Sonic Unleashed

[Not Changed by VASM :(]

Just got it now, other then some loading time issues no co plaints so far.

(Except for that be-damned Chiuaua)

It's fast paced, and the control is good, the story seems interesting and eggman called himself Robotnik.

I give the game 9 Werehogs From Space out of 10

(BTW Lyle, I am so down for that Chiuaua genocide)

[Not Changed by VASM :(]

One other complaint, the humans are chibi.

It's a minor complaint but, I never really liked that art style =/

[Ike-Mike]

Better than the realistic art style they went for in Sonic '06 I guess.

[Not Changed by VASM :(]

Better than the realistic art style they went for in Sonic '06 I guess.

True, I was actually hoping for an anime style for the humans atleast.

But disregarding the badly drawn chibi, the game is mind blowingly fun.

[Zephrion]

Picked up the game today, sped through Apotos, the Mazuri Boss Battle (DAMN YOU SEGA FOR REMOVING THE FULL STAGE IN THE WII VERSION), and Holoska Day, and I must say, I'm...mildly impressed. The Day Stages are a complete blast. I found myself replaying them over and over just for the sheer fun of it. The music is absolutely amazing (Especially Holoska, that music makes me want to cry tears of happiness), and the gameplay is quite solid. There are a few eh moments, but they're rare and not too bad. The stages in Sonic 06 dragged on way too long for their own good. I can understand if Sega wants to make their stages shorter because of that...but the amazingness of these Day Stages makes me want to beg for more. The difference between Sonic 06 and Sonic Unleashed, my friends, is that Unleashed has FUN stages. Therefore, PLEASE MAKE THEM LONGER.

Now for the darker side of the game--literally. I've always been skeptical of the Night Stages. Ever since the game was first announced I was skeptical of the Werehog in general. After playing the Apotos Night Stages, I was generally unimpressed. The stages are long, repetitive, and boring. Even the controls are somewhat of a chore and can leave you randomly flinging the Wiimote and Nunchuck to get hits off. Did I mention long? Every one of the three night stages took longer than both of the Day Stages COMBINED. Now what happened to that "we're making our levels shorter" plan, Sega? If you're going to make a stage longer, make it the stage that's fun to play. I did get a laugh out of the 3 Acts thing though. I hated Metropolis Zone as well. Not to mention the music is rather bland. Hearing the same thing over and over when confronting enemies gets old, really fast.

All in all, Sonic Unleashed is a "good" game. Not an amazing game, or a great game. Just a good game. Which is a real shame, because an amazing game is really what Sonic needed right now. However, at the same time, I believe Sega has taken a great leap forward in reviving Sonic. While this game didn't do it, the next game very well might. Make the stages longer, remove some technical problems, but keep the same gameplay style overall. And for the love of god, lose the Werehog. I'm sorry, but you if desperately need to revive your franchise, go with the tried and true method, don't rely on a gimmick that may not even work in the game's favor.

Overall I give Sonic Unleashed an 8/10. Not taking the Werehog into account, I would give it a 9.5, or more. But it is indeed unfortunate, that the one gameplay mechanic Sega really relied on, snapped back into their face. Better luck next time Sega. Though I'm sick of saying this, I think this game warrants you one final try at reviving Sonic for good.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go replay Holoska Day now.

[Junkhead]

So, how are the graphics and sound/music?

[Not Changed by VASM :(]

I completely agree with Zeph, shorten Werehog levels, make the Day Stages longer.

So, how are the graphics and sound/music?

Graphics are friggen sexy as shit and the animation is smooth to.

The music, well, it's not as graet as Adventure 2 but the Holaska day is amazing like Zeph said.

Althoguh the Werehog is annoying and hard to control.

and Is still want to lead a Chiuaua genocide, the game is epic.

I'd give it a 8/10 as well.

[Zephrion]

Final Review, Endgame Spoilers later down.

So...I finished the game today. Very, very fun stuff. I throughly enjoyed this game, more than I have any other 3D Sonic game. And I have to say, my opinion on the Werehog has changed a bit. As you progress later into the game, the levels get shorter (at least they seem like they do) and generally become more fun. While attacking in itself is simple, performing specific combos (I wants mah massive damage dealin' Earthshaker plz) is a bit iffy, and sometimes you end up doing something entirely different. In short, I'd rather play as Sonic, but I can handle playing as the Werehog, and I can have fun doing it. Guess you can't judge a book by it's cover.

**SPOILERS START HERE**

Now. Since most of the levels before it aren't very notable, save for their amazing music, I'm going to skip ahead to the final level, Eggmanland. Some Sonic games have had a problem with their last levels. That being they don't FEEL like last levels. Particularly SA1 and Sonic 06, since different characters went through the same levels. For example, the final level of Silver's Story is Flame Core. You play Flame Core earlier on in Shadow and Sonic's stories. If someone just went in with no clue as to what was going on in the story, they would have no clue that this was the final level.

Eggmanland feels like a final level. To the fucking MAX. It's everything you'd expect from the final level of a Sonic game. Sonic speeding through the enemy base, obstacles everywhere, lava pits, machinery, and easy ways to die. Eggmanland is worthy of being called the final level of a Sonic game. And I love it so.

After going through three Sonic levels and five Werehog levels, you're pitted against the "final boss," an Eggman-made monstrocity he calls "Prototype-1" also known as the Egg Dragoon. While fighting this thing, you're on a circular platform that's falling through an incredibly long shaft. After about a third of Eggman's HP is gone, he breaks out the drill and shatters this platform into pieces, at which point you float through the air downwards to eventually land on another (smaller, I might add) platform. Not to mention throughout your fall you're given a spectacular view of the Earth's core, which draws ever closer. It delivers that "Oh shit this is a final boss" feeling that I haven't seen in a Sonic game for a good long while. It's probably one of the more exciting fights of the entire series. An amazing final boss.

BUT WAIT. THERE'S MORE.

After Eggman is toast, Dark Gaia awakens and you're treated to the final boss that ends all final bosses. I mean, this fight has EVERYTHING. First off, you play Punch Out with Dark Gaia using a Golem made out of the ancient temples, dodging and counterattacking to deal damage. After that's done, you're back to Sonic, as you speed through the golem to reach each of Dark Gaia's three eyes and destroy them. After THAT'S done, you finally get to play as Super Sonic. And this is probably one of the best Super Sonic fights since Doomsday Zone. You move left and right, collecting rings and dodging attacks, until the time comes where you can boost into one of Dark Gaia's 9 weak points, during which you have to dodge incoming meteors to actually reach the weak point. All the while, you're treated to an amazingly done orchestral version of Endless Possibility. This is the stuff of legends.

**SPOILERS END HERE**

All in all, Sonic Unleashed did not disappoint. Critics may bash this game all they like, but in my opinion this is the best 3D Sonic game Sega has ever made. My final score is a 9/10. Please Sega, make a sequel. And although he grew on me...

FOR THE LOVE OF GOD DITCH THE WEREHOG.

Edited November 25, 2008 by Zephrion

[GigaKnight]

*Avoiding spoilers*

When I heard about this game, I just thought it was gonna be another lame game, but judging from the comments, it seems popular. I've yet to buy Sonic Unleashed, but I plan on getting it soon.

[uguu]

All I need to say is that I'm enjoying it but the Werehog sections aren't as good as the Sonic levels but there are infinitely more of them. D:

[Ike-Mike]

Good to hear that SEGA is back on the right track with Sonic.

[Starwolf_UK]

*Avoiding spoilers*

When I heard about this game, I just thought it was gonna be another lame game, but judging from the comments, it seems popular. I've yet to buy Sonic Unleashed, but I plan on getting it soon.

If you read the reviews it is another lame game. Though that said it is the warehog sections, crappy camera and poor ports (lets remove stages) which are holding it down. Thing is back at E3 you had people predicting Warehog secitons would be lame (I'm told it gets better later on when platofrming is introduced) so the suprise would be them being good :(

And I remember SEGAs justification for the warehog sections being "Oh it if it is all running you'll get through it too quickly becuase Sonic is so fast. We don't want to work hard for you to beat in 3 hours". For christs sake SEGA learn to slow Sonic down in places (if we're looking at Sonic 1 the Labyrinth Zone does just this...and it is followed by Starlight zone...the fastest levels in the game) and make those 3 hours worth playing over and over.

It seems the running levels are more Sonic Rush than Sonic & Knuckles which is a shame as I prefer the Sonic & Knuckles style but I guess that kind of speed won't impress anyone these days :(

To end on a positive note...the GCI stuff...SEGA, why aren't you making a Sonic mini-series or something. The GCI seen in the game and Day of the Warehog (or was it Night of the Warehog?) are really good stuff.

Edited December 2, 2008 by Starwolf_UK

[Kiba]

all I need to say is that this game is fucking AMAZING that is all

[uguu]

Just beat the final boss (actually, a few hours ago). And I've gotta say, it was my favorite final boss fight out of every Sonic game that I've played.

First form: Died twice due to not knowing how the fuck to stop sucking. This was so fucking awesome though. Easy once I got it, but really fucking awesome indeed.

Second form: Easier than the first form, no deaths. It wasn't that awesome though.

Final form: Fucking. Badass. I lost 7 lives trying to kill this bitch. 5 of those deaths were from that extremely hard to dodge thing, but eventually I got it and ended up dodging it twice in a row multiple times.

Fucking a man. Fucking a. This boss was fucking hard, which is part of why I loved it. For example, Perfect Chaos and the Final Hazard were fucking easy. This guy, holy hell no. You go into the fight with 12 rings. Not 50. To injure him you use up 10 rings. He does 5 damage per hit, and has an extremely hard to dodge attack that takes away 10 rings. You go up and down really fast so it's hard to collect rings (or at least for me). If rings ticked down once a second this would be fucking impossible unless you're a Gaming God. Luckily they only decrease every few seconds and not just every second. The fight was also the most epic out of all the fights. You fight him over a pit of fucking lava with no one to help you. This fight was also fucking FUN even though it was a huge bitch. I loved this fight, and even if the Werehog sections aren't perfect, I would play this game again just to fight this boss again. More games need to have end bosses like this.

[Kiba]

I died 40 times on one stage and I still haven't beaten it yet