Sonic Wildfire Are "Seven Rings in Hand" enough to help the franchise?
There are probably few people out there who can possibly say that they are a bigger Sonic fan than I am. I used to sneak out at night to my friend's house to play Sonic the Hedgehog 2 on his Sega Genesis. The first console game I ever beat was Sonic 2, of course i was too young to do it alone so my brother helped by playing as Tails. I watched the cartoon show every saturday morning. I even remember the words to the theme song ("Sonic--he's got an attitude! Sonic--he's the fastest thing aliiiiive!"). The first game I bought when I upgraded to a gamecube was Sonic Adventure 2: Battle. My current ringtone is "Live and Learn", and the top songs in my weightlifting playlist are "I Am...All of Me", "His World", "What I'm Made Of", and "All Hail Shadow". Whenever I come upon a railing, I think of how cool it would be to grind down. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is my favorite game of all time.
I say this to get a point across. I am a diehard Sonic fan and I have high hopes for Sonic Wildfire. This review will not be free of prejudice. As a huge Sonic fan, I may have graded this game either too leniently because I hope that the franchise succeeds, or perhaps too harshly because it doesn't capture my love for Sonic games. Just be warned.
Sonic Wildfire is a fresh take on the series. Not only is Sonic set up against a new enemy in Erazor Djinn as he threatens the bookworld of the Arabian Nights, but Sonic's jump to the wii has opened-up new possibilities for gameplay.
In this title, you control Sonic the Hedgehog as he dashes through levels. Sonic's forward progress is constant and players steer him left and right past obstacles. This may be the best idea for a 3D Sonic game yet--it is a great way to capture Sonic's oldschool speed in a (pseudo)3D way.
However, the controls are not tight enough. Some motions of the wiimote are not detected and others are observed too closely. Backing-up is nearly impossible and some homing attacks are botched-up. The overall result of this is a trippy playthrough and many teeth-gritting moments.
Graphically the game is excellent. It looks smoother and more defined than any Sonic game to date. The camera follows Sonic and includes him in the screen enough so players know where he is, but in such a way that the path ahead is not obscured.
The game is packed with many different levels, but each including several different variations of the same missions. I do not personally have a problem with this on the grounds that the original game's main objective was always "proceed to the right". This "lack of variety" may actually be a take on the old days where gameplay was simple--but effective. Still, many times, players may find themselves thinking, "Hey, didn't I do this already?"
The game is quirky in its cutscenes, but most of the story is told as a comicbook or a campfire story. This is pretty cool, save for a few moments, especially at the very end, where a few points of dialogue go a long way to ruin a sequence.
HeadshotJackal's rating:
I gave this game 5.5/10. It is an above average game and an excellent idea. The controls need to be tightened. If they were more responsive, this game would get a significantly higher score.