Making his debut onto Nintendo’s incredibly unique console, the Wii, Sonic and the Secret Rings had a lot of pressure resting on its shoulders to entertain. In addition, Sonic and the Secret Rings was often thought to be the first “true Wii game” that wasn’t a Gamecube adaption, a normal game with bolted on controls or a series of party games. So all in all, the designers had a lot of things to live up to, and thankfully…it does.

Secret Rings is very unique, to say the least, and works like no other game of great note before it.

Sonic and the Secret Rings takes place in an “alternate” reality, in this case the world of Arabian Nights. Sonic has been tasked to aid a genie named Shahra to stop the evil genie Erazor from destroying the stories of Arabian Nights. Now at first you might be thinking “And you think this is a good plot how?” but trust me, this level of cheese and ridiculous concepts complements Sonic far better than any hastily constructed and poorly implemented “epic” storyline. Sonic also must find the seven World Rings for Erazor, or he shall be killed by the evil genie’s magical fire arrow embedded within him after an early confrontation.

Character wise, gone is the unnecessarily large cast and a more streamlined idea is taken. Sonic, Shahra and Erazor are the primary characters, and it remains as such, with small cameo parts from Tails, Knuckles and Eggman as Arabian versions - Ali-Baba, Sinbad and the King of Arabia respectively. This is far easier to follow. But the biggest improvement however, is easily Sonic himself. Gone is the “goody goody adventurer” that we have had to bear for years, and returned is the cheeky little attitude filled ‘hog we all knew and loved. Sonic frequently teases, jibes and sometimes even downright insults enemies and bosses. It is a great hark back to “Blue Dude with a ‘tude” eras of Sonic fandom, and at least to my opinion is very welcome.

As to the soundtrack and sound effects Secret Rings doesn’t disappoint, those who loved the theme “Catch me if you can” from Sonic Riders will be happy, for the band who performed that song, Runblebee, returns to do the entire soundtrack. It contains a mass variety of Arabian band sounds, fantasy-esque music and guitar riffs in equal amounts depending on the level. Let me tell you it is cheesy, but it is brilliant. Secret Rings by far has one of the greatest Sonic soundtracks of the 3D era, tracks for bosses are thumping and climactic, the final level’s track is a near masterpiece, and the signature track “Seven Rings in Hand” offers a style similar to that of our well liked band Crush 40.

Sound effects remain as they were from most Sonic games, as per usual, however they feel very “soft” sometimes, perhaps to do what Prince of Persia: Sands of Time did in order to enhance the “magical” feel of the game. Whether this succeeded or not I have no idea, it didn’t feel any different to me, but there’s certainly nothing wrong with it.

Graphics for Secret Rings are certainly a jump up. Although they do not show the textures that the next-gen Sonic the Hedgehog had, great use has been made of what is available, making the most beautiful Sonic game in 3D yet. Lands sprawl for miles around you, lighting effects are dazzling and well implemented and some truly unique ideas are put together, especially in the final level, which features an absolutely beautiful section right at the end. Sonic himself looks quite basic; however when moving fast (and I mean fast) he is, for once, quite literally a blue blur.

Now the big hitter. Gameplay. Does it work?

Secret Rings works on the concept of Sonic continually running down a set track, the player controlling him to swing Sonic left and right, jump, attack and back up if needs be. The first thoughts that occurred to many was “on rails” and “too simple.” But consider those Sonic games we all started with, run down a “set” way, jump and attack, its not so different, and this is definitely a step in the right direction.

When first picking up the controller, I was worried that there might be perhaps too many things on the one controller with motion and buttons, especially at Sonic’s level of pace, but the controls are simple: Tilt left for left, tile right for right, press 2 for jump, hold for charge jump and push forward to attack. This offers massive potential to the player. Because the controls are so simple, there are no longer any fiddly twitches and sudden changes of direction to go spiralling off a cliff, and the player can fully concentrate on being able to go faster and faster relentlessly down the track.

The levels themselves are nicely paced, ranging from long open stretches to really open up the speed, to pseudo 2D styled areas in which the camera switches to the side. These “2D” sections are some of the most fun (and toughest) sections of the game, and feature things like spikes as once more a real foe rather than something to merely laugh at as you go around it. Yep, the spikes are back from days old, and they are back with a vengeance at being so underused. They are NASTY to get around.

The forward running sections however make up the majority, and can sometimes get quite hectic, but never for too long (bar the last level, as it should be) that the player feels drained. As the player runs, they will occasionally encounter platforming areas. Now these can be pretty cool, they are difficult, and allow you to feel like you got your moneys worth. However certain sections can feel very fiddly and annoying when Sonic is attempting to continually rush forward (especially if you have certain upgrades) and although hard braking and stopping is very controllable, those odd moments when he decides to just go for it without your permission can be quite frustrating. Be thankful though, for I only counted three such areas in the whole game.

When you start to advance a little into the game, upgrades start appearing to give to Sonic via the ring he wears. These are, for the majority, very minor and often utterly useless. But they are still pivotal, the speed upgrades really add up once you start getting a good few. However because it’s very gradual, it’s only after you go back to a previous stage you realise just how fast you have become. To put this in perspective, I only did the first level once in my first play through, and went back after completing it to do it again with all upgrades. My record time was utterly and completely demolished by about 2 and a half minutes…and it wasn’t that good a run the second time either.

It really is at this point the true beauty of Secret Rings shines, the player realises how fast they have become, and starts to gain the skill to put it into proper use. Even at “medium” Secret Rings is still very very fast. And then there’s the manoeuvre that makes Secret Rings the game it is - the utterly stunning Speed Break.

Once gaining enough energy from items collected and enemies defeated, an orange gauge will build slowly to higher levels. Upon reaching such a level, the player will hear a chime, and know things are about to get…well…fast. Very fast. Hitting “up” on the Wii-mote will stall Sonic for half a second as energy charges about him, somewhat similar to a Super Sonic transformation. Afterwards, he will bolt forward at a massive speed, the level completely blurs around the player as Sonic rockets forward after a pretty cool “sonic boom” splits the air. Trailing a wave of displaced air that rips enemies apart, you can now fire through stages at high velocity. For those who have played the 360 and PS3 Sonic game, take the Mach Speed Zones, and multiply their speed by about four times at least, and also make it controllable while you’re at it. You can smack into a trap if you don’t react fast enough (making it a perilous choice to risk it all in a speed break or do it more controlled) and I lost count of the amount of times I only saw a spike after I had passed it. It really is something incredible.

Due to the plot of the story, the levels consist of more varied themes than we have seen before. Gone are the usual casinos and jungles of no note, to be replaced with cities in the desert, and jungles of plenty of note due to the presence if dinosaurs helping or hindering your progress! Each level has a unique feel: some require more speed than control, some are platformers while some have more open space, some involve more “gimmicks” than others (one in particular had a great sequence of surfing tidal waves). This also means the player must think and choose their upgrade wisely. You do not want a very platform heavy slow area to have an upgrade that makes Sonic dash whenever he lands!

On the subject of missions, they can often take wild and truly unique looks at level layout and control use to achieve an aim. Some are quite frustrating, others short and sweet. Occasionally you get some great ones, especially having to race a Spirit of the Wind, where the player must use strategy more than speed to get ahead of this obviously cheating genie.

Of particular note is the solving of a problem that has in some way plagued all Sonic games since Sonic Adventure: camera issues! Because Sonic is always going on a pre determined route, the camera is much more stable and less inclined to freak out. It really allows much more fun to be had. It is a small to note, but major to experience detail.

Bosses are in the method of Sonic Heroes – Sonic is on a constantly running track “chasing” the boss. Secret Rings has some great bosses. Most bosses can be pretty imposing to start out with, hails of attacks and very odd movements can throw the player off. But if they weren’t a challenge, why are they the boss then? Play them, get defeated, try again, keep trying and win. (As a note, the final boss of the story is the only boss in history to have had me actually go for a shower after finally completing it. I guarantee it will have you pulling your hair out.)

Multiplayer in this game is interesting, instead of being anything like the main game, this instead uses a Sonic Shuffle idea, and offers players various games consisting of multiple mini games. These make inventive and often humorous use of the Wii-mote, such as pointing, using it as a bow, a hammer, a torch and a whistle. These are not too deep, and nothing special among the mass of mini games already on the Wii. However it is an entertaining party piece, but it will not last for long.

I am sounding praise of Secret Rings in the bucket load here - but I cannot be biased, and thus I bring to you the areas in which Secret Rings falls flat a little.

At the start of the game, you need to get through tutorials. They are, frankly, appalling. This bright new game throws you into a fully featureless void with a single floating straight track to practice. The only “obstacles” mainly consist of glowing blue blocks and the odd hole. Worse still is there is no single tutorial; instead you are thrown into one to learn how to steer, thrown back out to a menu, where you must select and load the next one. It feels unwelcoming and slow, indeed like a good bit of the presentation. Menus are quite dull and there are only so many times you want to hear the main riff of “Seven Rings in Hand” before your ears start wanting to book a holiday to the Moon.

A lot of mention was made of “Over 100 unlockables!” but in the end these came to not much really - part of these 100 is just the sound test track by track! The Medals are quite hard to earn, and you don’t really get much for the effort. Especially when the after-level sections take a minute or so to scroll through everything you just unlocked that you really don’t care about when there’s a new level to try just waiting.

For the gameplay itself, there is only one particular niggle. Back tracking. Now it isn’t that bad, generally there isn’t anything to worry about bumping into, but occasionally an enemy decides to be behind Sonic and due to the camera you cannot see them at all while reversing, leading to a hit. A hit that really could have been solved by a simple camera zoom outwards a little.

However on the whole, Secret Rings takes that almighty first step to a better Sonic in the future. In some way or another every game so far has tripped at some stage, while Secret Rings is taking Sonic away from being regarded “bad” and into the realms of “cool.” I must state, although this game is awesome fun, it is not an all time classic. It came so close, got the foot in the door, and proved its worth. Let’s hope its just opening the way for the future.