Sonic Unleashed
Transformed and unleashed, Sonic races to save the world…and himself. Sonic the Hedgehog is on an adventure unlike any other. Powered by an all-new engine, Sonic Unleashed blends classic Sonic gameplay with a variety of in-game perspectives to create an entirely new and unique gaming experience. Merging blistering 2D action with meticulously rendered 3D environments, players race through intriguing locations across the globe as Sonic to save a chaotic world.
 |
 View larger. |
 View larger. |
 View larger. |
A New Sonic a New Story
On a quest for world domination Sonic nemesis Dr. Eggman has managed to steal the chaos emeralds once again and this time drained them of their power. As a result not only has the Earth split into distinct sections, so has Sonic. Now he is two beings. During the day he is the usual speed-addicted hedgehog players will remember, but at night he becomes Sonic the Werehog. In either form it is the player’s ultimate goal to find the missing chaos emeralds and return them to their proper place in order to set the world and Sonic himself, back the way he should be.
Like nearly all Sonic games, Sonic Unleashed is platform-based. The game combines the feel of 2D side-scrolling that fans of the Sonic series love, with sharp 3D graphics, and throws in an over the back third-person perspective reminiscent of FPS gameplay for good measure. And just as in earlier games, as players race through and explore the expansive world before them, using auto lock to hone in on enemies and areas of interest, they will rely on the power they gain from the rings they collect for a variety of things, but with the new twist of Sonic’s split personality, things are a little bit different. Playing during the day, as you race across the world in the form of Sonic, speed is the main goal. Collecting rings fills you with ‘Ring Energy,’ which not only provides extra life, but also the advantage of ‘Sonic Boost.’ With this players can travel at speeds that approximate 300 MPH. In addition, Sonic Unleashed introduces two new features: the ‘Speed Drift’ and the ‘Quick Step’. Speed Drifting is similar to drifting in racing games, allowing players to slide around corners at high speeds, while Quick Stepping is a sidestepping maneuver allowing Sonic to avoid enemies with quick steps to either side. Both keep you moving as fast as possible, so you can get as many rings as possible, which again keeps you moving as fast as possible. As night falls and Sonic assumes his Werehog form the rings provide a different kind of power more suited to his more menacing appearance. Much slower, but also much more powerful, the Werehog relies on the rings to provide life as well as strength to shield himself from the attacks of enemies. This is necessary because Werehog gameplay, although based in platforming, incorporates significant levels of combat as well. Red orbs gathered as enemies are defeated allow the player to unlock additional combo moves that will supplement the hack and slash and arm stretching abilities that the Werehog always possesses. Whether Hedgehog or Werehog, no matter which form players prefer they will get ample opportunity to explore the two sides of Sonic since each area in the game contains both night and day segments where each form must be played. Key Game Features:
- Sonic’s World Transformed - Sonic maintains his high-speed abilities during the day, but at night he is transformed into a mysterious dark form with incredible never-before-seen abilities including 3D-action brawling and amazing agility.
- Tight Navigation and Speed Control - Players accelerate to super speed with ‘Sonic Boost’ by collecting rings to increase Sonic’s ‘Ring Energy.’ Using ‘Quick Step,’ players will quickly move left or right to avoid obstacles instantly. Additionally, ‘Speed Drift’ allows players to rocket through turns without slowing down.
- Powerful New Engine and Cinematic Graphics - With its new proprietary “Hedgehog Engine,” Sonic Unleashed enhances the classic 2D perspective with mind-blowing 3D stages. Other next-gen technology capabilities include global illumination, grid computing, continuous data streaming and an intricate path finding system.
- Enhanced and Expanded Environments - Many unique and fascinating continents offer the player an opportunity to save the world in a dynamic, high-speed experience. In addition to exploring exciting unlockable areas, players dash through up to nine locations resembling real-life destinations including the Great Wall of China, Arctic Pole glaciers and many more.
Whether it’s the updated graphics that retain the side-scrolling feel of classic games in the Sonic franchise, an expansive world to race through and explore or the multiple and new ways to play, Sonic Unleashed offers something for players of any age or level of ability.
Take an unforgettable journey around the world in Sonic Unleashed! With seamless 3D to classic 2D perspectives, new speed capabilities, and an all new proprietary engine, as well as new combat, movement, functional abilities and platforming, Sonic is UNLEASHED like never before!User Ratings and Reviews
5 Stars Dominique Tucker
sonic unleashed was the most awsome adventure game I ever seen not to mention it covers up the mishap for sonic the hedgehog 2006 I aid mid sonic 2006 was terrible but sonic and the black knight was a good game too
but what I can understand is why Matt Casamassina gave sonic and the black knight a terrible score. I’m sorry if anyone was a fan of Matt Casamassina reviewing I’m sorry but he is the worse viewer I ever seen if your going to be a game viewer you have to keep a open mind about sonic games or mario games or zelda games anyway off the subject but if anyone have a xbox 360 and try to find a game sonic unleashed will be your best bet
1 Stars Sonic Un-Playable
I hate the kind of reviews I’m about to write, so I hope no one takes it lightly that I am actually about to write one. One of my biggest pet peeves is people writing video game reviews on Amazon when they haven’t really played the game. Well, that’s exactly what this review is going to be; and there is a very - very good reason I didn’t play much of this game.
I love Sonic the Hedgehog, and if you read any of my other reviews you’ll know that I also loved the Wii version of this game. The racing stages were amazing but unfortunately the Werehog wore thin too quickly and took up too much of the game. When I finally got a chance to play this for the 360 I was SO excited to see how the racing stages compared to the Wii! Would they be better? Would they be worse? The answer is…what racing stages?
In the two hours that my brother and I played this game we didn’t get to one new racing stage. The only one we played was the one in the demo that we’ve played over and over again. Our time with Sonic Unleashed for the 360 was spent playing pointless quick time button mashing games in a plane that we didn’t get to fly, and the rest was fighting a lot of bad controls, bad camera angles, bad and boring combat, awful level design and repetitive enemies in the Werehog sections.
In the Wii version the Werehog was only pointless. It could be fun at times but for the most part it was just a tacked on detour from what you really want to do in a Sonic game. It was inane, but it wasn’t that much of a problem. Here, it’s that much of a problem.
In the 360 version the Werehog is downright unplayable. The control is unresponsive and the hit detection is non existent half the time. You’d think that the game would compensate for such bad game play, but it actually does everything it possibly can to make things even worse for you. You get almost no save points which means if you’ve just spent half an hour lumbering around trying to hit things and punching nothing but air only to FINALLY - MIRACULOUSLY - get to where you are suppose to go and die, you have to re-do everything you just did OVER AND OVER AGAIN.
And that’s when this game got shipped back to the rental place, but not before something unfortunate happened: I almost broke my brothers controller. True story! I’ve played a lot of bad games, but I’ve never played one so frustrating that I lost control of my self and chucked someone else’s property on the floor before realizing what I was doing. But I have now; THANKS Sonic Unleashed!
A lot of people will say this review is unfair as I didn’t actually play the game. Maybe the racing stages made up for the bad Werehog part of this game. I wish I knew. All I can say is: don’t blame me for not knowing. If the game makers wanted me to play the racing stages, they should have let me play the racing stages. I’m not gonna spend two hours laboring through a bunch of bad clunky platforming. I’m just not. Sonic Unleashed for the 360 is ten million different kinds of fail.
2 Stars Not as bad as the other Sonic titles, but still pretty awful.
Pros:
Visually stunning
Superb music
Alright voice acting
Cons:
Frustrating uninspired level design
The gameplay
Bland one dimensional story
Utterly pointless hub worlds
The main problem with this game is the bad level design. The werehog has some of the most uninspired levels, with the most boring and frustrating platforming imaginable. This section of the game feels like a movie based platforming title. Yes, it’s that bad. The werehog just is not very fun, and proves to be more of a chore. I only found enjoyments with the werehog in the boss battles.
Sonic’s problem is he moves too fast for his levels. You never have any idea what’s going to be in front of you, and you just end up dying because of it. Sonic Adventure never really had this problem because they kept Sonic a steady speed. There also doesn’t seem to be much platforming, it’s just a hold the boost the entire time type thing. The levels in both sections were rather linear compared to the previous titles. And Sonic actually sunk in the water, I was a bit irritated by this because he never did this in Sonic Rush or the Genesis titles.
The hub worlds are just pointless. Wish I had bought the wii version so I skip avoid these.
The story is really nothing special, feels like a Saturday morning cartoon. It’s very simple compared to the well developed stories of the previous games.
This game is a rent at best.
5 Stars Don’t Sleep On This Game!!!
I did not like this game at all when I first got it. I love role playing and fighting games like final fantasy, Resident Evil, World of War, MK vs DC, Gears of War, Crackdown, ect. But after giving it an actual chance; this is the best game i have ever played on 360 so far! This game will keep you on your toes and on the edge of your seat. This is the most challenging game on the 360 for you must hold your breath and try to keep your heart rate calm due to the seemingly impossible long jumps, extra super speed and combat of the game. By the way; the combat gets so much better the more you level up! Everything gets so much better the more you level up!!!
In the beginning, it can be kinda slow since your learning the game. But it is EXTRA LONG!!! There is soooooooooooo much to explore. The ones who had negative comments were probably exploring parts of the game that you are not required to. I did at first until i gave it a chance. I’m at the boss of the game now; and I still have alot of levels I didnt complete or even do. ITS SO LONG and Packed full of entertainment in this game!!!
After Sonic CD on Sega CD, Sonic fell off. I’m proud of the developers of this one! and the soundtrack to the game is “pimp”! Goes very well with the game. and the storyline is actually pretty darn good. Make sure you have a High Def TV, for this game looks super wonderful on hi def! Just get the demo on the 360 if your scared to buy now. You wont be disappointed!!!
For those of you who had not so comments about the game; TRY TO BEAT IT!!! I bet you’ll take back your words.
2 Stars Sonic Has “Unleashed” Mediocrity Upon Us
Many people claim that the 3D titles in the Sonic series lack quality. I disagree; there are a few decent and even excellent 3D Sonic games (Sonic Adventure 2, for example). This, however, isn’t one of them.
The main problem with Sonic Unleashed for the Xbox 360 is the pure sense of frustration one will almost inevitably feel. The daytime levels, where you play as the titular blue hedgehog, are actually very engaging at first glance. However, many times you will end up sliding off the edge to your doom- particularly in the later levels such as the ice-themed Holoska. It’s unfortunate that the sense of speed has to be brought down by mismatched level design.
The most controversial aspect of this game is, of course, the nighttime levels with Sonic’s alter-ego form, the Werehog. For starters, the fighting system is repetitive. You learn new combos by leveling up with experience gained by defeating enemies, but none of these really seem to have much of a point; you will most likely stick to a few combos as opposed to coercing yourself to memorize more button inputs to pull the moves off. But it’s not just the lack of speed that makes this section of the game suffer- it’s the fact that the Werehog levels are very long with checkpoints few and far between. Expect to curse over missing a poorly-placed platform, falling to your doom and then having to start over from a faraway checkpoint.
Now imagine a hybridization of both the day and night levels for the final level, which is over half an hour (sometimes even 45+ minutes) long, that may end up being the one thing preventing you from completing it. Why make an effort trudging through the entire game, only to be met with a level so mind-bogglingly aggravating that you may decide to stop playing altogether? I hope this little tidbit saves you the trouble of having to get to this maddening realization yourself. Oh, and did I mention the final boss has three parts, and failure to defeat one of these sections means having to start over from the first battle? It’s a slap in the face that makes you wonder if the designers were being purposely cruel. There’s challenge…and then there’s sadism. This is the latter.
Oddly enough, I played this game a lot (sometimes even for several hours a day) and even found it enjoyable in some ways. The main reason for this is the collectibles, such as art books, videotapes, souvenirs and food. Additionally, a handful of the achievements dole out quite a bit of points, so even if you don’t particularly enjoy the game, your Gamerscore will thank you in the end if you find yourself able to get through a decent amount of it. But you may still be compelled to play through it if you’re the type of person who can’t stand leaving a game unfinished or can look past glaring design flaws.
My verdict is that it’s worth a shot if you’re a Sonic fan and are able to rent it. However, I would not recommend purchasing it; it’s simply too frustrating and terribly designed to enjoy as much as a superior Sonic game such as Adventure (Dreamcast/GameCube), Rush (Nintendo DS) or a collection of the old 2D titles (such as Sonic’s Ultimate Genesis Collection which is also for the Xbox 360). Pass on this one to save yourself time, money, effort and peace of mind.
Filed under: Xbox 360 Video Games