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Sonic: “Hey look! No Shadow!” Knuckles: “The Hedgehog?” Sonic: “No. On the ground.”
After your done reading, get a second opinion from Nuckles87 over at SEGAbits!
Big Red Button’s Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric is an odd duck. It’s a Sonic game that feels NOTHING like a Sonic game in almost every sense. At it’s core, it’s an adventure-based brawler with platforming and puzzle elements similar to other adventure games such as Tomb Raider, Ratchet and Clank or Uncharted and relies heavily on co-op. A Sonic game that’s not very Sonic-like in any way.
The E3 demo I played has four different levels. A mining level with Sonic and Knuckles, an underground toxic waste level with Sonic and Amy, a speed traverse level with all four and finally, a boss fight with Eggman. These levels are meant to show you samples of the gameplay you can expect from the game, but when put out of context like this, it kind of gives you a poor idea of what the full game is like.
The speed level is fairly simple with some boosting areas, simple jumps and places where you can grab with your enerbeam to swing around. I did go an alternate path from what was shown in previous videos and found an area with a fair amount of obstacles to dodge. It’s no Sonic Generations, but at least it’s something fun to do when going between worlds. Sadly the level was very short and stopped before we got to our destination.
“Well, we solved that! Now let’s stagger around until we find some more switches to move this cart around and MAN! I’m already bored.”
Now, here’s where things get very different. I played as Sonic and Knuckles as we traversed an old mining facility. There were robots and snakes around (at which point Knuckles does a bad Indiana Jones imitation) I couldn’t figure out how the gate opened, but fortunately, Sonic chimed in “maybe we need to use that mine cart up there!” So, I found a switch to drop the mine cart and had Knuckles push it to the gate by way of punching) and used the jump boost on top of the mine cart to get over the gate. During the level, I was constantly having to stop and figure out what to do next. Some of which was done by using each characters unique abilities. Sonic has a spindash that boosts him up into hard to reach places, while Knuckles can burrow or climb certain ledges. At one point, we used our enerbeams to lock on and pull the cart over to another path. That’s right, Sonic and Knuckles have “lock-on cart” technology.
…..Oh, come on! That was funny and you know it.
However, constantly having to stop and figure out another puzzle made the whole thing (up to getting to the mining robot) a real drag. At one point, Sonic sees Tails and Amy up above. They are talking about how what a blast they are having in this upper path. “Well, at least they’re having fun” Sonic quips. Too bad I’m not. I found this to be the most boring level in the entire demo.
“Run away much slower than the speed you normally can go!!”
The third demo was with Sonic and Amy in an underground toxic waste dump. At times they are being chased by a giant guardian robot while being assisted by a helper robot. There are a few chase scenes reminiscent of Crash Bandicoot. It seems odd that Sonic can barely run fast enough to get out of it’s way. He basically runs the same speed as Amy. Maybe he’s just slowing down to make sure she’s safe? Speaking of Amy, her gameplay is actually pretty good here. She’s acrobatic and can traverse thin pipes and does some difficult platforming along with swinging from bar to bar. I found using her to be much more fun than Sonic or Knuckles. Also, she sounds a lot more like her old Sonic X self rather than Minnie Mouse.
The final level is a boss fight with Dr. Eggman. He’s using an ancient machine and it isn’t going too well (the Eggmobile doesn’t fit quite right and keeps falling over). He’s also using old, used missiles that don’t hit the gang, but just drop to the ground. You can then grab the missiles with the enerbeam to throw them back at Eggman until he falls over and you can attack him head on. There’s plenty of teamwork going on here and the quips are pretty funny. That’s one thing I really gotta hand this game. The dialog doesn’t constantly repeat itself (except in some casual fights) and is pretty funny while moving the story along. It’s a refreshing pace from the poor dialog we got in games like Sonic Heroes. That’s good for those of you who love some Sonic games for their story.
“GAAH! No fair! What’d I ever do to y-oh yeah. All that stuff.”
Sadly, that’s the best compliment I can give the game so far. The game just demos bad. Having it cut into chunks like this really doesn’t give you a full understanding of how the full game really is and instead gives you these dull puzzle sections that make the Werehog levels in Sonic Unleashed seem like a thrill ride in comparison. Also, if this is a co-op game, why are there no two-player demos out on the E3 floor? As I said though, it’s really hard to judge in the format it’s in here. However if I only had a choice between the Wii U version and the 3DS version (Hands-on coming soon), I’d definitely pick the 3DS version as it has more of what makes a fun Sonic game. This one seems to be more focused on telling a story rather than making a really fun experience.
Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric will be out this November and hopefully, we can get a better example of the full game’s experience before then.
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It’s happening! Sony Pictures have signed on to create a Sonic the Hedgehog movie. Written by Evan Susser, Van Robichaux, produced by Neal Moritz (21 Jump Street, Jack the Giant Slayer and much more) and animated by Marza Animation Planet (a division of SEGA Sammy), the Sonic feature is confirmed to be a CG/live action hybrid much like Sony’s “The Smurfs” franchise, and will star not just Sonic but other members of the the cast such as our very own Dr. Eggman. Apparently, this initial movie will be the first of a franchise of films which will release yearly. That’s right – a Sonic film every year.
No word yet on a release date, but executive producer and Marza CEO Masanao Maeda says the movie “…will bring a fresh take to Sonic, while still capturing everything that the fans love about him”. Check out the original article below:
Sony and producer Neal Moritz are bringing the best-selling Sega video game Sonic the Hedgehog to the big screen.
The studio is teaming with Marza Animation Planet, a CG animation film-production company based in Japan and a division of the Sega Sammy Group, to make a hybrid CG-animated/live-action feature.
Upright Citizens Brigade alums Evan Susser and Van Robichaux are writing the screenplay, which will follow the antics of Sonic, the world’s fastest hedgehog. The film will also feature some of the franchise’s favorite characters including the evil Dr. Eggman.
Sony-based Moritz (22 Jump Street) is producing through his Original Film banner alongside Marza’s Takeshi Ito and Mie Onishi. Toby Ascher is executive producing.
For more than two decades, the billion-dollar Sonic franchise has been one of the world’s biggest gaming phenomena, with more than 140 million games sold.
“There are limitless stories to tell with a character like Sonic the Hedgehog and a built-in international fan base,” Columbia Pictures president of production Hannah Minghella said. “Along with our wonderful creative partners at Marza, we’re looking to capture everything that generations of fans know and love about Sonic while also growing his audience wider than ever before.”
Added Marza CEO Masanao Maeda: “Sonic has had dozens of adventures on the console and the small screen, and we’re thrilled that he’s now coming to the big screen. Sony Pictures has had great success with hybrid animated and live-action features, and we’re confident that this collaboration will bring a fresh take to Sonic, while still capturing everything that the fans love about him.”
Sony’s hybrid animated/live-action Smurfs has spawned two films to date.
Moritz is the producer behind the Fast & Furious franchise. He has a Goosebumps adaptation coming up for Sony on Aug. 7, 2015, starring Jack Black.
Minghella and Andrea Giannetti will oversee the Sonic project for the studio.
Are you looking forward to the Sonic the Hedgehog movie franchise? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below. We at TSS will keep you updated on any new developments, as always!
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SEGA have revealed brand new (and some downright beautiful looking) concept art from both the Wii U and 3DS versions of Sonic Boom. You can see not only some interesting environmental concepts like a sprawling large forest and giant cliffs, but also a couple of enemy designs which you’ll see in the games. These are all available in our gallery below, so be sure to check it out and let us know what you think.
In case you missed it somehow, there’s been a plethora of new content revealed this E3 for all three versions of Sonic Boom. Check out the trailers for Rise of Lyric (Wii U), Shattered Crystal (3DS) and the TV Show.
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So the official website for Sonic the Hedgehog recently updated (most likely to fall in line with the new E3 Sonic Boom news). However, eagled eyed SSMB member Blue Blood spotted a rather curious addition to it.
Now this could just be a play on words, or it might even be a few episodes of Boom spliced together to make a larger story. Though when it follows several big hints that a movie is in the works, this is likely to only add fuel to that.
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So we had the games.. but something was missing… ah here we go! Sega have decided to make public a TV Trailer for Sonic Boom the TV show. And it’s incredible. The trailer shows a number of episodes and some rather comical lines of dialogue, animation looks really high quality and episode variety seems varied.
In addition to this, an image appeared on Sega’s Facebook page which also seems to show a clip from the show including what looks like a new character.
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It’s E3, and you know what that means – games, games and more games! Best of all, we get brand new footage of existing titles and that extends to our very own blue blur. And as such, SEGA have released a brand new trailer for Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric especially for E3. See your first hint at the story of Rise of Lyric and quite a bit of new footage of gameplay and cutscenes with some pretty comedic narration (poor Dr. Eggman!), including your first look at the villain himself – Lyric.
Check it out above and let us know what you think in the comments. We have two of our TSS staff at E3 as we speak, so we’ll be coming at you soon with some original content regarding Boom. Stay tuned!
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Incoming E3 content! Nintendo have just released a trailer for Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal for Nintendo 3DS. Showing off a plethora of gameplay from our heroes traversing the environments with their unique abilities, you can certainly see the classic 2D Sonic game influence injected into the game with speedy sections and corkscrews abound. Check it out above and leave a comment below letting us know what you think. Will you be buying Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal?
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The waters begin to boil over in this month’s issue!
Tensions are rising in Meropis, and Uproxx has an exclusive preview of the next part of the undersea adventure. Coral has been approached by the royal guard for her failure to reincarnate the ancient chao, so Sonic and Amy go with her and Razor to confront the rulers of the underwater city. But can they win over the government when friction is at an all time high? And what of the Dark Gaia Monsters lurking outside? Find out in “Waves of Change”: part 2. Meanwhile, Sally, Antoine and Tails continue their mission for a Chaos Emerald within Eggman’s base in “Light in the Dark”: part 2.
(W) Ian Flynn, Aleah Baker (A) Evan Stanley & Various (CA) Matt Herms, Tracy Yardley
Dive into the action in ‘Waves of Change’ Part Two! Sonic, Amy, and Rotor-in the deep sea and in deeper trouble! When their new friend Coral has run afoul of her government, will Sonic and the Freedom Fighters stand by her side? Or will they risk becoming fugitives? Then, in ‘The Light in the Dark,’ Sally’s simple raiding plans take a turn for the worse! Featuring new cover art from Sonic superstar Ben Bates and a hilarious new ‘Is it Summer Yet??’ Variant cover by Tracy Yardley! and Matt Herms!
Sonic the Hedgehog #261 is out digitally and in stores this Wednesday. Drown yourself in the experience by picking it up!
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Looks like Sonic Boom won’t be the only game starring everyone’s favourite blue blur at E3 this year! Just revealed via an announcement trailer on SEGA Europe’s YouTube channel, Sonic Jump Fever – a sequel to the original Sonic Jump mobile game – will be bouncing its way onto iOS and Android devices at some point in the near future.
Originally released in Canada earlier this year, the core gameplay in Sonic Jump Fever will be very similar to its predecessor, only this time with more dynamic action, more combos… and of course, more fever! The question is though – will it be a real leap forward? (sorry, I’ll get my coat…)
Little else is known about the game’s release outside Canada beyond that shown off in the trailer, but be sure to stay tuned to TSS for any further updates on the game – and in the meantime, let us know your thoughts on this announcement in the comments!
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Every year SEGA usually has some Sonic promotional material inside the E3 building. Usually it’s in the form of large decals along the escalators, but this year it’s something different. Sonic Boom’s got a banner at the LA Convention Center entrance. Take a look!
Though we’re at the show, we haven’t gotten our own photos of the banner yet. We’ll be sure to bring you some of our own photos of Sonic stuff at E3 over the coming days! This photo was posted on Twitter by NintenDaan!
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That glorious sound! The gameplay footage recently released by SEGA of Sonic Boom for E3 has finally been released in its full glory. No voice overs or previews, just clean cut in-game audio in high definition. You can hear a little of the music available, and more importantly some of the quirky comments exchanged between our heroes whilst adventuring, some which genuinely gave me a little giggle. These also help to point out points of interest in the adventure field or how to progress. It’s a pretty effective (and entertaining) alternative to helping the player.
Be sure to check it out above and leave a comment below telling us what you think, and keep your eyes glued to TSS during E3 where we’ll have our own impressions to share with you regarding Sonic Boom, and who knows what else.
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Sonic & All Stars Racing Transformed is an awesome racing game. Even with the release of Wii U’s Mario Kart 8 it remains my favorite mascot racer thanks to its balanced, more skill-focused game play, well-designed transformation mechanic and spectacular track design. Sonic Stadium already has a pretty awesome, in-depth review which you can read here, so I’m not really going to go too in depth about the game itself. Instead, this review will be focusing on how well (or poorly) the Vita port realizes a game meant for considerably more powerful hardware.
In terms of speed and game play, All Stars Racing Transformed is a nearly flawless translation of its console counterparts. The creative, huge courses are all here with their epic set pieces and scripted moments unblemished. If anything has been compromised during porting, it certainly isn’t noticeable. The NiGHTS stage is stilled filled with enemies and rings, the Skies of Arcadia stage still finishes with an epic fleet battle and they are still sights to behold. All of All Stars Racing Transformed’s racing mechanics have always been faithfully brought over, with all the speed and drifting mechanics from the console versions intact. Still, this game isn’t a one-hundred percent accurate conversion, as there are some minor issues and noticeable downgrades from the HD versions.
In terms of controls, things can get a little cramped thanks to the Vita’s small form factor. All Stars Racing Transformed is a game that relies heavily on drifting for building speed and getting around turns, so you may be reaching for those trigger buttons a little more than you’d like to. Still, after logging dozens of hours on this version of the game I found this to be only a minor issue. The game’s physics have always taken a serious hit, especially in the water stages. Waves are no longer as large and bouncy in this version and areas where huge waves once tossed racers are now nothing more than minor nuisances. The loss of wave physics make the races a little less chaotic and exciting than they used to be.
The most noticeable difference lies in the graphics. The textures have been downgraded significantly. They now look much flatter and contain less detail. Lighting and various other effects have either been severely reduced or removed entirely, making it a little more difficult to see in some of the darker stages and making the entire game look considerably less flashy overall. I am happy to say that as of this review the frame rate is no longer a problem: even in the busier stages the game runs smoothly and the hiccups that were prevalent in even the HD versions are nowhere to be seen here.
Though really, the downgraded visuals are not only expected, but they do very little to damper the fun. The game runs well on the Vita and nothing of value has been lost. What you trade in visuals you gain in portability, as this is pretty much the same exact game, shrunk down to a device you can take anywhere. If this is the price for a portable All Stars Racing Transformed, I am more than willing to pay it.
All Stars Racing Transformed for the Vita is far from the definitive version, but it is worth owning if portability is attractive to you. It has to cut some corners, but in the end it provides the best portableY mascot racer money can buy, cutting out some of the flash while leaving in all the meat. So whether you want to fight off the boredom during summer travel or if you just want to be able to play this awesome racer any time you want, this game comes with high recommendations. Just keep in mind that it doesn’t quite live up to its HD brothers.
You’ll Love:
Portable All-Stars Racing that plays just as well as on the consoles
Solid frame rate
Creative courses and a roster that will make many a SEGA fan squeal
You’ll Hate:
Graphics have received a significant downgrade
Constantly pressing the Vita’s trigger buttons will make your hands hurt
Isn’t receiving any DLC from the PC version, including Ryo Hazuki
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This article is the second part of the Sonic on the Go series. You can find the first part here.
If Sonic Triple Trouble was the apex of Sonic’s Game Gear titles, its successor Sonic Blast was arguably the nadir. Aside from a few lousy spin off titles like Sonic Labyrinth and Spinball, no Sonic game on the system failed quite so hard as Sonic Blast did. Don’t get me wrong though, I still think Blast was a fun game personally. For all the hate I’ve seen the game get from retro fans, I don’t really think Blast is all that bad. Still, even if the game isn’t awful it was a huge step back for Sonic’s handheld adventures.
The game is slow and kind of ugly. Though the technically impressive pre-rendered sprites look pretty good, the levels themselves are almost completely devoid of charm or color. The level lay out is simplistic and dull, lacking multiple hidden paths and areas that made the stages in Triple Trouble so fun to explore. Finally, the game just moves too slowly, even for an 8-bit Sonic game.
Triple Trouble managed to blow this game out of the water in almost every way imaginable, which a huge disappointment given that this game was Sonic’s swan song on the system. It’s a shame that developer Aspect threw away everything they had learned about Sonic game design and the Game Gear’s limitations to create was is effectively a tech demo.
To Blast’s credit, though, it is an impressive tech demo. As the Game Gear counterpart to the Genesis’ technically impressive Sonic 3D Blast, Sonic Blast was tasked with accomplishing something similarly impressive on SEGA’s aging 8-bit hardware. In this regard Aspect was reasonably successful, creating the one and only Game Gear game that utilized pre-rendered sprites by pushing the Game Gear’s color capabilities to their max. Unfortunately this game at the expense of the game design, but it’s still nice to see the Game Gear was capable of such a feat.
Blast also gave Knuckles his first handheld adventure. As a major fan of the character at the time, Knuckles’ inclusion instantly made Blast one of the most played games on my system. This game doesn’t disappoint either: Knuckles plays exactly as he should, complete with his gliding and climbing abilities. The bland level design does hold Knuckles back somewhat, but he does play well at least, and he’s a heck of a lot better than Sonic, who has lost his cool power ups from Triple Trouble and only got a double jump in return. After Triple Trouble constantly enticed me with the character’s presence, it was nice to finally play as Knuckles in the car in Sonic Blast.
In hindsight, I do have to acknowledge that Sonic Blast wasn’t all that good, but it doesn’t negate all the fun I’ve had with it over the years. So if you’ve got the money to spare and want another Sonic game to play, I think you should check out Sonic Blast. On the Game Gear it’s an interesting tech demo that demonstrates abilities no one thought the system had. On the 3DS it’s a mediocre Sonic game that can help kill an afternoon. Sonic has definitely done worse, both on and off the Game Gear. Even in terms of portable games, Sonic Blast would be followed up by what is arguably the worst Sonic game ever made: Sonic Jam on the Tiger Game.com.
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Oh hey look, a Freak-Out Friday! Haven’t seen one of these in a while, right?
Anyway! With the Sonic Boom hype in full swing en route to E3, the subseries is expected to introduce a couple of new faces to the franchise this fall — boomerang-wielder Sticks the Badger, and the newest formidable foe, Lyric.
Unfortunately, there are already cries far and wide for the sinister snake to be pulled under the grounds that he just isn’t, well, Sonic-like. SEGA had to break it to Lyric somehow, because you know what they say: you can’t argue with the fans! How will he take the news?
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Hot off the new gameplay footage, written previews and the E3 Press Release, SEGA have unveiled a plentiful of new screenshots from both Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric and Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal for Wii U and 3DS. The screenshots show our main cast doing an assortment of actions in their game worlds, from boomerangs to Enerbeams. You can check all these screenshots out in our gallery below. Be sure to let us know what you’re most excited for in Sonic Boom in the comments below – they’ll be plenty more where this came from for sure when E3 rolls around next week.
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Away from the zoo lane, we have a scuffle between the detectives and the thieves.
To start June off on the comic front, Multiversity Comics have a preview of Sonic Universe #64. Knuckles and the Chaotix find themselves getting into fisticuffs with the Hooligans. While the scuffle for the Chaos Emerald is going on between the teams on opposite sides of the law, tensions are raised for both sides on all fronts. Meanwhile, Knuckles has his own mission to take care of, and he (with the trio) eventually finds something he didn’t expect. What is this light amongst the darkness? Find out in “The Great Chaos Caper”: part 2.
SONIC UNIVERSE #64
Knuckles and the Chaotix are back in action! “The Great Chaos Caper” Part Two: It’s hijinks and high explosives galore with Knuckles caught in the middle of all the action! The Chaotix and the Hooligans are falling all over each other to get to a Chaos Emerald – the key to saving (or dooming) the world! It’s up to Knuckles to power through the madness and complete his own mission and, in his travels, you’ll never believe who he finds! Featuring new cover art from Tracy Yardley and a rad red SEGA Variant cover!
Script: Ian Flynn
Art: Tracy Yardley, Jim Amash, Jack Morelli and Matt Herms
Cover: Tracy Yardley
Game Art Variant Cover Art provided by SEGA
On Sale: 6/4
32-page, full color comic
$2.99 US.
Sonic Universe #64 will be available to purchase in comic stores and on digital formats this Wednesday. Get your copy and follow along with the intrigue!
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A whole bunch of books came out in May, but are any worth the ink they’re printed with?
In October, we reported on the announcement that Egmont would be partnering with SEGA to release a slew of new activity books for May 2014. Because of my insatiable need to own Sonic books, I put down my money for the ones that came out at this time and can now weigh in with my absolutely professional (citation needed) opinion. Are these books worth your time, or are they best left gathering dust on the shelf?
Now, let’s get one thing out of the way; these books are very much aimed at kids. As such, unless they’re blatantly lazy on a level that cannot be excused, I’m not going to hold it to the same strict standard I would of a book aimed at older fans (for example, Pix ‘N Love’s The History of Sonic the Hedgehog). That said, that doesn’t mean I’m not going to be thorough with my analyses.
As a side note, if you’re a fan of E-123 Omega and like to collect merchandise of him…you can ignore these books. He doesn’t make an appearance at all. Even Chaos got a single sticker at least.
Sonic the Hedgehog Joke Book
Price: £4.99
The Cover: The art itself is used nicely, although I can’t help but think that I’ve seen it a lot before. That would be because it was a very common style to use on the stationery that came out way back in 2012. That’s more of a nitpick than anything though, especially when the background is nicely stylised. What isn’t such a nitpick is the use of text on the cover. It’s all nice and well having a sample of the content but not when it looks so obnoxious on the front. That said, one of the other books shows a preliminary cover that looks even more obnoxious, so I guess I’d rather this than that.
The Inner Art: I’m sure it would look fine. Repetitive given how every single page has the same sort of layout, but fine. The problem is that Sonic art doesn’t look so nice in black and white. Because of this detail, it’s really rather dull, especially when certain characters sort of blend in to the backgrounds that they’re put on. To top it off, the paper quality is poor as well. Remember when you were a kid and you got colouring books with that really coarse stuff that felt shoddy to the touch? That’s what the pages of this book are made out of.
The Content: It’s a joke book. There’s jokes. There isn’t anything more to it than that. It wouldn’t even be so bad if they were Sonic-themed jokes. Instead, most of the jokes are the same generic jokes that you’ve seen in every joke book, with some being modified slightly to include Sonic elements. What else can I say about it?
Overall: Just…no. If you want jokes, you can get any other joke book out there and you’d pretty much have the same thing.
Sonic the Hedgehog: Sticker Mania!
Price: £6.99
The Cover: The cover shown in the October news article was very much a preliminary cover. Now the emphasis is on the abundance of stickers, with Sonic being swamped by dozens of square stickers (all in the book, so it’s not false advertising at least) and only Eggman, Tails and Knuckles standing out on top of them. It’s busy, but it’s actually pretty cool and it shows off the content at the same time. An addition since the announcement is a little thing in the corner indicating the heavy use of Sonic Lost World in the book. I’ll go more into that later.
The Inner Art: Like many books recently, the art is all stock art. Despite this, at least it’s used appropriately and doesn’t go into overkill per page. The consistency of the layouts and styles accompanying the art and activities are particularly effective in making the book coherent where there would otherwise be a risk of making it a random jumbled mess. Not the hand-drawn meticulousness of yesteryear, but still sleek and stylish. It helps that the paper quality is up to standard this time as well.
The Profiles: Weirdly enough, there are four pages dedicated to small profiles of the characters. When I say small, they really are small, only covering four stats; name, species, key feature(s) and skill(s). There’s nothing really new here (unless you didn’t know that Jet had advanced piloting skills or that Big had a keen sense of smell*), but at least they’re accurate for the most part. The only obvious factual error is the fact that Blaze doesn’t harness Chaos energy (it’s Sol), and I’ve seen far more errors in books aimed at fans of the series.
The Content: Most of the book is taken up by random common activities given a bit of a Sonic twist. You have your mazes, your pseudo board game races, your word searches, that one square draw activity that makes no sense, trivia quizzes, character recognition and all that jazz. Because of the Lost World tie-in, ten of these pages are themed after that game specifically (although one Wisp game mention other characters coming to rescue them from a chemical factory. Isn’t that Sonic Colours?). Not exactly a good advertisement of how the game is for little kids, but it’s raising awareness at least.
The Stickers: As it says on the cover, there are indeed over 1000 stickers. At least with this book, the vast majority are related to the Sonic franchise (some are not for one or two activities). Okay, there are quite a few duplicates, but at least it means you can have your favourite characters on multiple items if you wish to use them (because really, who’s going to use the stickers in the book itself?). The downside is that most of the stickers are very small in size, about 2x2cm. But hey, there is that one aforementioned Chaos sticker!
Overall: If you like stickers, and you like Sonic, then decide for yourself if £6.99 is worth it for a bunch of them. For the young’uns, there’s plenty to do in the book, character info that’s actually dependable and it actually looks nice. Honestly a decent pick-up, although I’m not sure how the price tag compares to other books of a similar nature.
*This technically contradicts Sonic Chronicles since he was oblivious to smell there. Not that anyone really takes Chronicles as a measure of canon.
Totally Sonic
Price: £6.99
The Cover: Before we begin an actual analysis, let’s go over where this came from; in the initial announcement, there was mention of a book called the “Super Sonic Poster Book” which would also contain activities. We can reasonably assume that Totally Sonic is what that became, as this is the only book with any kind of posters in it. It’s definitely downplayed though.
With that out of the way, the cover is far more open compared to the others. For the most part, it’s a Sonic render on a blue background, with Tails, Knuckles and Amy packed away at the top. It’s nice, but I wonder why they made it this way compared to the other two.
The Inner Art: Go back and read the Inner Art analysis for Sticker Mania, it basically covers this book to a tee. The one thing I would say that differs is the fact that the spine on this book is stapled, and therefore weaker than both the Joke Book and Sticker Mania. It’s justified though; anything with posters inside tend to have stapled spines, although this one encourages the reader to cut the posters out. Huh.
The Profiles: Definitely bigger here than in Sticker Mania. In fact, I’d say that half the book is profiles. There are six “standard” stats; Species, Height, Age, Personality, Likes and Says (aka a quote). Some profiles omit a stat or two, Blaze switches Likes for Dislikes, and the Chaotix just don’t abide at all (preferring to go with Species, Job, Personality, Likes and Skill…and the skill isn’t the same kind of skill as in Sticker Mania. Alrighty). Despite the slight inconsistencies, they’re more in depth with the raw stats and other character trivia, and they’re once again robust in accuracy. Okay, it only says Blaze is friends with Cream and Sonic, and Sonic is said to be Rouge’s rival, but nothing on a fundamentally erroneous scope. One thing I would raise an eyebrow at is the fact that there’s no Babylon Rogues here, whereas they got profiles in Sticker Mania.
The Content: Surprise, this book also has a small range of stickers! It’s definitely a smaller range and less thorough than Sticker Mania, and there’s even an issue of a red ring render accidentally getting on Amy’s image. To be fair, this is just a bonus, not the main point of the book.
Totally Sonic also does the activities in a different way. Instead of having a whole mass of activities with mostly random ideas and themes running through them, they format in a very specific manner; there’s an activity linked to a set of characters profiles. For example, Knuckles has an activity focused on him, as do most individual characters, with the occasion activity attached to a whole group of character in the cases of the Chaotix (and they totally used this opportunity to slip in a codebreaking puzzle. At least they’re paying attention to the content they put in), Rouge with Metal Sonic (that’s a weird choice) and the Deadly Six. Because of this, there’s not as many activities, but they feel like they gel with the book more.
The Posters: Four doubled-sided pages slap bang in the middle means that there are eight posters in all, and they’re actually pretty nifty. The two Lost World posters aside (which are basically the promo shots used for the game’s marketing), they actually try and use the assets available to them in creative ways. And they definitely feel like poster quality in design because of it. I’m still not certain on the way they ask you to detach the posters. I guess a little kid might easily rip them if they tried to pull it out, but they’d still have to ask an adult to cut them out.
Overall: Another decent book for kids with some content that older fans might be able to get use of. The formatting choices made may make it slightly emptier on the stuff to do, but it simultaneously makes it more useful to go back to. Again, it’s a matter of whether you can justify the price tag for the content.
So, I’d say two of the books are worth at least a cursory glance, while one of them is to be avoided completely. What of Secret of Sonic the Hedgehog, the book most likely to be appreciated by older fans?
I.e. The one where only this one picture exists of it on the internet.
Well, while that was slated to be released in May like the other books, but for whatever reason appears to have been pushed back to the end of August. There’s a little bit more new info we can glean as well; Waterstones’ listing has a price of £6.99, the same as Sticker Mania and Totally Sonic, and one pound more than originally stated. In addition, it has a page count down of 64, making it the longest of all the books (Sticker Mania only clocks in at 48 pages, and that’s pretty thick for an activity book). It’s still advertised in the back of the other books as being available, which might mean the change was pretty recent. In any case, I’m going to keep an eye on that one given my satisfaction with the majority of this batch.
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UPDATE 2: Thanks to Jayko Reynolds on YouTube, we now have a montage of all existing gameplay footage released so far for both Rise of Lyric and Shattered Crystal. I’ve added them to the article below, thanks to Sonicrush1991 in the comments for the heads up!
UPDATE: Looks like the original Gamexplain previews have sadly gone private. Instead, I’ve replaced the above video with an interview with Stephen Frost which also contains gameplay footage.
Original article detailing the Gamexplain preview is as follows.
And then suddenly, out of nowhere! The first footage for both Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric (Wii U) has just appeared under an exclusive first preview from Gamexplain, showing off direct gameplay and commentary preview which you can see above, and footage of Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal (3DS) you can see below. Needless to say, this is pretty exciting – yet all the more surprising, considering the fact E3 is just a week away now and gameplay footage is showing up early. Gamexplain go into detail about what levels were available and there experiences, but what’s most important to us all is that gameplay.
Combat is certainly a focus of the games as you can tell, with Sonic shooting off multiple hits and racking up a combo meter. The bulk of the game expected to carry out here. Punches, kicks and spin bounce attacks are seen as Sonic surprisingly more slowly moves around the field. Gamexplain details a scanning device on the gamepad to look around the environment and scan for points of interest. Rings also work differently in Boom, more akin to Unleashed where you only lose a partial amount of rings per hit. Certain characters also have unique abilities than allow them to traverse unique areas like Sonic’s spindash and Amy’s hammer acrobatics, and these characters will range from being just a duo to having all four on screen depending on the area you’re exploring. There’s a lot to take in which the preview goes into great detail in, so make sure you check it out. Also, check out those models! They look much better than their initial debut a few months back. Lovely.
The 3DS plays a little differently however. Instead of 3D environments which debuted with Lost World 3DS, everything is back to 2D for Sonic Boom and takes advantage of a world map over a hub world for progression. It’s apparently far more similar to classic Sonic games with springs, platforming and jumping on your foes. These stages are non-linear however – you explore the areas freely and find your own way. The word “adventure” is stressed a lot, and there’s a “Metroid style map” you can bring up to see the areas you’ve explored. There’s also rival races and speedy levels available on the handheld version. Curiously, Amy is not a playable character here, the game instead opting for newcomer Sticks, using her boomerang to help solve puzzles in the game world.
Check out some other previews from gaming outlets here:
How Do The Two New Sonic Booms Compare? – Gamespot
Don’t call it a reboot: Sonic Boom is just a ‘different branch’ of the Sonic universe – VentureBeat
Sonic Boom Hands-On: Eggman Defeated By Sonic’s Electric Lasso – Siliconera
Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal on 3DS is a throwback to classic 2D Sonic – Gamesradar
Needless to say, Boom is definitely a new direction for our speedy blue hero. But it’s looking pretty good so far. Be sure to check out both videos and let us know just how hyped you are in the comments!
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SEGA has just confirmed what we were all expecting: Sonic Boom is coming to E3. With this news comes the confirmation that the upcoming games will be two standalone adventures. The Wii U version will be subtitled Rise of Lyric, while the 3DS version will be called Shattered Crystal. Both games will be focusing on a new villain, Lyric, pictured below.
Lyric is a member of an ancient, snake-like race with an eye for worldwide destruction. According the the press release, he is “an extremely tech-savvy mastermind who uses a sophisticated robotic body of armor to carry out his own nefarious deeds, he is a formidable enemy and a force to be reckoned with.” In Rise of Lyric, Sonic and his friends are tasked with stopping Lyric from awakening his robotic army and destroying the world. Shattered Crystal’s scope will be a little smaller, as Sonic and Sticks work together to rescue Amy Rose from Lyric’s clutches. The 3DS version has been confirmed to be a side scrolling adventure, which will focus on platforming and puzzle solving. Two screenshots are enclosed below:
Meanwhile, it’s been confirmed that the Wii U version will feature a new move called the enerbeam, an energy charged cord some may remember from the Sonic Boom teaser a few months back. This new ability will assist in navigating around levels and battling enemies, allowing players to zip-line, pull objects, throw enemies and disarm them of shields.
Finally, it’s been confirmed that the Wii U and 3DS games will be connected. By utilizing Wi-Fi connectivity, collectibles found in the Shattered Crystal can be used to unlock special content in Rise of Lyric. Sonic Stadium will be previewing providing coverage and hands-on previews of both of these games at E3 next week, so be sure to join us! I’ve included the full press release below:
We’re excited to unleash an all-new Sonic the Hedgehog at this year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in Los Angeles with the debut of playable versions of new titles exclusively for Wii U and Nintendo 3DS. The new games Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric for the Wii U system, developed by Los Angeles-based Big Red Button, and Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal for the Nintendo 3DS hand-held system, from San Francisco-based Sanzaru Games, will introduce new gameplay and the most vile and formidable villain in Sonic history — Lyric.
In both games, Sonic and friends – Tails, Knuckles, Amy, and the newest member of the team, Sticks, will work together as they face their most powerful enemy yet. Lyric is a giant and monstrous snake-like creature from an ancient race. An extremely tech-savvy mastermind who uses a sophisticated robotic body of armor to carry out his own nefarious deeds, he is a formidable enemy and a force to be reckoned with. With a strong emphasis on collaboration, the roles of Tails, Knuckles, Amy, and Sticks, will be elevated in gameplay that capitalizes on each character’s unique talents and abilities. The goal is to prevent Lyric from powering his army of robots and carrying out his plan to destroy the world. The stakes have never been higher, and the only chance to overcome Lyric is to band together and work as a team.
“This is a new Sonic, with gameplay built on action-adventure and collaborative play. They are unlike any previous games featuring the iconic blue blur,” said Hiroyuki Miyazaki, Chief Content Officer for the Sonic Bran, SEGA of America. “We are looking forward to our first hands-on showcase at E3 for fans old and new alike to experience the exploration, combat and new moves for the entire team.”
Both Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric and Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal are crafted to take full advantage of the unique gameplay mechanics of their respective consoles. Each version is a new chapter in the Sonic Boom universe and will each have their own unique immersive storylines. Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric will also feature CRYENGINE(r), the cutting-edge 3D game technology from Crytek, one of the leading innovators in the industry. As the very first Wii U game to incorporate this technology, the lush environments and landscapes within the game will be visually enhanced like never before.
Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric
Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric will deliver a different experience than past titles. The detailed levels and emphasis on each character’s unique abilities will showcase the distinctive feel of an action- adventure game, giving players more choice in exploration as they work as a team to stop the deadly snake-like ancient villain, Lyric, before he can power up his army. The gameplay will challenge players with over-the-top speed runs, but the heart of the game will focus on intense combat and brand-new abilities including the Enerbeam. This new feature in the game gives players an energy-charged cord that can be used by characters to navigate the world like never before. Players will be able to swing or zip-line across gaps, explore alternate paths, grab and throw enemies and take away their shields in combat.
Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal
Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal is a standalone adventure that shares key characters, events and lore of the Sonic Boom universe with exclusive environments and characters. For the first time ever, gamers will be able to take on the role of Sticks, the newest member of the team who will play an integral role in the story after her best friend Amy gets kidnapped by the ancient villain Lyric. While the Wii U version is focused on action-adventure and exploration, Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal will place a bigger emphasis on platforming and puzzles. Additionally, unique collectibles featured in the Nintendo 3DS version will unlock special content on Wii U via Wi-Fi connectivity.
About Sonic Boom
Announced earlier this year, Sonic Boom is a new branch of the Sonic Universe that, in addition to gaming, will include a first-ever CG-animated TV series on Cartoon Network in the U.S. and Canal J and Gulli in France as well as a robust merchandising program anchored by master toy partner TOMY. Unlike previous Sonic adventures, the Sonic Boom video games will operate in harmony with the TV series, with many feature storylines and characters appearing in both formats.
Sonic the Hedgehog first appeared as a videogame character in June 1991 and instantly became an icon for a generation of gamers. Defined by his super-fast speed and cool attitude, in the years since he first raced on to videogame consoles Sonic has become a true global phenomenon with over 140 million videogames sold or downloaded worldwide across consoles, PC’s, mobile phones and tablets. SEGA’s iconic blue blur has also gone on to enjoy incredible success in many licensed areas, such as toys, apparel, comics and animation.
The Sonic Boom TV series is a co-production between SEGA of America, Inc. and OuiDO! Productions. Executive producers on the Sonic Boom TV series are Evan Baily, Donna Friedman Meir and Jane McGregor on behalf of SEGA, and Sandrine Nguyen and Boris Hertzog from OuiDO!. Bill Freiberger is Co-Executive Producer. Other partners involved in the TV series include Lagardère Entertainment Rights for distribution and Lagardère Active TV Licensing & New Business for licensing and merchandise in France.
Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric for Wii U and Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal for Nintendo 3DS will release in November 2014 for North America.
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As you may or may not know, the Windy Valley which appeared in the final version of Sonic Adventure wasn’t the same one that was shown through pre-release material. A year ago (today, in fact!), Sonic Retro unearthed data from a Sonic Adventure prototype which contained a partial amount of this stage, as well as data from old versions of Ice Cap and At Dawn. Cut to today, and we have the above video thanks to Retro member evilhamwizard – a mostly complete version of what was once Windy Valley. Obviously this is still a work in progress with clearly unfinished camera and textures, but seeing a playable version is certainly a treat wouldn’t you say?
That’s not all though. There’s a second video available showing off the first “act” of Windy Valley also. This one’s a little more complete with more enemies and rings abound, and a little bit of camera work. Of course it’s not perfect, but like it’s been said, it’s all a work in progress.
Three cheers to evilhamwizard, and everyone else over at Retro who made this possible! If you wanna give these levels a shot, you’re free to do so if you own the SADX Mod Loader and the US version of Sonic Adventure DX for your PC. You can download the mod here, but be warned you’ll be fighting the camera. If you want more info, be sure to check out the original article over on Sonic Retro. Also, make sure you let us know what you think of this prototype Windy Valley in the comments below – good or bad?
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For years, fans have wondered “OH GOD! What does Robotnik’s theme sound like when played on a Trombone!?” Well you can wonder no longer.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5dCylVmcvw
Next year… if I have won the lottery, I intend to hire this young gentleman, to come to Summer of Sonic, and follow Svend around, to play this theme… all day long.
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