Sonic Month: Sonic and the Black Knight (Part 1)

Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3

A point of criticism leveled at the Sonic franchise since the mid-2000s is that new games keep trying out new gameplay mechanics, at the detriment of what made older Sonic games work. There’s nothing wrong with trying out new things in a long-running franchise, as long as it doesn’t clash with the rest. Shadow the Hedgehog had third-person shooting; Sonic Unleashed had the Werehog sections, which are slow compared to Sonic’s usual fare; Sonic Chronicles is a turn-based RPG, which clashes with the very speed-oriented identity of the franchise; and the less we say about Sonic Free Riders and its use of Kinect controls, the better.

As an example, the horizontal remote for SatSR.

The Wii era of Sonic games particularly loved to toy around with controls and features, in part due to the motion controls related to the Wii remote and Nunchuk. I liked Sonic and the Secret Rings just fine. I’ve yet to play through the entirety of Unleashed. Today’s game, Sonic and the Black Knight… well, it’s complicated. Giving Sonic a sword is rather out there as an idea, but hey, if it works, there’s no issue, right? And hey, isn’t anything more awesome if you add a sword to it? Sonic + Sword, that sounds incredible, doesn’t it?

Sonic and the Black Knight is the second of two “Storybook” Sonic games, the first one being Sonic and the Secret Rings (which I reviewed for this blog on my first Sonic month, way back in 2015). Whereas the first one took inspiration from the Arabian Nights, this one draws from the Legend of King Arthur. New setting, new gameplay ideas and new controls. Once again, a concept that makes finishing the game relatively simple, but going for 100% completion a challenge that only the most determined players will take. The game has it all: A ton of collectibles, a library of the developers' content, a multiplayer option, a customizable shield design…

Of course mine was going to be blue with white lys flowers. Call me Sire Nicholas Coeurdelion. 

Time for a Hedgehog ex Machina!

This game begins at nightfall. A young wizard woman is fleeing from an evil-looking armored knight riding on horseback. The knight catches up to her and, in a swift strike, cuts into the sky itself, opening a dark wound from which similarly evil monsters bleed out. …A line this good should go in a novel, I swear. As she’s cornered, the wizard casts a spell that summons the Knight of the Wind. A portal opens above and down falls Sonic, two chilidogs following suit.

"My chilidogs, do you see this? Or am I going crazy?"

A second after Sonic ran through them, all the monsters
were destroyed. He works fast!

Although the contact with the ground is brutal, the hedgehog rushes to get his treats. There’s no way he would allow these chilidogs to be wasted! Also, the last time he got sucked into a literary world, he was asked nicely. That wizard, who looks a lot like Shahra the genie from Secret Rings by the way, is clearly in trouble. Sonic downs a chilidog in a single bite, tosses the other, and kills all the smaller monsters in a matter of seconds, catching his second hot-dog in-flight. He’s ready to rumble against the shadowy knight as well, but the wizard teleports the two of them away, causing Sonic to lose his prized snack in the dust of the gravel road.

That chilidog never got to serve its true purpose! This is the saddest love story in the entire Sonic franchise.

Arthur, and only three knights? I mean, it's not like the
Arthurian Legends ever needed more than three, am I right?

With Sonic and the wizard gone, the rider rises to three knights – really, it’s just Knuckles, Shadow and Blaze in homemade attire, on their way to the Medieval Fair – and tells them to execute the hedgehog, or his new ally, on sight. As the Black Knight flies away, the knightly cosplayers question this order, but choose to carry through regardless.

And, after a fully-animated intro, we move on to still
image cutscenes. To be fair, they do look quite nice.

Walking through a forest, the two protagonists make presentations; Sonic, meet Merlina. That’s about the least clever spin on Merlin’s name anyone could have made, even borderline lazy for the woman who's supposed to be Merlin's granddaughter, but oh well. She says that Sonic is currently in the world of the Arthurian Legends, in which she used to be the court wizard, until things went awry. She says that Arthur, or what he is right now, cannot be harmed, for he wields the scabbard of Excalibur, the legendary sword, and the scabbard grants some form of immortality. Still, Sonic is willing to help against the mysterious threat – and if it means learning swordsmanship, then so be it.

In this tutorial level, we learn how to use the new controls. The levels are on-rails: Sonic runs on a straight path all the way through. There may be areas where a path branches off, but generally the layout of the level is a clear path and it snakes around the environment. Here, he’s controlled with the Nunchuk’s control stick, jumps with the A button, and swings the sword by a shake of the Wii remote. It’s also possible to block by pressing Z. This levels lets Sonic train his sword skills on wooden targets, showing that he can swing on foot and while jumping, and he can also do combo attacks on multiple targets in a row. He can also destroy pots to collect rings. At the end of the level, based on his performance, he gets a number of stars out of 5, a total score, a Knight’s Honor bonus, a number of Followers, and special items on each level. I’ll explain those last three later. To make it short: There’s a LOT to learn about this game’s mechanics.

Sonic has a sword since the very start, even though plot-wise he only finds a sword after the second level. He is also given a special gauntlet by Merlina. When he finds a sword in a rock, he unsheathes it, and to his surprise, it talks to him! This is Caliburn, a sword with a voice and tone that oozes a holier-than-thou attitude and utter disrespect for Sonic. Right afterwards, we are put into a boss fight against the Black Knight. Sonic chases the boss, then stops nearby and clashes swords with him – this is done in a way similar to a quick-time event (QTE) that involves shaking the Wii remote. After three clashes, the boss can be struck.

You'll be shaking the Wii remote a lot in this game.
I hope you have a strong arm.

When the Black Knight is defeated, he comes back to life thanks to the magical scabbard, and flees. Merlina suggests we go see Nimue, the Lady of the Lake, who originally gave Arthur the sword. However, Caliburn claims it has become blunt from spending so long in stone. Oh, blunt it is, alright, the damned thing. It thinks it’s edgy, but really it’s so dull. Anyhow, we need to make a detour by Camelot, so the local Blacksmith can sharpen the blade.

BUZZSAW!

This level features a lot of enemies as well as villagers, and this is where the Knight’s Honor and Followers matter. The game keeps track of all your actions during a level, how you fight enemies, what you collect, and so on. The Knight’s Honor bonus at the end reflects whether you acted in a virtuous way during the level, or if you were reckless and dangerous. Obviously, the villagers are not enemies, so hurting them is a no-no.

You look like someone who needs 20 Rings.
That's good, I have more than 20 Rings!
Here, have 20 Rings. Now, do I get a gift in return?

This one saw Sonic had only 12 Rings, and went "No! Don't talk to me!
You're poor like a peasant! I need 20 Rings!"

In fact, some villagers will have requests for Sonic, which he can listen to with Z. They always request 20 Rings, and if he has enough rings, he'll transfer them after a quick sequence of QTEs. This will boost your Knight’s Honor bonus and number of followers. During the game, you begin as a simple Knave and go up in knightly ranks, from Loyal Page to Hardy Squire and so on, all the way to Knight of the Round Table. This happens through an experience system where your Followers are your EXP. You will usually gain a few followers per level, but it’s possible to gain a lot more depending on how good you are at beating a level, up to the cap indicated on that level.

"Yeah, it talks. Can you plug its gob? It spent the last hour insulting me."

He almost looks like the Sonic Boom version of  Tails with these goggles on.

Sonic gets to the Blacksmith, and surprise! It’s Tails! He offers to sharpen Caliburn’s blade. Meanwhile, Sonic can go and practice some new skills. Reaching the Blacksmith in Camelot actually opened the remainder of the abilities available in the game. On the menu before a level, it’s possible to change Sonic’s playstyle. He defaults to Knight Style when the game begins, and it’s a style that balances power and speed fairly well. Later, two other possibilities are unlocked: Paladin Style, which focuses on attack power at the detriment of speed, and the Cavalier Style, which does the opposite, higher speed but less power. A Style’s proficiency is improved by completing levels and gathering the Stars by performing well in any stage while using that Style. Note that as he improves his proficiency in each of these Styles, Sonic also unlocks more talents and abilities, some of which are unique to a style or another.

Meh... It's a chilidog, but it's not THE Lost Chilidog.
I shall forever mourn that one.

Also at the end of a level, Sonic will have gathered a few items, which he can then Identify using Identification points (which, I believe, are increased based on how well you finished the level). A lot of these items would be vendor trash if you could sell them, but Treasures also include special Achievements and equipment items that grant Sonic some bonuses while he goes through his adventure. Those special items can be equipped at the Blacksmith’s forge.

Finally, at last, getting to the Blacksmith unlocks Sonic’s new ability, the Soul Surge. As he kills enemies (and sometimes by doing other things), the heroic hedgehog will see a gauge fill up at the bottom of the screen. When it’s sufficiently full, he’ll be able to use the Soul Surge, which makes it much easier to defeat enemies, bump objects, or move faster through a level depending on the situation.

A whole new type of homing attack!

Sonic fighting Shadow. Yep, some things never change.

Got all that? Good! It’s a lot of gameplay elements, but it’s all things one needs to learn in order to really master this game. I wasn't joking, there’s so much to keep track of. Speaking of, after a few levels in which Sonic gets to practice with the Soul Surge, we get a level in the third area, the Deep Woods, which allows him to put all those skills to the test. However, before Sonic can reach the lake, he is ambushed by Shadow. Oh, pardon me, it’s actually “Sir Lancelot”. Because y’know, Shadow needed the extra layer of edgy. It’s not a very tough boss battle if everything’s been learned properly - it does shake things up a bit by featuring a more complex form of sword dueling, but it's not too diffcult just yet.

And now he's trying to flee from Amy!
Once again - some things never change.

After Lancelot is defeated, Caliburn asks Sonic why he didn’t off his opponent, and Sonic just says that it’s not a thing he does. Considering the 562 times he let Eggman go free, I can confirm. He gets to the lake and meets Nimue, portrayed by Amy, which of course makes the blue hero step back. Oh no! Even here, she’s inescapable! That said, in the little Arthurian play they’re doing, she has the best costume so far. Nimue wastes no time discussing the topic, feeling guilty from giving Arthur the magical scabbard in the first place. She is willing to help Sonic, but only if he proves his worth as a hero by accomplishing a handful of knightly tasks. Give Rings to villagers, free some imprisoned villagers, destroy the monsters that emanated from the Black Knight’s darkness. Why not, maybe that blade will stop calling Sonic Knave after this.

Hot damn, Camelot is swarming with demon knights!

After these four missions have been completed, Sonic comes across a young child crying. The kid says that most of his village, including his parents, were captured by a giant dragon. Of course, Sonic is always eager to defend the widow and the orphan- No, wait! Scratch that! Very wrong phrasing here! Ready to help anyone in distress in spite of the deadline Nimue gave him, Sonic heads over to Titanic Lake. After making his way through, he encounters Knuckles-er, I mean, "Sir Galahad", who really is the perfect fit for the Emerald-guarding echidna. Or, is it the echidna who is the perfect fit for the original Sir Galahad of King Arthur’s tale?

Have I mentioned that the armors are actually pretty cool?
Though it is jarring to see these guys wearing, well...
any clothing at all besides shoes and gloves, actually.

And now he's fighting Knuckles? Welp, looks like I'm
gonna say it again: Some things really never change!

This boss fight is a lot harder than the one against Lancelot; Galahad has a lot of new tricks, he protects himself more often and is less predictable. We also have another instance of quick-time events, which happens when Sonic clashes blades with a knight. You only get a second or two, maybe even less, to swing the Wii remote when asked. It's already tricky, but the game may not register the motion, or register more than one, which is the biggest issue for motion-based QTEs. Makes these battles a lot harder for the player.

After Galahad is defeated, he attempts suicide for failing his King (Geez, that’s dark for a Sonic game), but Sonic whacks his blade away and says that there’s more to being a knight than simply serving a king. By the way, whenever Sonic defeats a Knight of the Round Table, he earns their weapon.

Hey, weren’t we supposed to rescue people from a dragon? Our tour of this fantasy land now takes us to Crystal Cave… in Part 2!