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Sonic Unleashed; LAST UPDATE: 11/24/2008
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Topic Started: Mar 23 2008, 07:49 PM (6,550 Views)
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dl316bh
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Nov 14 2008, 04:41 PM
Post #541
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Sonic looks like his face should be black and a laser should be coming from his mouth in that pic.
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Damiens Omens: My review blog
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SoniCalvin
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Nov 14 2008, 05:12 PM
Post #542
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Grand Marshal
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IMMA CHARGIN' MAH INNER BEAST!
Oh man, I just found this on IGN. Another blog entry from one of the guys at Sega.
- Sachiko Kawamura
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Hello. My name is Sachiko Kawamura, and I am the Art Director for "Sonic Unleashed."
For this installment of the Developer Diary, I'd like to talk about the background art for the game.
World Travel in 5 Minutes a Day When designing the stages and the environmental backgrounds for "Sonic Unleashed," the key point we really wanted to get across was, "Let's offer gamers a world-spanning travel experience right from their own homes."
We wanted playing "Sonic Unleashed" to feel like, each day, the player could head to any country in the world, and really get the feeling for these locations and the sights they had in store.
When building the world, we tried to make it so that all the places the player could go would be like someplace the player had never been to but always wanted to. We looked at thousands of pictures and through hundreds of books, deciding which locations to design thematically and how we'd need to capture that, so that someone could look at an image we'd created and think, "I've never seen that before, but it feels like someplace I know." We all exchanged ideas internally, and it was really exciting and quite fun.
In the end, we decided on nine different locales. We choose a wide assortment: places scorched by the sun, places that were bone-chillingly cold, humid places, dry places, tiny villages and vast cities. We really wanted to strike a balance and try to represent places for all over the earth and really vary things up.
Our goal when designing the actual backgrounds and environment was to come up with something that would make players go, "I want to come here again. I want to see that again." Sort of like the feeling that people get after going on vacation, and even before they've gone back home are already hoping they'll get to come back in the future.
Of course, we always want the game itself to be fun, but we also hope that maybe players might stop for a moment and look around and really feel like they're in that place we've created for them. For example, the dazzling sun pouring down on them, or with those torrential waterfalls that lead into rivers that then lead into streams; with smoke pouring out of chimneys as they look out over the city, as they venture through rural backroads, ancient ruins, and so many other places that might feel real to them.
To further enhance that feeling of the player really being there, we've tried to realistically recreate everything about the atmosphere, from heat to cold, dryness and greenery, the difference in air temperature and humidity, sunlight and moonlight and streetlights...
This was the focus we kept in mind when creating both the action stages and the town stages for "Sonic Unleashed." And even for us, while we were making it, we got to enjoy a little bit of our own travel spirit.
I hope that the rest of you out there get to enjoy our little world travel in just five minutes a day, too!
Realistic Components for Cartoon-like Models When we were designing the backgrounds for the game, we kept reminding ourselves that our goal wasn't to recreate anything from real life. We wanted to capture the feel of famous sights and monuments from different countries around the world, not simply make copies of them.
One of our goals was to meet--or even surpass--the visual quality of CG animated films.
Capturing that tangible feeling was something we really sought to do. Each texture needed to feel realistic. The lighting had to be realistic; realistic in a way that we could proudly compare to a hardcore First-Person Shooter. At the same time, though, the models and colors we were using were for cartoon-like designs. So, our challenge was to convey this realism and atmosphere while remaining true to the visual style and already-familiar worldview of Sonic the Hedgehog.
You might say that we wanted the player to feel like they'd entered some kind of theme park.
In the next Developer Diary, we'll get into the Hedgehog Engine and its Global Illumination Technology, and how we used that along with our artistic efforts to create the cutscenes, village stages and all the friendly people you get to meet all around the world!
Grandiose 15km Backgrounds You probably already know by now that "Sonic Unleashed" is a dual-structured game, where you get to play as Sonic the Hedgehog during the day and Sonic the Werehog at night. One of the big points of consternation for the artists who had to make the background models were the daytime action stages.
Again, as you probably already know, Sonic has always been a character whose design has been based on being able to run really fast, but Hashimoto-san, the director of "Sonic Unleashed," wanted to make Sonic faster than ever before. What this translates to in gameplay terms is that sometimes, Sonic is moving upwards of 100 to 150 meters per second, which is magnitudes faster than we've ever had to take into account.
Now that Sonic is this unbelievably fast, it meant that we needed to create action stages that were well over 10 miles long in some cases. At the same time, the image quality needed to be good enough for those times when Sonic wasn't going to just be rushing past things too fast for the player to see them. Creating a 12 mile stretch of background environment is a nightmare, let me tell you. But we had to press on!
This is an action game, and it's also a Sonic the Hedgehog game. You're in control of a super-fast blue hedgehog who runs side to side, backwards and forwards, and every which way. He can run along walls and ceilings just as easily as on floors. There are impossible loops and dips and turns that don't even slow him down. The level designers didn't hold back in the least in coming up with exciting, acrobatic terrain for the little blue guy to run around. Getting our backgrounds to fit naturally with these tricked-out stages was a big challenge for our artists.
Actually, that was kind of a nightmare, too.
Still, we artists don't back down from challenges like that. We wanted our stages to look great, so that if you took a screenshot at any point along that 12-mile stretch, it'd look great--and at the same time, that along that 12-mile stretch, the background wouldn't just look the same. Everywhere you stopped, we wanted the player to be able to spot something new.
And this is with Sonic moving at 150 meters per second!
If you look closely at the environment, you'll see all sorts of things, like butterflies amidst the flowers, fish swimming just under the surface of the water, windmills spinning around... you can even hear old men singing in the shower if you get close enough to the window. There's a ton of little things to find, so we hope that gamers take the time to take things slow, every now and again, and see what's there in this world we've built.
In the end, though, for a developer, it's the greatest feeling in the world to see that we overcame all of these difficulties and created really amazing stages for our very own Sonic the Hedgehog that we love so much. I really do think we succeeded in creating a great action game as well as an experience to really get across that "world travel" feeling that we were shooting for.
Speaking of which, we really put our all into both the Wii and PS2 versions and the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions, so whichever version you end up playing, I hope you like what you see!
In the next Developer Diary, we'll talk about characters. Until next time!
EDIT: Couple of new trailers. This first one is featuring Holoska, the Antarctica level, on the Wii.
[YOUTUBE]http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=uzD_evPD2no[/YOUTUBE]
And now... finally... the New York City-inspired level... Empire City... gets its trailer. So, let's have a look.
SHAZAM!
[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_f1U7D-JlO8&fmt=18[/YOUTUBE]
The look of the stage almost reminds me of Crisis City from Sonic Next-Gen, without all the fire. I'm also reminded of the Duckburg world from a Donald Duck game I played a while back.
The level itself looks interesting.
EDIT: We're all a bit untrustworthy of the Wii port of Sonic Unleashed, right? Face it, the controls are bound to be shoehorned into it, like a lot of other Wii ports of other games before it. Well, IGN have posted their hands-on impressions of the Wii game. Oh great. This should be interesting. And believe me, that's me being kind, 'cause I don't trust IGN a lot either. I mean, they're a great news source, but their previews and reviews? Yeah, no.
Alright, so what have they got?
- IGN
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Even though SEGA promised that all versions of Sonic Unleashed -- the next 3D platformer featuring the company's videogame mascot -- would ship simultaneously, the company spent most of its time focusing on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions. Unfortunately, at least in preview builds, those versions have only looked prettier in screenshots; in motion, that's a different story with its incredibly inconsistent framerate and movement that didn't speak well for the design's overall quality. After finally experiencing the Wii version for the first time this week, I have to ask: maybe the company should have been focusing on the Wii version instead?
It's too early to say whether the Wii version will end up being a great game, but at the very least in my brief hands-on with Sonic Unleashed, I have to say that the Wii version certainly looks and plays better in Wii standards than the more advanced console versions do, even with the lower visual standards.
Sonic Unleashed is a Sonic game that's separated into two distinct portions. During the day, players do the established Sonic thing and run really, really fast through bright and vibrant environments, leaping over ledges, sliding under platforms, running through crazy loops and corkscrews while collecting rings and taking out enemies using Sonic's lock-on targeting attacks. Speed is key in these levels as you're rated based on how fast you get to the end -- and that includes the time you take out the boss. In the corner of the screen you'll see exactly when your S ranking will tick down to an A, the A ranking to a B...and so on.
At night, that's when things get a little more hairy. Sonic transforms into a Werewolf like creature (which is still really, really odd considering he's already a furry creature, but whatever) and romps through these locations in a slower, more brutal pace using hand-to-hand combat in place of the lock-on targeting attacks.
Now, I've already experienced this game in a work-in-progress version on the Xbox 360 a few months ago -- while the crispiness of the visuals were certainly impressive, the fact that the game's framerate took a serious dive in both the speedy daytime environments and the more slow-and-brutal nighttime levels were a little to jarring to accept. Sonic has always been about speed, and when you can't get your 3D engine to portray that speed, you're in serious trouble.
The Wii version that I played earlier this week was promised to be a final build of the game, and in the two levels I experienced -- one day, one night -- the framerate never dipped below its locked refresh. The game is clearly running at 30 frames per second, which is slightly disappointing considering speedy games tend to feel more fluid when they're running at 60. But at the very least, it was a consistent 30 FPS that never tanked at all. The game definitely doesn't have all of the bells and whistles of the Xbox 360 version -- no realtime physics engine to bounce the shattered remains of crates and doors around the environment, and no 720p/1080i HD resolutions. But even without the "next gen" effects the Wii version looks great and Sonic Unleashed seems to be one of the better looking Wii titles on the system.
According to SEGA, while the Wii version shares the same story and the same game locations as the other versions, Sonic Unleashed on the Nintendo console has its own level designs and challenges. Some of the Wii levels may look similar to the ones that will appear in the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions, but there are subtle and not-so-subtle changes to make the Wii version its own game. Well, the Wii and the PS2, anyway -- SEGA's also making Sonic Unleashed for the last-generation Sony system, and it will be a port of the Wii edition.
The Wii version is controlled using the Nunchuk/Remote combination and features motion control for some of Sonic's basic abilities. In the daytime "Sonic" levels, Sonic attacks using a whip of the Wii Remote after lock-on targeting an enemy; it's surprisingly satisfying. During the nighttime "werewolf" levels, all of Sonic's attacks are motion-based -- a Wii remote thrust, or a nunchuk thrust...or a combination of both. When you're climbing as the werewolf, you waggle both controllers alternatively.
For those who want a more traditionally playing game of Sonic, SEGA has incorporated both Classic Controller and GameCube controller support so you can simply press buttons instead of motion-waggling the devices.
Sonic Unleashed is all wrapped up and ready to go, and according to SEGA you should be expecting the Wii version to hit shelves next week. Before we give you our final review of the title, hit the movie link below to see exclusive direct feed footage of the Wii version in action.
Movie link?
Oh. Yeah.
http://wii.ign.com/dor/objects/14242720/so...wii_111408.html
Anyway, I guess IGN haven't heard. Sonic Team has managed to fix the framerate problem, so once again, they show off their ignorant selves.
EDIT: A lot of Sonic games these days get their own OSTs. For Unleashed, it's a three-disk OST being released in Japan, January 28th next year, under the title "Sonic World Adventure Original Soundtrack Planetary Pieces".
The music, from what I've heard of it from the leaked cutscenes, and the levels, sound epic. Especially the music in the intro cutscene. I know I'm gonna be downloading the soundtrack once it's released.
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Adam's Leather Punk Blog Update: I am mighty pissed
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SoniCalvin
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Nov 17 2008, 08:14 AM
Post #543
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Grand Marshal
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ArchAngelUK, head of the Sonic fansite, Sonic Wrecks, has gotten his hands on Sonic Unleashed. And he answers the question "Is it worth buying?" with an excited, and epic "YES!". However, because he is part of the Sonic community, he has seen the many complaints about the game, and so has laid down some rules, and basically gives his impressions of the game within these rules.
- ArchAngelUK
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THE SONIC WRECKS FAN RULES FOR SONIC UNLEASHED -If you're going to hate the Werehog no matter what, then don't buy it. -If all you're going to do is to compare it with the original Sonic don't buy it. -If all you're going to do is to compare it with Sonic 06, because the idea of a "love", regardless of the type or intent, between a one-off human character and an anthropomorph has somehow spoiled things for you so badly its all you blather on about by all means buy it but be quiet. -If you're going to get upset if the game DARES cater for someone younger than you, or by that fans who a) weren't Sonic fans until recently or b) weren't alive when Sonic 1 was released don't buy it. -If you're gonna get in a spin over voices buy it... and turn the voices off, or put it on mute. If however you want to buy a new Sonic game, because -its a new "main" Sonic game -it looks superb - which it does -the music is brilliant. Which it is, the Werehog fighting music is by far and away the best thing in the known universe. -the gameplay is great or -its highly engaging and enjoyable Then by all means buy it! In the end the majority of people who are complaining now will be complaining about the same things (in their opinion) post-launch, I meanwhile will be playing Sonic Unleashed until I get all the medals, eat all the hotdogs, get 1000 points or die trying - and my grinning face will be forever etched on my face by rigor mortis. Now if you'll excuse me... *GRINS DEMENTEDLY*
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Adam's Leather Punk Blog Update: I am mighty pissed
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WhiteRaven
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Nov 17 2008, 08:36 AM
Post #544
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*gets so excited that she explodes*
Need...to get...a...Wii...so I...can...PLAY!!!!!!!
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 Find the computer room!
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SoniCalvin
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Nov 17 2008, 09:57 AM
Post #545
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Grand Marshal
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Of course, this is the 360 version he has and the one he's talking about. =P
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Adam's Leather Punk Blog Update: I am mighty pissed
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dl316bh
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Nov 17 2008, 03:17 PM
Post #546
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Well, the "love" from '06, which was a terrible mistake of course, really mind****ed me with that game, I'm not one of those people who would let it ruin the franchise for them. The Werehog, however, I'm going to have to disagree with the guy on. If I don't like it, I don't like it; of course I'm going to give it a shot in the game itself, but I'm not going to lie when I say that it doesn't look like it was a good idea to put in the game.
On the Empire City video, it looks like an exciting stage. I also see where it draws inspiration from New York City, because the look overall has that sort of feel. Even if I am positive good old NYC doesn't have streets that go into loops. But then, I guess that's why it's called Empire City. XP
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Damiens Omens: My review blog
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SoniCalvin
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Nov 17 2008, 03:29 PM
Post #547
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Grand Marshal
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Huh. You know, why put lines on looped roads in a city to divide the lanes, if there's no possible chance that a car is going to a loop-de-loop.
*looks at all the looped roads in Empire City*
I feel sorry for the poor sods who attempt to drive through that.
EDIT: A while back, there was a rumour that the Wii/PS2 game is only gonna feature 7 stages, while the 360/PS3 build is gonna have 9. This might be true. They've updated their site a little. When you click on Adabat or Mazuri... well... lemme show you.

Sega are a bunch of lazy bastards.
EDIT: Meanwhile, GameSpot have posted an article, listing off the big release video games that will be coming out in stores this week, with Sonic Unleashed being one of them. Oddly enough, the 360 version is listed in there as well. Why do I find this odd? Well, I'll get to that in a second, 'cause it's complicated. First, a paragraph from the article that mentions Sonic Unleashed.
- GameSpot
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In other multiplatform news, Lara Croft will disembark on her latest loot-hoarding expedition in Eidos and Crystal Dynamics' Tomb Raider Underworld for the Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, Wii, DS, and PC. Disney's Bolt, a John Travolta-led animated feature about a delusional dog, will make its way to theaters while its trusty-companion game tie-in sees release on the Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, Wii, DS, and PC. Retailers also expect to see Sega's Sonic Unleashed zip in and out of their stores on the Xbox 360, PS2, and Wii this week. (The game is expected to arrive for the PS3 in December.)
Okay. Now, as we all know, the release dates for Sonic Unleashed have always been vague at best. For a while, we all thought the dates were finally confirmed to be November 18th for the Wii and PS2, November 24th for the Xbox 360, and December 12th for the PS3. But then, IGN had a different release date for the 360 version as November 20th. At first, I thought they were being their ignorant selves, but when this article came up, I thought the release date on IGN might actually be plausible.
But here's the thing. In the GameSpot article, the 360 port of Sonic Unleashed is listed under the number of games coming out on November 18th. And just now, after looking at GameSpot's Sonic Unleashed 360 page, it seems they've reposted the 360 game's release date as November 20th, which is confusing, because on the article, the 360 game is indeed listed as one of the games being released November 18th.
So, is the 360 port of the game actually being released on the same day with its Wii and PS2 counterparts, or is it being released on the 20th? Or is it actually gonna be released next week on the 24th as scheduled, and everyone's memories are all messed up?
I dunno, and I don't really care, 'cause this confusion is starting to hurt my brain. We're just gonna have to find out tomorrow, and see if the 360 game is out in stores. Sheesh. And I thought the stories in some of the Sonic games were confusing.
Okay, and finally, a little movie to go along with the article.
Here ya go.
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Adam's Leather Punk Blog Update: I am mighty pissed
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dl316bh
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Nov 18 2008, 02:15 AM
Post #548
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From what I'm hearing, Adabat and Empire City are X-Box 360/PS3 exclusive.
The lack of Empire City makes getting a last gen version a waste of time, pretty much.
Irregardless, the Wii and PS2 versions are still going to be the first taste gotten. They are indeed coming out today. The 360 version, from what I've seen, is supposed to hit the 24th.
Frankly, I think it's better to wait six days and get two more levels out of the deal than get a watered down version. But hey. I'm sure some people are going to go for the last gen versions just because of the cheaper price point.
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Damiens Omens: My review blog
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SoniCalvin
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Nov 18 2008, 08:33 AM
Post #549
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Grand Marshal
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For a while, I was tempted to get the PS2 port instead, because it certainly looks good for a PS2 game, and the tracks in the daytime levels seem to have a lot more space. But if it doesn't have Adabat and Empire City, then I'm not gonna bother. I'm just gonna have to wait for the 360 game to hit stores. Still, I'm sure Wii and PS2 owners who have been waiting a long time for a decent Sonic game to show up again are gonna want to get their hands on this.
EDIT: Heh. Whaddaya know? The Wii game got its first review. Don't know when this was, but Nintendo Power gave it an 8.0 out of 10. Of course, for some people who don't like Shadow the Hedgehog, and never trusted Nintendo Power again since that game, you might wanna take this review with a grain of salt.
Nintendo Power review scan.
- Nintendo Power
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When Sonic Unleashed is good, it's really good. During the daytime stages, when you're blasting through gorgeous environments at breakneck speeds, squealing around corners, side-stepping obstacles, stringing together attacks on Dr. Robotnik's forces, and flying through the air on chains of rings, the game provides an adrenaline rush that's as exhilarating as anything Sega's Blue Blur has ever been involved with--and the action gets even better when the camera switches to a side view to deliver that classic Sonic feel.
The nighttime stages, on the other hand, aren't quite as brilliant. Pounding baddies is pretty satisfying, but it admittedly takes a while to get used to the imprecise controls. Brawling via gestures is iffy at best; it feels a lot better if you play the night stages using the Classic controller, though even then you'll often haphazardly fly right past your target. Platforming at night can be tricky at first, too.
If the nighttime areas wear thin, it's because there's just so many of them. For each full-length daytime stage you get, there are three or more nighttime stages. In fact, the whole game seems to suffer from strange structural issues. The menu-based exploration elements are so shallow they serve almost no purpose, and the mandatory replaying of daytime stages (with new objectives such as completing a timed run or collecting a certain number of rings) feels like artificial lengthening. Nonetheless, even when the game gets tedious the action is still a blast, and the graphics are among the best yet on Wii. If you don't mind some fisticuffs mixed into your high-speed thrills, give Sonic Unleashed a shot.
So... there are more nighttime stages than there are daytime stages?
...
You scum...
I pray to God that this isn't the case for the 360/PS3 edition of the game.
I mean, I'm all for the Werehog and everything, but I don't really want the nighttime stages hogging the screen time in this game.
EDIT: New chair to coincide with the release of Sonic Unleashed.
Also... oh... oh my. Oh dear. Ohhhhhh dear...
Also, somewhere along the line, the PS2 edition of the game has been leaked onto the Internet, and is now available for (illegal) download.
EDIT: Uh-oh...
- Telegraph
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Despite being voted the UK's favourite video game character of all time last month, it's been a rough few years for Sonic the Hedgehog. Well, ok, it's been rough 14 years if we're being brutally honest. Sega's mascot has been knocked from pillar to post since the seminal Mega Drive platformers, the games that propelled the super-fast hedgehog into the limelight in a blur of blue spikes and red boots. Seems poor old Sonic just couldn't make the leap into 3D, the stunning blink-and-you'll-miss-it gameplay failing to translate like, say, the more studious and explorative platforming of Super Mario.
In the years since gaming went all three-dimensional, Sonic has suffered from a long line of poorly thought out titles, an overload of irritating and unnecessary supporting characters, bland spin-offs (like Sonic Riders), and glaring missteps, such as the gun-toting Shadow the Hedgehog. He did manage to find himself a loving home on the DS with the flawed but extremely fun Sonic Rush (a 2D side-scroller, naturally) but home consoles haven't seen a great Sonic game for over a decade. It all came to something of a head in 2006, when the risible Sonic the Hedgehog came to the Xbox 360 and PS3. An appalling title, panned by all-and-sundry, that game was seen as the death-rattle for many staunch Sonic fans and any further titles were to be treated with the utmost pessimism.
So, now we have Sonic Unleashed. Perhaps the last chance saloon for the development crew, Sonic Team, who wisely seemed to heed calls to go back to basics and concentrate on the retina-scorching speed that made the original series so popular.
But then they introduced the werehog. When those first images of a beefed-up, fanged Sonic appeared, you could almost hear fans groaning across the world.
Those of you who are hoping that the werehog plays a small part in Sonic Unleashed should look away now. for those of you still reading, the good news is that even though the werehog is a huge part of Sonic Unleashed, playing as him is -- whisper it -- not actually that bad. At least, not at first.
The werehog sections appear at night when, due to an accident that happens in the opening cutscene, Sonic transforms into a muscular monster with huge arms that can, for reasons never explained, stretch over great distances. The action stages that you play as Sonic the Werehog are best described as God of War-lite, right down to the pushing-block puzzles and lever turning. It's an arcade brawler where Sonic must use his new-found strength to bash the waves of enemies that descend upon him to smithereens. The combat is enjoyable stuff, if a little simplistic. You can chain together combos using the two attack buttons, pick enemies up and launch them at other foes and even finish them off with a devastating attack, performed by a quick-time event where button combinations appear on screen and you must hit them quickly to defeat your opponent.
There's some platforming in there too. However, it's straight out of the Tomb Raider school of climbing rather than classic Sonic (which we will get to later). Using his elasticated arms, Sonic can grab onto protruding ledges, climb pillars and Tarzan his way across levels using conveniently placed poles. Like the combat, it's derivative but robust enough in its execution to be enjoyable. Controls are tight and responsive, while even the camera behaves itself. Most of the time, anyway -- it still can't resist the odd instance of showing you a close-up of a pixelated tree while you're trying to battle beasties but, for the most part, it keeps the action well-contained.
The real appeal for fans will be the hyper-fast sections, in which Sonic (in his usual blue hedgehog guise) blitzes his way through point-to-point courses involving jumps, ramps and, of course, loop-de-loops. In capturing the series sense of speed, these sections are a success. The pace is absolutely blistering, and the spectacle of seeing Sonic tear through the courses is really quite something. Unfortunately, while it's all very impressive to look at, part of the problem with these sections is that too often you are just a spectator. The camera sweeps gloriously from behind Sonic in 3D to "2.5D", where the action is viewed side on. Too often, however, it's just to see Sonic skate across a great looping rail with your only input being whether you hit the boost button to make him go even faster.
That's not to say there isn't any kind of interaction, of course. There are parts of the levels that do show a glimpse of that old Sonic magic: making the perfect jump, hitting those bumper-jump pads that make that oh so satisfying noise. But then, he's off again, blasting on-rails through the level, occasionally smacking into an enemy or a pit of spikes that makes the rings you've been collecting on the way scatter around him. Worse still, you could find yourself plummeting into a pit. There is some satisfaction to be had learning each course, plotting your perfect route and honing your reactions to hit the jump at just the right time, or use the sensibly integrated sidestep, mapped to the shoulder buttons, to avoid that aforementioned pit. Unfortunately, the frustration felt on those first run-throughs can be too much to bear, particularly as you progress into tougher stages, where there is far too much trial and error for comfort. For Sonic Team, striking that balance between incredible speed and control remains as elusive as ever.
If that was all there is to Unleashed, we'd have an enjoyable hybrid of arcade brawling and frustrating but fun speed sections. However, in their infinite wisdom, Sonic Team decided to add the most ludicrous amount of padding to draw Unleashed out into a nearly unbearable grind. In Sonic's case, less is most definitely more.
The story of Unleashed runs thus: Dr. Eggman (Rebotnik to the puritans) has used the Chaos Emeralds to call the spirit of the Dark Gaia. In doing so, he has split the planet from the inside, causing continents to break apart. Sonic's task is to piece the planet back together by restoring the emerald's lost power. To do so, he must visit various different countries in search for the Gaia temples.
Each of these countries have two (count 'em) hub worlds, the first of which can be more or less ignored save for a few time trials and sidequests or if, for some reason, you want to talk to the citizens. The second hub world acts as the gateway to the "action stages". To get to each stage portal you must perform some rudimentary platform puzzles marred by a dreadful camera that isn't as consistent as in the werehog sections. This wouldn't be so bad, but to then enter the stage you need to have collected enough of the sun and moon medals that are scattered across the game. Meaning that, should you wish to progress in the story and find yourself lacking in collectibles, you must redo previous levels or wander around the hub worlds, poking your nose into every corner or smashing crate after crate, hoping that they contain one of these medals.
Collectibles like these are a fun way to appeal to completionists but they should be an optional extra. Sure, give us a nice bonus for finding them; but to inextricably tie them to the main game's progress is a baffling decision. There's little more frustrating than finding your way to an action stage portal, only to discover that you haven't picked up enough spinning collectibles. Frankly, it's enough to drive you to the off-switch. And if that isn't, some of the infuriating sections of the action stages will. The core gameplay of both types is fine, but the level design is littered with terrible, patience-testing sections, exacerbated by some dreadful checkpointing. Meaning you have to battle your way through a load of enemies time and time again, just so you can tumble off the narrow beams you have to negotiate your lumbering werehog across.
Seemingly never a game to miss the opportunity to kick you while you're down, Unleashed also features an old-school life system. It means if you die too many times while reaching a particularly tough but at the end of a level, you'll find yourself booted back out into the hub world. Now you have to start the stage from scratch. Considering the werehog levels tend to last around half an hour (in which you can't save, incidentally) it's not long before your controller is crumbling to dust beneath your fingertips.
It's decisions like this that make Sonic Team like their own worst enemy at times. It's a real shame, because it's a good game at heart. When it works, it's simple but fun, looks gorgeous and even the story and cutscenes are sweetly endearing in a Saturday-morning-cartoon kind of way.
However, the unfortunate truth is that Sonic, as a series, has become far too overblown for its own good. The irritating padding and poor design decisions in Unleashed often suffocate the otherwise decent gameplay is further fuel for the fire.
Sega need to think long and hard about where their mascot heads next. A fresh approach from a different development team could be a good place to start: our favourite hedgehog is in desperate need of a new home.
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Adam's Leather Punk Blog Update: I am mighty pissed
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dl316bh
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Nov 18 2008, 09:30 PM
Post #550
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Technically, yes, there are more full nighttime stages that regular Sonic ones. But you actually spend more time as Sonic. Just about every minigame and side mission, of which there are a great deal, have you as regular Sonic. So don't worry man, there's more regular Sonic than Werehog.
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Damiens Omens: My review blog
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SoniCalvin
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Nov 19 2008, 06:07 AM
Post #551
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Grand Marshal
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IGN have reviewed the Wii game.
- IGN
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When the sun is shining, Sonic Unleashed is a blazing fast roller coaster ride filled with loop-de-loops, jump pads, speed boosts, zigzagging pathways, alternate routes and more. As the blue hedgehog spins through chaotic, unpredictable environments at sound-barrier-breaking speeds, you will be hooked. These stages, which regularly shift from 2D to 3D perspectives, are executed so well, in fact, that I feel they not only successfully capture the frantic pace and addictive play mechanics of the long-gone classics, but surpass them. Unfortunately, Fantastic, yes, but unfortunately Sonic Unleashed has a darker side, literally, and I'm referring specifically to the well-publicized night-set levels in which the speedy hero transforms into a slow, stretchy werehog. Yeah -- a werehog. If the concept sounds a little forced, it is, but not nearly as forced and altogether boring as the repetitive selection of nighttime stages. The question is, how much are you willing to put up with to play the undeniably great daytime levels?
Sonic Unleashed is the brainchild of Yoshihisa Hashimoto, who has worked on some of the previous hedgehog titles, but has never helmed one. He brings both a fresh perspective and new ambitions to the series, which has floundered in recent years, as far as I'm concerned. In no way could this title be described as lazy, even if you agree with me that the werehog component is completely unnecessary and unsatisfactory. The production values powering Unleashed are remarkably high, from the crisp, gorgeous cinematics, all rendered, to the epic overworld. There's also a chunky adventure to be found -- one spilling with challenges, side quests and collectibles, all of them amazing fan service for the die-hards out there.
Hashimoto hasn't done much for the Sonic storyline, though. Again, Dr. Eggman is back with a new evil plan, this time a deranged plot to release the planet's hidden force, Dark Gaia. In an opening cut-scene, Eggman uses a new laser beam to break apart the earth and in so doing accidentally corrupts and scatters the famed chaos emeralds about the continents. Go figure! Meanwhile, the same beam changes Sonic, altering him into the werehog whenever the sun goes down. It's pretty flimsy stuff, as expected, but fans will at least be happy to learn that all the cut-scene choreography is well done, all the characters are voice acted, and the awful 80s' guitar rock poisoning the Adventure games has been altogether terminated in Unleashed. Instead, you will be treated to a superb soundtrack comprised of genuinely catchy world music that perfectly suits each of the different continents that the hedgehog will inevitably travel to and from.
I love the game's world map. It's just a giant 3D globe that shows all of the broken continents. You're able to spin it around and jump to locations you've opened up. As you advance through the game, you restore the continents and this is reflected on the map, which dynamically reverts to normal, an excellent means to simply display your overall progress. I don't like the seemingly pointless character interactions with village people, though. Click on a region and you'll eventually be made to click on a 2D sub-map, each housing several hot spots that yield NPC chats via hand-drawn 2D overlays. There are small loads when accessing these areas, a disappointment. A much bigger issue, though, is that the character interactions are meaningless, only there to extend gameplay length.
If I could just clarify with a quick history lesson, the Wii and PlayStation 2 versions of Unleashed are identical, but very different from the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 builds, the latter of which were entirely developed by Sonic Team. Software house Dimps helped design the daytime levels in the Wii and PlayStation 2 iterations of the game. Dimps, you might remember, is responsible for the acclaimed Sonic Rush games on DS and therefore has proven experience producing zippy Sonic outings. Obviously, the Wii and PS2 titles don't look nearly as good as the PS3 and Xbox 360 titles, which make use of Sonic Team's three-years-under-construction Hedgehog Engine, but that's not to suggest that these are ugly games. The art style is pleasing, the sheer variety in locations amazing (you will speed through several continents with varying themes, including jungles, icy mountains, European cities, skyscrapers and more), and the technology pretty good. Unleashed features fairly crisp texture work, a host of visual effects like shimmering translucent water, a robust particle engine, and more, and it runs at 30 frames per second with some fluidity dips here and there. Of course, it runs in progressive-scan and widescreen on Wii, too.
The daytime levels are great fun, even if they do occasionally feel like they are playing themselves -- a running complaint of all Sonic games and let's face it, you either love this or you hate it. The game moves at an incredibly fast pace and most of the speed-killing obstacles present in other Sonic games, Secret Rings included, have been removed. The result are stages that feel like roller coaster rides complete with sharp turns, branching routes, and the trademark loop-de-loops and rail-slides of the series. When, on occasion, you actually do slow down, it's because you chose to do so and not because some poorly implemented barrier appeared out of nowhere, like a set of spikes you couldn't outmaneuver in time. And purists will be pleased to see that levels seamlessly change perspectives as you go so that at one moment you're blazing forward, side-stepping enemies and Z-sliding underneath walls and in the next, you've got a 2D view as the hedgehog rolls through a loop and takes a bumper straight up.
The daytime levels scream by, but Sonic Team and Dimps have devised methods to keep you coming back for more. You earn ratings and medals based on how well you play -- how many rings you collect and how much time elapses before you reach the goal -- and if you perform poorly the first time through, as you might, you can come back again and try for a better score. Meanwhile, there are secondary missions -- time challenges, and ring challenges that successfully re-use levels but add freshly enjoyable hurdles that feel well balanced and not simply tacked on to add a few extra minutes of gameplay time.
Given that the sunlit levels are so good, I had optimistically hoped that the nighttime element would be downplayed in Sonic Unleashed, but unfortunately the opposite is true. Early on, you will play roughly three times as many nighttime levels as you will daytime ones, a truth that might just convince you to put the controller down. Stick it out a while and more and more daytime areas will mercifully become unlocked -- you'll be able to travel across the world map directly to these missions. But all said and done, you will absolutely spend more time under the moon than you will the sun, and the clock count is multiplied because the daytime levels are over shortly after they begin; Sonic flies through these areas. In stark contrast, the werehog is a slow, dumb beast and thus the nighttime stages take three times as long to complete.
It's not even that the werehog missions are offensively bad -- they aren't. It's just that the werehog sucks the speed right out of the game, effectively transforming a Sonic the Hedgehog experience into something much slower and far less desirable. He's a tank. Imagine if Nintendo created a Mario platformer in which the plumber couldn't jump. In werehog form, Sonic stumbles around environments and fights enemies with simple combos. To the title's credit, it does include a detailed upgrade system that unlocks new moves as you progress through the adventure. On Wii, there's a lot of really stupidly mapped controls. For instance, you will actually have to shake the controller from side-to-side in order to gain momentum when the werehog swings off poles. Thankfully, you can opt to play the entire game with the classic or GameCube controllers, which eliminates this issue. Very quickly on, you will recognize a pattern -- a template that repeats itself over and over again. Enter area, break open some crates and barrels, come into a clearing and fight some enemies, jump across a couple of platforms and repeat. It goes on and on, the only differences the change in backgrounds; even the enemies remain mostly the same.
Sonic Unleashed is half great game and half tedious gimmick. The daytime levels will amaze you for they harken back to the 2D classics and are positively overrun with raw speed, zigzagging pathways, loop- de-loops, and more, all of it complemented by responsive controls and good technology. As far as I'm concerned, these stages are so well crafted, in fact, that die-hard Hedgehog fans can probably justify purchasing the title for the sunlit selection alone. Just resign yourself to trudging through the nighttime stages as penance for the daylight ones. Come on -- if you're a Sonic fan, you should be used to sacrifice and suffering by now, anyway.
And if you've never liked Sonic before, the newly implemented werehog component will certainly not make you a believer in the franchise. If anything, you might come to appreciate the traditional levels by comparison.
It's a shame, too, because this time more than any other, Sonic Team nearly had it. Indeed, had Unleashed shipped with a focus on polished daytime levels, I have no doubt that it would've been one of the best entrants in the franchise's long history. But the developer's insistence on avoiding a pure hedgehog experience at all costs has once again backfired, transforming a speedy beauty into a slow beast.
Presentation: 8.0/10 Great production values through and through. Fabulous rendered cinemas, loads of voice-acting, a slick interface and dozens of unlockables. Some load times, forced dialog trees.
Graphics: 8.0/10 Good style and strong technology combine for pretty results. Big, varied environments and an amazing sense of speed. Runs at 30 frames and under, a disappointment.
Sound: 8.0/10 Thank you, almighty gods: Sonic Team has finally ditched the horrific 80s' guitar rock for a beautiful, memorable soundtrack filled with worldly music. What an improvement!
Gameplay: 7.0/10 This one's hard to rate. Separated, the daytime levels are worth a full point and a half higher; the nighttime stages two or three points lower. An addictive game by day and a boring one by night.
Lasting Appeal: 7.0/10 A lengthy single-player mode will last upward of 12 hours and there's plenty to come back for, including a host of unlockables and lots of collectibles. Fans will be pleased.
Overall: 7.2/10
IGN rated the PS2 version a 7.0/10.
Game Informer has posted two reviews of the game, from two different people. The overall rating of the game was a 6/10.
- Game Informer
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Every time Sega plans a new Sonic game I hear someone talk about how they are fixing Sonic, and every time the game releases the developers do something new to mess it up. Look Sega, I don't want to play as Sonic's annoying animal friends. I don't want to wander around town talking to people about ice cream or hand puppets. And I don't want to play as some howling bestial, slower version of Sonic. I play Sonic games because I like to go fast.
Sonic is certainly good at going fast. Sega's tech is impressive, as Sonic's sprawling levels speed by without a hitch. Occasionally you'll have to dial in a button-pressing event or quickly jump over to a branching path, but for the most part Sonic's speedy levels are rollercoaster rides you cruise through. If these traditional Sonic levels were the only gameplay on this disc, I might have walked away amused. Sadly, they only make up about a third of the overall experience.
After Dr. Eggman uses the Chaos emeralds to split open the Earth's crust, thereby releasing a horde of evil spirits, Sonic becomes infected with some strange disease.
This disease turns him into a super stretchy Werehog monster whenever the moon is out. These Werehog segments play like a poor man's God of War. You fight hordes of enemies and level up his Werehog attacks, but many of the enemies look the same, Sonic's pace is plodding, and the platforming is frustrating.
Even worse are Unleashed's hub world areas, which have Sonic holding inane conversations with random pedestrians in tedious adventure-style quests. As much as I disliked lumbering through levels as Sonic's hulky Werehog, I disliked hunting through the hub worlds looking for coins even more. Sega, if you really want to fix Sonic, the first thing you should do is stop trying to fix him.
Concept: It's been about a year, so it's time for Sega to shake another Sonic game off the tree
Graphics: The "Hedgehog engine" impresses with bright cartoonish graphics that fly by without a stutter
Sound: Like death and taxes, annoying voiceovers from Sonic and his pals are inevitable
Playability: Sonic's racetrack levels require few inputs, and even on the Wii the controls feel fine
Entertainment: The game is certainly fast, but speed has never been the problem. Sonic's Werehog levels and the explorative hub world squeeze the entertainment out of this package
Replay: Moderately Low
- Game Informer
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Another game, another new Sonic character. This time it's our hero's alter-ego Sonic the "Werehog," who (natch) only comes out at night. This split personality concept transfers to the game design, as the levels are divided up between the speedy, traditional Sonic levels and the platforming and fighting-oriented Werehog levels. As you might expect, it's a mixed bag. The Sonic levels deliver a modicum of high-speed thrills, but sadly the Werehog's botched gameplay (wonky platforming and boring combat) show an evil underside. If the Sonic levels are just more of the same, at least they show a certain level of polish -- I'd rather have the same old thing done fairly well than the failed experiments of the Werehog levels. Interestingly, the Wii version is actually better -- its unique levels are better designed and implemented than on PS3 or 360. Still, after the triumph of Sonic Chronicles for the DS, this is a bit of a letdown.
EDIT: To urge people to buy Sonic Unleashed, Sega have released two launch trailers, one advertising the 360/PS3 game, and one for the Wii/PS2 game. Though personally, the 360/PS3 trailer looks more epic.
[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgXxz4C-Kuo[/YOUTUBE]
[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMaq5PU7u0I[/YOUTUBE]
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Adam's Leather Punk Blog Update: I am mighty pissed
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SoniCalvin
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Nov 21 2008, 08:51 AM
Post #552
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Grand Marshal
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1Up grade the 360 version of Sonic Unleashed a C.
http://www.1up.com/do/reviewPage?cId=3171439
- 1Up
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As someone who's closely followed the bizarre, often tragic trajectory that Sonic the Hedgehog's mascot career has taken, I approach each successive Sonic release with a heart full of dread. With his edgy, art-deco Sega Genesis glory days now long behind him, Sonic's recent platforming efforts have feebly attempted to recapture the well-crafted 3D prowess demonstrated by Dreamcast launch hit Sonic Adventure. Regrettably, every post-Adventure outing has garishly glided the proverbial lily, screwing up the formula with the addition of extraneous playable characters (crocodiles, bees, robots -- you name it), misguided new gameplay styles (like Shadow the Hedgehog's guns-n-cars nonsense), and laughable narrative excess (I'm still trying to forget the sick cross-species romance that defiled Sonic's previous eponymous effort). Somehow, the kiddies have remained loyal throughout Sonic Team's decade of desperately grasping for relevance, but many of his more discerning fans have long since jumped ship. If Sega were to pull off something akin to Super Mario Galaxy -- a mainline franchise reboot that augments classic gameplay with clever new concepts -- he could once again be a contender. Sadly, Sonic Unleashed is not such a title.
With its Saturday-morning-cartoon-caliber storyline (grammar-school grads will instantly despise Sonic's obnoxiously chirpy new sidekick, Chip) that finds our heroic hedgehog morphing into a ridiculous-looking Werehog by night, Unleashed quickly reveals its fundamental resistance to change. Just as in every Sonic since Adventure, you're dividing your time here between several jumbled gameplay styles. The proceedings start promisingly enough; Unleashed's traditional, breakneck-fast run-n-jump stages look absolutely gorgeous, with postcard-perfect architecture and some flat-out-ridiculous motion-blur effects. Unfortunately, some questionable gameplay decisions muck up the platforming thrills, such as needlessly reworking and convoluting Sonic's homing attack to require two different button presses, adding a difficulty-leeching, autopilot-esque "Sonic Boost" speed burst, and clumsily remapping lateral dodging to the shoulder triggers. Sure, the gameplay's exhilarating when everything's hurtling past you in a manic blur, but once you stop to make a pinpoint jump or fend off some foes, you'll really notice how slippery and imprecise the controls feel.
If Unleashed were merely a linear progression through the aforementioned pure-speed Sonic platforming stages, it'd be only a minor disappointment. Sonic Team once again couldn't leave well enough alone, however; instead saddling the game with an overabundance of lethargic, combat-heavy Werehog levels. These feral nighttime sections crib heavily from both God of War and Kingdom Hearts, yet manage to capture none of those games' appeal. Here, you move slowly through linear environments, pummeling brain-dead foes (many of whom must be dispatched via annoying button-matching minigames), pushing crates onto switches, and clumsily using the Werehog's nonsensical Plastic Man arms to navigate lame jumping puzzles. The mash-happy combat simply isn't much fun until you unlock new Werehog abilities later in the game, and the brawls tend to drag on too long (who wants to play a Sonic stage for more than 15 minutes?).
As dull as the lycanthropy bits may seem, the inane role-playing quests you're forced to undertake in Unleashed's various hub towns are worse. You're constantly asked to gather information from the dippy townsfolk before you can proceed to the next action stage. Is this baby-game handholding really necessary? Yet, Unleashed's absolute nadir comes in the form of profoundly lame, unskippable minigames (including a disastrous button-matching exercise aboard Tails' plane) that will have older gamers tossing controllers in frustration. If you thought Kingdom Hearts' dreadful Gummi Ship got old quickly, this brain-dead exercise will leave you flabbergasted.
Ultimately, this simply isn't the fresh start Sonic fans were so desperately hoping for...but at least it's not as execrable as the last two efforts. It's not hard to spot the foundations for a beautiful, charming Sonic Renaissance beneath all the extraneous chaff, but Sonic Team seems wholly incapable of focusing on what makes this franchise so special. It's truly a shame, because their proprietary new graphical engine cranks out some spectacular vistas -- if only it were more fun to traverse them.
Also, another entry in Sega's IGN blog.
- Sachiko Kawamura
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Hello, I am Sachiko Kawamura. I am the art director of Sonic Unleashed.
This time, I will talk about the characters in Sonic Unleashed!
Ideal Sonic? Since Sonic became a 3D game, we have created a model of Sonic and added minor changes to his design each time we release a new game. As some of you may have realized, some of the changes were rather minor and some of them were drastic in proportion.
So what did we change in Sonic Unleashed?
I wanted to make him a standard "the" Sonic that all the Sonic fans around the world have in mind. I wanted to limit the change to a minimum and stick to his original design. My goal was to make him a familiar Sonic that everyone knows.
One of things I really wanted to realize was to have Sonic's mouth on either side of his face.
Sonic's mouth is always on either side of his face, never in the center. This is pretty hard to do in 3D images. But for me, "proper" Sonic has to have his mouth towards either side of his face. After a lot of struggling, I have succeeded in what I have started with, although there is always a room for improvement.
I think we mentioned it under the subject of background art, but to have illustrated Sonic and 3D Sonic close to one another was very important in achieving our goal to make it look as if illustrations are moving.
Of course, we have our usual sub characters. I think I did a good job in the same task for these characters; that is to make convincing CG graphics based on cartoon taste of the original illustrations. In Sonic Unleashed, Sonic and his friends go on lively adventures and you'd forget that this is CG!
The World that is Right for Sonic As I said above, we created cartoon-like backgrounds with realistic textures for Sonic.
Now we had to design the people who live in the world. They need to blend in the same environment, and it must feel right to have them standing beside Sonic. As you know, Japan and Western countries have very different tastes when it comes to character design. I thought character designs popular in Japanese TV and cartoons didn't really fit Sonic. Rather, I thought Western cartoon style would fit him better. But the fact remains that some of the character designs popular in the West are not welcome in Japan. So I kept on searching for a design that goes both ways, which will be accepted on both ends of the world. In this search, I finally met fantastic character artists who knew exactly what I was looking for and I'm glad to say that I had them draw the ideal characters for us.
GURIHIRU (a unit of 2 artists) did great job in drawing exactly the kind of people who match Sonic's world. Since this game is based partly on the real world, they also did a fantastic job creating a lot of different peoples and tribes based on the people who live all over the world. Thanks to GURUHIRU, the world of Sonic Unleashed is a very live place with variety of people coexisting with one another.
Of course, making 3D models based on these illustrated characters that walk around smoothly as if they are real -- that was another hard, yet fun challenge our CG artists had to work on. We also paid special attention to the robot troops of Sonic's rival, Eggman, and to the new enemy characters in Sonic Unleashed.
Enemies should have particularly scary and forceful design that best fits each unique enemy type. And yet, they also have to blend in the Sonic-like simple design philosophy and world view. Our character designers worked very hard to meet those 2 requirements. And by adding funny animations to them, we gave birth to energetic enemies we've never had before.
In fact I was a little surprised when I first saw the unique animations they made for us... I was really satisfied with their work and the ideas of the animators had a very positive impact on the end result!
Sonic Drama Cut scenes are very important element in making the adventure of Sonic even more fun and lively.
Since we adopted cartoonish expressions for characters and background, we had to make their animation somewhat cartoon-ish, rather than focus on realistic movements. But this is not achievable by the same-old motion capture. It had to be controlled manually by the animators. You can imagine it's a hard work to maintain the quality, schedule and cost if you try and make all the cut scenes manually.
So, what we did was, we made the whole cut scene with motion capture first. And based on that, we would add animations to maintain quality and cut time and cost. Of course, even in the motion capture stage, we had the actors act them out. But we'd still get the human-like realism of capture. You should see the professionalism when our animators would arrange these movements one by one into cartoon-like animations. It was a work of serious artisans.
Thanks to their work, we had many beautiful cutscenes, which even chamrs us when watching it. Also thanks to the Global Illumination effect, we were able to get close to the standard pre-rendered CG.
So all the pieces have been carefully crafted to make every element match the world view which is decidedly Sonic. We have had problems and hard days, but I'm proud to say that Sonic Unleashed has become a game which has all our ideals on who Sonic is, both as a character and a franchise.
In the next Dev. Diary, our producer, Akinori Nishiyama will go through the whole Sonic Unleashed project.
Stay tuned!
EDIT: Sega's "Night of the Werehog" animated short has been put on their website for all to see.
Go here.
EDIT: Wal-Mart, and EB Games are probably gonna get in trouble with Sega for this. People already have copies of the 360 port of Sonic Unleashed. That's right, they're selling copies of the 360 game before the 24th of November. Before they're supposed to. There have been reports all over that people already have the game.
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Adam's Leather Punk Blog Update: I am mighty pissed
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SoniCalvin
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Nov 24 2008, 09:53 AM
Post #553
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Grand Marshal
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...
Heheh... heheheheheh.... hahahahaha... HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Hoooo...
Circuit City need to get their act together.
Anyway, the 360 game's actual release date is today. I'm gonna be picking up my copy as soon as possible. And I have found one of the more harsh reviews for the game. Not even recommending a rental, this one just flat out tells people to skip the game. That's how bad they think of it. But again, the usual comments. Daytime stages? Decent. Nighttime stages? *siren buzz*
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081...hen-a-fall.html
- Ars Technica
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The developers at Sonic Team are in the perfect position with Sonic Unleashed. Sonic the Hedgehog, the current-generation reboot, was absolutely terrible. Fans of the hedgehog are looking forward to each new game with lower and lower expectations. At this point, even a middling game that focused on the series' strengths would have been seen as a return to form and snapped up by legions of ever-hopeful Sega fans. Sonic Unleashed is not that game, although many scenes make it feel like it could have been.
There are sections where Sonic is tasked with running from one end of the level to the other as fast as possible, while taking out enemies and searching for hidden treasure, and these are enjoyable. Some of the set pieces, which contain loops and the whorls and grinding on metal rails, give you a great sense of speed and momentum. Many times I felt the same sense of wonder and fun that filled Sonic titles in better times. During these moments I wanted to grab the development team and shake them, while shouting "This! Just do this!"
Instead, the game has been filled with all the things that cause Sonic fans to gnash their teeth. At the beginning of the game, you're introduced to "Chip," your new side kick. Yes, he's a small furry animal with an annoyingly high-pitched voice. He's named Chip because of his love of ice cream sundaes. He lost his memory when Sonic fell on him, you see, and now Sonic feels responsible for him. You know this because Sonic looks at the camera and tells you. Chip also provides the text and voice for the game's tutorial segments, providing a "Sonic!" sound clip that will make you wish for Navi's "Hey! Listen!" from Ocarina of Time.
It gets worse. The game features "Were-hog" levels where Sonic turns into a bulky, toothy version of himself, complete with stretchy arms. These sections feature jumping puzzles, inordinate amounts of boring combat, and fetch-it quests where you have to find items to put in specific locations in order to open doors. Oddly enough, these sections seem to have cribbed from the God of War design school: there will be sections that force you to clear out the baddies before a forcefield is taken down, others where you have to tap the "B" button to open doors and throw switches, and there are even some quick-time events that allow you to unleash more powerful attacks on your enemies.
These suffer a multitude of problems. The frame rate gets low when there are more than a few enemies on screen, and the combat simply isn't interesting. The jumping puzzles have squishy controls and use a tricky lock-on mechanism in order to grab things with Sonic's stretchy arms; these aren't fun, either. What looks like an easy jump will often cause you to lose a life.
There are also sections where you have to run around and talk to the townspeople in order to get clues, and that's just as annoying as it was back in the far superior Sonic Adventures for the Dreamcast. This would have been an interesting game about ten years ago, but most of the game play ideas feel anachronistic now; the only reason this game is getting attention is the presence of Sonic.
The best mascot games, such as Super Mario Galaxy or even LittleBigPlanet, don't need the character to make them great. You could make Joe the Plumber a character in Mario 64 and it still would have been wonderful. If Sonic Unleashed featured a different lead character, it would hit the shelves and disappeared almost instantly. As it stands, it's another in a long row of disappointments, despite the presence of a few fun areas that show what could have been.
Verdict: Skip
EDIT: GameDaily has given the Wii version a 7/10.
http://www.gamedaily.com/games/sonic-unlea...view/7042/2206/
- GameDaily
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Sonic the Hedgehog is back with Sonic Unleashed. This action/adventure, where you once again butt heads with Eggman, is a welcome return to form for the series, despite having its problems. The town exploration sequences drag on (you must talk to all the residents before going anywhere) and the repetitive Werehog segments make us sleepy. Its 3-D/2-D stages, however, are wonderfully designed, spanning across a number of continents. Sonic also performs smoother than ever, with nicely balanced controls reminiscent of his old-school 16-bit adventures. A sequel with more speed and less gimmicks would make us happy, but for now, Unleashed is a step above the awful games that came before it. Good to have you back, Sonic.
Short, but sweet.
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Adam's Leather Punk Blog Update: I am mighty pissed
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Xipz
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Nov 24 2008, 05:43 PM
Post #554
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I've rented the game for Wii. I'm liking it so far, but I find myself not liking the Werehog sections. They make my wrists hurt.
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SoniCalvin
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Nov 24 2008, 06:25 PM
Post #555
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Grand Marshal
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Then what are you doing playing the game with the Remote and Nunchuk? Plug in a GameCube controller for a while. 
EDIT: Two new reviews of the game. One very positive, while the other... it's up there with some of the other reviews, with same "good daytime levels, bad nighttime levels" gig. The first one comes from Hardcore Gamer Magazine, as they give it a 4.5/5.
- Hardcore Gamer
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The Sonic the Hedgehog franchise has an audience filled with mind-boggling variety. You've got the little children who think he's the coolest thing ever. You've got the older fans who were there at the time of his inception. You've got the people who've become disenfranchised with his console outings, and you've got the people who've still managed to have fun with them. For some people, nothing less than a 2.5D high-definition remake of the original Genesis titles will do. For others, just not having a repeat of titles like Shadow the Hedgehog and SONIC (2006) will be more than enough. There are people who want Sonic to go blazingly fast all of the time, people who wish he'd just slow down for some of the surprisingly complicated platforming he used to do back in the Genesis days, and still other who just want him to continue being the coolest thing ever, no matter what that entails. All of these people have been looking to Sonic Unleashed as the potential solution to their particular Sonic cravings.
Well, Sonic Unleashed is finally here, and while it's not going to please everybody, it actually tackles this gargantuan task head-on. What's amazing is that it doesn't end up as an utter mess because of this--quite the opposite, actually. By trying to be a compromise in all aspects of Sonic that have made him popular over the years, the new Sonic Team has actually managed to move the concept of high-speed platforming forward as a result. This is one fine game. I liked the Wii version all right, but this one does everything in its power to blow it out of the water, and often--but not always--succeeds.
The game kicks off with an incredible opening CG movie of Sonic fighting Eggman/Robotnik, just like the old days. Sonic becomes Super Sonic... but in a twist, Eggman wins anyway. In doing so, he drains the Chaos Emeralds of their power, breaks the planet apart, and changes Sonic into the Werehog. After jettisoning them all, he goes about building a city dedicated to his narcissism, leaving Sonic (along with Tails, and a tiny little sprite-thing named Chip, who's pretty much Daxter Lite) to put the planet back together, as well as find a cure for his lycanthropy. Due to this premise, stages in Sonic Unleashed are broken into two parts--day and night.
In the daytime, Sonic is faster than ever before as he zips through track-like stages at speeds that all players, regardless of their background, will have to get used to. These stages constantly shift from a behind-the-back perspective (from Sonic and the Secret Rings) to a 2.5D sidescrolling view and back again, with no abruptness whatsoever. The daytime stages in Unleashed make all previous Sonic games look slow and primitive in comparison as our favorite hedgehog breaks the laws of physics on a regular basis, and he's got new moves that solve many of the previous games' problems, allowing him to go at a steady clip without slowing down, or worse--losing control and falling off the game world.
One is the Quick Step, which lets Sonic move laterally while in mid-sprint. It's great for switching rails while grinding sets of them, picking up rows of rings when you see them, and dodging land hazards as well as attacks in Eggman boss fights. It's an invaluable tool, finally taking some of the load off of a lone analog stick in the job of keeping Sonic under control. The other is the Drift. Straight out of Outrun 2, this is a powerslide whose directional nuances you can control in mid-execution with nudges of the left analog stick. It feels natural, and it's great fun. Previous Sonic Adventure powers such as the Homing Attack, Lightspeed Dash (allowing you to travel along Rings placed in sequence), the Stomp, and the Wall Jump return as well. These powers are doled out to you over the course of the game, opening up passageways and shortcuts in past stages and hubs that were previously inaccessible. It gives a rewarding feeling of discovery, and encourages multiple stage replays and continent visits.
And visit these continents you'll want to, again and again. Inspired by real-world locations, you'll find yourself sprinting through the lush forests of Adabat, treading the sands of Middle-East-inspired Shamar, and squealing above the rooftops of New York-inspired Empire City. Ever want to zoom around the entire circumference of the clock face of Big Ben? In Spagonia, you will. Meanwhile, in arctic Holoska, the ice and snow mess with Sonic's traction, providing extra challenge, and the treetops of Africa-based Mazuri become your racetracks.
The truly great thing about the daytime stages is that not only do they bring forth the wonderful exhilaration of being a supersonic hedgehog, but they accentuate the risk involved as well. In previous Sonic titles, you were usually forced by stage design to slow down in order to do some platforming and evade hazards--here, the decision is left up to you. Do you blast through stages at Blazing Speed and enjoy the ride as you zoom to the goal? Or do you lay off of the boost button for a while and look around for secrets while going only Really Fast? Just how fast do you let yourself run over water without tripping some mines? Do you want to play it safe near crowds of robots, picking them apart one by one, or do you just blast forth with the boost button and knock them all down like bowling pins while losing sight of your surroundings? Are your Quick Stepping skills good enough to get you past that gauntlet of spikes and pits coming up? Does that string of enemies or rings lead to an easier path through the stage? Are you getting enough momentum for that Big Air(tm) needed to get to that secret? The questions and decisions go on and on, and it never gets old. There are dozens of ways to tackle each stage, and should you somehow mess up on your original plan, there's a good chance improvisation will get you through.
In short, Sonic Team really nailed things with the daytime play. This takes us, then, to the controversial nighttime Werehog hijinx. To this day, I'm not sure why Sega deems fit to insert play styles that are most certainly not Sonic into a Sonic game. It comes off looking as if they don't have the utmost faith in the playability of their biggest company mascot, which is just... strange. However, the good news is that the Werehog is the best alternate play scheme we've ever had. While Sonic's nowhere near as fast in this mode as he is when normal, he still scampers around pretty quickly, and he's actually somewhat of a badass. Snarling, clawing, and howling, Sonic the Werehog swipes and bashes away at enemies with a (insert 3D action game of your choice here)-inspired combo system. Said system starts out pretty weak, but realizes its potential once he gains experience and a couple of levels (indeed, the game sports a level-up system to allow you to make both of Sonic's forms faster, stronger, and a better fighter, among other things). Incidentally, it's amusing how many moves from Street Fighter made it in here.
Due to the large amount of moves to be learned, the fighting is actually fun, made more so by the fact that you often take on dozens of enemies at once, and they actually pose a decent challenge without being a chore. Flashy QTE finishes can be performed to gain more bonus items, but there's risk involved--if you mess this procedure up, the enemy you were fighting goes back to full health. These sequences are best performed when the enemy is on its last legs in terms of energy.
The Werehog isn't just fighting, though--there's also lots of slower, complicated platforming to be had, a la the Prince of Persia series. The Werehog will be doing lots of swinging from poles, dodging buzzsaws, scaling cliffs--things along those lines. Once you get the hang of the controls--a fairly easy task--it works rather well, presenting no problems that aren't already in the most recent Prince games (i.e., depth perception being a bit of a problem; realizing you weren't supposed to cling to that surface but another one close by, etc.).
The final, hidden feature of the Werehog is that it allows Sega to include their precious alternate gameplay type (probably for the younger sect of the audience) while keeping the focus on the character of Sonic. What Sonic is and always has been as a character never actually changes just because he manages to grow extra fur and take on the powers of Stretch Armstrong. Instead, as time goes on, his alternate form grows on you, and by endgame, you learn to appreciate all that one single hedgehog will willingly go through to save the world. Therefore, while the Werehog still wouldn't be in this game if it were completely up to me, I have at least come to respect it, and even like it. Your mileage may vary, however, especially for people less hardcore about the platformer genre.
Fortunately for people afraid of the Big Bad Wolf, the ratio of Hedgehog to Werehog stages is split dead-even, and around the midgame, you're allowed to pick and choose how much of each experience you want. Each continent sports two to three stages involving each solar cycle, and every secondary and tertiary stage ends up being a super-tough gauntlet for people who think they're Sonic the Hedgehog masters. Some are entirely 2D, others require perfect Boosting, Homing Attack, Jumping or Drift skills. Others push Werehog skills to the limit, and one is actually nothing but a giant QTE. They're sadistic, and I love them while simultaneously cursing my screen whenever trying to get through one.
Accentuating the game's World Adventure motif, the game's broken up into hub villages representing world continents. Much more interesting than Super Mario Galaxy's stale singular hub that contains absolutely nothing to do in it, these places allow you to talk to villagers, engage in amusing conversations, partake in secret and not-so-secret stage missions, and buy various baubles that yield everything from experience points to unlockables. The people and surroundings here are represented in a friendly Pixar-esque art style. The price is, admittedly, paid in some load time for each locale. It's optimized DVD load time instead of the atrocity that was SONIC 2006, but it can potentially bog things down if you do a lot of travelling at once.
Speaking of bogging things down: in order to go through the game, you'll have to "unlock" levels by collecting Sun (for daytime stages) and Moon (for nighttime stages) Medals, much like in the last few Mario games. This medal collecting would provide a serious problem with the game's pacing if said medal collecting weren't so downright easy. Many of them are automatically in your path as you progress through levels. However, many more will definitely be missed if you're trying to rush through the game. As a tip, keeping the Metroid mentality about you (just break everything that looks breakable, and look in every out-of-the-way nook and cranny) in the small action stage hubs, even smaller towns, and the first couple of easy Werehog stages will render Medal collecting a non-issue.
The final element of this title is the Tornado Defense minigame. Reminiscent of the Sky Chases of past Sonic titles, this has Sonic riding Tails's plane, the Tornado, as they shoot down Eggman's air force. Instead of a traditional shooter setup, you end up pushing the face buttons on the controller, almost like one long, drawn-out quick time event. It's shallow, but the sky view is great to look at and will definitely give you flashbacks if you're an old-timer Sonic fan like me. I personally liked this, but then again, I play my 360 a lot, so I already know my face button layout like the back of my hand. If you don't, you might have some trouble with it the first couple of times.
The Sky Chase view isn't the only thing that's pretty in Unleashed--the entire game is a feast for the eyes. The decision to go with several continents leads to a barrage of unique breathtaking sights for the player. Cityscapes, waterfalls, dunes, forests, machine metropolises and more are rendered in high definition, with always changing terrain and backgrounds that are easy to spot even when Sonic is pushing 300mph. Of course, it's when you're forced to slow down and take in the scenery as the Werehog that you'll often fully appreciate their beauty. Thanks to Sega's much-touted "Hedgehog Engine," each continent has its own life and personality, brimming with light and color.
An aside for the fans: special note has to be given to Sonic's character model. He's been based off of the one from the 16-bit games, where his image was simply that of "cool" rather than "extreme." It works to great asset for the character as he runs, jumps and spins, but even when you leave him alone, he's great to look at. He'll stand around for a bit, then maybe do some stretches or jumps to amuse himself. Eventually he'll sit and lounge around, waiting for you to get moving already. It's great stuff, and it's a move I applaud.
The soundtrack is one of the best in a Sonic game, period. Composer Tomoya Ohtani, fresh off of Sonic Rush Adventure, returns here, and the result is a sort of jazzy, "neo-retro" song set. Between these two games, this man is very quickly becoming my favorite sound director at Sega. Don't get me wrong, I love the rocking guitars of Crush 40 (Sonic Heroes, Shadow, any Sonic centerpiece song), the techno tracks of the Sawada/Tokoi/Kumatani trio (Riders, Secret Rings), and the utter genius of Hideki Naganumi (Sonic Rush, Jet Set Radio)--but what's here sounds more like actual... game music. I can listen to this for hours and not get tired of it.
The sound direction here is tops as well--Sonic doesn't stop talking or yelling as he has fun spining through loops and beating up baddies, and (possibly due to the vastly-reduced character cast compared to previous games) the voice acting as a whole is quite bearable no matter which language you have it set to. Dialogue takes place during boss battles as well--it's here that the constant banter between Sonic and Eggman proves memorable, constantly driving home the animosity between these two rivals. It makes one wonder what they could have said to each other during their countless battles in the days of 16-bit.
Finally, this is the part where I usually talk about how this game isn't perfect. It's going to be a short list, which actually scares me, but here goes:
As far as technical issues go, there's some framerate loss when the Werehog is taking on tons of enemies at once, as well as in the more complex hub worlds (Empire City is the most obvious here). There's also, as mentioned above, load times for just about any location, and they can grate if you do a lot of traveling and solar cycle switching in sequence. The above problems, however, can be alleviated by installing the game to the hard drive. If you have six gigabytes to spare, it's highly recommended, as it cuts the load times of everything by about three full seconds, making for a much smoother experience.
In daytime stages, exploration off the beaten path is highly discouraged, and the lack of being able to effectively backtrack may annoy some players. Oh, sure, you can definitely turn around and start going the way you came, but odds are you'll soon hit a boost pad that sends you right back on your merry way, leaving you ready to just restart the entire stage. Also, after Sonic Rush Adventure providing limitless fun by allowing you to have head-to-head online races, it's a shame that such a feature didn't show up here.
The game camera, while actually helpful 80% of the time (for a Sonic Team game, this is a Guinness-worthy world record), also has the potential to go wacky in the hub worlds, and a couple of the Werehog stages--Adabat most readily comes to mind. This can make the game harder than it needs to be, which brings us to the final nitpick:
This game is challenging. There are lots of button commands to remember, lots of speed to keep under control, and lots of crazy platforming feats to perform. It's easy for the Werehog to become overwhelmed, especially if you haven't leveled up his Strength attribute early on. The final continent is a grueling 45-minute-long trek which has you switching back and forth between Hedgehog and Werehog while testing everything you've learned to its fullest, with a few lightning-fast instant-death QTE sequences thrown in just for good measure. We're talking difficulty on the level of Sonic 1, 2, and CD's final zones here. Eggmanland laughs at Scrap Brain Zone.
Personally, I don't even consider this a bad thing, but I mention it because there are people who inevitably will. In this age of games being made primarily for accessibility, Sonic Team has essentially created Hedgehog Gaiden. Prepare to yell at your television from Holoska onward while simultaneously praising the experience. If the idea of this pleases you, feel free to jump in and never look back. However, if you don't think you're up to the task, then you may want to check out the Wii and PS2 versions, which are far easier and more relaxing.
Sonic Unleashed is a glorious return to true console form for Sonic. It is most certainly not the return that its most vocal fanbase was clamoring for, but oddly enough, it ends up being something better than that. Instead of the same old same old, Unleashed treads new, refreshing ground while respecting Sonic's roots at best, and being mostly harmless at worst. Best of all, instead of making you think only of what Sonic should be, this title makes you wonder what Sonic can be. The sky's officially the limit now--and as many fans know, Sonic can easily get there provided he's got a nice steep incline to launch himself off of.
Toot, toot.
This next one comes from GamePro, who generally have the same opinion as everyone else, and gave it three stars out of five.
- GamePro
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Considering how badly Sonic's last dozen or so games have been, it's a good thing the blue blur has been finally unleashed. He goes a little wild with the freedom, but also gets the opportunity to return to his true self. Sonic Unleashed features classic speed-based platforming action that puts Sonic's previous installments to shame. Unfortunately, a set of dreadfully out-of-place action levels starring Sonic's werehog alter ego brings everything to a screeching halt.
Evil Never Sleeps If persistence is a virtue, then Dr. Eggman must practically be a saint. The villain is up to no good once again, snatching the Chaos Emeralds from Sonic in an attempt to summon forth a monster from the bowels of Earth. Tearing the power of the crystals away from Sonic unwittingly has the effect of give the pint-sized hero split personalities. By day, he's the speedy, upbeat Sonic we know and love; at night, he turns aggro and becomes a hairy, muscled werehog. Both sides of Sonic are needed, though, to piece back a fractured planet.
Sonic must reset seven continents that have been broken from the planet's core, which of course involves running through loops, passing over boost pads, and jumping on robotic enemies. Speedy platform levels arrive in excellent form, perfectly capturing the feel of classic Sonic. Brilliant 2D sections are broken up by quick 3D sequences that test new abilities like the side step, executed with taps of the bumper buttons. These daytime levels provide the most satisfying gameplay of any Sonic title in years.
Hit The Brakes Day turns to night, however, and Sonic Unleashed becomes an entirely different game. Gone is the blue blaze, replaced by meathead action-platforming. As Sonic's aggressive alter ego, you traipse through evening stages pummeling foes and solving simple platform puzzles. None of it falls in line with the endearing qualities of the daytime levels which is to bluntly say that they're no good. The controls turn equally as hairy as Sonic's skin, relinquishing the precision found in the daytime stages for a huge dose of awkwardness. Basic tasks require too many button presses; for example, jumping between columns can't be done by just jumping toward the column you wish to latch onto. No, you have to jump then press another button to grab the column.
There's absolutely no need for these nighttime levels. Instead of providing variety, they only muck up the experience. It's like having a puppy scamper about a white carpet with muddy paws -- you love the pup, but hate what a mess it makes.
Traffic Court What an unfortunate design choice the were-hog levels were. The daytime stages were pure classic Sonic and finally gave me the speed rush I've been after for a long time. But the nighttime levels with their awkward action sequences just left me feeling flat. I love Sonic because his speedy style of platforming is fun, and Sega should have just developed a game around that and left everything else out.
THE BOTTOM LINE: It's tough to teach an old dog new tricks -- Sonic Unleashed tries to introduce new ideas with daytime and evening levels that switch between speedy platform and bulky action, but only the former has any bite. Sonic doesn't need to experiment, he just needs a good dose of the nostalgic design that makes up half of this mediocre game.
PROS: Delivers a true sense of speed; daytime level design captures classic Sonic feel; good challenges, tough boss battles. CONS: Werehog levels out of place and bland; awful voice acting.
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Adam's Leather Punk Blog Update: I am mighty pissed
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