Another Sonic Frontiers gameplay trailer has just been released, this one highlighting the new combat and enemy types players will encounter in SEGA’s latest high-speed platforming adventure. Sonic Team first announced Sonic Frontiers during the Game Awards 2021 livestream in December after months of rumor and speculation, and players have been getting a steady drip of new information surrounding the upcoming game since. Once planned to launch in time for Sonic’s 30th anniversary last year, Sonic Frontiers is rumored to now be coming out in November - and SEGA is releasing an increased stream of trailers and gameplay reveals for the entirety of June.
The first of these new Sonic Frontiers gameplay trailers was put out a few days ago and highlighted the game's open-world transversal gameplay. Viewers saw the Blue Blur run, jump, boost, and rail grind through a beautifully rendered overworld that many fans have actively compared to the ones found in contemporary titles like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Kirby and the Forgotten Land. However, many felt this new Sonic Frontiers trailer was bland and empty due to the lack of enemies and NPCs, and some have even started petitioning SEGA to delay the game due to how unfinished the whole title looks at the moment.
Yesterday, IGN posted another Sonic Frontiers trailer to its official YouTube account as part of its month-long “IGN First” promotion, one that is thankfully more action-packed than the previous footage. This trailer instead focuses on the combat options players will be able to utilize in Sonic Frontiers, as Sonic is seen battling an assortment of robotic enemies with a variety of attacks both familiar and new. He is first shown fighting a pair of machines that look like masses of spheres floating together, using a combination of Sonic's classic Homing Attacks and flurries of rapid punches, kicks, and even charged whirlwind attacks to break apart the outer orbs and shatter the cores within. Then comes a variety of armored enemy that can throw their outer shields at Sonic like a boomerang. To combat this foe, Sonic runs around it in a circle, seemingly drawing a line on the ground to conjure a tornado that strips the robot of its circular armor. Once exposed, Sonic attacks at its vulnerable center with some kind of energy waves from his melee strikes. Finally, the Blue Blur faces off against a towering boss by running up its legs and unleashing a flurry of attacks at the weak spot at the top - causing each of its three sections to break apart.
While this new Sonic Frontiers combat footage still contains plenty of classic Sonic staples like the Homing Attack and Sonic losing his life-sustaining Rings after being hit, many of his attacks and maneuvers feel new to the series. This lines up with previous reports that Sonic Frontiers will feature new, high-energy combat styles, as well as Sonic Team producer Takashi Iizuka’s desire to move the long-running Sonic The Hedgehog series in new and hopefully exciting directions with this latest installment.
Fans might still be uneasy about Sonic Frontiers in the wake of its divisive new gameplay trailers, but there is little denying that the game is trying something new with the time-tested formula of SEGA’s flagship platformer franchise - including giving Sonic a dynamic arsenal of novel attacks and maneuvers to challenge his many robotic enemies on his latest quest to stop the nefarious Dr. Eggman. IGN promises even more Sonic Frontiers reveals all month long, so fans should expect to see more of Sonic’s upcoming adventure soon.
Source: IGN/YouTube