Sonic Unleashed Review
It's no secret that I love the Library but I also love Sonic so today I am going to talk about Sonic Unleashed
Story
The world has been torn apart by forces more powerful than Dr.Eggman, Dark Gia, I never play Sonic games for the story, having said that cutscenes in the story in this game are enjoyable, even if the character "Chip" is a bit annoying at times. I'll get back to the story in a bit...
Sonic The Wearhog Gameplay(night)
Yes, this is "a thing", at night Sonic becomes a "monster" with stretchy arms and legs which he does some challenging platforming. At night he also fights Dark Gia monsters and robots beat-em-up style complete with lots of optional and mandatory(against bosses) quick time events :P. What do I think about this gameplay? It's not bad but it's not great, read the Boost Gameplay section to find out how this game shines!
Story continued...
So it seems the story was constructed so that Sega could merge Sonic with the where hog gameplay with the boost gameplay and make it make sense.
Boost Gameplay(daytime)
In the day Sonic is normal and you can experience the boost gameplay. It is 9/10 - 10/10, he moves fast like a car but is manoeuvrable like a fly. So you end up having to move quickly and puch the correct button to jump/dodge/homeing attack/stomp at the correct time. It can only be described as
thrilling!
Some people complain that modern Sonic has too many "rollcoster" parts where you don't really do much but I love these.
The daytime bosses are "on rails" segments where you have to find "the opening" and defeat the boss while dodging his attacks. (and maybe some other things).
These levels are great and I like to play them over and over again to collect secrets and get a better rank.(ranks in this game go S, A - E, a ranking system which I have adapted and use to rate other things)
Other gameplay
Town exploration
Regardless of the time of day, you get to explorer the towns in the game and it's fun to do so, it reminds me of Sonic Adventure. Some characters will give you quests, some of these allow you to play the same levels with some sort of alternative requirement and slight changes. (more enemies which you must beat within a time limit for example).
Other quests require you to travel the world to talk to people or gather things like tea or buying food*. Theses never feel old and sometimes townfolk will have new things to say if you talk to the later, even when you think they were not programmed with additional dialogue.
* With the rings, you end the level with.
To show how interesting townsfolk can be, there is a fortune teller that gives you(not Sonic) a personality quiz and then tells you what thinks of your(not Sonic's) personality. Another woman gives(Sonic or you) quizzes in each town you visit. You gain bonuses for doing some of these things but you get nothing for the personality quiz.
They are also a store where you can purchase extras such as music, cutscenes and concept art. These are also found lying around town and in the levels. You can also buy food to feed to you(Sonic)* or your friend Chip.
* Darn the fact that I mentioned the personality quiz testing your personality is throwing me off.
The plane levels
Daytime Sonic and his friend Tails take off in an aeroplane. The whole thing is then controlled by timed button pushes(well, you can hold R2 + L2 if you have been pushing the wrong buttons too fast and run low on energy). I don't like these but you only have to do them twice.
Sun/Moon medals
You need these to proceed and they are sometimes hard to collect, this is especially annoying at the end of the game. I take a point off the total score due to how annoying it is to collect thes at the end of the game.
Chip's Challange Puzzle
You get a PS3 trophy(and probably an Xbox 360 achievement) for finding foods that chip likes. Feed him enough of that type of food to get the "prize". If you feed him the wrong foods he gets angry at you and starts calling you(Sonic) names which are actually entertaining to see because of how childish Chip can be at times.
DLC
Is not required to progress the story(they are not even Sun/Moon medals), the DLC gives new stages to play. I really like them even the ones where "troll" you with spikes you can't see until you approach them. (yes that sound like something made by lazy fans but I actually really enjoy them).
The Wii/PS2 Version
Has different(not worse) levels but is missing quite a bit of content(including full town* exploraston and whole citys) and I don't recommend it if you have a PS3 or 360. They also are more night levels on Wii and they are not as fun.
* You get 2D "slides" you can do a minimum of interaction with on Wii/PS2.
Graphics
Are really nice, it's a nice change to see cartoony graphics over the realistic graphics we often see on modern hardware.
I've heard the Xbox 360 version has a steady 30 FPS. The PS3 version can go up too 60 FPS but frame dips bellow 30 FPS are common on some levels with few making it too 60 FPS. The gameplay is enjoyable in spite of this.
Sound/Music
Sound is wonderful and the surround sound is excellent, music is upbeat and fun.
Overall
But is it fun? That's what matters. I give the wherehog 7.0/10 and Boost 10/10, I take off points for the "Sun/Moon medals" thing, so that puts things around the middle of 7.0 and 9.0 at 8/10, I highly recommend it!
