Sonic and the Secret Rings Review (WII)

Make or Break for the spiky hedgehog.

Once upon a time, Sonic was a name greeted with eager anticipation and awe, yet for years our favourite blue hedgehog has taken a beating by the gaming industry after a few very poor showings. I like to think that this game marks a new era for Sonic and hopefully an exciting and innovative sign of things to come.

impressed and surprised

Sonic has always had a very familiar and comforting storyline. The typical quest for seven chaos emeralds that must be acquired before Dr. Robotnik (now known as Eggman ) manages to do the same. On this occasion Sonic is thrown into a new environment well known as the world of the “Arabian Nights” of which I’m not too familiar with at all. Instead of hunting chaos emeralds, to my dismay I found the goal of the game was to retrieve the “all powerful” Secret Rings which somehow or other save them from falling in the wrong hands. As always the storyline is simple and provides a stark launching pad for what lies ahead. Overall I was fairly impressed with the way that Sonic is incorporated into the story and was relieved to see he wasn’t just the boring old hedgehog that I had seen in ‘Sonic Heroes’ but rather regained some of his previous attitude and sense of humour that we’ve all grown to love .

The visuals of Sonic and the Secret Rings was also a step forward for the character as I feel there was a sense of dullness and lack of fulfilment that I experienced playing previous 3d titles that really lacked the depth needed in order to make a successful and enjoyable title. The environments are restored to their former glory as the levels span from Ancient Ruins to Dinosaur ravaged jungles. In this game there seems to be far more interaction with the environment than in previous games as it moves and provides alternate routes that may affect the result of the level. Such things as dinosaurs and boulders being launched at you as well as the ever prominent spikes mean you always have to be mentally aware of what may be lurking around the corner. Features such as catapults, magic carpets river logs give a new dimension to the game where you were on your feet a majority of the time. The aesthetic graphics were purely stunning and I don’t think I could’ve expected any more with only the cut scenes leaving much to be desired. The cut scene’s take the form of a kind of comic thing with sound which becomes extremely boring considering the lack of movement I’m used to seeing. From the blistering dust Sonic leaves behind him down to the environmental broadness it really does set the bar high for the next Sonic title which I’m eagerly awaiting .

One of the key issues and also frustrations from time to time can be the repetition that occurs when you have been trying the same level for hours. Yet that most likely happens in most games. The annoying thing about the game is that most accidental slip ups are due to controller mistakes rather than what you actually intended to do on the screen. Uniquely, in Sonic you hold the controller on it’s side and tilt it to either side to turn. While rampaging through the levels you will encounter several different types of monsters that are killed by swiftly thrusting the Wii remote forward after jumping which sends Sonic propelling into the monster at a high speed destroying it. It is actually quite enjoyable to my surprise and although it may seem boring after a while it does not. The characters in this title are fairly obvious as the ever existing Tails and Knuckles make appearances (although not actually playing the role of themselves). At the end of each level you may gain a skill which can be added to the ring you are wearing. It is a very user friendly game with many stages at the start introducing the new player to the controls and how the game works. The adventure mode spans for many many hours of play and will not disappoint with each providing a very different and unique challenge requiring different skill combinations.

Multiplayer mode was definitely the centre of my attention as after seeing the trailer I expected a Mario Party like system which is what I encountered. As in Mario Party, you compete in mini games to gain points and win in the selected mode. Many of the mini game seem entirely familiar and they all incorporate the Wii controls in a different way to make them very enjoyable indeed. The only real annoyance in multi player mode is the annoying period between mini games where you have to wait for the next to begin. It is great fun with friends although I have to admit if you are going for a multi player game this isn’t for you.

The audio in Sonic and the Secret Rings has been simply disappointing, upon entering the title screen you are greeted with an annoying song that is played at every menu screen you encounter. In addition to this the music is somewhat boring and did not deliver the same catchy and satisfactory tunes that the Genesis titles were able to blare out. In comparison to PS2 titles I can not complain though and will not quarrel with this matter. At times the music can be very engaging but has left much to be desired yet also much to look forward too in the next titles. The voice acting was decent but is overshadowed by the poor cut scenes which really do fail to impress.

Overall I was definitely impressed and surprised with the latest edition to the Sonic series and believe it may be on its way to possible returning anywhere near to it’s former glory. No doubt I’d recommend it to any prospective buyers but as always try before you buy and give it a rent .