Sonic and the Secret Rings Review

By Rob Fahey Published 2 March, 2007

All hail the comeback kid.

Version tested: Wii

Like many people, I've got a friend who has a bit of a Michael Jackson thing going on. Not a crazy "We Love You Michael" type, before you start rolling your eyes. Just a relatively rational fan, who liked him back when the singing and the dancing were so good that we were all prepared to ignore the lightened skin and bizarre media reports. So, to her, it's still pretty exciting every time it looks like Jackson is going to hop back out on stage and do some of the dancing and singing again. Every time, she tells me, there's a whirlwind of speculation in Jackson fandom. This time, he's putting a decade of nasal necrosis, babies dangling out hotel windows, extraordinary court cases and flirtations with bankruptcy behind him for once and for all. He'll sing and dance again, and there might even be new material. It'll be back to the good old days.

Every time, of course, she's bitterly disappointed. With every public appearance he seems more like whispering, broken shade of the man who so eloquently denied fathering Billie-Jean's child - and yet somehow, she always falls for the hyperbole again a few months later. Okay, so it didn't happen last time, but how about this time? Could this be the one?

Is she mental? Undeniably. Absolutely raving loco. However, as gamers, we should be able to sympathise, because it's not like we don't have our own icons, our own star figures of yesteryear who are trading off memories and haven't done anything half decent in years. Case in point; Sonic the Hedgehog. Once, he stood toe to toe with Mario, and he was leaping around the Green Hill Zone before the majority of modern icons were twinkles in the eyes of their creators. In recent years, though, every home console Sonic title has been worse than the previous game - with only the solid PSP title, and the actually rather good DS title, to rescue the quality of the franchise in any way.

And yet... we can't let go. Every time a new Sonic appears on the horizon, we fervently hope that this will be The One. This will end the downward spiral. It will bring back the Good Old Days, when Sonic was a blur of speed with a cheeky grin attached, before the bad times. Sonic may be drunk, unshaven, surrounded by Johnny-come-lately sycophants like Shadow and Big The Cat who were attracted only by his wealth and fame, and snorting crushed-up golden rings from the breasts of cheap hookers - but he was great once, and somewhere we all believe that he'll be great again.

We believe this, and every single time, we're utterly disappointed. Every single time, after playing the latest excerable muck, we claim to be totally over Sonic. We get more and more cynical, more and more derisive... But with child-like innocence, we bounce back, and secretly click on the screenshots of the next Sonic game. Maybe this time...

Are we mental? Undeniably. But sometimes it pays to keep the faith. The wait is over. Sonic is back.

Blue Flash

'Sonic and the Secret Rings' Screenshot 1

The whole game has a Middle Eastern theme, but each zone still has a distinct feel - and its own potplants.

Sonic and the Secret Rings may be the worst name for a Sonic game in quite some time, but it doesn't matter - it's by far the best game the blue spiny one has starred in for years. Not only that, it's the first 3D Sonic game which genuinely works; a game which strips down the model created in Sonic Adventure to the core elements which made it fun, disposes of the dross which wasn't fun, and constructs a genuinely great experience from it.

The premise of this Sonic is a bit of a departure from previous games in the series. Sonic is called upon by a genie named Shahara, who inhabits the world of the famous book Arabian Nights, and is informed that an evil Djinn is attempting to absorb the power of the book. Sonic is then pulled into the world of the book, and the game takes places across a variety of worlds ("chapters") which are contained within its pages. While these worlds do conform to game stereotypes to some extent, and each one is themed differently, they all conform to some extent to the central art style and theme of the game. This makes it altogether more cohesive than previous Sonic titles.

The storyline is bound together using hand-painted cutscenes, which is another artistic departure from Sonic's recent outings. Although the paintings are animated to some extent, the effect which the designers are aiming for is paint on parchment, and the resulting visuals are striking and interesting - vastly more so than the bog-standard rendered movies we're used to in Sonic games. The cutscenes are all fully voiced, which unfortunately exposes you to the horror of having to listen to some of the most utterly awful voice acting we've ever heard. Thankfully, you can select Japanese with subtitles, which may be less comprehensible but is much easier on the ear.

In gameplay terms, the premise of the game has one absolutely crucial effect - since Sonic has been dragged into the world of Arabian Nights alone, this game is about Sonic. You play as Sonic - not as Knuckles, not as Tails, not as Amy, not as Shadow, and not as any of the other misfits who seem to occupy most of the screen time in recent Sonic Adventure style titles. This is a Sonic game; you play Sonic. You go very fast and you jump on things. That's what Sonic does, and the dawning realisation that that's exactly what this game planned to focus on for its entire duration made the first vestiges of a smile touch the corners of our mouths.

'Sonic and the Secret Rings' Screenshot 2

Things we've learned from videogames: red streaks mean you're going really, really fast.

That smile widened to a broad grin when we discovered that not only do you play as Sonic throughout the game, but that playing as Sonic is awesome. The game is, in effect, a series of vast, sprawling levels, through which you move partially on rails. Left to his own devices, Sonic automatically accelerates and takes the right direction through the level; your job is to jump obstacles, steer left and right (within the confines of the rails) to pick up rings and pearls, deal with enemies and hop between platforms, rails and other such handy bits of scenery. There's a brake, but no forward or accelerate button; acceleration is Sonic's default state. Assuming you don't screw up and run him into an obstacle, he'll start out at jogging pace and rapidly get up to breakneck speed.

Tilted Generation

The controls for the game make excellent use of the Wiimote. In this instance, you hold the remote horizontally, with your left thumb on the D-pad (although this is only used for menu selection) and your right thumb over the 1 and 2 buttons. To steer, you tilt from side to side, and this is a motion which becomes incredibly natural after only a few minutes with the game, and allows for very precise adjustment to pick up tricky lines of rings. To brake, you press 1; to walk backwards (which you'll rarely need to do), you tilt the Wiimote back towards yourself. To jump, you press 2 - a short tap for a quick leap, while holding it down will charge up a more powerful jump. In either case, thrusting the controller forward while jumping will send Sonic hurtling forward through the air, or, if an enemy is nearby, will perform a mid-air homing attack on that enemy.

It's a simple and intuitive system, but what's more important is that Sonic and the Secret Rings plays to the strengths of its control system rather than exposing its weaknesses. This system would, frankly, be completely crap for a game with a lot of combat in it, so Secret Rings places enemies sparsely, and generally uses them as platforms which you use to access new parts of the level rather than as obstacles. Equally, the tilt system is great for moving within a preset lane, but wouldn't be so hot for taking tight corners. So, to compensate, all of the tight corners in the game are actually built into the on-rails system, and Sonic moves around them automatically.

'Sonic and the Secret Rings' Screenshot 5

The floating ruins give the art team a chance to show off their insanely pretty skies.

The result of these decisions, and of a general attention to detail in the level design of the game, is that you spend most of your time running through at stunning speed. As anyone who wrung enjoyment out of the Sonic Adventure titles can attest, it's those moments which provided the real adrenaline rush. Secret Rings essentially takes those brilliant, high-octane moments and makes a full-size game out of them, with a selection of superbly designed levels to race through and a variety of missions, objectives and goals on each level to provide different types of challenge.

In a sense, this is a black mark on Secret Rings' copybook - the selection of actual levels is small, with the game choosing instead to offer a variety of missions on each level. However, while it's initially a little bit disconcerting to be dumped back onto the level you just thought you'd finished, it quickly becomes apparent that this system is actually preferable in many ways to the throwaway levels of the Sonic Adventure games. Secret Rings encourages players to master its levels, treating each one like a track in a racing game rather than a conventional single-player level to be blasted through and forgotten.

Your first meeting with each level will be a run through the entire stage; after that, several missions on that stage are opened up. The objectives in these missions can be mind-bogglingly tricky in places, but often simply require a few attempts to get the hang of what exactly is required. By the time you've done a couple of missions, there's a very satisfying feeling of having really got to grips with even the tricky parts of the level - although getting better rankings and completing the tougher missions may still be a long way off. The downside is that on your first few run-throughs, some of the more tricky levels expect you to progress through trial and error. And while forgiving placement of checkpoints generally means that you won't end up with Wiimote-hurling frustration levels, it's still rather weak for a game in this day and age to be asking players to learn through trial and error because of avoidable blind spots and annoying leaps of faith.

Third Wheel

'Sonic and the Secret Rings' Screenshot 3

It's by far the best-looking Wii game on the shelves so far - which should silence some naysayers.

The core single-player game in Secret Rings isn't huge, but despite the relatively limited amount of content, there are a fair few hours to it. There''s probably a solid weekend's enjoyment for a decent player, with plenty left to do in terms of earning better rankings if the game has really hooked you at that point. The tight focus on a set amount of content has also allowed the team to craft one of the best-looking games on the Wii - and this is arguably the first title to actually show that the system has potential greater than its predecessor, the GameCube.

Secret Rings is by no means on a level with Xbox 360 or PS3 titles, but it's certainly comparable with the absolute best that the last generation had on offer. A combination of solid graphics and great artwork make for a title which is visually more appealing than the more technologically advanced, but ultimately drab and soulless, Sonic the Hedgehog title on next-gen consoles. Best of all, the framerate is consistent and excellent, and we didn't notice a single glitch or stutter even in the incredibly fast and heavily populated areas of the game.

The audio is a bit more problematic, sadly. And while we've already mentioned the dreadful voice acting (solved by switching languages), the music is equally awful. In places, there's fantastic incidental music which properly evokes the Arabian Nights theme which the game uses for its artwork, but the remainder of the music is shockingly bad teenagers-in-a-garage rock.

It doesn't even have the irony or the tongue-in-cheek tweeness of the rock tracks in Sonic Adventure; it's like someone just found half a dozen wannabe Fred Durst types on MySpace and stuck them on the soundtrack for the hell of it. We don't know who, exactly, decided that Sonic's tastes in music were going to run to dull American rock for teenagers who don't want to tidy their bedrooms (and are too young to appreciate good stuff to refuse to tidy their bedrooms to), but we suspect that he may be just a touch tone deaf.

'Sonic and the Secret Rings' Screenshot 4

Sonic gets heartburn - presumably because someone left cow milk out in a saucer for him at night.

The final aspect of the presentation is the addition of a completely spurious four-player mode, which consists of a number of Wiimote mini-games which are totally unrelated to the single-player game, and whose quality varies wildly. Well, not that wildly - it varies between "awful" and "decent", with not a "good" or a "great" in sight. To be honest, we have no idea why these party-games have been added, except perhaps to pad out the feature-list on the back of the box. Any Wii player who owns Wii Play, Wario Ware or even the somewhat derided Monkey Ball Banana Blitz already has a much, much better selection of mini-games available to them. We simply can't think of any situation where you'd pop Secret Rings into the Wii for some party-game action in preference to any of those titles. A multiplayer race or challenge mode set in the context of the main game would have been good. These lame mini-games merely serve to cheapen the whole package, and drag down a game which is excellent in many other ways.

Sonic Boom

There's a lot to be happy about in Sonic and the Secret Rings. It's a stripped-down and extremely polished game which successfully captures the essence of what made Sonic fun and exciting in the first place. Moreover, it reverses the horrible trend which Sonic Adventure (and latterly Sonic the Hedgehog) titles had followed, namely adding more characters and more pointless gameplay styles in the hope that if enough mud was thrown at the wall, some of it would stick. Secret Rings' developers understand that very often, less is more; this game has less characters, less variety of gameplay, less buttons on its control layout and less superflous features, and it's a far, far better game for it.

Sonic and the Secret Rings is a very bold step in the right direction, and we're delighted to see it happen. It's not perfect by any means; it still carries through some of the flaws that have afflicted Sonic for years, such as leap-of-faith jumps and sections which can only be completed by learning the track through trial and error. The presentation also needs work in some areas, and the multiplayer mini-games are frankly crap. However, this is a game about Going Fast and Jumping, and, at last, its designers have realised that that's exactly what we want to do with Sonic. The Going Fast is brilliant, the Jumping is fantastic, and we have big smiles on our faces. Sonic is back.

8 / 10

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About Rob Fahey

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Comments (107) Latest comment 5 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Pac-man-ate-my-wife #1 5 years ago

    Oh FFS. I've got to get this too?! :)

  • lambtron #2 5 years ago

    Woot!

  • insincere_dave #3 5 years ago

    Just when you thought the Sonic franchise was Tails-ing off!!!

  • spongebob #4 5 years ago

    Nice!

  • QJ #5 5 years ago

    Hehe, I hoped this would be a return to form.

    Glad to hear that it is. :-)

  • SeesThroughAll #6 5 years ago

    And so it came to be that the killer app of the Nintendo Wii was Sonic The Hedgehog.

    Oh the irony.


    Come back SEGA, please come back!

  • Der_tolle_Emil #7 5 years ago

    Oh now come on. Don't make my buy this too. Going multiconsole with an 8+ game coming out nearly every week makes my wallet unhappy.

  • The_Inquisitor #8 5 years ago

    Thank God it’s not another ‘stinker’ as it would have been the final nail in the coffin otherwise. Hopefully things will get better after this, as it’s been all down hill since Sonic Adventure 2.

  • MoGamer2006 #9 5 years ago

    @ SeesThroughAll

    Killer app? Hardly! It does sound like fun, tho'....

  • SeesThroughAll #10 5 years ago

    Dunno if one may not call this a killer app, but the fact remains that this game is going to sell about as many systems as Zelda did.

    Me included ;)
    Edited by 1 at 02/03/07 @ 14:23

  • ProtoformX #11 5 years ago

    As SeesThroughAll said, the fact that the new good game for a Nintendo console is a Sonic game does put a smile on my face. Reminds me of F-Zero (GX I believe it was) where right after the Nintendo logo in the titles there came a Sega logo - never thought I'd see the day.

  • dirigiblebill #12 5 years ago

    Welcome home, Sonic, welcome home.

  • Masarin #13 5 years ago

    Spacemen 3!!!

  • kangarootoo #14 5 years ago

    Another decent Sonic game. So there does seem to be some life in the franchise yet.

    Not really my bag, but its nice to see some decent examples coming out as I know it has a lot of fans.

  • elvenearth #15 5 years ago

    Say What?

  • MoGamer2006 #16 5 years ago

    Sonic may have been super-popular once, but nearly a decade of terrible games have killed off the brand.

    I know it's going to get Sega fanboys wetting their panties, but I doubt this will shift that many Wiis...

  • ProfessorLesser #17 5 years ago

    Good lord, I didn't for a minute see this coming.

  • SeesThroughAll #18 5 years ago

    I know it's going to get Sega fanboys wetting their panties, but I doubt this will shift that many Wiis...

    *sigh*.... I know.... Still glad the lill' hog is still alive, though.

  • disussedgenius #19 5 years ago

    Is there any chance of a playable demo of this cropping up anywhere?

    /is still a little dubious

  • SirScratchalot #20 5 years ago

    Fuck!
    /buys
    /Is bankrupted...

  • dirigiblebill #21 5 years ago

    'Sonic may have been super-popular once, but nearly a decade of terrible games have killed off the brand.'

    HERETIC. UNBELIEVER.

    Don't listen to him, Sega, it should be all on up from here. Out with dodgy rock riffs! Out with evil voice acting! On with multiplayer racing! Just think Wipeout with spikes and jumping, dammit.

  • trav #22 5 years ago

    Does this mean we can finally burn out the horror of the last Sonic game from our memories?

  • malteaserhead #23 5 years ago

    /lurks in swapsies thread ;)

  • Overlush #24 5 years ago

    I never went for Sonic and am not convinced by Wii...

    ...but I want this!

  • malteaserhead #25 5 years ago

    wasp
    sonic really isn't back.

    _________

    You no likey?

  • SeesThroughAll #26 5 years ago

    BURN HIM!
    BURN ALL THE SONIC HATERS!

    /Takes medication
    Edited by 1 at 02/03/07 @ 14:35

  • oldmanbag #27 5 years ago

    WTF? I was finally tempted to buy Excite Truck at luntime today. Then i get back and read this and start wondring whether i've made the right decision!

  • lambtron #28 5 years ago

    wasp
    sonic really isn't back.

    _________

    You no likey?

    He only likes games on Sony platforms ;).
    Edited by 1 at 02/03/07 @ 14:36

  • Santino #29 5 years ago

    oh ffs was debating on whether to buy this or blur, had finally decided to get blur instead and miss out on this. but now i'm going to buy this as well i think, even though the music sounds utterly fcking horrendous.

  • nickthegun #30 5 years ago

    Even though I dont own a Wii, im really glad to see this mark. After watching the demo, I had really high hopes that this would be the back to basics, return to form the excrable Sonic The Hedgehog was promising to be.

    Hopefully it will sell by the bucketload, and someone in Sega towers will take note.

    Does anyone know if this was developed by the same Team Sonic who made the other abortion or did Sega do a core/crystal dynamics style hand off?

  • Schiraman #31 5 years ago

    @SeesThroughAll

    If you really think that Sonic is anything like as big a license as Zelda then you really are living in the nineties ;)

    I sincerely doubt this title, or any Sonic title - no matter how good, will be much of a system-seller.

  • Steroyd #32 5 years ago

    And so the year of redeeming for Sega begins. :D

    Wonder if it means the same for Sony.

  • Der_tolle_Emil #33 5 years ago

    I did not realize this was out today. Well, I'm buying this. And maybe magical starsign. I'm pretty sure I'll do excite truck on all S everywhere so a new game might come in handy.

  • SeesThroughAll #34 5 years ago

    If you really think that Sonic is anything like as big a license as Zelda then you really are living in the nineties ;)

    Nope, just a Sonic fanboy :) And right now, a very happy one at that.

  • dirigiblebill #35 5 years ago

    @ Schiraman

    But he should be allowed to express his enthusiasm, yes? In a dignified and decorous fashion. It's not like he's threatening to say, go round and poison your water supply and firebomb your house for saying that Sonic isn't as big as Zelda. Not at all.

    /eyelid twitches

  • QJ #36 5 years ago

    What, it's out today? I thought it was next week with GRAW2?

    /Checks play.com
    /Yelp of joy!

    Now what am I supposed to do, my PS3 should arrive soon and I'm supposed to be going out tonight. Gaaaah, damn March being the second Xmas of videogames!

  • lambtron #37 5 years ago

    Arggh I need more time and more money.

    Help please rich people.

  • Santino #38 5 years ago

    *slips lambtron £5 to ease the pain*
    Edited by 1 at 02/03/07 @ 14:51

  • JonFE #39 5 years ago

    Glad to see that score. I canceled my x360 Sonic pre-order at the very last minute, due to EG's prompt review (thank you for that :) and if this were s***e as well, I'd be in trouble with my 7-year old son.

  • Darren #40 5 years ago

    I officially love EG... I got this game through the post from Gameplay.com this morning but haven't had the chance to try it yet due being stuck at boring old work. I bought on the strength of GameSpot's review and was dreading EG's review of the game after the 2/10 score they gave to the admittedly appalling Xbox 360 version of Sonic. Now I can relax, safe in the knowledge that I've made the right decision to buy the game. Thank you! :)

  • ArcMonkey #41 5 years ago

    Yes! Yes! I knew You existed! I just knew!

  • jimbob101 #42 5 years ago

    SOunds a little like Sonic R, which I loved.

  • lambtron #43 5 years ago

    @Santino

    Thanks :D

  • dkjim #44 5 years ago

    Did the reviewer even bother to play this game properly?

    No mention is made of the skill building aspect, which is completely integral to the game, and at least worthy of a mention. Surely the first four paragraphs would have been better dedicated to actually talking about the game?

    The D-Pad is used for more than just menu navigation - read the manual. It's under 'speed break' and 'time break.'

    I'm apalled.

  • thegouldfish #45 5 years ago

    The thing is this game is not needed to shift wii's that seems to going fine.

    It should be seen as another good game to get and play.

  • ghearoid #46 5 years ago

    um, unexpectedly positive review. i must've been one of the few who managed to enjoy the sonic adventure's on DC though the camera did eventually defeat me and cause me give up (plus my general lameness too). it just so happens that my least favourite part in those games was the combat so a sonic game where this is limited and you mostly whizz through the levels sounds like a hoot!

    i'll be picking this one up pronto

    ;op

  • Shinji #47 5 years ago

    Actually, I didn't bother mentioning the skill building system because I didn't actually find that it was in any way integral to the game. It's a simple system of bonuses which has very little impact on the gameplay - the additional abilities it grants are nice-to-haves rather than must-haves, and while it's simple enough to be inconspicuous, it's not actually particularly interesting or key to the game. It's certainly not a point that would make or break a buying decision for anyone.

    You're right though, I forgot to mention the speed up / slow down stuff - completely slipped my mind. Mea culpa. However, again, this really isn't a big element of the gameplay - I think I used it half a dozen times because it looked cool, not because it was actually necessary to progress.

  • Santino #48 5 years ago

    It should still be called 'Wildfire' i reckon.

  • dkjim #49 5 years ago

    It might not "make or break a buying decision for anyone" but how does that in any way justify not even mentioning it? Being able to jump backwards quickly, attract pearls from a distance, get a speed boost, accelerate more quickly etc etc is important in the sense of getting a fast time and also for picking up collectable items, which are necessary if you want to complete the game properly.

    I apologise if I sound rude, that's not my intention - I can sympathise with the amount of shit games journalists get for expressing their opinions on a game, I'm just somewhat befuddled.

    Edit - it probably is one of the best looking Wii games!
    Edited by 1 at 02/03/07 @ 15:50

  • rudedudejude #50 5 years ago

    SWEET!

    Next Wii Purchase for me!!

  • Xerx3s #51 5 years ago

    The irony is indeed not wasted. ;p

  • neosalad #52 5 years ago

    i'm glad that this seems like a step in the right direction, unlike the horrible Sonic game on xbox360...

    At least when i finally get a wii, there's a sonic game worth buying for it now :)

  • Shinji #53 5 years ago

    dkjim - It's a review, not a list of features. If you want that, the official game website no doubt does a solid job of it. My job as a reviewer is simply to give people an impression of how the game is to play and whether they should pick it up, and I really didn't think that the skill system was important or interesting enough to have any bearing on that. I'm sorry that you disagree, but the nice thing about the Internet is that we can disagree with one another and both express our opinions freely :)

    However, yes, you DO sound a bit rude, as I'm sure you're perfectly aware. Posting here (and mailing our team via the site contact form) and saying that you reckon I haven't even played the game is pretty much the equivalent of me following you into work one day and walking around shouting "LOOK AT THIS IDIOT! HE HAS NO IDEA WHAT HE'S DOING!" - so I apologise if my response seemed a little curt, but while I respect your right to disagree with how I've chosen to review the game, I'd prefer if you didn't call me incompetent and a liar in the process... :)

  • kinggid #54 5 years ago

    Well I thought it was a great review... it gives me a good excuse to buy another game!
    Edited by 1 at 02/03/07 @ 16:24

  • Razz #55 5 years ago

    Let me start by saying this game is gorgeous. No, f*cking gorgeous! :) Especially via component It's so much fun too, granted you don't actually do much and some sections felt like they were on the rails constantly. But it doesn't doesn't detract from what, I found, to be a purely leisurely experience. I must of clocked up aboutj 40-50 hours worth of play o nit this week alone. :) It made me put Excite Truck to one side! Lastly, I feel this game is a solid 9, eight just doesn't cut it imo. Sorry Rob. :p

  • Toonster #56 5 years ago

    A 3D Sonic game as good as GoW!?

  • Rush2112 #57 5 years ago

    I picked this up yesterday - PC World were selling it a day early - and I played it for a few hours last night. Bloody good fun it was too. You are initially eased into the different control methods and then let loose on its first 'proper' level. It took a couple of minutes to get to grips with the controls, but it's very easy to pick up. As has been mentioned, it looks very nice too. Excite Truck, Sonic, SSX...things are picking up for the Wii after a slightly sluggish start.

  • schachmatt #58 5 years ago

    If a review should be just a fun read, why do you even review a game instead of writing short stories?
    It's the first time on EG that I read that constructive feedback is considered rude. Is that the official stance?

    I did enjoy reading it btw, I just wonder how often features aren't mentioned, because they don't mean anything to a particular reviewer.

  • morriss #59 5 years ago

    ...must...finish...Zelda....first....

  • jmctavish #60 5 years ago

    I'll be getting this once I finish Zelda, Excite truck and stop trying to beat my high score of 222 in bowling.

    Who would have thought the best Sonic games of recent years would be on Nintendo platforms? It still feels wrong to me seeing a Sega logo on screen while playing a Nintendo console.

  • rudedudejude #61 5 years ago

    "Surely the first four paragraphs would have been better dedicated to actually talking about the game? "

    I must admit it really pisses me off when valuable page space is wasted - I like my game details, thouhg in this review I'll make an exception because it's so true and made me feel all warm and fuzzy!

  • Santino #62 5 years ago

    222 in bowling? not bad but ive managed to get 279 beat that!!! :p

  • jmctavish #63 5 years ago

    Damn you, Santino! I'll be playing bowling for hours now trying to reach that score.

  • kissthestick #64 5 years ago

    why is the ring on sonic's middle finger? :(

  • Santino #65 5 years ago

    @jmctavish

    haha sorry but the girlfriend really likes the bowling so i have to stay on top form lol

    edit: the ring is on sonics middle finger 'cos it looks better when flipping the bird to the other characters that thankfully never made it into the game
    Edited by 1 at 02/03/07 @ 17:19

  • Hugundo #66 5 years ago

  • kissthestick #67 5 years ago


    edit: the ring is on sonics middle finger 'cos it looks better when flipping the bird to the other characters that thankfully never made it into the game
    -----------------------------

    i thought, Knuckles, Shadow (before the guns), Rouge and Blaze were pretty cool :(
    Edited by 2 at 02/03/07 @ 17:27

  • Hugundo #68 5 years ago

    Take that fucking ghost recon ad down.

  • Carrybagma #69 5 years ago

    I started reading this review and thought "I wish he'd been sucked into the book of the dead instead." What a nice surprise it turned out to be.

  • Fixxxer #70 5 years ago

    Shouldn't the penultimate paragraph be littered with 'fewer' rather than 'less' in most cases?

    A genuine grammatical question rather than me being arsey.

  • smelly #71 5 years ago

    For all those dissing the gfx. Exactly how do you keep the graphics looking cartoony while having the "next gen" polish?

    They tried with sonic on the 360, and it looked wrong. You cant have a cartoony sonic running around a realistic world.

    But if you make everything look cartoony, then it wont look very "next gen".

    Looking at those shots, no they couldnt be done EXACTLY the same at decent framerates on the ps2. You WOULD have to cut them down, but people probably wouldnt notice the difference, and it'd probably run at lower framerates - but again, people nowadays dont seem to care about lower framerates either.

    But that's not the point. Is it fun? Yes.. Who cares what it looks like then? Id rather have a fun game with cartoony gfx which (Due to their very nature) may look last gen.. Than a next gen looking game.. which doesnt suit the sonic universe and plays as shocking as the 360 one (apparently - never played it) did.

  • malloc #72 5 years ago

    I actually had a genuine smile on my face after looking at that.

    Nintendo starting to do well with home consoles. Sega making good games. I've just gone back in time 12 years when gaming was actually good. Couldn't be happier. Brilliant.

  • Carrybagma #73 5 years ago

    @smelly: No-one other than a single Sony fanboy had dissed the graphics, but you'll have opened the floodgates now.

    Oh look ^
    There's one already.

  • Darth_Flibble #74 5 years ago

    about time there is a good 3d sonic game, the 360 (and soon to be on the ps3) sonic is terrible. Only I could buy a wii as every shop has sold out in town

  • SeesThroughAll #75 5 years ago

    Oh good grief, a nice thread about a good game... ruined.

    Listen, WHO GIVES A FLYING FUCK WHETHER IT CAN BE DONE ON OTHER CONSOLES?

    It's on the Wii, that's the platform it was designed for, and that's where you can play it. And actually have fun with. Instead of doing this shit in forums. PERIOD.

  • BartonFink #76 5 years ago

    Well said that man

  • smelly #77 5 years ago

    @SeesThroughAll: I was trying to take both sides of the discussion and balance it up and stuff. But my summary was, it was a good game, who cares?

    I for one am happy to see a good sonic game.. i'll probably buy it (renting it first just in case though .. as some reviewers dont seem to agree)

  • SeesThroughAll #78 5 years ago

    smelly: I really wasn't picking on you mate, but there already were people popping up saying "oh no it wouldn't run that well there, but on that other one"... which easily turns into a cock-waving fest. And we've all seen it happen before.

  • smelly #79 5 years ago

    Lets face it. For the considerable future whenever a wii game comes out all we're going to have is 360/ps3 owners coming on saying "haha graphics look shite compared to all the dull racing/fps games on my machine".

    This will continue as long as the wii is outselling those machines, and the fangirls get desperate about trying desperately to make people buy their machine instead.

    If the wii starts selling less than the other two, then the posts will turn into "har har.. the wii is dead, it's gone the way of the cube,etc".

    Actually kiddywinks.. By posting this, it means you guys no-longer ever have to post this stuff ever again! Yay!

  • Kiigan #80 5 years ago

    Personally I thought the game was bloody awful back at TGS. I just found the controls ropey, and feeling very disconnected from what was happening onscreen.

  • smelly #81 5 years ago

    So you're judging you opinion on a preview build as opposed to a reviewer who's played the full game?

  • _Price_ #82 5 years ago

    Haven't played a 3D Sonic game since.....well..... Sonic 3D; mainly due to the shocking reviews they've received.

    I still think that the hedgehog belongs in 2D, completing the first levels of games in 23 or so seconds (ah, Emerald Hill Zone) but this may well be the one to turn me (and others) around.

  • SimonM7 #83 5 years ago

    Well, the skills I'd say are pretty integral to the game considering you start out as a speedwalking, feeble shit. If the game was actually like the first 10 minutes with it, it'd be awful.

    Once you level up it goes absolute bananas though, and rocks beyond recent Sonic comprehension.

  • Darth_Flibble #84 5 years ago

    the gametrailer video review does say, you move very slowly at the start until you up your level/stats. Seems a bit of stupid idea to move that slowly to get a run up

  • McGeeza #85 5 years ago

    Thought i'd mention that my two boys (ages 5 and 6) found the party games a lot easier to play then the Monkeyball ones and I personally think that the clunky menu system in Rayman actually make this the better of the three if you have young'uns.

    And I don't think you can compare this to Wii Play or WarioWare as they are different types of games.

    Just my tuppence worth if anyone's interested...

  • DocTep #86 5 years ago

    Nick, if you're out there and see this, i really want to know... Does this wizz as well as it sounds like it does?

    ---------


    And a general question to all Wii owners, if a few wouldn't mind giving me your opinions about this...

    Just how tiring does it get using the Wii controller? As someone with an illness which results in me feeling very tired and getting a lot of pain even without much physical exertion, the idea of having to hold or wave the controller in the air has always been my biggest worry about buying a Wii. I've seen people say that the games don't usually require as much physical movement as people often expect, but i've also read a lot of reports of healthy people feeling sore from the way in which they had to use the controller. I just can't seem to find a straight answer about this. If a perfectly healthy person finds that their arms ache after a half hour gaming session, it would almost certainly mean that the control method would be unusable for me. So, any input would be welcome...

  • Santino #87 5 years ago

    @DocTep

    first of all sorry to hear you have an illness. to answer ur question, in all honesty it depends on the game itself as the remote is very versatile i've found. for example some of the minigames in rayman are quite simply exhausting as they are designed to be that way, whereas Twilight Princess is quite possibly the most comfortable and lazy ive ever been in my life while playing a game thanks to the controller being in 2 pieces so you can play from wherever your arms lay. if u look at some videos of people controlling metroid prime 3 also you can barely see any movement at all as very slight wrist adjustments are required for that game.

  • Jambii #88 5 years ago

    Fantastic, will definatly be buying this tomorrow after the Metal Slug: Anthology i won't have any Wii games to buy until June with Elebits and Mercury. Which sucks.

  • oerhoert #89 5 years ago

    <em>I did enjoy reading it btw, I just wonder how often features aren't mentioned, because they don't mean anything to a particular reviewer.</em>

    My stance is that a review first and foremost should be as engaging and effective in communicating the quality of a game as possible. To do this, it should mention features if they are essential to the experience - less relevant features (and unnecessary modes, even) could rightly be ignored, because if the reviewer gets it right, they will be as unimportant to you as they were to him/her.

    It is, in my view, part of what it takes to be a good reviewer - to understand which parts of the game that are necessary to mention and criticise, and which parts that aren't. Conciseness is important.

  • The-Bodybuilder #90 5 years ago

    >"Sonic may have been super-popular once, but nearly a decade of terrible games have killed off the brand. "

    Bullplop.

    Watch kids channels and you'll see how strong sonic is. The latest cartoons are from late last year-this year.
    Heck my 5 years old sister loves sonic, and I wasn't much older when I first encountered the blue bastard.

    There is a reason why the crappy sonic games still sell.

  • thefilthandthefury #91 5 years ago

    Holy shit, didn't expect this score at all. Going to have to try this one then.

  • Daikon #92 5 years ago

    ...the selection of actual levels is small, with the game choosing instead to offer a variety of missions on each level.

    Sounds like every 3D Mario game so far to me so no complaints from me.

    The fact that after all these years Sega still hasn't learned that leaps of faith do not add anything to the gameplay - in fact may even piss some people off - is worrying though.

    Anyway, thanks for the great review. I don't think I would have picked this one up if I hadn't read it ;)

  • Lov3 #93 5 years ago

    Hey, remember when Sonic was into funky house music? His whole roots were in the 90's, where speed, beeping music and crazy multicoloured zones were also the description of a good night out. Some of that would go pretty damn well with a genuinely fast and frenetic sonic game, you know.

  • Nithron #94 5 years ago

    I've always thought Sonic Team got it exactly right with the Sonic/Shadow levels in Sonic Adventure 2.
    Sounds like they just took those and put motion controls on them, i guess.. If that's the case, then this sounds like a must-have
    although, what's with the dodgy-ass storyline? I mean, even compared to the old titles, that storyline's dodgerific

  • Markusdragon #95 5 years ago

    Shame about the lack of a proper Jun Senoue soundtrack.

  • Der_tolle_Emil #96 5 years ago

    I went out today to buy this - could not find it anywhere :( So I checked Amazon - and it is indeed only out on March 9th in German speaking countries.

  • secombe #97 5 years ago

    A few of the comments suggest that previous Sonic games haven't sold well. Are you basing this on rubbish reviews? Because despite rubbish reviews I imagine Sonic is still one hell of an earner for Sega, even Sonic Heroes seemed to crop up in the high-end of most charts for quite some time after its release.

  • SeesThroughAll #98 5 years ago

    although, what's with the dodgy-ass storyline? I mean, even compared to the old titles, that storyline's dodgerific

    If you want to see a horrible storyline, you should really see Sonic Rivals.

  • smelly #99 5 years ago

    Bought this yesturday. Played for few hours last night.

    Took a while to get into the controls, but so far i'm loving it.

    (Agree about the music and shoddy acting though)

  • thefilthandthefury #100 5 years ago

    Once you get used to the controls this game really does stand out as a lot of fun. Not too taxing, but one that makes you grin constantly.

  • DocTep #101 5 years ago

    Santino and Azmol01...

    Thanks for the input. Sounds like i might be okay with the controls in most games then, and just have to be careful not to get carried away while playing (easier said than done - memories of creaking SNES pads in the middle of a hard fought game of Super Tennis just came to mind - but probably possible with a little re-training of the old brain/game interface). It's really useful to hear the thoughts of a couple of people who've spent some time with the console, so cheers.

    'Lazy wrist movements for the win' it is then. ;o)

  • Santino #102 5 years ago

    no worries DocTep, hope you enjoy yourself!

  • secombe #103 5 years ago

    Got this in Argos today with a gift voucher (£34.99, still listed on their system as Sonic Wildfire), always expected to get Excite Truck but this review swayed me otherwise.

    First impressions, quite simply: FUN

    Having a great time playing it, and it does look superb. It's about as close to a 2D platformer as a full-on 3D experience is going to get in my opinion, the relatively limited control instantly solves 99% of the problems so heavily apparent in recent Sonic efforts. Love it.

  • smelly #104 5 years ago

    .. if you can find one :-)

  • ryohazuki1983 #105 5 years ago

    got the game on saturday, best sonic game for years!

  • Darth_Flibble #106 5 years ago

    got a wii today and sonic, excellent game. feels weird playing a decent console sonic game!

  • Lawlost #107 5 years ago

    Buy this for £25.19 ! From http://www.choicesuk.com/ when prompted for a voucher tap in BEST10 and it reduces the £27.99 price by 10%.