Sonic and the Secret Rings | Nintendo Wii

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A Sonic adventure inside Arabian Nights

Sonic and the Secret Rings sends Sonic into a storybook world threatened by Erazor, an evil genie whose interference is destroying the tales of Arabian Nights. Shahra, the genie of a magic ring, asks for Sonic's help before that danger can escape the book. The adventure turns deserts, pirate settings, dinosaur-filled landscapes and floating ruins into routes for his speed. Familiar-looking characters appear within the book's fantasy, but the playable hero of the main adventure is Sonic himself. Saving the stories means learning how to keep him moving through their increasingly elaborate obstacles.

The Wii Remote is central to that movement. Held sideways, it steers Sonic left and right as he automatically runs along the route ahead. Buttons let you brake and jump, while a forward motion of the Remote triggers a homing attack when the situation is right. The design puts your attention on what is approaching: a gap, a hazard, a line of rings or an enemy that can become the next point in an airborne route. You spend less time choosing a direction to wander and more time deciding how to negotiate the path already unfolding in front of you.

Turn movement into a route

Jump timing and homing attacks give that path much of its variety. A short tap and a held jump produce different results, and a targeted enemy can help Sonic cross space as well as remove a threat. Chaining attacks keeps him airborne through a sequence instead of returning immediately to the ground. Grinding sections, launchers and other stage devices change the way you move again. These actions make it useful to recognize the course in sections: where to prepare a jump, where to line up an attack and where the next landing will put you.

The worlds are divided into missions with specific requirements. Reaching the end is one kind of task, but other challenges ask you to collect rings, beat a time limit or follow a restriction such as avoiding attacks on enemies. That structure changes how you use a familiar stretch of level. A route that worked well for one objective may need a different approach when the goal changes. Learning the layout gives you a starting point, while reading the mission requirement tells you what to do with that knowledge on this particular run.

Rings have a practical role beyond their place in mission objectives. Carrying at least one lets Sonic survive a hit, while taking damage without that protection sends him back to a checkpoint. Collecting rings and pearls, defeating enemies and performing actions also contribute to the results used for experience. As Sonic gains levels, his available skills and capacity develop. Progress therefore comes from both clearing challenges and improving the version of Sonic you take into them, with medals offering an additional reward for sufficiently quick finishes.

Choose skills and control the pace

Before a mission, you can customize a Skill Ring with abilities that affect Sonic's performance. Skills use a limited pool of Skill Points, so equipping everything at once is not the plan. The game allows four stored skill sets, making it possible to prepare different combinations and switch between them for different tasks. A set intended to help a fast run can serve a different purpose from one built around another mission's requirements. Checking the ability descriptions is useful because some skills need more capacity and others conflict, giving the customization screen an actual choice to resolve.

Speed Break and Time Break offer two especially clear ways to change the action. Pearls and defeated enemies charge the Soul Gauge, which supplies these abilities. Speed Break sends Sonic forward with a forceful burst, while Time Break slows events around him so there is more time to respond. Their purposes pull in different directions: one suits an opening where you want to make rapid progress, and the other helps you manage a sequence that is moving too quickly to read comfortably. Both make collecting the resources along a route part of preparing for what comes next.

The book's environments give that movement a different backdrop from Sonic's usual industrial confrontation with Eggman. Large creatures, ships, ruins and dramatic changes in scale frame the courses, while the music and voiced scenes carry the fantasy between missions. The Special Book gathers unlockable artwork and movies, providing another place to see material earned through play. Hidden Fire Souls also contribute to unlocking extras. These rewards give attentive runs another purpose alongside finishing the current objective, without changing the basic task of steering, jumping and attacking your way through the stage.

Adventure alone, party with friends

The main adventure is single-player, while Party mode supports up to four people with connected Wii Remotes. Its minigames use the controller in ways that differ from steering Sonic: activities include paddling, aiming and swinging, with instructions shown before play. Board-style formats such as Treasure Hunt organize those contests into a longer competition, linking minigame results to progress across the board. That gives the disc a separate local multiplayer role. One session can center on refining Sonic's skills and mission performance, while another gathers friends for short contests built around the Wii Remote's range of motions.