Quite fun to play, but if you think most other Sonic games were too short, you haven't seen anything yet.
Sonic the Hedgehog 2006: Glitchy. VERY glitchy. We all know the story.
Sonic Unleashed: A few glitches, and a Werehog - that idea didn't go over very well with everyone.
Sonic and the Secret Rings: The prequel to this game - the fixed path wasn't a good idea, and going backwards was a nightmare
I could list the cons of all of the spiky blue hedgehog's 3D games throughout this entire review, but what people don't seem to take notice of are the pros of these games. Well, maybe we should forget about 06, but almost all of the others are quite enjoyable when you stop bashing their cons.
Now, as with all the 3D games, as I was saying just now, this game also has a twist to it. We've been through guns, werehogs, and even strange, time-stopping powers, but now we have swords!
The first thing I noticed when I first played this game was that the controls were actually responsive!
...Oh, how wrong I was.
Most of the basic controls are responsive, however, the motion controls seem to go dodgy occasionally (Although, that's really a fault in the Wii), but what isn't a fault in the Wii when it comes to motion controls is counter attacks during boss fights. These points are often unresponsive, but for most of the bosses, you either don't desperately need to counter, or the countering takes it easy on you.
Putting aside a few control flaws, the gameplay goes quite smoothly. Even the side-missions we had in Secret Rings are quite enjoyable in this game.
Unlike in the prequel, Sonic starts off with decent speed, and as you get through the game, you can choose between a balanced skill-set, an offensive skill-set, and a speed-based skill-set. Whatever fits your liking, you can select it. However, the flaw with this is that you can't customize your own skill-set.
The sword works decently in this game, too. While you can blast through most levels slashing your sword around like a maniac, it can be a good idea to vary your attacks between different combinations - and by doing this, you'll also stop yourself from getting special dishonours (which are actually quite cool), and you'll get real honours instead.
Sadly, this game isn't consisted of enough speed-based gameplay. Every corner of every level is crawling with enemies for you to cut your way through, but when you find your favourite way of defeating them, it shouldn't be too bad.
Springs and boost panels have also been replaced with Blue Fairies. They will give you a burst of speed, and if they point upwards, you'll instead be launched into the air.
For most of the game, rings will be replaced with Yellow Fairies and (for some odd reason) jars, but they can be found in later missions in the game.
This game, however, lacks proper bosses. The only proper boss fight the game would be the second King Arthur fight. While the first king Arthur fight included the good old chasing after bosses and attacking them style, this was more of a training boss.
The majority of bosses in this game are kind of like sword duels, they're swordfights against Shadow (Lancelot), Knuckles (Gawain) and Blaze (Percival) where both you and your opponent stick with your basic attacks. There aren't any silly handicaps to make them harder, besides for your opponents having infinite power in their Soul Gauge, but that doesn't really make any significant difference.
Not only are these fights like proper duels, but also, when you strike at the same time as your opponent, just like in a real duel, your swords clash. Unlike in a real duel, this isn't a matter pushing your opponent back, but it still keeps some of the duelling basics by including a sort of "strike at the right time" system. As I was describing earlier, the idea is to swing the Wii remote at the right time, although this is, as I said earlier, sometimes unresponsive.
Now, just like in the prequel, we have special moves which require power from your "Soul Gauge". The Soul Gauge is a meter that fills up either when you defeat enemies, collect Red Fairies, or block an attack with the right timing. Unlike in the prequel, there aren't any items you can chain to fill the Soul Gauge (Like pearls. In this game, the pearls were seemingly replaces with apples; however, these do not seem to do anything).
Speed Break and Time Break have been replaced with a new special move called "Soul Surge". Like Speed Break, this will send you running at high speed. As soon as an enemy is in range while Soul Surge is active however, you will stop and, like Time Break, time will slow down. You are, however, forced to stand still, meaning it doesn't have the same idea of use as Time Break did. Instead, you are supposed to swing the Wii Remote to unleash a powerful attack on the enemy in front of you. If you swing at the right time (when your sword glows), you will delay the time taken for your Soul Gauge to deplete. For every three of these "Perfect Hits" in one Soul Surge, your Soul Gauge is refilled, allowing you to continue using this technique for longer.
It may sound like a drag, but this attack is actually quite useful.
And you'll be glad to know that SEGA haven't been too inhumane with the special missions within this game like they were in Secret Rings. Most of the missions run smoothly, and are quite enjoyable. Even the tutorial missions feel worth returning to. There are a few cruel missions, however. One in particular is unlocked once you clear the game. This is the missions known as "Lancelot Returns". The first time around, Lancelot was far too easy, so SEGA decided to slip in a cruel rematch with him. This mission should probably be an exception in the list of inhumane missions as the idea of this mission seems like it's to deliver the perfect challenge for all of you expert players out there.
The game is overall easy, so it's good to see that they've put some effort into making at least one difficult mission.
On the subject of missions, there are also retro-style missions known as "Legacy Missions". In these special missions, the enemies are replaced with Eggman robots, and the fairies are removed, meaning we have springs and boost panels. And because the fairies have been removed, the levels are filled with nothing but rings, instead of loads of Yellow Fairies and one or two chains of rings.
As with recent Sonic games, the storyline is, once again, lightly told and very straigh-forward. Thankfully, we have an unexpected twist in the last moments of the game, just like in Sonic Adventure 2.
Basically, Sonic is, once again, sucked into a book.
King Arthur has become corrupted by the power of immortality which he draws from the scabbard of Excalibur. A female sorceress summons Sonic into the book, and asks him to help save Camelot from Arthur. To defeat Arthur, Sonic needs the Sacred Sword Caliburn, a talking sword which he retrieves near the beginning of the game. Its power fails and Sonic sets off to find the Lady of the Lake, who tells him to gather the Sacred Swords of each of the Knights of the Round Table, of which he can use to defeat King Arthur.
The showdown with King Arthur comes about two and a half hours into the game, which is followed by a smaller section that involves the real final fight, which is about an hour long. If you put in the side missions along the way, which you'll probably decide to play, this brings the game to a length of about four and a half hours, which is very short, even for a Sonic game.
The graphics doesn't stray from standard Wii graphics, and the music is, with most Sonic Games, fairly good, yet unusual.
If you throw aside the short length and lightly told storyline, you'll be able to enjoy yourself.
I'd give this game a 6.9, but since it has to be either 6.5 or 7.0, I'd say this game would deserve the 7.0.
I'd say you should either rent it, for look for some low prices - unless you have a lot of money and don't care how it gets spent.