To be clear, Sonic is still voiced by Roger Craig Smith and has been in many adaptations of the character for the past ten years or so. It’s worth mentioning that, recently, Roger Craig Smith announced he was stepping down from his Sonic role last year, but fan demand saw him walk this back. In other words, fans definitely want to keep him around as the Blue Blur, but even knowing this, Sonic in Sonic Frontiers may sound a little off.

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Sonic Frontiers: Roger Craig Smith

For newcomers, they may recognize Roger Craig Smith’s voice from several other iconic roles: Ezio Auditore in Assassin’s Creed, Mirage in Apex Legends, Chris Redfield in the Resident Evil series (from 2009-2017), and Captain America in a few Marvel adaptations. For veterans, this may come from some voice confusion related to the Sonic Hedgehog movie or the more detailed dialogue in Sonic Frontiers than perhaps some past games, but the biggest shake-up may be the writing itself. While some have praised it, it’s worth mentioning that it sounds like a character who is not Sonic.

For anyone who has played Apex Legends, the dialogue of Sonic in Frontiers sounds nearly identical to the kind of content Mirage would deliver. That’s not to say Sonic can’t be funny, glib, and sometimes a little airheaded, but the dialogue paired with the delivery makes Sonic sound like Apex Legends’ Mirage. Playing characters like Ezio, Chris, Captain America, and so on show the range of Smith, but it’s very hard to distinguish the two characters from each other here in terms of dialogue and delivery. Obviously, the same voice actor for both would be able to draw comparisons, but the thing is that most of Sonic’s dialogue sounds exactly like it comes from Apex Legends. It’s not similar; it’s basically identical.

It’s interesting, if nothing else, and mixing Mirage and Sonic was probably not on anyone’s bingo card for Sonic Frontiers. Roger Craig Smith’s role in the industry is no less iconic, of course, and he’ll continue to do great things in the industry well after Sonic Frontiers. For as long as he chooses to be around, as it were, and the future of the Blue Blur is perhaps brighter than ever.

Sonic Frontiers is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.

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