Sonic Boom

Admit it: in the little jukebox inside your mind, it's playing that song. It's been doing that with me every time I hear about this thing...

[size=+1]Sonic Boom[/size]​

If you enjoy keeping up with computer games and that sphere of things, especially new Sonic games, then you'll have heard about some new thing being done with the IP. Yeah, Sonic Team are still kicking around and apparently, someone thought Sonic could do with a shot in the arm. So, new location, new dynamics, new looks to the characters and a few tweaks here and there. Apparently, this is a full force thing. There's a toy line. There's video games. There's a TV show. And, get this: there's a comic book series.

By Archie Comics. I have to admit, I kinda figured Archie Sonic Comics went dormant a while back but apparently Sonic Comics started in the 90's and have never bloody stopped. EVER.

So, we all know about at least one part of this little escapade in marketing: the video game is complete ****. Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric looked decent right up until some moron thought it needed to be a Christmas Launch and shoved it out WAAAAY before it should have been. So, bad frame rate, barren environments, sloppy dialogue, mundane platforming, half-formed mechanics and so on. For all that business, go elsewhere because I don't have a Wii U (yet (OK, so Smash Bros. and Bayonetta 2 might have sold me on actually getting one, OK? Plus, Splatoon looks awesome!)) and it's been done to death already. And from what I hear it's basically: "Sonic '06: Part 2'. So, joy of joys...

"I could have told you that for nothing back when it was anounced! Snarf-snarf!"​

You know what I've heard next to nothing about? These other things! Are the comics any good? How about this TV show? Well, I decided to actually do my own venturing on that last front and my overriding conclusion is that its not bad.

As far as kids shows on right now I think Gravity Falls is far funnier without any effort, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic possesses way better character dynamics and makes you care about those characters far more. Lastly, Regular Show, Bravest Warriors, Adventure Time and The Amazing World of Gumball all feel like far more worthwhile shows. Sonic Boom doesn't have anywhere near the same level of ambition that any of these other shows do. In fact, the one thing I do think it does is have a better look and polish than Dragons: Riders of Berk, which I always feel looks like Dreamworks' Table Scraps. Sonic Boom looks like a Cutscene and I mean that in a good way.

But I digress. The bottom line is that Sonic Boom isn't bad. I'm just not sure it's doing enough to be anything but a distraction while you wait for something you're actually interested in watching. The writers seem to know this as well, that each episode seems to zip by incredibly quickly.

Yeah, from deeper reading, it seems this is meant to be something of an added extra for the game. The game is the set up and the TV show is just what happens next.

Yeah, that plan hasn't been going so fantastically, has it lads and lasses?

In fact, that's the stupidest possible thing they could have ever done, even if the game was any good. Alienating the audience by leaving out basic elements of story telling is pretty bold and often, pretty hard to remain compelling. Because of this choice, I have no idea where this show is set. I don't know why Sonic and the new Gang are there rather than somewhere else. Apparently, the answer is just 'Shut up and watch, ya'yutz!'.

"How abouts yeh just settle down while I count how many friends my wallets has made over here!"​

Gravity Falls explains things or at least introduces you to the characters. Amasing World of Gumball eases you into the unique characteristics of each character because they're so stupidly varied.

Sonic Boom has this big wall that kinda makes getting into the show an uphill struggle. There's no formal introduction to anything because that is all in the games, I'm guessing because it's not anywhere in the show. Possibly...Afterall, I've only the 'Game Grumps' Let's Play to go on here.

Right right! The premise, as far as I can figure out, is that Sonic, Tails, Amy, Knuckles and...Sticks the Badger live in some place. Because this is a Sonic thing, they live near a village or town or something filled with Anthropomorphic Animals in the same style as 'Sonic Sat AM'. I actually kinda like this idea. It keeps things simple, limiting what needs to be explained to the audience. Because Sonic X got increasingly weird with it's whole 'alternate reality' stuff. Better off this way, I think. The rest you need to know is standard: Eggman makes machines. Sonic and Co break machines. Eggman returns to evil lair. Repeat. Simple but it works.

From here, believe it or not, we hang a slice of life comedy with occasional action bits.

From what I've seen of the four episodes currently available through my devious sources, Sonic Boom has probably one strength: it's humour. The art looks decent to me and I've grown used to the new designs. Exaggeration isn't a new thing and it doesn't look terrible to me. They're just there to help hammer in the new take on the characters.

Boy, do they like to do that...

Anyway, I barely even cough at the new designs of the characters and...I kinda like the Sonic Neckerchief. Tails looks stupid with the harness and I have no idea why they're all wearing bandages. It feels like Square Enix and belts. I guessed it was because the environment surrounding this place was very varied, so it's partly there for protection. Some places are covered in jungle, some in desert and there's even a place where it's cold enough to freeze a lake somewhere...

The geography is all over the place, let's put it bluntly.

Speaking of, I guess you could say this is just sort of a harkening back to the very first Sonic TV Show. They're very similar now that I think about it.

This isn't the best of directions but it could be worse...​

There's no connecting story line between episodes or some long quest. It's just jokes framed in some sort of plot that ends when the episode does. It's very simple. That's fine, there's just not much else but those jokes. That can turn some people off as there's little else reason to look into the show.

But where the First Sonic TV show was a random mess of colour and noise, Sonic Boom at least looks like it's trying it's damn hardest to be funny. And I actually do find this thing funny. I wouldn't say it's the best thing in the world, considering it's competition, but it's certainly decent. Jokes are usually pretty quick, usually quite snarky as they attempt to poke holes in the whole 'Sonic Vs Eggman' thing. In fact, Eggman is my absolute favourite in this show. He's given all the best lines, has the biggest personality and get's the most fun things to do.

A show about Eggman would be something I'd tune into because he kinda carries most of the show. But that's not to say that the other characters are superfluous. The other characters do have a new gags here and there.

Sonic, being Sonic, cracks wise. Because Sonic is a cocky, sometimes arrogant kind of guy. His many iterations seem to keep most of that intact and, that's fine. You can do things with that. I mean, at least there is a personality to exploit. I'd like to see Nintendo do something similar with Mario every once in a while.

AH! No! I take it back!​

Otherwise, Tails is smart and builds machines. So, no difference at all. Knuckles has gone from stubbornly determined if somewhat gullible to muscle bound and a little slow. I...I actually haven't seen him open his mouth enough to really get my dander up over that one. Amy has gone from one form of insane to a slightly milder one. Firstly, she's a lot quieter. Rather than the love sick, manic stalker with a short fuse, he's now just a little weird. Like pretending to be a juggling italian or making the group engage in counselling exercises. And that's a thing that makes sense in this context.

The new character is Sticks the Badger and...I've kinda had to either guess or gleam from what I'd seen or read to understand her. Sticks is paranoid and more than a little loopy. She dislikes robots and believes they're dangerous. Considering the proximity to Dr Eggman, that's understandable at the very least. And...Well, she's OK. The issue is that I've not played through the Wii U game because, well, it's digital landfill. So, I've had no grounding or introduction to anyone in this universe. The others are updates and slants on pre-existing characters I'm familiar with. Sticks doesn't have that advantage and it's greatly arrogant that the show expects you to have prior knowledge of her behaviour and personality going in.

But, you do get a feel for her. Apparently, she likes things that are usually pretty dirty. She's paranoid enough to believe her shadow is stalking her (took me a second to figure that gag out). She believes in conspiracies. So, she's like the Sonic version of the crazy homeless guy. Actually kinda a new spin on a female character, fair enough. I still can't help but be anything but lukewarm on this.

But can I just go back to the fact that, sometimes, exposition is a good thing. World building can expand the universe and create some depth to the world. Sonic Boom appears to be avoiding it like the plauge. Now, I respect aiming to just be something funny but it's already part of a larger universe and franchise! It doesn't make any sense to have this show languish in what little world it's made. There's no exploration, no new additions, no real purpose for the characters. They're just there, because, reasons. Gumball, Regular Show and Adventure Time all evolve with every new episode. They show something new about the world or characters over the course of the episode.

Sonic Boom seems like it's not going to do anything like that. It's like a sitcom. Nothing really is achieved. And it somehow drives me nuts because it just exasabates the issue of needing prior knowledge to start watching.

You know, The New Looney Tunes Show went in the sitcom direction and that works surprisingly well. Were they aiming for something like this?​

You know what? I find this show frustrating. It's got plenty of potential but one of Sonic Boom's biggest failings is that it comes into a world where Gravity Falls, MLP:FiM and Adventure Time exist. They are all shows worth your time ten fold more than Sonic Boom, in my opinion because they have heart, artistic skill, grandeur to their worlds and personality. Sonic Boom has some fun jokes but unless it does something more than that, it can't compete.

But that's not to say it's necessarily time wasted. Like I said, what it does do, it seems pretty good at. The joking at itself and it's characters is done well enough that I can't out right hate the show despite the irritating viewer unfriendliness. The action is nice. The plotlines are harmless and fun. Dr Eggman is in every episode. It's not flavourless but you'd likely get more for any other show I've mentioned here. There is room for massive improvement.

What I fear is that it's just coasting on the false assumption that the game it's based on is good and that it's audience already brought it, played it and loved it. Sorry Sonic Team but you need a Plan B. Right now.

What could that be? How about some motivations for the characters? The most we've had so far is that Amy has a crush on Sonic, vaguely hinted at because of one of Tails' machines. How about something Sonic is striving towards? Maybe introduce a hobby of Knuckles? Or...I dunno! Dr Eggman starts a knitting circle? Something? Because there's no damn urgency to anything.

For some odd reason, the TV show doesn't have any plots between episodes. Which is baffling considering how there's a perfectly reasonable and usable one within the game it's based on! Why not build off of that? Why do all this 'Slice of Life' stuff with characters that haven't been introduced to the audience in any way! Because MLP:FiM does it and you want a slice of that pie or did you think it was easier to make little shorts to beef up the franchise a bit?

Tell me Sonic Team! Tell me! Because now there's nothing to these characters! They don't don't do anything except fight robots! They aren't fighting for anything, there's no additional insights into the games that might lead you to want to check the game out. There's no story in of itself to keep you comming back. It's just this barely flavoured puff of noise and sound that doesn't seem to want anything other than to tell jokes. It's just, I, I...

ANYONE ELSE GET VIBES OF THAT OLD DONKEY KONG COUNTRY SHOW THAT WAS ON FOX KIDS ONCE?​

BREATHE! Breathe...I'm sorry for the rant. Functionally, Sonic Boom is fine, it's just that apparent lack of ambition or grace in it's writing seems underwelming comapared to everything else currently sitting around on the tubes. I find it frustrating that it's just being squandered. I fully except I might just be acting a bit spoiled. Not everything has to be fine art but I still don't think that's an excuse to half-arse it. There's a lot of what could be done here. I just hope it goes into the show, and not into more games that have all the interactivity and smooth animation of Microsoft Powerpoint. It's just how I felt with this while watching it. And before this damn review grows any longer, let's close this down.

I...I need to calm down...