Sonic Boom: Fire & Ice

Sonic Boom: Fire & Ice, known as Sonic Toon: Fire & Ice (ソニックトゥーン ファイアー＆アイス) in Japan, is a 2.5D side-scrolling action-adventure platform game, developed by Sanzaru Games and published by Sega. It is the third video game based on the Sonic Boom TV series and the sequel to Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal. It was released exclusively on the Nintendo 3DS in 2016. Nintendo of Europe is responsible for the sales, marketing and distribution of the game throughout Europe, while Sega of Europe remained as the publisher.

Development
Sonic Boom: Fire & Ice was first announced on June 9, 2015. Since Sanzaru Games already focused on the 3DS and Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal proved the stronger title over Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric, it was decided to solely focus on the 3DS. Sega producer Omar Woodley has stated both Sega and developer Sanzaru Games have been learning from their experience with Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal. One of the problems they identified was how, even though the game was targeted towards children aged 7–11, fans of classic Sonic games picked up the game and had a harder time getting into Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal 's lengthy exploration-based levels. As such, levels were made about 40% shorter and include a linear path (which the developers based on earlier Sonic game stages) through the levels to better suit gamers who prefer speeding through levels, in addition to exploration-based elements to keep it in line with Sonic Boom 's gameplay style. Likewise, the game's plot was more closely tied to the animated series to make it more appealing to fans.

On September 15, 2015, Sega announced that Sonic Boom: Fire & Ice which was planned for a release in Fall 2015, would be delayed to 2016 to allow more development time and coincide with the series' 25th anniversary. Sega announced that the game will launch with a special edition containing a DVD that has three episodes from the cartoon. Sonic Boom: Fire & Ice also made an appearance at E3 2016.

Plot
The story begins with Dr. Eggman having discovered a new supercharged element called Ragnium on the mythical island of Ragna Rock which he plans to use for his revenge against Sonic. In the meantime, Team Sonic has discovered looming weather patterns that, if left unchecked, can bring about the end of the world. While on Kodiak Frontier to set up some monitors for Tails back on Seaside Island though, Sonic and Amy rupture a fissure which infuses their Communicator with elemental energies that grant them new fire and ice powers. With these powers, Sonic and Amy seal the fissure, slightly stabilizing the local weather. Noticing this, Tails has the pair meet up with him on Kodiak Frontier. On their way to Tails though, Sonic and Amy come across D-Fekt, a small Eggman robot with nearly limitless magnetic powers who tries (and fails) to stop the hedgehogs from sealing more fissures.

While Tails discovers that the fissures' fire and ice elements are what that are disrupting the environment, Sonic and Amy arrive, and Tails figures out a way to push the powers in Sonic and Amy's Communicators to the others, allowing them all to use them. Before Tails can ponder about the fissures connection to a new element he detected though, the team has to head home to contain some fissures that have begun erupting there and check up on Sticks. Along the way, the trio tries to catch D-Fekt until Dr. Eggman shows up to berate D-Fekt for his failures. Eggman then kidnaps Sonic and brings him to Thunder Island, revealing his plan to humiliate Sonic by having him compete in races against his supposedly unbeatable, Ragnium-charged EggBot Racers. Unimpressed, Sonic easily beats the competition and returns to his team. Not letting this set him back, Eggman drops in several times after that to take Sonic to new races against his other robots, only for Sonic to emerge victorious each time.

Back home, Sonic, Tails and Amy contain the fissures and find Sticks with D-Fekt, the badger having been captivated by how "cute" D-Fekt is. Ignoring how dangerous the robot is, Sticks joins her friends as D-Fekt escapes. Soon after, the quartet finds Knuckles when they mistake him for D-Fekt, and the echidna comes along with them. From there, Team Sonic begins following D-Fekt across the islands while also sealing fissures, suspecting that the robot and the fissures share a connection.

On Paleo Tarpits, Team Sonic has to break off their search to seal more fissures since sealing them in one place only causes them to pop up in another. later, in Cutthroat Cove, Tails' scanners show the fissures hold traces of Ragnium, leading to the discovery of a moving Ragnium source which Team Sonic follows. This Ragnium source turns out to be D-Fekt. Noticing he is being followed, D-Fekt remembers how he was created by Dr. Eggman as "RagnaBot" to mine for Ragnium using eco-magnets. When a malfunction left him unable to attract Ragnium though, Eggman's pride for RagnaBot turned into contempt, prompting Eggman to rename him "D-Fekt" and make him one of his Island Defenders. However, D-Fekt soon learned that he could magnetize everything other than Ragnium and so made it his goal to defeat Sonic and regain Eggman's love.

Needing to analyze D-Fekt, Team Sonic catches him in Gothic Gardens where Tails' analysis confirms that the robot has been in contact with Ragnium. As such, all they had to do is follow D-Fekt to the source of the Ragnium. However, they have to find him again since Sticks released him. Once they catch up to him, Sticks tricks D-Fekt into wearing a tracker. Following the signal, Team Sonic arrives at Eggman's Ragnium mine on Ragna Rock where Eggman is piping the by-products from his mining operation off to adjacent islands, creating the fissures. The island, however, is on the verge of exploding from the pressure due to Team Sonic's meddling with the fissure. There, Eggman orders Orbot and Cubot to destroy Team Sonic, only for D-Fekt to take the initiative himself. Eggman is amazed by D-Fekt's powers, but ends up getting pinned to the walls as D-Fekt begins tearing his mine apart.

Begging Team Sonic to save him, Sonic and Sticks defeats D-Fekt, but Eggman's Ragnium is left permanently destroyed in the aftermath. After Sonic makes a painful rescue of Eggman, the doctor, feeling obligated to show some gratitude, reluctantly gives D-Fekt to Team Sonic as thanks, much to Sticks' joy. Tails then reprograms D-Fekt to be completely harmless, and Team Sonic heads home while Eggman leaves to review his insurance.

Gameplay
Like, Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal, Sonic Boom: Fire and Ice is a side-scrolling platform game, with focus on speed and optional exploration, where the player has to get through various levels with Team Sonic. Over the course of the game, players controls, Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Sticks, and newcomer to the 3DS Amy. For this game, the characters' movesets have been revamped from Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal, retaining the same moves from before and are given new surprises as well. Like in the previous game, the player can instantly switch between the characters during gameplay using the touchscreen, with each character having their own unique abilities such as Sonic's mid-air dash, Tails' flight, Knuckles' burrowing, Sticks' boomerang, and Amy's hammer for progressing through the levels, along with common skills such as the Homing Attack to home in on enemies and an Enerbeam for traversing. Like in the previous game, this one also contains a variety of collectibles.

The game includes six bosses, including the final boss, during which both of the 3DS’s screens will be utilized in some way. Sonic fights all of the bosses along with one predetermined teammate.

The game also includes three types of bonus stages. The first takes the form of a halfpipe run, much like the Special Stage from Sonic the Hedgehog 2. The second is a calmer underwater stage where the player pilots the Sea Fox and looks for collectibles. The third requires the player to pilot a hovercraft and dodge icebergs.

A unique gimmick in this game is the addition of Fire and Ice Mode, which apply both to the level environments and character abilities. For example, Sonic can infuse himself with fire to melt ice blocks and blast enemies or surround himself with ice in order to freeze water and enemies, alternating between the two at will. The game also features various Challenge Rooms and a local two-player mode using the Bot Racing feature where a user can unlock character themed Bots to challenge friends to races.

Playable characters
The main game contains five playable characters: Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Sticks, and newcomer Amy Rose, who can be switched to at anytime during normal stages. All five of the playable characters have access to the same moveset, though each one has their own special abilities. The abilities exclusive to each of the five characters are shown below: In addition to Team Sonic, the Bot Racing offers eleven additional playable Bot Racers, which are unlocked over the course of the game. These characters possess the same common skills as Team Sonic, along with the Air Dash:
 * Sonic the Hedgehog: Can use a special air dash. He can also perform a Spin Dash to move faster than sprinting.
 * Amy Rose: Can break things and alter the terrain of a level using her hammer. Hammer can be used in the air to attack and bounce of breakable objects/enemies.
 * Miles "Tails" Prower: Can hover and fly by using air streams and wields a blaster that can reflect off mirrors, evaporate special blocks, and destroy enemies.
 * Knuckles the Echidna: Can punch targets and burrow underground to reach parts of the landscape no other characters can access. While burrowing, he can cause an explosion by looping around an area.
 * Sticks the Badger: Can throw her boomerang in any direction. She can also take complete control over its path mid-flight. This can be used to hit far-away and out-of-reach targets. Also during a guided boomerang, she can cause an explosion by looping it around an area.

Non-playable characters

 * Dr. Eggman
 * D-Fekt
 * Orbot
 * Cubot

Bosses

 * Unga Bunga
 * Sticky Situation
 * Creepy Crawly
 * Double Trouble

Levels
Sonic Boom: Fire & Ice is divided into seven overall worlds, each taking place on a different island. Six of these islands are exploration-based and feature four main stages (with the exception of Ragna Rock), one boss (with the exception of Seaside Island and Gothic Gardens), one Fissure Tunnel, one Hovercraft stage, one Sea Fox stage, and one bot race. The remaining island features the new Bot Racing mode. The game's levels include:


 * 1) Kodiak Frontier
 * 2) Seaside Island
 * 3) Paleo Tarpits
 * 4) Cutthroat Cove
 * 5) Gothic Gardens
 * 6) Ragna Rock
 * 7) Thunder Island

Reception
Sonic Boom: Fire & Ice received generally mixed reviews with a current Metacritic score of 62%, while getting notably more praise compared to previous games in the spin-off series Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric and Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal. Jared Petty of IGN describes the game as fun adventure, while praising optional stages with vertical shooter-style mechanics and conceived exploratory structure of the game. Jed Whitaker of Destructoid praises the game's platforming gameplay and boss battles, while stating fire and ice mechanic being functional, but not adding a lot to the gameplay. Daan Koopman of Nintendo World Report states the game being "well-paced platformer, with the right mix of stages when I’d get bored of the basic platforming." He praises the game's unique flavors of each playable character and variety of stages. While James Wynne of GameZone praises the game as "huge improvement over Shattered Crystal", while Mike Fahey of Kotaku noted the game for combining the wit and charm of the cartoon with the speed and simplicity of old school Sonic the Hedgehog games.

The game received common criticism towards its presentation. Thomas Whitehead of Nintendolife describes the game as solid effort with slightly disappointing downsides, as stating art design being a dull and unimaginative at times. While criticizing the plot and in-game cutscenes, Daan Koopman of Nintendo World Report describes bosses being one of the more graphically impressive parts of the game.

Most criticism aimed at the game's short length, the stages and the overall elements getting repetitive while playing, the control schemes, and its simplistic storyline. The SixthAxis added "that the fans of the Sonic Boom animated series will still likely find something to enjoy, but younger gamers may struggle with the new-found emphasis on multiple abilities and gated areas.", in a similar fashion to Destructoid, who said "that hardcore fans of the series will probably get some enjoyment out of this, but for the full price of $40, it is hard to recommend the game to anyone else."

GameCentral were very critical of the game, giving it a 3/10, stating "Being better than the other Sonic Boom games really isn't a compliment, as this dull, ugly platformer continues to sully the memory of Sega's once great mascot."

Launch Edition
On 1 June 2016, it was announced by Sega that those who got their hands on a launch edition of Sonic Boom: Fire & Ice would receive a free DVD that includes three episodes from the Sonic Boom cartoon series. The DVD contains episodes from the first season of Sonic Boom.

Trivia

 * This is the first game in the Sonic Boom series to have all five members of Team Sonic playable.
 * This is the first handheld Sonic platformer to have Amy, in any of her incarnations, as a playable character since Sonic Advance 3.
 * The Bounce Pads were redesigned to resemble the modern Spring in the main games.
 * The announcement trailer for Sonic Boom: Fire & Ice uses clips from the episodes "Buster", "Guilt Tripping", "Cowbot", and "Aim Low" in the Sonic Boom television series. The E3 trailer used clips from the episode "The Curse of Buddy Buddy Temple".
 * In the game's announcement trailer, the song "Porta Vista" by Hyper Potions, a Monstercat-released song, plays in the background.
 * This game was first set for a release for the Holidays in 2015 but was later delayed to 2016..
 * Thus making this as the first Sonic game not to be released in the year it was announced. The second game would be Team Sonic Racing which was first set for a release for winter but was later delayed until spring 2019.
 * This was the final Sonic game was released for Nintendo 3DS.
 * Accordingly, Sonic Boom: Fire & Ice contain teasers for the second season of the Sonic Boom television series.
 * According to Bill Freiberger, Sonic Boom: Fire & Ice takes place sometime during the second season of the Sonic Boom television series.
 * Unlike Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal, the non-CGI cutscenes in Fire & Ice feature full voice-acting and motion, instead of just on-screen text, gestures, and grunts.
 * During the first encounter with D-Fekt, Amy breaks the fourth wall by alluding to Sonic Boom ' s merchandise.
 * In each boss fight, Sonic pairs up with a different member of his team: Amy for Unga Bunga, Tails for the Paleo Tarpits boss, and Knuckles for the Cutthroat Cave boss, and Sticks for the final boss battle.
 * In the gallery of concept artworks for the television show, the description for the concept art of Knuckles' fantasy in "Dude, Where's My Eggman?" mentions that Knuckles' power level might be over 9000, which is a reference to the popular meme from the Dragon Ball Z anime.
 * Each playable character has the same sprinting speed.
 * A month after the game's release, the official YouTube channel made an "unexpected" trailer for "Sonic Boom: Fire & Ice The Romantic Comedy" film, as one of their jokes, using the CGI cutscenes from the game. The trailer also includes various joke references to popular internet media, such as IGN and Deus EX: Human Revolution.
 * This is the first and only time for a Sonic Boom game in which Shadow the Hedgehog and Metal Sonic do not appear.

Videos
Announcement= Announcement (Japanese)= E3 Trailer= E3 Trailer (Japanese)= Joypolis Trailer= Gameplay (Japanese)= Launch trailer=