Sonic and The Secret Rings Talkback

[James Bester]

Well, I didn't see a talkback for it, so I figured I'd make it myself.

Right now, I've made it to the Skeleton Dome, and the game's been pretty sweet so far. I'll just say it's the first time I feel like I've had fun with a Sonic game since Sonic Adventure 2, and that was around 5 years ago. The game starts at kind of a slow and boring pace, but as you gain experience, it becomes great. I love some of the power-ups you recieve as the game goes on. Not to mention the bosses are great. Unlike the last couple of Sonic games, they're actually fun and challenging to beat. While this game doesn't reach the amount of fun I had with the original Sonic Adventure, it blows the last few Sonic games(Sonic Heroes, Shadow The Hedgehog, Sonic Next-Gen) away. I'll admit that if this game had less frustrating controls, it would have a lot more potential. Hopefully Sega will be willing to fix these problems if they plan on bringing out another Sonic game for the Wii. They can really be a problem at times.

So far, I give this game 8/10. Big step up from the recent crap of the Sonic franchise. Maybe there's hope for the series afterall.

[Noukon]

I wanted so hard to like this game. And I tried even harder to like it.

The tutorial was so bad it was physically painful. But I made it through, and got into the real gameplay, and enjoyed it immensely.

Then there were the missions.

The missions have absolutely killed this game for me. I'm actually insulted that they presented the game so obtusely. They let the player get through a level, which is a fun gameplay experience, and then follow it up with an atrocious cutscene that demonstrates an intense in-story need to continue on. Then they make the player do a bunch of arbitrary, badly-designed side objectives on the same level, or levels, they have already played.

The basic gameplay being fun almost makes it worse. It's like they buried a gem in a giant, steaming pile of garbage.

I think I'm done with Sega as a whole thanks to this game. They used to be my favorite publisher, but... ugh.

[.Automatisch]

I wanted so hard to like this game. And I tried even harder to like it.

The tutorial was so bad it was physically painful. But I made it through, and got into the real gameplay, and enjoyed it immensely.

Then there were the missions.

The missions have absolutely killed this game for me. I'm actually insulted that they presented the game so obtusely. They let the player get through a level, which is a fun gameplay experience, and then follow it up with an atrocious cutscene that demonstrates an intense in-story need to continue on. Then they make the player do a bunch of arbitrary, badly-designed side objectives on the same level, or levels, they have already played.

The basic gameplay being fun almost makes it worse. It's like they buried a gem in a giant, steaming pile of garbage.

I think I'm done with Sega as a whole thanks to this game. They used to be my favorite publisher, but... ugh.

Then I take it you agree with the reviews? So all that arguing in that other thread was a big waste of time in the end...

[Noukon]

snake;2452872']Then I take it you agree with the reviews? So all that arguing in that other thread was a big waste of time in the end...

I agree with some of the reviews I've read, but others are way off base. Honestly, nobody seems to have a handle on why this game is bad. The basic gameplay is really, really fun, and the level design, while inconsistant, isn't much worse than that in the Sonic Adventure games.

Coming from a game designer/game QA perspective, the problem with this game is entirely structural. They tried to stretch out an hour of gameplay into a ten hour game experience, and you can't do that.

[.Automatisch]

I honestly WANTED it to be good so I'd have a reason to buy a Wii. It sucks that Sega just can't get anything right these days... VF5 is probably the only good newer titles I've played published/developed by them.

[Noukon]

snake;2452945']I honestly WANTED it to be good so I'd have a reason to buy a Wii. It sucks that Sega just can't get anything right these days... VF5 is probably the only good newer titles I've played published/developed by them.

It was close. So close...

[RockmanDash]

I rented it and beaten it(with all 7 rings of course) and I have to say it was one of the best Sonic games I played in a while. I really liked the story to it :D and the bosses were very awesome. And you need to least get to the factory before you say you hate the game. The start of the game is hard but later it gets really fun

My review is up on gamefaqs also:D(fortecross is the name on there)

[James Bester]

snake;2452945']I honestly WANTED it to be good so I'd have a reason to buy a Wii. It sucks that Sega just can't get anything right these days... VF5 is probably the only good newer titles I've played published/developed by them. I wouldn't get the game just to have a reason to get the Wii, but you shouldn't really judge a game that you haven't even tried yet. It's a diverse game. A lot of people are gonna have different opinions on it. I suggest you atleast try it someday.

Anyway, I finally beat the game today. No, not all the missions, but I got past the final boss. It was awesome. It was hard as hell, but the battle itself was well done. I also thought the ending turned out great too. Overall, I thought this was a decent game. Two things that really surprised me were the music and the storyline. I expected them to be terrible, but they were actually alright. Not anything amazing, but still okay.

By the way, Sonic's new form he recieves at the end of the game is freaking badass. For some reason, it really reminds me of Super Saiyan 4 Goku(deeper voice, red color).

[.Automatisch]

I wouldn't get the game just to have a reason to get the Wii, but you shouldn't really judge a game that you haven't even tried yet.

I can still go buy word of mouth, and the fact that the last 3 Sonic-related games have sucked horribly. If even hardcore Sonic fans are disappointed, then I'm PRETTY SURE that Sega failed in creating a quality title.

And you're statement on judging a game before you played it is... Pretty illogical. People judge things they haven't experienced all the time. It's not like I'm stating specific things that pissed me off about it, since I've never played it... I couldn't. But you act like I'm the first person to say they are disinterested in a game from poor press and community opinions... This has been going on for a long, long time. The whole point of games journalism in general is to give someone an idea what a game is like before spending their money on it. And clearly, you won't listen to just ONE source. And in this case, there are multiple sources that are fairly disappointed in the game... So... Yeah...

[RomanMack]

Yeah, but overall, it came out to be a pretty decent game. Check Gamerankings and the like...

[.Automatisch]

Yeah, but overall, it came out to be a pretty decent game. Check Gamerankings and the like...

While it turned out to be fairly better than the PS360 Sonic game, it's still not looking to be up to par with Sonic Adventure 1, or even 2.

[R-Taco]

snake;2453756']While it turned out to be fairly better than the PS360 Sonic game, it's still not looking to be up to par with Sonic Adventure 1, or even 2.

My opinion totally re-arranges that list, with PS360 being higher up than SSR and SA2...

[Keiichi]

Like Nouken I really wanted to like this game but I just can't. Maybe its because I just plain suck but I give up on this piece of crap of a game. My first grip is the way to control soinic. This was a neat and novel idea that was'nt totally thought out. Like not being able to control the camera. In some intances you may miss the enemys your supposed to kill and rush past them putting them behind you. You then have to slowy back up and pray they don't kill you before you get into a possition to attack. This could have been solve eaily by allowing sonic to turn around in those cases.

My next grip is the mission level layout. I don't want to race through the same friggen level two or three times with some stupid stipulation. This just seems like lazyness on the developers parts. Or perhaps its because the game was rushed out too quick and needed a couple more months of development. Anyway like I said I'm done with this game and have no desire to finish it. I guess the only place to find a decent sonic game now is on the handhelds.

[RockmanDash]

Like Nouken I really wanted to like this game but I just can't. Maybe its because I just plain suck but I give up on this piece of crap of a game. My first grip is the way to control soinic. This was a neat and novel idea that was'nt totally thought out. Like not being able to control the camera. In some intances you may miss the enemys your supposed to kill and rush past them putting them behind you. You then have to slowy back up and pray they don't kill you before you get into a possition to attack. This could have been solve eaily by allowing sonic to turn around in those cases.

My next grip is the mission level layout. I don't want to race through the same friggen level two or three times with some stupid stipulation. This just seems like lazyness on the developers parts. Or perhaps its because the game was rushed out too quick and needed a couple more months of development. Anyway like I said I'm done with this game and have no desire to finish it. I guess the only place to find a decent sonic game now is on the handhelds.

Dude I beg of you get to the end of the game the last boss is worth it if you dont like that your not goona like anything. Its way better then Super sonics battles I can say that:D