowdown though.
 
I'm only a couple of hours in but I'm really enjoying it. It's essentially high-speed parkour in an open world. But it isn't a mostly empty open world like BoTW, it's full of little platforming challenges and puzzles, there's always something to do. Good stuff.
 
I'm gonna wait till it's on sale (price seems a hint steep in relation to amount of content, especially for some spoilers about later zones), but I'm glad to see this is getting positive reviews. I'll definitely pick it up.
 
I'm seriously surprised by the half decent reviews this game is getting. Even watching it, it just looks so bad and the pop in is a joke.
 
Nathanial Essex said:
I'm seriously surprised by the half decent reviews this game is getting. Even watching it, it just looks so bad and the pop in is a joke.
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The pop in is terrible, that alone loses a few points for me and this is probably factored into a lot of those 7 scores too. It's so bad that I even see rings pop in from a short distance. I have seen people bring it up like it's not a big deal because other games have it, but there are a few reasons why it's worse in this game.

1 - The distance between you and the pop ins are way too small. I can't believe SEGA thought this would be okay, it's incredibly jarring. I remember seeing similar in Cyberpunk, a game I have seen people use to defend the pop ins in Sonic. I don't understand why people would use that game to defend pop ins when Cyberpunk was torn to pieces because of it's bad performance.

2 - It's much easier to see because there is nothing to disguise them. In other games, there is usually so much going on on screen that it's easy to disguise the pop ins, Sonic Frontiers doesn't have that luxury. Everything is very open and in your face, so you're going to notice them more than you would in other games.

3 - Sonic moves fast, so the faster you move, the more pop ins you see.

I have my suspicions that this game was designed around getting it to work on the Switch over anything else, because I cannot understand why SEGA would think people would be okay having these issues on modern consoles and especially pc. I hope devs aren't doing this, it would be another example of the Nintendo Switch holding games back, just like with Dragon Quest XI S. That game is supposed to be the definitive edition of the game, but it's graphically so much worse than the original release, and this is because it was designed around getting it to work on the Switch.
 
Hermit said:
I have my suspicions that this game was designed around getting it to work on the Switch over anything else
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I suspect this is the case too and it's somewhat annoying. I can live with the less than stellar graphics, but you'd think on modern hardware they would be able to do something about the pop in.

In Sega's defence of them using the Switch hardware as its basis and starting point, Sonic games sell best on Nintendo hardware by an absolute mile. I don't have the stats to hand, but I seem to recall the Switch accounting for the majority of Sonic Mania and Sonic Force's sales. I think the same was true for Sonic Team Racing too.
 
Reprise said:
I mean, so did Shenmue 3 🤷‍♂️

Maybe it's just a fun game, with solid gameplay and people can look past the technical issues and flaws.
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From everything I've read: both good and bad reviews seem to echo the same sentiment. The foundations are there for something much better if built upon in a sequel. It seems like everyone is praising Sonic Team for figuring out a formula that might actually work the for old hedgehog if only it has a little more polish put into it.

It sounds kind of similar to my feelings on Shenmue III. The foundations were in place but it probably needed at least another year in the cooker to truly get there.

I will say, I am very intrigued to check out Frontiers. It's the first time I can say that about a Sonic game since probably Mania or Generations. At least Generations in terms of the Sonic Team developed games.

I'm really intrigued by it based on what I've heard.

John Linemann seems to be digging it. He posted a Tweet saying he was working on the DF video for it. So I'm keen to watch that when it comes out.

I think the technical issues marring just seem to be that they were building it around the Switch version. Maybe with patching it will perform better on the actual consoles. But tbf, they're building this around not only Switch but also the last gen consoles, the mid gen console updates and the next gen consoles. That's a lot of builds to get out on Day 1 so I guess something had to give technically speaking.

I don't know. I'm intrigued but I think I'm gonna wait for an after Christmas sale on this one. Still, even the bad reviews I've read and seen still have me somewhat intrigued to check it out just because they're all praising Sonic Team for stepping in a potential goldmine for modern 3D Sonic. That's very intriguing to me.
 
Ok question -- Does pop-in improve depending on which version you get? Switch being the low man on the totem pole of power, I assume would be the worst. Do the PS4 and even PS5 version suffer the same pop-in?
 
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