Gamespot was lucky enough to interview Sega of America team producer Patrick Rileyk during Sega’s Gamer’s Day on May 14th, and Patrick was kind enough to share a few things we haven’t heard before.
Since the first screenshots for Sonic Unleashed were revealed, there was a lot of speculation as to where some of the locations were in the game. Some suggested that one of the levels looked a lot like Greece, which was later confirmed to be true by Sega. In the interview, Patrick reveals that the level is actually the very first daytime level in the game, and is more specifically Mykonos, Greece.
During the first few stages (such as Mykonos and a level based on Europe — which is confirmed to be about the 4th level), the player will spend time learning Sonic’s new abilities, such as the the Sonic Drift and Quick Step. Throughout the game, as Sonic gains experience, he will be able to learn new abilities as in previous titles. All stages are said to be based off real world locations.
There have been other concerns in the Sonic community in regards to the new Ring Energy Meter that shows in the HUD of several Unleashed screenshots. According to Patrick, ring energy is filled by collecting rings, but the rate at which you collect rings also plays a role in how fast the meter is filled. Using ring energy will allow Sonic to “engage another new mechanic called Sonic Boost“, which will essentially send Sonic soaring at speeds up to 300mph.
“It’s kind of a turbo for Sonic“. Yeah… Kind of.
It was reiterated in the interview that Sonic Unleashed is about Sonic. There will be times that you play as other characters throughout the game, but about 95% of the time, Sonic will take the stage.
Chao Gardens, Night Stages, Weresonic… What say you Patrick?
“We’re not talking about that yet…”
“Um, uh, we’ll be talking about that at a later date…“
“Closer to E3…“
YES. That’s not too long a wait folks. Remember, the Summit gathers between July 15-17th this year!
Thanks for the heads up Mike!
IM GOIN BACK TO BB! >.>
easy?
..I rather want balanced difficulty.I know what you meant,the difficulty of extra missions can be really high in some games.
But it’s also nice to have a good challenge at times.
I want a trial and a ( easy) mission mode.
The city which is on some of the screens looks like Soleann Oo it looks so beautiful and real, I wish I could life there xDD
I can´t wait for that game, and for Sonic Chronicles too
I’ve never played a game with a Chao Garden in it before (only having a PS2) so I do hope they include a Chao Garden. I feel Sonic’s Earth is not parallel to our own but a bridge between our universe and a universe that is ruled by utter chaos where nothing lives but neither does everything dies. The whole world falling apart at it’s edges by the utter chaos within it. However that’s my own thinking on the case. Speaking of Chaos does anyone know what Chaos actually is. Is it some over ruling force like a god? Something tearing at peoples minds? Or is it something natural like Chaos who was made of water?
@ Mike: LMAO i never realized that before. I know the song in my head though and when you said that, I could hear it
@ game sonic fan:
Yes… Sonic.
@ *SOS:
Any & all Eggman Zones = IN SPACE!!! or hundreds of miles below the Earths surface in an evil underground lair.
Then again the good Dr. does seem to enjoy destroying the planet and roboticizing all furry critters into a life of slavery, so a giant factory would be in order.
I hope they have a Mystic Ruins like level too. That’d bring back memories. I just hope they don’t bring back the music that kept asking me “Heeeey, how are ya’?” XD
The whole mobius thing was kind of semi-rectonned later on.
I wonder… will the levels be based on locations,of literally be those locations..
That would make a key diffirence.
@Blahblah - Sonic’s Earth is an alternate version of our Earth, like the many separate versions of Earth in comic book continuities. It’s a world built around and on the basis of Chaos and therefore…things are really freakin’ crazy. The best explanation I can give for the rails and loop-de-loops is that they’re for the convince of Extreme Gear riders and that all the people in the level were evacuated by G.U.N. to a safe zone after Eggman sent his robots in. I mean, this Earth has a great evacuation record, seems the entire population of Station Square was able to get to the top of the building and cheer Sonic on before the Perfect Chaos battle, and Westopolis (and Central City, before it was taken down by the Eclipse Cannon in the pure Dark path of Shadow’s game…) was/were fully evacuated. …and the fact that I had to type ALL of that out seems to indicate how different Sonic’s Earth is from ours…man, this reminds me of the last part of the Mystery Science Theater 3000 theme song. XD Just repeat to yourself, “It’s just a show, I should really just relax~”
It’d be nice to see versions of places from our Earth in their own respective Sonic versions. Seeing as all seven continents will be represented, I can’t wait to see what kind of city they’ll choose for the “United Federation” level…maybe back to Central City or Station Square, or maybe a city based on Seattle, Chicago, or New York. Surprise me, Sonic Team, especially since that’s all you’ve been doing since the leak. XD Anybody who still thinks Sonic lives on Mobius in the games is going to blow a gasket when they see this. (HITTIN’ J00 IN DAH FACE WIT CANON)
I vouch for Miami or somewhere else in Florida for being the ideal spot for a beach level.
Come to think of it, Daytona Beach would be rather appropriate…
I find it slightly odd that there are multicolored talking animals in a game that’s supposed to take place in OUR world.
Not to mention that there are randomly appearing rails in midair, along with pathways that suddenly become loop-de-loops and the like.
And where are all of the people mid-level?
But these are minor aesthetic issues at most. Catering to the above would do nothing to improve gameplay, let alone dampen it. The game is best off as is. I just thought I should bring these things up for the heck of it. (After all, what Sonic game hasn’t faced these problems?) XD
Everything else seems fine.
1. Is Sega changing the name title from Sonic Unleashed to Sonic Adventure 3?
2. I hope the Wii Version will sell well and be successful!
3. What do you mean that his best friends will appear in the story mean?
4. Which best friends will appear in story?
5. Is Silver, Amy, Dr. Robotnik, Vector, Espio, Charmy, Shadow, Omega, Rouge, Gamma, Big the Cat, Cream, Big the Cat, Tikal, Blaze going to appear in this game?
6. Is Sonic Unleashed for Nintendo Wii going to be a good version by Dimps?
7. How will the seven Chaos Emeralds appear?
@mike: For a beach zone. I would have to go with Florida, Hawaii, or Australia.
for a Snow zone. Antarctica, Alaska, or Russia. Maybe even the north pole
For an Eggman zone. Could be a Factory in England or In the outer limits of some city.
Vegas is a great idea i hope they do that.
Finall, I would like to pridict that there will be a South America Zone & it will resemble the mistic ruins in SA. Im willing to bet money on it… like vegas! Woop this is exciting
sonic
@Blah
…It’s Fast? XD
Come on people! Lets talk about the 300 MPH boost!
Cool information. I didn’t think SEGA would use a real location.
About other characters… Does that mean that, while we’re playing, we’ll get to some levels during the story, in which we’ll have another character? What ever happened to Character Select? The ability to play with the character we want through any level(s) we want? It’s sounding too much like Sonic Next-Gen. Well, it’s too soon to start complaining. I’ll just hope there’s a Story Mode and Free Play Mode for us to move freely through a world (2D or 3D) and with the character we want. It can be an unlockable. SEGA has been forgetting about adding cool ones to the games. Either way, if there’s no Free Play, I hope the Story Mode (possibly, the only mode) is fun to play.
I’m not liking the Boost idea very much. I like to play Sonic Rush. But it gets exhausting to play it knowing that if I want to reach great speed and S ranks, I must keep that button pressed as much time as I can. It’s fun, but I wouldn’t want SEGA to add that same thing to other games. I’m glad the classics weren’t so complicated.
I’ll keep my hopes up for this game. It’s sounding good.
I just watched a Crysis video on youtube… I do not think that was literally Mach Speed… it may not even be 300 MPH! For some reason… in my memory it was that fast.
@Blah
Probably, but did they have a speed meter in that game? I can’t remember. You could reach speeds around 270 M.P.H in the Sonic Riders series….but that was with Hoverboards.
Sonic can boost and reach speeds of up to 300 M.P.H? Whats the fastest Sonic has ever moved in a game? I know that in Sonic 06, there are “Mach Speed” areas. 760 MPH… I think that was the record…
Crysis City… I’m pretty sure in that stage… you were literally going at Mach Speed.
@Aubery
Yes, they have confirmed there is a town, but it’s is not essential to progress through the story. It’s there for side quests etc. to probably make the game more lengthy.
SEGA says that wewill be able to play as an alternate character (Excluding Weresonic) in certain parts of the game, but 95% it will be focused on Sonic.