Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric - Wii U

Sonic Boom marks a brand new direction for the blue blur, with a new style of gameplay on hand to go with it. This new umbrella for the Sonic games comes from developer Big Red Button, staffed by former members of Uncharted-maker Naughty Dog. What that means, in a nutshell, is a more Western sensibility to the games, along with a new, more detailed world and lore.

In Rise of Lyric, Sonic and his pals are dealing with some ancient evil. Long ago the Ancients lived in harmony with nature, but one of their number needed a mechanical suit to function. This chap - yes, you guessed it, that's Lyric - became obsessed with the destruction of all ancient life and so the Ancients were forced to trap him in a statue. Such measures have a tend to fall apart in the world of videogames, however, and Sonic and his team accidentally free Lyric while fighting Doctor Eggman, and it falls to Sonic, Amy, Tails and Knuckles to put the demon back in the box, all whilst dealing with Eggman.

Each character has different ways of interacting with the world and players will need to use their different abilities to explore everything from ancient ruins to mysterious underwater facilities. Their different abilities will come in handy during combat, too, and players will be able to switch between characters on the fly. Or, if you prefer, have another player use the drop-in/drop-out functionality to use the other characters' abilities for you.

New to the game is the Enerbeam gadget that enables players to interact with the world in new, surprising ways.

In short, it's an all-new Sonic! more