While it can be fun, the frustrating control mechanics makes it hard to recommend to anyone but the most hardcore fans.
Sonic's adventure takes place within the Arabian Nights. The story unfolds in a half-baked comic book style presentation on grainy paper texture backdrop, which is not very compelling way to get involved into the story especially since it's accompanied by some horrific voice acting, a ear-popping-ly bad soundtrack, and an overall uninteresting story. To those that have been playing the 3D games for a while, this may be nothing new, but at this day and age, we usually hope for something better in terms of presentation. The premise is pretty simple: Sonic is called for help by the genie Shahra, who tells him that the world of the Arabian Nights is being threatened by an evil genie named of Erazor Djinn. After running into him, Erazor Djinn casts a flame arrow onto Sonic's chest, which basically becomes a ticking time bomb. When that flame is extinguished, his life will be exterminated unless he finds the Seven World Rings hidden throughout the pages of the book. Sounds somewhat cliched? It is. Despite your initial belief, no you do not need to collect the seven rings to make it to the final boss, although if you want to get the real ending, you're tasked with actually collecting those rings, and that requires you to complete all of the missions.
The game dumps you into seven distinct worlds (excluding the training world), each with their own missions to complete. While it does not seem all that difficult, for those that are looking for an easy pick-up-and-play game will come to realize that while learning the controls is fairly easy, the rest of the game has a unfair learning curve. In order for you to advance into the story, you must complete missions in certain worlds in order for you to unlock more worlds. Unfortunately the mission structure of the game doesn't necessarily explain to you how this works, and you're left to figure it all out on your own. Oftentimes the first mission always gives you the full tour of the world, minus the placement of obstacles and enemies, which generate differently on different missions. The corresponding missions require that you complete certain objectives, which are pretty straightforward once you get the hang of it since these missions repeat themselves in each world (you'll know to remember them because the ones you hate will stick with you until you're done or call it quits on this game). At the completion of each mission, the game reviews how well you did and rewards you experience and skill points. While you do gain skill abilities, the catch is that you can't use them all unless you have enough skill points. Entering each mission requires that you carefully equip the skills useful to completing it.
The bulk of the gameplay relies mainly on the Wii's motion controls, which makes the experience unique but frustrating as well. While this may not seem all that apparent in early missions, the later part of the game demands more from you, and lots of times the motion controls can't keep up. Adding to the loose controls is the way the game poorly handles Sonic as a controllable character. As you have no power over his forward momentum, you're going to have to be patient with the idea that Sonic does not operate well when he slows down, and pretty much if you get hit, you're probably going to die in the most idiotic way possible. It may seem like I'm being quite harsh, but when a game uses a level-up system that actually improves your ability to control Sonic, it does make you raise an eyebrow. What kind of game requires you to level up so you can have better controls? Worst yet every time you gain these aforementioned skills, you have to readjust accordingly, which becomes quite a hassle.
Overall the gameplay design is flawed. It can be a blast when it works in your favor, but can be extremely frustrating when it doesn't cooperate, which is most of the time. If you have the patience enough to beat all the missions, let alone the main game itself, I have to salute you for your patience. I've beaten the game to the bare minimum that its required me to beat, but the frustration of getting it done was not worth it. My only recommendation is if you hate being frustrated and you know it's not your fault to blame but the game's, stay far away from Sonic and the Secret Rings. Far away. It's not your idea of a magic carpet ride.