Modern Sonic games have a stigma of mediocrity; whether or not that stigma is warranted or correct is up to you to decide but with Sonic Boom: Fire and Ice it’s definitely not the case. There’s a good Sonic game here hidden behind some boring decisions and easy gaming.
People want Sonic games to be fast, but they also want some good platforming action and reward for that speed. Fire and Ice manages to dish this out but also throws the titular mechanic into the mix. The game is played with Sonic or one of his ever-expanding group of friends and they all have their different abilities. Sonic has all the abilities you expect from the blue blur, and also has the ability to freeze or melt obstacles, enemies and more to progress through the level. You won’t just have to go fast but you’ll have to switch between freezing and melting to get a good rhythm going through the levels.
Sonic’s friends all have the same fire and ice ability but they do each have a different ability or weapon. For example, Amy has a hammer to smash things out of the way, and Sticks has a boomerang to hit switches out of reach. If you just groaned at the thought of that, don’t worry, you really don’t have to do this or even use these characters much outside of looking for hidden and locked-off treasures. The vast majority of the game can be played just using Sonic.
The frozen or fire-based obstacles too don’t get too much in the way, neither do the game’s bad guys. You can bop and bounce through a level without breaking too much of a sweat. The game is actually quite easy; there’s hard parts here and there, but for the most part you’ll literally burst though the levels. It’s the boss battles that you might have a little trouble with as they require some coordination between two characters at once. You might pick Amy to smash platforms out of the way or Knuckles to dig and assist Sonic .
Like most Sonic games you can run through the ‘middle’ of the level but you’ll need to be on your toes to find the harder track through the levels, get weapon upgrades and unlock bonuses like multiplayer stages and artwork. There are also hidden challenge rooms on each level, this is where your best Sonic skills will be required, but again it’s still pretty easy. You’ll be able to smash through the game pretty quickly, but going back to get the artwork, the hidden maps and finding all of the challenge rooms will take some time.
Sonic Boom Fire and Ice is presented in a Mario-esqe style hub world as you move from stage to stage. In the hub there are optional side missions that you can partake in like Sonic races and even on-rails segment for Tails. It’s a good break from main Sonic action and offers up something different if you need a break from the pace of the main game (but then why are you playing a Sonic game?). The game also supports local multiplayer, but as mentioned before most of the maps are locked hidden away in the single player and you’ll all need a cartridge to play. There’s StreetPass support but unfortunately there’s nothing for your Sonic amiibo to do.
The most disappointing part of Fire and Ice is perhaps how the game sounds and looks, it’s not terrible by any means but the art style and the world seem fairly boring. I can’t remember anything I saw that stood out, there’s nothing alive like Tropical Freeze or even a Yoshi game. The music as well sounds fairly generic. There’s no classic Sonic themes or anything that could be going forward, it just doesn’t have any identity of it’s own. Luckily the game is good where it counts.
Sonic Boom Fire & Ice is a good Sonic game and manages to do what people expect from the good games in the series: go fast, but also allow for great control to make the game more precise when needed. The freezing and melting mechanic doesn’t slow down the game, instead adding another layer to the action. This is one game that won’t give you too much of a challenge however, you will be able to cruise through it, but there are things to go back and look around for. A fine-spin off game, but it still is missing something to make a proper stamp on the world.
Rating: 3/5
