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Sonic Unleashed; LAST UPDATE: 11/24/2008
Topic Started: Mar 23 2008, 07:49 PM (6,556 Views)
frungus
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Okay. Here's how I would do it if I was the Sonic Team. At the end of the game after beating Dark Gaia and all that jazz, there would be some sort of.... side mission. Like... Master emerald broken and scattered all over the world. But in places where normal Sonic couldn't get to. You'd have to go through the levels again with Super Sonic to complete the final side quest. (Without the bosses)
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SoniCalvin
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Yyyyyeahhh, no. We want Super Sonic to be playable in regular levels again, but we don't want it to be too fancy. We shouldn't have to complete side-missions as Super Sonic. We wanna zoom all the way through to the end of the level, just like how the classic games did it.
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dl316bh
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SoniCalvin
Oct 8 2008, 12:35 PM
While I find Super Sonic's appearances in a game's "Last Story" to be epic for story purposes

I actually felt that the Super Sonic final battles wore out their welcome with Sonic Adventure 2. It was on thing with S3&K; you could still use Super Sonic in regular levels, so it was hardly some great annoyance. It was neat in Sonic Adventure. But from SA2 onwards, it was a chore.

It's the downside of overdoing a certain mechanic. Sure, the last level Super Sonic thing is practically tradition now, but it's a cruddy one. Exchange SS last story for SS in-game Sonic Team kthnx.
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SoniCalvin
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And just in case they browse around Internet forums, don't implement anything fancy like what Frungus suggested. We just want to zoom across the levels, and pwninate enemies' asses hell fast.

EDIT: Posted Image

Japanese Sonic Unleashed site has undergone a major design change. A Characters page has been posted, with Sonic being the only one up there. We can only judge who the rest of the characters are based on their silhouettes. The roster doesn't seem too bad so far. Sonic, Amy, Tails, Chip that... dog... thingy... and who the hell is that?
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As the Tokyo Game Show begins, footage from Sonic Unleashed is spreading through the Internet slowly but surely. One of the first set of people to get gameplay footage is GameTrailers. First up, some 360 Ring Race footage, featuring Sonic in the daytime version of Greece.

[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_G1GT1ZXZao[/YOUTUBE]

These videos show a more polished Sonic Unleashed, featuring numerous small graphical tweaks. Rings, for example, now float from Sonic directly to the Ring counter. If you've ever played any of the Donkey Kong Country games, the bananas you collect in those have the same effect. They float from the player directly to the number of bananas the player is holding on the HUD. It's not the most dramatic change in the world, but it could be a signal that Sonic Unleashed is receiving a little polish here and there.

The next new feature is the EXP bar. At certain times during a video, a yellow crystal will float towards Sonic, and when he collects it, it brings up a bar on the HUD for EXP - undoubtedly "Experience Points". Early information about Sonic Unleashed mentioned Sonic would have skills that could be upgraded as the game progressed, and this may be our first look at how this happens. The question is: Where do these yellow crystals come from? Nowhere in the video do enemies seem to drop them; they instead seem to appear almost at random intervals, and always float in from off screen...

The final new feature is the SPD bonus. It seems the game awards the player bonus points based on how fast they were travelling when they touched the checkpoint.

The next video footage is of the Seaside Parlor, and focuses more on the Werehog, and it also features some new HUD elements.

[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZQVYMBVY2w[/YOUTUBE]

Previously, the Werehog had two meters in the bottom left of the screen: Vitality and Shield. That part of the interface has been completely redesigned: Vitality has now been simplified to "LIFE" and a new "UNLEASH" meter is visible. As the Werehog fights enemies, his UNLEASH meter slowly fills. The SHIELD is now probably represented by those five icons at the bottom. I think it works in a similar manner to Sonic the Fighters, in that you only have a limited number of times to protect yourself with a shield before an enemy breaks it.

And finally, Gametrailers provides us with our first look at in-game footage of the Wii version of the game, featuring the Europe level.

[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtChoPlcSJk[/YOUTUBE]

The Wii version contains a number of notable differences, including a completely redesigned HUD. Featured prominently on the HUD is the specific time you have to achieve to get an A-rank on the level, and the game actively calls out how quickly you complete specific sections of a level and how many attacks you can chain together as Sonic.
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dl316bh
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The Werehog sections make me sad in the pants. It looks like Sega really is going for a very basic Devil May Cry-lite beat em up formula. That's not good and it's variety for the sake of variety, I think. Combat looks to be very, very basic and somewhat tedious; at the least, I think it should have progressed a bit faster, which may have alleviated some of the frustration at what looks like sections that won't be much fun at all.

The portions with regular Sonic, however, look to be far more on the right track. While still a bit too straightforward for my taste, it did not escape my notice that there were some branching paths every now and then; something that's been lost to a large degree since SA2. The level design still needs a lot of work, but the fact that they've actually listened and looked to diversify the levels again is an encouraging sign.

Enemy placement, however, has me scratching my head a bit. I didn't really see too many in that gameplay video and what ones there were were spaced pretty far apart. But this could just be because it's an early level, of course. I'm also not very optimistic about all the pitfalls that seem to be in this game; it's been a very large complain among the 3D games that the pitfalls of death are far too cheap and prevalent and this doesn't look to be much better.

The engine looks a bit more stable than our previous Sonic offerings. I don't know how it will feel in game, but the transitions from 3D to 2D looked relatively simple and smooth.

I've got mixed reactions to what I'm seeing, overall. It doesn't look like the trainwreck I thought it would be, I'll admit outright. But my fears with the Werehog gameplay seem justified. Not to mention Sonic Team still obviously has a lot to learn before they can match anything from pre-SA2.

Still, this looks playable, so maybe this will be the first decent main console Sonic in a while. Decent being the key word. I'll probably give this a rental, at least.
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SoniCalvin
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dl316bh
Oct 9 2008, 03:49 PM
The Werehog sections make me sad in the pants.

Yes, I think we've established by now. :P

dl316bh
 
It looks like Sega really is going for a very basic Devil May Cry-lite beat em up formula. That's not good and it's variety for the sake of variety, I think. Combat looks to be very, very basic and somewhat tedious; at the least, I think it should have progressed a bit faster, which may have alleviated some of the frustration at what looks like sections that won't be much fun at all.

Out of curiosity, if you were to improve the Werehog sections, how would you go about it?

And no, you can't say you would eliminate them. :P

dl316bh
 
I'm also not very optimistic about all the pitfalls that seem to be in this game; it's been a very large complain among the 3D games that the pitfalls of death are far too cheap and prevalent and this doesn't look to be much better.

Though I fell very few times in the 3D games, this is one complaint that I share with everyone. I think it's alright to include bottomless pits, but... yeah. I don't think we want them... ALMOST EVERYWHERE!! There used to be a time when falling underwater meant you can actually walk underwater, and try to make it back up to the surface for air. These days, water = instant death.
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Aside from eliminating them, there are some things that could possibly improve them to tolerable levels. I think the speed of the fights is one thing. Sonic can't move fast as a Werehog, but he's supposed to have power. These fights shouldn't last longer than half a minute that early in the game. Faster progression through them would lessen tediousness.

A larger combo system would also greatly benefit those sections. What we see in that video is very, very basic and rudimentary. Normally, I'd say there's time to change that, but we're way too close to the release date to expect that, especially from Sega.

This fighting system works for games like DMC and God of War because those games offer a varied, interesting fighting experience, which saves it from becoming a boring beat em up. As you progress, new abilities and combo's open themselves up, to the point where battles go far beyond anything seen in a typical beat em up to an interesting experience; you almost have to become good at other combo's to get far in the game. Such progression keeps combat fresh and exciting, bringing it on another level. Since Sega insisted on the Werehog nonsense, they could have done well to emulate those games in a scaled down version, at least.

Finally, the Werehogs speed needs to be increased drastically. I understand there's supposed to be a marked contrast between the Werehog and regular Sonic, but that is too much. The Werehog seems slow and plodding, meaning you'll have to practically trudge through those sections. Then it becomes like the cardinal sin SA2 made in sticking you with sections you don't want to play for periods of time far greater than you care to go through.

I don't know if I should be surprised at Sonic Team not noticing any of these options themselves and the benefits.

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There used to be a time when falling underwater meant you can actually walk underwater, and try to make it back up to the surface for air. These days, water = instant death.

And alas, that was another thing we tended to lose with the 3D games. The water stages, which were often varied and expansive explorationwise. SA2 had some sections, but they were so unaccountably annoying that you ended up hating them.
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SoniCalvin
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dl316bh
Oct 9 2008, 04:34 PM
Aside from eliminating them, there are some things that could possibly improve them to tolerable levels. I think the speed of the fights is one thing. Sonic can't move fast as a Werehog, but he's supposed to have power. These fights shouldn't last longer than half a minute that early in the game. Faster progression through them would lessen tediousness.

Well... okay, there's one thing I can agree on.

dl316bh
 
A larger combo system would also greatly benefit those sections. What we see in that video is very, very basic and rudimentary. Normally, I'd say there's time to change that, but we're way too close to the release date to expect that, especially from Sega.

This fighting system works for games like DMC and God of War because those games offer a varied, interesting fighting experience, which saves it from becoming a boring beat em up. As you progress, new abilities and combo's open themselves up, to the point where battles go far beyond anything seen in a typical beat em up to an interesting experience; you almost have to become good at other combo's to get far in the game. Such progression keeps combat fresh and exciting, bringing it on another level. Since Sega insisted on the Werehog nonsense, they could have done well to emulate those games in a scaled down version, at least.

Alright, there's another thing I can agree on. But Sega did say that you'd be able to unlock more combos as you progressed through the Werehog sections. Albeit, they didn't elaborate on that many combo moves in one of their magazine articles, but I'm suspecting there were some moves they didn't care to talk about.

dl316bh
 
Finally, the Werehogs speed needs to be increased drastically. I understand there's supposed to be a marked contrast between the Werehog and regular Sonic, but that is too much. The Werehog seems slow and plodding, meaning you'll have to practically trudge through those sections. Then it becomes like the cardinal sin SA2 made in sticking you with sections you don't want to play for periods of time far greater than you care to go through.

The Werehog is at his fastest when he runs on all fours, which you can do by holding down one of the bumpers on the 360 controller, or whatever button on any of the other versions of the game. Not sure if that helps.
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SoniCalvin
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We've got some new TGS gameplay videos of the Wii game, this time from IGN.

http://wii.ign.com/dor/objects/14242720/so..._01_100908.html

http://wii.ign.com/dor/objects/14242720/so..._02_100908.html

http://wii.ign.com/dor/objects/14242720/so..._04_100908.html

Also, a preview article from Destructoid.

Destructoid
 
When I was getting ready for the Tokyo Game Show, I had no clue about the types of games I wanted to cover. There really is so much here and you can't get your hands on it all. I did know, however, that Sonic Unleashed was going to get played at some point. I grew up with that tragic blue sod, it's only natural.

I tried to keep my hope for this one rather quiet, as the consistent disappointment that Sonic games bring to the fans has become something of a self parody. However, I must confess that with Sonic Unleashed -- Sonic World Adventure in Japan -- I was still keeping a glimmer of positivity alive.

So, having taken on two levels and gotten to grips with both regular speedy Sonic and his werehog counterpart, have my hopes been reignited, or dashed completely? Also, what was it about this hands-on session that proved me right? Hit the jump and find out.

I can't understand Japanese, so it took a while for me to get the attendant to start the bloody thing up, but once we got through the near-traumatic process of choosing a level, I found myself starting out with our familiar, pint-sized, regular Sonic the Hedgehog.

The first thing that strikes you with the game is how truly beautiful it is. The bright sunshine, the strong and vibrant colors -- this really is a gorgeous looking title. Colorful games always stand out in this modern age of dark grittiness, and Sonic Unleashed manages to stand out even among those.

The gameplay that was on offer, sadly, was not quite as breathtaking as the visuals. While not a bad experience, Unleashed certainly suffers from one of the glaring faults of recent Sonic games, in that the levels are so fast, you feel like you're on autopilot for much of the time. There are vast sections where you do little more than run and occasionally jump, nothing that approaches the clever level designs of the old Sonic games.

Sega has certainly tried to spice things up though. There are brief Quick-Time-Events that hit you as you speed through the level and you're encouraged to pay attention if you want to get through each section perfectly. In fact, it could almost be argued that these "speed" sections are not about challenging the player in a traditional way, but rather challenging the player to perfect one's progress through the stage. It has to be said that narrowly ducking under low walls and bouncing off enemies to make it across chasms may not feel completely interactive, but it does feel incredibly cool.

If you approach these speed sections with an eye to looking stylish and perfecting a run, as opposed to being challenged by puzzles or enemies, then the stages featuring regular Sonic become a lot more fun.

This is helped by the fact that the terrible design issues present in 2006's Sonic the Hedgehog seem to be all but gone. For once, the homing attacks work perfectly, and every time I had to bounce off a row of enemies to cross a hole, I managed to do it without a problem. Previous games were also faced with the problem of having too many cheap pitfall deaths thanks to the ridiculous speed of Sonic and the lack of protection from long drops. Again, this seems to have been addressed and I only found myself suffering from a pitfall death once -- which was my own fault.

A lot of the speed stage is viewed behind Sonic, but the perspective changes to a 2D vantage point or more dramatic angles quite frequently. It's surprisingly seamless and doesn't tend to throw the player off, with well-timed camera shifts made to coincide with less interactive portions and then zipping back behind Sonic smoothly when there is movement to be had.

My opinion of the speed stage presented at TGS? Honestly not bad at all. A little shallow, but it looks and feels very cool.

Which brings us to the "Sonic the Werehog" stage and the reason why I am right. A lot of people have complained about how the Werehog is a bad idea, how it will break the gameplay and ruin the experience. In the words of Andrew Ryan, I rejected those answers. I instead predicted that the Werehog levels would prove to be the best parts of Sonic Unleashed, and it was certainly the best part of this demo.

The Werehog stage presented on the showfloor plays something like The Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, with gameplay broken up into environmental navigation and close quarters action. The combat is very simple, but solid. As the Werehog, you have access to weak and strong attacks, and you can combine strong attacks with different numbers of weak ones in order to create more special moves. You can also build up a special "unleash" meter which I would presume makes Sonic more powerful, but I barely got to use it. All in all, the fighting is far from innovative, but it is tried and tested and Sega has managed to not find a way of mucking it up.

One of the traits of Sonic the Werehog is his stretchy Dhalsim arms, and he puts these to good use in a fight. Smaller enemies can be grabbed with a quick button press, and throw or twirled around to smack other opponents. When an enemy is weakened, you can choose to finish it off by pressing the grab and initiating a brief QTE, which risks replenishing the enemy's health if you fail.

The QTE finishers are fun at first, but they only vary between enemies, so you'll often find yourself sitting through the same animation time and time again. It can also be hard to initiate the QTE, as you need to wait for a small target reticule to appear on an enemy first, and this can make it very difficult to properly finish, for example, the sorcerer monsters that hover in the air and thus can keep out of range, despite being ready for death.

In between fights, you will be mimicking Ubisoft's Prince as Sonic sidles along ledges, teeters across thin beams, jumps from upright pillars or swings from poles. There is also a very simple "find object X and put in slot Y" activity during the demo, too. It will be familiar to any PoP fan, but if there is one thing Unleashed isn't pretending to be, it's innovative.

The demo ends with a big boss battle, which was tricky thanks to hard-to-judge attacks and a mass of enemies that distract you. The boss fight, and various other instances of combat in the displayed stage, can be quite huge, pitting Sonic against a vast slew of enemies. Luckily, the combat is mostly tight, even if your attacks can't be easily corrected if you miss an enemy. Foes can be a bit merciless too, but it's certainly not a very difficult game.

I only played two levels, and there is no telling if the amount of polish applied to the ones presented has been spread across the entire game with equal generosity. What I can tell you now, however, is that if Sonic Unleashed is able to keep up the unimaginative but fun gameplay I got to experience, we are about to see a console Sonic game that does not suck.

And that's as close to megaton as you get!
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Uh oh. Reading that hands on stuff, it sounds like there's way too much "hold right to win" in this game. Not good. That's been a problem with the franchise for a while now.
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SoniCalvin
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I, myself, don't really have a problem with such easy gameplay, as long as I have fun. But I do worry for other Sonic fans. The "hold right to win" technique does seem way too easy, and thus it would be very boring for everyone else.

EDIT: What's this? Some new TGS videos up on GameSpot? Ooh! I'm intrigued! First, let's look at a new trailer for the game!

*trailer starts up*

Ooh, this is going to be so exciting!

http://www.gamespot.com/xbox360/action/son...updates;title;3

*watches through trailer*

*smile slowly fades*

...
...
...
...

What... is that?

THAT ISN'T NEW!!! It's just the earlier teaser trailer, and the E3 trailer merged to make this... crap! The only new thing here is new Werehog gameplay footage, along with the game's Japanese title at the end! What, were Sega too lazy to come up with a new, flashy trailer?!

And now, we have two GameSpot interviews.

http://www.gamespot.com/xbox360/action/son...updates;title;2

http://www.gamespot.com/xbox360/action/son...updates;title;1
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Someone's filmed somebody playing through daytime Mykonos on the PS3 version of the game, at TGS. Yes, we've seen the level dozens of times before. The difference? This guy's playthrough is actually really good. He grinds on the rails well, goes through a lot of the rings, and nails the QTE events and accesses the hidden paths in this level.

He goofs up here and there, but overall, it's actually really well done.


[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26k8STS3nZk[/YOUTUBE]
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Hmm. Each video makes me a bit more positive for the franchise, mostly based on the engine they're using. I've noticed no gamebreaking bugs so far; something that we all know has long plauged the 3D Sonic's. It seems smoother overall, which means less overall frustration.

Level design also seems much better compared to past games. It's nowhere near the awesome designs from the Genesis years, but it's far better so far than what we've gotten since SA2.

What we've seen isn't perfect, but they're on the right track. Hopefully, this game is at least fun. If it is, these improvements could help put the franchise back on track and make the series less of a joke in the game playing populaces eyes. Every little bit helps.

Hopefully Sonic and the Black Knight doesn't undo any good will a good Sonic game acrues.

Quote:
 
I, myself, don't really have a problem with such easy gameplay, as long as I have fun. But I do worry for other Sonic fans. The "hold right to win" technique does seem way too easy, and thus it would be very boring for everyone else.

Well, fun is indeed the key word here. The thing is, just about anyone will tell you that part of the fun of the Genesis years is that they weren't straightforward hold-right-to-win's. The Genesis era of Sonic would have been far less popular and memorable if the games were designed like they are today.

Still, Sonic Team seems to finally be getting the message, even if there is still too much emphasis on speed. The return of alternate paths is a step in the right direction.
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dl316bh
Oct 12 2008, 02:40 PM
Hopefully Sonic and the Black Knight doesn't undo any good will a good Sonic game acrues.

I doubt Sonic Team could do much worse than what we've seen of Next-Gen. Since it's the sequel to Secret Rings, I imagine the gameplay will be similar, except you'll actually be able to control Sonic's movement.

Do I still dislike Sonic with a sword? Well yeah, definitely, but at this point, I don't care anymore. I just want the gameplay to be decent.

EDIT: GameSpot have posted their hands-on impressions of the demo shown at TGS.

GameSpot
 
Sonic Unleashed, a.k.a. Sonic World Adventure in Japan, is on hand at Sega's Tokyo Game Show booth and flanked by a roaming werehog. The ferocious looking creature is the alter ego of the speedy hedgehog in the upcoming game. We got hold of a controller and set out to discover just what Sonic's latest adventure holds.

The TGS demo offered two playable stages, set at different times of the day, to showcase the two distinct gameplay styles in the game. The day stage is set on the Greek isle of Mikonos and finds the Sonic we know and love tearing through the streets at blistering speed. The level is essentially what we've seen demoed before but this is the first time we've been able to play it. What we like right now is the dizzying sense of speed that makes you feel as if you're just barely in control as you whizz around at high velocities. There's a satisfying, frenetic vibe during the segments as you tear through the town. Besides running through town, avoiding obstacles, and dealing with jump opportunities as you guide Sonic to the goal, you'll have to match onscreen button prompts and keep Sonic properly positioned as he tears through close quarters. The fast paced button matching during the racing sequences keeps things hectic but pleasant.

The second level, a night stage, is also set on Mikonos and provided a dramatic change of pace for the action as we controlled Sonic in his werehog form. The new form isn't big on speed and relies more on melee with his powerful arms. As it happens, there's plenty of targets given the enemies that litter Mikonos when the lights get low. It looks like there's a more puzzle solving to the werehog levels, you'll have to clear enemies or find items to unlock the way forward for example, which makes for different level pacing. There's definitely some satisfaction from smacking around mobs of enemies, beat 'em up style, but we wish there were a few more moves or combos in the demo.

The game's control scheme is about as accessible as all the Sonic games have been. You really just have to worry about jumping, attacking, and steering Sonic on the right path during the daytime levels. The night levels are slower and are more conventional since you're exploring, beating up enemies, and doing a bit of platforming.

The visuals in the game are coming together nicely. The game sports a new graphics engine, dubbed the hedgehog engine by the team, which is pumping out sharp visuals. Sonic is looking good, albeit pretty different when he's in werehog form, and animates well. The environments vary in quality depending on the gameplay of a level. The daytime level looked good but featured a modest amount of detail which is fine considering how fast you fly by things. Sonic's sense of speed is called out with motion blur and a variety of different screen effects. Most importantly, the camera stays lively and zooms in and out during the action, offering a 2D feel to many of the sections in the level. The night levels are considerably slower and feature much more detail to accommodate the different style of gameplay. The camera doesn't change up much, although it can get itself in some weird angles.

Based on what we played, Sonic Unleashed definitely has potential. The daytime levels have a good feel to them and the action stays fast. The night levels have a very different feel to them that's a bit jarring. We'll need to put some more time in with them because at the moment we're not totally solid on this werehog business, given how much it breaks up the flow of things, but we'll see. Sonic fans will want to keep an eye out on for Sonic Unleashed when it ships later this year.


IGN have also thrown in their opinions.

IGN
 
Sonic Unleashed is on the show floor at Tokyo Game Show in a number of places. We got our hands on the title at the SEGA booth where we charged through a colorful, island themed level that has been prominently featured in the trailers.

While the level includes plenty of three dimensional elements, it plays more like the old two-dimensional stages than most of the Hedgehog's recent outings. There are plenty of straightaways and loops that give players a great sense of speed while Sonic's dash attack locks onto enemies and shoots him forward over chasms and roadblocks. At certain points in the level when Sonic is bounced into the air, an action event comes up on screen that gives players the opportunity to blast themselves down a secret detour. We also encountered multiple paths while running through the level, meaning that a perfect playthrough would require a deep knowledge of the racecourse. Just like old times.

The visuals seem to be coming together, with a slight blur effect that adds an extra layer of shine to an already very pretty game. Hopefully the final product will have a smooth frame rate throughout the experience. While we didn't get to play the werehog sections of the game we were able to speak to the developers about what sets this Sonic title apart from others in the series.

Akinori Nishiyama, a Department Manager at Sega Corporation mentioned that Sonic has been the same for so long that the team wanted to break the mold and give the character some new abilities. That's where the werehog abilities came in, but a lot of the other decisions were based on fan response including the decision to keep Sonic's friends out of the picture as playable characters.

I was also able to ask the question that's everyone seems to bring up when playing a Sonic game: why can't the whole experience be comprised of lightening fast running. The answer involves the amount of resources that goes into development.

"Sonic is one meter tall, so a single stage might be 15-20 kilometers. It's really hard for the artist to lay out all the graphics for 10 miles of a stage. In that context though, a single stage might not be pure running, and include a number of elements that smooth out the tempo other than running."

We also asked if there's a desire to return to the good old days of two-dimensional side-scrolling. Nishiyama stated, "We believe that incorporating these 2D elements can work with the new 3D elements to get the best of both worlds." The challenge seems to be in updating the new elements while keeping the gameplay intact. We'll have to play far more of Sonic Unleashed before we know if this version succeeds where others have fallen short.


And some more of their impressions of the game, this time talking of the Wii version.

IGN
 
SEGA had previously stated that the ideas behind the new Sonic games are supposed to be consistent across all consoles, even though the actual level designs will vary significantly. Today at Tokyo Game Show we had a chance to play the Wii version as both Sonic and his nighttime alter ego, the werehog.

Our first session was with the werewolf version of the blue speed demon which is much more of a slow, combat heavy experience. Players move Sonic with the analog stick but engage in combat by swinging the wiimote to punch and grab at enemies. Other motion-sensitive controls pop up when Sonic must use brute force to open a gate or smash an obstacle. The gameplay isn't drastically different from what you'd expect in a Sonic game -- it just moves a lot slower.

In our second play session, we got down to business with some old-fashioned running. The level we experienced resembled an old European town with long brick streets lined with cafes. It played similarly to the PS3 and 360 versions of the game only with less graphical detail and a bit more emphasis on straight-aways and long, arcing turns. There were some nice animations on display when Sonic took a tight turn and shot sparks out of his shoes, or when he collided with a wall and flattened himself for a split second.

Players still initiate the dash attack by flicking the controller forward, which will be familiar to anyone who played Sonic and the Secret Rings. So far, this adventure looks to be a more pure Sonic experience than we've seen in years and that can only mean good things.
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