Don't bother.
At some point, for the sake of our sanity, we need to just let this be one of those franchises like Final Fantasy, with it's constant ups and downs instead of holding out this sad hope that some magical game will come out and undo all the damage done by Shadow the Hedgehog and Sonic Next Gen. It's just not going to happen. But we're not going to let go are we? Sonic 4 will come out and maybe we'll hear about Bioware's next Sonic RPG and if either of those end up being halfway decent, we'll jump on the denial train and ride the Sonic cycle all over again. Right? Right.
Sonic and the Black Knight is the second in the new "storybook" series spun off from Sonic and the Secret Rings which was one of the few decent 3D games to come out in the last few years, however Black Knight shows that Sega failed to realize why Secret Rings did well. Namely Sonic was the ONLY playable character and the game focused on straightforward 3D plat forming. This time around they decide to give Sonic a sword, which was a stupid idea from the start (as it was giving Shadow a gun) and toss him into some weird version of Camelot where King Arthur is evil and possessed and Shadow, Blaze, Knuckles, Tails and Amy all play characters in this and it's at this point the game says "Screw it! Let's just have a big fan wank!" And that's basically what this is, a fan game. No more so is this indicated than with fan art gallery within the game's unlockable extras.
Ok so it's not the disaster that Sonic 2006 and I will say it's not nearly as horrible as reviews have said, but this doesn't mean it's good either. On the upside Sega did ditch the melodrama of past games and this has the same lighthearted, Saturday morning cartoon feel that Unleashed had, not taking itself seriously and making the silly story more palatable. Sonic even first shows up with chili dogs, the first time it has been canonized as a main part of a game. Sonic meets up with Merlina, aka Sharah from Secret Rings if she was a night elf who gives Sonic a magical sword and a destiny because the hero always has a magical sword and a destiny.
Gameplay is somewhat similar to Secret Rings, in that's it's still pretty linear and you can use the nun chuck so stopping is easier but to attack, you use the sword by waving the remote and hoping you hit something. In the end you just traded one set of gimmicky, unresponsive controls for another. Honestly if they were so hell bent on making a swordplay based Sonic game, they could've at least waited and utilized Wiimotion Plus. Sometimes it works well and you hack through tons of enemies, but especially in boss fights, it doesn't always respond when it should. The game doesn't chug a long slowly as some critics pointed out. Once you get a hang of the sword based, you can breeze through the stage or better, yet just jump over the baddies and move on. Except for the wonderfully pointless stages where you give money to villagers. Though some rewards garner upgrades for Sonic's sword attacks though the RPG elements aren't nearly as tedious as Secret Rings were. There are also additional missions which range from fun, like trying to reach the end in a certain amount of time to tedious, like having to hit enemies in a chain.
Another thing this game brings back is playable friends however this time around you're not forced to play as all of them just to finish the game. It's optional so those of you Shadow loving morons have one less thing to whine about. However their fighting styles are different and awkward to control at times. There's also a forgettable battle mode similar to Zelda: Four Swords that's pretty forgettable but it also includes Silver and Jet for those upset they weren't forced into the story. You can trade treasures with friends and has online leader boards as well as side quests to keep you entertained for a while but the main game clocks in at only 2 hours tops, four hours if you take time to do extra missions. The extras are nice but don't really justify the $50 price point.
Graphics are nice but show lack of polish in areas. The residents look like Russian Nesting dolls for some reason but Sonic's pals look cool in their battle gear and the Black Knight's design is very well done. Music is back to the Crush 40 cock rock of past 3D games though at least there aren't stupid lyrics in all the stages this time around though the boss fight music will grind on your nerves.
Guys, I'm begging you, let this be where it ends. Don't stop being fans. Just stop buying mediocre games like this. Enjoy Sonic when it's good, ignore it when it's bad. I know, it's hard watching Sega do this. It's like watching your best friend's dad beat up on him, but you can't save him this time. Detach.