Sonic and the Secret Rings

THE BAD:
Sometimes, it feels like the game is playing for you.

Sonic is the only playable character for Story Mode. It would be nice if there was at least some unlockable characters.

SUMMARY:
After a few Sonic games that were considered to be mediocre games by many people (Sonic Heroes, Shadow The Hedgehog and Sonic The Hedgehog for 360 and PS3) Sega decided to make yet another Sonic game, entitled "Sonic and The Secret Rings". Unlike the last few, this one was considered to be success by many people, although, I actually liked the other games, but I haven't played Sonic for PS3 and 360. It's nice to see a Sonic game for the Wii. It's fun using the Wiimote to control Sonic. You hold it sideways like with some other Wii games.

I don't pay attention to storylines too much, but apparently, Sonic is trapped in some book about an evil genie named Erazor Djinn. Some characters from the series, such as Tails, Knuckles and Eggman also plays a role of a different character in the book. Sonic manages to get 3 wishes granted in the end, but I won't spoil the rest for you. You'll just have to play the game from the beginning to the end to see what those wishes are.

You gain skill levels in this game too. The higher your skill level the more stuff you'll unlock. You unlock stuff like more mini-games for Party Mode, more characters for Party Mode and more things to add to your Skill Ring. That only adds the fun to the game. You play the levels in this game more than once. Each time you play them, there's a different goal like having to kill a certain amount of enemies or just racing through the level within a certain amount of time. There's also boss battles and they are challenging for the most part, unlike in most Sonic games.

Most of the stages are really nicely designed. I especially like the Dinosaur Jungle and Erazor's Palace. Dinosaur Jungle has you riding on a log and Erazor's Palace has you riding on a magical carpet. It reminds me of how you snowboarded in one stage in Sonic 3. I forgot what the first stage is called, but I like that one a lot too. It reminds me a lot like classic Sonic stages.

The Party Mode is also cool. It's a bit like the Mario Party series. The Wiimote is very useful for the mini-games. Each Party stage works different ways too. This is also the multiplayer mode for this game, which you can gather your friends and family and have a good time with this mode. Overall, the Party Mode is fun.

When I say it feels like this game plays for you sometimes, I mean it's like Sonic moves to certain parts of the stage for you and stuff like that. It's not really a big problem though.

The graphics are quite good compared to other Wii games and they even look as good as Sonic The Hedgehog for XBox 360 and PS3. The stages and everything looks realistic, just as they should.

The music in this game doesn't stand out much, however Erazor's Palace had great music. I like the metal it has to it. It's also the only song in the game that actually has some singing.

This is a fast and fun game. It's probably my favorite Wii game. If you're looking for a platformer for the Wii, look no further than Sonic and The Secret Rings.

THE BAD:
-Can be frustrating
-Some missions repeat themselves
-The voice actors aren't that great
-The Story

SUMMARY:
This game has helped Sonic get back up off his feet, after being knocked down by his game for the 360 and PS3, Sonic The Hedgehog.

STORY

Sonic falls asleep while reading an Arabian Nights book, and wakes up the next morning, to find the genie of the ring, Shahra. Shahra explains to Sonic that the evil Erazor Djinn is erasing classic stories from the Arabian Nights book. If he erases all of the stories, their world will not only cease to exist, Djinn will be able to enter Sonic's world. Sonic must stop the evil Erazor Djinn, or else...

The story isn't great, I admit. It seems a little basic, and it's not as good as previous story lines. However, in the Arabian Nights world, there are some cameos by Sonic's friend's, but they just look like them and sound like them, they have different names. Example? Knuckles name is Sinbad.

Graphics / Visuals

The graphics are great for the Wii, I don't think any other Wii games have graphics as good as these yet. The main story is mainly shown with animated images most of the time, but when you start playing the game, the graphics are awesome. Also, the movie before the Title screen has amazing graphics, it actually looks like a next-gen game, especially if you compare it to a game with not so good graphics currently on the Wii such as Red Steel.

Music

The music is mostly rock, which suits Sonic perfectly. They have some really nice songs, and the songs are great during the levels. The songs are also catchy, and if they release the songs on CD, I'll defintly be buying it.

Multiplayer

The multiplayer is, as I said before, pretty fun. It's not the best multiplayer on the Wii, but can be fun at times. Multiplayer is all mini/party games, such as games in Wario Ware: Smooth Moves. Many of the games seem exactly the same with slight changes, but I find them not so bad. If you're looking for a really fun party game, try Rayman Raving Rabbids and Wario Ware: Smooth Moves .

Controls

Instead of holding the Wiimote vertically normally, you hold it horizontally. This is different then most games, and so far, I've only seen it used in Cooking Mama: Cookoff and Sonic And The Secret Rings. You tilt the Wiimote left to move left, and right for right. You can move backwards by pulling the Wiimote towards you, and forward by...Well, you get the picture. Sonic can brake by pressing the 1 button, jump by pressing or holding the 2 button, and use his homing attack by pushing the Wiimote forward while in the air. The controls are fun and don't take too long to get used to.

Gameplay

Sonic goes to different zones and different areas, all with missions. The levels (or missions) are somewhat long, and can be challenging.The missions in the zones have easy and hard tasks, such as "Collect 100 rings" or "Don't break any jars!" in a level full with jars! The missions sometimes repeat themselves, but there are some which can only be found in a certain zone. You'll probably die once or twice because of things you don't see until you hit them or get close to them.

As usual, rings act like health. If you get hit and don't have any rings, you die. If you get hit and have even a single ring, you lose some rings (or all, depending how many you have) and keep on going.

When you complete a mission, you gain experience. When you level up, you unlock new moves or skills which you can equip Sonic with. You might even wish you started off with these moves, because they're so helpful. You equip these moves to a "Skill Ring", which is the ring Sonic wears. You'll unlock useful moves like backflips, boosts in speed, etc.

Voices

Sonics voice sounds okay, but Tails is just weird. Tails sounds like a girl, though this wouldn't be the first time he has...

Knuckles voice is odd, he sounds like a greaser...

Erazor Djinn sounds like Ganondorf would from the Zelda games.

Eggman has an okay voice as well.

I don't want to keep on going, but basically, the voices could improve.

Conclusion

Sonic And The Secret Rings was a success for Sega, and possibly saved Sonic after the 360 and PS3 game. The gameplay is great, it's fun using the Wiimote, and the graphics are beautiful. If you like Sonic and have a Wii, I would defintly reccomend this.

THE BAD:
Occasionally frustratingly difficult
Missions may get repetitive
Rather short
Only 8 worlds
Mediocre Party mode

SUMMARY:
For the first time, there is an impressive 3D Sonic game. Sonic Adventure amazed us by being the first 3D Sonic game, but after the initial amazement we can see it's flaws that only got worse as time passed and more games were developed. This game fixes those flaws, although it does present a few new ones.

The Controls

The controls work very well. In the 2D games, which were the best of the series, you controlled Sonic left, right and up. With Sonic and the Secret Rings, you control Sonic left, right and up, and it works very well. The controls both add a new layer of enjoyment and challenge to the game, as well as precise movement. It lets you feel in control. There was something about the analog stick and how it was used in previous Sonic games that made you feel like you aren't controlling Sonic, due to the fact that the controls were broken. This game has precise, accurate controls that use the Wiimote fairly well.

The Gameplay

The game itself sports long levels with many different areas. These areas are accessed in certain missions. No one mission contains all of the level. In fact, for most levels, only about half of the world is presented in the first mission, which is to reach the goal(often the mission containing a larger portion of the world than any other).

The missions themselves are fairly similar between worlds. They include simple tasks such as "Reach the goal" to more challenging tasks, such as "Collect 100 Rings", "Don't Get Hit" or "Don't get Defeated". Often there are tasks where you have to beat the level with 0 rings, requiring some planning beforehand. There are also world-exclusive tasks such as "Collect 4 Pterosaur Eggs" in Dinosaur Island or "Smash 5 Pots" in Sand Oasis. The missions are, overall, pretty fun but allow little replayability. The fact that they all take you to different parts of a world makes them much more enjoyable. Boss battles are well executed, with many different styles such as a round stage with a side view, as seen in Sonic Rush, to a single linear path. They are all varied and very fun.

The game allows you to customize Sonic by using a "Skill Ring". With 100 skills you earn by levelling up, you can give Sonic new abilities, such as backflips and adding an attack feature to your jumps. You can also upgrade his older abilities, such as higher top speed, better acceleration, faster jumping, faster turning, longer homing attacks and upgrades to nearly every ability Sonic has.

Visuals

Graphically, the game is the best looking for the Wii so far. It looks like a next generation game, unlike many launch titles. It keeps that quality for the entire game, unlike Red Steel which varies from beautiful to hideous. The entire game is littered with well done effects, great lighting, nice shadows, good physics and incredible draw distances, all at a rock-solid frame rate that never wavers, no matter how much of the level you see and how detailed it is. Water shines and reflects whatever is near it, but in the shade is crystal clear. Glossy floors in palaces reflect every action you or your enemies do perfectly. The frame rate holds up incredibly throughout the whole thing and loading times are short and infrequent, only seen only before the level.

Multiplayer

The multiplayer is rather shallow and dull. Rayman Raving Rabbids and Wario Ware: Smooth Moves both feature much better party games than Sonic does. They are shallow and some just don't work. Many of them are repetitive with slight changes, such as shooting an arrow at a balloon or shooting Sonic at a moving target. The controls are exactly the same, but they have two separate games. Canoe games all are nearly identical, but there are around 4 or 5 of them. A few of them use the Wii remote well, but for the most part they don't.

Audio

The soundtrack in the game is average. Most of it fits the game well, being somewhat generic rock songs. It's fast paced and energetic, just as Sonic is. A few songs are very annoying, but many of them are decent. There are a few good songs, but most are during boss battles. Hopefully, in the next game, they will get rid of the lyrics and just use music for most of the game, with occasional songs during certain levels. The English voices are annoying and are badly done, but thankfully you can change the voices to Japanese ones which don't sound as bad. Subtitles are on, by default, and you can simply read that if you don't mind.

Last Words

Overall, it is a very entertaining game and the levels are very replayable. Although a majority of the missions won't be played more than once, there are many missions that simply ask you to reach the goal, and they feel much like the original Sonic games. I have played nearly every world multiple times due to these missions alone. The game has some flaws, but it is a very solid game and is one of the most entertaining the Wii has right now, as well as a large leap in the right direction for the franchise after the broken mess, known as Sonic the Hedgehog, for the 360 and PS3. Sonic Team has shown much improvement.

8/10

The future:

My suggestion for the next game is to use the same control scheme. However, there should be more worlds(20 at least) with two regular acts and a third act, a boss battle, for every one. It should follow the original 2D game formula as a 3D game. Missions should be tossed out in favour of this. Regular rock music instead of songs for most levels, better voice actors and leaving the "Party Mode" for a better, longer single player adventure. They have a good game here, but a game more similar to the older games with features such as RPG-style customization and Wii controls would be much better. This is a huge step in the right direction and Sonic Team can really do something incredible with the next game after this impressive game.