Long time Sonic fans know what the Sonic Cycle is, a three step waltz of announcement, anticipation, and disappointment repeated ad nauseam. Aside from Sonic Colors and the first Sonic Rush if you consider handhelds, you could only call Sonic games mediocre at very best, having to go back to the Sonic Adventure titles to find the last truly great Sonic game.
When Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric was announced I jumped straight to disappointment. It looked bad visually, the character redesign wasn’t exactly the most compelling I’ve ever seen, they added very unwieldy energy tethers, and more “please rupture my eardrums so I don’t have to hear this” dialogue during game play. I was not pleased, especially after reports from E3 about how bland it was.
I’ve been fairly vocal about my belief that Sonic should return to his 2D roots and take a page from Mario. Sega should follow Nintendo‘s example and cut out everything that doesn’t add to tight platforming or speed. 2D makes it easier to convey a sense of speed while not relying on terrible mechanics like homing attacks or sections that play themselves, so prevalent in Sonic games today. Rayman Legends is a perfect example of what Sonic should be: Fast paced, 2D, solid controls, and good level design.
However, after distancing myself from Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric, and revisiting it with a more open mind, I’ve got to say it’s growing on me. I’m still keeping it at arms length because I know how this has played out in the past, but I have to give it to the guys at Big Red Button Entertainment, they took Sonic Boom in a completely different direction, one that I don’t think is complete garbage, and they’ve been hard at work making improvements to the title since its lackluster reveal.
The visuals have been enhanced greatly since we got our first glimpse of them. I can’t speak from personal experience in regards to the controls but footage from PAX actually showed players handling Sonic with more than mere competency, which is far better than early claims that Sonic Boom may surpass Sonic ’06 as the worst Sonic game ever. Even the new redesigns are slowly improving in my eyes. Knuckles has always been physically stronger, so it does make sense for him to be a hulking brute after all.
The game play is slower, more methodical and you don’t control Sonic exclusively. I would have called this an absolute death sentence before, but the way its been done here makes it seem like pure genius to me. Before, non-Sonic characters brought entirely different game play with them, and not in a good way. It broke the flow of the game when the mechanics changed so drastically with each character. Now it seems all of the characters play in the same types of levels, but with their own unique abilities. Sonic Boom‘s multiple characters remind me of Sonic 2 with Knuckles. It’s the same game, but a different character with a different skill set. I can’t understate how much of an improvement that is for a Sonic title since Sonic Adventure kicked off the terrible trend of throwing together a bunch of ideas and hoping they stick.
Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric’s slower game play, for the most part as there are speed stages, reminds me of the side of the Sonic Universe that’s been under explored in the world of gaming: The Archie Comics series. The Sonic the Hedgehog comic by Archie Comics has been running nonstop for over twenty years. You read that right. Twenty. Years. In this world not all the the problems are solved by running fast, and there’s a heavy emphasis on teamwork. Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric may be the closest we ever come to seeing this type of Sonic story put into a game.
It may not be the type of Sonic game we were expecting, but perhaps Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric is the Sonic game we need. Instead of continuing with the formula that’s currently broken, or returning to a style that has been perfected to a degree you can’t compete with in Sonic 3 and Knuckles, the developers has taken it into a direction the series has never been. It now evokes the feeling of Jak and Daxter, Rachet and Clank, and Sly Cooper as opposed to the Sonic of old. Maybe this is just what the Blue Blur needed.
Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric releases for Wii U on November 18. It also has a sister 3DS title, Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal, and a tie-in Sonic Boom cartoon series all primed for release in the same general window.
