Sonic The Hedgehog At The Game Awards

It’s Sonic the hedgehog season! There’s a lot going on with the franchise right now, and the Game Awards, we got some teasers for two of the things that are coming soon! So, let’s have a look at them, and see what I thought.

Sonic The Hedgehog 2

So, this is looking set to be a lot of fun. You can tell straight away that the humour of the first film is not only intact but also consistent tonally with the first film. Given that I enjoyed the light-hearted nature of said release, that’s a definite plus. At the same time, we do get to see Sonic’s main arc set out for us: he was a hero when he defeated Eggman, and he wants to live up to that moving forward. But, as he’s told, he’s still just a kid. The moment when his power is needed comes quickly though!

When it comes to Eggman, I’m glad to see Jim Carrey is still bringing that same energy here. The bald head and big moustache put him more in line with the standard Eggman look, of course, but it’s the way Carrey channels his 90s performances that gives this Eggman charm for me. It is wonderful to see him reunite with Stone too; they have great chemistry on screen.

The most important thing here though is that it looks like the introduction of some other characters from Sonic’s world means we’ll get a good amount of focus on them. I mean, the whole second half of the trailer is dedicated to them.

Tails looks absolutely adorable and letting Colleen O’Shaughnessey continue to voice him was a great choice. She is so synonymous with the character now that any other voice would have seemed wrong. It looks like we’re going to see some fun Tornado scenes too, which is welcome because, again, the plane is a big part of Tails as a character now.

That’s not the only thing to pop in there that’s a throwback to the games either. Okay, so Sonic’s jump off the building was more Ghost in the Shel than Blue Blur, but the chilli dog was a classic reference. The temple we see briefly is clearly a nod to Sonic Adventure, and snow scenes were really reminiscent of the Ice Cap Zone from Sonic 3.

By far though, the most important part of the trailer was the introduction of Knuckles the Echidna. First up, he looks great in this incarnation. The texturing on his fur is awesome, and he has a good amount of size and bulk to make it clear he’s going to be tough for Sonic to take on. That he makes such short work of Sonic here is a great throwback too. In Sonic 3, we first meet Knuckles when he literally knocked Sonic out of his Super Sonic form. It’s as strong an introduction as you could hope for. This is similar in that he takes the strongest form we’ve seen Sonic in in this universe so far – spin dashing and electrified – and simply blocks and smashes him. Idris Elba lends a fair degree of menace to him too in what we see here, and that is so needed for this scene. Thrown in that the emerald (I’m assuming Master Emerald?) looks great too and it looks like we’re getting a badass guardian of Angel Island.

So, all in all, I thought this looks awesome! We’re clearly going to get the fun tone of the first movie but with a threatening new foe, and more on-brand Eggman, and more game references. I’m excited! With the release coming shortly after my birthday too, I can look forward to that even more!

Sonic Frontiers

Moving on, we got an announcement trailer for Sonic Frontiers. The opening moments are similar to what we’d already seen and are no doubt from a cut scene. Really, they’re what you’d expect from a modern Sonic game. Sonic is fast, there’s some epic music, and there’s an explosion.

The thing that really stood out though is what we got next. Sonic turns and looks out at the world he’s in and seems kinda taken aback by it all. It’s not hard to see why. A great deal of time is given over to the scenery here, and the vastness of it all. This clearly is going to be an open world game, and it looks like we’re getting some beautiful scenery to run through. I have a feeling that the shot at 00:40 might be gameplay footage, either testing the camera or getting a look around in the way you could in Assassin’s Creed.

It’s worth noting the ambience too. We get a good mix of running waterfalls and sunny fields, night-time scenes with kicked up dust, and some excellent moving grass. If this translates this well in the actual gameplay, it’s going to be the best-looking Sonic game to date. Gotta love that brief giant robot moment too!

Now, some things you may have missed. First up, if you have subtitles on, the female voice that calls to Sonic at the start and end of the trailer is identified as Amy Rose. So, we are going to get to see more of Sonic’s friends in there somewhere. I’m still hoping they’ll be playable, but we shall see.

Equally as interesting though is the news that was confirmed later: Ian Flynn, long time head writer for the Sonic comics (in both Archie and IDW), is on the writing team for the game! I’ve raved about how well he captures the characters in the comics, in particular how he balances the tone with them in terms of making them interesting for adults but also suitable for kids, so this has gotten me even more hyped for the eventual release.

It says the game will be out in the holidays in 2022. I’m guessing that means Christmas next year. I’m cool with that if it means we get a polished title.

And that was the news we got to see. I don’t hide that I’m a big fan of the franchise, nor do I deny getting easily hyped. However, these two trailers are excellent, even without that natural hype that I have for it all. The future is bright for Sonic, and I couldn’t be happier. But what about yourselves? What did you make of trailers, and do you expect the fil mand game to be good? Let me know in the comments below!