Game Review: Sonic and the Secret Rings

Okay, I know this game has been out for over a year now but I have been looking to get a Sonic game for my Wii and I picked up Secret Rings because of the $20 price tag. So, I may as well review it.

Story: If your a Sonic fan, you know by now that all Sonic stories with maybe the exception of Shadow the Hedgehog (2005) are a load of crap, this is no different. Pretty much everybody knows what this game is about so I'm not going to get into it. It is gradeschool fan fiction and if it were presented in an Arabian and Sonic background, it may actually be mildly interesting, but the storybook style ruins it. Oh well.

Design: The games design is that of a typical platformer. There are seven different themed worlds and a tutorial. This may sound limited but it is just the opposite. Each world is one very large level that you complete when you first enter it and you then complete many and I mean many mission ytou can complete afterwards that take place as part of that level. The mission are ranged from the basic complete in certain time to the obscure of find the eggs and put them in the nests. They all work very well and are extrmly fun to play. Certain, missions advance the story and others are for upgrades, however you arn't told this beforehand and it can get annoying, but it does force you to play all the missions, which expands the game's lifespan. the goal of each world is to collect the world rings, how creative, which is done by completing all missions or the final boss. The game is not played linearly, so you can unlock the final world without holding one world ring. There is also a scoring and upgrade system that can give Sonic new abilities and better mobility. There are over 100 upgrades, highly impressive for a remote with two motions, a D-Pad and two buttons. Only certain upgrades can be turned on at atime and each consumes different amounts of power, so some strategy comes into play. There is also a Mario-Party esque multiplayer mode, that has several different gameplay styles, it is a fun addition, but more on it later. There is also the extra gallery which unfortuantly is 100% unlockable. Content is unlocked by earning medals on missions, which is extremly difficult. I figured out that it's impossible to earn a medal on your first play, you need to earn upgrades then come back to the mission later. All in all, it's a well designed and very enduring game, and you'll get hours out of it.

Gameplay: Let me say this first, I was reluctant to pick this game up before hand because I heard it conttrols poorly, I found very little control issues. Again, THIS GAME CONTROLS FINE. The lateral movement is fluent and there is no noticeable delay. The jumping controls also work well and there are many different styles of jumping and movement. Certain areas may seem frustrating and you'll think it is because of the controls, but actually it's because your likely using the wrong style of control. For example, instead of doing the charge jump to avoid the blades, use the quick jump with an air charge. My sole problem was landing on small platforms because the speed makes it hard to judge distance, but these moments were few and far between. Each level also contains a boss, these are fun and require some strategy. However it is annoying that there are no checkpoints in boss fights and the battles take a while. Now for the rest of the levels, they're are played on rails with collectable rings, soul pearls, grindable edges and plenty of enemies to bash. Movement is made by turning the horizontaly held, the 2 button to jump and slide, 1 to brake and the D-Pad to control your Soul Gague. Each of Sonic's different abilties is easily pulled off by a thrust of the Wii-Mote or the press of a button. The Speed Break and Homing Attack are used the most and both work well. There are a wide variety of obstacles and a certain way to avoid each one. The levels are full of death traps and it's rare you'll get through one on your first try, which is often a complaint about this game. I don't see why, why should I be able to blaze through each level, that would make it too easy. In fact, name a good game where you can do that. Each level is different and the game has an extrmly high fun factor. The Party mode offers you several varities of mini game play, such as board game play, point style, tournament etc. The minigames are all standard WiiMote motion and most are fun. A few are poorly controled, two are completly broken, but this is common in all mini-game collections. I found the party mode fun, and while no Mario Party, it is a great extra.

Presentation: This was a launch title for the Nintendo Wii. That sentence usually spells a graphical disaster, this and Twilight Princess are the sole exceptions. This game looks fantastic. The levels have the perfect balance between cartoon andrealism and are colorful and fun to look at. All parts of the level of highly detailed and the framerate is great. The cinematics are played out on an aged 2D still picture storybook style. While it fits the plot, it does feel just the Arabian Nights, well out of date. Compared to Sonic 2006, there are few characters. Sonic and Shahara cover 90% of the cinematics with Tails, Kunckles, Robotnik and others appearing sparodically. All characters appear as characters in the Arabian Nights. I.E. Tails is Ali Baba, Knuckles is Sinbad, it's a good idea but feels awkward. As usual in the Sonic series, there is a one game only character. Here name is Shahara, she is a genie, she acts as a guide, and like all other one time Sonic characters, she is a bitch and I despise her. But whatever. The voice acting again is pure crap, but an improvment over Sonic 2006. Jason Griffith and Dan Green (Sonic and Knuckles respectively) provide good voices for their characters yet are herendous voice actors. Amy Palant (Tails) is just the opposite. She is a good voice actress but the voice she provides is too young, too girly and annoys me to no end. For those who are playing Secret Rings as your introductury Sonic game, as much as you may think, Tails ia a guy. And to go off topic, why do all kids who are boys have to be voiced by females, I hate that, just have an age appropriate male voice them. That's what Sega has done in the past and they've converted to the FOX style animation voice acting. But enough about the voices, what about the music. The music would be expected to be Arabian style music, it's not. It is rock and metal, custom made, and I love it. The music sounds good, fits the mood and although the lyrics are hard to understand, the sound pleases my ears. It's so good, I have Seven Rings In Hand (the theme) on my iPod, and I don't regret the purchase.

Conclusion: This is a great game. Visually stunning, very well laid out, adequately controlled and extremly fun. The sense of speed and the basic rush platforming the Sonic series is known for is back and better than ever. The game is deep and has a lot of replayability, and you'll get at least 20 hours out of it. It is the best Sonic game on the Wii, and also the cheapest at $20, if you like fun, which must people do, this is a must buy.

9/10