A new low has been reached. Nice going Sega.
So, this is the second installment in the Sonic Storybook series. The first being the all awesome Secret Rings. This time, Sonic is going to go the knight style and wield a sword to battle King Arthur and save yet another storybook universe. The menu set-up is actually a good part of the game. It fits the theme of the game quite well and is charming in a way. Like most Sonic games, the game starts off with a beautifully crafted CGI cutscene. It actually has to be one of my favorite intro cutscenes from Sonic games, you have Sonic going around eating chili dogs, battling enemies, and a quite serious theme going on overall as well. It's quite nice to watch.
But my friends, that's probably one of the only good parts of the game you will find here. As you now jump into gameplay. While at first, the gameplay isn't all that bad, it's not that much fun either. Then you start to get into later levels and the game just becomes obnoxious as you are CONSTANTLY waving your Wii remote to destroy enemies at every corner it just becomes a tedious experience.
The funny thing is, I actually felt they implemented the sword very well. You could slash all you want and it wouldn't take that much away from the speed actually. The main problem I have with this game is just the horrid stage design. You eventually are going to be battling enemies left and right and it just becomes a tiresome beat-em-up instead of a good Sonic platforming adventure like Secret Rings was. It's too bad, because with the control scheme, Sega could've made something great with it.
Another just plain stupid thing about the game is the townspeople. I don't know who thought this would be a good idea but it's just an unnecessary component. It totally just sucks out all the action and joy you're supposed to enjoy in a regular Sonic stage of any Sonic game. I dreaded the mission where I have to get rid of my well earned rings for greedy townspeople. It's just stupid, boring, and takes away from the experience.
There are still some high points in this game though, I will admit that. The graphics, like Secret Rings, are absolutely gorgeous. The environments feel so vast and vibrant and they really capture the whole theme to this game. The cutscenes are quite nice as well as it also fits the theme to this game very well. I love the whole way this game is set-up theme wise, it's a charming thing to look at in my opinion. The sound only adds to the experience. The voice acting is starting to improve. And the music overall is really awesome. It's epic is what I'd say. And that's perfect for Sonic games. Much better music then the music in Secret Rings.
But alas, I must go back to the bad of the game. Another horrible part of this game is just the replay value. In Secret Rings, you took forever to unlock so many goodies Sega has set-up for you. But in this game, you will literally spend a few hours to get to the final boss. Like really, that's not even funny. That's how much effort must've been put into this game. And after you defeat the final boss, there really isn't much else to do and you won't care to do any extra missions at all.
There's a multiplayer mode, but honestly I shouldn't even acknowledge this horrid mode in my review but I will. It's boring is what I'd say. All you get to do is basically slash more things with your sword and a friend in it. I already do more then enough slashing in the actual game, let alone would I want to do more in multiplayer. There's also an online ranking system, but you won't care for it. You won't care for anything.
I am a MAJOR Sonic fan but this game even disappoints me. I am ok with failures like Shadow the Hedgehog and EVEN Sonic 06. I at least found some good in the gameplay in those games. But in Black Knight, no good can really be found in this game gameplay wise. This game just isn't fun, at all. It's also too short. This had alot of potential to be just as good as Secret Rings, but it's in a whole level of it's own. And that level is at the bottom of the series.