Sonic and The Secret Rings (Wii) Review
Posted by Morakoth Tang on 10.12.2007
Sonic tilting his way to a decent game.
Title: Sonic and the Secret Rings
Type: Platformer
Publisher: SEGA
Players 1-4
Sonic and the Secret Rings
Sonic is back with a whole new adventure on the Wii. We’ve seen what the PS3 and 360 version spawned. Let’s see if Sonic Team has graced Wii owners with a worthy game to add to the Sonic legacy or doom like it’s HD brothers.
Graphics:
Sonic has always been a colorful game with different settings. The Secret of the Rings is no different. The game takes place in so many different areas, from the land in Arabian Nights to a Dinosaur Theme Jungle. The Desert levels are golden brown as expected and the water effects are nice. The temple buildings are pretty well modeled with details however sometimes the lighting is a bit off and could use another pass to show off the environments. One of the better looking level and my favorite visually is the Dinosaur Jungle in which green vegetation populated the whole area. The over grown trees, vines and bushes looked great and brought out the earthy palette that the original Sonic games use to have like the Emerald Hills. Nevertheless the game looks good and Sonic Team did a pretty good job representing it on the Wii. It could use a bit more work in the darker areas of the game, but in general the game looks good.
Game Play:
During the Days of Sega versus Nintendo, Sonic was the man for Sega. Sonic the Hedgehog was regarded as one of the best platformers to ever grace the console. That was during the 2d days…3d is a totally different story. The blue hedgehog has fallen from grace. The recent iterations of the franchise on the PS3 and 360 had incredible visuals but in no way shape or form had the fun, complex and thought out level design that its 2d predecessors had. Secret of the Rings is a completely different experience than the games that appeared on the PS3 and Xbox. The game is more or less set on rails. Sonic continually moves forward and the player has the ability to either move left or right by tilting the controller (NES style) respectively. He would jump by pressing the 2 button and attack by flicking the remote forward once an enemy is locked on. The platforming is almost next to none. I can’t say that the game is a platformer because truly it’s not. On rare occasions you have Sonic jumping but those are to target enemies. It’s a completely different Sonic game. If I had to compare it to any game from the franchise, Rivals would be the closest thing to it. Running on rails and choosing paths only when there a fork in the road. It’s an okay system but the platforming is dead because of it. The attacking mechanic is the most enjoyable part of the game. It’s immersive and unique. Player’s perform attacks by jumping and then flicking the Wii Remote once a red ridicule lay over an enemy. Chaining the attacks is the most solid mechanic of the game. For some reason the flicking of the remote then dashing at an enemy is most satisfying. One of the things that bother me in the game is the camera. In Dinosaur Jungle the camera is excruciating painful and annoying. The camera tracked and pointed backwards while Sonic ran forward. How the hell I’m I suppose to collect the gold rings, orbs accurately and avoid obstacles ahead of me, if the damn camera points backwards? I’m not sure what happen here but it’s an awful decision that had me throw my Wii Remote down and just sign in annoyance. The game in general is pretty fun once you get past the constrained path, and bad camera.
Sound:
The game’s music score is decent but cheesy. The sound effects are pretty straight forward and typical of all Sonic games. Rings, skidding and jumping sounds are all there and in effect. I have a bit of an issue with the voice acting . I don’t know if I’m not used to the way Sonic’s voice sounds, but it is completely annoying. It sounds a lot like the Saturday morning Sonic cartoons on but with more excitement than I can bear. The supporting cast’s VO is funny sounding as well. It’s the cheesy lines combined by the annoying voice acting that make is horrible. If one of those two variables were out of the equation only then can I tolerate the game’s VO.
Lasting Appeal:
Sonic and The Secret Rings took me roughly 8 hours to complete, however I rushed through the levels and not necessarily trying to get the best score. I can see where Sonic fans may want to come in and get all the goals and upgrades, but for me running through it once is fine. There are plenty of goals from level to level so replaying them again and again is a proability. The single player game has plenty of game play value, and I must admit that a few of the levels seemed pretty long considering the speed I was moving at. The multiplayer games are interesting and don’t control the same way as the main game. They are suited more for a party atmosphere, where the controls are all waggle and not precision. These multiplayer games give it some mileage, but can run out of gas quickly since the games are pretty shallow.
Fun Factor:
The Secret Rings is by far Sonic’s most enjoyable game since the Genesis. The game’s combat system is weird. The game flow is straight forward literally, the game is on rails. The platforming element is minimal and not what I expected from a Sonic game and at the end of these small complaints, the game is a unique experience that is pretty fun. The story a bit awkward…a hedgehog in Arabian night…but yet it’s interesting. I guess I can say the game is fun because it keeps it interesting for the most part. The other parts are annoying camera and cheap fails.
The 411:
Here’s the verdict, Sonic and The Secret Rings is an interesting game. It is by far the best Sonic game since Sonic 2 on Genesis. The control is a bit funny and inaccurate with the tilting, yet it was tolerable. The music is pretty funky but it seems to work. Voice work again is cheesy as hell, but what do you expect from a talking Hedgehog. The game’s graphic is a little above average on the Wii’s console. Sonic and The Secret Rings is not a totally successor to Sonic 2, but its as closest game to being one.
Graphics
7.5
The game generally looks good but there are some places that need some clean up
Gameplay
7.0
The on rails is new and limits the platforming element however the attack mechanic is fun
Sound
7.0
Cheesy soundtrack and bad VO, it's tolerable
Lasting Appeal
7.0
The single player game has a decent amount of gaming
Fun Factor
7.0
The game is the best Sonic on a home console to date
