The open-world Sonic game released last week has a user rating of 8.5 (open in new tab) on Metacritic, while GOTY frontrunner Eldenring is sitting at 6.9 (open in new tab). This means that "Sonic Frontier" is better than "Eldenring".

This is not the only evidence that the blue blur is simply better than the gray-haired old wretches of the "land of the in-between," as Steam user reviews, a source that PC gamers might consider more reliable than Metacritic's user reviews, are at this writing As of this writing, the user review average for Sonic Frontiers (open in new tab) is rated "overwhelmingly positive"; the average for Elden Ring (open in new tab) is only "Very Positive." Sonic Frontiers, another winner. Better game! A Better Game

Indeed, Elden Ring has 413,604 Steam reviews, while Sonic Frontiers currently has only about 6,000, but assuming the total number of PC gamers is about 1.75 billion (opens in new tab), this According to Survey Monkey's calculator (opens in new tab), a sample size of 385 would be sufficient to achieve a 95% confidence level in the survey results. Hence, blue is good.

Comparing what a few thousand Sonic fans think about a new Sonic game with what a few hundred thousand gamers think about the Elden ring is not really helpful at all, but responsible poll methodology does not help sow the seeds of discord in the comments section.

If I were in a responsible position, I might suggest that taking the aggregate scores of all kinds of reviews too seriously can lead those seeking good entertainment astray. For example, the movie "Posessor" has a 59% user review average on Rotten Tomatoes (open in new tab), but should still be seen. (Don't you want to see what David Cronenberg's son is doing in the family business?)

But if the low score tally shouldn't keep us away from the media, the high score tally certainly shouldn't keep us away either. Perhaps we should pay attention. I played a bit of "Sonic Frontier" today. It is ironic that 60 fps is the upper limit for a game that sells speed, and the Windows mouse cursor kept appearing in the middle of the screen. Some of Sonic Frontier's supporters may be poking at a beehive when it comes to painting it blue and being loyal to your friends, but I don't think the entire Sonic fan base is falsely claiming this game to be fun.

Right now, Metacritic's professional critics tally is 78, a little below the user's 8.5, and while our hands-on preview in September was less than stellar, Sonic Frontiers' review is still a work in progress.

Interestingly, the seemingly so-so PC port scores higher than the console versions. The PS5 versions (open in new tab), for example, score 72 and 8.4. Perhaps the most forgiving Sonic fans also have the best taste in platforms.