When you say 'Sonic Boom' to a Wii U owner that wants the best for SEGA's veteran mascot, they may react in any number of ways - they could turn red and embark on an explosive rant, they may quietly cry in a corner, or potentially just stare vacantly into the distance, their gaze devoid of all hope.
That's the fault of Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric, but it's easy to unfairly lump the whole brand in with that failure. In actual fact Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal on 3DS was a reasonable game - not Game of the Year material, no, but decent. The animated show has proven to be a success too - the fact it's still running is an achievement of its own.
It's with that in mind that we've approached Sonic Boom: Fire & Ice with some optimism. Like Shattered Crystal it's been developed by Sanzaru Games, and it even had its release pushed back a little to ensure it's in good nick rather than rushed into stores. The end result is a title that we've enjoyed playing so far; it may qualify as a 'decent' Sonic game when all is said and done - there are more of them than popular opinion admits.
As a full disclosure, this writer has only heard and read multiple accounts of Shattered Crystal and played the demo, so is coming into this one with relatively fresh eyes. In any case, a typical evening is often spent playing 3D Sonic the Hedgehog 2 to relive childhood years while playing an amazing game, and the dream of a truly perfect Sonic game for this generation is near the top of a very personal gaming wishlist. Your humble previewer was booting up Fire & Ice hoping for the best, despite the Blue Blur's flaws and questionable use of white tape as a fashion statement; even Sonic of the Boom variety deserves some love.
There are two key takeaways from our early time with this one, before getting into specifics. Fans of the animated show get a series of decent cutscenes (in 2D) that nicely blend the show's visual style with the in-game engine. On an objective level that means rather modest visuals, but it's a thoughtful move as it helps with the immersive sense of 'playing' through the show. The second key point is that it seems to be more of the basic formula established in Shattered Crystal. You control not only Sonic but his buddies from the show, and with various moves and variations you'll find yourself using all of the face buttons and even a shoulder button. Oh, and the touch screen. To be fair to the game, however, it all works and feels instinctive in no time, and the hint at complexity also opens up some interesting variations in gameplay.
Starting off with Sonic in the earliest stages you grasp the basics of dashing, jumping, double jumping and using your grapple beam at key points. The X button is used for each character's special move - Sonic's is a dash attack, Tails has a laser gun (sure, why not), Amy has a hammer, steroid-abuse-Knuckles can burrow underground and Sticks has a boomerang.
The nice touch is that each is distinct in purpose and is well polished; Sonic can not only destroy certain blocks but can reach new heights, while Knuckles can circle enemies underground to bomb them. Tails can also glide a little too. Though their core moves and running speed are about the same, each team member brings something distinct to the table. It's not too long before they're all unlocked, either, and you can swap between them at will by using the touch screen.
The key new feature is the Fire & Ice mechanic - your character is always imbued with one of these elements, and you can switch between them with a shoulder button. The elemental puzzles are basic early on - evaporate some blocks with fire, or turn others into ice to create a path - but nevertheless add a welcome twist.
All of these moves and mechanics come together nicely in the first few World's level designs. Each stage has multiple collectibles and one challenge room to clear, and finding these requires a fair bit of exploration and occasionally patience. It's extremely likely that you'll miss at least one collectible first time around in each level, and early on some areas need you to go back with freshly unlocked characters. As it's rather fun to play, however, we're not against the idea of going on a treasure hunt for missed extras later on, though they've not been needed for progress.
Levels do have puzzle and exploration elements, but there's also some welcome speed at times. Some of these sections are automatic and flashy, serving as high-speed transitions between areas, but it's possible to generate your own momentum too. Dashing forwards and combining grapples with targeted spin attacks (now a staple of various Sonic games) keeps you moving at a decent clip when you want to. There's a good balance between these pacey sections and some exploration elements.
Some stages throw extra variety into the reckoning, with slightly mixed results. There are 'race' stages that are enjoyable, and also some on-rails levels where the camera switches behind Sonic for some 3D perspective (a 3D Sonic staple). There are even clever submarine levels where you bring up the radar with a tap of the touchscreen, and less impressive hoverboat challenges. Though some are more fun than others, they add a little extra flavour to the standard fare.
There are lot of positives, then, though we do have a handful of early complaints. For one thing the Boom license means that the visuals lack the colour and pop that we'd hope for in a Sonic title - Sonic Mania is in HD, yes, but shows how far modern techniques can take retro-style visuals. Visually the game also looks nice with the 3D effect, but the cutscenes are in 2D and suffer from the low resolution of the system's screen. The music is simply ok as well - it's rather generic fluff that suits kid's TV fine, but only has a middling impact when playing a game.
The overall user interface is also scruffy and excessively fiddly, which may frustrate young gamers. This is a game where you seem to have unlimited lives, yet it expects children to understand that some of the workshops and locations where you cash in collectibles for goodies will randomly pop up in the overworld of World 2, rather than in their own easily-accessed area. It's slightly obtuse design in that respect - especially as hints keep telling you to visit friends before it's even possible - and that's a pity as the core of the game itself is full of promise and positive features.
Those quibbles aside, though, we've enjoyed our time with this one so far. It doesn't feel like Sonic at his best, but that's a harsh metric to use - for what it sets out to achieve Fire & Ice is a fun, well constructed game. For fans of the TV show or Sonic enthusiasts that are willing to accept it's not likely to be an elite series entry, it's certainly worth having on the radar.
Comments (28)
Bring back the Chao Garden!
Since this was being developed by Sanzaru Games, who also said that they were going to look for criticism for Shattered Crystal. I didn't think this game would be THAT bad.
Of course, with Sonic Mania and Sonic 2017 coming next year, this kind of feels like fluff. I'm thankful they delayed it to make sure it feels like a finished product at release, but they really should've tried to get the game out there before they announced Mania.
@Pahvi Specifically, they said they're removing the exploration type levels and focusing the level design on Speed and Platforming.
Glad to see mostly positive things about the game so far! It's a day one buy for me! I really enjoyed Shattered Crystal, so I hope this game will be even better! Can't wait until September 27th!
wow lookit nlife's shiny new servers. anyways, yeah, i want a good sonic game. i haven't played one since the genesis and i want my return to it to be something that'll keep me from leaving. so far, fire & ice looks like a good place to start. it even has a sub wars level. i'll wait for the review tho'.
Shattered Crystal wasn't a too bad of a game, but the one thing that annoyed me was the need to do a level over and over again in different paths just to find everything in the level, I would much prefer just a more traditional 2D Sonic style level design that is focused more on speed.
I'm interested in the game, but I will be waiting for the reviews to see if I pick this game up, or just wait till next year and play Sonic on the NX.
I enjoy the animated show but I still don't understand what all that tape is for. Same as in kingdom hearts and cloud has the same tape on his sword...why???
That was the most honest preview for this game yet?
I bet it will be crap
Sonic looks older with that Brown scarf.
my son wants this game and I have preordered for him. He loved the first one and that's all that matters to me.
I reckon that this game is better than New Super Mario Bros U (which is crap). If Nintendo does not have novel ideas they should not even bother to make a new Mario game. (Not to mention Ultra Smash and the uninspired. Mario Party)
@ThomasBW84 It appears an autocorrect got the best of you. In paragraph 7, you say "Tales can glide too". I'm certain you mean Tails.
@Uncensored The tape was part of a design choice, and I can recall someone from the development studio saying that its supposed to represent them being ready to go at any moment. They are wearing Athletic Tape, and they want to get the job done, and don't exactly care what they look like. Its more for functionality than style. I could be slightly off, but I did read the article here on Nintendo Life back before the initial games released.
@WilliamCalley This isn't like the Wii U game. Its a sequel to the 3DS Sonic Boom, which was decent at best. It had some problems, but wasn't broken. Changes are, this game will get a 6 or 7 average in reviews.
@Knuckles Ah yes, thanks
Honestly, the Sonic Boom branding is so tainted at this point... and that generic title doesn't help, either.
Eh, still doesn't look that good. I didn't like Shattered Crystal, so I doubt I'll end up liking this much more.
I'll just wait for Sonic Mania and Project 2017, thank you ~
Treasure hunt effect from Shattered Crystal is still in effect? Welp, guess my buddy won't like this one too much either then.
Prove me wrong, SEGA!
still excited for Sonic Mania.
Bring back chao garden.
Is it me, or that this article feel more like it was defending the game than previewing it. All pros and cons aside, it's sad to see Sonic (err, "Sonic Boom?") Reach a point where, "it's not that bad" is the goal....
@GreatPlayer New super Mario bros u was not crap! It was actually pretty fun and had some cool aditions like the boost blocks. (My sister isn't very good at gameplay so she makes me boost blocks.)
@GreatPlayer I forgot to mention that yeah, MP10 was sadly pretty much MP9 HD
@Petey4Smash Yes, a crappy platformer with no inspired ideas. Worse than NSMB Wii.
Well, as a long time Sonic fan I'm excited to plays this. I liked Shattered Crystal and this looks even better. I must be in the minority because I prefer the Sonic Boom character designs over the originals and while I think Sonic Mania looks good I think this looks better.
@PanzerNomad I also like Sonic Boom character design.
@GreatPlayer
I suppose that all side scrolling Mario games are crappy to some people. I've never been a HUGE fan of them. I like my 3D games. Especially Mario kart
@Petey4Smash Well, I found those top Mario Maker levels are better than Mario U. Those were more creative. Mario U suffer from two problems: (1) too easy, and (2) very bland and too similar to previous entries.
@GreatPlayer
Although NSMBU was fun it was basically NSMB Wii HD, plus the flying squirrel outfit
Tap here to load 28 comments
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...