Abandoned Research Facility

The Abandoned Research Facility (古代族の研究施設) is the second area of Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric. It is a hidden ancient ruin of a research facility belonging to the Ancients, which has been deserted for a long time.

Long after its abandonment, Team Sonic came to the Abandoned Research Facility to find the Sun Crystal within it. In addition to the Crystal, the team also found MAIA, who would lead them to a map showing the other Crystals' locations, and Shadow.

Overview
The Abandoned Research Facility is located in a tropical region. The landscape surrounding the facility is a distant mountainous archipelago of islands where large palm trees and lush grass grow in abundance on top of the rocky cliffs. Ancient rocky structures resembling watchtowers can also be seen on each island.

The Abandoned Research Facility itself resembles an industrial factory crossed with a temple ruin. It is made from pale rocks with metallic runes and markings covering the walls and holds scaffolds with artistic frameworks. Due to being abandoned for a long time, weed, moss, vines and colossal roots have grown through the walls into the factory (much like at Lyric's Tomb). While the place appears inactive, it contains several advanced machines and power sources that are still operational, like siding doors, control panels, force fields, batteries, elevators, conduits and fuse boards. The interior of the facility is lit up by faint light blue lights on the walls.

The Abandoned Research Facility is split into two sections: the upper and lower levels. The upper levels, despite the flora, some collapsed scaffolds and cracks in the walls, remain in surprisingly good condition and consist of large and bright rooms. The lower levels are more dark and resembles sewers. These levels consist of water tunnels and large metallic maintenance rooms for connecting said tunnels which are flooded with water. Down there, there is also a colossal flooded room for housing a massive thing and an abandoned laboratory with a time machine.

Story
A thousand years ago, the Ancients hid away the Sun Crystal, one of their own Chaos Crystals, away in the Abandoned Research Facility so that Lyric would not be able to find it.

In the present day, Team Sonic arrived at the Abandoned Research Facility to find the Sun Crystal, but they got split up when Sonic and Tails got trapped in the lower levels. Knuckles and Amy continued onward to meet up with their friends later, when they met an old robot named MAIA, who knew Sonic and said she had to find him as only he could stop Lyric. Due to a slip of the tongue, Knuckles told MAIA where she could find him.

In the lower levels, Sonic and Tails met MAIA, who explained she helped imprison her creator Lyric a thousand years ago. Sonic still wanted to find the Crystals and MAIA revealed that there was a lost map for the location of the Crystals. She therefore showed them a time machine that could take them to a time where the map still existed, and with help from Knuckles and Amy restarting the facility's generator while collecting the Sun Crystal, MAIA could activate it.

Before the time portal was ready, Sonic and Tails met Shadow who intended to beat Sonic to prove how weak he was. Their battle took them into the time portal and through different time periods, until Sonic kicked Shadow into a portal taking him to the near future. Sonic and Tails then continued through the finished portal to the intended time.

A while later, Lyric came to the Abandoned Research Facility to find the Crystal, but found it gone. There, he met Dr. Eggman who tried to force him to give him the secrets to his technology using Lyric's own robots. However, Lyric retook control of his robots, so Eggman made an uneasy partnership with him to survive. Learning they had a common enemy in Sonic, Eggman agreed to help Lyric recover his map for the Chaos Crystals which undoubtedly was in Sonic's possession. When Eggman returned and reported meekly that he had lost the map, though he claimed he had killed Team Sonic, Lyric had anticipated his failure and therefore dispatched his Driller Worms to find the Crystals.

Gameplay
In the Abandoned Research Facility, player passes through several rooms inside this complex, on both the lower and upper levels. Like other areas in Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric, the Abandoned Research Facility includes a speed level section, where the player runs down a long path with speed-enhancing gimmicks while avoiding hazardous obstacles, and as well slower-paced areas for exploration and combat. It also features the standard puzzles the player must solve with the Enerbeam mechanic and Buttons. This level also introduces tiles puzzles where the player must find and step on a white tile and then press a series of blue tiles in the right sequence to proceed.

Despite all four characters being available, the Abandoned Research Facility contains only gimmicks for Sonic, Knuckles and Amy's character actions. This include Spin Balls for Sonic, Climbable Walls and Ceilings for Knuckles, and Beam Swing and Balance Beams for Amy. There are also the Hydro Gates which allows the player to perform the Hydro Dash, allowing them to run across water sections in the area, where the player has to dodge obstacles and jump off ramps. Environment hazards in this area include only the standard bottomless pit and floating mines in the Hydro Dash sections.

In Sonic and Tails' sections there also lie deactivated Destruction Troops shells around which the Parasite Snakes can possess, thus creating stronger and tougher enemies.

Description
In the Abandoned Research Facility, the main objective is to collect the Sun Crystal. The level begins with a speed level section, where the player controls all four playable characters. After that, the player moves into the facility itself where they must solve a tile puzzle. Then, the player must climb to the top of an unlocked room using Knuckles or Amy and shut off the room's power with the Enerbeam. This will separate Sonic and Tails from Knuckles and Amy.

The player now takes control of only Knuckles and Amy, and must go through a door that opens nearby. From there, the player must continue to an arena where they must defeat enemies while waiting for a door to open. The player then has to continue through the door to an elevator where they must defeat waves of enemies while the elevator ascends by repeatedly using a Button. Once on top, the player must deactivate a force field by clearing a puzzle in a room next door, and then enter the room it blocked where the player must put together a Tube-puzzle. Go through the Tube to enter an arena with enemies until the path opens and follow it to MAIA.

The player now takes control of Sonic and Tails. There, the player has to Hydro Dash to two maintenance rooms and unlock the paths there to proceed. Once through them, the player must cross a scaffold to enter the abandoned lab. From here, the player resumes control of Knuckles and Amy and has to activate four fuse boards. To do this, the player must scale a large structure and use the Enerbeam on all four fuse boards while attacked by enemies. After this, the player will fight Shadow the Hedgehog who serves as the boss as Sonic and Tails. After defeating him, the player moves directly onto Lyric's Weapon Facility.

Collectibles

 * Crowns: 16
 * Shinies: 4
 * Robot Scrap Chests: 17