Sonic and the Secret Rings

My opinion of the game is quite different.

Firstly the game is quite slow starting, You have to go through a few tutorials to know the controls. Then when you get going Sonic is just slow. The controls are quite sluggish as well. However, I found that these are part of a huge learning curve you don't realise your playing until you get about an hour into the game.

The controls are quite weird at first. Although billy no skill above me must not of realised you press 1 to brake the tilt the controller back a little and you walk backwards. They do seem quite sensitive at first but after observing a friend play the game I noticed that the controls do exactly what there told to do, it's just you don't realise how your holding the controller as you are absorbed in the gameplay and speed. For example you subconsciously hold the Wiimote at a slight tilt back, causing alittle confusion, although I'd much rather them to allow lazy hands but there not, you get used to it though.

Graphically the game is nice, there are no cutscenes as of yet, I'm about a 3rd into the game. Although the artwork is nice, I kinda prefer this as Sonic doesn't seem like a really bad actor, with his terrible body language and timing. His voice acting seems not to cheesy for some reason in this style. The yarn is span through pictures in a sort of comic format, kinda like Red Steel, XIII and such. I think it's quite effective as if goes hand in hand with arabian nights style story as the pictures are printed in a dusty old book. In game the graphics are lovely, not to shabby at all, there is some room for improvement but that goes without saying.

Gameplay wise, It's pretty much what you expect, running, jumping, some form of surfing/boarding/grinding from A to B. Like the other resent Sonic games though there is more to it. For example there are over 100 mission but as you guessed they are "Collect 100 ring" and "Finish within the time limit". There are a few new ones like "Destroy all enemies" and "Don't get defeated", Each world (level) has about 15 missions like this to unlock (and they're not always easy to) including a Boss mission where you fight the boss. Sorta levels in a world just like Monkey ball, you know, 7 levels and a boss level.

Something new to the game which I really like is the ring customisation and level system. You can level and gain SP. As you level you gain abilities and SP. These abilities add things to Sonic like mobility in the air and better handling on the ground, Boost start and start off with ring. There are loads, all of them very helpful. SP are Special Points. Each ability is worth so many special points. You have four rings. You place your abilities in these rings, so you can customise and choose what kind of Sonic you want to use for certain levels. However, each ring can only hold so many special points and so, only so many abilities. You have to choose you abilities wisely, as you level you can hold more in each ring though.

Now this is what Im talking about, once you get so many abilities and Sonic is fast and very agile (Which takes about as long as the learning curve is) your blitzing through levels. By now you should have the wildfire mode which means you collect orbs in game and use them to boost as break neck speed through levels. Now the game is starting to seem a lot more fun, missions don't seem to be dull anymore, there's finally a fast sonic game. I'm only a third through the game and I can tell you flying through levels is so much fun.

Music wise the game is cool, not the best I've heard but some really catchy tunes.

Multiplayer wise is ok, it's like a mini Mario Party. You play mini games which involve different motions with the Wiimote to win, thus granting you coins. These coins win you the multiplayer session. Quite fun, although some mini games are really tricky.

Overall I give the game a 7/10

I can see the game being quite short but with loads of replay value, they could of made the learning curve loads shorter as it's quite obvious some gamers with short attention spans won't stick with it. The music could be better, story wise the game is all right and gameplay wise there are a few little bugs. On the whole though a great experience, even if the games a late bloomer.