Sonic and the Secret Rings

"A breath of fresh air for a series that desperately needed it"

Much to the dismay of Sonic fans old and new, the console side of the series has been in a tailspin as of late. Starting with Sonic Heroes, his 3D adventure games have become more and more forgettable, hitting new lows with the heaping piles of mediocrity that were Shadow the Hedgehog and his most recent next-gen exploits in Sonic the Hedgehog (which many fans have resorted to calling Sonic Next Gen out of respect for the original Genesis game). Thankfully, rather than simply port Sonic NG over to the Wii, Sonic Team decided to construct something new from the ground up. The resulting Sonic and the Secret Rings amounts to what is easily the best console Sonic game of the last five years, bringing new life to the embattled blue blur.

The gameplay method takes a radically different approach from most 3D Sonic titles, done so likely in response to past criticisms. The game takes on what is most accurately described as an “on rails” style. Even without controller input, Sonic will constantly be moving forward on a set track throughout a given level, with the player controlling his left-right movement, jumping/attacking, and backtracking in the rare event that moving backward is needed. The idea with this concept is for Sonic to RUN FAST, the thing he was created to do (and sadly, something he hasn't done a whole lot of in recent years). For the most part, the game achieves this goal, as the sense of speed in the game is very real, if a tad overwhelming at times. Thankfully, the game eases the player into the setup by allowing Sonic to only go a certain top speed in the beginning of the game and increasing it with time and experience. This is done through the cleverly designed “skill ring” system. As you complete objectives within the game, ability enhancements for the ring become available, with the number of enhancements you can equip at one time increasing with Sonic's experience level. These abilities (which there are A LOT of to collect) range from simple speed boosts and sharper control response to more exotic things like slowing down time to help get around tricky obstacles. The controls themselves function surprisingly well for such a new design concept. Holding the Wii remote sideways, Sonic's directional movements are controlled by tilting the remote in the appropriate direction. Jumping and braking are handled through the 1/2 face buttons. Sonic's air dash and homing attack is done by quickly jerking the remote down while airborne, and there are a couple of devices you encounter that use the remote in different ways (such as a catapult, where you have to tilt the remote in toward yourself and then quickly push it forward). All of this responds very well, and though there is definitely a learning curve to getting it right, it is very rewarding for those who take the time to master it. The gameplay isn't without a couple hiccups, though. Though the forward camera always shows the best view of what's going on (usually from right behind Sonic), for some reason it doesn't pan around for backward movement, which can lead to some frustration if you start running into things on your blind side. Secondly, there are some obstacles that are almost impossible to get by without slowing down or stopping completely (such as rotating triggers, disappearing enemies, etc). This can really break up your momentum, but thankfully these are pretty rare.

The story is a something of an oddity. It begins as Sonic, doing nothing in particular, is disturbed from his loafing by a voice coming from one of his books. The voice belongs to Shahra, the genie of the ring, who calls upon Sonic to save the world of Arabian Nights from an evil being known as the Erazor Djinn, who is wiping out each of the book's stories one-by-one. Upon entering the book, the two are greeted by the Erazor, who demonstrates his hospitality by shooting Sonic in the chest with a cursed flaming arrow, which will kill Sonic once the flame goes out. And so Sonic and Shahra set off to stop the Erazor from destroying the book and escaping into the outside world. The story as a whole is unfortunately very thin, with only 3 or 4 minutes of story for each of the seven worlds. In light of the game taking place inside a book, the story is told with a comic book panel style as opposed to full motion CG. There are a couple sequences of interest, and the ending is done fairly well, but for the most part the plot only serves a minimum functionality in tying the game together. A few familiar faces to the Sonic series also make appearances along the way, but thankfully they don't include Sonic's palette swap doppelgangers Shadow and Silver.

This is one of the first games to take advantage of the Wii's extra graphical horsepower, and it looks very good because of it. The beautifully crafted environments that compose the seven worlds (all of which follow themes from the actual Arabian Nights stories) are brought to life with a great level of detail and excellent fluid and particle effects. The rare CG sequences also look fantastic, which will make many gamers wonder why the whole story wasn't told with them. The game's sound is very much a love or hate affair. Listening to the music by itself, you'd wonder what on earth Sonic Team was thinking; the songs themselves are quite awful. Within the context of the gameplay, however, these quirky tunes fit fairly well. It is a part of the game that clearly needs work, but it isn't too hard to handle if you just don't pay too much attention to the ridiculous lyrics (“Dino! It's a jungle!” and “Make believe's reborn!” are just a couple of examples). There's really nothing special about the voice acting, but it isn't unbearable, either. One of the game's biggest assets is the HUGE list of extra content that can be unlocked by completing certain objectives within the game, which adds a lot of replay value. These include plenty of concept art, a music/cutscene player, a year-by-year history of the Sonic franchise, among other things.

While this one game isn't quite enough to bring the series out of its current swoon, it is definitely a step in the right direction and proof that Sega's blue hedgehog still has some potential in the gaming world. The game's flaws are readily visible, but thankfully don't detract too much from the fun factor. A sequel is hinted in the game, so perhaps some of the sound and story issues will be addressed by then.

STORY – 5/10
GAMEPLAY – 9/10
VISUALS – 9/10
SOUND – 6/10
SWING – 10/10

OVERALL – 7.8/10

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