Sonic and the Secret Rings

Better than other 3d Sonic game but needs work on December 04, 2007

Let’s face it Sonic’s debut into the world of 3D games has been anything but stellar. They never have quite captured the feeling of speed that was in the 2D ones. Now after years of 3D Sonic games ,Sega return to their roots in the newest addition, Sonic and the Secret Rings for the Nintendo Wii.

Since it is on the Wii the controllers are going to be unique. You hold the Wii remote sideways, To turn you tilt the controller, To jump you press “2 and the longer you hold it the higher you go. When you are in the air you can thrust the Wii remote forward to do a homing attack, and “1 is the brake which you will not use very often. These controls work well and most of the time are very responsive. However there are times when the control seem to have a few hiccups. It is also a fun way to control Sonic but it will take some time to get used to so you will not be able just to pick up the game and be a pro right off the bat.

The game is really fun PART of the time. There are several types of missions that you have to play. The normal kind, which is clearly the best, is just reach the goal as fast as you can. These are very fun but then you are forced to play through almost the exact same level but with a slightly altered dumb objective like don’t get killed. These can be very frustrating and most of the time are not very fun. They put in some RPG (role playing games) elements where you level up and get different skills and more “skill points.

The story is a bit different, it is about being in a book of the Arabian Knights and you have to stop the main villain from destroying the book and escaping into the real world . The story works but is not particularly good or bad. It is just average but Sonic games has never been really story driven. Possibly the worst part of the whole game is the horrible voice acting, especially for the main villain.

The graphics of the game are some what impressive for the Wii and portrays the speed Sonic is going very well. Also the opening cut scene is crystal clear and very impressive.

Over all this is a good game but not great because of a few rather annoying faults. It looks good, is easy and fun to control, has good levels, but is pulled down by the bad voice acting and requiring to replay levels with only slightly changed objectives. There are some multi-player mini-games that are ok but there are a lot better collections of mini-games on the Wii. If you are a big 2D or 3D Sonic fan this is a must buy and for anyone else it will be entertaining for awhile.