Sonic Boom: Fire & Ice (ソニックトゥーン ファイアー＆アイス, Sonikku Tūn Faiā & Aisu^?, lit. "Sonic Toon: Fire & Ice") 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 television series and the sequel to Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal.^[6] It was released exclusively on the Nintendo 3DS as the final Sonic title for the system in 2016, despite initial plans to release it in the Fall of 2015.^[7] Nintendo of Europe was responsible for the sales, marketing and distribution of the game throughout Europe, while Sega of Europe remained as the publisher.^[8] Sonic Boom: Fire & Ice follows Team Sonic's mission to save the world by closing dangerous fissures created by Dr. Eggman's Ragnium mining operations.

Several gameplay elements from its predecessor returned in Sonic Boom: Fire & Ice. In this game, though, the levels are shorter. In return, there are more of them in each world in the game. In addition, Amy has been added as the game's fifth playable character, and all characters can use the titular fire and ice powers to transform the structure in the levels. In addition, the game features a multiplayer racing mode called Bot Racing.

Plot[]

The story begins with Dr. Eggman having discovered a new supercharged element called Ragnium, a mineral he plans to use for his ultimate plan to get revenge on Sonic. In the meantime, Sonic and Amy arrive on Kodiak Frontier to set up some science equipment for Tails, who has discovered looming weather patterns that, if left unchecked, can bring about the end of the world. As Sonic and Amy set up a pole though, they rupture a fissure which infuses their Communicators 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. D-Fekt soon after tries to destroy Sonic and Amy with a robot named Unga Bunga from a huge totem, but is defeated.

Having arrived at Kodiak Frontier, Tails discovers that the fissures' fire and ice elements are what that are disrupting the environment. Sonic and Amy then arrive, and Tails figures out a way to push the powers in Sonic and Amy's Communicators over to the others, now allowing the entire team to use them. Before Tails can ponder about the fissures' connection to a new element that he detected, though, the team has to head home to contain some fissures that have begun erupting there, and to check up on Sticks. Along the way, the trio tries to catch D-Fekt, until Dr. Eggman shows up in his Egg Mobile to berate the robot for his failures to keep an eye on the fissures, and for screwing things up regarding his EggBot Racers. Eggman then kidnaps Sonic and brings him to Thunder Island, revealing his plan to humiliate Sonic and ruin his reputation as the fastest thing alive by having him compete in races against his supposedly unbeatable, Ragnium-charged EggBot Racers. Unimpressed, Sonic beats the competition and is returned to his team. However, Eggman would soon drop in again several times after that to take Sonic to new races against his other EggBot Racers, only for Sonic to emerge victorious each time.

Back home on Seaside Island, Sonic, Tails and Amy contain the fissures and find Sticks with D-Fekt, the badger having been captivated by how "cute" he is. Ignoring how dangerous the robot is, Sticks refuses to let him go, but he eventually escapes her when a fissure ruptures nearby. Afterwards, Sticks joins her friends as D-Fekt takes his leave. Soon after, Team Sonic chase D-Fekt into a nearby jungle. There, the quartet finds Knuckles, who they had mistaken for the robot, 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 are attacked by D-Fekt once more, who uses his powers to create another giant and monstrous robot named Sticky Situation from the local tar and dinosaur bones. Sonic and Tails, however, are able to defeat Sticky Situation. Soon after, Sonic is taken away again by Eggman to race his EggBot Racers once more. After Sonic wins, Eggman tries to return him to Paleo Tarpits, only for all of Team Sonic to rush in to save the hedgehog, thus making Eggman's trip more complicated. After Sonic is saved, the group has to break off their search for D-Fekt to seal more fissures, since sealing them in one place only causes them to pop up in another.

Soon after, in Cutthroat Cove, Team Sonic seals another fissure. There, Tails' scanners show that the fissure holds traces of Ragnium radiation, leading him 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 originally created by Dr. Eggman as "RagnaBot" to mine for Ragnium using eco-magnets. However, a malfunction left him unable to attract Ragnium. While he still loved his creator, Eggman's pride for RagnaBot turned into contempt over the robot's inability to live up to his name, 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. Emerging from his flashback, D-Fekt tries taking on Team Sonic again, this time using a giant, flora-based spider robot named Creepy Crawly. Regardless, Sonic and Knuckles were able to beat him.

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, Tails presents Sticks with a tracker that she has to put on D-Fekt, since he likes her. In spite of her paranoia, Sticks agrees and tricks D-Fekt into wearing the tracker by claiming that it is a friendship bracelet. 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 fissures. Upon spotting Team Sonic, Eggman begins blaming D-Fekt for the team's presence on Ragna Rock, before kicking him away, prompting Sticks to stop the doctor's bullying of the robot. Eggman then 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 as the robot begins picking all sorts of objects around him, but Eggman ends up getting pinned to the wall and begging Team Sonic to save him as D-Fekt begins to go out of control, tearing the Doctor's mine apart.

After seeing Eggman incapacitated, D-Fekt assembles his Double Trouble robot, but is, again, defeated, this time by Sonic and Sticks. Eggman's Ragnium is also left permanently destroyed in the aftermath, making it impossible for Eggman to mine for more Ragnium. After Sonic painfully rescues him from his trap, the doctor, feeling obligated to show some gratitude to Team Sonic for saving him, apologises to D-Fekt for how harshly he treated him, and, feeling obligated to show some gratitude to Team Sonic for saving him, reluctantly gives the robot to them as thanks, much to Sticks' joy. Tails then reprograms D-Fekt to be completely harmless and hands him over to the delighted Sticks, and Team Sonic decide to return home while Eggman leaves in his Egg Mobile to review his insurance.

Gameplay[]

Like, Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal, Sonic Boom: Fire and Ice is a 2.5 side-scrolling platform game. The gameplay takes place across seven islands, each with different main levels (referred to as "adventure levels"), minigame levels, and bonus levels. The game borrows several elements from its predecessor, such as a variety of playable characters to select from. There are a total of five main characters in the game that the player unlocks throughout the game: Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy and Sticks. During the game's adventure levels, the player can switch to any of the available characters at any time.

Each character also have their own unique skills: Sonic can perform the Spin Dash and Air Dash, allowing him to destroy dash blocks; Amy can create shockwaves with her hammer and transform the terrain using her Transform Terrain technique, namely by lower pillars blocking the passages; Tails can hover and has a blaster that can destroy metal blocks and bounce off Laser Reflects; Sticks can use her Guided Boomerang to control her Boomerang's flight path manually in order to destroy Boomerang Switches that keeps spiked blockades blocking paths in play; and Knuckles can punch enemies and burrow underground to reach new sections. In addition, Knuckles and Sticks have gained new abilities; by respectively making loops with the Boomerang or burrowing in circles, they can create explosions within those areas that destroy everything inside them. Alongside the individual skills are also shared skills, such as the Homing Attack to home in on enemies, the Sprint for running faster, and an Enerbeam for traversing.

The main mechanics of the game are the Fire and Ice Mode that each playable character has at their disposal. The player can switch between these powers any time, just like between characters. Fire Mode allow the player to melt ice blocks that appear in adventure levels, opening new paths. Conversely, Ice Mode allow the player to freeze water blocks to create passages and platforms for oneself. Some sections require smooth switching between these two elemental modes. The main obstacles the player will encounter in the game include both destructible enemies and arenas in the levels that are lined with spikes or movable spike blocks. The game also includes four bosses, during which both of the Nintendo 3DS’s screens will be utilized in some way. In each boss fight, Sonic pairs up with a different member of his team, in order to make use of all their abilities. Characters switches occur automatically during combat with the bosses, usually when moving onto the next phase of the battle.

Each adventure level in the game is divided into two planes: the background and the foreground. One can move between theses planes using specially-aligned Bounce Pads that replace the Slingshots from the previous game. Each adventure level also includes a Challenge Room, a special obstacle course with more confusing traps and a collectible at the end of it. The adventure levels in the game mix exploration with sections that require absolute speed. As in the previous game, the player also has the option to display a map of the adventure levels on the Nintendo 3DS's lower screen.

In addition to the adventure levels, there are three additional and optional types of level in this game. In the Sea Fox mini-games, the player takes control of the Sea Fox and has to navigate it through a mine-ridden underwater labyrinth to obtain a collectible. However, the player is given a time limit to complete this task, which is shortened should the player takes damage or collide with a wall. However, the player can gain more time by collecting purple clocks in those levels. The Sea Fox can also destroy obstacles blocking its path by firing torpedoes. The second type of optional levels are the Hovercraft levels featuring the Tailsmobile, which can accelerate and fire projectiles. These levels function much like the Sea Fox levels, but the perspective is set from a bird's eye view. There are also indestructible mines here, along with purple clocks to extend the player's time limit. What is new, however, are the icebergs floating on the paths, which the player can destroy with the Hovercraft's projectiles. There are also whirlpools that can slow down the player and swallow up various obstacles.

The last type of optional levels are the Fissure Tunnels, which are based on the Worm Tunnels from Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal. Here, the player takes control of Sonic, who has to run through an underground corridor from a three-dimensional perspective. IN Fissure Tunnels, Sonic cannot stop: he will be constantly running forward. However, the player can accelerate, change lanes and grab onto Ener-Rails. In addition, the player to use Fire and Ice Mode here to freeze water bridges for Sonic and melt icicles blocking the way. Collide with any obstacle, and the player will have to start the Fissure Tunnel all over again..^[9]

Like in the previous game, there are various collectibles to obtain in Sonic Boom: Fire & Ice. The most basic objects here are Rings that allow the characters to take damage without dying. When taking damage however, the playable character will drop some Rings and be moved back to the nearest safe place. The player can also collect some of the dropped Rings before they disappear. The new currency introduced in the game however is Ragnium, which can be earned by destroying enemies or completing certain objectives when playing through levels. Ragnium allows them to make purchases in the game's Bot Racer Workshop, which includes unlocking Bot Racers and upgrades for the playable character, such as an ability for drawing in nearby Rings or a Sprint that can destroy opponents. There are also Trading Card pieces, which can be obtained in Challenge Rooms and in the Sea Fox and Hovercraft bonus levels. These cards can be assembled in Tails' Workshop to unlock new Rival Race tracks for the Bot Racers. Another type of collectible in the game are the Hammer Parts that allow the player to unlock new looks for Amy's Hammer. These can be changed in Amy's House, although these changes are purely cosmetic. Lastly, there are the Junk Part collectibles that can be taken to Sticks' Burrow to complete Sticks' secret project.

An integral mini-game in Sonic Boom: Fire & Ice is the Bot Racing mode. In single-player mode, the player must take part in one Bot Racing minigame on each island; when arriving on a specific spot on the World Maps, Eggman will appear and kidnap Sonic, whom he will take to his stadium on Thunder Island. During these races, the player must beat one of Eggman's EggBot Racers by completing three laps around a track. Each track uses gameplay elements from the adventure levels, including gimmicks that rely on Fire and Ice Mode. Bot Racing is also available in the two-player mode featured on Thunder Island. Instead of Sonic however, the player can choose one of the already unlocked Bot Racers. Bot Racers are unlocked by defeating them in story mode, buying them for Ragnium, or collecting all the game's Junk Parts. In addition, each Bot Racer has a different set of stats that affect their style of gameplay. In return, they all share the same moveset.

Controls[]

Button formation	Movement
	Sonic	Amy	Tails	Sticks	Knuckles
left/right	Walk/Run
	Jump
X2	Double Jump
	Sprint
/	Fire Mode/Ice Mode
	Homing Attack
	Enerbeam
down +	Ground Pound
down +	Spin Dash	N/A
+	Air Dash	N/A			Burrow
	N/A	Transform Terrain	Blaster	Guided Boomerang	Punch
Hold + > release		N/A	Hover	N/A	N/A
Hold +			N/A	Guided Boomerang
+ + hold				N/A	Burrow

Objects[]

Items[]

Amy's Hammer Boomerang Dragon Ring (first appearance) Enerbeam Hammer Part (first appearance) Hovercraft Junk Part (first appearance)

Ragnium (first appearance) Ring Sea Fox Shield Tails' Blaster Trading Card (first appearance)

Gimmicks and obstacles[]

Air Vent Boomerang Switch Boost Pad Bounce Pad Checkpoint Dash block Disappearing platform Ener-Rail

Enerbeam Swing Hint Laser Reflect (first appearance) Mine Pillar (first appearance) Rail Water Spout (first appearance) Wick (first appearance)

Characters[]

Playable characters[]

• Amy Rose
• Knuckles the Echidna
• Miles "Tails" Prower
• Sonic the Hedgehog
• Sticks the Badger

Bot Racers[]

• Amy-bot (first appearance)
• Knuckles-bot (first appearance)
• Sonic-bot (first appearance)
• Sticks-bot (first appearance)
• Tails-bot (first appearance)
• EggBot Racers (first appearance)
  • Burn-bot
  • Eggman-bot (first appearance)
  • Fireman-bot
  • Giant Robot
  • Obliterator-bot
  • Vote-bot

Non-playable characters[]

• Dr. Eggman
• D-Fekt^[10] (first appearance)
• Orbot^[11]
• Cubot^[11]

Enemies[]

• Kodiak Frontier enemies
• Seaside Island enemies
• Paleo Tarpits enemies
• Cutthroat Cove enemies
• Gothic Gardens enemies

Levels[]

Sonic Boom: Fire & Ice is divided into seven overall levels, each taking place on a different island. Six of these islands are exploration-based and feature four main adventure levels (with the exception of Ragna Rock), one boss fight (with the exception of Seaside Island and Gothic Gardens), one Fissure Tunnel, one Hovercraft level, one Sea Fox level, and one mandatory Bot Race. The remaining island features the new Bot Racing mode.^[9][12] Some islands also host residences where the player can unlock additional content. 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

Bosses[]

• Unga Bunga (Kodiak Frontier) (only appearance)
• Sticky Situation (Paleo Tarpits) (only appearance)
• Creepy Crawly (Cutthroat Cove) (only appearance)
• Double Trouble (Ragna Rock) (only appearance)

Development[]

Sonic Boom: Fire & Ice was first announced on 9 June 2015.^[10] Since Sanzaru Games already focused on the Nintendo 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.^[13] Sega producer Omar Woodley stated that both Sega and developer Sanzaru Games had been learning from their experience with Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal.^[14] 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.^[6][14][9] Likewise, the game's plot was more closely tied to the animated series to make it more appealing to fans.^[14]

On 15 September 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.^[7] Sega announced that the game would launch with a special edition containing a DVD that included three episodes from the cartoon. Sonic Boom: Fire & Ice also made an appearance at E3 2016.^[15]

Cast and Voice Direction[]

Jack Fletcher was the voice director for the English dub, Keiichiro Miyoshi was the voice director for the Japanese dub, Antoine Nouel was voice director for the French dub, Alice Bongiorni was the voice director for the Italian dub, Michael Hülsmann was the voice director for the German dub, and Guillermo Reinlein was the voice director for the Spanish dub.

Role	Voice actor(s)
	English	Japanese	French	Italian	German	Spanish
Sonic the Hedgehog	Roger Craig Smith	Jun'ichi Kanemaru	Alexandre Gillet	Renato Novara	Marc Stachel	Jonatán López
Miles "Tails" Prower	Colleen O'Shaughnessey	Ryō Hirohashi	Marie-Eugénie Maréchal	Benedetta Ponticelli	Anke Kortemeier	Graciela Molina
Knuckles the Echidna	Travis Willingham	Nobutoshi Canna	Sébastien Desjours	Maurizio Merluzzo	Claus-Peter Damitz	Sergio Mesa
Amy Rose	Cindy Robinson	Taeko Kawata	Naïké Fauveau	Serena Clerici	Shandra Schadt	Meritxell Ribera
Sticks the Badger	Nika Futterman	Aoi Yūki	Claire Morin	Benedetta Ponticelli	Nicole Hannak	Carmen Ambrós
Dr. Eggman	Mike Pollock	Kotaro Nakamura	Marc Bretonnière	Aldo Stella	Hartmut Neugebauer	Francesc Belda
Orbot	Kirk Thornton	Mitsuo Iwata	Tony Marot	Massimo Di Benedetto	Romanus Fuhrmann	Albert Vilcan
Cubot	Wally Wingert	Wataru Takagi	Benjamin Pascal	Luca Sandri	Matthias Horn	Xadi Mouslemeni Mateu

Promotion[]

Main article: Sonic Boom (DVD)

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.^[16]

Reception[]

Reception
Aggregate scores
Aggregator	Score
GameRankings	60.78%[17]
Metacritic	62%[18]
Review scores
Publication	Score
Destructoid	7/10[19]
Game Informer	7/10[20]
GameZone	8.5/10[21]
IGN	7.5/10[22]
Nintendo Life	6/10[23]
Nintendo World Report	7/10[24]

Sonic Boom: Fire & Ice received generally mixed reviews, with it holding a current Metacritic score of 62%,^[18] while getting notably more praise compared to the previous games in the Sonic Boom 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.^[22] Jed Whitaker of Destructoid praises the game's platforming gameplay and boss battles, while stating the fire and ice mechanic being functional, but not adding a lot to the gameplay.^[19] 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.^[24] While James Wynne of GameZone praises the game as "huge improvement over Shattered Crystal,"^[21] 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.^[25]

The game received common criticism towards its presentation. Thomas Whitehead of Nintendo Life describes the game as a solid effort with slightly disappointing downsides, as stating art design being a dull and unimaginative at times.^[23] 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.^[24]

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.^[22][26][27] 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."^[28][29]

GameCentral were very critical of the game, giving it a 3/10, stating that "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."^[30]

Trivia[]

• This is the first handheld Sonic platformer to have Amy Rose, in any of her incarnations, as a playable character since Sonic Advance 3.
• This is the final Sonic game to be released for the Nintendo 3DS.
• The Bounce Pads were redesigned to resemble the modern Springs from the main series 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.
• Sonic Boom: Fire & Ice is the first Sonic game not to be released in the year it was announced. The second of these would be Team Sonic Racing which was first set for a winter 2018 release, but was later delayed until spring 2019.^[31]
  • This was the first since the Sonic franchise debut to not have any release of a physical copy from a Sonic game.
• Sonic Boom: Fire & Ice contains teasers for the second season of the Sonic Boom television series within its bonus content.^[32]
  • According to Bill Freiberger, the game takes place sometime during the show's second season as well.^[33]
• Unlike Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal, the in-engine 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.
• A month after the game's release, the official Sonic the Hedgehog 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 Sonic Boom game in which Shadow the Hedgehog and Metal Sonic do not appear.
• This is the last game to feature Jonatán López as the official Spanish voice actor for Sonic, as Ángel de Gracia would succeed him starting with Lego Dimensions and Sonic Forces due to the former's retirement. Although this is the last game that he provides new dialogue for the hedgehog, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate would be the final game to feature him as the voice of Sonic (albeit via archived audio) before his passing in 2020.

Videos[]

References[]

External links[]

• Official website (Japanese)