Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric

Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric is one of the most lifeless games I've ever played. So devoid of competence. It's just embarrassing.

Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric had one of the strangest developments I've ever seen. Arguably stranger than the development of Sonic '06. Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric was originally gonna be some sort of origin story for the character. Which is actually a really cool concept. Early concept art and other sources showed that this game was gonna be a lot more story-driven, with a dark tone. It would have been 4 players (Which ended up being only 2 players). Sega didn't lead the project like usual. Instead, they brought in a developing company, BigRedButton, a team largely composed of Ex NaughtyDog employees who worked on games like Uncharted, Jak and Daxter and Crash Bandicoot to handle the game while they oversee it. Unfortunately, ideas were scrapped VERY LATE in development. For starters, Sega released a cartoon known as Sonic Boom on Cartoon Network and decided that this new game would tie into the show. So very late in development, the script, the story, and the voice work all had to be redone to connect to the show. Which is the reason why the story is as a mess as it is. It didn't help that the Wii U was not as powerful as expected. Which led to an array of budget cuts and a rushed development.

Because of this and many other issues, Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric is an unfinished and buggy game filled with so many issues that not even a patch shortly after release could fix the damage. In other words, Sega made the same mistakes they made when developing Sonic '06. Now is it as broken as Sonic '06? I wouldn't say that. But it's definitely unfinished.

Sonic Boom heavily changed the character designs and personalities of the characters (Which was quickly reverted back after this game). Sonic had taped gloves and shoes, more defined quills, a scarf, and was a lot more arrogant. Amy was given a larger dress and socks and was less obsessive. Tails is given taped shoes and goggles and is more or less the same character. Knuckles is bigger and has more defined muscles. However, he's a meathead and not very smart. I'm fine with the redesigns and personalities only because the characters surprisingly have great chemistry, are more expressive (Except maybe Amy) and the game is actually pretty funny. This is mostly due to being associated with the show which is pretty good with the comedy. Eggman also got redesigned. He's shorter, has a yellow and red patterned suit, and is slimmer. He is a bit more stupid but not much is changed. The worst change they had was with Shadow's character. He looks basically like Sonic but black and red like always. Except his personality is awful. He's a generic evil rival and that's it. The only change I don't see is Metal Sonic. He looks exactly the same. They also introduce the character (Who is more prevalent in the show), Sticks the Badger. She's just a crazy person who loves nature as far as I'm aware.

The story is an absolute mess. Sonic and friends are fighting Eggman as always until they accidentally awaken Lyric. A Lizard-Like Creature hellbent on turning the world into a robot land. Sonic, Amy, Knuckles, and Tails must find these missing crystals to stop him. The story makes no sense half the time and though the chemistry and humor are fine, it doesn't save this convoluted trash.

The gameplay is so strange. It's not about gaining speed and avoiding obstacles and finding shortcuts. It's a 3D Action-Adventure game with combat and puzzles. There's 4 playable characters. Sonic who is the fastest, Amy who is the most athletic, Knuckles who is the strongest, and Tails who can use gadgets. The game does have neat animation. Sonic's spindash and Knuckles climbing look really Smoove. However, it's everything else. The levels drag for way too long and the puzzles and exploration are mindless and boring. The combat is so bland. It's mindless button mashing until you win and it never gets exciting. There are speed sections, but the framerate is awful during it and the game has a lot of glitches. There was a glitch where you can infinite jump as Knuckles and skip levels. Which I couldn't do because it was patched out. Sonic doesn't need to be all about speed. But this game doesn't execute what it wants to be well at all. The loading is also really long. It isn't broken or unplayable by any means. It's just really lifeless and unpolished.

The music is also bad. Sonic games are known for having great soundtracks. This ost isn't annoying like Sonic and the Secret Rings. It's just very generic music that feels like stock music. Generic Adventure Music.

Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric does have nice humor and chemistry between the characters. But it is an unfinished and boring slog to go through that is just so unfun to play. It's not as bad as Sonic '06. But it's still a mess that lacked the ambition that at least Sonic '06 had