Sonic Unleashed (Wii) Review
So here's some history, Sonic the Hedgehog debuts on the Sega Genesis in 1991, the year I was born. After this they had Sonic 2, 3 and Sonic & Knuckles. But after this change happened. The Nintendo 64 was out, the Playstation is out and the Sega Dreamcast eventually comes out with Sonic Adventure. This is the long-awaited successor to the Genesis' Sonic & Knuckles and about time too, but to no surprise the game is a success and a fantastic game. Afterward comes Sonic Adventure 2 and based on your opinion, could be named the start of the downward slide in quality for Sonic games but most will agree Sonic Adventure 2 or Sonic Heroes was the start of a very unexpected decrease in quality for the Sonic series, but do you know what's worse? I can't imagine a world now where a bad Sonic game doesn't come out every year, pretty sad huh?. Its ridiculous to think we lived in that world only years ago and now Sonic's reduced to this...ergh.
But no matter how bad Sonic's games come pummeling down, the fans still buy these games and unfortunately I'm ashamed to say that I am one of these gamers. Every time I go to the store, pick up the newest Sonic game in the hopes that it will be better this time and I will be able to play a quality game that doesn't involve guns in some way... that was kind of a cheap shot at Shadow the Hedgehog and every FPS game on the market right now. Sonic Unleashed was different to the doomed from the beginning Sonic the Hedgehog game for the Xbox 360 and Ps3 though, because the trailers looked as if they promised old-school 2D Gameplay in the day stages, with crazy camera angles and speed that you wouldn't believe! it was a crazy prospect but maybe Sonic's luck was about to change, so this looked like the opportune time to pick a Sonic game up, so I called up my friend (because he works at a Game Store) and said "Yo, you get games early before launch right? get me this one" and the deed was done. That night me and my friend stayed up past four in the morning and played some Sonic Unleashed... How wrong I was.
I don't however, want to make this game sound like its torture. It is not. Sonic Unleashed on the Nintendo Wii is what I called a definitive average game, but not in the usual way that a game is defined as average... confused?... me too, in fact I'm not quite sure what I mean myself, but I am going to explain it to you in the best of terms. TMNT on the Nintendo Wii is completely different from Sonic Unleashed on the Wii, but both of them are average. TMNT is average in the way that everything in the game is absolutely normal, it has nothing special to it, it is just a very average Platformer and I think this usually defines something as average. Sonic Unleashed is average because half of the game is just fantastic and the other half is as boring as sin. Seeing the difference here? good good, because I don't want to explain that ever again.
Let me start by explaining where the line of good and bad are. Sonic Unleashed is essentially two completely different games rolled into one. It has the Day levels and the Night levels. The Day levels you will whiz along as good old Sonic the Hedgehog, breezing through levels at 300 Miles an hour, speed boosting your way towards the end of the level and at Night... you become Sonic the Werehog...dumb right?... If Sega had listened to there audience the second the Werehog was Unleashed (heh...get it?) to the world, there wouldn't be this problem. Anyway as Sonic the Werehog you transform into a bad God of War meets Crash Bandicoot clone, with platforming stages that are like if E.T actually died... it makes me cry every time. There bad, trust me, there glitchy, the fighting parts of the stage (and trust me, there are many) is just horrendous and most importantly of course... its, just, not, fun. Who keeps telling Sega that these ideas are good, I just don't understand it.
Another problem I have to express here why I have the chance, is the length of the levels on this game. Sonic's Daytime levels are around 5 Minutes long tops. Sonic the Werehogs levels are around 7 Minutes minimum, its essentially like having sex and then being nagged at... its always short so live it up... that was quite possibly the worst analogy I have ever used... ever. But truly the Sonic the Hedgehog levels are amazing and I really mean that, I prefer these levels to the Genesis levels of Sonic the Hedgehog. There so action packed and fast, you wont believe it, you truly have to experience these levels to know what I mean... and then there's the Werehog levels. See what truly bums you out about this game is that as soon as a new Sonic the Hedgehog level opens, a gateway is opened to about ten Sonic the Werehog levels. There are so many levels dedicated to Sonic the Werehog than there is to Sonic the Hedgehog. Don't quote me on this but I heard somewhere that there is about only nine levels of Daytime levels not including the other Missions... terribly, just terrible.
But lets talk about a few other aspect of the game. How about the Graphics? well, there certainly good enough to fit the Wii, but really there kind of average. They kind of look like shiny Gamecube graphics and sure you can argue that the Wii is just that, but I would disagree with the arrival of Mario Galaxy late 2007. The Sound is pretty incredible actually. The Spagonia and Holoska levels are where the sound department really shines, trust me when you start playing as Sonic the Hedgehog on the Spagonia and Holoska levels you feel this sudden rush to want to play it once again because of the strength of the songs, its an incredible sensation I probably haven't felt since the first Sonic level of Sonic Adventure 2.
Altogether what we have here is an average Sonic game. Sure you could use the excuse "Hey, at least its no Sonic the Hedgehog right?" well that's true, Sonic the Hedgehog for the 360 is a train wreck, but an average game isn't a good thing. You know what average means in the Video Game world? it means you gained nothing from this game. You didn't have fun, but you also didn't have a horrible time. It wasn't even an experience, it was just time-wasting and lets be honest, its just kind of sad to spend time on a game that wasn't even really enjoyable, just did you no harm. Sonic Unleashed is this game, unless you have played every game at this present time, there is no reason for you to pick up Sonic Unleashed on the Nintendo Wii... at least its not the 360 version of this game huh?...dammit Sonic sucks.
But no matter how bad Sonic's games come pummeling down, the fans still buy these games and unfortunately I'm ashamed to say that I am one of these gamers. Every time I go to the store, pick up the newest Sonic game in the hopes that it will be better this time and I will be able to play a quality game that doesn't involve guns in some way... that was kind of a cheap shot at Shadow the Hedgehog and every FPS game on the market right now. Sonic Unleashed was different to the doomed from the beginning Sonic the Hedgehog game for the Xbox 360 and Ps3 though, because the trailers looked as if they promised old-school 2D Gameplay in the day stages, with crazy camera angles and speed that you wouldn't believe! it was a crazy prospect but maybe Sonic's luck was about to change, so this looked like the opportune time to pick a Sonic game up, so I called up my friend (because he works at a Game Store) and said "Yo, you get games early before launch right? get me this one" and the deed was done. That night me and my friend stayed up past four in the morning and played some Sonic Unleashed... How wrong I was.
I don't however, want to make this game sound like its torture. It is not. Sonic Unleashed on the Nintendo Wii is what I called a definitive average game, but not in the usual way that a game is defined as average... confused?... me too, in fact I'm not quite sure what I mean myself, but I am going to explain it to you in the best of terms. TMNT on the Nintendo Wii is completely different from Sonic Unleashed on the Wii, but both of them are average. TMNT is average in the way that everything in the game is absolutely normal, it has nothing special to it, it is just a very average Platformer and I think this usually defines something as average. Sonic Unleashed is average because half of the game is just fantastic and the other half is as boring as sin. Seeing the difference here? good good, because I don't want to explain that ever again.
Let me start by explaining where the line of good and bad are. Sonic Unleashed is essentially two completely different games rolled into one. It has the Day levels and the Night levels. The Day levels you will whiz along as good old Sonic the Hedgehog, breezing through levels at 300 Miles an hour, speed boosting your way towards the end of the level and at Night... you become Sonic the Werehog...dumb right?... If Sega had listened to there audience the second the Werehog was Unleashed (heh...get it?) to the world, there wouldn't be this problem. Anyway as Sonic the Werehog you transform into a bad God of War meets Crash Bandicoot clone, with platforming stages that are like if E.T actually died... it makes me cry every time. There bad, trust me, there glitchy, the fighting parts of the stage (and trust me, there are many) is just horrendous and most importantly of course... its, just, not, fun. Who keeps telling Sega that these ideas are good, I just don't understand it.
Another problem I have to express here why I have the chance, is the length of the levels on this game. Sonic's Daytime levels are around 5 Minutes long tops. Sonic the Werehogs levels are around 7 Minutes minimum, its essentially like having sex and then being nagged at... its always short so live it up... that was quite possibly the worst analogy I have ever used... ever. But truly the Sonic the Hedgehog levels are amazing and I really mean that, I prefer these levels to the Genesis levels of Sonic the Hedgehog. There so action packed and fast, you wont believe it, you truly have to experience these levels to know what I mean... and then there's the Werehog levels. See what truly bums you out about this game is that as soon as a new Sonic the Hedgehog level opens, a gateway is opened to about ten Sonic the Werehog levels. There are so many levels dedicated to Sonic the Werehog than there is to Sonic the Hedgehog. Don't quote me on this but I heard somewhere that there is about only nine levels of Daytime levels not including the other Missions... terribly, just terrible.
But lets talk about a few other aspect of the game. How about the Graphics? well, there certainly good enough to fit the Wii, but really there kind of average. They kind of look like shiny Gamecube graphics and sure you can argue that the Wii is just that, but I would disagree with the arrival of Mario Galaxy late 2007. The Sound is pretty incredible actually. The Spagonia and Holoska levels are where the sound department really shines, trust me when you start playing as Sonic the Hedgehog on the Spagonia and Holoska levels you feel this sudden rush to want to play it once again because of the strength of the songs, its an incredible sensation I probably haven't felt since the first Sonic level of Sonic Adventure 2.
Altogether what we have here is an average Sonic game. Sure you could use the excuse "Hey, at least its no Sonic the Hedgehog right?" well that's true, Sonic the Hedgehog for the 360 is a train wreck, but an average game isn't a good thing. You know what average means in the Video Game world? it means you gained nothing from this game. You didn't have fun, but you also didn't have a horrible time. It wasn't even an experience, it was just time-wasting and lets be honest, its just kind of sad to spend time on a game that wasn't even really enjoyable, just did you no harm. Sonic Unleashed is this game, unless you have played every game at this present time, there is no reason for you to pick up Sonic Unleashed on the Nintendo Wii... at least its not the 360 version of this game huh?...dammit Sonic sucks.
