Sonic And The Black Knight [Wii]

25 Mar 2009 at 12:43:49 by Andy Alderson
Systems used to review this title: (WII)

Remember the good old days when Sonic didn't speak? When a new Sonic title meant fast-paced platforming heaven and not a gimmicky 3D affair with a cast of lame characters? We do. And we miss them.

Sonic and the Secret Rings was the last half-decent Sonic title and, while the 3D focus didn't sit well with all fans of the series, at least the fundamentals worked. Sadly, this isn't the case for Sonic and the Black Knight, a game so bereft of good ideas - and full to the brim with bad ones - that it's almost impossible to imagine anyone of sound mind enjoying it.

One look at the cover of the game will convince you that this is not the straightforward, back-to-basics Sonic we were hoping for. Yes, there's Sonic. And he's holding a sword. Triffic. The premise of Sonic and the Black Knight is that the titular hedgehog has somehow been magically summoned to a world of Arthurian legend, by the wizardess Merlina. It seems the once noble King Arthur has been corrupted by his power and now struts about the place like he owns it, terrorising the odd-looking locals (more on these later). Sonic is tasked with taking him down a peg or two and, once he's got all the irritating wisecracks out of his system (which takes a while), he's given a talking sword. At which point you'll spend a good few minutes trying to decide which is more annoying, whiny American teen Sonic or the haughty British sword (it's a close run thing, but Sonic takes it).

Once you embark on your first mission, it becomes clear what Sonic and the Black Knight is all about. Like recent Sonic titles, the majority of the action takes place in 3D, with the camera fixed behind the hedgehog. The nunchuck stick allows you some lateral movement, but this is essentially an on-rails experience as the game camera pushes you through the levels leaving your right hand free for combat. And, because Sonic insists on carrying that infernal talking sword around with him wherever he goes, you can expect a fair deal of combat. Which is a shame given that it's so badly-handled. Waving the Wiimote around prompts Sonic to swing his sword, but you have no real control over his attacks. Sonic's combat moves don't correspond to specific Wiimote movements so you're essentially just waving the Wiimote around arbitrarily during combat. Which, I'm sure you can imagine, becomes tedious pretty quickly.

Sega has at least attempted to add some depth to the combat with the Soul Surge system. Sonic has a meter which must be at least partially filled before he can perform a Soul Surge attack. This move basically allows him to chain attacks together until the meter runs out. However, the game essentially does all the work for you and, once you've triggered it, all you need to do is swing the Wiimote when your sword glows. It seems as if, despite Sega's best efforts to conceal it, the combat system in the Black Knight is just another unsuccessful gimmick.

So, if the combat isn't up to scratch, what about the classic platforming fundamentals? Sadly, they're just as bad. Sonic's USP has always been the sense of speed and, unfortunately, even this is problematic. Although the action moves like greased lightning once you're up to full running speed, the game throws so many obstacles in your way that you'll rarely be running at full tilt for more than a few seconds. Hit something and you'll slow to a crawl.  This isn't helped by the game camera which switches angles regularly. When this happens, the left stick controls become unreliable as pushing forward no longer makes you run forwards. At one point in a later level, the game controls became so confused that moving the stick forward made Sonic run backwards. Which, let's face it, isn't ideal. Jumping is little better and the platforming sections are just as tedious as most other aspects of the game. Sonic uses his sword to dig into walls and you simply need to repeatedly tap the jump button to move upwards.  I can't remember a single instance in the game where I had to repeat a section because I missed a jump. In fact, the game goes out of its way to make it all easy for you - there are jump boosters throughout most of the levels which automatically propel you towards distant platforms. Yet again, it feels like you're more of a passenger than a driver. What we have are simplistic (yet flawed) controls and a game which does the hard work for you. Throw in some appalling level design and you have a trifecta of shit.

The levels in the Black Knight all require Sonic to perform specific tasks in order to advance. For example, this may involve finishing a level within a time limit, defeating a specific number of enemies or distributing rings to the townspeople. However, despite the differing objectives, nearly all of the levels somehow feel the same and there's nothing remotely satisfying about completing them. Indeed, some stages seem to have been designed specifically to try the patience of the gamer. For instance, the Rush Hour levels require Sonic to run through an area, avoiding all of the townspeople. Unfortunately, due to either the limitations of the hardware or a specific design decision, said townspeople pop-in right in front of you with no warning whatsoever. If you've been lucky enough to build up some speed by this point, you're looking at retrying the level. What is most bizarre about the Rush Hour objective, however, is this: if you run into a local, it's an immediate level failure. If you kill him with your sword, you can continue with impunity, implying that bumping into someone is somehow less socially acceptable than murder.  

Not a pretty picture so far, is it? But, thankfully, things do improve a little later in the game. Following a false ending at around the 2-3 hour mark, the game opens up and you can choose new playable characters, all familiar faces from the series, albeit with Arthurian names. This does provide a small degree of variety as each character has slightly different attacks meaning they are more effective against certain types of enemies. There are also some boss battles thrown in to spice things up a little and it's in these confrontations that the game comes closest to being fun. You'll be required to use the block button, time your attacks and also contend with some quick time events. These stages are undoubtedly the best in the game; it's just a shame you have to plough through so many bad ones to reach them.  

The result is a short game (4-5 hours) which somehow manages to feel interminable. Despite brief moments of - god forbid - actual fun in the boss battles, the vast majority of Sonic and the Black Knight involves repetitive, grinding tedium that makes you pine for the halcyon days of 2D platforming. Good Sonic games were always about speed, collecting rings and great boss battles. The bad ones always involved an annoying scenario, horrific voice acting and gimmicky gameplay. Sonic and the Black Knight unfortunately falls into the second category.   

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