Sonic & the Black Knight

Charming, until someone speaks.

Posted 4 years ago By - Zach R.

For years, Sonic Team has been battling the public’s perception of what the Sonic franchise should be. They have the unenviable task of living up to the romanticized notions that nostalgia has ingrained on a lot of gamers’ psyches. Granted, not all the games that Sega’s developing house have put out have been great successes, but none were outright unplayable. Sonic and the Black Knight, the second in Sonic’s Storybook series, may still lack what core Sonic fans have been waiting for since Sonic Adventure on the Dreamcast, but it still delivers a fast and fun adventure that shouldn’t be blown off simply for the sake of trying something new.

Gameplay

The storyline this time around revolves around King Arthur and his knights. It seems that King Arthur has become corrupt thanks to the power wielded within Excalibur, which has granted him immortality. Merlina, daughter of Merlin summons Sonic to help her defeat the king. Along the way you’ll of course encounter plenty of familiar faces from the Sonic universe. The story has some interesting twists and turns, but the main appeal will likely be for the younger crowd.

If you’ve played Sonic and the Secret Rings, you’ll be happy to note that the controls are no longer that awkward Wii-mote only type of fare. The reason for this is that as Sonic is now a knight, he obviously needs to carry a sword. Yeah, a sword. Honestly, it’s not as bad as you think. Using the nunchuk’s analog stick to guide Sonic along a fairly linear path, you use the Wii-mote to swing your sword. Yes, this is a game with waggle a-plenty, and for the most part, it works. While there is some attempt to add depth to the sword play by giving Sonic the ability to use Soul Surge, which is essentially a powerful combo attack, it just isn’t necessary. Swinging your sword or just running through levels without using it is more effective, with only the rarest of exceptions.

As the running is fairly linear, all you’ll really need to worry about is avoiding obstacles and collecting items. Rather than the typical rings that would line the tracks of Sonic’s previous games, they’re appropriately replaced with fairies this time around. Yellow fairies replace the rings, while blue fairies give you a super speed boost, or can launch you into the air and red fairies power up your Soul Surge meter. In addition to fairies, you’ll also find treasure chests that contain power-ups and generally helpful items such as health potions and the like.

The one aspect here that really didn’t work for me was the boss battles. Nearly all of the bosses require you to swing the Wii-mote wildly in order to attain victory. You never need to use a strategy here; just swinging will ensure you win. Granted when battling certain bosses you will be given prompts and must time your attack correctly, but considering that nearly three quarters of these battles don’t utilize this timed attack feature, you’re in for one easy ride.

The bosses [battles]...never need to use a strategy 
here; just swinging will ensure you win.

There are several different mission types available throughout the main story and most of them simply require you to run from point A to point B as fast as possible. However, there are some that require you to stop constantly and give away rings to the locals as an act of chivalry. These missions may break up the constant running missions that you’re given, but they’re also a huge pain. These levels may not have been so bad if they didn’t involve quick-time button presses in order to give the coins to someone. Honestly, all this adds to the game is another bland gameplay mechanic that breaks up what is essentially a very good adventure game.

Graphics & Sounds

The game kicks off with an amazing cinematic sequence that wouldn’t be out of place in most RPG’s nowadays. After the spectacular cinematic, the Sonic Team lets the story unfold through the use of cut scenes that emulate the illustrations found in a children’s storybook. The style is fitting, and the animation during these scenes, while minimal, looks fairly good. My only complaint here is that the opening was done so well; the following transition into the storybook theme is kind of disappointing.

In game, environments and animations look fantastic. The frame holds steady, and the blurred environments look great. The one problem is that character models for enemies are pretty much all the same. Not to say that they initially look bad, but they certainly don’t offer much variety. Bosses look good, and Sonic and friends are great as usual, but it’s disappointing that more couldn’t be done to give the game a bit more flavour when it comes to the masses of similar looking enemies.

The game kicks off with an amazing cinematic sequence that 
wouldn’t be out of place in most RPG’s nowadays.

The audio is definitely far more disappointing. While I applaud the soundtrack here, which consists of music that suits the period, it’s the voice-acting that derails the game. Sonic has always been a little uneven when it comes to the voice-acting, and here it’s no different. While Sonic handles his smartass delivery well enough, the supporting characters are just awful to listen to. Almost every other part is over done with too much bravado or tries to be too cute for its own good, with the exception of Caliburn (the talking sword). It just doesn’t work here, and as a result, I killed the volume about the halfway point and just read the subtitles.

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