Sonic and the Secret Rings

"Sonic is back!"

The gameplay is one part of a Sonic game they changed a lot with and works out pretty good. Thanks to the Wii motion you can do a lot of Sonic's moves better (or makes it fun). You need to turn the Wii remote sideways and tilt the remote left and right in order to have Sonic move around. Then you need to jump with the 2 button {Hold and release for a better jump.} and to do a homing attack you shake the Wii remote (You also have to wait until the target part is red it's green before by the way.}. To go backwards you need to move the Wii remote backwards and it helps when you ran pass something you needed.

They also have ways of making you stronger as you level up; you get new skills that you equip to yourself. Some of them are useful, some are ok, and others are just not even needed which makes sense because it would make the game to easy. Later on in the game you need to collect power pearls to use powers, which are called time break and speed break. Speed break is used with the control pad up button and makes you go really fast. This part is helpful but since you still have to control yourself while going speed of sound it doesn't help you with levels that things in your way (Like blocks, baddies don't count.). Time break is used with the control pad down button and makes things go really slow and isn't needed much in the game. You wouldn't really know that you needed to go slow because it would be too late to use it (Unless you know that part by heart.). So even though both skills are not needed much they are still useful at times so don't forget to use them every so often. Grinding in the game is ok, you try to go left but since some people will be goofy and turn right with the Wii remote first to go left you'll go right. It doesn't bug me since you don't need to left and right in the game. But you should be aware of that part even if it isn't need in the game much.

Most of the time the controls are good but I played this one boss, he was hard but everytime I had to move the Wii remote fast I ended up braking which made have to start over. That part was the only part as pretty much all the controls and it felt so good and I just wanted to keep playing and running through the level. Maybe the only other part that was odd in the gameplay was moving backwards, I can't really see where I was going but I guess they wanted you to memorize the way you just came. But other than those three things the gameplay is very solid and most people will love it.

The story is a little different for a Sonic game, in fact you'll think it was a Zelda Mario storyline. Anyways the story is about Arabian Knights stories and a powerful genie from the lamp tries to destory the old story and make a new one just for him. But the stories talk about a legendary Hedgehog (Sonic) a genie from a ring goes out of the book and looks for him. She does find Sonic and tells him to go help them in the book. Sonic agrees and they set off in one the book. Right when they get the book genie of the lamp puts a curse on Sonic and he wants Sonic to go for the power rings (Hence the title for this game.). Then Sonic starts his adventure for one of the greatest Sonic adventure ever.

Now you do missions in order to beat the game and they don't go by order so you should be aware of that once you go through some of the worlds. Most of the missions are fun and you have to do them in order to beat the main part of the game. Or they will just be fun but haven't needed to beat the main part of the game. Most of the time the missions are in the same part of area except cut down to make it look different or the whole level isn't needed. But the missons are still great to do and you won't even care since you would have to do something-different everytime in that world.

This is my first time adding such a spot in my reviews but I thought it would be a right idea talking about the level design for Sonic and the Secret Rings. Most of the levels change throughout the game. In the beginning the levels are very slow, but get you use to the game for the big levels. Than after a few levels where you are getting better at the new gameplays and how it all works they give you a level where you have to run around fast and need to keep an eye so you don't get hit by anything. Than they will change into a world with some speed but more jumping off each platform and using less speed. Than finally they will have world with speed again which are the same like before except a little harder. Now, not all of the worlds of the game will do as a pattern they will do more randomly and even missions (See story mode.) do the same this in worlds as well and I find it great that they keep the missions and worlds balance with each other. If you ask me the levels in the game are all great once you figure how to the controls and all. I sometime redo a level just because it's so much fun to run around the area and I do this with Sonic rush as well.

Now the levels are not perfect, they maybe fun at times but in minor times they will get annoying and unfair. For example I had to get pass a cactus but you get no time to see it happen and you get hit (If you play that level a lot you'll likely be able to get pass it though.). Sometime you get blocked my something but it won't hurt you, instead it will just have you lose all that speed momentum and it feels like you lose all the air from your lungs at once. But that really didn't bug me in fact I might over exaggerating on it and really it won't bother someone a little or not at all.

The part of the game is really like Mario Party except it wasn't big for this game so they will have some off points in the games. Since you use Wii remote motion to play the game it makes it a little more fun than most party games. Some of the mini-games are great, others are ok, and some are just really boring. Some of them don't even work right, but you can't blame them to fix everything in the game for you. They also have different modes so you don't get bored of playing a mini-game and that's it. One of them is a tourney or it is a board game but has a different touch to this board game. They have other different modes that I didn't say and you won't get bored with this part of the game.

Now they have many unlockables to use in the game. Some are just cutscenes you saw before, some are drawings they made, and even some are unlockable characters for Party mode. I haven't unlocked many of them so I can't really give you much details but I think they can give you a long replay value.

Replay value is pretty good. The Main adventure is pretty short but since they have over 100 missions you'll have a lot of time to keep playing. Then you need to get them all gold and collect items (Trust me it's hard to collect and get a gold medal on the missions.). Plus you even have party mode to give you some laughs and give you some fun with friends. So depending how good you are in a video games it may take you some time to beat the whole game itself.

The graphics are very nice in this game. The characters are pretty nice more upgraded to a Gamecube Sonic game. But what I thought was really nice was the worlds and special effects. They look so nice in the game; one example is the sun in the game. It looks so pretty and feels like a real sun is shining on you and you could stare at it all day. Another part of the game I like was where you needed to walk across a space like level. It looks very nice and some of the things they attack you with have a nice special effect to them and makes them look really nice. So if your wanting a game with nice special effects and nice art this a great game for you.

No matter if you're a Sonic fan or you just like playing any game I recommend this game to everyone. Maybe the only thing I would say to you is this game takes time for you to get use to, but after that you'll love this game as much I did. We should welcome back Sonic since this is his best game in a while.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 02/27/07