Sonic and the Black Knight Reveiw

Rank...at the end.
What good is a review that goes on forever?!

Summary

The second edition to the storybook series had many shockingly good moments.

Characters and Voice Acting

The 4kids group's last appearance would be a spectacular send-off. Jason Griffith's Sonic voice was perfect. Thanks to both script and good acting, the "other versions" of the characters (Lady of the Lake, Lancelot, Percival, etc) are able to sound similar to their normal counterparts but with more nobility or maturity. The new comers (voicing Caliburn, Merlina, etc) also do well.

"King Arthur" was kind of a lame villain, but I was very happy with the later plot-twist. I really like Merlina and how she is relatable despite being in the wrong.

Caliburn seemed strange at first, but I like how unique his character is. No, I'm not talking about the fact that he is a talking sword. He becomes Sonic's mentor, a position that has never really been seen in the games before.

I was glad this game included more "other version" characters than Secret Rings. It's both comical and interesting to see these characters. It was especially nice to see Percival (Blaze) since she's usually side-lined in favor of Silver. Being able to play as these rivals was a welcome surprise.

Sonic himself was on point. He was showing-off making jokes, and suddenly he was serious.  Refusing to give in, Sonic was willing to fight until the end. Plus, he actually proved he has the chivalry of a Knight. This version of Sonic really had what it took to be a hero. 

Plot

The story has elements similar to Sonic and the Secret Rings, but also keeps itself unique. As mentioned, the characters are on point and the dialogue is great.

The beginning cutscene is epic, but the beginning of the game is a bit slow. Time is taken to establish elements, which is good but still "slow" for a Sonic game. The scene with Merlina and the flower was perfect, and introducing Caliburn was humorous.

The rivals help the story pick up a bit, and the false climax with "King Arthur" is similar to the Secret Rings, as expected. Still, it doesn't feel as if everything is resolved...

Because that's not the end! Black Knight is similar, but not equal to the Secret Rings. Merlina takes a stance that sets up the main theme of wanting an "eternal" world and Sonic trying to be "the bad guy" to stop her. The ending is satisfying and handled better than the "mountain of handkerchiefs" line from Sonic and the Secret Rings. The bonus with Sonic telling the story to Amy is also a delight. 

Music

The music matches the setting and takes on an "older" mood while keeping a heroic theme. Though the instrumentals are appropriate, they are generally slower than that of a typical Sonic game.

Meanwhile the vocal tracks are outstanding. Crush 40 created the perfect theme for the game, "Knight of the Wind," as well as the beautiful closing, "Live Life." "With Me" and other songs in the game also fit quite well.

Graphics and Visuals

The graphics for gameplay are barely an improvement over 2007's Sonic and the Secret Rings. Nasty. A shame because the architectural level design is quite nice.

The CG cutscenes are alright but have not aged as well as others from around the same time.

The 2-D cutscenes are beautiful, though. I like the similarity to Sonic and the Secret Rings, but also the contrast like the darker, inkier look. As with the last, it's a brilliant way of tieing in the "Story" and not having uglier, poorer quality scenes. It's reasons like these that make the storybook series missed.

The gallery also has some nice 2-D unlockables.

Gameplay and Controls

It's true, gameplay is not very smooth. Being on the Wii always seems to bring up this problem...The remote as well as the nunchuck must be used, which is a bit of a hassle.

The similarities in style to Sonic and the Secret Rings (in this area) were probably a mistake.

It takes a while to adapt to the different controls, swords, and styles. It takes too long, especially for a new player. Generally the boss fights are easy enough, though, to balance this.

The game is slower than a normal Sonic game but faster than comparable sword-based Wii games like The Force Unleashed.

Generally the missions are less annoying than in Sonic and the Secret Rings. Some of the differences between characters were awesome, but others (like the jump) could be hard to adjust to. There should have been more instructions explaining moves (like Gawain's wall-climb). The many different swords available were a plus.

The combination of typical Sonic speed and the newer, slicing fight element was interesting, but could have used improvement. Still not as bad as critics claim, though.

Final Thoughts

• This story is beautiful. The art is beautiful. The characters are perfect. I doubt anyone who actually played through could hate the game. 
• It's hard to believe Sega finally made Sonic 100% in-character and perfect...only to give the character a massive rude, egotistic, and over-joking personality change.    
• And because of Sega's over-reliance on critic opinion in the 2010s, "Black Knight Sonic" hasn't been seen since 2009 and "Colors Sonic" was permanently rooted into the character. 
• I'd like to see more characters like Merlina, who are relatable but misguided. A combination of Merlina and Mephiles would be very intriguing. 
• Along those lines Eggman's absence was a slight bother story-wise since he's usually always there...
• It would have been cool to see Jet and Silver, too, but I'm glad they stuck with Shadow, Knuckles, and Blaze when they decided to narrow it down.     
• IGN is an outrageous crime. 

Rakning (S is best, E is worst): A

The story is one of the best; the cutscenes were beautiful; the voice acting was great; the new characters were unique. I'd like to give this game an S. But I can only ignore gameplay so far.

It's okay after a while, but it doesn't have the same flow as an S-rank level game, so for being almost perfect (but not quite), Sonic and the Black Knight receives an A.

AS I SIT. AS I STAND. BY THE TABLE I COMMAND...