Sonic Unleashed Review

Rank @ End

Summary

This was bashed for its Werehog idea and stages, yet most Sonic fans enjoyed the game. Hint: I'm one of those fans.  

Gameplay and Level Design

Remember: upgrade the Werehog's attacks. Then it's no sweat.

The gameplay is split into two sections, day and night. The day stages at the time were a new idea, taking the Boost idea from rush and creating a style that switches between 2D and 3D. When I first played the game I really had a problem with pressing the buttons it asked for certain moves, and sometimes I still have trouble. Dark Gaia--60?--insane. Yet I like it in retrospect because it adds a bit of a challenge even now that the boost has become and over-used gimmick.

I also like that even though boosting through is possible, the game encourages exploration through the sun/moon medals, video tapes, records, and other items. Another likeable thing is the rings gained more of a purpose by helping fuel the boost. The trick system, while complex (^), looked cool. Overall the day stages were pretty fun, and the 2D areas weren't as bottomless-pit filled as in future games (cough, cough, SONICCOLORS). 

The Werehog stages are more complicated, but they serve the exploration idea even better. It is a forced slow down, but there are shortcuts and not every enemy needs beaten. In the beginning the game is a bit tougher in these stages, and longer. But as long as the player upgrades the moves/attacks, the gameplay will become a lot easier and smoother as a reward. Upgrade the attacks and then you can smash the buttons of your choice and defeat the enemies with ease. 

It's the Titans that really cause all the darn trouble. They knock Sonic off his feet and sometimes off buildings. Then the wizard ones power it back up sometimes, too. Using the "doorbell" move helps a lot but it can be difficult. 

The stage desings and hub worlds are awesome. Like with Soleanna in 06, they took real life ideas and it works even better with these choices. Altering the sky and lighting was also great. It was also cool that the Tornado returned. 

 

Story and Characters

The story, as wacky as it may be, is really nice. Sonic befriends Chip and there's a lot of focus on that friendship that can kinda' be expanded on (through...food). The script is pretty nice, not epically cheesy like later games or over-the-top like some games past. It seems just right. Serious moments, funny ones. I kinda' like how Amy was in this, where she was still on the hunt for Sonic but got a little more concerned later in the game. Tails was also in a good spot because he seemed smart and useful (though his introduction is not as good because he needs help...but he was even that way in the Secret Rings, so--)

As much as I love Chip, the mythology kinda' bugs me. There were fantasy-type "god" creatures in games before like Adventure and 06, but I don't know why, this one kinda' bothers me. Maybe it is because Eggman also shattered the earth in Sonic Advance 3, heh. 

This is the first game in a long time not to feature Knuckles or Shadow. In some ways, I would have rather seen them in it and have it be Sonic Adventure 3, but I'm glad they did not through the characters in just for the sake of having them there (cough, cough, Forces, Generations). And I also felt the more Sonic-focused story was worth it (unlike SONICCOLORS). 

Music and Voice Acting

The music is great. There's a lot of variety. The hub worlds are more atmospheric and the stages are faster, wilder beats. Both incorporate instruments based on the locations the worlds were inspired upon. There is also a nice contrast between day and night, and a lot of interesting jazz elements. "Endless Possibilities" has a lot of energy and confidence that really match the game's theme of exploration yet Sonic as a character as well. 

The voice acting is the best. I already like Jason Griffith's Sonic voice, but he does particularly well with this game. The hedgehog sounds a bit more mature but has not lost his attitude. The rougher Werehog voice is also awesome. Only complaint with it is that with one or 2 lines it sounds a bit like Jet the Hawk. Amy Palant has really worked on her voice for Tails, who sounds a lot more boyish. Lisa Ortiz also matured Amy's voice a bit. Chip is cute and adorable sounding. 

Overall the only one who did not quite live up to expectations was Dan Green (Professor Pickle) not because the voice was that bad, just because it sounded a lot like Knuckles to me (more so then Mephiles).     

Visuals and Graphics

UNLEASHED DID IT FIRST

The cutscenses, even the ones of lower quality, have aged GREAT. The entire game looks better than Forces, and the animation is expressive. That first cutscene! Wow. 

When playing through, the graphics are not as good as future games but still pretty good. The combination of cartoonish designs and realistic textures helped it age better, I think.  

Dark Gaia is creepy in design. I'm kinda' confused on Chip's looks, but he's cute. Yet the temple-transformation thing (kinda' anime-ish, maybe?) makes him pretty beast. Speaking of beast--

The Werehog design is not so bad. Not as sleek Sonic's usual looks, but powerful and tough. Way better than Boom Knuckles, anyway.  

Final Thoughts

• I (...and a lot of people, surprisingly?) would have liked it if Sonic continued to wear the Chip bracelet. As a sign of character development.  
• I guess in Black Knight it would have just gotten hidden under his armor, but WHAT'S COLORS EXCUSE?  
• Unfortunately by 2010 Sega found the antonym of character development and used that instead. 
• I love this game, but Sega would kinda' pluck some bad ideas out if it: 
• Boost to win
• Tails being a coward
• No Crush 40
• No Kncukles/Shadow/Rouge/Cream/etc

• Another idea reused in the future is having the results affect the characters' stance. Here it affects what the character says (as in games past) and the music as well. 
• This is probably the best version of hub worlds in a Sonic game to date. They were fun to explore and all looked very unique. The day/night idea was also nice visually. 
• The idea with the humans was interesting, becuase while most were cartoony and Pixar-like, there were a few that were more anime/almost more realistic, as if to bridge the gap between this game and games past. 
• I like all the different designs and backgrounds for them. 
• Wentos: AKA how to score as may rings as you want. 
• It's cool that there are optional acts and missions, I always prefer options to requirements.  
• Would have loved to see more "extra"/easter egg scenes in future games. Oh well.  
• WHOO! GO! FEELIN' GOOD! WHOO! WHOO! GO!
• HERE WE...GO!
• AWOOOOO!
• Egro>Orbot 

Final Ranking: S

It would be better without the Titan enemies, but I'm willing to overlook that. This game is really fun to play, has great audio and visuals, and a cool script/story that is not too dark but not too silly. This very well may be the best modern Sonic game. 

:)

Best Villain (Part 7--Conclusion)

For me, the "best villain" is an obvious three-way tie.

Robotnik, for his continued perseverance. For having the deepest connection to Sonic and the franchise. His history. His hilarity. Nostalgia, too.

Mephiles, for being a threat like no other. For his creepy way of twisting the truth. For pitting characters against each other. His dark need to destroy...his actions in Shadow's story. 

And Merlina, for being understandable. For the plot twist. For being persuasive and relatable in comparison. Being kind at heart but on the outside sad, cold, malicious, and deadly.

Best Villain? Part 1: "C" Villains

A common senerio in the Sonic series is Dr. Eggman finding a monster and being betrayed by it. Some might even consider it a running gag. This mainly started in Sonic Adventure, with the water beast, Chaos.  

Chaos was first a peaceful creature--and a friend of Tikal--but he knew only greed and anger from the Knuckles Clan and from Dr. Eggman awakening him. Gathering power, he transformed in a rage--intent on wiping out everything. Tikal urged the heroes to help lock him away, as she had done 4000 years prior, but Sonic knew that would not solve the problem. Sonic took on the monster himself to "open [it's] heart." With Tikal he was able to show Chaos that power can be used for good and that there were many who wanted peace rather than destruction.

Chaos had a lot of potential, but he doesn't talk. He doesn't really have expressions, either, making him more of a beast. Unfortunatly it's only the other characters--Tikal, Sonic, Knuckles, etc--that help peace together Chaos' motives and "personality."

While the idea works, Choas is overrated and actually kind of flat. If he were swapped with some other "monster" character it would not make much of a difference.

Many other flat, "monster" characters would follow suit: Biolizard, Babylon Gardian, Iblis, Solaris, Ifrit, Dark Gaia, Time Eater, etc. 

They are not all pointless. The ultimate life prototype, the Biolizard, for example, is a sharp contrast to Shadow. The Guardian shares physical similarities to the Babylon Rogues, hinting at their past. Iblis is the power while Mephiles is the cunning. And Dark Gaia is an all out powerhouse that can even harm Super Sonic.  

Though they all have different aspects, it was Chaos who originally set the stage for these enemies and how they should be portrayed. 

These types of characters help raise the stakes and bring in new ideas. Still, due to their nature, it's hard to call them a "great villain." They just don't have the spark, the personality. 

HARDEST Sonic Bosses

This is going to be a hard one...lol. Sonic bosses are typically either extremely easy (like fighting Sonic as Silver in 06), are easy once you figure out the weakspot (literally all the classic bosses), or are so frickn' hard it makes one want to throw their controller, have a tantrum and yell that they "aren't weak."

One of the only problems I have with the Sonic series is that in most cases the bosses are strict--it doesn't matter how far Sonic is to defeating the boss--if he dies, he gets to restart. There is one bright side to the final bosses, at least. The intense version of the game's main theme. Yeah...First our line up, and then I'll go over a few that didn't make it on this list.

1-3 

Perfect Dark Gaia/Dark Gaia/Egg Dragoon (Sonic Unleashed) 

(this seems like cheating my list, here, but how can I not think of them as one?) 

60 times, damn it, 60 times.

These three have are separate bosses, but they're all unrelenting torture.

• Sewn together at the end of Sonic Unleashed, right after the longest and most difficult level in the game, these all must be beat in order to win the game. 
• Meaning if one runs out of lives, one must start all over. 
• Done right, they can be easy, but one slip up and the fight will become a long, angering, and tedious process.  
• To top it all off, you have to press the square button (or whatever button it asks for) 60 times in what seems like five seconds. Failing to do so results in automatic death. 

Tip: If you don't know you're controller buttons by now, you better learn.

4

Great Eggman Robo (Sonic and Knuckles)

Ouch.

After escaping the already super-hard bosses of the Death Egg Zone, Sonic gets to challenge this bad boy, in a lovely, ring-less environment. Defeating this boss is necessary to move on to the final boss, another difficult challenge, and to win the game.

• With several parts and a totally evil laser, this ugly fella' almost seems invisible. Perfect timing is required for success.  

Tip: You can manipulate the level select and debug mode "for practice." If you're playing on  a re-release that allows you to save at what ever point you want (Like the Sonic Mega Collection or Classic Collection), you can keep redoing this point without starting over or (potentially) losing lives. Listening to the sound effects is the key to avoiding the attacks. 

5

VS Sonic/VS Blaze Normal Mode (Sonic Rush)

IT'S MY RESPONSIBILITY. 

At first, the rival boss fight is as easy as ever.

• It's a simple fight...then Sonic and Blaze argue some more, and suddenly the two start boosting each other. 
• The result is pure button-smashing for the player as they frantically hit A and B. 
• Well, that's it. It may not seem like much, but once the player's thumb starts to numb, they're reconsidering. 

Tip: The mode can be switched to "easy," which make this boss along with all the others much easier to handle, but in time-attack the boss is reset to the normal mode no matter what. 

6

Eggman (Sonic Battle) 

Red. Original. 

The real monster in this game was beating the Guard Robos within the time limit Rouge assigns Emerl (in her story), but that doesn't really count as a boss. However, I consider Emerl vs Eggman and later Sonic vs Ultimate Emerl bosses, since it's not just training, it's important to the story, and it leads to the ending.

• At first it's not so bad, but as with all bosses, it gets difficult as it progresses. 
• Eggman is able to attack while flying. Hitting him back without Emerl taking damage can be a real challenge.

Tip: Use cheat codes to gain Emerl's combo moves and enable one of them. It will make life a whole lot easier.

7

Egg X (Sonic Advance)

Orange. Original.

All the bosses in Advance are harder than expected, especially for Amy and her specific hammer attacks. I've never gotten all of the Chaos Emeralds for this game, so I can't judge the final boss, but Egg X was pretty menacing.

• It alternates its attacks, only becoming vulnerable at quick moments. 
• It is very easy to lose all rings, largely due to it's arm attack. 
• If the player dies, they have to go through the previous bosses, although they are very short/easy (and throw-backs to the classic games).

Tip: First off, don't try to attack it right away--you can't, so when you land it will harm you and you'll drop your rings. Perfectly avoiding attacks can make this easy, but goof up and it become a real problem.

8

Metal Madness/Overlord (Sonic Heroes)

That's Metal Sonic?

With the final boss in the game, the teams have to come together and defeat the power-hungry "Neo" Metal Sonic.

• Team Rose? A breeze, as usual. Chaotix is where I started having trouble. 
• Risking the Homing Attack is rewarding...but not when Espio jumps right off the platform! 
• That's the main problem throughout Madness--falling off. 
• Repeating the same proccess of rotating attacks gets frustrating fast, and the attack that traps the player's allies is terrible, mostly as a flight character because it's hard to free them and avoid becoming caught. 
• Do Super Sonic and his bubble-buddy pals have it any easier? No, not really, because they have to keep their ring count up, counter the beast's attacks, and charge their Team Blast to hurt it. 

Tip: In Metal Madness, there seems to be an order to attack in (such as flight, power, speed). Figuring this out can reduce the time spent on this portion of the boss. No wasting time on the easy ones--your seconds spent in Madness are used in Overlord, too. Use the Team Blast as much as possible, and move quickly. 
   

9

Mecha Sonic/Death Egg Robot (Sonic the Hedgehog 2)

Double Trouble. 

Back in the day, this would be at the top of my list. Thanks to the amazing powers of the internet, though, it's here at number nine.

• No rings, so one false move means an automatic death and a return to the start of the level. 
• A creepy robot copy is there to eat up Sonic's lives, and after managing to move on, fat old Ro-buttnik runs ahead and jumps into a huge, dangerous robot that take 16 hits instead of the standard 8. 
• His arms are fast, sharp spikes, and stomping on Sonic isn't any less lethal. Generation's version is cake compared to this.

Tip: You look it up, genius. Learn the attacks, avoid them, and be careful.

10

Sonic and Diablon (Shadow the Hedgehog)

You Devil!

Now that I think about it, this wasn't that hard, just long. Getting an A rank--that was why I had trouble with this one. Eh, oh well.

• Sonic is invincible, just a nuisance that's ready to knock the rings out of you, so he's not the real boss, here. 
• It's Diablon, the experimental robot...thing, that the revenge-seeking Commander is controlling. 
• Fought three times, the main conflicts are attacking it without being hit. Sometimes its laser, or Sonic, will cause Shadow to fall out of the area and die. 

Tip: Use the weapons to your advantage and feed the Dark Gauge. Save up the ammo for Chaos Blast, then fire on it and use the invincibility to get close. Only use the blast before it's about to run out. This will do more damage than only using the blast.    

Why, why, why: the almost-s. 

Egg-Wyvern (Sonic 06)--I have a great memory of getting an S-rank after a few tries, completing Sonic's story, and watching Sonic and Elise laugh in a semi-creepy way. Replaying it, I found it to be more of a challenge, and it is probably the hardest in the game (Solaris is cake, and the others aren't too bad once the player figures out how to win). Still, that S-rank reminds me that it couldn't have been that hard. 

Egg Viper (Sonic Adventure)--I haven't played this game in a while, but I remember having trouble with this one. Still, that might have been because Eggman was repeating himself, and that can get annoying fast.

Egg Dragoon (Sonic Generations)--When replaying Sonic Generations, Egg Dragoon and the Time Eater were the only bosses I had trouble with. Toughest of them all, and fought in a different style than it's Unleashed counterpart, it was defiantly considered for this list. Eggman, say that phrase again and I'll...

Ifrit Golem (Sonic and the Secret Rings)--I just remember having a tough time. Lava, unreliable platforms. Giant enemy. Not cool, Sega.

Lancelot Returns (Sonic and The Black Knight)--The first time I fought him, it took like, 5 seconds and immediately gave me 5 stars. Lucky I did that then, because replaying it I could barley hit him.

Hot Mobile/Lava Reef Boss (Sonic and Knuckles)--I used to think this was hard. Before I discovered the shields, BOOYAH.

And anything from the 8-bit games...those things are murderous, alright. But I'm not as familiar with them, and they aren't very memorable.

Bosses are more or less required in a Sonic game. I think I could do without them, since it just slows everything down and make the game irritating. But I do like some of them, considering a half are fun or easy. The rival battles are great. Sonic CD and Forces have really easy bosses, and I think that's the way I like it. A little challenge is fine. But those hour-eating ones? No thanks.
   

ITSNOUSETAKETHISITSNOUSETAKETHISTAKE--Urgh, NO!