Sonic Unleashed

Sonic Unleashed oh how I gasped with joy then held my breath and gasped with anticipation my mouth salivating at the prospect of a sonic that is truly good again, But as ever it was followed with a bitter after taste it promised so much yet delivered not so little but not enough.

Don't get me wrong the day stages are stunningly soaked with fantastic bright colors beautiful buildings and animations, visually the environments are bright and glorious the level design integrate and giving a true sense of a fresh but retro real looking familiar place echoing the flavor of its 2D counterparts, but most importantly Sonic is fast the feel of speed and acceleration is immense and tantalising and mouth watering and truly eye popping feast for the sensors, thus making me feel like I was 13 again on my Megadrive sitting down face and nose pressed against the screen as sonic span and looped-de-looped and whooshed across my television.

The sense of shock is there the sense of almost no control and skill needed to make it successfully though or just blind luck is there just like the 2D versions of sonic held beautifully, this time I feel I'm almost piloting a jet plane or a being carried with the intense speed of a runaway train, you really want to replay the levels to do it quicker and more perfect than the last to get more rings! Kill more enemies! And wave goodbye to the level in the form of a Category ten hurricane of speed, and that's what sonic was all about! Is all about! It's that simple.

The levels echo the feel of the old Sonic we all know and love CHECK! It has that sense of speed CHECK! The sense of no control and power CHECK! And of course old faces like Tails and Robotnik who had a name change for a while Eggman, OK then we have a hit on our hands folks 10/10 SEGA Congratulations and celebrations you did it guys, but wait a minute don't pop that cork yet! Because when the sun sets its party time but for sonic its time to turn into something entirely different a WAREHOG!!!

Confused? So was I expecting Sega finally to ditch all these stupid new characters and gimmicks they hoped would help reinvent the franchise Cough Shadow, and finally having sonic run free without having to halt for a little chat with friendly folks. It dose seem most of these problems have been addressed except sonic being a more social chap these days, you would think for someone who in such a rush getting to A to B that a chatting with some random folks would be out of the question? Afraid not! But this is a mere niggle compared to when the sun sets… No I said don't pop the cork yet SEGA!!!!

Yes the WareHog Bad move, if I wanted to play Sonic as a slow lumbering chap I buy him a Macdonalds everyday, slow fighting and simple thick headed game play that any simpleton could play on any third rate platformer, enemies pose no real threat and lets just say Were is the Speed? That's what Sonic is about were has he gone were! Were! He's under all that fluff screaming to get out. It's such a sad thing to see because during the day it is such a pleasure, but with this schizophrenic Jeckle and Hyde syndrome sonic is two games not one, one part a fantastic fast paced sonic romp more pleasurable than a large bowl of ice cream! the second part like your old Aunt Elger's horrible yearly Barbecue Burnt on the outside frozen on the inside. Making you feel slow and ill and clutching your stomach in agony.

SEGA hear this Please!!!

•Big Levels contrasts each Act looking more different than the previous more fantastic different and glorious.

•Wacky level names •Simple Story: Robotnik steals the Emeralds (how can that be messed up how) •Friends not to many and no look-alikes. •Fantastic soundtrack •Sense of SPEED (Unleashed performed well in this) •No RPG of any kind •A boss after every third stage •Inventive robotic opponents •Tricky yet fulfilling stages that require skill and timing. (Unleashed has elements of this)

Overall best sonic so far captures the spark from its origins and proves sonic is not dead he just awakening from a coma, the game suffers from indecision not fully understanding what it wants to be slow or fast, keep it fast simple lets have Sonic Unleashed 2 bigger and better and when the sun goes down lets keep the WAREHOG out of it thanks you.

Sonic Unleashed is considered by some the Super Mario Galaxy of Sonic games. Is it really? It's been highly praised for it's music and Day Levels. But that can get drowned out very fast by the extremely frustrating puzzle/brawler aspect of the Night Levels. The story follows Sonic trying to literally put the world back together from an ancient monster awakened by Eggman. The gameplay at first was a blast, and Chip was a good sidekick character. But then came the Werehog levels. These were supposed to be brawler like levels. With puzzles mixed into the gameplay. Then the input of many, MANY quick time events. It was not good, and that's what put Sonic Unleashed in the "meh" category. But in a way it's still genuinely fun. It's given us some great levels that are considered the best Sonic Levels ever. The open world aspect is also a good touch. To me, this is a great comeback from Sonic '06. In conclusion; 7/10. It's music and certain levels are a blast to play, but gets drowned out easily by the more, unnecessary antics.

Sonic Unleashed is a good game. IGN must have been high when they dropped their review. I do like this game, but it has a few quirks. Firstly, I find the lack of a drop shadow on the werehog a little off putting. The homing attack is mapped to the boost. The frame rate drops are ugly. Now, with that out of the way, I can agree that this is the greatest boost game of all time, save for possibly generations. The graphics are absolutely beautiful and I hope it gets ported to modern consoles.

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.

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.

Presentation 8.0

Graphics 8.0

Sound 8.0

Gameplay 7.0

Lasting Appeal 7.0 Overall 7.2/10 www.ign.com®

Sonic Unleashed is an underrated masterpiece that is often controversial. The werehog controls is what mostly people nitpick about, however this game deserves much higher than 6.4

What makes up for the werehog controls however is the brilliant story, a Sonic game is always great at making you feel for the characters, but this game exceeded.

To me Sonic Unleashed is about a beautiful friendship fighting back the evil within. The day stages are so vibrant, the night stages are controversial, but the story really makes up for it.

This is if not my favourite Sonic game, possibly surpassing my favourite Sonic game, Sonic Adventure.

Frontiers was a great resurrect of the Sonic Franchise.

However, Sonic Unleashed, despite being released 2 years after the awful and broken Sonic 06, managed to become a brilliant game with meaningful lessons, and one of the best stories to ever peak in Sonic.

With an OST so heart touching, breathtaking cutscenes, Sonic Unleashed would've brought hope to Sonic Fans back in 08 without a doubt.

I would've been so happy playing this game back in 08, as happy as I was playing it right now in 2023.

Sega really outdid themselves with this one, and I'm shocked it took me so long to finally walk this beautiful journey.