Review: Sonic Unleashed (360)

Known as Sonic World Adventure in Japan and essentially being Sonic Adventure 3, this game for PS3, 360 and Wii took Sonic on a worldwide adventure to stop Dr. Eggman. It also introduced us to the Werehog, a shaggy wild version of Sonic created by him being exposed to negative chaos energy and the power of the evil planet force Dark Gaia.

But nevermind, eh… Chocolate?

Before I start this off, I have to say that all reviews are just opinions I know that some of you can base your own off them, but really it would be wiser to rent the game before you buy, that way if it’s not your cup of tea, you haven’t wasted money. Sonic Unleashed is a game that has many “scores” rating from good, average and even worse than SONIC the Hedgehog but like I have stated and will again because it’s important mostly these are just opinions, you are the only on who can decide what you like or dislike.

Now let us begin…

I have to start off with the one thing that caught my attention first about this game and that is the soundtrack, it’s not rock actually there’s only one track like it, but the soundtrack takes on a jazz and instrumental approach, the only vocal themes being Endless Possibility and Dear My Friend whilst the instrumental that caught my full attention was the Werehog Battle Music which changes the pace from a casual roam to having you dish out combos very nicely.

The next which had me tapping my feet to the beat unknowingly was the Shamar Daytime music; it had the feel of the hustle and bustle with a very lively sax. There are many wondrous music pieces that include the end boss theme, but I won’t spoil that for anyone who hasn’t gotten that far already.

Next up is gameplay, now due to the EXP system you are going to find it hard or near impossible to defeat enemies and S rank levels at the start of the game, but as your levels grow on you’ll find going back to those old levels easier than anything, also levelling up doesn’t make all foes easy, they get harder as you go on through the story.

Sonic gameplay is what Sonic gameplay is meant to be, and that is fast. Sometimes you’ll find the odd fluke death which can be a problem but the amount of lives you can find counter balance it, yes it can be irritating but it’s having that determination to go on.

Quicktime events make their appearance though the game, allowing you to reach faster routes, it doesn’t really slow the game down much unless it’s one that places you in a life or death situation but then it takes sometime to get use to, now the Quick Step is the useful feature for not running straight into walls and allows you to dodge much better than you could in SONIC.

A handy feature if used correctly is the Sonic Drift, in which you can either hold down either one of the triggers to see Sonic drift with ease around a corner, now to be honest about this I still haven’t gotten use to it and find myself plummeting off a unprotected corner now and then.

One of the problems I’ve seen people bring up is why the homing attack is now on the X button rather than having to double press the jump button, now I had no problem adjusting to it, I actually found it easier to get back into a boost like it, and the Lightspeed Dash being placed on Y, normally you’ll be either boosting or homing before you even get near a Dash situation so that placement actually makes sense.

The Werehog gameplay is the classic combo crunching beat ‘em up style along with some easy puzzle solving to boot, holding down a trigger allows him to run on all fours which means you won’t be walking your way through the stage. The levels are long but they give you a chance to fully explore and collect the huge amounts of EXP that you’ll need to level up. There will be times where the camera will swing into a position where you can’t see a jump or a ledge, for me I never had any problem with just rotating it round.

Other gameplay features include eating different food to gain EXP, helping the people with missions, doing time trials and enemy destruction to get hotdogs, collecting sun and moon medals which is a must if you are to move further on, you will be finding yourself to go back and collect some more medals but probably only once or twice which does get in the way of the main game.

Graphics… I’m not really a graphics person but I must say that it does look absolutely stunning, the cutscenes are good, and the level designs and graphics are great, especially for my standard definition TV, there’s nothing really wrong I can find with them, but as I said I’m not a person who adores graphics.

ACTUAL SCORE	Overall, it has things that will keep those achievement hunters busy for a good period of time after the main story completion, the soundtrack is right there and the Werehog gameplay was better than I expected. Unleashed is like that jar of Marmite, some people will like it and others will not, I really recommend renting the game before you do purchase just to find out if it is for you, but it is definitely one of the best games to come out in recent years.
		3.75

ACHIEVEMENT HOG SCORE	There are achievements which are easy, such as playing the game to the end nets you about a third of the total. The only problems you might have with completing it would be with the hotdog missions, and levelling up the werehog.
		3.0

SW’S CRAZED FANBOY SCORE	“Oh my god, oh my f***ing God – SEGA, Sonic Team what were you smoking when you came up with this? Was it crap? Was it? Are you seriously telling me that Sonic can turn into some kind of creature due to magic powers. Come on that’s hardly realistic, but here we go again eh, another STUPID gimmick forced upon us by SEGA. I don’t care if the day levels are good, they’re not because they are completely tarnished by this monstrosity of a gimmick! A MONSTORCITY I SAY! The Lamehog is to slow – he just lumbers around doing nothing except being stupid. What do you mean if I hold down the right trigger he’ll run really fast. No he doesn’t. Its a lie. This has spoilt everything for me! EVERY game since Sonic 1 is now fundamentally ruined for me ans spoiled. He’s too slow, I should always be Sonic and do nothing in the game except do Sonic things, Sonic should always be fast paced action. And whilst we’re on the subject Sonic’s far too fast! You’re RUINING my life! Screw you SEGA now my little sister wants to use my PC to find Amy X Werehog art. DAMN YOU AND ALL YOUR FAMILY MEMBERS TO HELL.”
		0.0