Sonic the Hedgehog. What more can be said about this once great video game series? Sonic the Hedgehog has been through so much in the past decade and his future isn't looking to bright either. Sega has been trying to keep Sonic alive the same way they were trying to keep the Genesis alive...through a lot of crappy additions. After coming off of the abysmal Sonic the Hedgehog on the 360/PS3, fans were hoping that the next Sonic game would be better. Is Sonic Unleashed a true "Sonic Boom" or is it just a "Sonic Bomb"?
"Let Sonic's facial expression set the tone for this review."
In the early 90's, Sega was finally being recognized as a worthy adversary for Mario and Nintendo. With the release of the Genesis, Sega brought a new franchise into the mix to take advantage of the power that the Genesis was packing. That franchise was Sonic the Hedgehog. Sonic brought a brand new gameplay element to the platformer that even Mario couldn't match. That element was SPEED. Sonic was a much faster and much prettier game than Mario, giving more challenge to the player in the form of quick thinking platform gameplay. In the eyes of this reviewer, this gamer, Sonic will always be as I remember him.
Fast forward to the present and the Sonic franchise has been left in shambles with release after release of pure shit. Whether it was the slippery racing game Sonic R or the down right abysmal Shadow the Hedgehog, the franchise just hasn't been able to catch a break. It has been dragged through the mud more times than a barnyard bound pig.
Sonic Unleashed tells the story of Sonic. This time, Sonic is fighting the evil Doctor Robotnik (I refuse to call him Eggman) in space. The evil Robotnik is about to unleash a horde of baddies and Sonic takes it upon himself to stop them. After transforming into Super Sonic, Robotnik traps our hero in a strange machine along with the chaos emeralds. The machine infuses both Sonic and the Emeralds with something called Dark Gaia. The new dark power of the emeralds is so strong that it causes the earth to break apart into pieces. Sonic is also effected by the Dark Gaia. Sonic is transformed into a new creature called a "Werehog". Our hero must now travel the world in search of the tainted emeralds in order to put the world back to its old former self as well as battling his own inner monster.
You aren't alone if you found the story a mind sore. In all honesty, Unleashed's story isn't all that bad. Sonic games have always had the same story of "Sonic must stop Robotnik from taking over the world". At least with Unleashed we get some variation. The whole thing about the world being split apart is a good enough reason to get Sonic to go to some pretty exotic places that the franchise hasn't seen before. Unleashed has a decent story, let's leave it at that.
The story is decent, but the characters and writing as atrocious. The game introduces yet another new character to the ever expanding Sonic Universe, Chip. This little guy is one of the worst characters to be introduced to the Sonic Universe since Amy Rose, the obligatory love interest. Chip is probably the most cliche character in the entire game seeing as how he lost his memory and is part of the most obvious story twist in video game history. I won't spoil anything for you, just don't expect to be surprised.
"Seeing Sonic running down that dragon's back really takes me back to those days on the Genesis where it was all about the running."
Sonic Unleashed sports some pretty nice looking graphics. Sonic himself has never looked better in my opinion. While the characters may be annoying as hell, they are rendered nicely and they retain all of their cartoon personalities. The environments are the best part of the graphics in that they look pretty great. You won't notice a lot of the details when you are running super fast through the levels, but just know that they are there. When I say "running through the levels", I am talking about the 2D side scrolling levels.
Sonic Unleashed may look pretty nice during the day, but when it gets dark, everything just gets ugly. The night levels in Unleashed look very bland in that there is a lot of black, purple, and weird hues of blue. Not only that, but the performance of the game takes a major hit when the sun goes down. The game stutters through animations and frame rate during the night levels, which is the complete opposite of what Sonic should be, fast.
The Sonic series has always been known for good, catchy sound tracks whether it was "Sonic Boom" from Sonic CD or "Green Hill Zone" from the original. Unleashed doesn't fair too well seeing how the music is drowned out by the sound of Sonic jumping, attacking or every other sound effect that may be going off at the time. The biggest fault of the sound in Unleashed is the voice acting. Listening to the voice acting in Unleashed is like listening to a baby shrieking 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. You can tolerate it for a while and then it just drives you mad. The abysmal writing doesn't help the voice acting either.
The main draw of Sonic Unleashed is the gameplay. The gameplay is also one of the biggest faults of Sonic Unleashed. Unleashed is divided up into two types of gameplay; 2 1/2 dimensional platforming and 3D exploration/beat em up levels. The game throws you into a weird hub level where you are required to find your way around to all the different levels. I was very annoyed when I found that some levels required a certain amount of rings to enter. The hub level only hurts the gameplay experience and you don't have any choice but to play through these sections.
During the day, Sonic can participate in the Platforming levels. It is here that Sonic Unleashed shines in comparison to recent Sonic titles. The 2D stuff is great and it really makes us remember why we loved Sonic in the first place. You can run, jump and attack in these levels. Sonic still has his homing attack from the Adventure games and his spin dash from Sonic 2. Plus, Sonic has a boost ability that allows him to run ever faster through the levels. You'll use all your tricks to make it to the end of the level. When talking about the 2D levels, it is hard to avoid the fact that the controls aren't all that great here. You will constantly over shoot and under shoot big jumps, causing you to either die instantly or causing you to die instantly because of a lack or room to gain speed to make the next big jump. It is like an infinite loop of death in the 2D levels. It doesn't help either that the checkpoints are so few and far between in these levels. Overall, the 2D sections are the best part of the entire game. You will have the most fun here.
"A true Sonic Boom"
During the night, Sonic can participate in the 3D brawler levels where he assumes the role of the "Werehog", probably the stupidest addition to this franchise. While assuming the role of the Werehog, Sonic can attack his enemies with his stretchy arms and legs. He can also use his stretchy powers to reach ledges and poles to swing on. The 3D stages are just plain clunky. They just don't work well with the formula at all. The combat is very repetitive in the 3D stages and you'll only use the same attacks over and over again, only adding a dash of monotonous to the levels. The Werehog stages are the lowest parts of Unleashed and you have no choice but to force your way through them.
"A true Sonic Bomb"
After playing through the Werehog levels, I can't help but question the nature of Sonic's stretchy arms and legs. Why would Sonic's limbs stretch after turning into a Werehog? Did the wolf man's arms and legs stretch when he transformed? The answer is no. So why should Sonic's limbs stretch? If there is anything in Unleashed that doesn't make sense, it's the entire premise of the Werehog.
My biggest complaint with Sonic Unleashed is that it could have been a great game. I remember being super excited for this game when I saw the first few trailers. I thought "All right, they are returning Sonic to his roots! I can't wait for this game!" I also remember when they revealed the Werehog. I thought "They just couldn't leave a good thing alone, could they?" Sonic Unleashed could have been great if they got rid of the HUB Levels and the Werehog stages. Sure, the game would have only been about 2 or 3 hours long, but that 2 or 3 hours would have been great. Instead of releasing it in disk form, Sega could have released it over Xbox Live Arcade and made a fortune.
If you look at a good Sonic game like Sonic Rush on the Nintendo DS, you'll see that it consists only of running, jumping, boosting and fighting bosses. That game was the last great Sonic game. I don't see why Sega can't just look at that game and see what they are doing wrong. Obviously someone at Sonic Team loves the fans because they helped create the 2D levels in Unleashed. Someone should promote that guy or girl because they obviously know how to save Sonic.
Sonic Unleashed will only last about 8 hours so there isn't much reason to play through the game again, unless you like shit, then by all means play through it again. I know what you are going to say as well. Sonic Unleashed is no where near as abysmal as Sonic the Hedgehog was on the 360/PS3. It just isn't anywhere near as good as it should have been. Sonic Unleashed is a great example of a lazy developer who is just going to milk this franchise until it's tits are bone dry. I know what you were gonna say there as well..."Haven't they been doing that with Mario?" Yeah, they have been doing that with Mario as well, but Mario actually stars in a few good games here and there, unlike Sonic.
Sonic Unleashed gets a 5 out of 10. I can't even bring myself to think of something witty to say here.
"As much as it pains me to say it, I think it's time Sonic was put to sleep, for good"
"Let Sonic's facial expression set the tone for this review."
In the early 90's, Sega was finally being recognized as a worthy adversary for Mario and Nintendo. With the release of the Genesis, Sega brought a new franchise into the mix to take advantage of the power that the Genesis was packing. That franchise was Sonic the Hedgehog. Sonic brought a brand new gameplay element to the platformer that even Mario couldn't match. That element was SPEED. Sonic was a much faster and much prettier game than Mario, giving more challenge to the player in the form of quick thinking platform gameplay. In the eyes of this reviewer, this gamer, Sonic will always be as I remember him.
Fast forward to the present and the Sonic franchise has been left in shambles with release after release of pure shit. Whether it was the slippery racing game Sonic R or the down right abysmal Shadow the Hedgehog, the franchise just hasn't been able to catch a break. It has been dragged through the mud more times than a barnyard bound pig.
Sonic Unleashed tells the story of Sonic. This time, Sonic is fighting the evil Doctor Robotnik (I refuse to call him Eggman) in space. The evil Robotnik is about to unleash a horde of baddies and Sonic takes it upon himself to stop them. After transforming into Super Sonic, Robotnik traps our hero in a strange machine along with the chaos emeralds. The machine infuses both Sonic and the Emeralds with something called Dark Gaia. The new dark power of the emeralds is so strong that it causes the earth to break apart into pieces. Sonic is also effected by the Dark Gaia. Sonic is transformed into a new creature called a "Werehog". Our hero must now travel the world in search of the tainted emeralds in order to put the world back to its old former self as well as battling his own inner monster.
You aren't alone if you found the story a mind sore. In all honesty, Unleashed's story isn't all that bad. Sonic games have always had the same story of "Sonic must stop Robotnik from taking over the world". At least with Unleashed we get some variation. The whole thing about the world being split apart is a good enough reason to get Sonic to go to some pretty exotic places that the franchise hasn't seen before. Unleashed has a decent story, let's leave it at that.
The story is decent, but the characters and writing as atrocious. The game introduces yet another new character to the ever expanding Sonic Universe, Chip. This little guy is one of the worst characters to be introduced to the Sonic Universe since Amy Rose, the obligatory love interest. Chip is probably the most cliche character in the entire game seeing as how he lost his memory and is part of the most obvious story twist in video game history. I won't spoil anything for you, just don't expect to be surprised.
"Seeing Sonic running down that dragon's back really takes me back to those days on the Genesis where it was all about the running."
Sonic Unleashed sports some pretty nice looking graphics. Sonic himself has never looked better in my opinion. While the characters may be annoying as hell, they are rendered nicely and they retain all of their cartoon personalities. The environments are the best part of the graphics in that they look pretty great. You won't notice a lot of the details when you are running super fast through the levels, but just know that they are there. When I say "running through the levels", I am talking about the 2D side scrolling levels.
Sonic Unleashed may look pretty nice during the day, but when it gets dark, everything just gets ugly. The night levels in Unleashed look very bland in that there is a lot of black, purple, and weird hues of blue. Not only that, but the performance of the game takes a major hit when the sun goes down. The game stutters through animations and frame rate during the night levels, which is the complete opposite of what Sonic should be, fast.
The Sonic series has always been known for good, catchy sound tracks whether it was "Sonic Boom" from Sonic CD or "Green Hill Zone" from the original. Unleashed doesn't fair too well seeing how the music is drowned out by the sound of Sonic jumping, attacking or every other sound effect that may be going off at the time. The biggest fault of the sound in Unleashed is the voice acting. Listening to the voice acting in Unleashed is like listening to a baby shrieking 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. You can tolerate it for a while and then it just drives you mad. The abysmal writing doesn't help the voice acting either.
The main draw of Sonic Unleashed is the gameplay. The gameplay is also one of the biggest faults of Sonic Unleashed. Unleashed is divided up into two types of gameplay; 2 1/2 dimensional platforming and 3D exploration/beat em up levels. The game throws you into a weird hub level where you are required to find your way around to all the different levels. I was very annoyed when I found that some levels required a certain amount of rings to enter. The hub level only hurts the gameplay experience and you don't have any choice but to play through these sections.
During the day, Sonic can participate in the Platforming levels. It is here that Sonic Unleashed shines in comparison to recent Sonic titles. The 2D stuff is great and it really makes us remember why we loved Sonic in the first place. You can run, jump and attack in these levels. Sonic still has his homing attack from the Adventure games and his spin dash from Sonic 2. Plus, Sonic has a boost ability that allows him to run ever faster through the levels. You'll use all your tricks to make it to the end of the level. When talking about the 2D levels, it is hard to avoid the fact that the controls aren't all that great here. You will constantly over shoot and under shoot big jumps, causing you to either die instantly or causing you to die instantly because of a lack or room to gain speed to make the next big jump. It is like an infinite loop of death in the 2D levels. It doesn't help either that the checkpoints are so few and far between in these levels. Overall, the 2D sections are the best part of the entire game. You will have the most fun here.
"A true Sonic Boom"
During the night, Sonic can participate in the 3D brawler levels where he assumes the role of the "Werehog", probably the stupidest addition to this franchise. While assuming the role of the Werehog, Sonic can attack his enemies with his stretchy arms and legs. He can also use his stretchy powers to reach ledges and poles to swing on. The 3D stages are just plain clunky. They just don't work well with the formula at all. The combat is very repetitive in the 3D stages and you'll only use the same attacks over and over again, only adding a dash of monotonous to the levels. The Werehog stages are the lowest parts of Unleashed and you have no choice but to force your way through them.
"A true Sonic Bomb"
After playing through the Werehog levels, I can't help but question the nature of Sonic's stretchy arms and legs. Why would Sonic's limbs stretch after turning into a Werehog? Did the wolf man's arms and legs stretch when he transformed? The answer is no. So why should Sonic's limbs stretch? If there is anything in Unleashed that doesn't make sense, it's the entire premise of the Werehog.
My biggest complaint with Sonic Unleashed is that it could have been a great game. I remember being super excited for this game when I saw the first few trailers. I thought "All right, they are returning Sonic to his roots! I can't wait for this game!" I also remember when they revealed the Werehog. I thought "They just couldn't leave a good thing alone, could they?" Sonic Unleashed could have been great if they got rid of the HUB Levels and the Werehog stages. Sure, the game would have only been about 2 or 3 hours long, but that 2 or 3 hours would have been great. Instead of releasing it in disk form, Sega could have released it over Xbox Live Arcade and made a fortune.
If you look at a good Sonic game like Sonic Rush on the Nintendo DS, you'll see that it consists only of running, jumping, boosting and fighting bosses. That game was the last great Sonic game. I don't see why Sega can't just look at that game and see what they are doing wrong. Obviously someone at Sonic Team loves the fans because they helped create the 2D levels in Unleashed. Someone should promote that guy or girl because they obviously know how to save Sonic.
Sonic Unleashed will only last about 8 hours so there isn't much reason to play through the game again, unless you like shit, then by all means play through it again. I know what you are going to say as well. Sonic Unleashed is no where near as abysmal as Sonic the Hedgehog was on the 360/PS3. It just isn't anywhere near as good as it should have been. Sonic Unleashed is a great example of a lazy developer who is just going to milk this franchise until it's tits are bone dry. I know what you were gonna say there as well..."Haven't they been doing that with Mario?" Yeah, they have been doing that with Mario as well, but Mario actually stars in a few good games here and there, unlike Sonic.
Sonic Unleashed gets a 5 out of 10. I can't even bring myself to think of something witty to say here.
"As much as it pains me to say it, I think it's time Sonic was put to sleep, for good"
