A good 3D Sonic game comes once in a blue moon…
Throughout recent years, us Sonic fans have found it increasingly hard to stand by the little blue critter. The formula of throwing yourself though levels at the speed of a bullet didn’t work especially well when transferred to 3D. Coupled with the constant introduction of several new playable characters with each new game, it would be lying to say that the series hasn’t suffered. Die-hard Sonic fans have had to grin and bare it, though, hoping for a Sonic title to come out that doesn’t suffer from nasty glitches and sometimes perplexing camera angles.
Well now we have Sonic Unleashed, and despite a peculiar story involving the world splitting into tiny pieces, the awakening of a giant ghost from the Earth’s core and forcing Sonic to turn into a ‘Werehog’ come nighttime, it’s actually a vast improvement.
For starters, the speed. Thanks to a new engine (the ‘Hedgehog’ engine, a fairly uninspired title), you whizz through levels at that breakneck speed Sonic fans have come to expect. It does take quite some practise to get used to at first, as you’re projected so fast forward that you are likely to be thrown into a wall or various spiky obstacles. At times you may even need to take a break and pause due to the relentless pace. Given time, however, and this soon becomes less of a pain and finally gains that status of an adrenaline fuelled platformer.
Sonic Team hasn’t managed to fix the negative features of the old enough for me to say this is the Sonic game we’ve all been waiting for.
Once you do get the hang of it, you really do appreciate the level design. Levels require you to think very quickly on your feet and to sometimes memorise the layout of levels in order to avoid obstacles later on. Another feature which improves the gameplay is where the camera will face Sonic on his side in order to create an almost 2D retro feel of the days where Sonic didn’t have to worry about a 3rd Dimension.
Although this new instalment features no new playable characters, their is an alternative to Sonic the Hedgehog…that being is Werehog equivalent. When Sonic turns into his hybrid Hedgehog/Werewolf counterpart, the gameplay also alters. Due to his slower pace and fiercer personality, Werehog stages rely more on combat than running away from your problems. Admittedly, these are incredibly simple stages that are only really there to develop your button mashing skills. If you manage to deplete your enemies life enough, you can initiate a ‘Critical Strike’ which can kill them off completely. Thwacking an enemy with this, though, simply relies on you to press certain buttons in a sequence dictated to you.
However, herein lies a weakness. There are a lot of these ‘Press this button NOW!’ in the levels, more then there probably should be. It seems that the game relies on your making snap decisions in very short time periods, when in actual fact it should be focusing on the skill it takes to get through challenges.
Another new feature is the levelling up system, a fairly basic addition where you are given EXP (or experience, so that non-gamers don’t feel isolated in this review) to spend on various different attributes for the Hedgehog and the Werehog individually.
Although their have been improvements, Sonic Unleashed does suffer from a familiar drawback; Shaky controls and some truly dreadful camera angles. On their own, they’re frustrating, yet when combined they are diabolical. With the sheer amount of times Sonic has seemingly hurled himself of a cliff for no good reason, you’d think he’s lost all hope in Sega.
The game is also pretty short for those who are only willing to play through the story. Replay value is also not a strong point. Despite a grading system for each level and a feature allowing you to play through levels with different mission criteria (i.e. Complete a level in a certain time, Kill 20 opponents), the only players willing to complete these are die-hard sonic fans and people who like to have a strong catalogue of completed achievements attached to their Gamer Profile.
Despite the positive changes made, Sonic Team hasn’t managed to fix the negative features of the old enough for me to say this is the Sonic game we’ve all been waiting for. All I can say is to try harder Sega, you’re getting closer…
The Bad: High speed stages take a while to get used to, Combat system a little simple, Suffers from some terrible camera angles
Bronze Y Award