Sonic Unleashed

"It's the dawn of a new era"

It's so rare when a game ends and a feeling of total awe creeps over me. It happens after only the best games, games where I'm nearly overwhelmed by what I've just experienced. Sonic Unleashed, I'm proud to say, was one of those games; a game that's so satisfying as to leave a long-lasting impression. And it's the first Sonic game since Sonic Adventure 2 to achieve it.

And I guess it makes sense; this is the first Sonic game since Sonic Adventure 1 to actually feel like a complete product; a full-on adventure. Not just a collection of Sonic levels strung together, but Unleashed is a full game, and its ambition and polish is visible immediately and never lets up.

Graphics and Atmosphere; One of the best things about this game is how it looks....forget Banjo Kazooie; Nuts and Bolts, forget Ratchet and Clank; Tools of Destruction. Sonic Unleashed is by far the best-looking platformer this console generation. Everything is covered with such a warm light, and all the objects, buildings, walls, streets, and effects are handled with excruciating attention to detail, and all of this goes by INCREDIBLY fast. With views that can span for miles and miles, with a perfect camera that always catches the action and never lets you down, with characters looking better than ever.....this game is a nearly constant piece of eye candy. Despite Sonic literally racing through these levels at times so fast it's as if he's surrounded by a blur, SonicTeam has not skimped on any details, and you can slow down any time you want and look around, it all looks incredible. Outside of the levels, the hub worlds are bustling cities and villages, with people who resemble characters from The Incredibles populating the areas and almost all available to chat with. The hub areas themselves (smaller than even the Adventure Fields from SA1 but just as fun to look around) are a treat to explore, from the smoke billowing over the igloo encampment outside the frigid Holoska to the water flowing through the Chinese village of Chunan hidden in the mountains and a Middle-Eastern bazaar, they all ooze atmosphere and present Sonic Unleashed with a very inviting world. And they're even better at night; like in Shenmue II, the music switches gears to a more quiet and subdued song when exploring the towns at night. Adabat's hub world, whose night time takes place at the late sunset, looks particularly striking. The music throughout these hub worlds sounds so authentic and so well-put together that I always looked forward to seeing the next one.

The levels themselves are also very atmospheric, and whether playing as Sonic or the Werehog, there's always a great sense of place and incredible graphics.

That's not to say it's perfect, however, although I really think it almost is. While the framerate remains solid and unobtrusive throughout much of the game, unfortunately two later-game levels, Adabat and the game's huge final level, feature extremely erratic framerates; at times grinding the action to a slideshow-like speed. Reportedly this problem is improved in a big way if you install the game to the HDD, which, upon hearing that, I recommend doing. It's not the end of the world if you don't, though. The game runs perfectly well through much of it without an install (some dips do take place in hub worlds, however) and the fact that it only happens in two of the levels at the end of the game likely points to the fact that the developers may have simply ran out of time. But I want to assure everyone; this is NOT Sonic the Hedgehog 2006. This game, unlike that one, was extremely well put together, and the care and polish extends through over 90% of the product...the big framerate issues on the last couple levels and in some hub worlds are very unfortunate, but by no means break the game.

Gameplay; Sonic Unleashed is divided into a couple different sections. There's of course the Sonic levels, where you propel Sonic forward at a crazy velocity through mindbending levels, easily the fastest in the series.There are also the formerly mentioned hub worlds, and the werehog levels. I'll start with Sonic's. It's clear almost immediately that this game is vastly different than ANY 3-D Sonic that came before it. It's a complete franchise reboot, pretty much what the last game, Sonic the Hedgehog 2006, was supposed to be. But it's clear that Sonic '06 didn't have even a FRACTION of the ambition in its development that this game has. These levels are HUGE, and very fast. Sonic's controls were made even looser than in the past couple games....but, this time, it's not something to be complained about, because the levels were designed WELL for this control scheme. Sonic moves faster than ever, and these levels are more than up to the task. Are there still cheap deaths? Yeah, there are a few. But this number's been dramatically reduced from the past couple installments of the series, (Heroes, Shadow the Hedgehog and Sonic '06) restoring Sonic back to his fun, fast self. Essentially, Sonic Unleashed plays most similarly to Sonic and the Secret Rings, though with multiple paths and with the gamer having full control over the character. Taken from the Sonic Rush games on the DS is the BOOST feature, which causes Sonic to shoot through the levels at mind-bending speeds. Careful where you use this, though, as later levels will provide quite a challenge if you attempt to fly through them.

Admittedly I was at first a bit disappointed with Sonic's levels; they seemed too much a case of style, no substance. All fast, yeah, but very little in the way of platforming. Luckily, as the game goes on, more platforming elements are introduced into the levels, and once I reached Sonic's Holoska and Spagonia stages I was fully convinced that THIS is the ideal way for Sonic games to play. Throughout the levels the camera will switch seamlessly to a 2-D perspective at parts, which always keeps the gamer on their toes. The way these levels were designed....it's easily the best I've encountered in the entire series, it's just so fast and the pacing's almost always perfect. Once you get past the first two Sonic levels (which I appreciated a bit more when I went back to them and was used to the controls) the game just clicks and presents the ideal experience. Bosses are done in the "Secret Rings" style as well, and are all very fast and intense. The Sonic gameplay's not without its faults (the "lives" system unfortunately remains, which is irritating, and the switching of the homing attack to the X-button was pretty confusing; moreso when you unlock the air boost power later in the game, mapped to the same button....yeesh) but I think this time SonicTeam's nailed down the formula for how to make the perfect Sonic levels. What an achievement. All the annoying things added to the past couple installments, such as speed levels that drag on for over 10 minutes due to endless combat, enemies with health bars, glitches, switching to other characters to interrupt Sonic's speed...it's all been done away with. This is really a fresh start for the series and I couldn't be happier with it.

Now...the werehog. It's unfortunately pretty clear WHY this character was added; (werehog action figures are already being sold, and a DVD was apparently released as well) but aside from what you may think of Sonic changing into a werewolf-like creature with stretchy arms when the sun goes down...this gameplay's very fun as well. With an in-depth leveling up system, fun combos that are easy to string together, a huge amount of ever-expanding moves, and some fun, classic platforming, the werehog bits easily present the best "non-Sonic" gameplay the 3-D series has ever had. Levels can last for 30 minutes at most but they just fly by, the boss fights that you fight as the werehog are inventive and often pretty fun. Could I have done with a little less werehog? Maybe. But when I had so much fun playing as him, knocking tons and tons of enemies at once into the air, scaling walls, platform-hopping, etc. etc. etc. I just didn't mind. I think it serves as a great addition to the game.

I'm also proud to say that like Sonic and the Secret Rings, Sonic Unleashed isn't afraid to provide an "old school challenge" ...again, don't mistake this for the tediousness from the past couple Sonic's, but bosses are intense and will demand the gamer's full attention, as does the final level. There are also optional missions and extra mini-levels that you can do that are very hard....clearly SonicTeam has not forgotten that many older gamers have grown up with Sonic and Unleashed seems like a game primarily targeted towards us despite the bright colors. The last few hours of the game are some of the best I've ever experienced in a platformer, with truly epic levels and bosses, and the challenge plays a big part in why the ending of the game's so satisfying. Unlike Secret Rings, which maybe was too hard, Sonic Unleashed provides the perfect balance.

And last but sort of least....the hub worlds. Each time you travel to a new level it has its own hub world; one section containing chattable NPC's and a store where you can purchase various items from (items are also scattered throughout the levels) and one section containing the various levels. Once you have enough sun or moon medals (depending on whether you're trying to enter a Sonic or werehog level) you can enter a level. When you complete both the Light and Dark levels for the area, a boss level will appear. After that, you head back to Professor Pickle, who will tell you what the next level is, and you then head there. Though the game should have been clearer on which levels have been unlocked and when, it's a system that works fairly well. The only negative (and it's a big one...one that stopped this game from maybe achieving a 10 score and one that kills any motive I had to re-play through it) is the Sun and Moon medal requirement. Scattered throughout the levels and hub worlds are certain amounts of these, often hidden, and often you will be blocked from entering new levels (therefore stopping you from progressing the story) if you haven't collected enough. This then requires the gamer to backtrack and collect more of them. At the level select screen they explain how many medals are left to be collected in each level, but it's still a pain, as the last thing you want to do in a Sonic level is nearly "walk" through it, searching every little place for these stupid medals. It's a bit easier with the werehog, as he can break objects with ease and he's already going slow anyway, but it makes his levels take even longer, and often hurts your chances for an S-ranking on your first go-through. Lame. It was one feature I easily could have done without.

That aside, though, the gameplay present in Sonic Unleashed is excellent. Just like Mario Galaxy, It was a fun game to play almost constantly, and I just found it hard to leave this world and these characters at the end of the game.

Sound; As was already discussed, the atmosphere presented here in the hub worlds is incredible, often due to great sound effects, especially at night. Throughout the levels, the clasic "Sonic" sounds are still in effect, and the sound of collecting rings is as satisfying as ever. The music in the hub worlds is excellent, but I found the music in the levels to be somewhat underwhelming. Adabat, Chunan, Holoska, of course the final boss music was very fitting and had a great sound to it, but other music's just forgettable. In the worst case scenario (Apatos Sonic stage) it just doesn't sound "fast" at all and felt totally out of place. As awful as Sonic the Hedgehog 2006 was, it had great music, and this doesn't compare. (Letalone to the classics and the first Adventure game.) I'm sure others will disagree, but the level music just didn't do much for me. Music during the werehog stages was decent, though the "combat theme" gets old pretty fast, but plays constantly. I also could have done without the over-the-top sound effects in the cutscenes.

One thing I'm amazed by, though, is the voice acting....what an improvement. Just when I thought the series was doomed in this department, somehow, SOMEHOW...4 Kids Entertainment has finally provided a fitting dub that I had few complaints with...Granted, the cast of characters here was much smaller, and maybe that's it, but I was very impressed with the English voice track. Sonic's new voice actor....I've always hated his Sonic voice in the past, and I still don't think he matches Ryan Drummond, but for the first time, he's "become" Sonic. No longer does he sound like a 30-something reading "Go Dog Go" to the preschoolers at naptime. Finally he actually becomes the character and brings a nice trace of attitude to Sonic that was missing from his past overly-wholesome performances. And his performance, acting-wise, is literally like night and day when compared to his acting in Sonic '06. ("Eliiiiiiiiiiiise!!!!") I've gotta say, great job, great improvement. He does a very good job as the werehog too. The only voice I'm still not thrilled with is Tails. It's just not how I ever pictured him sounding; (he sounds like a girl with a cold) but oh well. Eggman...is decent. The late Deem Bristow from Sonic Adventure's 1, 2, and Sonic Heroes will always be king of that performance. But the 4 Kids actor does a solid job. Massive props to the guy who voiced Chip, though. This new character had the potential to be absolutely irritating but luckily his voice actor kept it away from that. What helps the performances immensely is a much-improved script, one that clearly went through some much-needed updating in the translation process. The dialogue's actually pretty witty at times and the lips, finally, move pretty much perfectly to it.

Storyline; After the ridiculous plot of Sonic '06, a new scenario writer was finally hired for the series, and as a result the plot here feels very different...but in a great way. It feels much more like it's supposed to be, a serious story with a fun, lighthearted atmosphere to it. We get to see a lot more of Eggman and his wise-ass robots (who make fun of him constantly) we get some slapstick stuff with Chip, we get a professor with eyelashes so big they cover half his face...it's all lighthearted and funny. Yet the game also has its serious moments, and the monster (and ending) is as epic as a Sonic game's ever been. The cast of characters has also been scaled back pretty dramatically. Sonic, Tails, Amy, and Eggman are the only returning characters. I wish a bit more had been done with them and I wish Knuckles made an appearance. The cutscenes (all so well-directed and very entertaining) also drop in frequency pretty dramatically in the middle of the game, which is a little unfortunate. Still, this plot (aside from Eggman's machine turning Sonic into a werewolf, which makes little sense) is a great one for the series and is a huge step in the right direction. The cutscenes are often epic and the ending's one of the better ones since Sonic the Hedgehog 2 on the Genesis. Good stuff.

Overall; Sonic Unleashed totally surprised me, and my expectations were definitely up there. It's amazing that SonicTeam's gone from totally half-assing their software to finally producing a truly high-quality product....not only is this the most ambitious Sonic game since Sonic Adventure 1 but it's the only one since then to really feel like an actual, full-out adventure. Sonic Unleashed is oozing with atmosphere, energy, and the fastest speeds in the entire series, and is powered by an amazing graphics engine that only runs into problems in the game's final levels. It's not quite perfect, and as far as 3-D Sonic games go the nostalgia of Sonic Adventure 1 will likely always keep that game at the top of my list. (Here's hoping for some more Sonic-sounding tunes and fantasy-based levels in the next Sonic game,) But Unleashed is easily an incredible game, and what Sonic fans should not do under any circumstance is let the horrible last installment stop them from playing this true classic. If you've ever liked a 3-D Sonic game, even if it hasn't happened since the Dreamcast days, give Unleashed a shot. And even if not...give it a try anyway. Hopefully the same amount of care and passion that obviously went into this product by its director and developers will never again be absent from the Sonic series.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 12/01/08, Updated 12/30/08

Game Release: Sonic Unleashed (US, 11/20/08)