Sonic Unleashed!

[Timstuff]

Unfortunately to Sega, he is the franchises Wario, and must be shoehorned into every game Sonic is in. He will always be used, and we have to deal with it. At least he is only a supporting character this time.

I do hope they make Tails more involved in Unleashed, because I do feel he complements Sonic's personality well.

That's another thing-- Tails has not been properly playable since Sonic Adventure, and yet Shadow has gotten his own game and took preeminence over Tails and Knuckles in the last Sonic game (although for their sakes, that might be a good thing).

The unfortunate fact of the matter is though, Shadow is popular with young Sonic fans (and furry porn aficionados), who currently make up a very large percentage of Sega's targeted demographic (although I blame this largely on Sega's inability to hold onto older fans with their recent string of crappy games). Shadow not long ago placed #2 on an official Sonic character popularity poll, right below Sonic himself. He may be one of the worst characters in the franchise's history, but currently Sega has not been given a sound argument as to why he should be disowned.

 

[hippie_hunter]

Unfortunately to Sega, he is the franchises Wario, and must be shoehorned into every game Sonic is in. He will always be used, and we have to deal with it. At least he is only a supporting character this time.

I do hope they make Tails more involved in Unleashed, because I do feel he complements Sonic's personality well.

But at least Nintendo just puts Wario in the Mario Sports and Party titles, they don't put him in the main games like Super Mario Galaxy.

Shadow...just ugh

 

[Brainiac 8]

But at least Nintendo just puts Wario in the Mario Sports and Party titles, they don't put him in the main games like Super Mario Galaxy.

Shadow...just ugh

That is why Wario works well, he isn't shoehorned into the core Mario games, except for the one title in which he was introduced.

He is included in the spin-off sports titles, and has been given two different franchises in which he headlines: WarioWare and the Wario Land titles.

But what Nintendo does with his own titles is much more successful than what Sega did with Shadow's own title. Nintendo put Wario in games that made sense within his character and didn't try to force him into a game that didn't fit. WarioWare is just silly antic gaming, which is fine...but his Wario Land titles are always superb since it is just simple yet addictive platforming.

Nintendo gets how to franchise a character...Sega doesn't.

 

[Jennifer Walters]

Exactly....and if Wario were to pop up in a main Mario title. I would welcome him. Because Nintendo has shown that he wouldn't be in the title if he didn't have a place. Shadow is just thrown in because he's Shadow and he's ''cool", ''badass". and ''hip."

That and Wario has far much more of a personality than Shadow.

 

[Spider-X]

Gamplay videos from the TGS:

http://www.gametrailers.com/game/6437.html

This game is actually starting to look quite quality.

 

[Gyroguy]

Heh, well as long as you guys are still able to talk about this game, I should give this Sonic Unleashed tour update thingy. Beware, for it has possible spoilers.

http://gonintendo.com/?p=59352

 

[Milu]

I hope to God this is a good game .

 

[Astrø]

I hope to God this is a good game .

Sonic's comic series are already jumping to this game. (Don't read the comic. Sonic comics haven't been good since the droped the old artist and story writer back in 2003.)

 

[Manic]

You know, I'm just not looking forward to the gameplay. Werehedgehog stuff aside, I don't even like the look of the regular speed gameplay. Footage shows classic side-scroller playing, which is awesome. They also show some of the "from-behind" 3D gameplay we've come to expect since Sonic Adventure, which is fine. However, trailers have shown levels that seem to randomly switch between the two. One second it looks like a side-scroller, then BAM you're playing 3D style mid-sprint.

It basically looks like a game with a camera with a mind of its own. This usually results in moments where I'm pushing the analog stick to the right one second, then I'm falling off a cliff because I'm expected to push the stick forward when the camera suddenly moves itself.

 

[Astrø]

Well I'm having my hopes up. Sonic needs a turn back. My Sonic fan boy heart can't take another Sonic the Hedgehog.

 

[Astrø]

The game looks great Thus far! I can't wait. The Wearhog looks like crash gameplay. The Sonic day time gameplay is off the charts awesome. 10/10. and its out next month!!!

 

[xwolverine2]

saw my bro playing this crap...

that werewolf sonic is disgusting... horribbllleee gameplay.


however the one or two levels of speed are cool to look at... but dont take much skill.

 

[Astrø]

I love it. The Werehog isn't the best but it reminds me of Crash which I love.

 

[Spidey-Bat]

Just watched the GameTrailers review. What they said is no surprise. The Sonic missions are excellent. Everything else is bad.

I knew the Werehog missions were a gimmick. The fact that you need to talk to people in the hub worlds is awful, too.

 

[Spidey-Bat]

Just watched the GameTrailers review. What they said is no surprise. The Sonic missions are excellent. Everything else is bad.

I knew the Werehog missions were a gimmick. The fact that you need to talk to people in the hub worlds is awful, too.

 

[Timstuff]

The early reviews for this game are not looking good. 70% from Cheat Code Central and 60% from IGN Australia. Big surprise: they both say that the running parts with Sonic are fun, but they hated having to drag through the werehog portions to get to them.

http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/ps3/sonicunleashed

I have come to a conclusion: Sega does not want to make a good Sonic game. They obviously have the resources, and they obviously know how, but they simply have more compelling reasons to make bad Sonic games than they do to make good ones. I'd like to say that this is the last straw, and that I will never be excited about a Sonic game again until it gets certified good reviews from critics (excluding the Sonic RPG on DS), but sadly, I know that I'm going to get suckered into the hype just like with the last several, terrible games.

For crying out loud... For once, Sega was actually onto something making a 2D Sonic game with 3D graphics, and yet they had to SNAFU it by adding in the stupid werehog gimmick. The last Sonic game that I bought was Sonic Adventure 2 on Gamecube, and I don't reckon that will change any time soon. Sonic is dead, and I honestly don't think that is going to happen unless Sega has a change from the top downward. The "no good Sonic games" policy has to go.

 

[Soapy]

Obviously they want to make a good Sonic game, I just think they're afraid to give Sonic fans what they want (which is, of course, a good Sonic game). They're afraid because they don't think a "shallow" game that only focuses on speed and platforming will sell well. They think they need to make these big, epic, utterly unnecesary, and increasingly ridiculous gimmicky games in order to attract an audience. Which is the exact opposite of what they should be doing. Sega is just afraid to take a chance on "simple".

 

[hippie_hunter]

Ever Since Sonic Adventure 2 on the Sega Dreamcast the hedgehog has suffered some pretty piss poor releases. Sonic fans have been hurting for a long time now with titles like "Sonic Riders" and more recently "Sonic The Hedgehog". What little good will gamers had left for the blue blur is quickly evaporating thanks to Sonic Unleashed, an otherwise decent Sonic game ruined by brawling levels that turn Sonic into a werehog combatant. So why exactly do the development team keep screwing things up exactly? Turns out it's an entirely conscious decision.

In the latest IGN Three Red Lights podcast at the 19:40 mark David Clayman recalls a time when he talked to a member of the Sonic Unleashed team about this very issue...

"I asked one of the developers at TGS, you know I was like, come on everybody just wants Sonic running, like whats up with the werehog? And he was like, well, heres the deal... he runs at this miles per hour, kilometers per hour, and he laid out all of the statistics on how fast this hedgehog goes, and he was like In order to make a game where Sonic is running and everybody enjoys the whole thing we'd have to design this many miles of level, and it was some ungodly number. And he's like and that would be like maybe a three hour game and I was like wow, well that kinda stinks and he's like yeah, so we gotta do this other stuff."

So there you go! Sonic's speed means the level designers would have to craft and design miles and miles of scenery in order to make a game of decent length. Would you rather have a short, great Sonic game or the current lengthy and flawed Sonic games of recent years? I know which school of thought I subscribe to.

 

[Timstuff]

I think I'd rather have a 5 hour long Sonic game that kicks ass than one that's 15 hours long and sucks it. Heck, they could go back to 2D sprites for all I care if it means we can have good old fast Sonic back. Also, whatever happened to being able to play through the same levels as multiple characters for an alternate experience?

This is one of the disadvantages to polygon graphics over 2D sprites. Back in the 2D days, Sonic's speed was never an issue for level designers. But hey, like I said, I'd rather have a 5 hour long awesome Sonic game that leaves me begging for more than one that's 15 hours long and ends up at Gamestop long before I even finish it.

Sega: not giving fans what they want since 2003! (or arguably 2001 if you want to start with the Dreamcast's cancellation)

 

[Havok83]

Sega should just give up on making a retail Sonic game, at least for now. They should refocus the franchise and start developing exclusively for the XBLA/PSN/Wiiware in a similar way to how Capcom has resurrected its old franchises. They can justify and get away with a short 5 hour Sonic game reminscent to the Genesis days by taking this approach and I think most fans would actually prefer it

 

[Timstuff]

I think this sums up what is happening with the Sonic franchise quite effectively:

 

[Havok83]

this game didnt have any friends though right? Did they even take Tails out as a playable character?

 

[Timstuff]

It has friends in it, just not any of the good ones (and unless you cound werehog Sonic, they're not playable). I'm pretty sure that Shadow is in there somewhere, and Sonic has a new annoying little squirrel friend who can float around like a fairy. There's no Tails, Amy or Knuckles though, which is irritating since they were the first (and for the most part, the only good) Sonic friends.

 

[Havok83]

wow a Sonic game with no tails? Thats weird

 

[hippie_hunter]

It has friends in it, just not any of the good ones (and unless you cound werehog Sonic, they're not playable). I'm pretty sure that Shadow is in there somewhere, and Sonic has a new annoying little squirrel friend who can float around like a fairy. There's no Tails, Amy or Knuckles though, which is irritating since they were the first (and for the most part, the only good) Sonic friends.

Amy and Tails are in the game. They just have very minimal roles. Knuckles and Shadow were going to be in the game but they took them out.