Sonic Unleashed: Good Until the Sun Goes Down

Recently, Sega has announced that a new 2D Sonic the Hedgehog game will be coming to next generation systems. “Project Needlemouse” sounds like it will be a high definition update of Sonic games from the Genesis era. Hopefully, this is an admission that Sonic Team does not know how to makes games with a Z-axis. However, with Sonic Unleashed, they at least got it half right.

The plot, much less convoluted than previous releases, sees Sonic attempting to retrieve the Chaos Emeralds, failing, and witnessing the evil Dr. Eggman split the planet in order to “unleash” a destructive deity known as Dark Gaia. Back on Earth, Sonic and an annoying new animal sidekick name Chip must race through levels inspired by real-world locations in order to put the planet back together. Meanwhile, Sonic must also deal with turning into a furry “werehog” monster that is unleashed when the Sun goes down. It is dumb plot, but it at least it is dumb in a cartoon-like way that seems appropriate for the kids playing this game. Sonic’s ill-fated romance with a photo-realistic human woman is appropriate for no one.

Let’s start with the good: the daytime levels in Sonic Unleashed are refined versions of the levels found in Sonic and the Secret Rings. This is the closest they have come to making a fun 3D Sonic. While you now use an analog stick as opposed to tilting the sideways Wii remote, levels are still mostly on-rails. But in a Sonic game, Sonic should always be moving forward. Proper lateral movement is the only thing the player should be concerned about. Jumps, slides, drifts, lane shifts, and grinds are pulled off with quick button presses and on the Wii, motion controls are used to bash into enemies and perform speed boosts. Occasionally the camera pans around and the game becomes a classic 2D Sonic with new 3D graphics, hopefully a teaser for Project Needlemouse. It is not perfect, the controls can be a little touchy and at times the game is essentially playing itself. The shallow speed-centric design of the Sonic series is the fatal flaw that prevents its games from ever becoming as good as their Mario counterparts in terms of pure platforming. However, this is a fast and fun step in the right direction for the franchise.

Then the sun goes down and the game goes on all fours and takes a couple of lumbering steps backward. Around half of the levels in Sonic Unleashed are the plodding, boring and slow werehog night-time levels and since they last so much longer compared to their daytime counterparts, they will make up well more than half of your playing time. The stretchy-armed werehog character design is painful to look at, the brawling with cloned enemies is simple and monotonous, and the platforming is a poor man’s version at Prince of Persia or an embarrassing homage to the Genesis classic Ristar. Both types of stages give you a set amount of lives but as a werehog, levels last way too long and since they have so few checkpoints dying will start you far away from your goal. At least the boss battles are decent, although not as good as the daytime fights that resemble highway battles from something like Matrix: Reloaded. It comes down to the age-old problem that a pure Sonic game would be very short. So Sega has to always pad it with okay fluff like replaying daytime courses with an artificial time limit and cancerous filler like the night levels and terrible, mandatory conversations with local villagers.

Sonic is Sega’s bread winner so at least they spend a decent amount of money of his games. Cutscenes in Sonic Unleashed are crisp and well-choreographed, the menu that slowly shows the planet re-forming is slick, and the graphics and music are impressive. Each stage is based on a real-world location like China or Saudi Arabia, unfortunately the America-based level has been cut from the Wii version, and it gives the game a unique theme and graphical style. On PS3 and 360, the new hedgehog engine spits out gorgeous visuals based on regional architecture at a blazing speed that maintains a good enough frame rate. With some help from Japanese company Dimps, Sega has made a good looking game on the Wii as well. Music also reflects the country’s local flavor. My absolute favorite track is the daytime theme of Spagonia, the level based on Europe. The night-time levels feature a jazzier soundtrack that fits the atmosphere but does not make up for the bad gameplay.

Between this and Sonic and the Secret Rings, I have hope that a good Sonic game using this formula is possible and that Sega is capable of making it, before I was suggesting letting Nintendo have a crack at it. Unfortunately, Sonic Unleashed is only has 2 stars worth of good Sonic gameplay. The extra star is for the production values and the hope I experienced when playing this game that was not immediately crushed by a werehog’s fist.

Rating: 3 out of 5

- Jordan Minor