Summary
Sonic Dream Teaminvites players to run, fly, and climb in a fantastical, brightly colored world with Sonic and his friends. After the risky and heart-rending adventure on the Starfall Islands inSonic Frontiers,Sonic Dream Teamis a simple game that many fans are likely to have fun exploring rather than dealing with any deeper threats.
WhileDream TeamandFrontierstake similar yet different design conventions to heart, players are likely to compare both titles consideringhowSonic Frontiers' post-launch contentwrapped up only two months ago, and yet there’s another newSonicgame for fans to enjoy so soon. Interestingly, one of the most jarring differences between both games is how they handle their playable characters. WhereSonic Frontierslacks in numbers compared toDream Team’s roster,Dream Teamseems to fall behind in terms of variety with its extended cast.
Sonic Dream Team and Sonic Frontiers' Playable Characters Make Up For What the Other Lacks
TheSonic the Hedgehogseries is starting to finally break out of a phase of only allowing a majority of the mainline games to have Sonic himself be playable.Sonic Frontiers, along withSonic Origins’PlusDLC, was the first to finally mark multiple playable characters as a standard rather than a rare present for fans. The shift has been desired for some time, asSonicgames have been built around multiple playable characters for decades.
Sonic Frontiers Establishes Important Character Traits, Sonic Dream Team Takes Them Away
InFrontiers, each character had their own playstyles that elevated the concept that Sonic’s friends were just the same as the hedgehog but with extra abilities.Amy Rose’s triple jumpmade her an expert at reaching high places, Tails' flight was improved with an in-air boost and his Cyclone plane only extends this ability even further, and Knuckles more or less functions the same as he did inSonic Adventure 2.
For the blue hedgehog himself, as every playable character was given his iconic Spin Dash, his signature move was changed to the light-speed dash. With howSonic Frontiersseems to go out of its way to establish a unique playstyle for every character,Sonic Dream Team’s approach to the playable castis quite far behind the times. Instead of trying its best to keepFrontiers' established playstyles, it instead chooses to reflect onSonic Adventure 2and make three sets of two characters play identical to one another.
The way thatSonic Dream Teamhas such a huge extended playable cast is undermined by these decisions to have them play so similarly, especially afterSonic Frontiersmade established important changes like Tails being unable to homing attack as the only one without one in-game. On the other hand, there’s an argument to be had that the controls had to be simplified forthe Apple Arcade titleas they were made to be played on phones and iPads.Sonic Dream Teamalso lets players swap between characters almost at any point, whereas inSonic Frontiers' Final Horizon DLC swapping was rather cumbersome.
It makes one question if the quantity of playable characters is better than the quality of them. Having so many playable characters is great, but it comes at the loss of removing what makes the character in question so unique. For example, Cream doesn’t use her Chao friend Cheese to attack inDream Team, and Amy’s hammer is reduced to being an accessory rather than something actually useful. Regardless,bothSonic FrontiersandSonic Dream Teamare fun, fast-paced adventures made for everySonicfan, and sometimes that’s enough to warrant a fan-favorite character being included.
