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No more tirades on the checkered history or hopeless future of Sonic the Hedgehog. The blue critter with a 'tude will survive countless lukewarm review scores because the sales justify his existence. Sonic and the Black Knight, at least, is not a stinker.
This Wii game is a spirited successor to 2007's Sonic and the Secret Rings, coming within respectable range of the speed and thrill for which Sonic is known while adding some out-of-nowhere gimmicks and plot devices. In the last game, our hero was plugged into the story of Aladdin, his friends unknowingly becoming the ensemble cast. The latest game takes on the King Arthur legend, with Knuckles, Shadow and Blaze becoming the Knights of the Round Table.
After falling from the sky on the command of a mysterious girl named Merlina, Sonic is taken to the legendary sword in the stone, plucking it with nonchalance and becoming the chosen one. With this talking blade in his possession, it's off to the races, chasing down the eponymous Black Knight who has turned from a noble king to a dark ruler.
The plot is somewhat divorced from the actual game, which sees Sonic dashing through each level on a 3D track, slicing up foes or sidestepping them with well-timed jumps. For the most part, it's a simple game of Point A to Point B along a linear path.
These moments of flight are thrilling, backdrops zooming by as Sonic winds through the terrain, but they don't last long. Enemies frequently clog the path, forcing either a brief battle or speedy evasion. Shaking the Wii remote swings Sonic's blade, and holding the Nunchuk's Z button shields counterattacks. The A button jumps, allowing for spinning aerial attacks or outright escape.
Felling the foes doesn't require much precision, and usually any method will do. Jumping over the enemies keeps up a speedy pace, but runs the risk of injury. Blocking and attacking is the safest bet, but it's slow and boring. Jumping and attacking is best for clearing some foes while escaping others, but it's not a foolproof plan against some of the game's more threatening opponents. However necessary for providing the challenge, slicing through these enemies is always a chore that interrupts the speedy fun.
The levels are laid out in a world map that becomes denser as Sonic progresses through the game, revealing a couple new missions at a time as Sonic charges through the story. While every mission requires a race to the goal, some entail the rescue "villagers" -- indigenous creatures who serve as little more than emotionless gameplay devices — by killing pockets of enemies or performing level-specific actions. Other times, Sonic must forfeit rings — the game's health currency -- to these locals by responding to a series of button prompts. There are also Rampage missions in which Sonic must slay a set number of enemies before reaching the finish line. While most of these objectives are superfluous to the plot, they maintain enough freshness to fend off the doldrums.
To further break monotony, Sonic and the Black Knight incorporates some light role-playing elements in the spirit of its predecessor. Each mission yields a certain number of points that the player can use to unlock items, along with skill points that make Sonic stronger. While some of the rewards are mere trophies to be viewed in the game's gallery, others can be used as status enhancers, providing damage resistance, point boosts, or extra rings in a pinch. Frankly, these upgrades are more about the illusion of depth than an actual point of substance. Players will likely tinker around with a few upgrades, but ultimately find most effects meaningless.
If any of this sounds like cruel treatment for a once-classic platforming franchise, that's because Sonic and the Black Knight wasn't designed for the 16-bit generation. This is a game for children who are discovering Sonic for the first time, rather than adults hoping to recapture some nostalgia. A few nods to the players that made Sonic famous would have been nice, but there's not an ounce of irony or cynicism in the game's shockingly cheesy dialogue ("Surely you jest." "Nah, that's just how I roll," goes one exchange) and lame rock music.
Sonic and the Black Knight goes out of its way in catering to childlike interests and attention spans. There are even two sets of credits — one to cap off the game's vanilla fairy tale ending after a few hours of play and another that follows a set of much harder challenges, with a darker plot turn and extra playable characters. Beyond the combined five or six hours, there are a significant number of non-mandatory levels and online rankings for the single-player mode. Up to four players can partake in the game's offline Battle mode, but it's a throwaway affair of running around a top-down arena and waggling the Wii remote. The speed that makes the main game enjoyable is missing completely.
A glance at the box art for Sonic and the Black Knight reveals that the game is part of the newly-dubbed "Storybook Series," to which Secret Rings is retroactively appended. This implies that more games are on the way, but are they necessary? Black Knight is a fun diversion, but it's not much different than the last game. While a sequel could be refined by further emphasizing speed over combat, it's probably doomed to repeating the same formula ad nauseum for an ever-evolving kiddie fanbase. Try it now, before the Storybook Series becomes another cash cow in Sonic's repertoire.
Fun Factor: Zooming through the game's colorful environments is a blast, until you have to stop to fight enemies.
Game Length: A few hours until the happy ending, then a couple more to find out the real story, plus extra challenge levels for kicks.
Difficulty: Skilled players can vie for high scores and completionism, but the core game is pretty easy.
On the Negative Side: Screeching to a halt to hack through enemies isn't nearly as fun as racing around.
Bang for Your Buck: The world's last remaining Sonic fans will find lots to do. Everyone else will tire after the short campaign mode.
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