Sonic and the Secret Rings

"In a way, it's like a Sega Arcade game."

So, Sonic and the Secret Rings. It's a title that I'd been waiting for quite a while now. Due to circumstances, I only have one of the new age consoles that now contest in our current-gen console war, so when I found out the Nintendo Wii version of Sonic was going to be different from the Xbox 360/PS3 titles, I wandered if I'd be getting a 'lesser' game?

Well without Sonic the Hedgehog to compare it too, I can only give my opinion on this title. And my opinion is high~

Graphically, SatSR is amazing to look at. Whilst it may not look like much of an improvement from say even Dreamcast days, that's probably because the speed of the game is too fast. Once you stop every now and again, you'll see that there's a lot of detail; textures are well defined, shapes are unjagged without too many jutting polygons, and the whole result looks pretty good. Put that into gameplay context, and then it starts looking even better. You see, this is a Sonic game; thus like many racing games, it is fast and sometimes you don't get to appreciate some of the beautiful scenary and rendering (and sometimes there might not even be such quality environments, in order to reduce rendering times and slowdown). This game makes no excuses in the graphics department, and all areas look richly alive with no slowdown; often the camera will pan as you jump off a spring, and whilst you fly through the air with the safety of the spring's autopilot, you get a view of the environment around you. It's little things like this that show us that Sega know how to handle the Nintendo Wii.

Of course, it isn't perfect - there's sometimes a bit of clipping when you're close to objects, and rarely the camera gets stuck. That said, the camera problems from the Adventures series has been reduced, mostly because the game is an on-rails style of game. Some other times the camera could be a bit better is sometimes through a stage, it will change to an angle that's quite cinematic, but at the same time hinders your visibility. One example is the start of the jungle level when you're being chased by enemies, the camera winds around to a lot of different angles, and sometimes you end up running into a rock that you would have avoided had the camera not changed and you didn't end up trying to correct yourself only to run into the rock anyway and then get stabbed up the backside by the enemies behind.

In the Audio department, the music is a pretty good fare. The title song, Seven Rings in Hand, is catchy and reflects the mood of Sonic's battle pretty well. I haven't played with the English voice cast because, well my experience of Sonic X and Sonic Adventure lies with the Japanese voice seiyuus. Furthermore, I'm in the humble opinion that Ryan Drummand is the original and best voice for Sonic since Sonic Adventure 2 where I felt he really made Sonic for me. I tend to generally stray from the 4Kids cast, they're good but not really the sort of high-end quality I expect like the original cast. Still ,if we're going by the Japanese voice cast, they do an exceptional job for their roles, even if Sonic has some horrible Engrish: "Tha' was t~ight!"

The sound effects in the game are generally pretty good - generic explosions and environment sounds, accompanied by the good ol' chime of rings when collected. The only gripe I have in this department is the English voice actors, but that's more a personal thing so I won't let that detract from my final score.

Finally, the Gameplay. And this is where the basis for the title of this review comes from. You see, the Nintendo Wii has been designed to revolutionise the way we game, considering it's initial name the Nintendo Revolution. This means we get to play some games differently; but until I played this specific title, I didn't realise just what range of experiences we could expect. Surely, indoor Tennis and Bowling sessions was different, but this made me feel something else entirely. When you play this game, it feels so much like an arcade game. The game is essential an on-rails play: Sonic runs forward by himself, and you navigate through the level. Holding the remote horizontally, so your left thumb is on the D-Pad and right thumb able to hop between 1 and 2, you tilt the pad to steer. Instantly it's like playing in an arcade; those type of games are usually very active, forcing a decision on the player. This is a big difference form the Adventure titles and game engine, and I feel may be a step in the front direction for Sega. It has effectively given Sonic a new way to be played that feels innovative and more ultimately, a great deal of fun. The Wii Remote ends up being used in numerous different ways too; thrust it forwards to perform a Jump Dash and Homing Attacks, pump it to ascend in a flying pot (yes, a winged pot!) and even mimic the actions of a catapult to launch Sonic about the level.

Another gameplay aspect that deserves its own section is the levelling up aspect. Completing missions rewards you EXP, with the amount of rings collected factored in, as well a Technical Bonus multiplier that changes depending on hits you take, defeated, etc., As you level up, the ring cap increases (you lose 20 rings per hit, but you can't pick them back up anymore), your soul gauge increases (used for your two Speed/Time Break abilities) and your SP increases. SP is used to equip skills, think Kingdom Hearts if you may or any other RPG that involves equipping skills for a point cost. This is the method by which Sonic becomes faster, steers better, and generally becomes more like the Legendary Blue Hedgehog Sega is presenting Sonic to be.

Still, with new gameplay comes new flaws. The fact that Sonic has changed to an on-rails gameplay style means that reversing is actually quite a feat to accomplish. Whilst Sonic runs by himself, holding 1 will cause him to brake and stop, and tilting the Wii Remote back (so the buttons face the player, although it seems to work better when the buttons face slightly angled down) will cause Sonic to back up. The thing is, the camera does not rotate! This may be the way Sega is making this game so fluid, by reducing the amount of rendering onscreen. However, this causes a bit of aggravation, especially on one level where in order to go forwards, you have to kill enemies in front to open a way forwards, but then you have to go back and use a spring to get to a catapult to fire yourself through the new opening. Without being able to see behind you, you're subject to any enemy attacks, spikes or anything else. Also, the floors for the levels are generally not too flat, so as you speedier, I've noticed that some of my charged jumps are cancelled due to small drops in the floor. It hinders an otherwise excellent gaming experience, but it's not too big a deal, certainly not enough to say it is a serious fault.

Not much else to say except the Story; it's quite a fantasy tale, very different from what you'd expect from the Adventure engine line of games. The classic tale of Arabian Nights, presented in true blue Sonic fashion (well alright, Sonic has to fight the evil Erazor Djinn who is taking the power of the Arabian Nights story into himself to come into the real world and rule us all). The story is told in a storybook fashion, where the 3D cutscenes we're used to are replaced with drawn images in comic frames with a very aged looking effect. Personally, I think it adds a lot of the story, and without this may not have communicated some aspects we see in the game. Also, there's a new form for Sonic to take in this game, something that rivals the popularity of his Super form, so that's also something to look forward to.

Overall, it's a brilliantly fun experience that you should at least try. It does take a bit of getting used to, but once you get into it you'll be immersed completly with this new way of control. With that, there's seven worlds (eight if you include the one that gives you training for your skills), and plenty of missions in each one. There's a Special Book to fill by collecting Medals for finishing missions quickly, thus there's a lot of replay value if you want to see production sketches, game cutscenes, BGMs, etc.,

A final thing to note is that this game does have Multiplayer. It's not at all like the main game but it is actually incredibly complete. In Multiplayer, you can have up to 4 players compete, with CPU bots if you need them. There's a large list of games, I think about 40, and four or five modes of Multiplayer play right off the bat. From chopping wood, guiding blindfolded heroes through a course, sinking pirate ships to even playing the violin, the Multiplayer is well implemented, and feels very complete and not at all like it's been thrown-on. In fact, it feels like a whole extra game altogether.

I feel with this title, Sega have very much redeemed Sonic the Hedgehog. For the young, old, fans; I see this title appealing to even racing game fans, since the style can be attributed.

Final Score: 10/10

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 03/08/07