Sonic and the Secret Rings is a three-dimensional platform and action game featuring an on-rails style of movement. Sonic the Hedgehog, the series' main character, is the game's only player character. He is controlled exclusively with the Wii Remote, which is held horizontally like a traditional gamepad.[1] Players adjust his forward movement by tilting the controller. He runs along a predesignated path; players jump and brake using corresponding face buttons.[2] Thrusting the Wii Remote forwards allows Sonic to perform a homing attack, a mid-air move that targets and damages enemies in his path.[3]
Like in other games in the series, Sonic collects rings scattered throughout levels; contact with certain obstacles and enemies scatters them away, and Sonic dies if he touches an enemy without any rings. Unlike previous titles, Secret Rings does not feature a life counter or game over screen, but instead Sonic reappears at the last visited checkpoint after dying, although the player will have to restart a mission if they fail a specified objective.[4] The game contains 110 missions (including boss battles) over the course of eight levels. New missions, cutscenes, and sometimes new levels are unlocked by completing missions. Successful missions earn Sonic experience points, which advance him levels.[5]
Sonic has 104 special moves called "skills" that are unlocked upon leveling up or reaching certain points in the story. The player can distribute these skills to four "Skill Rings", which the player selects before starting a mission. Skills can provide Sonic with improved movement, offensive, and defensive capabilities, as well as special attacks.[6] Skills are generally used by depleting the "Soul Gauge", which is slowly filled by collecting pearls scattered throughout the levels.[7] Notable skills Sonic can obtain are the "Speed Break", which greatly increases his speed, and "Time Break" which slows down time, allowing the player to dodge obstacles more easily.
Secret Rings features three game modes: "Adventure", "Party", and "Special Book". The story is played in the Adventure mode. The Party mode features multiplayer gameplay for up to four players simultaneously,[8] in which players spar in a turn-based tournament of motion control-based minigames. The "Special Book" mode displays the game's 225 unlockable bonuses, won by completing levels quickly and collecting "Fire Souls"—small fiery objects scattered throughout the levels. These bonuses are development documentaries, interviews, concept art, in-game cutscenes, and game music.
