Sonic and the Secret Rings user review

Sonic's triumphant return.

Review written by
WG

We all know 3D Sonic games are for the most part, not so great, to put it nicely. But there are always exceptions. Secret Rings, is without a doubt, Sonic's best 3D game yet, and is possibly good enough to sit alongside "Sonic 2" and "Sonic 3 and Knuckles" as one of the best Sonic games in existence.

Gameplay

Sega has realized that Sonic is never ever supposed to slow down, so unless you press the 1 button, Sonic is perpetually running. Tilt the Wii remote to make our blue hero turn and 2 to jump. It's basically your standard "run to the end" Sonic game, but faster, because there are very few times when you need to stop.

It's not without flaws though. By turning the wiimote on its side, you make Sonic go backwards. The problem is, the camera doesn't change to let you see what's behind you. And some missions can be pretty frustrating.

Storyline

The story of Secret Rings is nothing like that of any Sonic game before it. Basically, Sonic goes into the world of Arabian Nights to stop an evil genie. It goes a bit deeper than that as you progress, but not much. Yeah, it's a pretty bad story, but it at least beats Shadow's emo alien fest, and like the old school Sonics, Secret Rings relies on gameplay for its charm, not storyline. Having both would be nice, but ya can't have it all.

Graphics

The graphics are probably the best in any Sonic game to date except for Sonic 06, but we all know that the Wii's graphics are nowhere near the level of the PS3 or 360. But the graphics here are still great. The environments are very detailed, and the Sonic model looks great. The downside is the cutscenes. There are a few cutscenes done in normal style with AMAZING graphics, but most are done in a sort of comic bookish style. It looks nice, but with such gorgeous graphics everywhere else, it's a bit disappointing.

Sound

The voice acting is good (their lines are awful, but the acting itself is good) except Tails, whose voice has always sucked, except in Sonic Adventure. The music ain't bad either.