Sonic and the Secret Rings

[Smashchu]

New stuff
-The bar on the side of the screen will either give you a speed boost or slow down time
-The release date is now Feb 20
-There are 8 chaaracters in the multiplayer. They are Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Any, Cream, Blaze, Shadow, Silver

The game still looks promising. I hope that it will stay fun mostly. Hate to get a game then never want to play it again.
Extended Trailer

[Nester the Lark]

IGN has posted an interview with Yojiro Ogawa. He talks about why he made Secret Rings different from the 360/PS3 version, as well as the Arabian setting being influenced by God of War, Shadow of the Colossus, and Prince of Persia.

I think God of War may have been an influence because I like it so much. At one point I wanted Sonic to perform a move where he would jump off the back of a bird and start ripping its feathers out. But people thought it was too violent for a children's game, so I wasn't allowed to do it. I think they thought I had gone crazy! I'm really looking forward to playing God of War 2 though.

I'm really looking forward to seeing how this game turns out!

Link: wii.ign.com/articles/761/761723p1.html

[Smashchu]

A Good Review?

Also, IGN has added quite a few videos.
Here

[Nester the Lark]

Well, this game has been out in the US for a few days, now. Has anyone picked it up? I've seen the professional reviews, but I'd like to know what some of you guys (especially Sonic fans) think.

I haven't tried it, myself, yet. I probably would've picked it up, but I'm waiting for SSX Blur (which comes out this week--WOO! ).

[Smashchu]

I freakin love it. Well, maybe not love it, but it's a very good game. I'd give it a 4/5.

IGN is full of crap. I can do half the stuff they had problems with when I fist picked up the game. The funny thing is he said backing up was hard. Too bad there is a picture tio show you hoow to hold it in the book.

The major complaints I have is that not all the missions are winners. While they add a lot to replay value, it doesn't mee everyone of them is fun. Luckily, the fun gameplay evens this out, so it's not Shadow all over again. Also, the story is extra corny. The good thing is platformer aren't known for their story, and if you don't have high expectations for it, it can be enjoyable. The presentaion of the stories rocks, too baad the voice acting and lines blow.

Oh, and Party mode is surprisingly good. It's much better then Monkey Ball's(Wii verison) and it can rival Mario Party.

In short
Pro
+Fastest 3D Sonic game
+Good graphics(Cinamatic is freakin' amazing)
+Missions add loads of replay value
+Leveling up add more to the Sonic franchise
+Good Music(not Sonic Rush good, but nice)
+Suprisingly good Party Mode

Cons
-Not all missions are fun
-Somne missions/segmants of levels are extra hard
-Can be hard to control Sonic sometimes
-Story is corny

[kirbychu]

Funny, I'd rate the music a con and the story a pro.

The music was really generic... I didn't really like it at all. The story, I loved. But maybe you have to be a fan of Arabian Nights to really appreciate it. It was certainly an interesting twist on both the Sonic and Arabian Nights characters. They even used the Genie of the Ring from Aladdin, which isn't that well-known since Disney's Aladdin basically just combined the characters of Genie of the Lamp and Genie of the Ring into one character.

I can't comment on gameplay, because... I haven't actually played it. But thanks to the magic of the internet, I've already been able to watch the game's ending, along with several other parts. I love the painted animated storyboard-style cutscenes, and the FMV movies were pretty great-looking, too. Shame it seems to suffer from the same awful acting as the last few games, but at least the actors are improving.

As a side note, there are a lot of unlockables, including some short animated comedic skits. My personal favourite is one of Metal Sonic complaining about being underappreciated. ;D

[Nester the Lark]

So, are these missions something like the missions from Sonic Adventure 2? I wasn't too crazy about those, especially when I was supposed to get A's on everything. (Never did.)

How about normal replay value? Is it fun to play the levels again just for the sake of it?

[Smashchu]

coreywoods said:

So, are these missions something like the missions from Sonic Adventure 2? I wasn't too crazy about those, especially when I was supposed to get A's on everything. (Never did.)

How about normal replay value? Is it fun to play the levels again just for the sake of it?

No, missions are usually, get X# of rings. kill X# of enimies, beat the level under set time limit ect. They all are of a segment of the course.

The game offers it own reply in that theres a lot of missions and goodies to get. The replay value isn't like Somic Rush. It's fun, but Sonic Rush is better.

[kirbychu]

smashchu2 said:

No, missions are usually, get X# of rings. kill X# of enimies, beat the level under set time limit ect. They all are of a segment of the course.

Sounds like SA2 missions to me... But that's cool, I loved SA2's missions.

Sonic Rush was good, but I wouldn't say it had any replay value. It was pretty much just beat the game with both characters, get all the Chaos Emeralds, and then you're done. You could try and get all S-Ranks, but you don't get anything for it. All the game's rewards had to be unlocked just to finish the game.

[Smashchu]

Replaying levels was fun though. I think thats what he was talking about.

[Nester the Lark]

Yeah, most Sonic games have at least one level that is such a blast to play thru, I like to play it over and over. I'm partial to Starlight, Casino Night, and Ice Cap from the classic games; and Speed Highway and Final Rush from the Adventure games.

I was just wondering if I sat down to replay Sonic and the Secret Rings, would I think things like "This level was awesome! I'll play it again!", or "What a drag. Think I'll play Wii Sports instead."

[Fryguy64]

I would rather know - is it like the other 3D Sonic games? If it is then I will probably avoid it.

[kirbychu]

I assume not. Everyone's been saying it's the best 3D Sonic so far, and that this is the direction they should take future games in. You only play as Sonic, so it'll all be speed-based stages.

The thing is... it's Sonic. It's always going to be about a blue hedgehog rushing at high speeds through rollercoaster-inspired stages, and if they change that concept too much they'll be losing what made the games appealing in the first place. So really... you can expect more of the same, just played in a different way.

[Nester the Lark]

What worries me is that everyone does say Secret Rings is the best 3D Sonic game yet, and future games should follow this direction, but that there are still a few kinks that need to be ironed out. Similar things were said about the original Sonic Adventure on the Dreamcast: It was a good direction for Sonic to go in 3D, but there was room for improvement. Well, the years passed, and not only were the kinks never addressed, but they actually got worse. Not to be pessimistic, but knowing Sonic Team, this could possibly be the last decent 3D Sonic game we see for a while... maybe.

[Old Man Rupee]

Well you know their motto: To Be This Good Takes AGES!