Continuing the Sonic Boom branding, Sonic Dash 2: Sonic Boom is the sequel to Sonic Dash, which was a successful mobile release for the Sonic franchise, picking up over 140 million downloads. Sega's Hardlight studios has been working on it to take the elements of Sonic Dash and improve upon them in this free-to-download sequel with the characters from the Sonic Boom TV show.
Sonic Dash 2: Sonic Boom aims to add onto Sonic Dash's gameplay with several new features. The game has a new glider called the Enerbeam, which lets you go around vertical paths at times and some new fast-paced sky challenges. Sonic Dash 2: Sonic Boom also continues the Sonic Boom pattern of having a team of three characters from a selection to help use their different skills to beat challenges that arise. You can even change some of your team mid-run it appears in your quest to battle Doctor Eggman. Sprites are the new companions for the game that seem to serve as a progression type system as you collect, evolve, combine, and equip them for multiplying scores, longer combos, ring multipliers, better dash, and other upgrades that you can mix and match.
For score attackers, those sprites, the mix and match characters, and other things are only some of the things that may appeal. Daily and weekly runs are also available for high score comparing so that you can battle for the top spot on mobile bragging rights with your friends.
Sega has committed to supporting the game with various new characters, maps, events and more that they have already scheduled for release. Chris Southall, the head of Hardlight studios, spoke a bit about Sonic Dash and what they've been doing: “The success of Sonic Dash has been very gratifying for us and while we keep improving the experience in the first episode, we wanted to go further - designing and coding the sequel from scratch. After a year of development we’re now ready to launch Sonic Dash 2."
An Apple Watch companion app is also available, which is essentially a Sonic-themed pedometer that measures and rewards players based on how much activity they have. The more you walk, the more bonuses you get in the game.
Of course for those who want to see what it looks like, there is a new trailer with a mixture of gameplay and animation. Sonic Dash 2: Sonic Boom is out now on iOS in Europe, the Americas, Australia, and Africa. It will hit Android on October 15th, and it appears that it will have in-app purchases.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8rvVcV6CHo&feature=youtu.be&dm_i=XF5,3PY35,JYTX74,DE16C,1 Quick Take
It appears that Sega is really serious about the Sonic Boom branding, even with the flop of the first two games. While the show has been better received in general, the brand with gamers will need some work after the disastrous launches last year. The Apple Watch app though is a neat idea and is a good mix of matching up the game with something it can do to help people with promotion there. Not a huge changer but something nice to see.
