Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric (Wii U)

[Nepenthe]

I'm not denying that there are problems with the Boom universe as it's been unveiled, but it seems more like any problems were a slow-burning ascent due to corporate meddling and shitty time management rather than something that was completely unjustifiable from the outset, and I don't think blue arms proves otherwise anymore than peach arms would've somehow made the entire franchise that much more better.

 

Again, if we're going to be judging the artwork, I think we should be keeping in mind that it's its own universe and deliberately meant not to look like a 1:1 recreation of the Sega universe. And personally speaking as an artist I can't fathom why the blue arms are being considered some horrendous deal-breaker, especially when Knuckles' very being is still the elephant in the room on his own merits, and also because the logic attempting to justify such opinions hasn't actually made much sense considering there are other design elements with their own colors that play with the "balance."

[-Mark-]

Sonic Boom is pretty much the first time in the history of the franchise that even die-hard fans who had to that point blindly thrown money at whatever Sega shat out were actively avoiding it and/ or had no interest in it. I know from these forums alone that I'm far from an isolated case.

Even Sonic 06 didn't do that. Even a game widely cited as the lowest point of the franchise didn't manage to offend the most dedicated fans to the point where they stopped caring. Yet Sonic Boom did, and then some. If that doesn't count as a colossal fuckup then I don't know what does.

I know, us twentysomethings and up aren't the target audience for the Sonic series, but it'd be interesting to see what percentage of the overall sales we make up. I remember seeing a report not too long ago saying that the bulk of Pokémon game sales these days actually come from people in their twenties who grew up with the older games, and it wouldn't surprise me at all if that were also the case with Sonic. I just can't imagine Sonic resonating particularly well with kids these days, especially in his current state.

My issue with Boom is more its universe as a whole, rather than the games themselves. I've been a Sonic fan since 1994, quite frankly, if shit games were enough to put me off, I don't think I'd have stuck around much beyond Shadow the Hedgehog. Again, I'm certain I'm not alone in this, either.

Considering the whole initiative of redesigns/ new canon/ etc was meant to grab a new audience, it just makes me wonder how big that audience actually is. It seems like a risky move to make something that has so violently alienated many of their biggest fans, when said fans could well make up a considerable amount of their potential sales.

[Nepenthe]

The games put people off, perhaps, and that was only after E3 when things came to a head and people- particularly around here- wouldn't stop calling for the End Times. Those are generally the circumstances under which many people, including myself, actively stopped giving a damn, but the apathy isn't all on Boom's head especially since the alternate media is actually doing well. The franchise as a whole has been suffering from a plethora of decisions that have watered down the main installments' appeal for years anyway. If the Boom games' suffering at the hands of inane corporate shills wasn't going to do it for some people then it was probably going to be Sonic Team's next foray anyway, considering half the stuff people want back has basically been thrown into the Boom aisle and may potentially be stuck there in an effort to further separate the two halves of the franchise.

 

Boom's timing is shit, and the games are bad, but I can tell you personally I had a spike of hype during its reveal that was way higher than the entirety of Lost World's hype, so much so that I'm continually bracing myself for disappointment from the Sega side of things far more than I am the future of Boom. Despite having a lot more to live up to, the fact of the matter is Sonic Team is no more reliable in putting out something pleasing than BRB is.

[Celestia]

While I'm sure SEGA execs and the like were a factor, I'm really wary of BRB on their own. I mean, we don't know exactly what happened but the whole thing soured me to them the more and more apathetic I became to the Boom games.

 

Eh. This is kinda like the whole Runners thing where the continuity nods were cool to see, but I didn't understand the hype over them at all. Like, I'm not exactly eager to get super excited over that sort of thing in a misguided weird thing like the Boom games or mobile games because I don't want SEGA to get the message that they can just throw this stuff into games that I'm either apathetic about or I'm probably not going to be as invested in as a standard ST game.

[goku262002]

Found the concept art archive Andrea Ritsu was keeping.

http://imgur.com/a/i1YpZ#239

[Badnik Mechanic]

SSMB....

 

How did nobody spot this...?

 

 

Cheesy Tuxedo Sonic?

[Blue Blood]

The funny thing is that it already exists

[Tani Coyote]

Agreeing with the sentiment Boom isn't bad in and of itself. It set out to do things different, and by God was it going to do so until a lot of things were reined in to the point it may as well be another installment in the main franchise.

Holy lord did those games do awful though. I've no idea why they would agree to release a subpar product, especially when their existing cash cow fanbase wasn't behind it like prior titles.

I understand commitment to deadlines but... that's just ridiculous. A product that isn't ready isn't ready.

[FriendBot]

The funny thing is that it already exists

[Detective Shadzter]

BRB has dumped some art.

http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=151884

[Milo]

Many thanks Shadzter for the find!

 

 

 

At the risk of beating a dead horse, the levels in the concept art look much, much better than what was in the final product. Also worth noting that the concept art of the treehouse area looks exactly like the footage / screenshots of the same level when the game was first revealed; as well as the footage used in BRB's CryEngine 3 sizzle reel they released prior to the Sonic Boom's reveal.

 

 

 

Compare:

 

 

 

To top this post off, there's also artwork of....chilidogs! Of course.

 

[goku262002]

BRB has dumped some art.

http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=151884

Yeah shadz, Your gonna need to tweet/message andrea any concept art that the 6 month wipe lost us. her computer got stol'd and she lost whatever wasn't backed up in the archive.

Also shes not coming back to SSMB anytime soon so were gonna have to notify her via tweets that new concept art was uploaded.

[Tani Coyote]

"Though our team had to deal with what has to have been one of the most intense production schedules in game dev history, I'm pretty proud at what we were able to accomplish on the art team."

Read: "We were worked hard, the game is garbage, but the art is good at least."

I'm laughing right now.

[Badnik Mechanic]

 

Scarecrow Sonic for ASRT DLC.

[Diamond Sonic]

Some of us hate the blue arms, some of us don't mind. We can all agree on one thing:

 

 

Knuckles is hideous!

[Badnik Mechanic]

Some of us hate the blue arms, some of us don't mind. We can all agree on one thing:

 

 

Knuckles is hideous!

 

Where is that from?

[Willsy]

That doesn't look all that bad actually. It's the kind of way Knuckles would emote in the show, and his height actually looks better than the final design. However, it looks unofficial (and if it is, then that's no surprise).

[Blue Blood]

Where is that from?

Looks like fanart to me.

All this concept art is pretty incredible. You can see what the games graphics were supposed to look like (and that is pretty bloody good) along with a few cut areas. So much is coming out of this.

[Willsy]

Sounds to me like a lot of things fell through the cracks and it just wasn't meant to be, but SEGA insisted on releasing a shell of what the game was supposed to be rather than cancelling it or delaying it and finding another capable studionot work on it.

[Tani Coyote]

I actually like Boom Knuckles for the most part but I digress and that brings me to my other key point here:

 

Some of us hate the blue arms, some of us don't mind. We can all agree on one thing:

Knuckles is hideous!

What the actual fuck is going on with his left arm.

[Blue Blood]

Sounds to me like a lot of things fell through the cracks and it just wasn't meant to be, but SEGA insisted on releasing a shell of what the game was supposed to be rather than cancelling it or delaying it and finding another capable studionot work on it.

It's more like they got a developer that wasn't totally capable and then screwed them over relentlessly. Lose-lose

[FriendBot]

Yah, count me out on the anti-Boom Knux line.

 

Knuckles was always considered to be one of the physically strongest Sonic characters ever so it makes sense he's going to have a more muscular build to him. It works well and I seriously think people are being ridiculous when they think Boom Knux is the most disgusting thing ever, when we have Butt Face Goku back at good ol 05.

[Tani Coyote]

Yah, count me out on the anti-Boom Knux line.

 

Knuckles was always considered to be one of the physically strongest Sonic characters ever so it makes sense he's going to have a more muscular build to him. It works well and I seriously think people are being ridiculous when they think Boom Knux is the most disgusting thing ever, when we have Butt Face Goku back at good ol 05.

I never really cared either way what he looked like, but I guess a lot of people find appeal in the fact he has a body that's not much bigger than the other characters' despite his enormous strength.

To each their own I suppose.

[Milo]

Looks like fanart to me.

 

It is, if one checks the image link for the render it is sourced from deviantArt.

[FriendBot]

I never really cared either way what he looked like, but I guess a lot of people find appeal in the fact he has a body that's not much bigger than the other characters' despite his enormous strength.

To each their own I suppose.

 

That's a very clever design choice and I'm glad Sonc Team sticked to it but I didn't mind if Boom Knuckles was portrayed as physically strong as well. Granted, all strong characters are shown to be big and muscular as well but I don't see anything inherently bad about it.