Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal

Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal (known in Japan as Sonic Toon: Island Adventure (ソニックトゥーン アイランドアドベンチャー) is a 2D side-scrolling action/adventure game, produced and developed by Sanzaru Games, and released exclusively on the Nintendo 3DS and Nintendo eShop on 11 November 2014 in North America. The game plays as the handheld counterpart of Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric and is the second title of the Sonic Boom continuity. Both this and the Wii U game serve as prequels to the animated television series. Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal specifically centers around events and lore of the Sonic Boom continuity with exclusive environments and characters.

Development
On May 17, 2013, Sega announced a worldwide agreement with Nintendo for the next three games in Sega's Sonic the Hedgehog series to be developed exclusively for Nintendo devices. This included Sonic Lost World and Mario & Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games. On February 6, 2014, Sega announced Sonic Boom as the official title for Wii U and Nintendo 3DS, a general name encompassing both Shattered Crystal and the Wii U game Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric.

The game was developed as part of a new Sonic Boom franchise, which also includes Rise of Lyric, an upcoming game also for the Nintendo 3DS, a television series, a comic series by Archie Comics, and a toyline by Tomy. The concepts for the video games were developed after those for the TV series. The franchise was designed for Western audiences, and the two games serve as prequels to the television series. Sega announced that the game would feature Sonic's traditional speed alongside a new exploratory game mechanic called "Enerbeam". Sega of America's marketing director Marchello Churchill explained that the new franchise was not designed to "replace modern Sonic". The Western developer's CEO explained that Sonic Boom ' s Sonic is "very different ... both in tone and art direction". Sega outsourced both games to Western developers in order to increase the game's appeal in Western markets, culminating in a separate westernized Sonic sub-series. They remain a separate continuity from the main series, and were originally not intended to be released in Japan, although a Japanese release was later announced under the name Sonic Toon (ソニックトゥーン). Despite most elements of the games being new, their music was composed by Richard Jacques, who had also scored previous Sonic games, including Sonic 3D Blast, Sonic R, and Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed.

San Francisco-based game studio Sanzaru Games developed Shattered Crystal under supervision by Sonic Team and long-time Sonic game designer Takashi Iizuka. As well as possessing different gameplay styles and stories, the two games were designed with different aesthetics, particularly in their environments and enemies.

Plot
The game begins immediately after its in-game comic strip prequel, where Amy is in the middle of a fight with Lyric the Last Ancient who wants the info she has on finding the Lost Crystal of Power. After dealing a blow that stuns him for a bit, Amy contacts Sonic to tell him of her findings, only to be knocked off guard by Lyric, (getting disarmed in the process). Despite her protests, Lyric manages to plant a device on Amy's head, knocking her unconscious as he introduces himself to an outraged Sonic. After destroying Amy's communication device with his tail, Lyric makes his getaway.

After completing Seaside Beach, Sonic meets up with Tails, explaining the situation and asking for his help in tracking down Amy. Tails eagerly agrees and reveals his newly-developed form of technology that can allow the viewing of destroyed files. Sonic is glad at this fact, but then wonders how Sticks will react when she learns of Amy's capture. After finding their new friend Sticks the Badger, the duo tell her their current predicament, with Sticks nonchalantly running off to find Amy as they give chase. After a race, Sonic urges Sticks to join the team as teamwork is the only way they can win. Meanwhile, Tails manages to decipher some of Amy's research logs, which prompts them to head for the Scrapyard, where Knuckles last was. The group finds Knuckles without much trouble and the echidna is eager to help, claiming that they should get a move on. With the full team assembled, the group heads for Shadow Canyons, where they notice Shadow the Hedgehog standing off in the distance, only to run off. Wondering what he is up to, the group follows him, and after a race, he comes back to his senses and everyone realizes that he's been possessed by Lyric this entire time via a mind control device similar to the one used on Amy. After being taunted by a hologram of Lyric that comes from the broken device, Shadow skates off in hot rage, with the others agreeing to follow him into the Ancient Ruins.

After completing Ancient City, the group discovers that a large robot facility is hidden beneath the ruins, and is responsible for all of Lyric's robots. They decide to shut it down, and are ambushed by Metal Sonic while down there. Sonic races him, but loses and Tails shortly manages to track his movements and find that he is headed for the Volcanic Crater. Once there, the team finds themselves lost, but decides not to give up. After deciphering another of Amy's logs, they discover that a hangar of ancient planes is hidden in the volcano and decide to search for it. After finding it, the group heads off, and manages to escape the volcano, though Tails has some trouble steering the plane and ends up crash-landing on the Cloud Sanctuary, (much to an airsick Knuckles' relief). Meanwhile, it is revealed that Amy has regained consciousness and is adamantly refusing to translate the ancient language for him despite his orders, all the while claiming that Sonic and co. will come for her.

After Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Sticks, and the freed Amy finally arrive on Lyric's airship, they being to flaunt the power of teamwork in front of the dastardly snake, only for Lyric to get an idea and trap everyone but Sonic in the same glass ball that Amy had been imprisoned in previously. Sonic gives chase, and after fighting Lyric, he frees everyone. Their rejoicing is cut short however, as Lyric regains consciousness and prepares a giant robot to finish the group off. Shortly later, Shadow intervenes and dismantles the mech, rendering it useless and kicking Lyric out the bomb-doors of his own ship (which Sonic had opened just as this happened). The team rejoices again, as Sticks gives a slightly incorrect speech about teamwork. The adventure over, Shadow walks off, claiming to be a loner and superior to Sonic. Sonic is dismayed over the fact that Shadow does not want to join them, as he thinks that he would make great addition to "Team Sonic". Sonic and Knuckles then get into a brief argument over what the team's name should be as the group begins the long journey back home.

Gameplay
Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal is a 2D side-scrolling adventure platformer. Unlike its Wii U counterpart, which is more focused on 3D platforming and beat-em-up, Shattered Crystal places a bigger emphasis on platforming and puzzles, while each character has their own unique abilities to get them through the levels.

There are three different types of stages in Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal. The adventure levels take up the bulk of the game and include the normal gameplay sections. They are large, mostly non-linear 2.5D stages where the player controls all four characters. The adventure levels are as well divided into two parts (the foreground and background) that run parallel to each other, which can be traveled between with the Slingshot. The Rivals Race are levels which are also played from a 2.5D perspective. Here, the player races another character down a linear course. Finally, there are the Worm Tunnels, where the player runs down an obstacle course at full speed. In the latter two level-types, only Sonic is playable.

The bottom screen of the 3DS has three uses: A character-select screen allows the player to tap on the portraits of the playable characters to switch to them (they can also be switched by pressing their corresponding direction on the D-pad). There is also a map screen that shows the levels in a Metroidvania-esque map format that highlights things like collectibles, checkpoints, slingshots, and the level's exit, as well as showing the percentage of the map that has been explored. Finally, there is a Level Stats screen that shows the obtained collectibles and the time and ring records of previous playthroughs of the level in question.

The game contains a variety of collectibles, some of which unlock special content for Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric via connectivity between the two games. Game progression revolves around moving along the world maps, as well as the collection of Sonic Badges to access new levels. In addition, the player can earn Tokens which can be exchanged for collectible toys at Q-N-C's Toy Shops. Each adventure level awards three Sonic Badges and two Tokens, while the other levels only award one Sonic Badge and two Tokens. These objects can be earned in the following ways: Both Sonic Badges and Tokens cannot be earned more than once per level. Other ways to get Tokens include connecting with other players via StreetPass, and playing a daily minigame in Knuckles' Hangout.
 * Clear the level: Clearing a level awards one Sonic Badge.
 * Collect all the Crystal Shards: Collecting all five Crystal Shards that are found in each adventure level awards one Sonic Badge. These shards can be brought to Sticks' Burrow to repair the Lost Crystal. The player's progress with the Lost Crystal is displayed on the level loading screen. Collecting all shards gives a special Token which can be exchanged for an unique toy.
 * Collect all the blueprints: Collecting all six Blueprints that are found in each adventure level awards one Sonic Badge. These prints can be brought to Tails' Workshop where a set of six Blueprint pieces can be put together to unlock upgrades for the playable characters.
 * Clear a level in a certain time: Clearing a level within a certain time awards one Token. The time requirement often varies.
 * Clear a level with a certain amount of rings: Clearing a level with a certain amount of Rings awards one Token.

Playable characters
The game contains four playable characters: Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and newcomer Sticks, who can be switched to at anytime. All four of the playable characters have access to the same moveset, though each one has their own special abilities. The abilities that everyone can perform are as follows: The abilities exclusive to each of the four characters are shown below:
 * Being able to Sprint to traverse the stage faster and in crease jump distances.
 * Jumping/performing a double-jump.
 * Performing a downward stomp.
 * Using the Homing Attack.
 * Making use of the Enerbeam to remove enemy shields and swing from floating mechanisms that are scattered throughout the levels in order to reach new areas.
 * Sonic the Hedgehog: Can perform the Air Dash in four different directions, allowing him to break through special blue blocks and kill enemies in one hit. He is the only character who can perform the Spin-Dash, and is the fastest of the four and the highest jump.
 * Sticks the Badger: Can throw boomerangs that do the same amount of damage as a Homing Attack. By tapping the X button, she can toss a short-range boomerang in any of the four main directions, but by holding the button, she can throw one that can be controlled mid-flight for a short while. Both of these methods can be used to both hit faraway switches, grab items, and to attack enemies.
 * Knuckles the Echidna: Can dig underground in certain spots for a limited time, and can perform a punch move in four different directions to take out enemies. By making use of these punches, Knuckles can one-hit-kill enemies that normally require more than one hit to defeat. He is the slowest of the group and has the weakest jump.
 * Miles "Tails" Prower: Can use his twin-tails to glide across wide gaps, but unlike his counterpart from the mainstream games, he needs wind in order to gain altitude, and as a result cannot actually fly. By riding air-currents though, he can reach high-up areas. He can also throw bombs that home in on and stick to enemies damaging theme with the strength of a Homing Attack after a timer goes off, and is the only one who can activate the Sea Fox submarine by pressing X near certain monitors.

Non-playable characters

 * Amy Rose
 * Dr. Eggman
 * Metal Sonic
 * Q-N-C
 * Shadow the Hedgehog
 * Lyric the Last Ancient

Areas
Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal is divided into six island areas with eight adventure levels, six Worm Tunnels and three Rival Races divided between them. Each area has a World Map where the player can access said areas' levels and houses with special features. Travel between them is done through the Slingshot on each World Map. The areas levels include:
 * 1) Seaside Coast
 * 2) Scrapyard
 * 3) Shadow Canyons
 * 4) Ancient Ruins
 * 5) Volcanic Crater
 * 6) Cloud Sanctuary

Worm Tunnels
Each area in the game has one Worm Tunnel that gets progressively harder. In these 3D areas, only Sonic is playable. Here, the player is stuck at a full run down a pre-set path, and must move left and right to dodge obstacles and use both Bounce Pads and Ener-Rails to cross chasms, all to reach the end of the tunnel.

Rival Races
Located through out the game are four Rival Races that the are the equivalent off boss battles. Like the Worm Tunnels only Sonic is playable.

Seaside Race
Seaside Race is the first rival race in the game it takes place in Seaside Jungle and is against Sticks.

Shadow Canyons Race
Taking place in Shadow Canyons the second rival race is against a mind control Shadow the Hedgehog.

Facility Race
Is the third rival race in the game. Taking place in the Robot Facility the player must beat Metal Sonic to the end of the stage.

Lyric's Airship
Lyric's Airship is the final rival race in the game. It is located inside Lyric's airship. It is unique in that not only in that Sonic must fight lyric after each running section in the only true boss of the game.

Amy's House
Unlocked for collecting all the Sonic Badges. Inside is a completely non-interactive dance party of the main characters dancing a very stiff and jerky version of the Robot.

Sonic's Shack
Unlocked after beating Seaside Beach. Used to listen to in game music, watch cutscenes again, and read the prequel comic.

Tails' Workshop
Unlocked after beating Seaside Beach. Used to make upgrades from blueprints collected through the game as well as disable them after completing them.

Stick's Burrow
Unlocked after beating Seaside Jungle. Used to put the Lost Crystal of Power back together for the purple token to get figurine number 61.

Knuckles' Hangout
Unlocked after arriving at the second island. Used to get one token every 24 hours. Changing the calender to the next day on the Nintendo 3DS will not allow the player to replay the game for tokens early.

Q-N-C's Toy Shop
Unlocked after beating the first level. Used to collecting toys in exchange for tokens and viewing collected toys.

Upgrades
By collecting Blueprints and putting them together upgrades can be unlocked which it provide supporting abilities to the characters in gameplay. The Upgrades are unlocked in a set order and must be completed before moving unlocking the next one but the can also be turned off as well.

Comic adaptation
In addition to the main gameplay and storyline, Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal includes a digital comic produced by Archie Comics as in-game content. This comic is four pages long and explores the events leading up to the game's opening cut scene. The comic was crafted by the same team helming the Sonic Boom comic series. The player can view this comic at any time in Sonic's house on the world map (unlocked at the same time as Tails' workshop) where they can also rewatch cutscenes and listen to the game's soundtrack.

Staff

 * Writer: Ian Flynn
 * Pencils: Evan Stanley
 * Inks: Rick Bryant
 * Colors: Matt Herms
 * Editors: Paul Kaminski, Vincent Lovallo

Summary
The story starts thousands of years ago as Lyric and his robot army are attacking an old temple. Inside, Lyric proclaims himself unstoppable to his fellow group of Ancients. However, Lyric then sees the Ancients break apart the object of which he sought: the Lost Crystal of Power that could grant him omnipotence. Lyric is furious, but the Ancients turn the Crystal Shards on him and uses them to imprison him. However, the Ancients know that they only managed to slow Lyric down and that he will be free one day, so they decide to scatter the crystal fragments.

In the present day, Lyric is searching for the crystal fragments with his robots, believing he will have what is rightfully his, when Shadow appears and ask him if he needs an army for that. Lyric wonders if he objects, but Shadow insists "Justice must be had by any means necessary." Lyric like Shadow's style and decides to make him his servant, but Shadow refuses to serve anyone. However, Lyric sneak a device onto Shadow and takes control of him.

Days later, Sticks is running from a rockslide in a ravine where Sonic and Knuckles come to her rescue. While Knuckles holds the boulders back, Tails and Amy get Sonic and the secured Sticks to safety with the Enerbeam. Sticks explains to the gang that she was in the ravine getting info from the rocks and claims a underground army will destroy them all. Ignoring Sticks, Amy goes back to her research at an ancient temple and takes Knuckles with her. After a long trip, they reach the temple where Amy has Knuckles stand guard outside as he annoyed her on the whole trip by asking when they were there. In the ruins, Amy is reading the carved symbols when Lyric appears and attacks her, declaring she will help him in his conquest. However, Amy summons her piko Hammer and starts fighting Lyric.

Characters

 * Sonic the Hedgehog
 * Miles "Tails" Prower
 * Knuckles the Echidna
 * Amy Rose
 * Sticks the Badger
 * Shadow the Hedgehog
 * Lyric the Last Ancient
 * Destruction Troops (multiple)

Reception
Unlike with previous games, Sega did not provide reviewers with advance copies of either Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal or Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric; they could only begin reviewing once the game was on sale. Like Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric, Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal was critically panned, but had slightly more positive reviews than Rise of Lyric ' s. The game received "generally unfavorable" reviews, according to video game review aggregator Metacritic.

Chris Carter of Destructoid was very critical of the game, feeling that while Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric had "some redeeming qualities", the same could not be said for Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal. He criticized numerous aspects of the game such as the "sluggish pace", "terrible dialogue" and mostly the repetitive gameplay. He concluded the review by stating "Rather than let you actually play, Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal is content to make you wait, wait, and wait some more before you get to the decent (but flawed) platforming. The design is maddening, especially when coupled with the poor dialog compliments of the new Boom universe."

Scott Thompson of IGN found the gameplay linear and "simplistic" whilst also criticizing the slow pace of the gameplay calling it "monotonous." They also found the story "poorly written" and found the humor to be "painfully unfunny." They concluded their review by stating that the game was "a mess of gameplay styles that never feel comfortable with each other" and deemed it as "a slog that never finds its footing." Becky Cunningham of GamesRadar was more forgiving of the game, opining that the game "offers some fun platforming and treasure hunting moments, but its tedious mazes and poor story ultimately make it a drag."

On May 11, 2015, Sega announced that Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric and Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal had sold 620,000 copies in total across both platforms, placing them as the lowest-selling major Sonic launches in the history of the franchise.

Trivia

 * This is the first handheld Sonic game to be handled by a development team other than Dimps since the Sega Game Gear games.
 * This is also the first handheld Sonic game since Sonic Rivals 2 in most of the world or Sonic Rush Adventure in Japan to feature playable characters other than Sonic himself in a platformer.
 * Amy's Figurine in the game modifies a quote from "Romeo and Juliet". The quote is "Amy, dear Amy, o wherefore art thou Amy?".
 * Sonic's Autobiography from Q-N-C's Toy Shop, appears in the TV series episode Translate This, in a scene where Amy is reading the book. The book also appears in Unlucky Knuckles.
 * Sticks' Autobiography, another item from Q-N-C's Toy Shop, appears in TV series episode My Fair Sticksy, in a scene where Sticks shows to her friends a calendar that is her autobiography.
 * Along with the Wii U version, this game was once called Sonic Synergy.
 * Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal has several aspects similar to Tails Adventure, such as the open level design, the Sea Fox being present, and Tails' usage of bombs as weapons.

Videos
E3 2014 Trailer = PAX Prime 2014 Trailer= Sonic Boom 2014 Event Trailer= Japanese Trailer= TV Commercial= Behind the Scenes= French Commercial=