Will Sonic and the Secret Rings be the 3D Sonic Rush?

They've been hiding their problems pretty successfully with something more powerful than graphics - the Sonic license. It only failed on the 360 because there aren't as many kiddo Sonic fans with 360s.

 

Although the screens look interesting, I don't think it's worth my time buying a Wii just for this. I wasn't really a big fan of the speed sections of Sonic 06, and this game seems to be based too much around the same kind of concept.

 

You should buy a Wii, just because it's a Wii. This new Sonic just adds to the list of reasons.

 

From what I see, the game looks like it will be rather linear- not a good sign, I would say.

 

Well, the IGN guys said the levels feature multiple paths.

 

Go watch some videos; it's not any more linear than 3D Sonic in general.

 

You should all be praising SEGA. They were going to release Sonic-Next on the Wii too, but they decided to do this piece of awesome instead.

 

I got the new issue of the UK's Official Nintendo Magazine (#14, MySims cover). It has a review of Sonic And The Secret Rings. Here's the summary and score, from the end of the review-

The review also mentions that the camera-angle changes can be frustrating and difficult to play with, the first few times you encounter them. The levels sometimes have some annoying sections that require a lot of patience and timing too, but it encourages you to edit your abilities (which are limited by some kind of points system). The voice acting is typically horrible and the music may not appeal to everyone, but otherwise the review was really positive.

The game is supposed to start (somewhat disappointingly) slow, but things speed up drastically when you gain new abilities. The mini games are said to be flawed, but can any Wii owners honestly say they care about mini games anymore. They seem to be included in everything!

If you're wondering about the score, it seems quite average for them. They usually boost the score quite high for games that they've hyped up (Both Red Steel and Wii Play got 91% each, despite being quite universally panned).

 

Yeah, I'm still waiting for a "proper" magazine to review it, really (I don't think it's in either the new issues of Edge or GamesTM, though). ONM's alright for exclusive stories and interviews, but the reviews and regular features are utter shit. They always have a 2-page section in the front of the news section that says fuck all other than "Nintendo are good" or "Everyone likes the Wii".

 

EGM's video review is up, but they don't give numeric scores:
http://www.gamevideos.com/video/id/9318

Both reviewers agree that it's a lot better than any recent Sonic game, and probably the best 3D one yet. They make a point of saying that it's not perfect, but that it looks like Sonic could easily make a comeback with this formula. They didn't like the multiplayer parts at all.

One of the reviewers said it wasn't quite the comeback Lara Croft made last year with Tomb Raider Legend, if that's a comparison that can be made.

 

First Sonic game in a while that I'm looking forward to, just hope they don't screw it up and add 30 extra characters yet again, meh.

 

It's already known that Sonic's the only playable character in single player mode. There's 8 of them in the minigames though (4 unlockable). Judging by the blurred screenshot in ONM, it's Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Shadow, Cream, Blaze and Rouge. I can't be completely sure whether it's Rouge or Silver, though.

 

Reviews are in.

Game On: 92/100
Official Nintendo Magazine (Europe): 81%
Family Friendly Gaming: 90/100
Gaming Age: B+
Electronic Playground 4/5
1UP: 7.5/10
IGN: 6.9/10
GameSpot: 7.6/10

I find it humorous that GameSpot gives a higher rating than IGN when, normally, it seems like it's the other way around, but still...

Also, though this isn't necessarily of note, going by IGN's recent scores, this would make Secret Rings better than the first Streets of Rage. Just saying.

Anyway, I think I might just go ahead and pick this one up. It's certainly boding well for itself (barring IGN, but you can't spell ignorant without...), which is more than can be said for any other game since Rush.

 

My first impression from playing about 75% of the game:

Sonic and the Secret rings, formerly Sonic Wildfire (which is an infinitely better name than the final version, hence why I call it Sonic Wii) is, simply put, a glorious revival of the Sonic franchise. If you're on the fence about whether to buy Sonic Wii today, stop reading right here. You are dismissed to go purchase it. If you still have months to wait for various reasons (No wii, rural area, not available, etc) then read on.

There's so much done right in Sonic Wii that was done so horribly wrong in Sonic Adventure 2, Heroes, Shadow the hedgehog and Sonic 360 that it's hard to begin. The heart of what makes Sonic Wii work so well is the much lauded controls. Or rather, lack of controls. One thing that has become clear in recent hedgehog outings is that we simply cannot control Sonic the hedgehog in 3D. Sonic is the essence of speed in gaming, and our reflexes and skills are not great enough. Sonic wii differentiates itself from previous sonic 3D trainwrecks by having the game designers take the reigns and leaving you to simply dodge attacks. That is, the game has you constantly running forward and will automatically turn around sharp corners, hairpin turns, and other loops and slopes for you.

Part of this reinvention is due to a rethinking of the level-structure philosophy that has been apparent in other 3D sonic games. While the Shadows and Adventure 2's of the past were comprised of floating platforms that were stuck over a bottomless void (a design move that lead to many deaths), Sonic Wii goes for a far more linear route. Rather than having wide open spaces, you are on thick paths. Think Crash Bandicoot. You can move left and right in limited space, while the game shoots you forward at breakneck speed.

The result is fantastic, and it single-handedly fixes nearly every problem that plagued previous games in the series. Firstly, the annoying camera problems are gone. Vanished. Kaput. Since the game takes control of sonic, it always knows where you'll be, and as such, handles the camera for you. The entire game is created with a specific view in mind. Without having to worry about whether sonic will be in this corner or that corner, Sonic Team seems to have a better grasp on camera angles.

Second, platforming elements that were introduced (and subsequently broken) in previous 3D sonic outings are back, and miraculously fixed. One of the greatest complaints I had about Sonic Heroes and Adventure 2 are the large segments where you must bounce from one enemy to the other in order to get over large chasms. The problem with those previous bits was that you were steering yourself from enemy to enemy, in mid-air no less. The games would simply lock on to the nearest enemy. While, in theory, this should lead to some relatively easy paths, in practice it ended up failing. You would often bounce at one enemy only to shoot off into a void because you weren't close enough to lock on. Or, you'd be too close to another enemy, and it'd break the jumping sequence, which would again throw you into a void.

Sonic wii rises to the challenge and fixes these problems splendidly. First of all, the lock on dash, while functioning the same, has a new aiming reticule that appears on screen. When you're close to an enemy, a green circle will appear on them. If you jump in the air (of if you're already in the air, when you get close to them) it'll change to red to indicate that you're locked on. This feature eliminates those furious moments from previous sonic games where you'd dash too early and fall into oblivion. Secondly, the game controls your path even in mid-air, so as you run towards an enemy and jump to bounce on him, it'll automatically push you towards the next enemy. Like the camera, the game is designed with these segments in mind, and the game knows how they're supposed to be executed. So you'll never have to worry about hitting the wrong enemy.

It's in this mold that new platforming elements are crafted. While old sonic games were rounds of bouncing from floating platform to floating platform, Sonic wii is instead a game of momentum. Make no mistake, although you're moving forward at all times, this is an intense platforming game. I keep saying it's similar to prince of persia and Super mario sunshine's secret levels, and the comparison is still apt. Previous sonic games had long platforms with no traps on them, but not Sonic Wii. while all you're doing is steering left and right, Sega and Sonic Team have found ways to make this fiendishly difficult, without being cheap. Old school sonic gamers rejoice - spike puzzles and other obstacles have returned.

Most of the platforming joy comes from the new jump method. While it'll probably take getting used to, and I'm sure some will complain at first, jumping is a very different beast in sonic Wii. Where, in old sonic games, pressing the jump button automatically launched you into the air, here the jump button has 2 functions. First, a quick tap will make you leap, without rolling into a ball. This is how the majority of platforming is done. By tapping it quickly, you can avoid spikes that are being raised off the ground, balls that are rolling towards you, small pits, enemies, lava, fire, etc. The other function of the jump button is to attack. By holding it down for a second, you'll stop, build up power, then jump high into the air. Once in the air, you can flick the wii remote to dash towards whatever you're locked onto. This is where the comparison to prince of persia comes into place. Sonic Wii's platforming isn't about carefully maneuvering yourself onto floating platforms. Rather, it's about intense reflex combined with timing.

An example from a level I played earlier. I was barreling down a path as fast as I could, while spikes kept rising from the ground. Spikes, in this game, are more like spikes from old sonic games, where they retract every couple of seconds before shooting out again. So as I'm running, I have to keep tapping jump at certain points to avoid these spikes. Then, up in the distance, I see the trail end, but there's a floating, moving platform with a spring on it. I keep tapping jump to avoid these spikes, then, at the end of the trail, before I fall off, I jam the jump button to slide to a stop, build up power, wait for the platform to come back down, and leap into the air. I watch for the reticule to turn red, then flick the remote to shoot towards the spring, which then bounces me to a wall where I hit a speed trap that sends me flying forward at intense speeds.

that's not a single segment, folks, that the entire game. It's non-stop what I just described. And there are more fiendish tricks. Later levels have no walls on the paths you run on, and you must be careful not to go too far left or right or you'll fall off. Some have crumbling pathways, which means you cannot hit a single object or you'll fall to your death. And then there's grinding.

I always hated grinding. It seemed like an excuse for lazy level design. not only that, but you'd normally have 6 or 7 rails going on at once in previous sonic games. For example, in the Space Colony Arc level of Sonic Adventure 2, I fell to many deaths because I'd jump from one rail to the other, only to miss. The problem, much like enemy bouncing, was that you had to control yourself in the air. Sonic wii, again, removes this problem. If you're on a rail and there are rails next to you, simply tilt the wii remote left and right and the game will automatically jump from rail to rail for you.


Much has been made in recent days about missions - 10 per level, which require multiple play throughs. I have a feeling, however, that if these missions were called "acts" instead, that everyone would love them. Let me say here that these missions, which other websites erroneously claim are "repeats of the level you played before" are different. Very different. The main level in Sand Oasis zone takes place outside, while mission 3 takes place inside a palace. You aren't retreading through the same level with new objectives, you're going through new levels.

And I'd be hesitant to call them objectives. This isn't Sonic Adventure 2. You won't find yourself hunting for emerald shards, or blowing up locks. The objectives are more like constraints. "Finish the level with 99 rings" or "don't break any pots." Entirely different beast. They don't feel like a chore, but instead feel like challenges.

And there are immediate rewards for playing through these missions. While I'm unsure if you get anything for beating them all, playing though a mission gets you valuable Experience Points. These experience points are used to level your sonic up.

that's right, you now level up. Sonic Wii has a character customization feature that is reminiscent of Final Fantasy VII. As you grow in levels, you gain more SP - special points, and learn new abilities. Before each level, you have the option of equipting as many abilities as you have SP for. For example, the ability to automatically have pearls fly towards you costs 3 SP. So if you have 15 SP, you can equip it and have 12 left for other abilities. Certain abilities automatically occur (like the pearls flying towards you) and others can be mapped to the D-Pad (like speed burst). The ones that get mapped to the D-Pad cost magic, which gets refilled by collecting pearls. The end result is that the game is as hard, or easy, as you want it to be. Some of these abilities are damn near vital in later levels, where platforming gets intense, like the ability to slow down time.

The story for this game is cute. No more of this "lets go sodomize the devil and then slit his throat" stuff from Shadow the Hedgehog. The story is presented very much in the same way that it was presented in Sonic Rush, only now we have the ability to skip them by pressing +. In the end, the story is only there for a loose explanation of how level 1 is set in an Arabian town, and level 2 is set in dinosaur world.

I'm about to speak blasphemy to all the wii nuts out there, so if you're in love with waggle, cover your eyes:

The wii controls really add nothing to the game. By which, I mean, the tilt feature of the game, while implemented nicely, is ultimately just for show. The game would work better, in fact, if the nunchuck attachment had been used. Tilt is responsive, but it's a bit loose. You get used to it, just like you got used to swinging the wiimote to swing your sword in zelda, and it doesn't detract from the game, but it's an honest observation. there is no reason why this game couldn't be done on the 360's controller.

It's also worth noting that the music is awful, and very catchy. You'll have these awful songs stuck in your head for hours. I kept thinking about the main game theme, for example, while typing this post.

I'm about 75% done, and I haven't even touched the mini games. Fuck IGN, this is a fantastic game thus far, and it's one of the best sonic games. It's a shame that it gets compared to the 3D series - this game is good enough to be apart of the original series.

 

I definately agree with you on this. I'm not as far in the game as you, but I did try the minigames. Feels like Mario Party, but with the same Arabian Nights theme as the rest of the game, WarioWare-style controls, irritating talking Omochao, and simplistic fun. And the unlockable characters are: Shadow, Cream, Silver, and Blaze. It's not really a spoiler - the placeholder icons for them are freaking obvious.

One of the things I like about this game is the Storybook. It's a collection of all the cutscenes, movies, trailers, concept art, CG art, etc. with descriptions written by the developers in first person. Gives a bit of inside info on the development of the game (ex: they didn't know where to initially put the first boss they designed)

 

I just finished the game, and for the most part, I agree with Cooljerk's review as well. If you're a Sonic fan, this game will be amazing. For the rest of the general gaming audience, though, I think most of the media reviews were correct. The game has quite a few flaws, but it's still a lot of fun. That's more than what can be said for the past four Sonic console games we've got.

I'm posting tons of screenshots of areas throughout the game with miniature walkthroughs on my site for anyone who is interested. This page has some captures of the storyboard-style cutscenes. Much cooler than the CG stuff we've been drowned in recently:
http://www.sonicworld.net/site/games/wii/secretrings/

 

Hooray for double posting.

First off, I recorded the game's ending with my capture card:
Part 1 / Normal Ending
Part 2 / Good Ending

Secondly, my review is done:
http://sonicworld.net/site/games/wii/secretrings/review.php