Sonic Unleashed Review
Poor old hedgehog.
Version tested: Xbox 360
I recently found myself having one of those conversations that always happen when people discover that I make my living sitting around in my pants, playing games. After the obligatory "you lucky sod" outburst, and the slight recoil at the mental image of me in my pants, sweaty joypad in hand, they asked what I was playing at the moment. "The new Sonic game," I replied. "Wow, is Sonic still going?" they asked, before adding "Oh yeah, he was in that Mario game on the Wii."
You really couldn't ask for a more potent example of how far Sonic's stock has fallen. From matching Mario sale-for-sale throughout the '90s, he's now almost forgotten by the outside world, remembered only through supporting roles in Wii games and the charity of his one-time rival. Let's face it, Mario Olympics probably would have flown off the shelves on its own merits. Sonic Olympics? Not so much.
The tragedy is that this slump in fortunes can't be blamed on changing market forces or fickle public tastes. SEGA has simply forgotten how to make the most of its mascot, and while Mario leapt into the modern era with the confident Mario 64, Sonic has been stumbling clumsily through the 3D era, carried along by the dissipating momentum of his glory years.
Which brings us, rather unfortunately, to Sonic Unleashed. This was, as they always are, supposed to be the game that restored the blue hedgehog to fighting form; the game that finally delivered the next-gen Sonic experience we've been waiting for since the last-gen before last. It's not.

Why hasn't anybody thought of giving a cheery platform hero a dark and violent alter-ego before? Oh.
The plot once again revolves around Eggman and Chaos Emeralds. In the rather impressive CG intro, we see the moustachioed villain fire some new-fangled weapon which uses the power of Sonic's gems to split the planet into fragments, releasing something called Dark Gaia. Apropos of nothing, this process also turns Sonic into a "werehog", all fangs and claws and - for some reason - stretchy rubbery limbs. From there on, it's the usual job of travelling through different zones, beating climactic bosses and fixing each of the planet segments in turn.
Except nothing can ever be that simple. Sonic can now travel the globe, flitting between SEGA-ised facsimiles of real-world countries. Not only do these stereotypical towns act as hubs for the different levels, but they also feature lots of NPCs and side-quests. Complicating matters further, the game is split into day and night. During the sunshine hours, you play as normal Sonic. When the moon rises, you become the werehog. The available levels change accordingly, and make use of the character's different abilities. It's not a question of waiting around, since you can change the time of day on the map screen, in the pause menu or by hitting special hourglasses.

With its blue skies and rustic charm, the first section is quintessential SEGA.
While Sonic is still all about speed, his hairy alter-ego is slower and more powerful. Werehog levels are therefore little more than crude beat-'em-ups, in which you pummel your way through waves of enemies and use your elastic arms to climb and swing to the next area. Experience can be traded in for more combo moves, but since mashing the strong attack button seems to get you through every encounter, there's not much point memorising the sequences required. The camera is also absolutely awful, frequently forcing you to make blind leaps or lurching around as it tries to keep up with your movements.
The normal Sonic stages, on the other hand, are much the same as every other modern Sonic game - impressive but inconsistent 3D rollercoasters in which you hurtle through pre-rendered loops, grind down rails and run smack into a wall of spikes because the game seems more interested in distracting you with things that go whoosh and whiz than actually coming up with level design that turns Sonic's speed into an asset rather than a hindrance.
Regardless of which sections you're playing, control is a constant issue. Sonic is slippery, all but impossible to control at top speed and inevitably prone to zooming to his death at a moment's notice, while the werehog stages are sluggish and gluey, plagued by repetitive combat and horrifically frustrating platform sections. You're far more likely to lose your lives to an infuriating camera angle or hard-to-judge leap than to any of the dumb enemies standing in your way.
The fact that SEGA's seen fit to turn Sonic into a melee fighter for half the game should give you a good idea of what's gone wrong. It's the same thing, of course, that's been going wrong with Sonic for years. Rather than focusing on what works, SEGA has once again smothered the character in reams of extraneous clutter and gameplay ideas that do nothing to enhance the series' best features.
Take, for example, the non-player characters. Conversing with these brings up pointless banter, except for the handful of characters you must talk to in order to advance the story. You have no idea which these characters will be, so each time you enter a new area you have to go around triggering mindless speech bubbles in search of the one that you need. Collecting sun and moon medals from around the world opens up more levels, but once again you're given no clue as to which ones have opened. Given that each area can be explored twice - during the day and night - simply working out where you're supposed to go next is a real slog.
It's possible - likely, even - that your stilted progress will come to a standstill when you discover you need to go back and replay the same levels over and over again until you've found enough trinkets to open up the relevant area. Toss in some boss fights that rely on long-winded grinding of enemy health bars or insultingly simple quick-time events and you've got a game where even the basics of the genre are made unappealing.

Why can't they just make a downloadable Sonic game that looks and plays like this?
It keeps piling on the tasks though. You can replay levels as time trials or survival battles, to earn hotdogs which you can feed to Chip, your all-new irritating sidekick. You can buy souvenirs from each country you visit, and swap these for gameplay hints. You can collect books of concept art and music tracks, but must then buy a bookshelf or find a record player before you can use them. You're given a camera and told to find people "acting suspiciously", so you can take their photo and trigger a battle scene to exorcise them of Dark Gaia. There are lots of distractions, but thanks to the game's obtuse design you're never entirely sure what's optional and what's essential.
Structurally speaking, it's just a mess. It's as if SEGA no longer feels confident that Sonic will connect with today's gamers so it's included a bit of everything. Desperation shrouds the whole project in thick, choking waves. It's a platform game, a fighting game and an adventure game, yet none of these elements feels fully developed. There's no logical progression, no direction to the action, just the thankless task of blundering around the same areas trying to guess what the game wants you to do next.

The music is very nice. So it's not all bad.
The result is a lumpy splurge of half-developed ideas, flung together with no apparent throughline for the player to follow. There are occasional flickers of the old magic, most notably in the earlier Sonic levels where the balance between speed and exploration is more welcoming, but these moments only serve to make the later frustrations harder to endure.
Admittedly, Sonic Unleashed is marginally better than the execrable 2006 effort, but that's incredibly faint praise and only useful as a benchmark to the most blinkered fan. Compared to Mario Galaxy or Ratchet & Clank - heck, even compared to Crash Bandicoot, another platforming mascot mired in mediocrity - Sonic Unleashed is an obviously poor effort from a series that is still hopelessly lost in the modern gaming landscape.
4 / 10
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Comments (96) Latest comment 3 years ago
Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!
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/sarcasm
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/clap.....clap......clap.....
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I'd probably give this a 7 at the moment, it's not perfect but it ain't no where near as bad as 06 and it's a bit better than Secret Rings (which imo was decent), so a 4 is definitely too low. There's no lame ass side quests for humans, no Shadow levels or vehicles, definitely no guns and the only other character you play as is Werehog, who isn't too bad.
They've removed the lame treasure hunting stages, shooting stages and what not, so far it's got a better story and I haven't seen the Sonic gang yet (other than tails).
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...I'll get my coat...
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/weeps for Sonic
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Poor old Sonic. A million robotnik traps and bots couldn't bend a single spike, but no-one can outrun death by committe/focus group development. Rest in peace, blue guy.
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don't depair the wii games will be awesome
honest
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/ takes Sonic of his wanted list
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Done.
At least with the DS and GBA games, which have been consistently good-to-very good, developed by DIMPS, and stick fairly close to the old Megadrive Formula.
Actually the last Sonic Advance game was a slight low-point for DIMPS, it's platforming sections were far too easy and "hold right to win"-ish, with the only real challenge coming from the vehicle minigame sections. It was still a solid 7/10 mind, just not as satisfying as their first DS outing.
With any luck there is a 3rd game in the works.....
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As good as 'MAKE BELIEVE REBORN!?'
The public need to know.
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I really enjoyed Sonic and the Secret Rings on the Wii though, that was a decent Sonic game, mainly because it was a 2D game running in 3D and so felt more controllable and managable than the awful Xbox 360/PS3 Sonic games with their atrocious hyperactive cameras and twitchy controls... oh and those deplorable loading times.
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If anyone would like me to send them a copy of the game in return for a "consumer" review on these very forums, drop me a PM with your format of choice.
Cheers,
Martin
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I swear I will never (ever!) buy another Sonic game, not even for the Wii.
Unless of course it says "Sonic CD 2" on the title screen...
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They did already - Sonic Blast for the Mega Drive and Saturn
[link url=http://uk.y outube.com/watch?v=2GxX2yLUHdo
]http://uk.y outube.com/watch?v=2GxX2yLUHdo
[/link]
It was garbage.
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If Capcom can Bring Mega Man back to it's roots, so can you.
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This was doomed as soon as they said "Werehog", SEGA suck for ruining this franchise.
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10 -10 Y' can go again!
9 - 9 Don't fall behind!
8 - 8 Say, don't be late!
7 - 7 Destination heaven!
6 - 5 So, stay alive!
4 - 3 Now its You and Me!
2 - 1 We're gonna have fun
Say Blast Off Blast Hey!!
Excalibar - It's not that far
What do yeh make - Hey! Give & Take
Goin' Home - Time Zone
Check out Egg - He's never alone
Leather'n Lace - Getting in place
What to y' get - Say - Fast Jet
Doom Room - Cosmic zoom
Heads up Jake - It's SONIC BOOM!!!
Go Go, Sonic Warrior - Go Go, Sonic Warrior
Your hour is never at hand,
You've got the power to save the land
Take a little chance - Slip on thru,
Y' gotta survive no matter what you do
You gotta do for you
Go Go, Sonic Warrior - Go Go, Sonic Warrior
The power is in your mind
To shake the planets and conquer time
Go Go, Sonic Warrior
Deep in Space and Time
Go Go, Sonic Warrior
Forever in your mind
Nothing can survive, the will to stay alive
cause if you try, you can do anything!
Go Go, Sonic Warrior
Always takes a chance
Go Go, Sonic Warrior
Never says he can't
Nothing can survive, the will to stay alive
cause if you try, you can do anything!
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Best console outing for Sonic since the Adventure games on the Dreamcast.
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[link url=http://uk.y outube.com/watch?v=oY9m2sHQwLs
]http://uk.y outube.com/watch?v=oY9m2sHQwLs
[/link]
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I don't believe you EG this had to be good.
Why Sega! Why!!!
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Something like the Shake Dimension graphics bit with sonic gameplay is what we need!
Do SEGA really not have a clue? How can they continue to make money on churning out the like of this shit and sonic riders crap. I've never even known anyone own any of this rubbish.
That Sonic Adventures song is fucking ace, used to love that intro.
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edit, i notice gamerankings have an average of 66.7%....
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Here's a thought, with the EG game of the year awards comin up, i recall the last line of the GTAIV review
" it will take something miraculous to rob it of game of the year status"
got me thinking, has that miracle happened yet? any contenders?
\thinks that he should probably have asked this in the forums :s
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And make Kazuma Kiryu your mascot
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'What where you thinking? well explain yourself?'
Apparently I have heard that someone was asking the developers why they had to have the werehog bits and this is allegedlly what was the answer:
"If we made a game exaclty like the old games we would have to make levels totalling in the distance of around 1000km (rough estimate), given that sonic can run a just below mach 2(maybe I might have that confused) and is about a 1m tall, of unqiue level design. So it is more cost/time/effort effective to put in hubs and the Action (crapy) sections than to do a correct sonic game."
The develeoper was said to be unhappy that they had to do the crapy bits, how this didn't stop the DS games I can't understand.
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Yes! None is singular!
Now you're my favourite, Dan.
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28-Nov-08 09:36:02
Can you feel the sunshine? (Sonic R)
http://uk. youtube.com/watch?v=oY9m2sHQwLsr
I loved that game!
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Gah! Sega, play Mirror's Edge and Crackdown before making any more platform games. Cheers!
Woah theres a thought, imagine a first person sonic game ala mirrors edge...
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WAAAHAAAHAAAAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! That is the most ridiculous statement I've ever read! However you are clearly blind to quality so I won't bust your chops too much.
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+1, and an extra 1 for good measure. They've never been shy about flogging old series' to death, and with the populartiy of New SMB and LBP, I'd have thought they'd jump at the chance of a 3D Sonic, or perhaps Sonic Trilogy.
Propbably isn't ruined enough by some shit element that doesn't fit in with the series - WTF is with the werehog? Why is he necessary? I'm seriously asking, if anyone knows.
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Sonic and the Secret Rings was worth 2 if you're feeling really generous. So what's your point?
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I think that says something about their confidence in the game.
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sickening. they could have done a 2.5D platformer, cell shaded @ 1080p. but instead we get this pish.
they direct this shit at babies, they said so themselve they get good sales from these 3D adventure games. sega used to be my favourite company with the saturn and dreamcast. now they arent even a shadow of their former selves. shameful. they cant even publish good games!
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Then, rather than just removing the other gameplay types and making another Sonic game, they kept screwing with the formula until eventually, we have this.
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8/10 superior?
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Wii Purchase for me I think!
Wii > 360
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]http://ww w.kombo.com/article.php?artid=1...[/link]
This article gets right to the heart of whats wrong with Sonic Team i.e. they don't remember what made the MegaDrive games good (not the speed), and all the talent left Sonic Team after Sonic Adventure 1
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About 5% better according to other review scores.
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EG reviews are becoming a joke,i think i will give this site a miss from now on
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You could even just re-release Sonic 2 in this form and it would fly off the shelves (or down the cable!).
Hopefully this will give UK:Resistance something else to bash apart from LBP, but they are so blinded by Sega it is highly unlikely...
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Now for the idiot who said I`ve got bad tastes because I think L4D sucks is plain wrong, there is not that many games I haven`t played this year and I know what is good and bad, L4D is only good for co-op, the story (lack of), the level design, characters and weapons suck and to me it plays like some pc geek created it using the HL2 mod.
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Ask Sega why they can't make a decent Sonic game with 2D gameplay and HD graphics here.
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Bump the originals up to HD and add little small nice touches.
Keep it 2D and really fast and you've got Sonic back.
Now I ask, WHAT is so hard to do so?
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Run Fast > Loops and stuff > Collecting shiny things > Fight big boss > Repeat
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Apart from that, I cannot see any lack of polish or anything here. A great game!