Sonic and the Secret Rings

"Running around at the speed of sound..."

Graphics: 9/10
The graphics are good, VERY good, and I was quite impressed with the sheer gorgeous looks of some of the levels (ESPECIALLY the later ones) Sonic really pushes the wii for these graphics, just to give us a taste of what it can do, and though it's not no gears of war, the graphics are preety enough to please the eye and even give you some wow moments. They deliver. However, though the levels are great, the enemies could have looked a bit better. but it's ok, as your going to fast to notice sometimes.

Sound: 8/10
It's a sonic game, so expect to hear things breaking, rails scraping, and rings making bell noises when you pick them up. in short, the basic sound effects are there, and all sound perfect. The soundtrack is a hit or miss for people. Again, a Sonic game, so expect to hear techno/rock. I actually liked the songs on this one though, but my opinion on me liking the songs or not dosen't go into the score at all. I judge it by how it fits in the game.

And regardless if your a fan of rock and or techno, the music fits very nicely, and really helps get the adrenaline going. Fast Hectic levels has fast music, much more tame levels have a tamer music composition and so on and so forth. The game is in an arabian setting, and incredibly, all the tracks do have a sort of of arabian feel to it, and really help the score and help you get in the mood to play the level.

Story: 7/10
Without spoiling anything, the story in secret rings is basically about the stories of the arabian nights and an evil force at work to erase the stories. THAT's the gist of it, but theres more to it, and it actually is quite satisfying and not as dull and lifeless as the other sonic games stories were. Something I was a fan of on this one is how the story is presented. The story is presented through pages, sort of like a comic book, and is colored to make it look like the pages are ancient, as if it were pages of a tale long ago.

The story is basic "save the world, kill the badguy" formula, but offers a few twists within (always welcome) and excellent story progression.

Controls: 7/10
Every game has a con, and the achilles heel for secret rings is the controls. Now they are not HORRIBLE by no means, but some of the functions are either really tough to do in the heat of the moment, or quite simple reading issues. Basically, you don't have to worry about making sonic run, he has that covered. YOUR goal is to steer him away from trouble and get through the enviroment via jumping, dashing,attacking etc.

sounds simple enough right? well...

to steer, you just tilt, thats it. tilt to the left to get him to run left, and vice versa. there is really no problems in this department.

you jump with the 2 button, but you super jump with it as well. This may seem kind of awkward, and it is, but it is workable. For instance, in order to do a small jump, you (lightly) press the 2 button, and in order to do a super jump you press and hold 2 to build up power and leap in the air that way. Here is where the problems begin...

In some enviroments, you will be forced with lots of obstacles, this is normal, and to be expected, however... some of the obstacles call for small jumps, then big jumps. well, it's no problem to get past the obstacles... until you realize that you REALLY have to hit two lightly just to get a small enough jump, if you press it and hold it any longer than it can register, you will do a super jump, and unfortunatly for you... you just overjumped the platform you were trying to get on to.

to brake, you press and hold 1, simple enough.

Now this is when it gets REALLY bad. Grinding...

Grinding is REALLY agitating and can almost be labeled as broken, had it not been saved by the fact you can do it once you figure out the trick to do so. To grind, you just jump on the rail, and sonic begins to grind. in order to speed up, you have to tap 2, but for some reason, 7 times out of ten, your button press will register as a short jump, and you will leap right off of it. Switching rails is damn near impossible too.

BASICALLY, in order to rail jump, you have to gently tilt to the side you want to leap to, hold one, and thrust to that side, but for some GOD AWFUL reason, you will rarely actually connect with the rail because sonic will end up either falling short, overjumping, or just not jumping towards it at all. THANKFULLY only a few levels actually require you to grind, so it dosen't really pose much of a problem, but for the levels that require it the whole way, your in for one hell of a blow up.

The great thing about the cons of the controls though are that, sure there are problems in the controls.... but you can easily counter this by compensating before hand, and reducing the problems tremendously.

Gameplay: 9/10

The meat of the game. Let me just say this; take the thoughts about all these other 3d sonics and toss them away, they were not real sonic games, nor will they ever be, and they were wrecks. Now brace yourself, cause finally, after all these years, we finally got a sonic game. What I am basically saying is this; no other game besides the original genesis sonics and this one ever gave the sense of speed which MADE a sonic game, it is after all, what sonic does, run, speed, the core essence, just as a mario formula isn't complete without jumping and pounding some foes in the dirt.

What Secret Rings does is not only bring back that speed sensation that we experienced during the old sonics, but REINVENTS it through the wii, and of course, 3D. Lets break this down further though;

Let me first start this off with the exclamation of NO MORE CAMERA PROBLEMS! Thats right, the fatal error that plagued the other 3d sonics is gone now as you don't have to worry about controlling the camera ever again, the game worries about that and handles it for you, and RARELY did I ever see a camera hiccup (this ONLY happened when I overdid a jump and leaped behind a portal somehow, forcing the camera to try to go through the portal)

No more running and stopping! Basically, remember how in the other 3d sonics where you hardly did any running at all? you basically ran on a platform, stopped, angled your way to the spring or rocket or whatever, and continued the process? On Secret Rings, Sonic is CONSTANTLY running, always running forward, going faster and faster, and all YOU do is guide him through the level, just like the sonic games of old.

Missions are comprised of basic objectives, objectives ranging from simple things like "reach the goal" to "collect rings" or special story objectives. They may seem kind of straight forward, and they are, but it's perfectly alright, as it is a great way to break the monotous complete mission by reaching goal, it's all varied.

There are 8 stages, and within each stages are substages. Basic way that works is that first level of that stage is a full runthrough of an entire level. the levels inbetween the first and last sublevel are the special objectives and collect missions I was talking about. The last sublevel is a boss. However, during these sublevels, the level changes completly. in one sublevel, you could be isolated in one area of the main level, and play there. Thats how all the sublevels work basically though, they all take place within the same stage, but in different isolated areas, altered somewhat to give them a newer feel.

The game play is very solid, as I said before, you just guide sonic through a level, and because sonic is usually going very fast, the adrenaline starts to pump through them as you never know whats going to happen next around that next corner, and its a very satisfying expereince to expereince that.

Very new to the sonic scene is the ability to level up. Your probably scratching your head to the idea of RPG elements in a sonic game, but don't be alarmed, they don't take away from the experience, the elements actually are very well done and very much welcome. Basically you level up by completing a level, and when you level up, you get skills, you equip these skills to better sonics abilities, and make getting through levels easier.

Replayability 8/10
This game offers alot, and by alot, I mean alot. Over 300+ unlockables, each very challenging to unlock as you usually have to score at LEAST a silver medal to unlock some of the things (a challenge within itself) story mode takes about 10 hours, and unlocked everything and leveling to the max would take I dunno, 30-40 hours extra, maybe even more. so it offers a great deal.

Buy or Rent? I am going to have to say buy. This is what the wii users have been needing due to the drought of good wii titles. If your a sonic fan, you should definatly buy it, if you are not, and have never been, I will say rent it, I think this can sway your decision.

CONCLUSION: Sonic and the Secret Rings is a godsend. A very challenging title that not only reinvents the 3D sonic games, but gives us the sonic we know and love, back. With its beatiful graphics, amazing sound, and really intense gameplay, this game is definatly worth the praise I have gave it.

POINT CRUNCHDOWN:
Graphics: 9/10
Sound: 8/10
Story: 7/10
Controls: 7/10
Gameplay: 9/10
Replayability 8/10

TOTAL:48/60=0.8

Sonic and the Secret Rings scores an 8!

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 03/02/07