Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

This article comes from the official account of Wechat: ID:chuappgame, by Yang Zongshuo

I see change, and I see more problems, but Sonic can change, maybe it's good.

Since Sonic: unknown Border (Sonic Frontiers) first appeared in the eyes of players, we have a common question: what kind of game is this?

The type of "Sonic: unknown Border" is not very clear, and the production team itself said, "this game is different from the existing type."

Before the release, what was certain was that it was of course a Sonic series, but it looked less like the traditional Sonic, but more like an open world game with certain action elements. Later, the production team came out and said, ours is called "Open-Zone", which is not a common game classification word. It is very difficult for you to read valid information from such a few things. The only thing you can know is that it is different from traditional open world games.

There are some simple tasks on the map. I don't know if this vague game classification is some kind of propaganda strategy, but at least in my case, it worked. I have been away from "Sonic" for a long time, but now I have been saying the word "unknown border" for five or six months.

The game was officially released yesterday (November 8), and after playing Sonic: unknown Border in its entirety, my questions about the type of game have been answered for the time being. But on the other hand, whether the form of the game is good or not, whether the Sonic series will continue to be like this in the future, and whether it will be successful-- these are all new questions.

Great change the last time I had huge, uncertain expectations for a game was when the Legend of Pokemon: al Zeus arrived. The situation of "Sonic: the unknown Border" is not much different from that of "the Legend of Pokemon: al Zeus" to "Pokemon". They are all transforming in difficulties, breaking the existing framework and leading to a more open world.

As a result, Sonic: the unknown Border didn't work very well. I saw changes and more problems.

Sonic is a little small. First of all, we have to make it clear whether Sonic: unknown Frontier is an open world game.

In the game, the whole map is divided into five islands and unlocked according to the plot. At first you are on Cronos Island, and after playing Chapter 1 plot Boss, you will go to Ares Island for Chapter 2 adventures, followed by Chapter 3 Caos Island. Of course, you can go back to your previous island to explore at any time, but you need to read the bar to switch, and it's not a seamless big map.

Strictly speaking, this kind of game is really not an open world, especially when you can't go to the later area to take risks in the early game. Compared with other open world games, the process of "Sonic: unknown Border" is more linear, and what you need to do on several islands is basically the same-Sonic's friends are trapped in cyberspace? Then run around on the map and collect "memory props" and "portal gears". Then, use gears to open the "transmission gate" scattered around the country, collect "jadeite key", save enough to open a "chaotic jadeite". Open enough 6 chaos jade is about to hit the guard Boss, after the fight to enter the next island, repeat all the above.

The slip line will guide you... It makes me feel trapped. My freshness only lasted until the end of the story of the first island, and on the second or third island behind, I repeated the previous operation over and over again. The fourth island, the island of Leia, has changed a little, but I am still doing what I have done, as if caught in a cycle.

Open, but how to have fun in exploration? We've seen too many open world games, and although Sonic: the unknown Border is not technically in this category, it faces a similar question-how can I have fun in exploration?

My colleague Zhu Siqi and I talked about similar issues when we talked about the Elden Ring. I felt that any similar game needed a core driving force, such as the map interaction of the Legend of Zelda: the breath of the Wilderness, the equipment and combat system of the Elden Ring, and you needed a drive to explore, which allowed you to spend dozens of hours on a vast map. These are the core of the fun of games in the open world.

There is no motivation to explore in "Sonic: unknown Border", I do not seem to find such a thing.

"Sonic: the unknown Border" fills the map with a large number of agencies and gold rings, and the process of your exploration is basically to interact with the agencies, go through some mini puzzles, and get memory props. The puzzle itself is not complicated, in line with the usual tone of the "Sonic" series-running with all-out running is 80% complete, and the rest is just a few jumps and sprints.

A large number of similar simple puzzles are filled with maps, with accelerators and springs on the ground and sliding cables in the air. Sometimes I even ask myself, why is there a slide rope here? Although it can be explained grudgingly from the world view (left over from ancient civilization), or simply the way this series is played, they are still somewhat abrupt. The purpose of these small map mechanisms is to allow players to collect a certain amount of props to promote the follow-up plot.

Just to get the keys.

Occasionally there will be Mini Game checkpoints as the selling point of the series is the fast-running Sonic, this work does not add functions such as fast transmission or flying. In addition to switching between islands, running, ropeways, springs, this is basically how you move every day. The problem with them is that you don't know where these slides lead, and if the destination is where you can run, when you get to the third island, Caos, you often face the situation where the destination is a floating outlying island. Without flight or even route guidance, you need to observe and make trial and error before you can get to the mission site. For the longest time, it took me an hour to get to the opposite side of the cliff.

How do I get there? After the baptism of the first two islands, I lost most of my enthusiasm for exploration on the third island, when my game lasted about 10 to 15 hours.

I can see the creative efforts of the Sonic group and the impact of the Legend of Zelda: the breath of the wilderness on them (or the industry as a whole), but hard work and determination can only be footnotes to success.

Unexpected action games I never thought Sonic: the unknown Border was a partial action game-in the current situation, it's not easy for me to classify it directly, but there are a lot of action elements.

In Sonic: the unknown Border, Sonic can not only run and jump, but also use a variety of skills to fight. You will face several kinds of monsters, several kinds of medium-sized Boss enemies, and the big Boss of each island. There are not many kinds of small enemies, and they have a small amount of blood, and they are usually arranged to act as targets in small puzzles. The design of the medium-sized enemy Boss is a bit new. Each island has a different variety of Boss and needs to be defeated by different mechanisms.

My favorite is called "SQUID", which translates as squid or squid. The Boss pulls a ribbon behind it, a bit like the Rainbow track in Mario Racing, on which Sonic runs, while dodging bullets fired by the Boss and chasing it onto its body to attack.

Sonic has to keep running on the ribbon. The big Boss-- is part of the plot. I like it. I don't want to say it here. I can play by myself if I'm interested.

Overall, Sonic: the unknown Border is not a strict, hard-core action game. On the contrary, it is so simple that it even has a talent that can use it automatically. In combat, I can make gorgeous moves almost by pressing the square button (PS5 version)-some friends may not like this simplified operation, as long as I don't need the automatic talent.

The combat operation is very small and the problem of the combat system is similar to that of the whole game-repetition. All you have to do is repeat the keystroke, hit some enemy repeatedly, repeat the same mechanism to defeat Boss, and in Sonic: unknown Frontier, everything seems repetitive. This is also my most dissatisfied part.

Traditional Sonic: the inheritance gate of the racing level is independent of the copy area of the large map, which you can understand to some extent as "temple", "dungeon", or something like that. Inside each portal is a traditional Sonic level, available in both 2D and 3D. If you have played Sonic: power, you can see that they look almost the same. But the traditional level in Sonic: unknown Border is not as complex as Sonic: power as a whole. After all, this traditional level is not the main course, just a foil for a change of mood.

The transmission gate is a series of traditional games.

There are 2D and 3D, and there are two kinds of switching back and forth in the portal level, each with a fixed challenge, including collecting five fixed red coins, clearing customs within a certain period of time, collecting a certain number of gold rings and customs clearance, and giving an extra emerald key for each item reached. In addition, the level design allows players to pass through different paths, so that these portal gates have a certain degree of repetitive play. Generally speaking, I will achieve all the challenge goals in 10 to 20 minutes. They are not very difficult, and they are not likely to get stuck because they fail.

These levels are good as a whole, and the art style is basically a tribute to the old "Sonic" series. When you achieve all the challenges through some efforts, you will also have a corresponding sense of achievement-for me, these levels bring the highest sense of achievement in the "Sonic: unknown Frontier" experience.

Worthy of S evaluation! It may be a good sign that "Sonic: unknown Border" remains at a good level in terms of overall sales. The loading speed of the game is fast, the number of frames is stable at 60 frames (PS5 version, frame number priority mode), the music and pictures are good, and the atmosphere is also OK.

The effect of the water body is very good, but there is not much water in the game that everything on the first island looks fresh and vibrant-except for phonetics, the Chinese translation is based on Japanese deskbooks, and if you choose English voice, you will find that what the characters say is basically not close to the subtitles. My colleagues saw that I got through to the island, and they spoke highly of the game in their limited perception. I had a similar idea at the time and thought "Sonic: the unknown Border" was cool, but when I played it for a long time, the problems with the game gradually exposed.

Good news, fishing. I don't think "Sonic: unknown Border" is a failed attempt, at least it attracts me more than "Sonic: power". Will this be the future direction of the "Sonic" series? I'm not sure. It seems to be a good direction for the time being, and all these problems-including repetition, combat systems, as well as UI and dubbing-can be solved.

It's a good sign to try boldly.

(the game experience code is provided by Sega, the publisher. )

Advantages

+ the picture and frame number are satisfactory.

+ excellent Boss war performance

+ you can go fishing

Shortcoming

The control of − is not fine.

− repetition is too high

− pathfinding mechanism is weak

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