Sonic Unleashed Review

Now when I normally review a game I never look at anyone else’s reviews until I have finished mine. This is so I don’t steal any good ideas or base my opinions on what someone else has said about this game. Unfortunately, when it came to reviewing Sonic Unleashed made by SEGA, it was hard not to see the bashing this game off some of the bigger names. While it isn’t my place to say if their opinions were right or not, I hope my review can shed some light onto what can be a truly epic game.

With the new game engine in place this has been a long time coming for Sega to finally re-visit old ground and start looking at revamping the Sonic saga again. I have always been a fan of Sega and the Sonic saga, so it was really hard for me to lock my fan boyism in the cupboard while I played this and not be jumping around the room again like I was the first time I saw Sonic on the Sega Mega Drive.
Once again, like all Sonic games, it starts out that Dr. Eggman has some other fiendishly evil plot to take over the world. However, this time it seems he needs Sonic alive to complete his task. After a long intro movie explaining what has happened, you are launched into the game.

Sonic Unleashed is split into three different areas of playing. There are the daytime levels with you as normal Sonic going ten to the dozen around set paths, making split decisions to make or break you in that level. After that there are the night time levels where you play as the new “Warehog” version of Sonic, which is best described as an exploring game mode where you fight your way through bad guys and are left to explore new areas of the levels. In between these areas there is also a story side to the game where you can ask questions to passers-by, where sometimes you need to ask the right people the right questions to get along in the game.  While this part of the game does feel a little lost and seems to break up the flow, it seems needed as without it most people would miss the story line all together, which I feel would be a shame.

As in all Sonic games the graphics make the game and in this one there is no exception. The graphics in this game have been described as 2D/3D, due to the day-time levels. In these parts of the game the camera will pan back and forth as you hurtle pass most of the level in a split second, only ever pausing if you have fallen off or have a combo jump which allows you an extra speed boost and a better path than before. The realism and sense of speed on these levels is crazy making you really having to concentrate to get the job done on every level. While there is always a chance to go back and revisit levels, I feel that this is a must due to the fact that you will have missed 90% of the level on the first play through, as you will have been sticking to one line and that’s it.

However, once the sun has set you (Sonic) now turn into a ‘Warehog’. These levels are of a slower pace than the previous day levels, and give the player more chance to explore and have fun with the levels. While as the ‘Warehog’ you have loads of different moves to pull off, and you also have stretchy arms that allow you to jump to new areas and also grab enemies from afar. While most of the night time levels seem to end in a big boss fight battle, the action is split up with puzzles that allow you to use your brain as well as your brawn.  

After you have finished a level you will notice one of the new features and also one of the fresh ideas that Sega have put into this Sonic game: a levelling up system. While at first I can see your eyes roll as this isn’t a) new or b) exciting, hear me out on this one. As you fight baddies and complete levels you get experience which you can then use to level up your characters this ranges from health to speed. While the only disappointing factor is that there is only two things to level up on daytime Sonic, you will have plenty of fun levelling up your ‘Warehog ‘, as you can pull off loads of different combos or even have a enough health to take a good kicking and still survive.

For a game with such a vivid depiction of speed you wouldn’t think it would still look as good as it does, but with 720p on my screen while playing everything looks bright and detailed with barely any noticeable slow down or fps loss while running through the speed sections. While I would say this isn’t the most detailed of games - some of the elements in the game do look still rather 2D, like the grass - everything seems crisp and doesn’t undermine the game in any way at all.

The music’s tracks are typical Sonic the Hedgehog tracks that will stick you your head when you are not even playing the game. While most tracks in the daytime areas are upbeat tracks to gets the blood flowing, the night stage tracks are more relaxing and chilled out, again slowing the pace in this game mode.

It’s great to see the Sonic franchise back where it’s supposed to be, but after playing for a while the tale tail signs of issues have started to appear. And while the fan boy in me could have ended my review without speaking about these issues, I feel that I really have to air out a few problems which I have seen in this game.

This game unfortunately sometimes suffers from laggy controls, especially during the daytime stages with Sonic, which also has annoying camera angles throughout the game. While these really aren’t a major issue, these do take the shine off the game and make it more annoying. An added factor into this is that most checkpoints start you off in some bizarre places and don’t really give you any momentum to get back on the track you were before you pressed A but it never responded.

While all the modes in themselves give a new idea to the game it is the Story mode that really slows the game down. Having to chat to people is not only boring but god damn annoying, especially when you really just want to get to the next stage in the events.

The second thing I also found annoying with this mode is the time it takes for you to actually enter into a stage.  While I can see where Sega were going with this idea I can also see that it seems that they have been trying too hard to get everything right in the first instance. While Sonic hasn’t been around adventure plat–forming, it has become a tough market to work into, especially with Nintendo doing some ground breaking work with the Mario franchise.

While I can see why Sega have given you two gaming styles to play the game with, it would of been better if the user could play the levels through as either Sonic or the ‘Warehog’, so all levels can be played multiple times with different parts for different characters. This would then allow for back tracking to be more fun and imaginative as well as giving us the user more choice.

To sum the game up, it can really be a truly epic game when you are playing well and everything is following together, and that is what this game was all about. I can see that this game has set the bar back in Sonics sights, but unfortunately he has just missed it on this occasion. If this is what we can expect to see from the new and improved Sonic saga then I can’t wait for more.