[Editors Note: James had the wonderful opportunity of seeing Sonic Unleashed, first-hand at E3. Be sure to thank him for this detailed writeup of Sonic's new adventure! He's pretty beat from all the events this week!]
Sonic Unleashed is a unique experience because Sega has decided to return to Sonic’s original winning formula: fast paced gaming with occasional platforming qualities, bosses, lots of jumping and Chaos Emeralds.
As you well know, the story goes like this. Dr. Eggman (still Dr. Robotnik in my heart) managed to collect all the Chaos Emeralds and used their power on Sonic, causing him to turn into Weresonic at night. Sonic must cure himself and get back at Eggman for his devious ways.
There are several important changes that have been made to Sonic Unleashed. For starters, rings don’t simply act as 1-Up counters and health-bars anymore. Now collecting enough will enable Sonic to have speed bursts. And unlike some previous games, being hit by an enemy won’t make Sonic lose all of his rings.
As Sonic, Sega is utilizing a proprietary engine that they’ve worked on since 2005 called the Hedgehog Engine, made specifically to stream architecture quickly for high-speed movement in-game. While the current build is still a little sluggish, it proved to be very good at what it’s made to do while keeping the framerate steady most of the time.
With Sonic running so fast much of the time, the problem previous titles had was that people couldn’t keep up because the game wasn’t accommodating to them. It simply let sonic run along and players were left wondering what was going on. Not anymore. Now when Sonic runs at the speed of sound, the camera goes into 2-D mode, either from a side angle (as we’ve seen in the trailers) or from behind Sonic. When looking at Sonic from behind, the controls switch from using the left analog stick for movement to using the right and left bumpers (on the 360 version) to perform “quick steps”. Hitting the right bumper will move Sonic one space to the right, and the left bumper to the left.
At the same time, when not running, Sonic Unleashed acts as a platformer. The demo I saw first-hand had Sonic jumping up a set of ledges on moving platforms with rotating spikes looking for blood, just like the good ol’ days. Sonic has his typical running gameplay, and pushing the X button is a homing attack that becomes very useful and necessary when getting through levels. B is for crouch and A is for jump (Xbox 360 version was shown).
As Weresonic, the rules change drastically. Controls change to the Y button being attack, X being an attack throw and B being a grab. Weresonic doesn’t run nearly as fast as Sonic does, even if he’s on all fours. However, Weresonic has many other qualities that Sonic doesn’t have that change the pace of gameplay significantly.
Weresonic has long arms that stretch, making him an excellent climber. Much of the game as Weresonic will have him climbing different areas, making his sections of the game more vertical as opposed to Sonic’s horizontal gameplay. Weresonic is also a fighter; as explained by the controls, he’s got three different attack buttons that can be performed on enemies at any given time, and he fights lots of enemies. All in all, Weresonic has over 30 different fighting combos’, many of which are unlocked after gaining experience points. He also won’t lose rings because Weresonic uses a health bar, though to compliment that he also has a shield bar. This bar is for blocking attacks. The more attacks Weresonic blocks, the lower his shield gets, but he won’t lose health while blocking.
There is no online multiplayer, so don’t expect to be running next to friends playing as Tails or Knuckles. Also, don’t expect to be playing as other characters; this one is purely Sonic or Weresonic, though mini-games will have players as other characters in the Sonic universe.
Sonic Unleashed is set for release on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii and PS2 November of this year in the US and Europe. No release date has been set for Japan or other regions. The Wii version will of course have motion controls, but will also allow players to use their Gamecube or Classic controllers. The PS2 version will be completely different from the others, though no details were given on what those differences are.
@Chaos Blast:
it looks intresting..
love the way the face changes.
oh i have a 360 already
gawd no one is gonna see this comment
well im thinkin or getting the wii for the full experience
i hope they make a “hard mode” where u loose all your rings after getting hit once…..or at least bring back the missions like in in the sonic adventure 2(100 rings,lost chao,clear within time limit, clear hard mode etc.)
A Bit random, but I did a Sonic - Werehog morph on Morpheous. Unfortunately, it was the free trial, which happened to expire, so It may not be the best ever. I needed to slow it downa bit.
http://i288.photobucket.com/albums/ll194/SpectralArc/WerehogMorph.gif
@Kev:
And yet at the same time unlucky if it turns out that the Wii version is held back by the PS2 version.
@RockerDuDe: yeah dude that article is from April 11th! those are xbox and PS3 screenshots NOT wii here are the wii screenshots: http://www.campsonic.com/nintendo-power-sonic-unleashed-wii-scans-2
so dont get your hopes up i have a wii too so im not too excited by the graphics but the gameplay will make up for it! that and i also have a PS3 so im buying both here but on the brightside atleast it’s coming out for the wii too otherwise it’d be only PS3 and 360 which was the original intention so your lucky they decided to make the game for other console owners
“And unlike some previous games, being hit by an enemy won’t make Sonic lose all of his rings.”
Then what DOES happen?
@RockerDuDe:
Sorry. Those are Xbox 360 screenshots. I don’t know why they’re there.
Yay im so happy
i found some cool wii screenshots and if you don’t believe me the plants on the wall they look like they are pasted but anyway that graphics are awesome!! im so happy 
check the pics here: http://wii.kombo.com/article.php?artid=11751#
Any news as to when they will show some PS3 footage?
Ah! I almost forgot. In Shadow the Hedgehog, if you get hit, you don’t lose all of your rings. This is a recurring element!
@Mystery the Hedgehog:
Sure they can! They’re just as capable of developing a top game as Nintendo. They’ve just been in a bad stage lately. I’m not sure, but it seems that with this game, they’re passing through that stage.
Well! Sega’s sure doing their homework now! They’re currently solving the problems in the previous titles (e.g. uncooperative camera system, slower gameplay). Plus, a while ago, people were asking for the Gamecube Controller to be used for the Wii version, and now it does. So far, Sonic has made an incredible comeback on Sonic Rush Adventure. Can Sega keep it up?
It’s a Sonic Adventure, Rush, Rivals and Secret Rings Game! How can it fail?
I really hope this is the game that saves the series.
So they take the good of Sonic adventure 2 and Sonic and the secret rings, nice.
I mean that you can get new moves on the form of Hidden secret items and you can level up your moves by using them a lot.
They are really going all out, if this game fails it won’t be for the lack of trying.
Thanks for the information, James.
Did you see any cutscene? If so, how did Sonic sound? Like in Riders Zero Gravity, or a bit more young? I suppose Robotnik is called Eggman in this game too, right?
I still can’t understand how the 2D to 3D switch works. From what I’ve seen, when Sonic is in a loop, the gameplay is in 2D, pressing the right button, and when he’s in an open road, it can be both.
do you know fi Sonic Unleashed is having a Chao Garden is just that they are fun and cute xD and i fel in love with them since sonic adventure 2 battle please tell me if there are any chances on a chao garden
i hope the werehog is in sonic games 2 come that would make me happy
I hope the priority is the Wii version, because I don’t want to be playing a crappy PS2 port.
@jorenmartijn:
that could be right.
When does the ps2 at least stop getting games?
It is like the gameboy and gameboy colour now.