Lovable blue hedgehog now on Wii

Sega's mascot, Sonic the Hedgehog, seems to have fallen on hard times. Ever since the Dreamcast days, Sonic's games seem to be changing too much, and not in a good way. Adding superfluous characters and insipid stories while ignoring what made the games enjoyable in the first place, developers Sonic Team have failed to impress with their recent offerings. Sonic Riders was mediocre at best and Shadow the Hedgehog and the new Sonic game for the Xbox 360 and the PS3 are abysmally bad. Strangely enough, the better games were for the handhelds, which were also in the more traditional 2-D format. However, there are signs of promise in the new game, Sonic and the Secret Rings for the Wii.

The story starts out with a genie named Shahra coming to Sonic to save her world, which resides in the 1001 Arabian Nights. She explains that the Erazor Djinn is destroying the world one page at a time and once he has succeeded in doing so, he will be able to take over the real world as well. Sonic agrees to help out, but soon after entering the book, they encounter the Erazor Djinn. He shoots an arrow of fire that lingers above Sonic's chest, commanding him to collect the seven World Rings and bring them to him before the arrow extinguishes or Sonic will die.

This Sonic game controls differently from past games. Sonic accelerates automatically down a set path while the player steers Sonic by tilting the Wii Remote. Jumping involves holding down and releasing a button, and holding the button down longer makes Sonic jump higher. Pushing the Remote forward quickly in the air makes Sonic dash, which homes in on locked enemies and targets. Collecting rings allows Sonic to take hits without dying, and he only loses 20 rings when hit. Collecting pearls allows Sonic to perform Speed and Time Breaks, which give him a boost of speed or slow down time respectively. Some RPG elements are also added to the game. Clearing stages awards experience points which unlocks additional abilities that Sonic can use.

The controls sound like fun at first, but controlling Sonic is more awkward than it should be. Sonic accelerates slowly and controls sluggishly without using unlockable abilities, which creates unnecessary difficulty. Also, the fact that Sonic slows down after jumping breaks the flow of the game.

Each stage is one massive level that gets divided into smaller parts to do the various missions. There is a nice variety of missions, but some of them are extremely difficult, usually to the point where it's necessary to memorize the path just to clear it.

There is also a mini-game mode thrown in, which can be played with up to four players. There are some clever ideas in the mini-games, but there aren't many and the whole mode ultimately seems like an afterthought.

The graphics are one of the more impressive features here. Each stage has a distinct look, despite the supposed setting.

It shows off the Wii's graphical abilities and the camera, which has been problematic in past Sonic games, actually keeps up with the action and transitions nicely. The music is a little less exciting. It is good for what it is, but it quickly becomes tiresome.

Overall, Sonic and the Secret Rings fails to capture what made the series so popular in the first place. It is a step in the right direction, and certainly better than the PS3 and Xbox 360 Sonic titles, but by artificially creating challenge, Sonic Team shot themselves in the foot. Fans of Sonic will likely enjoy it, but otherwise there is nothing that truly makes it feel like a Sonic game other than the fact that he is in it.