Throughout his 15+ years, Sonic’s been through many adventures. Needless to say, the blue blur’s 2D outings are often favored by the series’ fans. When Sonic and the Secret Rings for the Wii was announced, many loyalists rejoiced and believed it to be the savior of 3D Sonic titles. But is this truly a step in the right direction for the world’s fastest hedgehog?

Sonic Dreams of Genies: Story

One day Sonic decides to read a famous book known as The Arabian Nights. He eventually sets it aside and falls into a slumber, only to be woken up by a genie named Shahra who informs Sonic that she escaped from the book to seek out the “Legendary Blue Hedgehog.” Since Shadow, Silver and Amy don’t quite meet the strict color-coded requirements, Sonic is obviously the only viable choice. Unlike Sonic the Hedgehog for the Xbox 360 and PS3, there appears to be no interspecies romance going on. Self-proclaimed anti-Furries will truly be satisfied this time around. That’s right; all three of you.

The genie in distress further details her plight; the world of The Arabian Nights is having a little villain-infestation problem, and she expects a rodent with an attitude and a knack for running to exterminate the threat, a genie named Erazor. By controlling the book’s world, he could eventually become powerful enough to escape from the depths of the pages and cause chaos in Sonic’s own world. Being the ultimate nice-guy character, Sonic coolly accepts the mission. Now with Shahra in tow as his personal wish-granter, he heroically heads into the novel to stop Erazor from his evil ambitions. Note to self: Never read an age-old book without expecting something supernatural to happen.

The entire plot itself is somewhat predictable, though there are a few interesting twists and some giggle-worthy humor to satiate the appetite of story enthusiasts. Also, seeing some of Sonic’s old acquaintances pose as Arabian Nights characters is priceless.

Can Sonic Come Out and Play?: Gameplay

There are a handful of stages to choose from, each containing many missions with requirements such as reaching a goal, destroying a certain amount of enemies or collecting a specified number of rings. By completing the missions in these stages, you will unlock more missions amongst other goodies. Some of these objectives can only be completed with earned “Skill Rings.” Oh, and watch out; you have a limited amount of “SP” (Skill Points) which determines how many skills you can use at once. Sometimes you must plan out which skills will be of most use to you, but it generally tends to come down to your own “PS” (in other words, Personal Skill.) This is the lone RPG element of the game, but the rest is pure platforming heaven chock full of Sonic’s trademark speed…and now the blue hedgie is faster than ever!

One negative aspect I encountered was the usage (or lack thereof) of Time Break, a move in which Sonic slows time down to allow the player to surpass fast-moving obstacles that might get in the way. It felt underutilized, seeing as how I only used it once or twice in the entire main game (one of those times being in the Lost Prologue tutorial level which essentially forces you to use it.) Apparently it can also be used for obtaining extra, optional items such as “Fire Souls,” but in terms of simply playing through the main game, it’s useless and less entertaining in comparison to Speed Break, which allows Sonic to reach insane speeds. It’s mostly up to the player whether they feel like slowing down the blazing ‘hog to collect the non-mandatory items.

Most notably, Sonic feels a bit like a slowpoke in the beginning before he gains some of the later-level Skill Rings to increase his acceleration, top speed, and whatnot. There’s also the disheartening factor of how much you may find the ultra-sprinting action stopping when running headlong into a pillar or cactus, or by braking and/or jumping. Luckily, once you memorize the levels a bit and earn new skills, the game speeds up considerably. You will find Sonic amazingly quick by the end, and you won’t regret the unique aspect of leveling up and strategizing the manner of which you equip your Skill Rings to accomplish this feat for Sonic’s feet (Zing! Pun!)

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