A bad game with limited controls
Sonic and the Secret Rings has generally been seen as one of the better Sonic console titles since the series began to struggle following the Genesis era. People actually like this game. How is that possible? This is a bad game further crippled by shit controls.
The game is broken up into 7 worlds, each containing 10 or so missions. Each world is introduced with a headliner action stage. These main stages demonstrate a new take on the modernized Sonic gameplay dilemma, as Sonic is constantly moving forward. It's up to player finesse to swiftly navigate turns, clear obstacles, and defeat enemies on his automatic path toward the goal.
This starts out fine, with simple levels that allow the player maintain satisfying speeds and confidently manage the action.
However, as the game progresses, level design becomes clumsier with obstacles and crueler with insta-deaths. The smooth experience the game initially coasts on evaporates, revealing a jagged mess of an adventure. Also, the controls are limited to a Wiimote steering wheel style input, which makes it a general pain in the ass to play.
The ulterior missions that make up the majority of the game's content drive the game's issues the hardest. Among these missions, you may have to constantly thrust the Wiimote to attack a certain amount of enemies, or repeatedly search a looping path looking for the right route to hit a switch or deliver an item. The absolute worst are the slow platforming missions with alternative camera angles and precision requirements, completely fucking you over with the given control scheme you already have to put up with.
You get to experience the game's given environments over and over again during these missions. The game has fine visuals for an early Wii release, though it's all limited to the Arabian Nights aesthetic. The soundtrack is all blatantly cheesy rock music, of fucking course. The story is completely uninspired and the whole 1,001 nights adaptation seems really unnecessary.
Fuck this game. It wastes its ability to entertain within the first few hours as it unravels into an unfulfilling routine of Wiimote steering and thrusting.
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