Handkerchiefs!?

I completed Sonic And The Secret Rings last night. Underneath all of the convoluted menus, cheesy plot, and questionable voice acting, there's a really good Sonic game! Sonic just runs all the time; the player steers, slides, jumps, attacks, and brakes as he or she sees fit; it's a logical evolution of the classic Sonic gameplay into a 3D world. The problems are mostly cosmetic, but they sure do make things trying; like how the designers had the good sense to separate the party games from the main game, but they didn't seem to think it was important to separate races and challenges (finish with no rings, defeat 20 enemies, don't die) from the story missions (à la Sonic Adventure) and it makes things feel... Disjointed? Confusing? Overwhelming? Take your pick.

Next up are the skill rings. They're an interesting idea, but I found them awfully annoying as I played. Sonic starts out with some basic skills, and earns more as players progress though the game. Skills like speed-ups, better acceleration and manoeuverablility, ring bonuses, and fire-enhanced attacks are split into three sections (essentially speed, attack, and rings), and players are given four skill rings to which any combination of these skills can be attached. Each skill has a point value, and each ring can accommodate only a certain number of points (which increases as Sonic levels-up). I made a balanced ring, a speed ring, an attack ring, and a rings ring, but before too long I was using the speed ring almost exclusively. It all feels just a little overcomplicated for the subject matter. I mean, it's a game about running really fast, based around a character who's known for running really fast... And the fact that they don't seem to really explain a lot of these skill mechanics doesn't help matters. If they were really set on the skill development aspect of the game, that's okay, but was the micromanagement really necessary?

Finally, there's the finale. The real final battle is only available once all seven world rings have been collected, and, well, maybe I should've just left that last ring be... The second last battle is actually pretty cool, but the last battle just gets silly. Characters transform (Sonic gets racing stripes and a really horrible new voice), gameplay mechanics change with minimal explanation, and the final scene involves "a mountain of handkerchiefs". Yes, I'm quoting that from the game.

Despite all of this, there's still a lot of fun to be had with Sonic And The Secret Rings, and it can be picked up pretty cheap these days. Some of the levels are absolutely breathtaking, and the sense of speed can be exhilarating. I was hoping that this game was a big step in the right direction for the Sonic franchise (the portables have been carrying the torch since Sonic Adventure), but Sonic Unleashed's werehog sections and Sonic And The Black Knight's swordplay have me pretty worried...