My 1st review of 2015I've finally decided to make my first review of 2015! I've decided to review what many consider to be the worst game of 2014 Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric! Before I start the review I'd like to say few things. Back in 2013, it was announced that Sega would be making 3 Nintendo exclusive Sonic games. The 1st one was Sonic Lost World, the 2nd was Mario and Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Games, and the 3rd and final games were Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal for 3ds and Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric for Wii U. I never played Mario & Sonic Sochi but I did play Sonic Lost World. It's a good game while Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric for Wii U is the biggest trainwreck in the series since Sonic 06... Seeing how much hype was being made by Sega for Sonic Boom with a TV series being made for it as well as 2 games I found it sad to see how bad this game is. I'm now going to explain why it's so awful with this review.
Graphics: 2/10 Before the game even came out, there was plenty of controversy surrounding the character designs for Sonic and friends, especially Knuckles pretty much looks like he's been on steroids, and he's much taller and bigger in this game and his arms and legs have tape on them which makes him look like a mummy . Sonic also has the tape problem but the main issue I have with his design is his brown scarf. It doesn't go well on him.To me blue and brown don't go well together at all.The only character who's design I like is Tails. He's got a pair of goggles and a belt which suit him well. I had no problems with Dr. Eggman and Amy's designs either.
Another huge problem I have is the awful camera. If you're near a wall the camera will get stuck, no joke the camera can't go through walls. Horrible camera angles can really ruin video games, so can framerate issues. Well guess what? Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric has major framerate problems especially when you're in speed sections the framerate takes a major hit and it's really annoying. One other issue I have is the glitches. While they're nowhere near as bad as Sonic 06 they're still bad enough to be considered unacceptable to any and all games. The funniest of these glitches is called the inifinite jump and it can only be performed by Knuckles. You do this by jumping, then use his dive attack. Just as he's getting ready to dive pause the game, then resume and repeat the process and eventually you'll be able to break the game. If you know what you're doing then you can skip major portion of the game.There's other glitches as well but the thing I don't get is how Sega missed those glitches. You'd think they learned their lesson after the Sonic 06 debacle but obviously they didn't. All I know is that the glitches are a huge problem. Because of this and the awful character designs, the framerate issues and the camera problems I give the graphics a 2. If it weren't for Tails having a great design I would've given it a 1. You got lucky Sonic Boom.
Sound: 5/10 The Sonic series has some of the greatest soundtracks in the history of video games. Sonic Boom's soundtrack however is not memorable and there isn't much variety in the music. Most of the music in the game sounds very similar and while it doesn't sound bad, it's pretty bland and because of that I have to give the sound a 5 very mediocre.
Addictiveness: 2/10 Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric has no replay value whatsoever.One reason for this is because the game has a boring combat system. Each character has limited attacks. Sonic has his signature spin dash and homing attack, Knuckles punches and can use a diving attack, Amy swings her hammer and can use a spinning attack as well, and Tails uses bombs, and an invention called a buddy bot. Also each character can use a new item known as the enerbeam which is not only useful in combat (mainly for throwing enemies off a cliff which is sadly much funner than dealing with the tedious combat), but it's also needed to complete certain puzzles and to get to new locations. I like the enerbeam but it's not enough to make up for the bland combat. Another thing I don't like is the boss battles. None of them are entertaining and they're very easy. For these reasons I give the addictiveness a 2.
Story: 2/10 Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric has a bad story I'm not going to spoil the plot out of respect for those of you who will buy this game anyway despite all the negative reviews for it such as mine, your welcome! However I will say that the Shadow the Hedgehog and Metal Sonic didn't have big enough roles especially Shadow... Shadow's biggest moment in the game is a pointless boss fight that happens out of nowhere. My favorite character in the series is Shadow so when I heard he was gonna be in the game I was so excited but then once I saw how little he was used I thought to myself "Why was Shadow even in this game if he's only going to be in it for like 5 minutes?" The story isn't as bad as Sonic 06 so I won't give the story a 1 instead I'll give it a 2.
Depth: 7/10 This is the only category Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric truly shines. One reason for this is because the game has lots of places to explore. There are also lots of collectables and hidden areas to find. Unfortunately there are other video game franchises that do those things much better such as the Legend of Zelda. But since there is plenty of stuff to do in this game I'm giving the Depth a 7.
Difficulty: 1/10 Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric is by far the easiest Sonic Game I've ever played. One reason for this is because you have infinite lives. That's right there's no game overs in this game! I don't get why the creators would do something like that in a Sonic game. I know that this game was targeted for little kids but there's plenty of other games that don't give you infinite lives such as Mario, The Legend of Zelda, and Kirby games and younger audiences still love them (as well as some adults such as myself). Another reason this game is so easy is because the levels themselves aren't hard at all and the boss battles are pathetic. Sonic Boom is the easiest game of 2014 and for that reason I give the difficulty a 1.
Overall Score: 2.8/10 While Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric isn't quite as bad as Sonic 06, it's still terrible. It has terrible character designs, a terrible camera, framerate issues, laughably bad glitches, a bland combat system, an awful story, bad boss fights, and it's super easy. The only plus this game gets is that it's got a good amount of depth. Overall though this game is the biggest trainwreck in the Sonic series since Sonic 06 and it's the worst Wii U game of 2014. The overall Score for Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric is a 2.8.
Graphics
2 Sound
5 Addictive
2 Depth
7 Story
2 Difficulty
1
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