Sonic and the Black Knight

Sonic and the Black Knight is a game within the Sonic the Hedgehog series, released exclusively on Wii as the second entry in the Storybook series, following on from Sonic and the Secret Rings. It is also the 4th Sonic game with an rating of E+10 (5th if counting SEGA Super Stars Tennis) Set in the world of King Arthur, the game combines Sonic's trademark speed with a new swordfighting system, making use of the Wii Remote's motion-sensing functionality in a style similar to The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess and Soul Calibur Legends.

Plot
A sorceress named Merlina, granddaughter of the sorcerer Merlin, summons Sonic to help free the mystical realm of King Arthur, who has been possessed by an unknown evil that comes from Excalibur's scabbard, and is now ruling the realm as the tyrannical Black Knight. Sonic's speed alone will not end The Black Knight's reign, so he must take up the talking sword, Caliburn, in order to break Arthur's curse and save the kingdom.

Part 1
While on the run from the Black Knight and his demonic minions, Merlina is cornered and, before she is taken, performs a summoning ritual that brings Sonic to her world. Sonic defeats the Black Knight's minions before Merlina teleports them both away in a whirlwind. The Black Knight sends out the three Knights of the Round Table, who are still loyal to the Black Knight despite his evil, to find and kill Sonic and Merlina on sight. Merlina explains that the Black Knight, once King Arthur, is immortal, as he possesses the scabbard of Excalibur. After training Sonic in the art of swordsmanship, Merlina explains that King Arthur was once a wise and just ruler, but became corrupted by the power of immortality granted by having possession of Excalibur's scabbard. Sonic acquires Caliburn, a talking sword who is highly skeptical of Sonic's abilities, and they head off on their quest while Merlina goes into hiding (Merlina explains that she would be recognized in town). They first find the blacksmith (Tails' counterpart in the game) in the Castle Town, in order to sharpen Caliburn's blade. The blacksmith recognizes Caliburn, but cannot remember where he has heard of it's name before.

Sonic heads off to see Nimue, the Lady of the Lake (Amy's counterpart in the game) and previous owner of the scabbard of Excalibur, to find out how to stop the Black Knight; on his way, he encounters and defeats Lancelot, one of the Knights of The Round Table, and claims his sword. The Lady reveals that she will only assist Sonic when he becomes a true knight and presents him with three tests to be completed in three days. After completing them, Sonic soon encounters a crying child whose village was abducted by a dragon and decides to help her. Sonic soon encounters and defeats Gawain, and takes his sword before he can kill himself out of shame with it, asking him if there is more to being a knight than serving a king. With the townsfolk saved, Nimue reveals that she was the crying child and was testing Sonic, and that he can blunt the scabbard's power by retreiving the sacred swords wielded by the Knights of the Round Table. Afterwards, Sonic meets Percival and defeats her before saving her from falling from a cliff, an act that finally earns him Caliburn's respect; and the title of "Knight of the Wind". Merlina has seen those events from her reflecting pool, and arrives to inform Sonic that the Black Knight is on Faraway Avalon. Sonic and Caliburn pursue and defeat the Black Knight with the power of the three sacred swords.

Part 2
Having fought and defeated him by using the four Sacred Swords (including Caliburn), Merlina reveals to Sonic and The Knights of the Round Table that King Arthur was an illusion conjured by her grandfather, Merlin. She then takes Excalibur's scabbard to become all-powerful, so she can be the new queen.

Sonic and the Knights of the Round Table are forced to flee and, with Nimue's help, set off to use the sacred swords to defeat Merlina by putting up a barrier around the kingdom,which is then revealed that is too weak. After the four swords form a barrier around the castle, Sonic confronts Merlina, who explains that she knows the kingdom will soon come to an end, and wants to make it last forever. Sonic battles her, but is outmatched; in the process, Caliburn is broken in half, and Sonic takes a very severe beating. Nimue and the Knights watch Sonic's efforts, and shout at him to run. Sonic refuses, resolving to stop Merlina no matter what. Sonic's determination, combined with the power of the sacred swords, repairs Caliburn, and the duo transform into Excalibur-Sonic and the true Excalibur, respectively, while Merlina transforms into a monstrous creature known as "The Dark Queen". After a long battle, Sonic and Caliburn manage to defeat Merlina. Though Merlina continues to lament the fate of the kingdom, Sonic gives her a flower and tells her that, while all worlds have to end, they merely need to live life to the fullest in the time that they have; reminiscing about her grandfather, Merlina takes his advice to her heart.

Afterwards, Lancelot says that the Knights of the Round Table will have to disband now that King Arthur is gone, but Caliburn reminds them that he is the one who chooses the one to be king; thus, Sonic is the true King Arthur. After the credits roll, Sonic, who has been taken back to his world, explains his journey to Amy Rose. She then complains that he is lying and forgot about their date, then proceeds to attack him with her Piko Piko hammer. The game then shows a book titled "King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table" change its title to "Sonic and the Black Knight", the same process in the previous game, Sonic and the Secret Rings.

Characters
Sonic is the main playable character. While Gawain, Percival and Lancelot are playable characters, they will be optional. Other non-playable characters include Merlina and Caliburn the Sword. Like Ali Baba and Sinbad in Secret Rings, Sonic's friends will assume Arthurian personas in the game. In the latest issue of Nintendo Power, it has been revealed that Knuckles, Shadow, and Blaze are Knights of the Round Table. Amy appears as Lady of The Lake while Tails appears as a local blacksmith. Images of Silver as a knight have been seen on the official website.

Gameplay


Gameplay for Sonic and the Black Knight differs from traditional games in the Sonic series by mixing in the new element of swordplay, along with the traditional Sonic platforming and speed. Swordplay is implemented through the Wii Remote and hence, similar to Sonic and the Secret Rings, however players no longer control Sonic's movement on rails as the team say they have learned from the biggest criticisms about it. The gameplay is mainly be 3D, but occasionally the camera will shift to a side-scrolling perspective for traditional 2D gameplay.

Swordplay is implemented so that players can slice through enemies without slowing down, but when faced with more formidable enemies, players will engage in advanced swordsplay, able to thrust, parry, and even perform a buzz-saw maneuver mid-jump. The sword is not only used for combat; players may thrust it through a wall while falling to slide from it.

The stages feature townspeople that the player can choose to help or injure; these actions and the player's deeds will be judged at the end of each stage, updating the player's "Knight's Honor" bonus. Helping the townspeople will boost this bonus, while hurting them will make it drop. By helping out grateful citizens, players will be able to purchase new items from them, acquiring items such as gauntlets, magical tomes, and new swords. There are about two hundred items in the game, some of which can be gained by opening treasure chests in the stages. An online mode allows treasures to be traded.

The game changes the traditional level items, such as springs and speed pads, into "fairies". These fairies come in varying colors; yellow fairies are used to gain rings, blue fairies are used as springs and as speed boosts, and red fairies are used to fill up the "Soul Gauge". This gauge, much like the previous entry's "Soul Gauge", is also filled by defeating enemies, and is used to unleash a powerful attack called "Soul Surge". Besides the rails from previous games, players can fire a ballista and then grind across its rope. There are also unlockable abilities that you can acquire through the different missions.

The mission-based system from Sonic and the Secret Rings also returns, but the missions are easier to complete. Each stage consists of multiple missions which feature different stipulations. The skill system from the aforementioned game also returns, but were reviewed to adjust any problems that were present in that game; the skill system is also designed so as not to interfere with the game's tempo.

Multiplayer
There are 12 playable characters in the game. There are various mulitplayer battle modes in the game; playable characters include:


 * Sonic the Hedgehog
 * Sir Lancelot/Shadow
 * Sir Gawain/Knuckles
 * Sir Percival/Blaze
 * Blacksmith
 * Amy Rose
 * Sir Galahad
 * Sir Lamorak
 * King Arthur

Music


Veteran composer Jun Senoue returns to compose music for this installment, mixing familiar Sonic themes with a Celtic style. In addition, his band, Crush 40, will be returning to perform the main theme of the game, "Knight of the Wind".

British J-pop recording artist Bentley Jones (aka Lee Brotherton), who previously worked on Sonic the Hedgehog, Shadow the Hedgehog, Sonic Rivals and other series contributions, is confirmed to be producing and performing a track for the game's soundtrack.

Tommy Tallarico has the game listed on his website as one of the games he is working on. Richard Jacques is confirmed to be making the music for the cutscenes according to Official Nintendo Magazine. Howard Drossin has also listed the game as one is is working on on his ReverbNation profile.

The song, With Me is the final boss song composed by All Ends. This song can be known as Excalibur-Sonic's theme or the Dark Queen's theme.

The ending theme for Sonic and the Black Knight is Live Life, which can be known as Sonic and Merlina's theme and Crush 40 is the one to be performing for this song. This song gives what a romantic edge rather than a rock style to it, other than other Sonic Songs.

The character themes from Sonic Adventure 2 and Sonic Adventure are featured in the game, as well.

According to CDJapan, two soundtracks are in production. The first, Face to Faith will contain 10 songs from the game, while Tales of Knighthood will feature over 70 songs. Both are slated for a release of April 8, 2009.

Reviews
Sonic and the Black Knight has received generally mixed reactions from game critics, with a Metacritic average of 55 out of 100, based on 45 reviews, and a GameRankings average of 55.91%, based on 34 reviews.

Nintendo Power gave the game a 8/10, stating the gameplay is "pulled off in a fine fashion", but also said the main story is "fairly short". IGN gave the game a 3.9/10, praising the game's visuals and the overall presentation, but went on to state that the gameplay was "broken" and cited the controls as "unresponsive". Famitsu gave the game a 26/40, comprised of two sevens and two sixes.[citation needed] GameDaily gave the game a 7/10, citing that "repetitive combat, easy missions and limited controls keep it from greatness," but acknowledged its "attractive presentation, decent combat and bonus content." The British Official Nintendo Magazine gave the game 78%, praising the games visuals and soundtrack, but criticizing the sword play mechanics and multiplayer element. GameSpot also notes that while the sword is useful slashing through enemies, there is a noticeable delay from the time The player swings the Wii Remote and the time Sonic swings.

Artwork Contest
Sega of America held a competition for fan artwork of Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Shadow, Blaze, and other favorites. The top 20 of the US, Europe, and Japan will be placed in Sonic and the Black Knight for display, and their artists will win a free copy of the game. Artists had to be a registered user on Sega's website to submit art. The contest is now closed.

Merchandise
Several toy websites appear to have pre-orders ready to go for Sonic and the Black Knight action figures, with a June-July 2009 release date.

According to CDJapan, two soundtracks are in production. The first, Face to Faith will contain 10 songs from the game, while Tales of Knighthood will feature over 70 songs. Both are slated for a release of April 8, 2009.

Australlian EBGames are currently offering toy swords along with pre-orders of the game.

Trivia

 * In Shadow the Hedgehog, Sonic says that he would never use a weapon in his life, although he probably means firearms.
 * During some scenes, certain character songs from Sonic Adventure (Knuckles/Gawain, Amy, and the Blacksmith/Tails) and Sonic Adventure 2 (Shadow/Lancelot), play in the background. Lancelot, Gawain, and Percival have medals which are used as equipment that change the background to their respecting themes from the selected videogames below.
 * Knuckles/Gawain: 'Unknown from M.E.' from Sonic Adventure.
 * Shadow/Lancelot: 'All Hail Shadow' from Sonic the Hedgehog 2006.
 * Blaze/Percival: 'Vela Nova' from Sonic Rush.
 * Sonic the Hedgehog: 'What I'm Made of' from Sonic Heroes.


 * The Dark Queen is the first, true female villain in the video game series. One can include Rouge, however she served more as an anti-hero than a real villain.
 * Contrary to popular belief, Sonic and the Black Knight is by no means the first game of the Sonic series to omit Dr. Eggman. Neither of Tails' spinoff games featured the Fat Man, and nor did the previous Storybook title, Sonic and the Secret Rings (it featured King Shahryār, who takes after Eggman in appearence only). Eggman is, however, given a minor reference in Sonic and the Black Knight; the Joker Card, one of the game's many collectable items, has the Eggman Empire's symbol printed on it. Eggman is also seen on some of the winning Fan Art of this game.
 * When you advance in the game, the items of Sonic Unleashed appear. They are: springs, dash panels, Goal Rings, rings and Eggman flying robots. It also appear some items of Sonic and the Secret Rings that are the Platinum ring and some cameos of the seven world rings as collectable items.
 * The Eggman flying robots are defeated with a Homing dash instead of using the sword.
 * There also appears to be the dash ring of Sonic and the Secret Rings with a little change; instead of being mechanical, it is a ring of white fairies.
 * The apples in the tutorial are like the special gauge balls from Sonic And The Secret Rings
 * When Sonic and Caliburn are about to encounter the Dragon in the Dragon's lair Sonic says 'Yeah,this brings back memories; except it was with Shadow.' A possible reference to the battle with Biolizard in Sonic Adventure 2.
 * This is the first Sonic game where Sonic is actualy seen eating Chili dogs.
 * Jet the Hawk appears for the first time outside of the Sonic Riders series.
 * Sonic`s pose is the same pose he did for his Super Smash Bros. Brawl artwork but it`s his left hand in front & it was his right in the Super Smash Bros. Brawl artwork.
 * This is the second game Sonic starts falling from the sky, the first being Sonic Unleashed.
 * Some of the winning fanart in the game can be seen on the website DeviantArt.
 * All five of the Knights and Sonic have some blood relation to another (in terms of the Aruthrean Legends):
 * Sonic (Arthur)/Gawain: Uncle & Nephew
 * Lancelot/Galahad: Father & son
 * Percival/Lamorak: Siblings