First 15
Fissures open, get powers, supposed to close the fissures, and that’s about the extent of the storyline. Okay, let’s do this.
I head into the first level. I’m taking things kind of slow while I get a feel for Sonic’s movement.
The game teaches me each of Sonic’s moves via hint markers that show a hint in the bottom screen. It seems to work well.
The gameplay seems to flip between slower parts where I’m in control, and full speed almost cutscenes where I have no control over Sonic but I’m getting lots of rings and the screen is whipping past real fast.
I miss a few jumps and get hit by some things. Each time I do, the game warps me back to the last time I stood on solid ground. This can make it hard to pick up my rings that I dropped, but generally if I slow down a bit and don’t rush it I can usually get past whatever I messed up on. Then once I collect some rings I’m safe to go fast again.
I’m starting to realize that every time the game gives me back control on Sonic, I should go to the left instead of forward to the right since going the “wrong” way is inevitably where I’ll find a hidden item.
I beat the first level. Not bad. I thought the level was fun. Onto the next level.
In this level I’m introduced to Amy, who has a giant hammer that I can use to lower pillars. This feels really gimmicky, and waiting for the pillars to lower (and sometimes rise if you need them to lift you up) really slows things down. I’m less of a fan of Amy’s level than I was of the first level just because of all the start/stop. The level takes me about 8 minutes, though some of that is me constantly searching for hidden items.
And fifteen minutes is up. So far I’m having fun. I liked Sonic’s level more than Amy’s, but even Amy’s level had its moments.
Story
As with a number of Sonic games, the story is rather basic. Fissures start opening up all over the place, which causes Sonic and friends to gain the fire and ice powers. And all this happens, and I quote, “because science”.
I know there’s a Sonic BOOM cartoon and the game does come with a DVD containing a few episodes from the show, which I watched for the sake of this review, but truthfully the storyline is really just there to get the player from one level to the next and that’s about it.
One of the things that threw me off is I really don’t like the Sonic BOOM version of Knuckles. The first problem is the way he looks. In all of the past Sonic games I’ve played he usually looks like a red version of Sonic with some exaggerated knuckles. But now he looks like the artists gave him a human skeleton which makes him way taller than Sonic and has some awkwardly long arms and legs. In addition, Knuckles is rather dumb and there’s no rivalry between him and Sonic. This isn’t the developers fault. It’s just the way that the character is written in the Sonic BOOM universe. But as someone who doesn’t watch the show, it was very jarring since I’m used to the old Knuckles.
Interface
One annoyance I had with the game is it kept telling me to go turn in items to characters that I hadn’t unlocked yet. I wasted a bit of time trying to find these characters until eventually I realized I just needed to progress further into the game. I wish the game would only show you turn in messages for characters you can actually access.
Eventually I realized that there are two views for the bottom screen. There’s character view, where you can quickly swap between the different characters, and then there’s map view, where you can see the level in a very zoomed out view. Once I discovered this I kept the game in map view since it made it easier to find hidden areas. The downside to map view is it’s rather annoying switching between characters. In map view you use left and right on the D-pad to change characters. But the first time you hit either direction it just brings up a small selector at the bottom of the screen with each of the characters’ heads. Once that appears, then you can use left and right to navigate to the character you want. Then, once you have the right character highlighted, you have to wait for a second before the game accepts your input and changes characters. This system is extremely clunky and makes switching characters on the fly virtually impossible. Right now the Start and Select buttons both bring up the pause menu. Instead I would like the Select button to pause the game and zoom in on the current character in the top screen, then it would temporarily switch to the character select in the bottom screen. Once players tap on a character, that character is swapped in, the top screen zooms back out, and gameplay resumes. I think this would feel much smoother than trying to navigate using the D-pad.
Maybe one of my biggest gripes about the game is there’s no reward or indicator that shows up when you fully clear all of the levels in a zone. When you clear the time attack and collect all of the items in a level, the node for that level changes from blue to gold. But when you switch to the zone map, there is nothing to indicate that you turned all of the nodes in a zone gold. It feels very unrewarding. I would like to at least see some kind of highlight for that zone, or maybe unlock some unique artwork or even different skins for Sonic (Silver Sonic, Super Sonic, etc.).
Gameplay
The main mechanic for Sonic Boom: Fire & Ice is, shockingly, the fire and ice mechanic. Sonic either has a fire or ice aura that players can switch between quickly by pressing the shoulder buttons. Fire is used to melt ice block so you can pass through them, and ice is used to freeze water blocks so you can walk on them. The mechanic itself isn’t complicated nor is it very original. That said, the developers did a good job working it into the levels. Do it right, and Sonic speeds past obstacles. Mess up, and Sonic either comes to a screeching halt or falls onto some spikes which causes him to get sent back a bit in the level. This probably sounds really simple, because it is. It’s nothing groundbreaking, but it actually works quite well within the context of the game and does provide an enjoyable experience.
The bulk of the gameplay is divided up into two sections. The first section involves a lot of platforming which mostly consists of being in fire/ice mode, hitting dash attack, and swing across gaps. These sections are relatively fast in that they require the player to correctly identify the obstacle in the way and figure out how to deal with it in a second or two when Sonic reaches said obstacle. The other section of the game involves the player actually having no control of Sonic at all and instead watching what could almost be called a cutscene of Sonic constantly being propelled along by a series of dash pads and springs. These are interspersed throughout the level and almost always happen almost as a reward for finding hidden areas (in addition to the hidden items players are trying to collect). These uncontrollable parts move extremely fast and help to give the game that sense of speed without putting players in a position where things are coming at them faster than they can react to. I found myself enjoying these segments as I was under no pressure to do anything and could just enjoy the crazy loops and jumps.
Every level has 3 hidden junk parts, 3 hidden hammers, and a doorway to a special challenge where players can earn a card. While this might sound like a lot to find, it’s actually quite easy to locate everything. For starters, most of these secrets are located right after a big uncontrollable portion. The game wants you to go right towards the end, so instead you go left. You can find about 75% of the hidden items in the game using just this method. For the rest, if you run through the level with the bottom screen on map view the secret areas aren’t hard to spot. This might sound bad since these hidden objects really aren’t too hard to find, but truthfully I actually felt that it meshes well with the rest of the game. The game rewards exploration while still maintaining a quick pace.
In each level there are hidden challenge rooms. These rooms are more like advanced platforming areas that require more skill than the normal level. Given that Sonic and friends can’t be killed so long as they are holding at least one ring, the levels are somewhat forgiving provided you don’t fail in the same place more than one. All in all I felt like they were just the right amount of challenging.
Boss fights use both screens and are fairly clever. Each fight has you using Sonic and another character who is swapped in or out automatically. The boss fights themselves are fairly simple once you learn the patterns. They are fairly easy to get past after only a couple of attempts. Players looking for more of a challenge, can clear the optional objective of collecting all of the rings. Collecting all of the rings requires not only perfect execution but also added risk since rings are strategically located in places that require the player to dip into dangerous areas to get them. This really is the perfect system since players not looking for a challenge can take a number of hits so long as they hold onto at least 1 ring while more advanced players can up the ante and try to go for perfection. A lot of games try to make bosses harder by adding more mechanics, but this game pits players against the same boss only now with a much smaller margin for error.
Each zone has a group of levels that aren’t the normal level type. One involves Sonic running down a long tunnel, moving left and right to avoid obstacles. In another players take control of remote control submarine Tails built. Still another has players piloting a raft up a river while dodging icebergs. On their own they’re somewhat simplistic, but they help to change up the gameplay and keep things feeling fresh. My least favorite of them was the submarine levels since the sub has a tendency to respond very sluggishly, which is especially jarring in a game that is all about tightly controlling your character. Also, firing missiles with the sub is very imprecise. Still, I found them a nice distraction that helped keep things interesting.
My favorite type of level was the tunnel levels. They remind me of Sonic Adventure since the camera is now behind Sonic as he runs. You use left and right to change lanes to avoid hazards and to collect rings while racing to the end. You can also boost to make Sonic run faster, which you have to do in order to beat the time attack. Something that I found annoying is you can’t change lanes while boosting. But, you can let go of boost, change lanes, and then instantly start boosting again. The need to constantly stop and start boosting got to be somewhat tedious after a while. But, despite that, I still found the tunnel levels enjoyable.
Conclusion
You will enjoy this game if you are looking for a simple yet fun game to play. The controls are very well laid out and the game definitely has some fun level design.
You will not enjoy this game if you are looking for a hardcore challenge. The game is not overly difficult, though some of the time attacks will require multiple attempts. Also, this game is set in the Sonic BOOM universe, so most of the characters act rather dumb and kiddie. The game is light on story, but if this kind of thing bothers you then it might diminish your enjoyment.
Sonic BOOM: Fire & Ice is not going to win any game of the year awards, nor is it going to show you anything you haven’t seen before. But despite that, the game is quite well designed and I did have a lot of fun playing it. If you’re a fan of Sonic, or even if you’re not, and you’re looking for a fun distraction for a while, then this game is certainly one to consider.
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