We released some new gameplay footage of Sonic and the Secret Rings last week. And here, for your viewing pleasure, it is. The quality’s not great I’m afraid - apparently Quicktime files don’t get along that well with YouTube, or something. I’ll do better next time.

Let us know what you think…

Official Trailer

Gameplay #1

Gameplay #2

Gameplay #3

Gameplay #4

Gameplay - Party Games

SEGA Europe’s PR guys teamed up with Nintendo this week to give a handful of journalists a hands-on preview session with Sonic and the Secret Rings.

The event was held at Nintendo’s neat Wii House, a smartly decorated town house right in the heart of London. In attendance was Secret Rings’ creative director Yojiro Ogawa, on hand to talk to journos and show people just how very, very good he is at the game. He really is. Very.

See him pictured above playing the game (flawlessly, naturally) for Olly, a producer at Gamer.tv. We’re not entirely sure what the look on Olly’s face means - we’re going with “coo, fast”. Ogawa-san was playing the game in order that Olly could capture the footage for his TV show, Gamer.tv, which you can catch every week in the UK on Bravo. And if you miss that, they put loads of clips from the show here, too: http://bravo.gamevideovault.com.

Also at the event were guys from the likes of CVG, GameSpot, IGN and TotalVideoGames, so keep an eye on those sites for write-ups. And, of course, I was there.

But I was late.

So late, in fact, that I missed out on the tea and biscuits. I had been given some distinctly wayward directions. To save embarrassment I’ll mention no names, but the map given to me by SEGA’s usually-brilliant European PR executive, Al Hatch, indicated that the Wii House was actually a pub a mile down the road. Al Hatch may like the pub - it may be the coolest pub in London! - but it contained neither a Wii nor a Yogiro Ogawa, or for that matter any biscuits.

In the end the ever dependable Svend Joscelyne of Sonic Stadium fame was able to guide me in by phone.

Too late by then to grab a chat with Ogawa-san, I was nonetheless able to get stuck into some Secret Rings mini-game action with Svend - who was actually there representing SPOnG - as well as guys from TotalVideoGames and IGN. I was rubbish. Svend wiped the floor with everyone.

See us at it in the picture above, with yours truly failing to glean much advantage from standing up. Pointing the Wiimote away from the sensor didn’t seem to help either, amazingly.

I’m sure you’ll do better when the game arrives in March. Check out Svend’s detailed impressions of our time with the mini-games at the Wii House over at the Sonic Stadium here.

When this game came into test and I played it a huge grin spread across my face. Why, you may ask? Well, the Nintendo Wii with its limitless possibilities has allowed SEGA to create a game that plays like the original Sonic titles, but in 3D! Out are the free-roaming environments and in has come the back-to-basics classic race-to-goal gameplay.

Loosely based on the Arabian Nights book, Sonic and the Secret Rings has diverse and beautiful landscapes for Sonic to burn across on his quest to save the world. Through the power of the ring you are bestowed, Sonic gains experience points and is able to unlock powerful new abilities. Are there other characters you ask? Don’t worry, this is purely a solo outing for our little blue freak.

The Wii remote during test allows me to feel like I am Sonic as I dodge, slide, jump and thump my way through transverse enemies and environments. That’s why I smile every day I test at work, because I can safely guarantee that you guys (the fans) won’t be disappointed. This is the true transformation of Sonic from 2D to 3D.

Worried that the game won’t be a challenge because of the intuitive Wii remote? Fear not, the game is littered with hardcore challenges that will take everything we’ve got to complete. And if that’s not enough there is a multiplayer party game mode where you whack, swing, spin and aim your Wii remote to victory with up to three friends.

Be very excited, come March 2nd. Sonic is back with a vengeance!

Marlon Andall - Assistant Team Lead, SOE QA

Hi, this is Alan and Adam of SOE QA.

We’ve been working on Sonic and the Secret Rings since it came in for testing in mid December (you may have seen the backs of our heads in Justin’s blog entry back on Dec 14). We’ve been playing SSR day in day out and we’re still not bored.

We may have completed the game a hundred times, but we still love the challenge - trying to beat each other to get the top times on each mission. There are more than 20 hours of really tough, really fast gameplay to be had. In fact I think we can safely say this is the fastest Sonic game yet.

SSR has a completely original story, loosely based on the Arabian Nights book (with some bizarre twists) and features you’ve never seen before. This is the first Sonic game to include a kind of RPG element, as Sonic levels up with experience points. The higher your level, the more skills you unlock and the faster you go! By the time you reach level 60 you’ll be running so fast your eyes will bleed. The game also looks great, not that you’ll get a chance to appreciate the scenery at the speed you’ll be running.

The Wii controls work really well. This is no port; this is a true Wii game, designed from the ground up with the Wii remote in mind. And finally, if all that wasn’t enough, there’s loads of fun to be had with the huge selection of awesome multiplayer mini games, which make great use of the Wii technology.

This is back-to-basics Sonic. It’s all about speed, the way it should be. If you remember playing Sonic the Hedgehog 2 with great nostalgia, we think you’re going to love this.

Alan and Adam - SOE QA Testers