Sonic Unleashed Review

By Dan Whitehead Published 29 November, 2008

Ringing the changes.

Version tested: Wii

Reviewing the Wii version of a multi-format release can be a thankless task. It's by far the leading format of this console generation, but too often Wii owners are palmed off with botched ports; games developed for the more powerful consoles crudely squashed into a Wii-shaped box, with half-hearted motion controls tacked on the side.

Every now and again, however, a game comes along where the Wii's limitations prove to be beneficial, highlighting just where the rush to bigger, shinier toys can lead developers astray, and Sonic Unleashed fits that bill. A flabby, meandering hybrid of various ill-fitting genres in its big-boy console incarnation, it's plagued by camera issues and an overly complicated structure that leaves the player shuttling between lifeless locations, trying to work out which level they need to tackle next and what they need to do to find it.

In adapting the game for the Wii, Sonic Team has been forced to drop or change most of the problematic elements from the 360 and PS3. The bloated and largely unnecessary adventure game trappings, for example, have gone, so there's no more wandering around rigid hub towns, triggering random conversations in search of clues. Instead you get a map of the town, and click on each area to see what the people within have to say. You can rattle through the exposition and actually start enjoying some gameplay in the same time it would take to initiate a pointless conversation in the other version.

The opaque structure has also been smoothed out and made clear. You still visit areas in much the same order, but the game tells you where to go to access the next chunk of story, while unlocked bonus levels are also flagged and pinpointed as you earn them. The collectible sun and moon medals no longer play such a pivotal role in accessing the story stages, and are handed out after tutorial levels as well as being easier to find in the gameplay stages.

'Sonic Unleashed' Screenshot 1

You'd think he'd have changed his shoes after seventeen years of non-stop running.

Since the Wii version does away with the concept of advancing time to alternate between day and night sections, preferring to automatically change you between normal Sonic and his lycanthrope werehog form as the levels dictate, progress has been streamlined. You spend much more time playing the game and a lot less time grinding for medals and fruitlessly hunting for the way forwards. You could argue that these omissions render the game simplistic and linear, but since the structural clutter never really added anything beyond padding it's no great loss. Linearity isn't always a bad idea if the alternative is a confusing jumble.

The levels themselves are also greatly improved, in most cases completely different to the ones found in the 360 and PS3 version, and it's the werehog stages that benefit most from the change. Since the Wii control setup has never favoured 3D cameras, the viewpoint is mostly fixed from behind and the levels redesigned accordingly. This all but eliminates the frustrations of the platforming sections, ensuring that you can at least always see where you're jumping. The werehog also gets a combat overhaul, with control of his arms now mapped to shakes of the remote and nunchuk.

It gets a little tiring during the later stages as you flail at waves of bad guys, and it's hardly the most precise combat system, but it's certainly no worse than the button-mashing found on the other consoles. You still earn XP from defeated foes and smashed scenery, but the combos are fewer in number and unlocked automatically as the game counts up your haul at the end of each level. This never needed half-baked RPG pretensions in the first place, so once again it's another mostly useless feature rendered straightforward.

'Sonic Unleashed' Screenshot 2

Sonic the Werehog may be daft, but at least he can see where he's going on the Wii.

The Sonic stages have changed the least, but they didn't need any radical improvements anyway. It is a shame that the series is still so fixated on these often non-interactive sequences of loop-the-loops and rail slides, but that seems unlikely to change any time soon. The only major grumble is that some of the later stages set you tasks that require unrealistic combinations of speed and finesse. One particularly infuriating ice stage asks that you reach the goal in 90 seconds without hitting any of the fragile icicles jutting from the floor or sliding over the edge. It's an agonisingly fussy requirement, and neither the slippery freeform controls nor the ability to lock Sonic in a forwards direction, shuttling side to side with the stick, are up to the job. It's hair-tearing stuff.

So let's not get carried away. Sonic Unleashed on the Wii is a very different game to its lumpy 360 and PS3 counterparts, and that's a good thing, but it's still not quite a return to form. Stripped of unnecessary narrative nonsense and forced to use new camera views and level designs, it's simply a more satisfying rendition of the same thing, more faithful to the original series and undoubtedly the version that Sonic fans should pick up. The werehog character remains a clumsy fit, and Unleashed is no great shakes when considered against today's top-tier platformers, but if nothing else it's at least less frustrating, and therefore more fun to play, than its rather ugly sisters on the HD consoles.

6 / 10

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Picture of Dan.

About Dan Whitehead

Dan has been writing for Eurogamer since 2006 and specialises in RPGs, shooters and games for children. His bestest game ever is Julian Gollop's Chaos.

Read more articles from Dan by visiting the Dan Whitehead archive page.

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Comments (31) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • The-Bodybuilder #1 3 years ago

    Here we go again.

  • PinkSpider #2 3 years ago

    Poor Sega.

  • neilka #3 3 years ago

    Pour me a drink.

  • Sid-Nice #4 3 years ago

    Poor Dan.

  • bunglebonce #5 3 years ago

    Poor Sonic fans.

  • DFawkes #6 3 years ago

    Yay! I review of a Wii game! Cheers EG :)

    No! It's slightly above average and still not as good as the old ones. I'll just get those on the VC instead.

  • Anasui #7 3 years ago

    well at least it isn't Mario

  • smelly #8 3 years ago

    LMFAO!!!!

    Did i read that right? it's BETTER on the WII than the 360?!?!

    360LOL!!!!

  • Steroyd #9 3 years ago

    Obviously it's better because the camera is fixed. :p

  • Agent_Llama #10 3 years ago

    Sonic and the Secret Rings was an abomination.

  • neonemesis #11 3 years ago

    PS2 version might be the best bet then - probably very similar to this version and at half the price.

  • Dan234 #12 3 years ago

    So let me get this right, they put all this nonsense in the PS360 version to attract gamers who wouldn't otherwise be attracted by Sonic, stripped it all out to make the Wii version more accessible for everyone, and the one that played better for gamers was the accessible version because it turns out it's more like the Sonic of old. Oh well.

  • SharksInYourMouth #13 3 years ago

    Sonic and the Secret Rings was fantastic. You just needed to get used to the controls :p

    Anyway, this looks nice, but I think I'll just wait for Black Knight instead

  • oerhoert #14 3 years ago

    Sonic and the Secret Rings was utter shit. Don't fool yourself. If you call SatSR fantastic, I wonder what you'd call Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam, Excite Truck or Trackmania (which are pretty much the same kind of game, let's face it).

  • Chrono-Kun #15 3 years ago

    ...

    Okay, Eurogamer. I definitley disagree on the Wii version being superior. Unleashed on the 360 feels 'far' more complete than the Wii version, which have WAY too many werehogs.

    But reviews are reviews, eh?

  • FenderMaster #16 3 years ago

    Another shit Sonic game that ignores everything that made the 16 bit classics so great...

    Quel surprise

    Sonic Team will never make another good Sonic team, theyre just a crappy C tier developer, and all the talent has left years ago. All theyve got left is once great IP's for hem to drive into the ground, ruining their good name.

  • PinkSpider #17 3 years ago

    Sonic 2 style gameplay, with the odd 2.5d (graphical) bit and lots of graphical flair. However still retaining the layout of the old sonic games and that. In HD with a level editor and downloadable levels = win?

    I should get a job at Sonic Team :/

  • Zachm #18 3 years ago

    "it's simply a more satisfying rendition of the same thing, more faithful to the original series"

    I thought this version had more werehog and less sonic levels than the 360/PS3 version, so how is this version more like the original series?

  • Gearskin #19 3 years ago

    The structure though, remains the same. It's all the same. Only the towns are not explorable and it doesn't look as good.

  • K-Project #20 3 years ago

    @ oerhört

    SatSR was indeed pretty good fun. Flawed, but fun nonetheless, and it really improved the more you put into it. I can't speak for Downhill Jam or Trackmania however, but Excite Truck is actually completely fantastic. A really underrated Wii gem I reckon.

    You clearly find other people not liking the same things as you a bit offensive, so I hope these opinions don't make you choke on your cocoa.

    That would be terrible.

  • FenderMaster #21 3 years ago

    I'd just like to point out that the 2d bits in Sonic Unleashed and the Sonic Rush series play nothing like the Megadrive classics, they might be 2D, but they are very different and nowhere near as good

  • Moz #22 3 years ago

    What I don't understand is that they still have it in them to make good sonic games.

    Sonic Rush is amazing and a lot of fun. 3D boss fights make a good addition. and beyound that it sticks to the basics, fast side scrolling platforming, not quite in the same vain as the old classics but close.

    Please please sonic team drop the town sections rubbish ON ALL PLATFORMS and give us a sonic game that not only looks amazing but just lets you go from one fast paced level to the next! Why is that so hard to understand!!!!!!!!!!!

    And while your at it make a another nights game, again drop of the crap you added in the second game cos frankly it was shit and yet another big sonic team let down!!!!!

  • BartonFink #23 3 years ago

    @smelly you really are one sad act, totally ignoring that the article says better than both 360 and PS3. What ever floats your boat I guess.

    Good to see a Wii review of a multi-format title for a change. Still Sonic really has gone way down hill over the years. Shame really.

  • Bremenacht #24 3 years ago

    It took me sometime to see that Video link graphic above is Dr.Whatsisnames' glasses, rather than the large knockers in a undersized, steely bra that I first thought it was.

  • scouserfuller9 #25 3 years ago

    Excluding the MegaDrive and handheld Sonic games this has to be be the best Sonic game I've played but the Warehog bit is a huge waste time. Each time I get to one of the Warehog acts I'm likely to give the game a break where it's so boring.

  • captainrentboy #26 3 years ago

    Smelly, you're getting awfully excited, some would say a little too excited over a game that just got 6/10 :)
    Still, it's good for Wii owners to have something new for Chrimbo that's ever soooo slightly above average.
    How's All Star Cheerleading treating you Smelly? I hear it's a corker.

  • anomagnus #27 3 years ago

    well, never saw this one coming

  • wingzerosys #28 3 years ago

    The sonic stages look like they play a lot better in this version, I have the 360 version and its full of bug/glitches (aswell as framerate trouble), I`ve died numerous times due to the crappy camera in sonic`s stages, aswell as dieing trying to home attack an enemy an the camera goes skitzy.

    I`m sick of collecting and finding the sun/moon medals in the 360 version that I`ve given up, its ruined the fun of the game and has become boring, I have no idea where the medals are and I`ve got 9 to collect to move on to the next stage, sod that.

    What`s happened to the good old days where you do 3 acts and then take on eggman, sonic team have ruined sonic and atleast I`ve got the Rush series to take me back to sonic`s old days.

    It`s strange that the only decent 3d sonic games are the adventure one`s and even those weren`t perfect, whoever says this is decent and one of sonic`s best games then they either aren`t fully there in the head or they don`t know what a decent game is if it hgit himon the head.

  • wingzerosys #29 3 years ago

    SATSR wasn`t too bad, I think sonic team tried to get it right with that game, the problem with it was the controls, you could only use the wiimote and had to do motion controls, atleast the camera was ok in it, better than it is in the 360 version of unleashed.

    I`m not holding my breath for SATBK, hopefully sega/sonic team have learnt there lesson, but so far they haven`t.

    Now if only sonic rivals was a 2.5d platformer instead of it being a racing game, they could`ve finally got it right, afterall that is what a lot of us are wanting, but no, they keep the lame 3d camera and add a stupid gimmick like the werehog.

  • wingzerosys #30 3 years ago

    Sorry for the triple post.

    The last sentence was about sonic unleashed and not sonic rivals, I kinda messed up there.

  • m0thr4 #31 3 years ago

    ...his lycanthrope werehog form...

    I doubt very much that Sonic changes into either a 'lycanthrope' or a 'werehog', since both anthropos and were mean 'man' or 'human" (from Greek and Old English respectively).

    Edited by 2 at 16/12/08 @ 08:31