10 Video Games Better Than The Sum Of Their Parts

10. Sonic Frontiers

The above photo is one of the first images SEGA released of Sonic Frontiers. As a statement of intent it works well, showcasing the large, open areas that Sonic would be exploring in his largest ever game.

What the photo doesn't show, however, is the incredible amount of jank the blue hedgehog would come across in almost every step of his journey.

Even after two years of updates, Frontiers still feels like a working prototype for an open-world Sonic game rather than an actual finished product. Graphics pop in with a frequency that would shame the N64, Sonic's movement is somehow too sticky and too loose, and the Cyberspace levels are a haphazard jumble of assets from previous games that feel like they were put together by a hungover AI.

Yet, when you're just exploring the world, all those problems melt away. Zooming around Sonic Frontiers' open areas gives the best impression yet of what it would be like to actually be Sonic, and there's a simple, pure joy in just bombing across the map at ludicrous speeds. It's perfect podcast gaming, something you can just switch on and enjoy the vibes to while your brain learns about the agricultural yield of 1970s Kentucky.

As a game, Frontiers is a buggy, frustrating mess. But as an experience, it's utterly compelling.