Mr Khan

User Score
8.5

Presentation - 9.5
Gameplay - 8.5
Value - 9.0

Sonic and the Black Knight leaves you feeling differently based on exactly what your frame of reference was going in. The title improved greatly over its immediate predecessor: Sonic and the Secret Rings. The game stacks up well enough when slated against other 3D Sonic games, and sits favorably as a game in general.

First: graphics. In this regard, Sonic and the Black Knight is no slouch. To this day, I still recall when Nintendowiifanboy.com writer Alisha Karabinus confused the in-game footage for the CGI film when the two were blended together in a trailer for the game. An easy mistake to make in a lot of instances in this game. Character models in particular are excellent. Black Knight's Sonic looks even more detailed than he did in Unleashed on the PS3 and 360. PIC ONE HERE

Knuckles, Shadow, and Blaze also appear in their own particular glory, though somewhat obscured by their suits of armor. The weaponry is also excellently detailed, with gorgeous metal effects.

                When it comes to the game in general, the graphics become somewhat mixed. Trees, of course, having been the bane of graphic artists since the dawn of 3D, do have their own inconsistencies. The enemies and the civilians also appear blocky in some cases, but they get a decent number on screen. The grass looks particularly excellent, with whole fields of long blades of grass rendered (most likely using some trickery, but the effect is impressive nonetheless). Special effects like Magma and especially water stand out. Sonic Team definitely stuck to the high standards they set with the original Secret Rings, and even surpassed them in a few cases.

                For the most part, the core gameplay is immensely satisfying. If you try to get technical, it does get frustrating, but mostly you can get through it with well-timed waggle and appropriate positioning. Combos are easy to set off, and very satisfying on the follow-through. The game flows together very well.

                The only flaw in the gameplay really comes through in one place: boss fights. The earlier fights are easy, but the later fights, except the Final Boss itself, are very frustrating, mostly due to their reliance on Wiimote quick-time-events. The Quick-time-events are very hard to follow, as it took myself some time to figure out that the symbol of the wiimote quickly shaking did not mean "quickly shake the Wiimote back and forth," but "quickly shake the wiimote once." The QTE's are very finicky, and make a few fights in particular very hard.

                The mission structure is particularly excellent. A wide variety of missions that really capture the spirit of platforming games. Some missions are straightforward, go-for-the-goal affairs that are commonplace in 3D Sonic titles. Other familiar fare includes "get 100 rings," or "beat the clock," which are as fun as they always were through prior 3D Sonic games.

                Mission styles that are unique to the Sonic storybook series also make a return, notably the Perfect run-throughs, the Ring Chains, and the Enemy Chains, where you must beat the stage without getting hurt, collect ring chains of a certain length, and do the same to enemies. There are two new mission types, as well. One that's set up like an old-school racing game, where you must make it from checkpoint to checkpoint within a time limit, getting time extensions and bonuses as you go along. The other new addition is the "find the fairies," where a number of green fairies are hidden across stages, waiting to be acquired by one of the four protagonists. These missions are particularly engrossing, because they hearken back to platformers of yore. Pattern memorization is required for many of them. Try, try again. Fail, fail again (though succeed eventually). Pursuit of these missions was more addiction than frustration.

                Addiction is the name of the game for a few other elements, as well. The ability to forge weapons out of items acquired in missions lends more replay value to this game as you mix and match to create a broad variety of weapons. Online ranking missions add even more value.

                There is one great fault to this game, and it is a fault shared with its predecessor: progression. Much like Secret Rings, the Sonic you start out with is clunky and ungainly, and his controls become much more graceful, and the flow becomes more natural, as the game progresses. In the regard of controls, it is superior to Secret Rings, where the controls were very much nerfed initially. Here, it's only slightly nerfed, but it's still a regrettable decision by Sonic Team.

                However, Black Knight commits a more egregious sin than Secret Rings when it comes to the setup of the story. (HERE THERE ARE SPOILERS, THUS YOU ARE WARNED). Before you defeat the Black Knight the second time, you have only Sonic to use, and the game feels very boring and forced at this point. Tutorial missions plague the Sonic-only part of the game, and everything feels very easy. Basically, you have access to only a tiny part of the joy this game can bring (multiple characters and a wide variety of missions), until the confrontation with the Black Knight, at which point the game opens wide and allows users to experience the game fully.

                Ultimately, the deductions from the game's total score are based on the sins of progression, on the fact that the game you're playing before the Black Knight feels like a very different game, and a much worse one. But taken on its whole merits, this game is a very worthy experience with excellent depth, great replay value, perfect core mechanics, a great visual style, and most of all KNUCKLES THE ECHIDNA

(also Blaze the Cat, who's character is finally developed)