Not as good as other games, Sonic and the Secret Rings fails where the other games of Sonic the Hedgehog triumphed. The graphics look good, but a game is not only graphics and sounds. It has to have a special component that will give to the players the desire to replay it.
Sonic and the Secret Rings Gallery
| Overview | Rating  |
At first, this game looks amazing, considering the graphics, the sounds and the gameplay in general. However, the game sucks big time in the Wii by the simple fact of the position that the controllers need to be held. Sonic and the Secret Rings has a lot of potential, but it failed to take advantage of the benefits of the Wii. Players have a game that looks good, but is near impossible to play because of the poor controllers.
What does the player have at the end? Nothing except for a game that they will throw away as soon as they get bored. I don't recommend this game at all because of the aforementioned reasons, but also due the poor storyline which is only a retelling of the Arabian Nights.
| Gameplay | Rating |
The gameplay is a living nightmare. This game of Sonic relies a lot on the graphics and not in the story. There is no innovation at all and everything is extremely similar to the previous Sonic games. It's hard to think that this game is from a different series, but it's impossible to see the differences if the secondary characters didn't sport items that led to the player relate them the part they are playing. The cinematic sequences are lame; they are 2D sequences with little dynamism and pure voice action.
As any other Sonic game, the soundtrack is superb. However, a game can't survive with graphics and sounds alone. The game needs the playability that will give to the player the desire to go back and play the game over and over. The given score to the soundtrack is 3 stars over five.
The given score to the graphics is 2 stars over 5. The graphics look amazing, but that's not an excuse to ignore the gameplay. There is nothing worse than a game that is pure graphics and zero playability.
The given score to the controls is only 1 star over 5. They ruined the entire experience of the game. Even if Sega tried to innovate by changing the controls gameplay into a more "upbeat" aspect, they ruined an essential part of the game that only gives frustration to whom who play it.
| Overall | Rating |
Don't buy this game! It's terrible and boring. Even if you find it really cheap, avoid it.
If you are a Sonic fanatic, you will feel the frustration after a few minutes of gameplay. The controls won't respond quickly to a basic command like jump in a chase stage and it will be worse in a boss fight. There are other Sonic games that are better; even the spiritual sequel Sonic and Black Knight is way better than this one.
If you want to play a great Sonic game for the Wii, try Sonic Unleashed. This is so far the best game of Sonic released for the Nintendo console.