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Sonic and the Secret Rings
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Game Reviews Nintendo Wii
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Written by NexGen
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Friday, 23 November 2007 |
Sonic takes a giant leap forward, but falls short of his old school installments Sonic and the Secret Rings
Genre: Action/Adventure
Publisher: Sega
Platform: Nintendo Wii
ESRB: Everyone - Cartoon Violence
Sonic takes a giant leap forward, but falls short of his old school installments Sonic and the Secret Rings
Genre: Action/Adventure
Publisher: Sega
Platform: Nintendo Wii
ESRB: Everyone - Cartoon Violence
Introduction
Over the past several years, the Sonic franchise's group of fans has been quickly dissipating due to Sega straying too far from the original concept. Recent Sonic installments have been focused around other characters like Shadow and Knuckles more so than Sonic himself. The usual Sonic game consists mostly of speed, though now they are based more on enemy bashing and puzzle solving. That was a sad turn in the Sonic franchise...
Then the Wii remote comes along. Sega, hearing about this new innovation, decides to try their luck with an old school Sonic game, which definitely pays off in the end. Instead of a three-man squad, Sonic ran solo this time.
Story
Even the casual gamer should know how important the storyline of a game is, but apparently the Sega team is lacking that knowledge. This time around, the story falls into the below mediocre category.
Sonic's goal in this game is to stop the evil villain, Erazor Djinn, from erasing all the pages of The Arabian Nights, a book that he is from. Erazor Djinn got tired of just being in the book, so he emerged from it and started absorbing the pages of it. Despite a rather cliché name, he is a lot more menacing than Doctor Eggman.
The game begins with Sonic waking up in bed to find a book on his bedside table. A female genie named Shahra appears out of it and explains to Sonic his mission, which is to stop Erazor Djinn. Summoning a ring out of nowhere, Shahra gives it to Sonic and asks him to put it on then rub it. After doing so, Shahra tells Sonic that she will grant any of his wishes. He then asks her to transport him into The Arabian Nights.
Score: 2/10
Characters
Sonic's personality in this game is rather annoying at times and also a bit cliché. He's a stuck up little hedgehog most of the time, though he occasionally shows a serious side.
Some of the characters from other Sonic games appear in this one as well, though with different names. Some examples are Tails and Knuckles. Tails is known is Ali Baba, and Knuckles is called Sinbad. However, both of them only play minor rolls in the game, though.
Score: 5/10
Knuckles depicted as Sinbad
Controls
The controls are basically the same as any other racing game, except you don't have an acceleration button. Instead, you move forward automatically. You can tilt the Wii remote left or right, depending on which direction you want to go. You can also tilt it towards yourself to brake, and even back-step if you want. Tapping A quickly will initiate a quick jump, and if you hold it down, Sonic will begin to charge up and when released, jump really high. While in the air, if there is in enemy near you a red circle will surround it. You then thrust the Wii remote forward, which will have Sonic attack it.
These controls feel rather natural, and are a big step up from just button mashing. Some people worry about it being hard to adjust to the new control scheme, but it's quite the opposite.
Score: 8.5/10
Game-play
Think the original Sonic the Hedgehog in 3D. Update a few things here and there and you get this.
No more fidgety camera you would get when playing those older 3D Sonic games, because this time you're going on a straight path. Fortunately, I have yet to come across those annoying glitches that randomly propel you into the pit that the old Sega Genesis was more than happy to give you. Though that may have been fixed, it gets rather frustrating when you intend to lock onto one thing, and you get locked onto something else, which then drops you to your doom.
Watch out Sonic, I think I saw Big Bertha!
To get to the boss battles, you have to win a certain number of challenges. Each time you win a challenge, you unlock another one. Some of them include races against a little genie (think Navi from Ocarina of Time), getting a certain number of rings, and even not collecting any rings.
Another benefit of winning a challenge is gaining experience points. Once you gain enough experience, you level up and gain a new ability like your max speed increasing or being able to brake faster. Some of these challenges are so difficult they'll have you pulling your hair out. Literally.
The boss fights are interesting. It continuously moves backwards away from you while you chase after it, trying to hit its hidden soft spot. The first boss, for example, is a giant scorpion. It has a total of six eyes, though only three of them are in plain view. You have to do a hit combo by first attacking one of its visible eyes, hit another now-visible eye, then move on to the one on its face.
After defeating a boss, you get one of the seven World Rings. After collecting all of them and beating the game, you get a neat little extra, so make sure to collect them all.
Score: 9.5/10
Graphics
The graphics for this title are rather nice compared to other games released so far, though in my opinion that isn't saying much. There are some nicely done cut-scenes throughout the game, but unfortunately most of the cut-scenes are more like a picture book, so that little bit of ecstasy you may experience from watching the intro will soon disappear.
Erazor Djinn in one of the more eye-pleasing cut-scenes
The in-game graphics are quite nice, actually. Once you get used to the lack of anti-aliasing you can fully enjoy the lush environments the Sega team put together.
Score: 8/10
Sound
The theme song is just one of those things that gets you saying “What was Sega thinking?”. Then you realize they weren't thinking. Though the theme was a dud, they made up for it with their good sound effects. Instead of just bringing back the old sounds like other companies like to do, Sega decided to go 21st century and bring in some new sounds. Remember those nightmares you would have with that ringing sound that Sonic makes when he loses his coins? Me neither, but that sound could get pretty annoying.
Unfortunately, the voice acting completely ruins everything else. They are unfitting and over exaggerated at times. Tails is especially horrible, since he sounds like a little kid from a bad anime show.
Score: 4/10
Multi-player
The multi-player mainly consists of party-style games intended for a full group of people. Much like Mario Party, if you will. Having a choice between eight characters(four of which you unlock), you have to pick four, whether you're playing by yourself or with three others.
The mini-games take full advantage of the Wii remote. For example, in one of them you're a violinist. Your character will play a tune, and then you are to repeat it by moving the remote the same way your character did before. This particular game is fun, but some of the others are far from. One of them has you and another character falling from the sky with an umbrella collecting coins. You are to hold the remote in an upright position and tilt it in the direction you want to go. A yawn fest, actually.
Some of the mini-games are much like some from other party games. One of them is similar to Shy Guy Says from the original Mario Party on Nintendo 64. Despite the similarities between some games, they can be rather entertaining, but this is if you other people to play with.
Score: 6/10
Conclusion
Basically, Sonic and the Secret Rings is a fun game that fans shouldn't miss. Maybe not quite worth $50 unless you're a big fan, the average gamer should probably wait until a price drop before picking up this title. If you're still not sure about this, drop by the video store (or Gamefly) and rent it for a few days. The worst that'll happen is you'll lose a few dollars.
Overall score: 7/10
Editor review : Is the blue hedgehog on his last run? Don't count
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