Sonic and the Secret Rings
Developer: Sonic Team
Publisher: Sega
Genre: Adventure / Platform
Rating: Rating Pending
Number of Players: 1-4
Expected Release: March, 2007
Sonic Secret Rings Gallery

Our beloved little blue haired, wet nosed, red Nike wearing speed demon is back once again; this time in his first solo adventure since the dawn of the nineties. In a title that changed name not once, but twice in the span of six months, the two-year development of Sonic's latest revival has (as of this preview) settled on a name that was decidedly second best. Sonic Wild Fire was Sega's favorite name until a copyright issue in Europe pushed the development team to their second choice in Secret Rings. Though, from this writer's perspective it's a change for the better.

In Sonic and the Secret Rings, Sega's trademark heroine is called upon once again, this time by a magical Genie. Upon the revelation that the last pages of the classic tale, "Arabian Nights," have mysteriously gone missing, the mystical Genie (also the central character of the story) zaps Sonic into the world of Arabian Nights on a crusade to find the missing pages and restore order to the "world without ending." It's a good hearted, lively tale succeeded only by its return-to-grass roots game play.

Unlike previous Sonics in the modern era, Secret Rings was developed from the ground up with one key principle - speed. What one would think to be a crucial element in any Sonic game, a true sense of speed has been notably absent over the last decade, with more focus revolving around digging up emeralds (Boring La Annoyacus) and raising baby Chaos than exceeding the transonic barrier. In Secret Rings, Sega will attempt to bring Sonic back to his glory days of linear rocket speed and reactionary game play.

At such high speeds, gamers will no doubt need an intuitive control system, and the Wii hopes to provide that with its motion sensing technology. Players will be able to "hurtle sonic forward by rotating the controller from side to side and perform combo moves with a flick of the wrist," advancing through over 70 levels of branching paths, even utilizing new moves such as "catapult" and "boost." This new-found mesh between linear Sonic roots and replayability is what has fans so excited about Sega's upcoming venture.

As if it had to be said, don't expect to be limited to single player story mode by any means. Secret Rings will entail up to four player multi-player among 30 different mini-games. And as confirmed by recent trailers, high scores and time attack races will be a part of the action. The title is still a few months away, so be sure to stick around for updates as they become available, or find out more about Sonic and the Secret Rings when it makes its way to shelves March of 2007.