Sonic and the Secret Ring Impressions

JustLikeHeaven1 · Postby **JustLikeHeaven1** » February 21st, 2007, 8:52 pm

Well I went and picked up Sonic after work today. Here are some impressions after playing for just over an hour.

The very first thing that will catch your attention in this game is the music. If Satan made a rock band I'm pretty sure it would sound like this. Damn is this stuff cheesy! Sad thing is that in a sick sadistic way...I like it. It reminds me of the rock ditties you hear on South Park.

Anywho...once you get past the music you are treated to an excessively long cut-scene told in with these storybook still screens. These look great and the voice acting is decent...but the writing is awful.

Here is the gist of the story...Sonic wakes up from a nap and accidently awakens this red headed hottie who happens to be a genie. Being that she is hottie wearing a tube top Sonic decides to rescue her people from some evil wizard. So she gives him a magical pimp ring and the journey begins.

So how does thing play? Well the controls with the Wiimote are very...loose. Thats not to say they feel bad, its just that they take some time to get used to. In fact I don't know why they don't let you control this game with the D-pad because it would have made things alot easier. When you are running at breakneck speeds its a pain to gently move the controller. Jumping is done by tapping the 2 button. The longer you hold down the button the higher you jump. This requires perfect timing in most levels and it also takes some getting used to.On the flipside when you are dodging spikes and traps with the remote it feels really satisfying. I am still torn about the controls, but overall they are beginning to win me over.

With all that being said I really enjoyed the hour I spent with this game. The Egyptian setting is pretty unique and the levels are well designed. Plus you can go back and play levels over and over again to beat certain challenges. These are frustrating, but in that old school NES frustrating kind of way.

After you beat levels you level up and this is a nice welcome change. Sonic becomes faster and learns more moves as you progress. Replaying the missions helps you gain levels faster and its fun to see the hedgehog evolve over time.

The camera in this game isn't perfect. Its right on Sonic's little blue ass and you are going to have to memorize levels and deal with the slippery controls to become a master at this game. Again it has an oldschool challenge to it and I found it to be enjoyable.

If you are a Sonic fan I would recommend trying it. If you were skeptical about this game at all, rent it or wait until it comes down in price. Its a nice little platformer that I can see myself really getting into despite its shortcomings. Sonic and the Secret Rings isn't going to win any awards, but it a hell of lotta better than the 360/PS3 game.

feilong801 · Postby **feilong801** » February 21st, 2007, 10:57 pm

hmmm... more or less spot on with the other reviews out there. I tend to be a gamer that notices a game's strong points more than its weak ones, so this could be a winner for me... maybe.

Problem is, there are a few better Wii choices that I don't have yet, like Excite Trucks and Elebits. Not too mention some of the more recent Xbox 360 games like Lost Planet.

We shall see.

-Rob

JustLikeHeaven1 · Postby **JustLikeHeaven1** » February 22nd, 2007, 9:09 am

Yea sorry if that didn't help you out much, but I have only played the game for an hour. I will continue to post my thoughts in this thread. After this weekend I should have invested enough time to properly evaluate the game.

Superjay · Postby **Superjay** » February 22nd, 2007, 10:41 am

Looks like sega skrewed up again to me. So just like heaven do you feel that this game pushed the hardware at all.

JustLikeHeaven1 · Postby **JustLikeHeaven1** » February 22nd, 2007, 2:58 pm

[QUOTE=Superjay]Looks like sega skrewed up again to me. So just like heaven do you feel that this game pushed the hardware at all.[/QUOTE]

I am assuming that you are talking about graphics (correct me if I'm wrong). Sonic on the Wii is a very pretty game. It runs in 480p 16x9 widescreen and is easily one of the best looking games on Nintendo's system. There are plenty of particle and lighting effects, and I would like to say that the water looks really great.

Do I think that this game is pushing the Wii to its limits? I really hope not. While its a great looking game, I really hope that the system hasn't peaked graphically within the first 3 months of its release.

Would this game work on the PS3 and 360? Yes it would. I think regular d-pad controls would suite this game just fine. The motion controls work well enough, but they lack the precision needed in a sonic game.

This is easily the best Sonic formula Sega has cooked up in a while and I would love to see this latest recipe explored further. With some minor tweaks here and there we could see Sonic return to greatness in the next Secret Rings-type game.

I think this game teeters on the C+ to B- range. There is lots of room for improvement, but Sonic has started his Wii career off on the right foot.

Zenzerotron · Postby **Zenzerotron** » February 23rd, 2007, 3:49 pm

Me buying this game hinges on this~

Do you HAVE to replay the levels, doing the "NES challenges" to progress through the game and beat it?

If you're absolutely required to replay the levels and do those frustrating things, I'm not gonna buy this game.

Paul Campbell · Postby **Paul Campbell** » February 24th, 2007, 5:27 am

[QUOTE=Zenzerotron]Me buying this game hinges on this~

Do you HAVE to replay the levels, doing the "NES challenges" to progress through the game and beat it?

If you're absolutely required to replay the levels and do those frustrating things, I'm not gonna buy this game.
[/QUOTE]

I totally agree, and my decision is waiting for that response as well. That would turn me off so fast it would make your head spin.

chrisbid1 · Postby **chrisbid1** » February 24th, 2007, 8:36 am

from the way he worded it, it seems that it would only be required to get a 100 percent rating

but in general, wtf? a game having challenge is a negative? having a challenge presented to you and overcoming it is what video games are supposed to be about.

Paul Campbell · Postby **Paul Campbell** » February 24th, 2007, 8:49 pm

[QUOTE=chrisbid]from the way he worded it, it seems that it would only be required to get a 100 percent rating

but in general, wtf? a game having challenge is a negative? having a challenge presented to you and overcoming it is what video games are supposed to be about. [/QUOTE]

But they are not supposed to be about frustration and boredom. Repeating the same thing over and over again can cause that. That is why Ninja Gaiden 3 sucked.

Paul Campbell · Postby **Paul Campbell** » February 25th, 2007, 3:38 am

Ok, I picked up Sonic today, and so far I have very mixed feelings. The game is really pretty, but the voice acting is annoying and Sonic is yet another character that I believe should not have a voice assigned to him (along with Link and Calvin of Calvin and Hobbes). The gameplay right now is a bit frustrating because the steering controls feel loose and imprecise, but I definitely got better as time passed, and I only played for about an hour. I really recommend the IGN review, because he really nails the plusses and especially the minuses of the game. I am still debating whether this play mechanic was the wisest choice for the series, but that may change as i give it more time.