For almost a year, Sonic and the Secret Rings appeared to be the next great Sonic adventure, a game that discarded horrible camera angles and lame support characters in exchange for blinding speed. Instead, Sega delivers inaccurate Wii controls, ridiculous objectives and a bad guy named Erazor. On top of that, it somehow screws up fixed camera angles while attempting to convince the gaming public that a group of rampaging triceratops runs faster than Sonic.

Unfortunately, Secret Rings stalls at the starting line, forcing gamers to plod through a lame tutorial before unlocking the first of seven worlds, Sand Oasis. Here, players learn how to maneuver the feisty hedgehog, tilting the Wii remote to direct him left and right, pushing it forward to execute a Homing Attack and walking backwards.

From there, gamers dive into the ridiculous story, a plot that revolves around saving the Arabian Nights from the evil genie Erazor and his killer giant blade. Once again, Sega spends too much time boring people with Sonic's antics since the company deems it necessary to feed its mascot hundreds of lines when all people want to do is put on his red shoes and travel faster than a fighter jet.

At least Sonic Team gets the speed right... sort of. Instead of creating a free roaming 3-D platform game, the developers put Sonic on rails. Much like a car, he always moves forward, picking up speed depending on the decline/incline of the land. To control him, players tilt the Wii remote left and right, steering him around obstacles and navigating chasms. However, Sonic takes a few seconds to get moving, leaving him open to attack. He jumps slowly, which makes leaping off the edge of something a pain. Even the Homing Attack feels strange, as people frantically push the remote forward, only to watch as Sonic falls to his death. The game offers unlimited continues, but the trial and error gets old.

So do the missions, an entire collection of bizarre objectives not tied to the story. Instead of battling scores of enemies, players must collect 99 rings and avoid breaking pots; or restart from the beginning. Secret Rings' 100 missions pack variety, but taking the time to dodge pottery feels excessive, especially when doing so unlocks additional challenges.