Still, Sonic & the Black Knight isn't a terrible game by any means. It provides brief bursts of fun, and the bite-sized missions work in its favor. The problem with Black Knight is that the story mode of the game is no more than four hours long. Another problem with the game is that the big new gameplay addition, the sword, is unresponsive and frustrating to use.
The game is the latest in the Sonic storybook series Secret Rings started, and is framed in the world of King Arthur and Camelot. In this version, King Arthur is a bad man known as the Black Knight. Along with his Knights of the Round Table, who resemble series characters Shadow, Knuckles, and Blaze, the villainous king is destroying the world. Sonic is summoned to Camelot by Merlina, Merlin's granddaughter, to save the day. Aside from a twist later in the game, that's about all the story there is.
Sonic is controlled by the Wii Remote and Nunchuk, and for the most part, the controls are great. Jumping is fine as usual, blocking with your sword is easy, and the Soul Surge attack, which is sort of like an ultra-powerful homing attack, fits nicely into the formula. However, Sonic's shiny new sword, which talks and has a bubbly personality, is controlled by motion controls and sucks. There is a slight delay due to buggy responsiveness after every hit, which opens you up to attacks way too often. After dealing with this frustrating battle mechanic for a while, I found myself ignoring every enemy that I didn't need to defeat to complete the mission.
The game's twelve worlds contain various missions that are all relatively short, which adds to the brevity of the game in general. Every mission has a set goal. Most of the story missions don't evolve past racing to the finish or defeating a boss, but some of the missions outside of the story are quite interesting. One of them has you racing through a bustling town while trying to not hit civilians. Sadly, some of these optional missions are also terrible, such as the ones where you have to collect and give rings to civilians by stopping dead in your tracks and doing timed button presses.
While everything about Black Knight is Camelot themed, there are a few bonus missions that hearken back to traditional 3D Sonic levels. These Legacy missions give Sonic back his homing attack and replace the fairies and fruit found in the other missions with good old-fashioned rings. While they are few and far between, they are some of the best missions in the game.
There is also a decent upgrade system for Sonic. You're given a rating between one and five stars for your performance in each mission. Every star you gain counts towards a level-up, which upgrades your skills (speed, strength etc.). Eventually you gain access to two additional play styles: an offense-focused one and a defense-focused one. These are also upgraded by completing missions and getting stars. There isn't a whole lot of variation between the three, but it is a nice touch.
These different player types are also used by the Knights of the Round Table, who eventually join you in some missions. The characters are fundamentally the same, but they all have different nuances that benefit them. For example, Knuckles can glide, Shadow is faster, and Blaze's aerial attack has a longer range. Unlike Sonic, the three Knights can also wield different weapons, depending on what weapon-building items (metals and such) you collect in levels.
The game's online functionality comes into play with the collectable items, most just for collections sake, littered throughout. Players can discover items in missions and gain them by completing certain tasks. They can be traded online and used to build items that the knights can equip for stat bonuses. Players can also upload their best scores to an online leaderboard.
Along with some other characters, all the playable characters can be used in the arena-style multiplayer. Players can choose between either a fight to the death or a race to see who can kill more enemies. There isn't too much variety or depth to be found in this multiplayer, though, since the arenas are all very similar and there are not too many enemy types.
As stated before, Sonic & the Black Knight is not a terrible game. However, it isn't anything too special, either. For every interesting mission, there is an equally lackluster one. The platforming is satisfying, but the sword combat is awful. This is a game of checks and balances, and in the end, it's just another mediocre Sonic game.
Pros:
Lastability: 6.0
While the story mode is very short at three to four hours, there are quite a number of challenging bonus missions that lengthen the game. There is a multiplayer as well, but it isn't terribly interesting.
Final: 6.5
It's on the short side and has a couple of big issues, but Sonic and the Black Knight is still somewhat enjoyable. The variety in characters and missions are still entertaining, even though the sword controls are very frustrating. It's a decent game, but just barely.
The problem with Black Knight is that the story mode of the game is no more than four hours long.
Yeah, I'd rather they make a short but challenging Sonic game that has branching paths and different routes and accessible crannies for different characters, a la Sonic 3 & Knuckles.
"Sonic & the Black Knight isn't a terrible game by any means"
It's Sonic with a sword, how is that not terrible? That's like giving Mario a gun
Yeah, I'd rather they make a short but challenging Sonic game that has branching paths and different routes and accessible crannies for different characters, a la Sonic 3 & Knuckles. Save the 30% of development or whatever that goes towards the filler and charge $40 instead of $50.
Actually, I think going the Mega Man 9 route and making a new old-school 2D console Sonic game for online distribution would be very healthy for the series right now.
Wait, what? No, no. The GBA and DS games are not even close to the quality of Genesis Sonic titles. Why do I say this? Simple, and I've been saying this like a broken record so many times it's not even funny. Sonic isn't about speed, it's about flow. Flow is running through Super Mario Bros. 3 World 1-1 without getting hit, flow is making Wario go crazy speed without hitting anything in Wario Land: Shake It!, flow is going through Emerald Hill Zone 1 in Sonic 2 in under twenty seconds without anything stopping you.Yeah, I'd rather they make a short but challenging Sonic game that has branching paths and different routes and accessible crannies for different characters, a la Sonic 3 & Knuckles. Save the 30% of development or whatever that goes towards the filler and charge $40 instead of $50.
Actually, I think going the Mega Man 9 route and making a new old-school 2D console Sonic game for online distribution would be very healthy for the series right now.
That's what makes the DS Sonic games so good, they are in 2D even though there are some 3D element I think they are used well. Honestly I wouldn't care if the Sonic games on consoles where 2D SEGA can still put one out with excellent old school gameplay and pretty graphics. Just look at Wario Land Shake It!, that was an awesome 2D game on Wii with top notch presentation.
Actually, I think going the Mega Man 9 route and making a new old-school 2D console Sonic game for online distribution would be very healthy for the series right now.Mega Man 9 was in safe hands due to the fact Kenji Inafune was still around at Capcom, and hell, Nintendo could make a downloadable Mario game right now and it would be good because the 2D Mario staff is still around.
The Gospel according to Fist.
Here's a thought: this Sonic game doesn't "flow" because reviewers are INCAPABLE of it (?)This is pretty much hitting the nail on the head. I tend to use the "flow" arguement on Sonic games since, hell, other Sega fansites tend to use it (and with facts to back it up). Pro's arguement makes a very good point.
This game might be able to be played "correctly," but considering that the only way to find out how to play "correctly" is by viewing gameplay movies brings about a larger problem: you have to watch videos to learn how to play the game. That is probably one of the stupidest things to have in a game. Teach by hands-on tutorial or make your game incredibly intuitive.Careful! Lots of good games make use of video tips for skill improvement, like DKJB. Although they are perhaps placed more prominently in DKJB and are less vital to enjoyment of the game? I don't know--I haven't touched a 3D Sonic game since Sonic Zeroes.
This game might be able to be played "correctly," but considering that the only way to find out how to play "correctly" is by viewing gameplay movies brings about a larger problem: you have to watch videos to learn how to play the game. That is probably one of the stupidest things to have in a game. Teach by hands-on tutorial or make your game incredibly intuitive.
Even if that is the case, if Neal couldn't arrive at that after substantial time with the game, that does point to a fundamental problem and should definitely be brought to peoples' attention. As usual, people need to read and comprehend a review based on what they know about the reviewer. Neal has been a gamer for a long time. He had a hard time getting substantial fun out of this game.
