Average
Taking place inside of a copy of 1,001 Nights that Sonic has been magically called upon to protect, each level feels like a real work of art. They're works of pop art, yes, but gorgeous and packed with vivid imagery regardless. With classic Sonic sidekicks and enemies filling in for the classic 1,001 Nights characters (such as Tails replacing Ali Baba), there's even a sense of wonder as you try to figure out how Sonic and company are tied to the book.
The setting is cool, but the game's fun comes from the glorious, no-frills missions which exist only to test your skills. Like any great racing game, you'll find yourself revisiting sections of levels, exploring and looping around them to find the best way to complete the world's missions. Each world will have a few storytelling moments as you finish certain missions, but the story is perfunctory. What's important is that each world has numerous unlockable goals that will test your skill and dedication. Many have conditions to meet, such as not breaking any objects, not being killed, or collecting a certain number of rings. Completing these tasks earns you experience points based on how well you perform. Satisfaction!
These points earn you skills that speed you up, let you start with more rings, and generally help you be the best anthropomorphic hedgehog you can be. These also determine how many skills you can equip at a time, with four "skill rings" available. Each one is essentially a programmable selection of abilities. For example, you can have one skill ring for speed-based levels (full of speed-boosting skills), another for combat levels, one for collection levels, and a final one for precision levels. This approach is a great way to weave in the sense of achievement that comes from leveling up without turning the game into an RPG. On the other hand, most of these skills tack on a new way to interact with the Wii remote, making the controls feel more and more unwieldy as the game progresses.
In fact, the controls just generally aren't up to the demands of the game. Excelling at Secret Rings, and reaping the rewards that comes with excellence, requires better controls than are available. Precise, high-speed jukes are constantly called for, but the Wii's remote isn't precise enough to really deliver. When simply zipping through a level is enough, having to hold the Wii remote perfectly flat just to keep going straight isn't too bad. But when a mission requires that you not break a single object, turning by tilting the handlebar-like remote isn't good enough, and it gets harder as you continue to acquire new moves. A lot of times you'll just end up wishing for a WaveBird.
In addition to the single-player quest there are a few dozen multiplayer party games in which you can play as Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, or one of four other unlockable characters. Many of these events are unlocked through the single-player game, but none of them are really worth working for. If you're looking for a Wii party game, you've got better choices either in Wii titles or old 'Cube games. Half-baked mini-games that take too long to complete fail to capture that WarioWare insanity, and the deeper games aren't worth playing for the length of time they demand. The controls are generally at their worst here, too, making easy tasks difficult.
Despite these issues, Rings still manages to be one of the first fun Sonic experiences in some time. The overall experience of navigating through Sonic and the Secret Rings doesn't manage to bring the series back to glory, but at least it gives it some life. Taking the shattered corpse of the Sonic license and assembling those pieces into an almost amazing game, one that barely shows the scars of cruelty that it's experienced, is a feat. This is more of a shambling Frankenstein than a real resurrection for the series, but that's more than Sonic fans have gotten in a long time.
