After all the werehogs, hoverboards and inter-species romance, seeing Sonic, the Hedgehog wielding a talking sword in the realm of King Arthur suggests that Sega has ruined yet another game with a bafflingly tragic creative decision. By now, most would be forgiven for shrugging their shoulders, hanging their head in disappointment, and passing Sonic and The Black Knight by. Believe us, however, when we say that Sonic Team has actually done the hedgehog proud this time.
Taking place in the 'Storybook' universe introduced by 2007's Sonic and The Secret Rings, this latest Wii exclusive again throws Sonic into another popular legend and does so for the right reasons. While the major changes brought about in Sonic Unleashed contradicted the very nature of a Sonic game, those introduced in Black Knight complement the classic gameplay. Yes he has a sword, but it's the way that sword is used that matters.
Just like Secret Kings, Sonic spends the majority of his time running directly into the screen, avoiding obstacles by moving to the sides, or simply jumping over them. There's no tilt control this time. Instead, he's steered with the Nunchuk's analogue stick while the Remote controls his sword attacks. With such emphasis on combat, the levels are packed more densely with enemies than usual. Their mission is to slow you down or bring you to a complete stop, but time your sword swipes correctly and that won't happen.
Inexperienced hands will find themselves abruptly crashing into each enemy and bringing Sonic's trademark sprint to a halt, but if you make controlled, precisely timed swipes of the sword just before you run into a foe then you'll slash right through them and keep on running. Encounter several enemies in a row and you'll need to string together a series of rhythmic swipes in order to cut through their lines and maintain the sort of unbroken flow that defines the most enjoyable Sonic moments.
This is why Sonic and The Black Knight succeeds where so many other attempts have failed. Every part of the game is geared towards delivering the smooth-flowing yet challenging and exhilarating experience every Sonic fan craves, with the right balance between interaction and spectacle. Fleeting moments of that design philosophy exist in every single 3D Sonic game, of course, but in most they constitute a small fraction of the whole, buried beneath layers of needless exploration, fetch quests and gameplay that generally doesn't involve running.
Sonic and The Black Knight puts the defining gameplay of the Mega Drive originals back at the forefront of its experience and dispenses with all the other unnecessary elements. It does have a couple of new elements, admittedly, but they are all incorporated in a way that stays true to Sonic's spirit. Take the NPC conversations, for example. In order to gain experience and increase Sonic's abilities, you have to gain followers. This is mostly done by freeing civilians from traps or ridding the world of the monsters around them.
However, it can also be achieved by giving them some of Sonic's rings. Donations are made by quickly stopping next to a citizen and engaging them in conversation, but this being a Sonic game, even his chats run at 100 mph. Rather than trawling through endless pages of dialogue, Sonic's conversations take the form of super-fast quick-time events so that he's never stationary for more than a few seconds.
The lack of an adventure element might well suggest that Sonic and The Black Knight would suffer from longevity issues, but this is only true if you want it to be. Those who want to simply blitz through each main stage, take on a couple of bosses along the way, and clear the story as quickly as possible can certainly do so and they'll easily reach the credits sequence in a single day. But those who wish to rinse a lot more out of the game are also catered for.
For starters, each main stage has a number of optional challenge variations designed to test your mastery of the hedgehog's abilities, to earn a little more experience, or just force yourself to approach a level in a new way just to wring a little more fun out of it. Then there's the fact that once you think the game is over it is only just beginning. The first credit sequence you see is actually a false ending, and returning to the main quest will reveal the real villain and open up several more stages, instantly doubling the size of the game.
Three more playable characters - Shadow, Blaze and Knuckles - are also unlocked, each offering a vastly different handling model for the sake of variety. The new levels are slightly more challenging, too, making the choice of character quite crucial, and though the later stages suffer slightly from the old bottomless-pit problems, they are, for the most part, as consistently good fun as the opening levels. Now, how often can you say that about a Sonic game?
Ultimately, Sonic and The Black Knight stands out as one of the better Sonic games because of its consistency. What you experience from the start can be expected right up until the end. There are no nasty surprises, no ill-considered gameplay changes and no sense that Sonic Team is ever confused about what the game is supposed to be. It's a game that is totally comfortable with itself. And it has every right to be.
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