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PSA: Sonic Boom 3DS Demo LIVE

14285206866_92ac1a9fb4_oWant to give Sonic’s new sports-tape gift-wrapped adventure a go just before its U.S. launch next week? For those that missed Nintendo’s Direct for today, then the good news is you can! Sonic Boom: The Shattered Crystal‘s demo is now available on the 3DS eShop for the U.S. and Europe.
It was also confirmed that a Sonic Boom 3DS theme is planned for release, and a Puzzle Swap panel centered around the game will be piped in to 3DS systems very soon. Let us know what you guys think of the demo in the comments below.

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18 Comments

  • Reply

    It was actually pretty good. The main platforming level was expansive as all hell, the characters all felt speedy yet weighty and speed was a reward for skill and level memorization just like the Genesis trilogy, though honestly I didn’t really feel the need to play as anyone besides Sonic himself unless I needed to switch to someone else for a level-specific gimmick but that’s not really too much of a problem.
    Honestly it seems like Sanzaru knows what they’re doing with this so far. Hopefully the level design is up to par too.

  • Reply

    My opinions:
    – It’s really slow, compared to the other games.
    – Whose great idea was to make water an insta-kill zone???
    – The shield you have is a good thing.
    – Since it is quite easy, it’s target audience probably is young children.
    – There are boring scripted “super speed” zones…
    – Why does every character (evn Knuckles) have Homing Attack?
    I’d give it a 2/5 or worse

  • Reply

    @TheEternalHelix
    “It’s really slow, compared to the other games.”
    Try using the run button. Also not every Sonic game needs to be fast to be good, look at CD.
    “Whose great idea was it to make water an insta-kill zone???”
    Look at it this way: no more water levels! 😀
    “Since it is quite easy, it’s target audience probably is young children.”
    Well it is kinda the first level in the game so…
    “There are boring scripted “super speed zones…”
    That was probably the worst part of the demo tbh but I’m hoping they’ll elaborate on those more. Same defense goes for the game’s overall difficulty so far.
    “Why does every character (evn Knuckles) have Homing Attack?”
    I like it, personally. There’s a nice balance to all the characters akin to 3 & Knuckles.

  • Reply

    How I felt:
    -It felt faster than Lost World, but Sonic was a bit floaty and not quite as graceful as before.
    -I guess they’re taking baby steps with water. It hurts you instead of instantly killing you this time, though! So it’s automatically better than Unleashed, though that isn’t exactly hard.
    -Having four characters was neat, but I feel it hasn’t been utilized to the point it actually feels like a mechanic instead of a gimmick. I appreciate not having to constantly switch to Sonic if I want to homing attack enemies, though.
    -There was a fair amount of automation, and while I wasn’t really bothered, I couldn’t help but notice.
    -The worm tunnels were kinda bare-bones. There’s not a whole lot going on and I feel it’s supposed to be more complex, or at least longer, in the final game.
    -The race levels feel like they don’t really need to be races. You could just as easily implement this entire thing as a section in an adventure level, with no opponent.
    I say that it’s certainly not perfect. RoL is likely going to be the better game as I expected, but this wasn’t unpleasant. I’ll pick it up when I can, but don’t go in expecting something as big as a console game. I guess that’s a 3.5/5 or something? I dunno. It’s okay.

  • Reply

    Pkrockinomega
    The only similarities this demo has to the classics is a 2D plane and a couple of loops…other than that there is ZERO comparison. This demo is trash. It’s slow. It’s boring. The level design is flat and simplistic. Completely uninspired. This is what they present to sell their game? Pitiful.

  • Reply

    @Pkrockinomega
    Sonic CD still had speed! The character actually moved fast. You sound terribly close to being a fanboy. “Not every Sonic game needs to be fast to be good” do you even know what Sonic the Hedgehog is sir?

  • Reply

    @Jmack
    The level design wasn’t that bad and like I said it’s likely simplistic due to being the first level of the game.
    If you use the run button a lot then it actually does get pretty fast-paced.
    And on top of that, let’s look at another example then: the first Sonic game. Yeah Green Hill Zone and a couple other levels were heavy on speed but other zones like Marble Hill and Labyrinth were really platform-heavy and speed was more like a reward back then for memorizing the levels and having good reaction timing.
    This demo isn’t perfect, I’ll agree with that. Some aspects and mechanics could use some fine tuning and polishing. But is it bad? Not at all. If anyone’s the fanboy here it’s you.

  • Reply

    For me, the thing that hurts this game is that the characters are all basically the same. The only difference at all seems to be what their X button moves are and outside of that and Tails hovering instead of flying, every character seems to be identical.
    I get that this is taking place in another universe, and that these versions of the characters aren’t the ones that we’ve grown to love over the years. But when every character is basically identical and the only reason to ever change from Sonic is for a character specific event in order to collect an item or progress, then there’s no reason to replay the game or stage.
    Another thing that bothers me is the addition of a run button. It feels like because these games are on Nintendo systems, that they have to try and make the characters feel like Mario on top of things. I never liked the Boosting of the previous games either though, and this is basically the same exact idea, except without resource management or invincibility.
    Just a few annoyances over the demo. I was looking forward to the Sonic Boom cartoon, since it sounded silly, so if nothing else, I’ll still get to enjoy that.

  • Reply

    It’s true that Marble Zone and Labyrinth Zone in Sonic 1 were slower compared to other stages but also were much more versatile than the demo level was in Shattered Crystal. Its desing is just way too linear, scripted and bland.

  • Reply

    The thing that really gets me about the Sonic games where you have to press a button to go faster is that there are almost absolutely no circumstances in which the button need NOT be pressed. At least you don’t have to hold it down like in Sonic Lost World.
    All in all, I’d say it’s OK. I just wish there was more because it’s hard to tell much from a single level and two missions.

  • Reply

    If I wanted to play Crash Bandicoot, I’d whip out the PSX.

  • Reply

    @Pkrockinomega
    No, it’s simplistic because it’s simplistic, not because it’s the first level. The layout of the level is mostly flat, where as Green Hill Zone had many grooves and dips and half-pipes, and loops and…well…hills (same with Emerald Hill, Angel Island, Emerald Coast, City Escape, Neo Green Hill, Leaf Forest, Route 99, Windmill Isle, Tropical Resort…etc.) I’ve played the demo…I held down the run button the whole time…it’s slow. I’m not complaining about the game being a platformer or having platforming segments (Most Sonic games are platformers, so I expect such) but like my good fellow Pete said “Marble Zone and Labyrinth Zone were much more versatile” and “it’s too linear, scripted, and bland” he hit the problem right on the nose. The parts where Sonic went “fast” we’re just segments where I literally let go of the controller and watched the game play for me for a good five to 9 seconds, and the tunnel sections had Sonic on auto pilot and all I did was press right or left or the A button (boost was useless because you didn’t even go faster, the on-screen effects just gave off that illusion. It’s trash to me dude. I’m a fanboy? You’re using poor arguments to justify poor design decisions in this game. That’s fanboy logic 101. I touched water and DIED BECAUSE I HAD NO RINGS!!! THATS PLAIN STUPID!

  • Reply

    @Pkrockinomega
    And that run button you’re talking about…I had that thing jammed the whole time…it’s not fast.

  • Reply

    So NONE of my comments went through…terrific.

    • Reply

      The spam filter apparently hated you. Fixed that up now.

  • Reply

    @GeneHF
    Gracias. May all your days be happy

  • Reply

    As Scott said, it felt like a “Sonic meets Crash” game (no surprise, through…). Renember that this game, although Sonic-labeled, it’s made by different companies, so we can’t expect it to have the “Sonic Formula” (Too much symbolism :S)

  • Reply

    @TheLostDerk
    It even has the Purple Crystals to boot.

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