Legend has it, if you close your eyes and say "today I'm joined by my good friend and colleague, John Linneman", he'll appear before you.

1:15 Part 1 - The Design 7:06 Part 2 - The Visuals 12:22 Part 3 - Console Testing 21:34 Part 3.1 - Nintendo Switch 26:03 Part 3.2 - PC 29:17 Part 4 - The Soundtrack 33:34 Final Thoughts Excellent review and report from John here. You always do great work, props!

Update: 60fps mode just got patched in to the Series S version a few days ago! Not sure of resolution and Sega claimed it was a bug that caused the lack of access to the performance mode on Series S (according to the patch notes anyways).

It’s fascinating how opinions vary on this game, from “this is Sonic’s return to form” to “this game is an unfinished mess”.

i love how john always goes above and beyond for sonic reviews

What Sonic Team does after Frontiers is in some ways more important than the Frontiers itself. Half of the work of making something good is actually recognizing that you've got something good on your hands. They must iterate from now on. Seize the good, polish it up and throw away the rest.

It’s pretty baffling that for all the crazy cyber-glitchy visuals going on in the game (and the fact that it’s such a core element in the story), the devs didn’t implement some kinda digital pop-in effect for assets. Would’ve easily made it look better, as obvious as the solution is

Alex's optimized settings section was incredible. Remember kids, Get High!

the gameplay loop really rewards exploration in a satisfying way, which unfortunately is what draws even further attention to the pop-in,when you're searching for the next chunk of platform challenges.

I gotta say, this game exceeded my expectations. This style of gameplay was meant for sonic, if they keep building upon the foundation laid for frontiers I am confident Sonic will once again rise to prominence.

Johns videos are always absurdly high in quality, informative and entertaining. Love it

Absolutely loved your review John! I always prefer your videos because you tend to focus on the history of games and their lineage to be able to point out what makes these games good - controls, platforming, music, speed, stage design etc. And you're the only one who always focuses on the Music aspect of games. Sonic Frontier's Soundtrack is a real banger from the Kronos Island theme's calm sombre tone to the boss battle's heavy metal soundtrack! I have never been more excited for Sonic's future. They seem to have finally cracked it. A blueprint for future Sonic games. I just hope it doesn't take another 5 years for the next game (it probably won't tho). From the great Sonic Movies to this flawed but good (great compared to previous sonic titles) game, we're officially in the Sonic Renaissance! Being a Sonic fan is just a rollercoaster of emotions

Award for best cameo in a DF video goes to DF's own, Alex Battaglia! Get High!

27:03 Alex's optimized settings section sure was hilarious.

Dude this is the best sonic frontiers review I've seen yet! I'm really excited to play this game when I have the money for it and your review got me so pumped for it! Also thank you so much for giving us a taste of the soundtrack. I was wondering what kind of vibes it would have and the answer is all of them!😆

Those last two music tracks you played are absolutely amazing. I'm a huge fan of that genre of that music.

I might have to play this just for the soundtrack alone. What was highlighted in this video is incredible.

What a fantastic review! I can't thank you enough John for these "in depth" tests. Another masterclass

So happy that music examples were included here: I'd heard so much about the music and here I got a perfect taste.

18:30 "I mean, how many people have a Series X and a One X, and have them both hooked up?" lmao that's exactly me. recently got a Series S and I love it, but I still use the One X for X-enhanced games that don't have FPS boost on current gen systems. or games like Halo MCC that are a solid 4K60 on One X, and a lower resolution on Series S. anyways I'm sad that none of my consoles will run this at 60. what a strange choice to leave Series S stuck at 30

Fantastic review. Hats off to everybody involved. I really love the game so far and I'm happy that this is met with relatively positive reactions.

Thanks for talking a bit about the PC version. I'll be keeping my eyes on the mods and wait to pick this up. The Alex cameo was excellent 😄

Great work as always John! I also REALLY enjoyed Alex's Optimized Settings at 27:07

I was really noticing the Bowser's Fury comparisons as I played it, too! Really interesting way to incorporate classic platforming into an open area, and I like how both pull it off (BF is more polished maybe but its also basically a short tech demo and not a full 25 hour game)

Can't wait to see if fans mod in a solution for the pop-in on PC. It's definitely something that would affect me.

Appreciate you highlighting the OST .. may be an all time great for the franchise (at least in the 3D space).

An absolutely great review for a game that many other outlets might have written off. I appreciate how the development team took a chance with this title, and hope it acts as a solid foundation for future Sonic games.

Loved this review, thx John, Alex and all DF staff!

“60fps? My eyes can’t see more than that” I spat out my pizza 😂

I actually got a big boost in performance after setting shadows to low, while the visual difference is very minor. Might be due to my ageing CPU (7700K)

One of your best vids on a new title in a while, John!

I always look forward to these videos whenever a new Sonic game releases! They've become a nice tradition for me ever since Sonic Forces, which happened to be my first Sonic game in several years.

Alex's bit is hilarious with the music, airhorns and jokes! Ofcourse the whole review is beyond excellent as always!

Thank you I’ve been waiting for this video to know on which console I should buy it. I hope the pop-in can be fixed with a patch 🤞

Great review, considering the amount of work invested in testing all the versions. Thx DF

Alex's optimized settings section was way too funny I was NOT ready.

Nice, thank you for the review. I'm getting the PC version since modding these recent sonic games can pretty much change the way you play the game

I'm happy to see yet another one who was originally skeptical enjoying the game

I'm surprised the amped up motion blur exposure while boosting wasn't a sour point for you. The motion blur looks great, but as soon as you hit that boost button the slightest movement makes the area in front of you near indecipherable. Even as a huge fan of motion blur I had to turn it off. I don't expect they'll fix it but I'm playing on PC and am really hoping for a mod lol.

Excellent video, thanks! One question, do you recommend turning off motion blur in 60fps mode? I have read on several sites that it is the most recommended. Cheers!

Always a pleasure to listen John talking about a Sonic game.

If they take the lessons from this game and actually give the sequel a budget and the time to reach it's full potential it's going to be something special.

Thank you so much for this, John! It feels so good to be excited about a Sonic game and that feeling be shared!

This video finally sold me on getting this game. I especially love the focus on the soundtrack at the end. Way to highlight the entire package. At first the pre release shit talking and post release pop in talk had me hesitant, but it seems to have a cool vibe and your enthusiasm kinda got me hyped up. The pop in is still ridiculous but whatever game looks cool. Thanks for the hard work!

"60fps I can't see anymore than that" cracked me up omg. 🤣

Alex's optimized settings were lit AF!

Love the review, John. The humorous Alex bit was a great add as well. Looking forward to the next big review!

That Alex intervention was gold. Many good quotes in there, quite unexpected hahaha.

John nailed this one and Alex’s cameo was spot on 👌👏 Shame John didn’t say more about the Haptics on PS5 as I expect it could be really decent.

This is the first Sonic I’ve played since Sonic adventure 2 and I’m really loving it. I’m absolutely shocked at how much I enjoy this game especially after the skillup review had me ready to skip it.

I'm not normally that fussed on Sonic games but this one has piqued my interest. I like the idea of the skilled traversal around bigger levels. Might pick this one up down the road when it's a bit cheaper.

This review has got me interested in the game. Gonna get it.

It runs great on Steam Deck...but at 30FPS, also some settings on High gets very glitchy So you want to set it to Low Settings and turn back On all the features it disables when you set it to low. Also, restarting the game after changing the graphical options fix all the glitchs

What an incredible video! Great work once again DF

I really like the inclusion of the Music tracks being examined. Music never gets the praise it deserves.

Soundtrack sounds absolutely God tier. Might purchase just based off that.

I've been 5 minutes in and you seem relatively positive in exposition! This is a big win for Sonic Team!

27:45 haha nice touch with the horn effect.

I truly wish there was more music during general traversal of the world. All the music that's in is so good i wanted more smh. Thanks for your great work again!

That heavy pop-in is infuriating. It even happens on current-gen consoles with super-fast SSD's, and they shouldn't have any kinds of bottlenecks with streaming assets.

Really enjoying this game. Feels like an evolution of Sonic Adventure 1 and 2

Haha, that Alex cameo. Lovely DF review! Might get the game, the switch to open zone doesn't bother me too much at all. :)

Any time DF starts focusing on "inconsistent frame pacing", I stop watching the frame time graph and start focusing only on the the game play footage to see if I can see it. Unfortunately, like most times this comes up, I just can't see it myself, and to be honest, I'm glad. As long as I'm not getting hard micro stutters or shader cache compilation, I really don't notice it. Obviously playing at 60 fps vs 30 is night and day, but for me, playing at 30 fps @ 33 ms vs 30 fps with incorrect frame pacing is a minor difference at best.

John, your videos are masterclass quality for this type of content. Tell Rich you need a raise. DF wouldn't be the same without you. Keep up the great content.

DF your coverage never disappoints thank you

Thanks for being the first to make this video! Seems like I'll just go with the standard Xbox One version since all versions seems to have frame drops anyways..

That was an incredible combination of a review and technical analysis. I'm a big Sonic The Hedgehog fan so I really appreciate the effort that was clearly put into this video. I was waiting on your upload before purchasing the game. I own all current gen consoles other than the Switch. You didn't mention if the PS5 version has any Dual Sense haptics. I might consider a console purchase for the VRR as my PC and TV setup are not compatible for VRR.

This video single-handedly made me change my mind about Sonic Frontiers and I will buy it when I get the chance. Absolutely stellar tech review.

This is the first Sonic game that has actually grabbed me. I’ve been playing it on my Steam Deck and I’ve really been enjoying it. Needs some patches to fix some bugs and performance, but otherwise it’s great. I’m looking forward to playing it on my home PC when I am able.

What happens to Sonic at 21:12 when he seems to hit a boulder? Does his whole model rotate immediately from the hit, and then slowly rotate back even though it’s on level ground for quite a while??

Metal Gear Rising, the Persona series, are clear examples how the music can carry the overall gaming enjoyment. Also the Mitzuguchi games like Tetris Effect and Rez. It could be the first Sonic game since Heroes that I want to try soon.

Pretty sure the 60fps mode on Series S not being here is gonna be fix pretty soon like for most Series S games. It sucks they didn't put it in from the get go though.

i feel like the unfinished aspect of this is a positive, as i feel like this is just a playground for us to play and explore on, test sonic's gameplay in an open zone, so hopefully in the future will improve on this.

The new console badges for the framerate measurements look great. Happy to see that even DF is investing more in its cross gen development.

Thanks for touching on the soundtrack. I dig the hardcore boss battle tracks!

I was waiting for this video to see how they pulled it off. Besides the pop in, the game is gorgeous. I've really been enjoying it a lot. I would never play it on the Switch though lol.

@John I’m surprised at your review on this one. Your opinions generally mirror my own in just about every way (a large part of the reason I really trust your recommendations), but we differ on this one. I thought the cyberspace sections were considerably more appealing than the other open zone areas, but you evidently feel the opposite.

Alex's optimized settings outro was perfect.

So as far as the pop-in is concerned, is this a limitation of the engine handling models or is it something that Sonic Team could address in the future (At least on the current gen systems)?

Haven't watched the video yet, but im glad they covered this game and I've been using CheatEngine to unlock 120 fps and widescreen. IF they would just fix those limitations and allow less pop in for stronger PCs it would be a beautiful product. It already is a beautiful game.

Excellent review John.... I'll leave the Switch version and get the Ps5 version . Do you think Sega could alleviate some of the pop up issues with a patch maybe ?👍👍

I love that the Pope, to Alex (or Audi?), is for some reason Geoff Keighley wearing a Dorito pope hat. (27:35)

Thank you Alex. With your optimized settings my PC is higher than ever before

I'm trying to watch a DF analysis of Sonic Frontiers, but the music is making me dance! What gives?!

The optimized settings were the bomb!

Got it in series x, loving it. Only issue is the gamma or brightness seems to be super high to the point you get like blooming or gradations issues on the sky and characters in brighter spots in cutscenes. Wish there were a few more graphics settings and a calibrator

Please could you cover Sackboy again? There was a patch as I've read that the shader compilation issue has been resolved.

UPDATE ON THE SERIES S! We got a patch for the game to run at 60fps. It's still not perfect but there's a noticeable difference. This made me really happy since I got the game on sale and was a little bummed out about the series S only being 30fps when it can run games like Forza 5 no problem. Again it's not perfect but better than before for sure.

a lot of the level design in cyberspace are shortened or weirdly edited versions of old levels from sonic adventure 2, sonic unleashed and sonic generations

Great in depth review! From the trailers I wasnt sure if i would like the game, but after playing it on ps5 , it seems to work and I have been having fun! Love the speed levels you can reach in the open levels.

Awesome video thanks a lot for this !!

I'm happy Frontiers turned out to be a "good 7/10". Already bought the Xbox version with a sweet Steelbook, can't wait to play!

Fantastic review as always, John. I am absolutely loving Sonic Frontiers on PC. Not a huge Sonic fan in general, but I haven't enjoyed a Sonic Game this much since the original Sonic Adventure on Dreamcast, which was state of the art and incredibly impressive at the time it came out. Pop-in hasn't been a distraction in my experience of the first two worlds so far, fortunately. I highly recommend this game to anyone who enjoys platformers and a bit of adventure. There are still the occasional trademark Sonic janky moments and camera issues, but it seems to be greatly improved compared to recent Sonic games. Replaying the last 30 seconds or so and knowing how to approach the section quickly resolves any death caused by jankyness or camera, and the game is very forgiving. Like John said, most of the game isn't too challenging (so far, except maybe a few bosses) and the greatest challenge comes in trying to master each level, which is a joy. PS: Alex's optimized settings section was absolutely hilarious 😂 Well done sir, you made my day.

So the 60 fps mode on next gen doesn’t reduce any visuals effects like less grass or less reflections right? It’s all the same but just at lower dynamic resolution?

I think the music pushed me off the fence into buying this game. Thanks so much for showcasing it, and for the thorough review.

Playing this on PS5 and loving it so far.

Ok,the Soundtrack is crazy good

That PC setting section was hilarious !!!

The only thing that I can't just ignore with this game it's that popping it's so intrusive

It is just me or does anyone else also feel that cyberspace levels has more visual appeal than the island stages even tho with prev gen 3d enviroment assets?