Well Sonic is back for another round on the home console and once again only serves up another disappointment. After the terribly rushed and unfinished Sonic 2006 and the disappointing and clunky launch title "Sonic and the Secret Rings" Sonic Unleashed tries to be good but just isn't. In 2008 Sonic Team still cannot seem to grasp the idea that a Sonic Game does not need to be overly complicated or that amazingly different or progressive you just need speed a decent storyline if you so go that way and a well rounded well completed game.
"Sonic Unleashed" certainly behaves and functions a lot more effectively than "Sonic 06" and gives the player more options than "Secret Rings" but once again the game gets down to trying to be something that's not. It's almost like two different games. On the one hand you have the very enjoyable and very fun Day Time Stages that are going at mach speed with smooth and easy controls. Then you have the incredibly long incredibly tedious nighttime stages where Sonic turns into a Werewolf or in this case a Werehog. The day time stages function like classic Sonic games moving from point A to Point B with as much loot as you can carry but the Nighttime stages function like a beat-em-up hack-and-slash RPG.
Sonic Team we get you like RPGs and you have the Fantasy Star franchise to play around with RPG functions and skills. Sonic on the other hand you can't ever seem to make up your minds if you want it to be and Adventure Series or an RPG. The RPG elements included in the night stage as I said rely on a hack and slash element ripped straight out of "Kingdom Hearts", I kid you not, the only thing missing is Sonic with a Keyblade. The color pallets, the enemies and the music all try to be "Kingdom Hearts" like and fancy, zapping what little creativity this game had to start with.
This kind of half-assed attempt failed in "Sonic 06" and it fails here. The RPG Elements however are not just limited to the stages but also the continuation of Hub Worlds where you have to talk and explore and do all sorts of time consuming tasks that just aren't any fun, still it's amazing they didn't go the route of Sonic 06 and make you play pointless minigames.
Well once again the story is as dumb as ever with this cheap gimmick of Sonic being a Werewolf Hedgehog Hog and that's really all I know as I gave up playing half way because playing the slow time bulky hedgehog and beating up enemies ripped from another game got tired really fast.
"Unleashed" is another disappointing attempt by Sonic Team who can't keep to a relatively simple concept, SPEED. It's not as haphazard "Sonic 06" or as hard to work as "Secret Rings" But the game is only fun for it's Day Time Speed Action Stages which you cannot skip, it's another swing and a miss.
"Sonic Unleashed" certainly behaves and functions a lot more effectively than "Sonic 06" and gives the player more options than "Secret Rings" but once again the game gets down to trying to be something that's not. It's almost like two different games. On the one hand you have the very enjoyable and very fun Day Time Stages that are going at mach speed with smooth and easy controls. Then you have the incredibly long incredibly tedious nighttime stages where Sonic turns into a Werewolf or in this case a Werehog. The day time stages function like classic Sonic games moving from point A to Point B with as much loot as you can carry but the Nighttime stages function like a beat-em-up hack-and-slash RPG.
Sonic Team we get you like RPGs and you have the Fantasy Star franchise to play around with RPG functions and skills. Sonic on the other hand you can't ever seem to make up your minds if you want it to be and Adventure Series or an RPG. The RPG elements included in the night stage as I said rely on a hack and slash element ripped straight out of "Kingdom Hearts", I kid you not, the only thing missing is Sonic with a Keyblade. The color pallets, the enemies and the music all try to be "Kingdom Hearts" like and fancy, zapping what little creativity this game had to start with.
This kind of half-assed attempt failed in "Sonic 06" and it fails here. The RPG Elements however are not just limited to the stages but also the continuation of Hub Worlds where you have to talk and explore and do all sorts of time consuming tasks that just aren't any fun, still it's amazing they didn't go the route of Sonic 06 and make you play pointless minigames.
Well once again the story is as dumb as ever with this cheap gimmick of Sonic being a Werewolf Hedgehog Hog and that's really all I know as I gave up playing half way because playing the slow time bulky hedgehog and beating up enemies ripped from another game got tired really fast.
"Unleashed" is another disappointing attempt by Sonic Team who can't keep to a relatively simple concept, SPEED. It's not as haphazard "Sonic 06" or as hard to work as "Secret Rings" But the game is only fun for it's Day Time Speed Action Stages which you cannot skip, it's another swing and a miss.