<div align="center"><b>Introduction</b>
<div align='center'><!--coloro:#ffffff--><span style="color:#ffffff"><!--/coloro-->Above Sound.<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc--></div></div>
Werehog. WTF.
I'm sure that by now I just sound like a jaded old Sonic purist - mostly because I am. I'm also open to new ideas, though, as long as they aren't awful in execution. Notice I said 'in execution', because in theory, the Werehog is a dumb idea. A really dumb idea. Does Sega even know what 'werehog' means? Or understand that the last thing we want from a Sonic game is to have it slow down on us? I just had to try it, though. As often as I make judgments about games before they come out, I never truly make my final judgement until I've played the game for a good while. And so, having finished the Wii version (and the 360 version) of Sonic Unleashed, I'm here to share my opinion about the game. If you don't agree with me, I'm fine with that - in fact, dispute it. Write a reply explaining why you think I'm wrong - I'm not going to recieve it with any hostility, I'll just reply back in my own defense. After all, is there REALLY a point to posting on forums if you're not open to discussion? So, anywhos, here goes my review. Read, enjoy, rage if you will. Just make sure to post it.
<div align="center"><!--coloro:#ffffff--><span style="color:#ffffff"><!--/coloro-->Below Introduction.<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc--></div><div align="center"><b>Game Details</b>
Sonic Unleashed [Wii]
Developer(s) - Sega Team, Dimps
Genre - Platformer/Beat 'Em Up
<b>The Premise</b>
<div align='left'>Eggman is at it again. Bent on unleashing a dormant force known as Dark Gaia, he constructs yet another space station and crafts a new army of robots to do his dirty work. Sonic is off on another adventure! Oh wait. When you start the game, that adventure is almost over with. Sonic is already storming the space station, destroying any giant robots who dare to get in his way. Eggman chooses to deal with Sonic himself, trapping him in a force field and using him as the power source (or just torturing him with, who knows, you can't really tell) for a giant laser, pointed straight at the planet below. The beam emitted by the laser collides with the planet, causing it to break apart into several large pieces. This exposes the core of the planet, as well as Dark Gaia, who had previously been trapped for thousands of years. Those thousands of years weren't enough rest for him, though, so instead of manifesting into a giant beast, his power and influence simply disperses across the world.
Meanwhile, Sonic, who has been transformed into the Werehog by the laser (or by Dark Gaia - once again, who the hell can tell), is once again jettisoned into space (along with the Chaos Emeralds, stripped of their power by Eggman's contraption). Somehow, he manages to survive landing face first back onto the planet, while avoiding killing the little creature he landed on. The little dude, who adopts the name Chip, lost his memory from the hit, prompting Sonic to try and help him recall the things he's forgotten. This, as well as the fact that the planet is in pieces, sets them both on a journey to repower the Chaos emeralds and reseal Gaia before Eggman can collect Gaia's power to help make his dream of Eggmanland become reality.
The story really fits Sonic well, and while quite a few of the cutscenes appear to be trying waaay too hard to give off some sort of charming or cutesy feel, it all feels pretty good. The whole 'having to traverse the world' idea makes sense, considering how the game itself plays - though it doesn't make sense that you'll be playing more Werehog than Sonic. I'll get to that later, though.
<div align='center'><b>Design and Gameplay
</b><div align='left'>I'll be dividing this up into two parts - first, my explanation (more like rant) of the Werehog levels, and then my explanation of the Sonic levels.
Sega thought it'd be the greatest idea in the world to throw at us some blazing fast trailers to remind us what 3D Sonic could be, and then give us a whole nother gameplay style that nobody wanted in a Sonic game to begin with. Instead of straight up explaining these levels, though, I'll let you visualize them.
Imagine that God of War and Kingdom Hearts were to fall in love and have a child. They'd name the child 'Werehog'. They'd leave the hospital room, little baby Werehog in hand, and at home, proceed to throw him down a flight of stairs. Kick him a few times. Maybe throw him at the wall. Smack his head against the rotating fanblades jutting from the ceiling.
The Werehog levels are that dumbed down. Now, in the Wii version, these levels are split up into three acts, each about ten minutes long. These levels consist of you, as Sonic, running down a path, breaking barrels, finding an open area, brawling against enemies (not even brawling, really, just mashing the L and R buttons (GC controls) repeatedly - there aren't many combos here), rinsing, and repeating. These sections wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for the following issues - <ul><li>The music is boring</li><li>The brawling is boring</li><li>Several Werehog levels require precision platforming, which doesn't work with the clunky controls in the Wii version</li><li>Slow Sonic is SLOW</li><li>The game tries an upgrade system sort of like the one found in God of War titles, except it's so forgettable you won't find yourself really paying attention to them after each level is done and over with... you'll just want the levels to end</li></ul>Thirty minutes of this at a time, and you have to do well on these to unlock more Daytime missions... sounds fun, right? Right!?
Alright, lets get to the good part of the game - the Daytime levels. Each world has one or two of these, and they're what you will want to play. These levels switch between a behind-the-back look ala Sonic and the Secret Rings, and a sidescrolling view like the Sonic games of old. The transitions are seamless, and while the two parts control differently, you never mess up when the game decides to switch views. The controls in these sections are pretty good - unlike in Secret Rings, you're not on rails. You just run really fast with full control over where you're running. I'm surprised how well that worked out - drifting into turns and bouncing off of enemies feels really, really good in this game. That's only one of the great things about the Daytime levels, though - <ul><li>The sense of speed is conveyed pretty well (not as well as in the 360 version, but pretty well)</li><li>Branching paths EVERYWHERE encourage replaying stages multiple times (you'll find yourself doing that anyway since you'll want to validate this purchase dispite the Werehog sections... ugh)</li><li>Pretty decent visuals (they're the same as the PS2 version with a better lighting system - not amazing, but passable on the Wii... the first level, Apotos, looks great, and the rest just look ho-hum)</li><li>They're not Werehog levels</li></ul>The Daytime levels are what this game is all about; the best part of the game, for sure. So why do I still have a negative outlook of this game?
Because for every 3 or 4 minutes of Daytime gameplay, there's about 30 minutes of Werehog gameplay waiting for you. This ratio is WAY off (especially when compared to the 360 version, which has shorter Werehog levels and longer Daytime levels), and will probably turn most of you off from this game. I mean, the Daytime gameplay is fun, but not enough to make up for the god-forsaken Werehog levels. Oh well... Sega got it right for once, but we can always count on them to fuck things up. What they didn't fuck up, though, was the music.
<div align='center'><!--coloro:#ffffff--><span style="color:#ffffff"><!--/coloro-->Final Score - 6.8 out of 10<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->
</div><div align='center'><b>Sound
</b>
<div align='left'>This is good stuff right here. The menu music is fantastic (fully orchestrated), the level music (or at least the Daytime music... the Werehog music is pretty lame stuff) is quirky and hearkens back to the good 'ol Genesis stages, and the voice acting is - get this - <i>not horrible</i>. Good VO in a Sonic game? More likely than you think. My only gripe is, well, the same gripe you probably already have if you've seen a vid or two of gameplay.
GO! WHOA! GO! GO! WHOA! OOF! GO!
Sonic won't shut the hell up. At all. It's not that big a deal - you can tune him out eventually. It's just kind of annoying at first.
<div align='center'><b>Value</b>
<div align='left'>A good rental, but at $50 you're definitely going to want to give this game a try first. The Werehog gameplay is the dealbreaker - if you like it, get the game. If you don't, you're probably just as disappointed with Sega as I am. One thing you should keep in mind, though, is that the Wii version of this game has what has become typical for any Wii port that ends up half decent - inflated scores. While it is true that the Wii version has higher ratings than the 360 version, the 360 version has (in my experience) better load times, more creative level design, controls that make the Werehog sections more tolerable, less Werehog gameplay, and more Sonic gameplay. Not to mention the visuals, which are just WOW. If you've got a 360, get that version instead. Seriously. Just do it.
<div align='center'><b>Overall
</b><div align='left'>This game is a mixed bag. One half awesome return to form, one half god awful slow imprecise platforming brawler. Actually, it's more like one fifth awesome return to form if you plan on getting the Wii version... a shame, too, because I really felt that Sega was onto something good after having played the Apotos Daytime levels for myself. Oh well, there's always next time around, right?
</div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>
</div>
I'm super against scoring games since it encourages gamers to look at the score instead of actually reading the review. Soooo... if you just want to see my score, you're gonna have to do a scavenger hunt. Highlight the below text.
<!--coloro:#FFFFFF--><span style="color:#FFFFFF"><!--/coloro-->Above Game Details.<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->
</div>
<div align='center'><!--coloro:#ffffff--><span style="color:#ffffff"><!--/coloro-->Above Sound.<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc--></div></div>
Werehog. WTF.
I'm sure that by now I just sound like a jaded old Sonic purist - mostly because I am. I'm also open to new ideas, though, as long as they aren't awful in execution. Notice I said 'in execution', because in theory, the Werehog is a dumb idea. A really dumb idea. Does Sega even know what 'werehog' means? Or understand that the last thing we want from a Sonic game is to have it slow down on us? I just had to try it, though. As often as I make judgments about games before they come out, I never truly make my final judgement until I've played the game for a good while. And so, having finished the Wii version (and the 360 version) of Sonic Unleashed, I'm here to share my opinion about the game. If you don't agree with me, I'm fine with that - in fact, dispute it. Write a reply explaining why you think I'm wrong - I'm not going to recieve it with any hostility, I'll just reply back in my own defense. After all, is there REALLY a point to posting on forums if you're not open to discussion? So, anywhos, here goes my review. Read, enjoy, rage if you will. Just make sure to post it.
<div align="center"><!--coloro:#ffffff--><span style="color:#ffffff"><!--/coloro-->Below Introduction.<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc--></div><div align="center"><b>Game Details</b>
Sonic Unleashed [Wii]
Developer(s) - Sega Team, Dimps
Genre - Platformer/Beat 'Em Up
<b>The Premise</b>
<div align='left'>Eggman is at it again. Bent on unleashing a dormant force known as Dark Gaia, he constructs yet another space station and crafts a new army of robots to do his dirty work. Sonic is off on another adventure! Oh wait. When you start the game, that adventure is almost over with. Sonic is already storming the space station, destroying any giant robots who dare to get in his way. Eggman chooses to deal with Sonic himself, trapping him in a force field and using him as the power source (or just torturing him with, who knows, you can't really tell) for a giant laser, pointed straight at the planet below. The beam emitted by the laser collides with the planet, causing it to break apart into several large pieces. This exposes the core of the planet, as well as Dark Gaia, who had previously been trapped for thousands of years. Those thousands of years weren't enough rest for him, though, so instead of manifesting into a giant beast, his power and influence simply disperses across the world.
Meanwhile, Sonic, who has been transformed into the Werehog by the laser (or by Dark Gaia - once again, who the hell can tell), is once again jettisoned into space (along with the Chaos Emeralds, stripped of their power by Eggman's contraption). Somehow, he manages to survive landing face first back onto the planet, while avoiding killing the little creature he landed on. The little dude, who adopts the name Chip, lost his memory from the hit, prompting Sonic to try and help him recall the things he's forgotten. This, as well as the fact that the planet is in pieces, sets them both on a journey to repower the Chaos emeralds and reseal Gaia before Eggman can collect Gaia's power to help make his dream of Eggmanland become reality.
The story really fits Sonic well, and while quite a few of the cutscenes appear to be trying waaay too hard to give off some sort of charming or cutesy feel, it all feels pretty good. The whole 'having to traverse the world' idea makes sense, considering how the game itself plays - though it doesn't make sense that you'll be playing more Werehog than Sonic. I'll get to that later, though.
<div align='center'><b>Design and Gameplay
</b><div align='left'>I'll be dividing this up into two parts - first, my explanation (more like rant) of the Werehog levels, and then my explanation of the Sonic levels.
Sega thought it'd be the greatest idea in the world to throw at us some blazing fast trailers to remind us what 3D Sonic could be, and then give us a whole nother gameplay style that nobody wanted in a Sonic game to begin with. Instead of straight up explaining these levels, though, I'll let you visualize them.
Imagine that God of War and Kingdom Hearts were to fall in love and have a child. They'd name the child 'Werehog'. They'd leave the hospital room, little baby Werehog in hand, and at home, proceed to throw him down a flight of stairs. Kick him a few times. Maybe throw him at the wall. Smack his head against the rotating fanblades jutting from the ceiling.
The Werehog levels are that dumbed down. Now, in the Wii version, these levels are split up into three acts, each about ten minutes long. These levels consist of you, as Sonic, running down a path, breaking barrels, finding an open area, brawling against enemies (not even brawling, really, just mashing the L and R buttons (GC controls) repeatedly - there aren't many combos here), rinsing, and repeating. These sections wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for the following issues - <ul><li>The music is boring</li><li>The brawling is boring</li><li>Several Werehog levels require precision platforming, which doesn't work with the clunky controls in the Wii version</li><li>Slow Sonic is SLOW</li><li>The game tries an upgrade system sort of like the one found in God of War titles, except it's so forgettable you won't find yourself really paying attention to them after each level is done and over with... you'll just want the levels to end</li></ul>Thirty minutes of this at a time, and you have to do well on these to unlock more Daytime missions... sounds fun, right? Right!?
Alright, lets get to the good part of the game - the Daytime levels. Each world has one or two of these, and they're what you will want to play. These levels switch between a behind-the-back look ala Sonic and the Secret Rings, and a sidescrolling view like the Sonic games of old. The transitions are seamless, and while the two parts control differently, you never mess up when the game decides to switch views. The controls in these sections are pretty good - unlike in Secret Rings, you're not on rails. You just run really fast with full control over where you're running. I'm surprised how well that worked out - drifting into turns and bouncing off of enemies feels really, really good in this game. That's only one of the great things about the Daytime levels, though - <ul><li>The sense of speed is conveyed pretty well (not as well as in the 360 version, but pretty well)</li><li>Branching paths EVERYWHERE encourage replaying stages multiple times (you'll find yourself doing that anyway since you'll want to validate this purchase dispite the Werehog sections... ugh)</li><li>Pretty decent visuals (they're the same as the PS2 version with a better lighting system - not amazing, but passable on the Wii... the first level, Apotos, looks great, and the rest just look ho-hum)</li><li>They're not Werehog levels</li></ul>The Daytime levels are what this game is all about; the best part of the game, for sure. So why do I still have a negative outlook of this game?
Because for every 3 or 4 minutes of Daytime gameplay, there's about 30 minutes of Werehog gameplay waiting for you. This ratio is WAY off (especially when compared to the 360 version, which has shorter Werehog levels and longer Daytime levels), and will probably turn most of you off from this game. I mean, the Daytime gameplay is fun, but not enough to make up for the god-forsaken Werehog levels. Oh well... Sega got it right for once, but we can always count on them to fuck things up. What they didn't fuck up, though, was the music.
<div align='center'><!--coloro:#ffffff--><span style="color:#ffffff"><!--/coloro-->Final Score - 6.8 out of 10<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->
</div><div align='center'><b>Sound
</b>
<div align='left'>This is good stuff right here. The menu music is fantastic (fully orchestrated), the level music (or at least the Daytime music... the Werehog music is pretty lame stuff) is quirky and hearkens back to the good 'ol Genesis stages, and the voice acting is - get this - <i>not horrible</i>. Good VO in a Sonic game? More likely than you think. My only gripe is, well, the same gripe you probably already have if you've seen a vid or two of gameplay.
GO! WHOA! GO! GO! WHOA! OOF! GO!
Sonic won't shut the hell up. At all. It's not that big a deal - you can tune him out eventually. It's just kind of annoying at first.
<div align='center'><b>Value</b>
<div align='left'>A good rental, but at $50 you're definitely going to want to give this game a try first. The Werehog gameplay is the dealbreaker - if you like it, get the game. If you don't, you're probably just as disappointed with Sega as I am. One thing you should keep in mind, though, is that the Wii version of this game has what has become typical for any Wii port that ends up half decent - inflated scores. While it is true that the Wii version has higher ratings than the 360 version, the 360 version has (in my experience) better load times, more creative level design, controls that make the Werehog sections more tolerable, less Werehog gameplay, and more Sonic gameplay. Not to mention the visuals, which are just WOW. If you've got a 360, get that version instead. Seriously. Just do it.
<div align='center'><b>Overall
</b><div align='left'>This game is a mixed bag. One half awesome return to form, one half god awful slow imprecise platforming brawler. Actually, it's more like one fifth awesome return to form if you plan on getting the Wii version... a shame, too, because I really felt that Sega was onto something good after having played the Apotos Daytime levels for myself. Oh well, there's always next time around, right?
</div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>
</div>
I'm super against scoring games since it encourages gamers to look at the score instead of actually reading the review. Soooo... if you just want to see my score, you're gonna have to do a scavenger hunt. Highlight the below text.
<!--coloro:#FFFFFF--><span style="color:#FFFFFF"><!--/coloro-->Above Game Details.<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->
</div>
