Sonic and the Black Knight

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Sonic and the Black Knight
Developer(s)	Sonic Team
Publisher(s)	Sega
Designer(s)	Tetsu Katano (producer/director) Morio Kishimoto (lead game design)
Artist(s)	Yoshitaka Miura (art director/cut scene artist/promotional visuals) Yuji Uekawa (cut scene artist/promotional visuals)
Composer(s)	Jun Senoue (sound director) Tommy Tallarico Richard Jacques Howard Drossin Yutaka Minobe Lennie Moore Hikaru Tanimoto
Engine	PhysX
Platform(s)	Wii
Release date(s)	JP March 12, 2009 NA March 3, 2009[1] PAL March 13, 2009[2] AUS March 12, 2009[3]
Genre(s)	Adventure, Action
Mode(s)	Single-player, Multi-player
Rating(s)	ESRB: E10+ CERO: A PEGI: 12+
Media	Wii Optical Disc
Input methods	Wii Remote, Nunchuk[2]

Sonic and the Black Knight (ソニックと暗黒の騎士, Sonikku to Ankoku no Kishi^?) is a title within the Sonic the Hedgehog series, released exclusively on Wii as the second entry in the Sonic Storybook series, following on from Sonic and the Secret Rings.^[2] The game is directed by Tetsu Katano, who was the lead programmer of the Sonic Adventure titles and Sonic Heroes.

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.^[4]

[edit] Gameplay

Sonic grinding on the railroad

Gameplay for Sonic and the Black Knight differs from traditional games in the Sonic series by mixing in the new element of swordplay with the traditional Sonic platforming and speed. Swordplay is implemented through the Wii Remote. Gameplay is more similar to Sonic Unleashed than Sonic and the Secret Rings; Sonic's movement is controlled with the analog stick as he is on a set course, and gameplay is mainly 3D.

The stages feature townspeople that the player can harm and some that Sonic can interact with; these actions and the player's deeds will be judged at the end of each stage, updating his "knight ranking" accordingly. By interacting with these characters the player may do a quick-time button input. Doing so correctly will take away twenty of Sonic's rings and give them to the townsperson, and in return, he shall receive a gift at the end of the stage. In some stages, this is required to give a specific amount of rings to townspeople before reaching the goal. In stages where this is not required the townsperson will reward Sonic with an item. There are about 200 items in the game, some of which can be gained by opening treasure chests in the stages. Any items collected during a stage must be identified at the end of the stage by using Sonic's "ID points" Rarer items cost more ID points than others. An online mode allows treasures to be traded between registered friends.

The game changes the traditional level items, such as springs and speed pads, into "fairies." These fairies come in varying colors; Yellow elements will be used as a group of one to twenty rings, and Blue fairies will be used as speed boosts and springs, and Red will be used to fill the "Soul gauge." This gauge is filled by defeating enemies and collecting Red Fairies, and is used to unleash a powerful lock-down attack, Soul Surge. Oddly, on the first few stages, the "pearls" from the prequel game (Sonic and the Secret Rings) appear as apples, but then don't appear again.

The skill system from Sonic and the Secret Rings also returns, but has been 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. Each playable character has three styles to chose from. At first, only the balanced "Knight" style is available, but later, "Cavalier" and "Paladin" styles are unlocked. They deal with the aspects of speed and power, respectively. As levels are completed, the player gains a number of "Followers" that is used as Experience and as the number of followers goes up, the number of skills the player has in a certain style are increased. For other characters beside Sonic, their styles are not increased, rather, their swords have their abilities and a sword's skills get better.

Once a certain point in the story is reached, Sir Gawain (Knuckles), Sir Lancelot (Shadow), and Dame Percival (Blaze) will be playable from that point on. They each have their own characteristics; for instance, Knuckles has dual swords that double as boomerangs and has the ability to glide, Blaze can surround herself with fire and use more lunge attacks than Sonic, and Shadow can use Chaos Powers. In story mode, they can use different swords from their original swords, unlike Sonic, who can only wield Caliburn. And instead of their styles getting better, their swords get stronger. Silver the Hedgehog plays the role as Sir Galahad (the son of Sir Lancelot) and Jet the Hawk plays as Sir Lamorak, but they only appear in Multiplayer.

[edit] Multiplayer

Up to four players can play, choosing between one of 12 characters to partake in a number of different kinds of battles. Characters include Sonic, Lancelot, Gawain, Percival, Blacksmith(Tails), Amy (Oddly Enough Amy's counterpart is not playable in multiplayer), Galahad, Lamorack, Shadow, Knuckles, Blaze, & King Aurthur. It should also be noted that Knuckles, Shadow, and Blaze still wield their Arthurian swords in both forms.

[edit] Plot

A wizard named Merlina, granddaughter of the original 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.

[edit] Story

[edit] Part 1

While on the run from the Black Knight and his demonic minions, Merlina, the royal wizard who is the granddaughter of Merlin, is cornered, and before she is taken, performs a summoning ritual that brings Sonic to her world (an interesting thing to note is that the spell Merlina used was the same incantation Erazor Djinn used in Sonic and the Secret Rings to summon the Ifrit boss) ^[5]. Though initially confused, Sonic quickly realizes what is going on and effortlessly defeats the Black Knight's minions before an awestruck Merlina ^[6], but she stops him from attacking the Black Knight himself and teleports them both away.^[7] The Black Knight sends out three Knights of the Round Table, who are still loyal to the Black Knight despite his corruption, to find and kill Sonic and Merlina on sight; though two of them, Gawain (Knuckles) and Percival (Blaze), are uneasy about these orders, the Knights choose to follow them.^[8]

Elsewhere, Sonic asks Merlina why she stopped him from attacking the Black Knight, and she explains that the Black Knight, once King Arthur, is invincible, as he possesses the scabbard of Excalibur; Merlina decides to discuss more as they go along, and the two introduce themselves.^[9] 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.^[10] Sonic acquires Caliburn, a sentient talking sword who is highly skeptical of Sonic's abilities, and then get into a fight with the attacking Black Knight. However, they cannot defeat him, and the Black Knight departs, deciding that Sonic is not worth his time. Sonic and Caliburn head off on their quest while Merlina goes into hiding.^[11] They first find the blacksmith (Tails), in the Camelot castle, in order to scrape off the rust that Caliburn has. The blacksmith recognizes Caliburn, but cannot remember where he has heard of it before.

Sonic heads off to see Nimue, the Lady of the Lake and previous owner of the scabbard, to find out how to stop the Black Knight; on his way, he encounters and defeats Lancelot, and claims his sword. Nimue reveals that she will only assist Sonic when he becomes a true knight, and gives him three trials to complete within twenty-four hours; Sonic soon encounters and defeats Gawain. Believing that he has failed his king and disgraced himself by being defeated by Sonic, Gawain attempts to commit suicide, but Sonic stops him, telling him that there is more to being a knight than serving a king. Nimue reveals that she was testing Sonic, and that he can seal the scabbard's power by using the sacred swords used by the Knights of the Round Table. Finally, Sonic meets Percival and defeats her, subsequently saving her as she falls off of a cliff; with this, Caliburn finally accepts Sonic as his wielder. Merlina arrives to inform Sonic that the Black Knight is on Avalon Island. Sonic and Caliburn pursue and defeat the Black Knight.

[edit] Part 2

Upon defeating the Black Knight, Sonic watches as he mysteriously disappears as though he were one of the Underworld creatures. Meanwhile, back at the castle, the Knights of the Round Table confront Merlina, and Sonic arrives and informs them what he saw. Merlina reveals that King Arthur was merely an illusion conjured by her grandfather, Merlin, and then takes the scabbard, gaining great power.

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 put up a barrier around the kingdom to prevent the spread of Merlina's dark magic. They successfully do so, but the barrier is too weak to suppress Merlina's spell. Afterwards, Sonic and Caliburn confront Merlina, who explains the tragedies that will befall the kingdom; the world of King Arthur is destined to end in ruin and warfare, and Merlina hopes to use the scabbard's power to stop these events from coming to pass and make her world eternal (thus making her more of a tragic villain). Enraged and disgusted at Merlina's willingness to sacrifice innocent people to relieve her own sadness, Sonic turns a deaf ear to her pleas and battles her, but is outmatched; Merlina nearly kills him and breaks Caliburn in half. Nimue and the Knights watch Sonic's efforts, and shout at him to run; Sonic refuses, resolving to stop Merlina no matter what.^[12] Sonic's determination 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 the flower previously shown in the game and tells her that, while all worlds have to end, they merely need to live life to the fullest until that day comes; reminiscing about her grandfather, Merlina takes his advice to heart.^[13]

Afterwards, Lancelot says that the Knights of the Round Table need to disband due to the absence of a true King Arthur. Caliburn then reminds everyone that he is a sacred sword, and that it is he who will decide who the true King Arthur is; this means that Sonic himself is the true King Arthur. Though shocked, all those present promptly bow down to Sonic, and the credits begin to roll. After the credits, Sonic, who has been taken back to his world, explains his journey to Amy Rose, who then complains that he is lying and forgot about their date, then proceeding to attack him with her hammer. The game then shows a book titled "King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table" change into "Sonic and the Black Knight", akin to what happened in the previous game, Sonic and the Secret Rings.

[edit] Characters

• Sonic the Hedgehog
• Caliburn
• Merlina
• Black Knight / King Arthur
• Shadow the Hedgehog / Sir Lancelot
• Knuckles the Echidna / Sir Gawain
• Blaze the Cat / Sir Percival
• Amy Rose / Lady of the Lake
• Miles "Tails" Prower / Local Blacksmith
• Silver the Hedgehog / Sir Galahad
• Jet the Hawk / Sir Lamorak

Amy Rose, Blacksmith, Sir Galahad, Sir Lamorak, and King Arthur are only playable in the multiplayer modes of the game. Also, after the three Knights of the Round Table are fought, their original characters (Shadow, Knuckles, and Blaze) are unlocked for multiplayer.

[edit] Music

Face to Faith is the official vocal songs soundtrack for the video game Sonic and the Black Knight that was released on April 8, 2009 in Sega Direct Stores in Japan. It features five vocal tracks that were featured in the game, with "Seven Rings in Hand ~Fairytales in Trance~" by Bentley Jones and "With Me ~Massive Power Mix~" by Crush 40 as brand new bonus tracks created especially for the album.^[14][15][16]

Tales of Knighthood: Sonic and the Black Knight Original Soundtrax is the licensed soundtrack of the 2009 video game Sonic and the Black Knight. It was released by Wave Music Entertainment on April 8, 2009 in Japan's Sega Direct Stores only.

According to text accompanying a video on Crush 40's official YouTube page, a third soundtrack album will be released in North America and Europe, making Sonic and the Black Knight the first game in the series to have a soundtrack album released outside of Japan since Sonic Heroes.

The most curious thing about this game's soundtrack is the Molten Mine's background music. It's a rearranged version of the "Action Theme" from Black Dawn, a old (and completely unrelated to the Sonic universe) Playstation and Sega Saturn videogame released in 1996. The music itself was originally made by Tommy Tallarico.

[edit] Reception

Sonic and the Black Knight has received below-average reviews, with a Metacritic average of 54 out of 100, based on 51 reviews, and a GameRankings average of 55.67%, based on 42 reviews.^[19][17]

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".^[24] 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".^[23] Famitsu gave the game a 26/40, composed 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."^[25] 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 swinging the Wii Remote and the time Sonic actually swings.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Official Website
• Sonic and the Black Knight at IGN
• Sonic and the Black Knight Profile Page
• Sonic and the Black Knight Movie Clips page
• New Sonic and the Black Knight Trailer
• Japanese SatBK box art
• Sonic and the Black Knight at Wikia