Sonic and the Secret Rings

Sonic and the Secret Rings
Developer(s)	Sonic Team
Publisher(s)	Sega
Designer(s)	Yojiro Ogawa, Eitaro Toyoda
Engine	RenderWare, PhysX
Released	NA February 20, 2007 EU March 2, 2007 AU March 8, 2007 DEU March 9, 2007 JP March 15, 2007
Genre	Adventure Action,Fantasy
Mode(s)	Single Player Multiplayer
Ratings	ESRB: Everyone PEGI: 7+ USK: 6+ OFLC (& NZ): G
Platform(s)	Wii
Media	Wii Optical Disc
Input methods	Wii Remote, GameCube controller

Sonic and the Secret Rings (ソニックと秘密のリング, Sonikku to Himitsu no Ringu^?), previously known by the working title Sonic Wild Fire, is a video game developed by Sonic Team within the Sonic the Hedgehog series. It was released exclusively for the Wii on February 20, 2007 in North America, in Europe on March 2, 2007^[1] and in Japan on March 15, 2007.^[2] The game is Sonic's first entry for Nintendo's 7th generation console.

Plot

As the story begins, Sonic is taking a nap in a library, with the Arabian Nights book in his possession. He wakes up to check the time, and he accidentally bumps his hand into a ring. Upon making contact with the ring, Shahra the Ring Genie pops out of the book he was apparently reading, shocking him. She reveals that an evil entity known as the Erazor Djinn (actually a genie from the story of Aladdin) is absorbing the power of the book and causing pages of it to disappear. If he is not stopped, his power will be unleashed onto the real world unless the "Legendary Blue Hedgehog," told of in the stories, can stop him. Shahra gives Sonic the ring that seals a contract between her and her new master. Sonic rubs it as instructed, and is asked for a wish. Sonic, because of a recent cold he caught, sneezes and wishes for hankies and receives a mountain full of them, partially and temporarily burying him. He then wishes to travel into the world of the Arabian Nights and flies into the book on a magic carpet. After meeting Erazor Djinn, the evil genie throws an arrow of flame at Shahra as a punishment for not obtaining the World Rings for him. Sonic jumps in the way to rescue her and gets stabbed in the chest. Amused, Erazor Djinn tells them that if they do not get him the Rings before the flame goes out, Sonic's "life is forfeit." So they begin their epic journey to retrieve them. Sonic & Shahra collect all of the world rings, and go to Erazor Djinn. Sonic asks for the flame to be removed, but instead, Erazor lures Shahra into giving him the rings. Erazor then tries to sacrifice Sonic, but Shahra interferes and sacrifices herself instead. Erazor Djinn absorbs all seven world rings and becomes a mutated, unfinished genie called Alf-Layla-Wa-Layla (translated to "1001" in Arabic). But after a few spasms, 3 rings are fused into Sonic, turning him into a much more violent hedgehog called Darkspine Sonic. After he defeats Erazor, the relic Shahra gave Sonic turns out to be Erazor Djinns lamp, which Sonic uses to make Erazor fulfill his 3 wishes: to bring Shahra back to life, set free the inscriptions of the arabian nights, and finally, for Erazor Djinn to be sealed in his lamp for the rest of time. Erazor refuses, but his body is forced to grant the commands. Erazor tries to convince Shahra to help him, but she doesn't, leaving the evil genie to be sucked into the lamp. At the end, Sonic asks Shahra for a mountain of handkerchiefs so she can cry as long as she needs to, connecting to their meeting.

Gameplay

Sonic has special moves that can be both customized and combined to suit certain situations.^[3] Sonic can use some of 104 new skills throughout each of the stages in this game.^[4][5] With these special skills equipped, Sonic can perform new moves, improve his existing moves, and obtain special effects in these moves. For instance, one defensive move enables Sonic to, upon sustaining damage, lose only 10 rings instead of the usual 20. Another increases the range of his homing attack, and a third grants him the ability to backflip. A fourth grants him a Soul Gauge with which to perform super moves. The gauge is available when the first "Foundry" stage is cleared. There is also an experience and leveling system, in which the player's score, collected Fire Souls, and some skills obtained will contribute towards increasing his level. Leveling up grants the player more points with which to equip skills, a higher cap on the number of rings he can hold and an increased Soul Gauge.^[6] Players have to, before selecting a stage, decide which skills would be best-suited for the respective mission and equip certain skills over others. Since there are so many skills, players may customize one of the four "Skill Rings" available, so they do not have to select all the skills they need each time they enter a new level. When Sonic's Soul Gauge is sufficiently full, using the D-pad (up or down) enables Sonic to use one of two abilities. "Speed Break" boosts him to incredible speeds and grants him partial invincibility, allowing him to defeat enemies, break certain objects, and ignore certain hazards(D-pad up). "Time Break" slows down time for better aim and obstacle evasion, and can expose certain items and objects (such as the elusive Fire Souls) that would be invisible and impossible to collect or interact with otherwise(D-pad down).^[7][8] Both moves require a base amount of Soul to initiate, and then continually drain Soul while in operation. Also, one skill, named "Soul Resurrection", allows Sonic to take a hit without dying at 0 rings by depleting his Soul Gauge by 100 points. To build up energy in this "Soul" meter, small collectable "fire orbs", called Pearls, are dispersed throughout each stage. Also, certain Skills can increase the Soul Gauge.^[9] Certain stages will also present the need for Sonic to utilize different mechanisms to reach new areas. These special stage-unique abilities and mechanisms range, depending on the stage.

Control

In Adventure mode, players control Sonic with the Wii Remote by holding the controller sideways with both hands. The style was suppose to be able to use the controller in unique ways that take advantage of the Wii Remote's control mechanisms. Unlike other Sonic games, in which Sonic is controlled directly, Secret Rings features an indirect "on-rails" method of control in which Sonic moves forward automatically in a semi-linear path. Sonic's movement can be controlled by tilting the controller left or right. The "Nunchuk" peripheral is not used in this game.^[10] In the extra Party Mode, the Nintendo Gamecube controllers are useable for players 2-4.

Modes

There are three modes of play in the game: Adventure, Party, and Special Book.^[11]

Adventure

Sand Oasis

Adventure mode consists of the eight worlds that players will navigate Sonic through as part of the game's main plot. There are 12 missions per world, except for Lost Prologue, which has 21. Medals may be awarded to the player for completing the mission within a certain time. Medals are bronze, silver or gold, and will unlock bonuses in the player's Special Book. If the player collects a certain number of silver medals s/he will receive the corresponding crest for Sonic. These crests are Dark, Fire and Wind, and can be unlocked by collecting 100, 105 and 110 silver medals respectively.

Party

The game features a multiplayer Party mode that can support up to four players simultaneously. This mode allows connectivity with GameCube Controllers for players 2-4, a feature that was never mentioned by Sega. Sonic, Tails, Knuckles and Amy are all default characters, but Shadow, Cream, Silver, and Blaze are all unlockable characters that can be accessed only after meeting certain requirements in the game. This multiplayer mode takes the form of having players compete in select mini-games out of the total forty, either individually or collectively in consecutive orders based on secular gameplay modes.

Special Book

In Special Book mode, players can play the 226 bonuses in the game that are unlocked by beating levels quickly, achieving various milestones and discovering secret areas.^[12] Some of these bonuses include movies of the making of the game, cutscenes, video interviews, concept art, and music from the game.^[13]

Characters

In addition to Sonic the Hedgehog, several other characters appear in the game. Many of these characters are new to the franchise; Arabian Nights mysteriously appearing to look like established characters in the franchise without explanation. These returning characters are recognized throughout the game by Sonic, but do not recognize him in return because they are Arabian Nights characters, not Sonic characters.

Sinbad from the Arabian Nights tales takes the physical form of Knuckles.

• Shahra the Ring Genie: A special, eager young genie/djinn who enlists the help of Sonic. In the game, she grants Sonic special abilities and bonuses to help Sonic in his quest.^[14] Her name suggests the 1001 nights character Scheherazade.
• Erazor Djinn: An evil genie/djinn named Erazor who threatens the existence of the Arabian Nights world. Erazor is the genie from Aladdin and the Magic Lamp. At the start of the story, he strikes Sonic with a flaming arrow, forcing him to go on a hunt for the world's seven "World Rings", unbeknownst to him what really threatens the Arabian Nights world. His name is an obvious pun on "eraser", and "razor", as he is erasing the pages of the Arabian Nights book, and that his weapon is a giant razor blade.
• Kri Ma Djinn: Creatures known as "Kri Ma Djinn" make appearances in some of the mini-games. "Majin" is the Japanese prounounciation of "Ma Djinn" and "Majin" also means "demon person" in Japanese. "Kri" means "chestnut" in Japanese, most likely named for their chestnut-like shape.
• Pri Ma Djinn: A genie known as "Pri Ma Djinn" makes an appearance in some of the mini-games.
• Uhu: A "Wind Genie" who appears in the missions of some of the game's stages. He is "known for his speed" and as such, Sonic will, in certain stages, have to face him in a race to the end of the level.
• King Solomon: A wise old king who resides in a chamber inside the Skeleton Dome. He is the original figure who stopped the enemies many years ago before Erazor tried to take over. In the game he appears as a large skeleton because of something that Erazor has done to him.
• King Shahryār (Persian: شهریار) of Persia: He appears in Dr. Eggman's body. He has recently been attacked by an unknown entity and he mistakes Sonic for the attacker.^[15] Naturally, Sonic is very reluctant to help him.
• Ali Baba: He appears in Miles "Tails" Prower's body. He gives advice at various points in the game and tells Sonic where to find Sinbad.^[16]
• Sinbad the Sailor: He appears in Knuckles the Echidna's body. His only purpose in the game is to help Sonic find the Water Blue World Ring, which was taken from him by pirates when he was captured. Just like Sonic's relationship with Knuckles, the two of them nearly get in a fight when Sonic mocks Sinbad's advice to defeat the Fire Genie.
• Big the Cat: A large cat who lives a solitary life in the jungles of Mystic Ruins. Like Sonic Adventure 2, Big makes cameo, Easter-egg appearances in some of the game's stages. This is accomplished by braking and standing still in a certain spot for a few seconds, revealing a short cutscene with him. This unlocks entries in his own "diary" in the Special Book that contains many bonus pictures of him in some of the stages. The empty spaces give instructions on where these spots can be found. Rather than an Arabian Nights character taking his physical form, he appears as himself.
• Amy Rose, Shadow the Hedgehog, Silver the Hedgehog, Blaze the Cat, Cream the Rabbit and Omochao all appear in the game's multiplayer mode. Tails and Knuckles appear as themselves in this game mode.

Audio

Music

The main theme tune "Seven Rings in Hand" is performed by Steve Conte and composed by Namano Mashurio. The ending theme, "Worth a Chance", is also performed by Steve Conte. The main audio music, generally, remains consistent with the Sonic (Pop Rock Mixes) formula while featuring some "Middle Eastern touches" in keeping with the game's main theme.^[17] The main music is composed by Runblebee.

Development

Concept Art of King Shahryār of Persia appearing in Dr. Eggman's body.

Sonic and the Secret Rings was produced over a span of approximately two years,^[18], while it was programmed over a span of approximately one year.^[19] The idea for the game centered around the potential abilities of the Wii Remote. Yojiro Ogawa has stated that the next-generation Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) was originally planned to be ported to the Wii;^[20] he later elaborated that to port this game would mean that it would not launch until a significantly later date than Sonic and the Secret Rings, and Sega wanted to release a Sonic game much closer to the Wii's launch.^[21] With less time to develop the game than normal, and two different play modes, the development team for this Sonic game was much larger than that of a normal Sonic game.^[19] The game has gone through several name changes. It was first announced as Sonic Wild Fire by Sega at E3 2006,^[22] then as Hyper Sonic at the Nintendo Press Event^[23] and again as Sonic Wild Fire in all of the following trailers. After E3 it was then changed to Sonic and the Secret of the Rings before being slightly modified into Sonic and the Secret Rings in August 2006. Sega preferred the original name "Wild Fire" over "Secret Rings" (that is, "Wild Fire" was to have been the final name), but changed it so it was more relevant to the story and the Arabian Nights stories.^[24] The game's art and setting were heavily influenced by Shadow of the Colossus, Prince of Persia and God of War, which were the inspirations behind the Arabian Nights setting.^[25]

Reception

The game has received above average scores praising it for its graphics, varied challenges, as well as its many resolved issues that were present in preceding 3D Sonic games. The current Game Rankings average is 71%, Nintendo Power sporting the game's highest rating.^[26] The game was criticized for its control scheme, specifically for its being difficult to use at first^[27]. Other miscellaneous concerns included: Lack of other playable characters (despite previous games in the series being criticized for over-use of such), and an abundance of missions which must be completed in order to progress (in some previous 3D Sonic titles, missions were optional). Despite a good camera view (now fixed squarely behind Sonic for the most of the game), it does not pan to show what is happening behind Sonic when he is walking backwards, making it difficult to avoid enemies and other hazards.

References

External links

• Official website
• Nintendo of America's Sonic and the Secret Rings site
• Official European Website