Sonic Frontiers has Dreamcast-era jank and pop-in galore – but I can’t stop playing it

Am I a glutton for punishment? I can’t stop thinking about or playing Sonic Frontiers right now, even though it has some pretty heavyweight rivals vying for my attention (including a couple of high-profile reviews). I’m liking those other games I’m working on well enough – a lot, in fact. But, man… There’s something about Sonic Frontiers. Something that works, even though the game is a little bit crap.

Playing Frontiers over the last few days both on Steam Deck and on a high-spec PC rocking an Nvidia RTX 4090, I absolutely understand why Sega pulled the classic protectionist PR move of telling VG247 it didn’t have any early review code left for the game even though we knew colleagues had enjoyed access to the game for a good week. It’s natural PR stuff: look at the outlet, look at who might be reviewing, and if you anticipate that you might get a kicking maybe quietly not send them the game. Or, at least, delay sending it. In the end, Sega slipped us a Nintendo Switch code a few hours before the embargo lifted. Fair enough.

Tom had his own list of issues with the Switch version which were largely about how that version of the game is optimized (or, indeed, not optimized) – but the truth is, Sonic Frontiers is beset with a million-and-one issues even on a top-spec PC. But you know what? It… sort of doesn’t really matter? The game itself is… fun? Good? Engaging? Addictive? Add your own cliched gaming buzz word of choice here.

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