10 Video Games That Stupidly Break Their Most Iconic Features
1. Ring Capacity Encourages You Not To Go Fast - Sonic Frontiers
Gotta go fast. Gotta go FAST! That is not some minor catchphrase used by the main character; it is the essence of the entire franchise. Still, Sonic Frontiers said, why not make it harder to go fast the more rings you collect? What?!
While the game was better than many predicted, a glaring design choice fundamentally pulls the rug out from under Sonic's feet; the ring capacity system.
In the game, you get an additional speed boost from holding the max number of rings. Okay, that sounds good, but what happens if you upgrade your ring capacity, which can go from 400 to 999? The problem is that the player must have full rings to get that boost, meaning the more rings you have, the harder it is to go faster. Why even bother upgrading the ring capacity at all if having a lower number rings gets you the boost quicker?
What makes all this worse is that you can pick between boosting your ring capacity or your maximum speed when upgrading. Your choice becomes "do you want more speed", or "the same speed, less often"!