Game Review XIV: "Sonic Unleashed"

Ah, yes. Sonic Unleashed was made originally as the 3rd Sonic Adventure title, hence being called before Sonic World Adventure. However, it doesn't succeed the Sonic Adventure games, therefore being an entirely different title.

Made with the Hedgehog Engine, Sonic travels through areas around the world, which if you look close enough at them, resembles that of our own. The premise this time is that Sonic is foiling Dr. Eggman's schemes once again, this time bringing the hurt as he transforms into Super Sonic during the opening at some point. Just when he thought he had the deranged doctor beaten, Eggman pulled a fast move, and Sonic, even in super form, gets caught. Extracting the energy from the Chaos Emeralds (cancelling Super Sonic in the process), Eggman fires a laser towards Earth, which awakens the sleeping beast of destruction Dark Gaia, therefore breaking pieces of the Earth apart. While this is going on, Sonic experiences an unwelcome change. He becomes more beastly, perhaps under Dark Gaia's influence, turning him into the slow, but powerful Werehog. After being ejected by Eggman, along with the now power-drained Emeralds, Sonic is sent flying to Earth, which he encounters a small animal named Chip, who suffers amnesia after nearly being crushed by Sonic. The adventure begins as soon as the sun rises.

Playstation 3 / Xbox 360
Day Stage

Sonic Unleashed is a solo-player title, with the character only utilized being Sonic. Despite this, Tails and Amy appear as well, with Tails providing traveling across the broken world. As Sonic already has all 7 Emeralds in possession, his purpose is to go to the various temples in order to restore power to them, thus returning the continent back into place. Interesting to note that this is the 2nd time the Chaos Emeralds were drained of power, the first being Sonic Adventure, where despite Chaos taking the negative power (which gave them color), Sonic still manifested the powers to transform. This isn't true for Unleashed's case. Fitting to the trailers, the differences were between night and day, as you play differently between the two.

Playstation 2 / Nintendo Wii
Night Stage

In the day stages, you face Eggman's robots normally, using the boost function provided by the Hedgehog Engine, along with another new functions, Stomp and Wall Jumping. The returning arsenal of moves included the Homing Attack, Light Dash, and Grinding. Using the Boost granted faster speed, and can be further increased by leveling them up. The stages themselves were a mix of 2D and 3D visuals, giving a bit of variety. In contrast, the night stages were slower and more action oriented. Sonic, in Werehog form, has an arsenal of combos to throw down Eggman's robots, as well as Dark Gaia's minions, and can be further enhanced upon upgrades as well. To compensate for the severe reduction in Sonic's speed abilities, he utilizes combos with both left and right attack buttons, and can carry items. Certain gimmicks, like switches and polls, can be used in this form as well.

Playstation 2 / Nintendo Wii
Day Stage

Now for the version differences. This title was released for Playstation 2, it's successor, Playstation 3, the Nintendo Wii, and the Xbox 360. As usual, PS3 and 360 were more or less advanced than the other 2. They only had one save file, but the stages were vibrant, and a lot more moves were offered. In addition, the next-gen versions had overworld gameplay, where you can interact with people, something seen in both Sonic Adventure and Sonic The Hedgehog (2006). As it was for those two consoles, there were additional acts that were downloadable. When the player can decide to change it from day or night, there was a loading animation that showed his transformation. In contrast, PS2 and Wii had watered down gameplay. The boost gauge only went to 5 small bars, as opposed to being one large one, and the boost itself couldn't be held down for continuous use, something done on PS3 and 360. Adding to these changes were temples that utilized the sun and moon tokens. The 2D to 3D gameplay I mentioned before were broken up into separate acts. While it's still possible to interact with others, the overworld aspect was cut from the PS2 and Wii versions, despite them having more save files. Finally, in terms of moves, Sonic's was also watered down in that department, and there were stages that were non existent in the PS2 and Wii titles, even though there is a temple and cutscene from one of those omitted areas.

The Werehog function gained many dislikes, though I feel that Sega was trying to get back on track. The PS3/X360 versions gains 8 of 10, while a 6.5 of 10 goes to PS2 and Wii versions,