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Sonic and the Black Knight
16 years ago
THIS IS A REVIEW, DAMN IT.
I've heard bad, bad things about this game and previous Storybook Series game, Sonic and the Secret Rings. It didn't catch my eye as much as a sword-wielding hedgie did. But I was at a midnight release for Resident Evil 5 and I decided to pick it up. I have to say, I'm impressed but not obsessed. Now, I personally don't like breaking reviews down to rate each portion, but I will do it for the sake of adding my opinion.
Gameplay:
This is everyone's problem with the game. However, I have to say that most of the game is done quickly, fulfilling Sonic's general pace. You can clear levels by slashing through enemies without losing speed. A lot of stages are "reach the goal"-oriented, some are getting chains of enemies or even as hard as "complete the stage with swinging the sword less than 10 times," so it can be rather difficult. Sonic finishes a stage and is graded based upon score (killing enemies in high chains, not harming townspeople, etc.) or time, and another factor depending upon the objective. Many critics had a problem with not knowing what they could do to better their star rating, but it was presented. The stars serve to upgrade Sonic's proficiency level with his current style. When the other styles are introduced, you have a balanced style, attack-oriented style, and speed-oriented style, each with their own level of proficiency. Sounds like Kingdom Hearts with Sora's alternate forms and special traits. Very much so, as with the proficiency levels increasing, more traits are added and some are upgraded. Past the normal stages, there are boss stages, which are basically nothing but a boss. Thank God. These duels are exciting, that prove that you can't go through the game just flailing the Wiimote about and actually have you use the Z button to guard. Just an addition, later on in the story, you can use Knux, Blaze, and Shadow in the stages and they have their own traits and even custom weapons that can be forged by items found by the Blacksmith, Tails.
Music:
I wanted to save this for the end, seeing as though it's my greatest affection for this game, but I have to get it off my chest. I have absolutely no complaints about the music. In fact, I highly praise it. The game's main theme is "Knight of the Wind," performed by Crush 40. That enough was what baited me to buy Sonic and the Black Knight. Their unique style is written all over this game, with passionate music in the stages. It fuels the soul to cut right through your enemies to reach the goal. These driving tunes are noticed multiple times, as soon as the first half-hour of the Adventure mode, when you reach the first boss. "Through the Fire"--no, not TTFAF. Don't break out your plastic guitar--is another Crush 40 tune. Not as good as "Knight of the Wind," but I found myself playing the boss levels repeatedly just for this song (as well as some others). Very appropriate. I won't ruin the later music, but there are a few more vocal tracks that are "epic" as everyone loves to say these days. The music had me get really into some of the boss battles.
Storyline:
If you don't pick up this game, you aren't missing much. I didn't cry, I didn't sync to any character's emotions. The cutscenes at the critical parts of the game use the high-quality videos. Computer generated, y'know. Whereas... all other cutscenes are done as if they're actually in a book, drawn out. It was a unique touch that I took to and enjoyed. However, do yourself a favor and use the Japanese voiceovers. I love the characters to death with their Japanese voice actors. Especially knowing that the 4Kids voice actors are the main stars here. Yuck. Blaze just doesn't sound right with her domineering feminine voice. And the Black Knight, don't get me started. Doesn't sound deep enough. Caliburn, Sonic's sword, has a deeper voice in English. ...I could talk for hours about the English vs. Japanese voice acting, so I'll stop now. ...Japanese is much more fluent. But overall, I'll say there was a major story arc that surprised me with the way it turned out, but nothing to write home about. If you worked straight on it, you could complete it in 5-6 hours.
Controls:
When you see gameplay videos with Sonic whizzing in S-curves and you wonder how people can nail that every time, it's because Sonic moves on a bit of a track. It's not as non-linear as some critics may want, but it's nice at times. You can't miss all the grind rails like you could on Final Rush in Sonic Adventure 2. You may be tempted to move that analog stick around with some of the high-speed stages at the beginning, but you'll learn better. Duels are fun, and like a Sonic game, it's all about learning your enemy's attack pattern and finding a window in which to launch a slash or two... or five (in the case of the easy first boss battle). In the chance the game wants you to time an attack with the image of the blue Wiimote swinging, SWING ONCE. If you swing wildly, your ass is losing some goddamn rings. Patience is necessary some times, waiting for the icon to pop up. If you clash swords with your opponent, you'll be forced into a pressing sequence, waiting for the icon to tell you to swing the controller. SWING. ONCE. If you swing twice (or make a big swing for the first and it counts you for swinging the second time), you'll miss the next step, which range from slow to incredibly fast and accurate depending upon who you're fighting. Lancelot is the first boss, but I haven't even won one of those. If you miss one, you lose rings, but you clash swords in this sequence at least three times, but I haven't successfully completed it once. The swing concept is somewhat unresponsive as everyone complains, but it's just a mere matter of getting used to it. It doesn't take long and is nothing to ruin or tarnish the game. One last thing. When you fight a dragon--I think it was just the first one that gave me this trouble--you can get to its head and that's as far as you can go. But you have to move to the side to get to its head. JUST ITS HEAD. So, uh, when Sonic's at a dead halt, moving to the side is a total inconvenience. In addition, there should have been a somersault button or something, but nope. Only time I was angered by the controls.
Graphics:
They're goddamn beautiful, but most of the time, you don't have the opportunity to sit around and look at the scenery. There's nothing else to say. Every critique I've seen is completely content with the graphics, so there's nothing to set straight.
Before I go any further, DON'T PLAY MULTIPLAYER. There's absolutely a total slow-down. Characters move incredibly slow, but it's good for a chuckle with your friends. 2-4 players at once on one screen, so I can understand the limitations they had to set for a multiplayer. Also, each character has their own style, so it was refreshing to have Tails... use a sling...shot... Yeaaah... Weird.
Misc.:
The extra content in this game is enough to make you devote an additional 40+ hours to this game, I predict. I beat the game and didn't get even half of the items available. And some require multiples to forge some weapons. Fortunately, if you have friends with this game, you can trade items. Cool. Let me show you my pokemanz. The Gallery is full of content to be unlocked, including character profiles, cutscenes, music, a fanart show, concept art from King Arthur, each with its own challenge. My favorite is "Get all mastery stars on all stages." FUCK THAT. 180 Emblems from SA2 is cool and all, but... Christ. I smell Action Replay.
OVERALL:
It's difficult what to say about this game. It's certainly not the best Sonic game ever, but it's nice to be able to use the Wiimote to slay enemies at high speeds. The graphics and music from Sonic and the Black Knight are the giants here, making this game worthwhile for me. The battles are of epic proportions, which is something I can appreciate to a point. They're not over-glorified but definitely beautiful in aesthetics. Maybe it's because I'm playing it on a 46" HDTV. It makes the game come out crisp and clear. SonicTeam was put in a hard place for the storyline. There's only so much you can do with an Arthurian game without bastardizing the entire concept that they were wrapped around. I'm certainly glad they didn't, y'know, incorporate the Chaos Emeralds to change the whole scheme of things.
Final verdict: Don't be scared off by the fact that "omgz sonikku'z got a sword. instant bad game!" Don't listen to what most critics say. Their arguments are valid albeit blown out of proportion. For someone like me who has been playing newer and old-school RPGs for the last few months, this high-adrenaline game was more than enough to satiate me.
I don't fucking like number or letter ratings ('cause they always seem inaccurate for me), so you aren't getting one. Fuck IGN and their pissy 4-something out of 10 for this game.
I've heard bad, bad things about this game and previous Storybook Series game, Sonic and the Secret Rings. It didn't catch my eye as much as a sword-wielding hedgie did. But I was at a midnight release for Resident Evil 5 and I decided to pick it up. I have to say, I'm impressed but not obsessed. Now, I personally don't like breaking reviews down to rate each portion, but I will do it for the sake of adding my opinion.
Gameplay:
This is everyone's problem with the game. However, I have to say that most of the game is done quickly, fulfilling Sonic's general pace. You can clear levels by slashing through enemies without losing speed. A lot of stages are "reach the goal"-oriented, some are getting chains of enemies or even as hard as "complete the stage with swinging the sword less than 10 times," so it can be rather difficult. Sonic finishes a stage and is graded based upon score (killing enemies in high chains, not harming townspeople, etc.) or time, and another factor depending upon the objective. Many critics had a problem with not knowing what they could do to better their star rating, but it was presented. The stars serve to upgrade Sonic's proficiency level with his current style. When the other styles are introduced, you have a balanced style, attack-oriented style, and speed-oriented style, each with their own level of proficiency. Sounds like Kingdom Hearts with Sora's alternate forms and special traits. Very much so, as with the proficiency levels increasing, more traits are added and some are upgraded. Past the normal stages, there are boss stages, which are basically nothing but a boss. Thank God. These duels are exciting, that prove that you can't go through the game just flailing the Wiimote about and actually have you use the Z button to guard. Just an addition, later on in the story, you can use Knux, Blaze, and Shadow in the stages and they have their own traits and even custom weapons that can be forged by items found by the Blacksmith, Tails.
Music:
I wanted to save this for the end, seeing as though it's my greatest affection for this game, but I have to get it off my chest. I have absolutely no complaints about the music. In fact, I highly praise it. The game's main theme is "Knight of the Wind," performed by Crush 40. That enough was what baited me to buy Sonic and the Black Knight. Their unique style is written all over this game, with passionate music in the stages. It fuels the soul to cut right through your enemies to reach the goal. These driving tunes are noticed multiple times, as soon as the first half-hour of the Adventure mode, when you reach the first boss. "Through the Fire"--no, not TTFAF. Don't break out your plastic guitar--is another Crush 40 tune. Not as good as "Knight of the Wind," but I found myself playing the boss levels repeatedly just for this song (as well as some others). Very appropriate. I won't ruin the later music, but there are a few more vocal tracks that are "epic" as everyone loves to say these days. The music had me get really into some of the boss battles.
Storyline:
If you don't pick up this game, you aren't missing much. I didn't cry, I didn't sync to any character's emotions. The cutscenes at the critical parts of the game use the high-quality videos. Computer generated, y'know. Whereas... all other cutscenes are done as if they're actually in a book, drawn out. It was a unique touch that I took to and enjoyed. However, do yourself a favor and use the Japanese voiceovers. I love the characters to death with their Japanese voice actors. Especially knowing that the 4Kids voice actors are the main stars here. Yuck. Blaze just doesn't sound right with her domineering feminine voice. And the Black Knight, don't get me started. Doesn't sound deep enough. Caliburn, Sonic's sword, has a deeper voice in English. ...I could talk for hours about the English vs. Japanese voice acting, so I'll stop now. ...Japanese is much more fluent. But overall, I'll say there was a major story arc that surprised me with the way it turned out, but nothing to write home about. If you worked straight on it, you could complete it in 5-6 hours.
Controls:
When you see gameplay videos with Sonic whizzing in S-curves and you wonder how people can nail that every time, it's because Sonic moves on a bit of a track. It's not as non-linear as some critics may want, but it's nice at times. You can't miss all the grind rails like you could on Final Rush in Sonic Adventure 2. You may be tempted to move that analog stick around with some of the high-speed stages at the beginning, but you'll learn better. Duels are fun, and like a Sonic game, it's all about learning your enemy's attack pattern and finding a window in which to launch a slash or two... or five (in the case of the easy first boss battle). In the chance the game wants you to time an attack with the image of the blue Wiimote swinging, SWING ONCE. If you swing wildly, your ass is losing some goddamn rings. Patience is necessary some times, waiting for the icon to pop up. If you clash swords with your opponent, you'll be forced into a pressing sequence, waiting for the icon to tell you to swing the controller. SWING. ONCE. If you swing twice (or make a big swing for the first and it counts you for swinging the second time), you'll miss the next step, which range from slow to incredibly fast and accurate depending upon who you're fighting. Lancelot is the first boss, but I haven't even won one of those. If you miss one, you lose rings, but you clash swords in this sequence at least three times, but I haven't successfully completed it once. The swing concept is somewhat unresponsive as everyone complains, but it's just a mere matter of getting used to it. It doesn't take long and is nothing to ruin or tarnish the game. One last thing. When you fight a dragon--I think it was just the first one that gave me this trouble--you can get to its head and that's as far as you can go. But you have to move to the side to get to its head. JUST ITS HEAD. So, uh, when Sonic's at a dead halt, moving to the side is a total inconvenience. In addition, there should have been a somersault button or something, but nope. Only time I was angered by the controls.
Graphics:
They're goddamn beautiful, but most of the time, you don't have the opportunity to sit around and look at the scenery. There's nothing else to say. Every critique I've seen is completely content with the graphics, so there's nothing to set straight.
Before I go any further, DON'T PLAY MULTIPLAYER. There's absolutely a total slow-down. Characters move incredibly slow, but it's good for a chuckle with your friends. 2-4 players at once on one screen, so I can understand the limitations they had to set for a multiplayer. Also, each character has their own style, so it was refreshing to have Tails... use a sling...shot... Yeaaah... Weird.
Misc.:
The extra content in this game is enough to make you devote an additional 40+ hours to this game, I predict. I beat the game and didn't get even half of the items available. And some require multiples to forge some weapons. Fortunately, if you have friends with this game, you can trade items. Cool. Let me show you my pokemanz. The Gallery is full of content to be unlocked, including character profiles, cutscenes, music, a fanart show, concept art from King Arthur, each with its own challenge. My favorite is "Get all mastery stars on all stages." FUCK THAT. 180 Emblems from SA2 is cool and all, but... Christ. I smell Action Replay.
OVERALL:
It's difficult what to say about this game. It's certainly not the best Sonic game ever, but it's nice to be able to use the Wiimote to slay enemies at high speeds. The graphics and music from Sonic and the Black Knight are the giants here, making this game worthwhile for me. The battles are of epic proportions, which is something I can appreciate to a point. They're not over-glorified but definitely beautiful in aesthetics. Maybe it's because I'm playing it on a 46" HDTV. It makes the game come out crisp and clear. SonicTeam was put in a hard place for the storyline. There's only so much you can do with an Arthurian game without bastardizing the entire concept that they were wrapped around. I'm certainly glad they didn't, y'know, incorporate the Chaos Emeralds to change the whole scheme of things.
Final verdict: Don't be scared off by the fact that "omgz sonikku'z got a sword. instant bad game!" Don't listen to what most critics say. Their arguments are valid albeit blown out of proportion. For someone like me who has been playing newer and old-school RPGs for the last few months, this high-adrenaline game was more than enough to satiate me.
I don't fucking like number or letter ratings ('cause they always seem inaccurate for me), so you aren't getting one. Fuck IGN and their pissy 4-something out of 10 for this game.
