Sonic & The Secret Rings

So, here we are; after months of previews and speculation, Sonic finally makes his Wii debut. There was a time when such an affair would’ve caused a lot more hysteria. Much like Mario is to Nintendo, Sonic was a symbol for what Sega stood for, and at the foundation of that was a run of great games. Unfortunately, due to a succession of disappointments and genuinely awful titles, the aura that once surrounded the hedgehog has all but faded. It’s hard to pinpoint a single reason for why he fell into such a sorry state of mediocrity, but by and large the one underlying principle that seems to be in everyone’s list is the world of three dimensions; try as he might, Sonic just couldn’t get to grips with it. Thankfully, Sonic Team did stand up and take notice. Rather than just sit back and ignore what was going on, it looked at the classics of old and tried to establish how it could carry that magic over to 3D. It tried with Sonic The Hedgehog on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, and didn’t quite succeed in the way it had intended. With the Wii, however, it tried a completely different tact. It’s no longer a mystery that Secret Rings is entirely on-rails, and despite the cloud of negativity that this has attracted, it may’ve been the smartest move Sonic Team has ever made.

Despite being somewhat restrictive due to its core gameplay mechanic, there’s a lot more freedom than you may expect. Hitting the 1 button at any time brings Sonic to a halt, and tilting the remote towards you makes him walk backwards. Not only does this open up Secret Rings to quite a vast degree, but it’s essential to take advantage of both to find the hidden routes and paths that are littered throughout the game; another aspect which stop it from feeling too limited. At the same time though, there are certain levels and set pieces that literally take control away from you entirely. Most of these are apparent after hitting up on the D-pad to instigate your Speed Attack. Thankfully, it’s saved due to the fact that the overwhelming pace and blur effects that appear on screen are so intense and utterly insane you’ll never get tired of it. Furthermore, it’s entirely up to you whether you want to use it or not. The true problems show up when there’s only a single path to take and you realise that even if you put the remote down, Sonic would still find his way to the end of the section unharmed. It’s never overwhelming, and these are few and far between, but you’ll be hard pushed not to recognise them instantly when they do pop-up; by that means they’re worth mentioning. In a similar vein, walking backwards is also prone to bother and annoy. The camera refuses to budge at any point, so it’s likely that on several occasions you’ll wind up hitting a foe you couldn’t see, or struggling to trek rearwards to investigate a potential hidden path or item – why the camera can’t be flipped is slightly perplexing.

… continued