I come to you now, with my aching arm, typing up this review with only my left hand. Why you ask? Because I've been playing Sonic and the Black Knight for the past two days.
Sonic and the Black Knight is the second in the Sonic storybook series. This time he has been summoned into the story of King Arthur by Merlin's granddaughter, Merlina. You see, King Arthur has apparently been turned evil by the scabbard of Excalibur, and Merlina apparently needs Sonic's help to defeat him and save Camelot. However, the Black Knight can only be defeated with 'the sacred sword'. Turns out this sword is called Caliburn, and it can talk... Don't worry though, he's one of the few characters in the game that has a decent voice actor. I say all this, but by the time the giant plot twist comes around none of it will matter.
Now, onto the gameplay. The very reason I'm typing this with just my left hand. Basically, there are lads of different missions to complete to get through the story and beyond, all accessible via a map screen. These are things like reach the goal, give the townspeople rings, defeat a certain number of enemies, beat the clock, and defeat the boss. You run through the levels just like in normal Sonic games, which is all very nice, but, of course, there is the swordplay thrown in too with this game. The swordplay itself isn't bad, it's just the way it's controlled. You just run up to an enemy, and you have a few options. Hop and waggle furiously, just waggle furiously, use homing attack and waggle furiously, jump over the enemies, or press the B button and waggle not-so-furiously, locking onto the closest enemies and taking them out one by one, but draining your soul gage. So, as you can probably tell, there's a lot of aimless waggle. the swordplay would have been better if you simply pressed a button repeatedly to swing your sword, instead of waggling around like a madman, and giving yourself a very achy arm for the next few days. So basically, the gameplay is fun, but not for your poor unfortunate arm.
When you complete a level, you gain a star rating which levels you up if you get enough, and you get followers too, which also level you up... I think... It's rather complicated and they don't really explain that stuff, but either way, you're ranked and you level up. You also get items and new stuff unlocked when you complete a level.
There's also a Blacksmith (Tails) who let's you change Sonic's running and fighting style, let's you equip items, and once you unlock Lancelot, Gawain and Percival, he can forge swords for them out of the items you collect in levels.
The multiplayer, from the looks of it, is pretty bad. It looks very slow and not-so-fun. However, I have yet to play it with Mooigi.
There's also an online mode where you can play levels, and then get your score on a leader board, along with your rank. You can also trade items with friends, but you need to share friend codes for that, so I doubt it will get used much.
The look of the game overall is very nice indeed! All the menus and stuff are very nicely presented, as are the cut scenes, which have improved masses compared to the ones in Secret Rings. The in-game graphics are really great too, and it looks like they put a lot of effort into it. You can even see each separate blade of grass blowing in the wind, and when you swing your sword, you can see all the separate blades of grass fly off into the wind. Lovely.
Overall, this is a decent game, but it's ruined by the endless waggle and the multiplayer mode. I'd recommend you rent it for a week if you're interested.
79%
Sonic and the Black Knight is the second in the Sonic storybook series. This time he has been summoned into the story of King Arthur by Merlin's granddaughter, Merlina. You see, King Arthur has apparently been turned evil by the scabbard of Excalibur, and Merlina apparently needs Sonic's help to defeat him and save Camelot. However, the Black Knight can only be defeated with 'the sacred sword'. Turns out this sword is called Caliburn, and it can talk... Don't worry though, he's one of the few characters in the game that has a decent voice actor. I say all this, but by the time the giant plot twist comes around none of it will matter.
Now, onto the gameplay. The very reason I'm typing this with just my left hand. Basically, there are lads of different missions to complete to get through the story and beyond, all accessible via a map screen. These are things like reach the goal, give the townspeople rings, defeat a certain number of enemies, beat the clock, and defeat the boss. You run through the levels just like in normal Sonic games, which is all very nice, but, of course, there is the swordplay thrown in too with this game. The swordplay itself isn't bad, it's just the way it's controlled. You just run up to an enemy, and you have a few options. Hop and waggle furiously, just waggle furiously, use homing attack and waggle furiously, jump over the enemies, or press the B button and waggle not-so-furiously, locking onto the closest enemies and taking them out one by one, but draining your soul gage. So, as you can probably tell, there's a lot of aimless waggle. the swordplay would have been better if you simply pressed a button repeatedly to swing your sword, instead of waggling around like a madman, and giving yourself a very achy arm for the next few days. So basically, the gameplay is fun, but not for your poor unfortunate arm.
When you complete a level, you gain a star rating which levels you up if you get enough, and you get followers too, which also level you up... I think... It's rather complicated and they don't really explain that stuff, but either way, you're ranked and you level up. You also get items and new stuff unlocked when you complete a level.
There's also a Blacksmith (Tails) who let's you change Sonic's running and fighting style, let's you equip items, and once you unlock Lancelot, Gawain and Percival, he can forge swords for them out of the items you collect in levels.
The multiplayer, from the looks of it, is pretty bad. It looks very slow and not-so-fun. However, I have yet to play it with Mooigi.
There's also an online mode where you can play levels, and then get your score on a leader board, along with your rank. You can also trade items with friends, but you need to share friend codes for that, so I doubt it will get used much.
The look of the game overall is very nice indeed! All the menus and stuff are very nicely presented, as are the cut scenes, which have improved masses compared to the ones in Secret Rings. The in-game graphics are really great too, and it looks like they put a lot of effort into it. You can even see each separate blade of grass blowing in the wind, and when you swing your sword, you can see all the separate blades of grass fly off into the wind. Lovely.
Overall, this is a decent game, but it's ruined by the endless waggle and the multiplayer mode. I'd recommend you rent it for a week if you're interested.
79%
