Sonic and the Secret Rings

"It's not Sonic Adventure 3, but it's still a very fun and fast game in an otherwise dying series"

I wouldn't have believed you if you told me back in 1999 that the Sonic series would be in such bad shape less than 10 years later. Playing Sonic Adventure on my brand new Dreamcast to face unparalleled speeds, amazing graphics, great music, breathtaking FMVs and action scenes, and a very good storyline was an experience that I will always remember. I had just never seen anything like it. The game itself not only amazed with innovative and jaw-dropping levels like Twinkle Park and Speed Highway, but reminded us of the 2-D era with levels like Casinopolis with the Sonic Pinball machines, as well as the Sky Chases on Tails's airplane, Angel Island falling....Sonic Adventure brought the Sonic series into 3-D successfully without losing sight of what made Sonic so great all those years ago.

Like how Sonic Adventure was there at the launch of the Dreamcast, Sonic Adventure 2 was there at the end of the Dreamcast, and looking back, while it was the game in which the infrastructure of Sonic's 3-D world began to crumble, it was still another fantastic adventure game with fast speeds, an improved storyline, really cool bosses, and an amazing and very involved and improved Chao simulation game that you could spend hours and hours in.

After the death of the Dreamcast, Sega clearly lost their way with the Sonic series. Sonic Heroes was a very slow-moving game CLEARLY targeted at a younger audience, lacking everything that made Sonic a cool character and anything that made his games fun. Shadow the Hedgehog was one of the worst games I have ever played, while the racing spinoff, Sonic Riders, was simply a missed opportunity.

Sonic the Hedgehog on the Xbox 360 and PS3 was supposed to be the "Sonic Adventure 3" we were all hoping for but it got universally slammed by everyone; by all accounts, the very glitchy and unfinished game was almost unplayable.

I haven't had the "honor" of playing that release but I did get to play Sonic and the Secret Rings, which was developed specifically for the Nintendo Wii. This is truly Sonic re-built. It's an on-rails game that always keeps the action moving and offers some moments of true amazement and awe that took me right back to the days of Sonic Adventure.

(Update; I have now finally played Sonic the Hedgehog on the 360. Yeah, it really was THAT bad.)

Graphics; While Sonic on the 360/PS3 underwhelmed everyone with its graphics, Secret Rings on the Wii looks great; believe it or not, it looks superior. Levels are extremely colorful and very detailed, lighting effects and water effects are great, polygon counts are great, the game manages to keep a steady framerate, and the levels are all varied and very different from each other. Nearly every inch of every level is full of life.

There are 2 FMV's in the game and they look very nice, however, most of the story is presented in a "story-book" style that's somewhat like Red Steel; don't worry, though, it suits this game much better, and once I got used to it, I didn't mind it at all. Would I like to see more FMV in the next installment? Yeah, of course. But lack of it is not nearly as big a problem as I thought it would be. With graphics looking this nice, (the last level in particular is completely stunning,) it stands out in the group of very mediocre-looking Wii games currently available. It's easily the first game on the Wii to look completely next gen and it's almost worth a purchase for that reason alone.


Gameplay; This is where the game completely amazes; Sonic is finally fast again. Those moments in Speed Highway? Heh, those are NOTHING compared to what you get in Secret Rings; this game REALLY moves. Sonic pushes along automatically, however, you can grind rails, break, jump, and even go in reverse. The controls for these actions leave a bit to be desired, but that's really only a small price to pay; most of the time, you fly through the levels, and that's how Sonic was always supposed to be. You hold the controller sideways to play; jumping is done with the "2" button, and you push the Wii-mote forward to homing attack. This system works PERFECTLY and I really can't picture going back to homing-attacking on a regular controller. This game makes use of the Wii-mote in MANY ways, and almost all of them are very fun. The game just works. As corny as it sounds, it "plays like a dream."

Each level is divided into several missions; the first is simply running through the level. Lengths of levels run typically from 5-7 minutes. After this, you unlock more missions through the levels, like "collect 50 rings" or "defeat 20 enemies" or whatever. The good news is that these missions retain the fast and fun gameplay of the regular level run-throughs and it ends up being a very good system. The game unlocks a few missions at once, so you can pick and choose which you want to participate in; you do not usually have to do all of them to unlock the next level and you don't have to do all of them to complete the main storyline, which is good, because there are some very challenging missions there that are for "hardcore gamers only." Again, though, you usually can avoid doing these. The game does provide some "old school challenge," particularly with the bosses, but it's never IMPOSSIBLE, and the game always remains fun, even if you are screaming at the difficulty of a boss. One example is Ifrit, a boss you fight in the 2nd half of the game, who is single-handedly the most massive boss I've ever faught in a Sonic game. It kind of reminded me of the Egg Golem from Sonic Adventure 2....times 100. A huge, truly epic boss that puts much of Twilight Princess's bosses to complete shame. The final boss (Last Mode) also provides a very steep challenge but as with Ifrit, the game is simply fun to play and you get so caught up in it that the difficulty does not matter, and it's very satisfying to complete a tough boss. The lives system that has made the last couple Sonic games such a pain has also been done away with, so it's a lot less frustrating.

If, however, you get truly stuck, you can level up. Completing missions or re-playing old ones grants you EXP points, much like an RPG, which gets Sonic new powers and updates (such as "acceleration increase") as well as giving him more max points to equip more moves and powers. Sonic really does "level up" over the course of the game and by the end of it he's really a force to be reckoned with.

The only true weakness I can think of is the game's relatively short length. At only about 10 hours to complete the Main Story, (this includes Last mode, where the REAL final boss and ending is) Secret Rings is a bit shorter than the Adventure series and significantly shorter than Heroes. However, there is more to do if you choose to; there are other (much harder) missions and bosses to complete after you finish the main story, more characters and levels to unlock for the multiplayer mode (a bland collection of mini-games that are pretty much "hit or miss" but I guess it's better than nothing,) as well as other powers for Sonic. You can also try to get GOLD on every mission, and I hear even a Master difficulty setting to unlock. There's a lot here for truly hardcore Sonic fans if they want to extend the replay value.

The game features excellent controls, very fast gameplay, some great levels and level designs, as well as deep and occasionally challenging gameplay. Did I mention that Ifrit boss? Secret Rings's gameplay is a big accomplishment and it's the first Sonic game in years to offer that sense of speed and great control that the series has been missing for so long.


Sound; Musically, the game's a great return to form. Let's get this out of the way, though; the lyrics in the songs can be cheesy and they often do not work...that aside, though, the return to the rock music in the levels and bosses brings back the adrenaline-pumping intensity of the Sonic levels in the Adventure series. With recent Sonic games ditching this music for, I'll admit, sometimes catchy but unexciting techno soundtracks in the levels, it's great to have the music in the levels be exciting again. The Evil Foundry, (again, lyrics aside) features a really cool and atmospheric song. Other levels, like the final one, also deserve mention for their great songs. And again, some bosses (like Ifrit) greatly benefit from this exciting music. One level, (the Skeleton one) unfortunately reverts back to the "techno" soundtrack, which serves to remind us how much better this series is when it sticks with rock. However, the game's main theme is a bit annoying and over-played. Still, props to the music, they did a great job here.

The voice acting is another story. In my review of Shadow the Hedgehog, I commented that the 4 Kids Entertainment voice actors did a pretty decent job and that I would like to hear them in future Sonic releases...I take it back. The voice acting here is pretty bad. I understand why Sega would want the Sonic video games and TV show to have the same voice cast, but I don't understand why they had to go with 4 Kids Entertainment. Their dubs are horrible. Although the voice of Sonic does have his moments, I find that his voice actor really over-acts, as if he's reading a book out loud to an audience of 5-year olds. He doesn't sound as hard-edged as Sonic's old VA did. Tails's voice actress doesn't seem to have gotten the memo that she is supposed to be voicing a male character, but I guess she's an improvement over the VA Tails had in Sonic Heroes...yeesh. The other characters are fine, with the voice actress of Shahra actually doing a great job. However, the voice actor of Erazor, the game's villain, is disappointingly weak and it really makes the villain less intimidating, unfortunately. I think Sega should really ditch 4 Kids Entertainment as soon as possible.

Great music, pretty mediocre VA. This game does offer the option, though, to change to the voices to Japanese, which some gamers will undoubtedly take advantage of.


Storyline; Although this game had "un-cannon spinoff" written all over it, I was very surprised at how detailed (and cannon) this story was. It features almost all the Sonic characters, it actually takes place in a cool setting (The Arabian Nights stories) and it ties in well to some of the Arabian Nights tales. It's also got a couple surprisingly emotional moments as you near the end of the game and there are even a couple nice twists in there. It won't win any awards but this is a surprisingly good story and events occur very often, which always keeps it moving. It's even got a pretty satisfying ending, (done in FMV) although the moment right before the credits roll is REALLY corny....ugh.


Sonic and the Secret Rings is not only the first great Sonic in years, but it's definitely the first great game built for the Wii, taking complete advantage of the Wii-mote and offering up some stunning gameplay as a result. The graphics and music also really steal the show here, coupled with a competent storyline and some REALLY fast and imaginative levels that had my jaw dropping. It's still not Sonic Adventure 3, but that's okay; this is a very different Sonic game and while I'm still hoping a traditional Sonic platformer one of these days will retain the glory of the Sonic Adventure series, this is still an extremely enjoyable game and there's no reason any Wii owner should not own this game. Sonic is back.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 03/07/07, Updated 11/12/07

Game Release: Sonic and the Secret Rings (US, 02/20/07)