Sonic Boom Rise of Lyric Review
You know, it's just been one shitty Sonic Game after another. The only good exceptions I can think of is Sonic Unleashed, Sonic Colors and Sonic Generations. Mania is awesome of course. But here we have a game that was made by Big Red Button. This has a complicated development history. When SEGA merged with Nintendo, they are contractually obligated to make some games for the system.
However, Big Red Button didn't get the memo and developed Sonic Boom for PC's. And when they tried to port the work on the upcoming Nintendo WiiU, they also didn't do any research on what's compatible for it. As such, they had to start from scratch again. And thus, we got the final product of Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric. Yay.
I've heard the excuse from SEGA and from many people saying "Oh, this is an alternate universe!" Yeah, bullshit. Sonic wasn't doing too hot. AGAIN. And they decided to reboot it, just like with Sonic 06. Only, this bombed even worse. As such, it was a separate reality and we had the main games again. It was also made to announce the Sonic Boom cartoon show. But we'll get to that eventually.
It's time go fast... or whatever the fuck Sonic says nowadays and find out what the hell is up with this game.
STORY
Our story begins with Sonic getting shot with lasers by robots and being left for dead. ... Well. That escalated quickly. We then get the cliché of finding out what happened that lead to this moment. And just a heads up, it's absolutely retarded. We start off the game proper with Sonic, Tails, Knuckles and Amy chasing Dr. Eggman who's doing... er... something. Oh, and Metal Sonic's here just 'cause.
Anyways, Sonic and the group split up to cover more ground as they eventually meet at some weird temple place that has images of Sonic and Tails on the walls and door. Hmm... how strange. They are also surrounded by robots that Eggman didn't make for once. I know, madness! After Tails, Knuckles and Amy get curb stomped by Metal Sonic, Sonic places his hand on the door which magically opens. The group retreats and Metal Sonic tries the same thing, but it's not a match and has a hissy fit.
Here, the group bitches to Sonic that they had it covered. Uh... yeah, no. No you didn't. Let's go back shall we? Metal Sonic swat the three like God damn flies AND were surrounded by robots! No, they did not have that covered. You are fucking morons. What was Sonic supposed to do? Watch his friends be kicked around? What assholes.
Anyways, they go through some trials and unintentionally released a snake creature named Lyric. Yes. His name is Lyric. I'm entirely convinced Big Red Button has never seen a Sonic Game or it's villains before. Really? That's the best name you could come up with? Lyric? God, what are the rest of his species names? Beat, Percussion, Rhythm or worse, Bridge?
But I digress, Lyric seems to recognize Sonic and Tails, despite the fact this is their first meeting and he was sealed for 1000 years-oh fuck me, we have time travel. Ughhh... Why? You did it in Sonic 06 and butchered it beyond belief! Why here?! So you might be wondering what good ol' Lyric's deal is?
After the group escapes the temple and realize that the real source of the robots were made by Lyric, they give chase only for him to get away. Oh yeah, did I forget to mention? This snake can fly somehow. Don't ask me how he does it, Game Theory that. (Please don't.) So they come across some DeviantArt reject characters-er, I mean, the locales on... wait, where the fuck even are we? We're on some island right?
Well, Cliff here explains who Lyric is and that he's from a race called the Ancients, because of course he is. Long ago, he was experimenting a Chaos Crystal even though his people forbade him due to not knowing it's effects, but of course, Lyric being an idiot does it anyway and grew sick. So he built a suit to keep himself alive. Oh, and now he wants to kill all organic life because he has the mentality of a spoiled 6 year old.
That's our villain folks. And, hm... this is awfully familiar. A good scientist examines a magical object and get's corrupted by it and turns evil. And he decides to create a robot army and mechanical empire and oh my God, this is Dr. Eggman's backstory! Wow! Couldn't even come up with something original. Fantastic.
So Lyric's searching for the Chaos Crystal's not Chaos Emerald's, they don't exist in the Boom Universe for some reason. If he gathers them all then it's the end of the world and Lyric will gain God-like power. And Sonic and the others stupidly released him and now he wants vengeance.
So they scramble and search for the Chaos Crystals, meanwhile, Lyric is looking for a map searching for the Chaos Crystals locations a long time ago, but can't remember where it is. Our villain. Eggman shows up and gloats about his technology and army of robots. The army of robots not made by him and by Lyric. As you can imagine, Eggman get's usurped IMMEDIATELY and takes Metal Sonic with him.

Along the way we help more Sonic character rejects, I mean... Ah hell, you know what I mean and find more Chaos Crystals and immediately lose them when Metal Sonic appears. Our heroes. So they eventually time travelled in the past and encounter Lyric, and instead of even attempting to change his ways, Sonic just fucking seals him immediately and then says:
Sonic: See you in a thousand years.
Wow, fuck you Sonic. You're a horrible hero. So yeah, way to fulfill a self-fulfilling prophecy, douchebag. So that amounted to nothing. Skip ahead, we arrive and face off against Metal Sonic who's out of commission, defeat Eggman who has... the only boss fight now that I think about it. Weird. And face off against Shadow. Who is here for some reason, what?
After kicking his ass it's time to take the fight to Lyric. The snake makes a bargain, he would spare Sonic if they hand over the Chaos Crystals. Of course, this is an obvious bluff since he had no idea that they collected the-
*The group gives up the Crystals*
You dumb fucking cunts. Welp, the world's doomed. Game over. So Sonic get's blasted by all sorts of lasers and buried under rubble. Tails, Knuckles and Amy go over and-
Sonic: Ugh... What took you guys? We got a snake to catch.
Oh BULLSHIT! What?! He's alive!? How? So that renders this whole thing pointless. Wow. Thanks a lot game, you piece of motherfucking garbage! Let's just end this. They take the fight to Lyric after Eggman saves their ass and beat him. They tie him up and just... leave him there. I see they've learned nothing from this.
Shadow shows up because, who cares. And Eggman get's his precious metal son back. And that's it. Wow. This fucking sucks. And you know what? I'm not even surprised. I fully expected this to happen. Let's get down to the points shall we?
GAMEPLAY
Unlike the adventure platformer from past games, or even operating Sonic Adventure gameplay, it's now an action adventure game. Plus, the series that has been advertised about speed, is now coming to an absolute halt. The fastest that Sonic can go is a light jog. His name is SONIC, he should be fast! You can run on water at certain times but to me, it didn't feel like he and his friends are going fast at all, especially at the highway sections.

Plus, this game is focused on combat and it has a point and combo system for some reason? They're not used at all. But it takes forever in killing enemies. Sonic has his spindash, Tails has projectile attacks, making him broken, Knuckles has close combat and Amy has her hammer. All of the puzzles are stupidly easy and color coded for characters. It's almost as if the game is saying: "Hey, use this character, dumbass."
The biggest problem is that the characters in gameplay never shut the fuck up. They are always talking about something. It never stops.
"Hey look, rings!"
"Whoo! Bounce pads!"
"Hey look, a bounce pad!"
"More rings? Yes please!"
I GET IT! SHUT UP! There's even one stupid line that somebody got paid to write and have a voice actor say it. Behold.
Sonic: Hey look, ramps!
Tails: We can use these as ramps!
... Like... like did I hear that right? This game talks down to children like they were fucking retarded. How dare you. But what's even worse, is the characters. Oh Lord... But we'll get to that. You have a ring counter which acts as your life bar. When all of them are gone, you die and respawn with 30 rings everytime. Supposedly when all of your party members die, it's a game over.
However, that's virtually impossible because the characters you don't control have infinite health. That's right. It is literally and physically impossible to die in this game. Hell, you could stand still and do nothing while your party kills the enemies. AND IT WORKS! Holy fuck this is poorly designed!
And now... the characters.
Sonic: Sonic is a cool, kind and caring hedgehog who tries to give some villains a second chance and make them see their mayhem has effects. He's only serious when it comes to his friends or endangering the world. Boom! Sonic on the other hand, is a selfish prick who only saves people and the world to fuel his ego. I heard there was supposed to be an arc where he learns to rely on his friends and teamwork. But that only shows up... 3 times. Yeah.
Tails: Tails is a super genius who is best friends with Sonic and does his best to help, while still having some kid moments. Boom! Tails tries to sound all smart but really comes off as a complete moron, always stating the obvious and ramble on about things no one cares about.
Knuckles: Knuckles went from the loner character who has ties with his ancestry and his mission to defend the Master Emerald while also being friends with Sonic and Tails to... Oh God... Boom!Knuckles. He is braindead. How he even managed to survive this long, I have no idea. He's the muscle and that's it. He literally has no brain.
Amy: She was and still is a fangirl for Sonic, but knows when the situation is serious, that has to be put on hold and actually help the others. Hell, she even managed to redeem Shadow by reminding him of what Maria would want. Boom!Amy... She's just there. That's it.
Eggman: A bumbling mad scientist who does have his scary moments and was nearly successfully on some occasions in his villainous career. Boom! Eggman is a generic Saturday Morning cartoon villain.
Lyric: He's so generic, he might as well be Eggman's lackey than an antagonist. It certainly doesn't help that he has the exact same backstory as Eggman from the comics.
Shadow: Shadow went from a villain to an anti-hero, to a redeemed character who has a tragic past when his best friend was murdered and was manipulated by Gerald when he went insane, and Black Doom with the promise of his memories back. Boom! Shadow is basically Vegeta. "Oh, you're weak because of your friends, blah, blah, blah, I'll kill you Kakarot-I mean, Sonic."
MUSIC
To be honest... I don't remember the music. It's all orchestral pieces but they're so bland and generic. And no. No Crush 40 or anything. Fuck this game.
SOUNDS AND VOICES
The voice cast is actually good. In cutscenes that is. In gameplay, they never shut up. Sounds are... fine I guess. I don't care.
FUN FACTOR
There is none. Next.
FINAL THOUGHTS AND SCORE
This was made to introduce the Sonic Boom TV show and address the setting and characters. But it does a piss poor job. We know nothing about these versions. Who's Sonic? Who's Tails? 
Why is Knuckles and Shadow here? What's Eggman's motivation? Who the hell is Lyric? Where are we even located? I don't know! Plus, Lyric never appears in the show. So what the fuck was the point of creating a villain? You would've been fine with Eggman! Wow, what a fucking terrible introduction. In fact... this setting is awfully familiar.
Anthroporphic animals fight against an evil scientist on an island that has ruins and an ancient civilization. Oh my God, this is a rejected Crash Bandicoot game idea. It makes sense, Big Red Button are made up of ex-Naughty Dog employees. In fact, Boom!Knuckles and Crunch Bandicoot's designs are eerily similar. Well, that explains everything.
My final score is...
0/10
It's garbage. And what's even worse? It's one of the worst lowest selling games in Sonic history. Yes. This somehow managed to be worse than Sonic 06. DEAR. GOD.
REWRITE
Okay, first things first, establish a backstory as to where we are and what setting this takes place in. And Lyric needs a better history... and a name. The same thing would happen, only Sonic tries to figure out how this snake knows Sonic and Tails, despite the fact they just met him. Further on, they figure out he came from the past and they time traveled.
Lyric is about to enact his plan when Sonic and Tails interfere.
Lyric: I will show those pathetic beings they shall never mess with me! All organics... shall die! Machines shall thrive and be eternal!
Sonic: Lyric!
Lyric: Huh? Who are you two?! How did you get in here!? And... how do you know me?
Sonic: Lyric... you don't have to do this. There's another way to cure you.
Lyric: Spare me your sympathy! The Ancient's could have stopped me... but they didn't. They just let me roam free and experimented on the Chaos Crystal. Now... because of my mechanical suit, I'm stuck like this! I'll be forced to live forever... with this THING attached to me! YOU HAVE NO IDEA THE PAIN I FEEL!!!
Sonic: ... You're right. I don't. But we can work together. Tails is smart. In fact, he's a genius! If we work together, we could find a way to cure your sickness.
Lyric: Is this true?
Tails: Yeah. I'm sure I can create something if I have some time.
Lyric: ... As touching as that is... I have already decided my path. I will destroy all organic life and create a new world. A world of machines.
Sonic: *sighs sadly* You sound just like Eggman... We gave you a chance. I'm sorry.
And the same scene happens, but now that they know the story, they feel sorry for Lyric. Then, in the meantime, while they go back to the present, Tails does some history checking to see if there's a cure and there is. They fight the snake and just as he's about to fight again, Tails makes a cure and injects it to Lyric.
Lyric: Gah! What did you...?! ... Huh? I... I feel... refreshed. What did you do?
Tails: Simple, I told you back then I'd make something. Science can be awesome sometimes, hehe!
Sonic: Go ahead. Turn the suit off. Trust me.
Lyric: ................................ Fine.
*Lyric does and just when he expects to be sick, nothing happens.*
Lyric: The toxins from the Chaos Crystal... I'm... I'm truly...?
*The group nods and smiles*
Lyric: I... I don't know how I could... I should have listened. But I let my rage... and anger towards the others blind me and my logic and reason. I realize now... that I should be blaming myself. I did this. I forced myself to be in this suit. I made myself sick and disobeyed orders. Here. Take the Crystals. You've earned them. I never want to see them again.
*They're handed back the Crystals.*
Amy: So what are you gonna do, Lyric?
Knuckles: Yeah, what's gonna happen now?
Lyric: I shall find a new purpose in life. I must explore this new world to me. Sonic, Tails... Thank you. Farewell.
And they celebrate while Eggman hatches a new scheme. And that's it. It's really sad that my crappy what-if's are more thought out than what we got.