Those voices are calling from far away

So I did end up getting up and renting Sonic and the Secret Rings back on Sunday afternoon. Looks like it wasn’t all I was hoping for. Not a buyer anyway, which is good, because I’m really scrounging up my pennies at the moment. The Ryanmobile is on its way, and I’m also saving for some other choice objects. More on that in future post though. Now, a short review!

Sonic and the Secret Rings, as you may have gotten wind by now, is a pretty good game. Now, a lot of people might say it’s an “on-rails” game, but that’s not really the case. It’s really similar to the Sonic Adventure games, with long, esssentially straightforward levels. The only real difference is that you don’t have to push anything to make Sonic go. You control every other move he makes though, so I’m not really going to lump this into the on-rails category. Works out real good too, and despite what some people are saying, I found the remote to be more than adequate for controlling the game. The thrusting stuff is spot-on, the movement is smooth, and you’ve got more than enough buttons/gestures to get everything done efficiently. The only little hiccup I’ve found is that sometimes I have trouble controlling Sonic’s lateral movement while moving backwards. Other than that though, s’all good.

The game itself is great, focusing solely on moving fast and doing cool stuff like thrashing enemies and… jumping I guess. I dunno. But anyway, there are seven or eight worlds, each with a huge amount of mission stages to complete, some requiring you just to get to the end, others with a ring or kill count to fill. The only problem here is that you’re ranked with medals, and gold medals require nothing less than a perfect performance, and that’s really one of the big points that keeps me from buying the game (if you didn’t know, I’m a very obsessive completionist). I’m just not good enough. I’ve barely got any silvers to my name, and there are a ton left without any medal at all. Of course, to help the cause, Sonic gains experience points after every level, and when he levels up, he gains new abilities or enhancements like higher top speeds or item magnets. The level-up bonuses help a little but obviously the ones that help the most take forever to show up.

There’s also a rather robust multiplayer mode included in the game. Of course, by “robust” I don’t mean “good”, but rather “extensive”. Actually, it’s not too bad. Works out a lot like a Mario Party, with a bunch of 4-player games strung together by a boatload of mini-games. There are four or so different game modes to choose from, and most of them work out pretty well, though one in particular that requires you to pick out treasure chests can be really one-sided if one player is really lucky. The mini-games are all obviously made to work with the Wii remote, and to be frank, a bunch them don’t work nearly as seamlessly as the main game does. Sometimes the contols can be really shoddy, mostly because of crappy pointer sensitivity, but it’s not game-breaking. I played multiplayer with my youngest brother for a couple hours, and it’s pretty fun if you can figure out how to get around the half-assed control schemes.

Overall, Sonic and the Secret Rings is definitely a good game. Sure beats the crap our favourite blue hedgehog’s face has been plastered on lately (Sonic Riders? BLECH). It’s got a smooth single player game with exactly the kind of action you’d expect from a good Sonic game. The only issue I have is that the medal system asks for way too much from the player. I can’t even get silver medals on most of the training missions, and I really don’t suck at the game, so that’s saying something. I wouldn’t buy it, but it’s more than worth a rent or two. Hell, once it hits the half-price mark in a year or two (here’s hoping), I could see myself picking it up. But until that time, it’s just a renter. But don’t rent it if you intend to entertain guests with multiplayer, just grab Mario Party 8 instead (which comes out in like a week).