Is Black Knight the Advil for Sonic's five year long headache?
The story starts off with a female wizard named Merlina (Merlin's Granddaughter) running from a villainous Black Knight (aka King Arthur) who is corrupted by an evil presence within the scabbard of Excalibur. King Arthur cuts her off, pulls a Sosuke Aizen and opens up the doorway to Hueco Mundo-er I mean The Underworld unleashing fiendish Monsters known as The Knights of the Underworld. Merlina then summons the blue-blur to help free Camelot. But since Sonic's speed alone can't cease the Black Knight's iron-fist rule, he must take up a talking sword named Caliburn to strike down Arthur.
Just like in Secret Rings Sonic's buddies take on the role of big name characters from the legends (Knuckles/Gawain, Shadow/Lancelot, Blaze/Percival, Amy/Lady of the Lake.) except for Tails, (who is a "nameless" Blacksmith) and a certain Egghead who is for some unexplained reason M.I.A. Sonic games have not been known for great plots and despite a valiant effort, Black Knight is no different with a somewhat weak ending added to the mix.
[6.0/10]
==Graphics & Presentation==
Just like it's Arabian predecessor, Black Knight shows just how well the Wii can handle sharp graphics without the aid of Hi-Def. Even with the speed-dashing and sword-clashing, frame-rates did not drop once. With the exception of 3 CGI moments the rest of the cutscenes are shown with a pretty neat comic-book feel to it with a "Celtic wood-craft" twist along with the ever-improving voice-work of Griffith (Drummond still ownz). Speaking of comics, this game also sees the return of an old-school icon from the Archie comics and the Sonic cartoons..I'm speaking of course of the chili-dog. How's that for a Nostalgic Sonic moment?
Just like in Unleashed, the music is quite authentic to the game's environment with some pretty good Celtic Rock added in as well. Crush 40 returns with the title song "Knight of the Wind" which is just as good as thier other favorites "Open Your Heart", "Live and Learn" and "What I'm Made Of". The inlisted the help of Sonic veteran Richard Jacques and famed Earthworm Jim composer, Tommy Tallirico is also a welcoming sound (especially Tallirico).
The Gallery is also quite the gold-mine. Ranging from Cutscenes and Voice-Acting clips to Music from the game (including songs from previous Sonic Games) and even artwork from Sonic fans from North America, Europe and Japan.
[9.0/10]
==Gameplay==
This is where Black Knight breaks away from Secret Rings. SEGA, in possibly the smartest move they've made on a sequel, spared us the abysmal controls and gameplay from Secret Rings. The Gameplay in Black Knight comes in with the Wii-mote/Nunchuck combo recignized from the day-time stages in Unleashed. Unfortunately, SEGA doesn't bless gamers with the Gamecube/Classic Controller option, which does kinda blow but it's not too bad. Sonic hardly slows down (especially in the Cavalier-style), camera is still not an issue and combos are pretty easy and fun to string together. The only major complaint I have is that the motion sensor is a little too sensitive. When you get into a recation command session of a duel, if the Wii-mote is not at a 180 degree angle, the game will pick it up as a miss and you'll take damage. Also, When climbing up walls if the Wii-mote is at an angle you're character will start swinging his sword around like a maniac.
The Game itself, you can beat in a day (8-hours tops) if you just go through the story. While the game does require to do some side-quests to carry on the main adventure, it's nowhere near as demanding as Secret Rings. Black Knight also features numerous nerve-wrecking side quests, the ability to play as Shadow, Knuckles and Blaze on certain missions, and also Weapon creation for the characters via ingredient collecting by completing missions (Except for Sonic who's stuck with Caliburn). Nintendo Wi-fi is also present in the game, but it's just item trading and leaderboard missions.
A multiplayer mode is also accounted for which includes 12 characters total. This is easily the weakest part of the game due to the lack of computer AI, lack of options, Mario Party-like controls and slow moving characters.
[7.5/10]
==Overall==
Like Unleashed (thanks to the Werehog), Sonic and the Black Knight fails to give the Hedgehog any long term relief for the little depression he's in right now. But the game is still fun making the swordplay possibly the best gimmick in a Sonic game ever. In terms of gameplay Sega did keep to the idea of the Day-time stages from Unleashed. That said, Perhaps this is the sign that Sonic might be getting close to his glory days. Until then, Black Knight is definitely worth trying but due to it's short length I'd recommend renting instead of buying. You'll still have fun.