Sonic's debut to the Wii is a fast paced mission based game which is really quite cool.
The story goes that one day Sonic was having a nap minding his own business, as he wakes up he picked up a mysterious ring and out comes a genie called Shahra, who is from the stories of the Arabian Nights. In the book an evil genie known as Erazor is changing the stories and will soon become powerful enough to leave the book and cause havoc in the real world. Sonic agrees to take him out. To do so he has to collect the seven World Rings. The cutscenes are like comic strips with a bland sandy colour scheme. There is little action and as a result they are quite boring to watch. I haven't actually watched them all, so don't know the full story properly.
Secret Rings has quite unique gameplay. There are a total of seven worlds (or eight if you include the tutorial stages) and each stage has a set of missions for you to unlock and complete to advance through the game. The worlds range from a sandy oasis, dinosaur jungle and even a Pirate area. Mission one is always to just get to the end of the level, and these are easiy the best missions in the game. After that, you will be required to play through certain segments of the level with an added goal such as collecting the specified number of rings, taking out enemies, not dieing, finishing with no rings, time attacks and collecting things. Certain missions are what I like to call "Trigger" missions which will either open up new missions or advance the story. (yes most of the game is actually optional) Playing through enough missions will enable you to get the World Rings.
For some reason, the game starts off with some compulsory tutorials and the game feels like it takes too long to get going as a result. Though when it does begin to pick up, the game quickly becomes fun.
This game is notable for how it controls. Sonic moves on rails (ie always going forward) you can slow down by pushing the break button, but if you don't, Sonic will constantly be moving. As a result the game can sometimes feel like it's playing itself especially on stretches where there are no obstacles. You tilt the Wii-mote to steer and thrust it forward whilst in a jump to perform a homing attack.
This game has RPG elements to it as you can equip one of four skill rings which you can customize abilities on to. Abilities include better handling, always starting off with rings, faster acceleration, fire stomps and more. You can customize these rings and use them is specific missions. You can have a general all around set of skills on one ring and one ring for enhanced speed for the time trial missions. You will gain new abilities as you level up. This is quite a nice feature and it really does work quite well.
There are also some party mini games, which I tried once for about ten minutes. Personally, I wasn't impressed and I've heard they're not meant to be very good anyway.
The graphics are actually quite nice for an early wii game, there are some really nice effects present. The music is mostly lyrical and uses rock tunes with Arabian twists. These tracks really suite the game and are, for the most part, great to listen to.
Controls are not perfect. It's a fun idea, but sometimes trying to get Sonic to stop during segments which require percise platforming is really hard and lead to a lot of deaths - you have unlimited lives though (except for missions which require not dieing)
This game was released around the time where everyone was moaning about the voice actor switch. While by no means perfect, the voices are pretty good here - the 4Kidz cast don't deserve all the hate they were given.
Anyway, Sonic's first Wii game is a pretty good addition to the series. The way the game controls (while admitidly it needs work) make it really fun to play, and I was pleasantly surprised by how fun this mission based style of game play is. Sonic fans should definitely check this one out. Others, see if you can rent or borrow it.
Milesprower2K9 Original Reviews