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Sonic Unleashed (Wii)

Started by aruljothi, Jun 10, 2009, 10:19 PM

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aruljothi

Release Date: 11/18/2008
ESRB Rating: E10+
Genre: Action
Publisher: Sega
Developer: DIMPS

Action-platformer Sonic Unleashed, unfortunately, is not a return to form for Sega's furry blue mascot. The sublime, traditional Sonic stages are too short and too infrequent to save this dangling franchise, which is particularly tragic when you consider the letdown that was Sonic's self-titled 2006 outing. The vast majority of Unleashed features slow fighting- and platforming-based "Night stages," where Sonic transforms into a werewolf-hog-thing. Spiny-mammal lovers, beware: This isn't the Sonic game Sega wants you to believe it is.

The best -- but fleeting -- moments in Unleashed are the loop-de-loop, spring-jump, speed-ramp-filled Day stages that nail the old feel of the Genesis-era games. The first few Day stages almost play themselves. Outside of a tricky jump here and there, the difficulty level doesn't ramp up until the later stages, where longer, branching, pinball-like levels require old-school memorization to progress. And it's not just a Point-A-to-Point-B affair; different challenges, like collecting X number of coins or finishing a track without collid-ing with any breakable objects, require you to revisit some stages. The little problems here, though, become gigantic ones when the sun sets.

Click the image above to check out all the Sonic Unleashed screens.

The Night stages' colossal failures aren't caused by the uninspired, poorly designed stages. As the Werehog, you're not only playing against the game's enemies and obstacles -- you're also up against sloppy controls and a consistently horrible camera. Sonic's dash, for instance (double-tapping the analog stick sends him galloping), is oversensitive and fre-quently sends him dashing off edges. The fighting boils down to wild flailing with the Wii Remote and Nunchuk, as the special moves' gestures are either unresponsive or misinter-preted. Too often, I positioned Sonic for an attack (slowly, so I wouldn't dash right off the cliff) and punched (swiping the Wii Remote) -- but instead of a punch, Sonic lunged off the cliff with a dash attack.

Sega fails to make a good platformer -- pretty much everything Sonic Unleashed does has been done better in tons of other games. And with a developer that can't give us the Sonic game we want, maybe Sega needs to be put on this werewolf's leash.