Sonic Boom: Fire & Ice

"What do you get... when you mix fire with ice?"

- Tagline

Sonic Boom: Fire & Ice, known as Sonic Toon: Fire & Ice (ソニックトゥーン ファイアー＆アイス) in Japan, is an upcoming 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 TV series and the sequel to Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal. It will be released exclusively on the Nintendo 3DS in 2016. Nintendo of Europe is responsible for the sales, marketing and distribution of the game throughout Europe, while Sega of Europe remain as publisher.

Plot
Discovering a new supercharged element called Ragnium on the mythical island of Ragna Rock, Dr. Eggman starts mining it as a fuel source for his henchmen robots to make them faster than Sonic in an effort to humiliate his blue arch-nemesis. The messy by-products of this operation pipe off to adjacent islands, creating fire and ice elements. Meanwhile, one of Eggman's henchmen called D-Fekt, who was designed to find and mine Ragnium using his magnetic powers, malfunctions and becomes able to magnetize everything other than Ragnium. With D-Fekt driven to defeat Sonic using his new powers, Eggman adds him to his robot army of Island Defenders and bot racers for his confrontation with Sonic. It is thus up to Team Sonic to reclaim the islands from Eggman and his armies and reversing the flow of the elemental tubes, thereby restoring balance to the environment. It all culminates with an epic battle on the island of Ragna Rock where Sonic may just have to save Dr. Eggman from his own creation.

Gameplay
Like, Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal, Sonic Boom: Fire and Ice is a side-scrolling platform game, with focus on speed and optional exploration, where the player has to get through various levels with Team Sonic. Over the course of the game, players controls, Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Sticks and newcomer to the 3DS Amy. For this game, the characters' movesets have been revamped from Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal, retaining the same moves from before and are given new surprises as well. Like in the previous game, the player can instantly switch between the characters during gameplay using the touchpad, with each character having their own unique abilities such as Sonic's mid-air dash, Tails' flight, Knuckles' burrowing, Sticks' boomerang, and Amy's hammer for progressing with the levels, along with common skills such as the Homing Attack to home in on enemies and an Enerbeam for traversing. Like in the previous game, this one also contains a variety of collectibles.

The game includes four bosses, created from the environment by D-Fekt, which only Sonic is playable with, though he will team up with other characters during the fights, where both of the 3DS’s screens will be utilized in some way. The game will also include three types of bonus stages. The first takes the form of a halfpipe run, much like the Special Stage from Sonic the Hedgehog 2. The second is a calmer underwater stage where the player pilots the Sea Fox and look for collectibles. The third requires the player to pilot a hovercraft and dodge icebergs.

A unique gimmick in this game is the addition of fire and ice elements, which apply both to the level environments and character abilities. For example, Sonic can infuse himself with fire to break ice blocks or surround himself with ice in order to freeze water, alternating between the two at will. The game will also feature various special stages, bonus minigames, challenge room, and local two-player modes.

Playable characters
The game contains five playable characters: Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Sticks, and newcomer Amy Rose, who can be switched to at anytime. All five of the playable characters have access to the same moveset, though each one has their own special abilities: The abilities exclusive to each of the five characters are shown below:
 * Being able to use Sprint to traverse the stage faster.
 * Jumping/performing a double-jump.
 * Using the Homing Attack.
 * Making use of the Enerbeam to swing from floating mechanisms.
 * Can coat themselves in an aura of fire to break ice, and an aura of ice to freeze water.
 * Sonic the Hedgehog: Can jump higher than all the other characters and has a special air dash.
 * Amy Rose: Can break things and alter the terrain of a level using the piko hammer.
 * Miles "Tails" Prower: Can hover and fly by using air streams and wields a blaster that can reflect off mirrors.
 * Knuckles the Echidna: Knuckles can punch targets and burrow underground to reach parts of the landscape no other characters can access.
 * Sticks the Badger: Can throw boomerangs in any of the four main directions, which path the player can control in mid-flight. This can be used to hit far-away and out-of-reach targets.

Other

 * Dr. Eggman
 * D-Fekt
 * Orbot
 * Cubot

Levels
Sonic Boom: Fire & Ice are divided into seven levels which take place on different islands. Six of these levels are exploration-based and feature four levels plus two bonus stages. The seventh is a new addition to the Sonic Boom games and contains the Bot Racing feature.

Thunder Island
Thunder Island is the seventh level in the game. Here, the player can basically engaged in a two-player local play option with the Bot Racing feature, where a user can unlock character themed Bots to challenge friends on fast courses or tracks.

Development
Sonic Boom: Fire & Ice was first announced on June 9, 2015. Since Sanzaru Games already focused on the 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. Sega producer Omar Woodley has stated both Sega and developer Sanzaru Games have been learning from their experience with Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal, which received mostly negative reviews upon release. 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 have been made about 40% shorter and include an 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. Likewise, the game's plot was more closely tied to the animated series to make it more appealing to fans.

Trivia

 * This is the first game in the Sonic Boom series to have all five members of Team Sonic playable.
 * This is the first handheld Sonic platformer to have Amy as a playable character since Sonic Advance 3.
 * Springs are seen in the trailer in place of the Bounce Pads seen in previous Sonic Boom 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.
 * In the game's announcement trailer, the song "Porta Vista" by Hyper Potions, a Monstercat-released song, plays in the background.
 * This game was first set for a release for the Holidays in 2015 but was later delayed to 2016.