E308: Viewing the crummy half of Sonic Unleashed [update]
by David Hinkle 
{ Jul 16th 2008 at 2:45PM }
Update: Old trailer was removed from YouTube, so we scrounged up this replacement.
In a lot of ways, Sonic Unleashed looks like a traditional Sonic title. That is, until you peel back the outer shell and find that half of the game is pretty generic and crappy. To quote my partner in crime here at E3, JC Fletcher, "isn't of making more crummy friends for Sonic, they made him his own crummy friend." It's a statement that could not be more true.
So, half of the game is played in the daytime, which has Sonic doing his usual thing: running fast and collecting rings. During the night, however, he transforms into a beast and the game becomes a generic button-mashing brawler/platformer. It's sad, because the promising daytime stuff really got us excited about Sonic again.
[Via Go Nintendo]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
TheCoats @ Jul 16th 2008 3:12PM
it didn't look too bad but i just want day time parts..........sonic-wolph or whatever even sounds bad......I think it will be worth purchase - doesn't look unbareable
DU7CH13 @ Jul 19th 2008 2:52AM
You're right, it doesn't look terribly unbearable....not particularily exciting, but no unbearable...amusing at best...
still getting it probably...
...
One thing though, is it just me, or does the song actually sound like it's sung by Sonic!?!
Shaq-Fu @ Jul 16th 2008 2:52PM
I feel a great disturbance in the Force
TheOverlord#2 can has Animals Crossing? @ Jul 16th 2008 3:14PM
That has happened to a couple of games lately, they put in a small amount of stuff you love then the other parts suck(EX:LoZ:PH, good game, too much Temple of the Ocean King)
mbstrlbstr @ Jul 16th 2008 3:19PM
Yeah I don't think the game is horrible looking, the daytime parts do look amazing. The problem with Sonic games has always been when they take away the main game mechanic, speed. That is what I'm afraid of with the night Sonic.
Dustin @ Jul 16th 2008 3:24PM
NOOOOO!!! This game had so much potential. Why is Sonic Team so stupid!?
They're just detached from what the fans want.
TX2 @ Jul 16th 2008 3:34PM
I think I get it now. The annoying friends with terrible gameplay mechanics are a distraction to have people wishing for more of sonics classic gameplay and keep them from noticing that nobody left in sonic team knows how to design a classic sonic level anyway.
Mr Khan @ Jul 16th 2008 5:35PM
Heh, i knew they'd screw it up.
But considering "screw it up" to most means "it'll probably be awesome" to me, it only has me more excited
Signed: a fan of all 3D sonics except Shadow and PS360
Blue_Falcon @ Jul 16th 2008 7:26PM
Sega will never learn, it seems.
Ipsum @ Jul 17th 2008 10:46AM
I'm looking forward to the afternoon segments, where Sonic explores spherical worlds.
Sean W. @ Jul 18th 2008 6:57PM
"Yeah I knew Sega would screw it up, we haven't even gotten our hands on this game, but we're gamer psychics. This game is suck! SuckSuckSuckSuckSuck!"
Had it ever occured to you that maybe you guys should maybe PLAY a game before judging it? I mean, I think Sonic's past outings haven't been the greatest as much as the next guy, but seriously! Give it a chance at least. Just pretend the Werehog is Knuckles or something. If I was in charge of this game that's where I'd put Knuckles in this game.
I'm going in to this with a blank slate. I'm optimistic, but I'm not foaming at the mouth to buy this game.
Now all I need is for someone to say:
"lol, truer words from a Sonic fanfuk."
David Hinkle @ Jul 18th 2008 11:28PM
But see, here's the thing: I had a Sega employee demo the game right in front of me, in a tiny room closed off, during E3. I watched the daytime segments (classic Sonic stuff, but the framerate was crap), and then the nighttime segments. The nighttime stuff is a generic brawler/platformer package. It looks so painful and, in watching the guy's hands as he played, looks like it only required about 2 buttons. It looked, well, crummy.
Sean W, @ Jul 19th 2008 2:24AM
Yeah well there really isn't much to be said about Sonic gameplay in general. Most of the time you're using the D-Pad or Control Stick to move and the jump button for just that as well as spin-dashing. Bingo! Yahtzee! Tell 'em what they won, Johnny! Our survey says: You got Sonic gameplay!
If you asked me, all they really did they just added another button.
The framerate thing I'm sure will probably be ironed out though.
John B. @ Jul 19th 2008 8:18PM
This is ridiculous. Sega is outright refusing to listen to its fans. Does ANYONE, ANYWHERE want this crap to keep happening? They have to be getting the idea from somewhere.
manyquestions @ Jul 19th 2008 9:56PM
Eh, the nighttime levels may not be that great, but like the others said, it doesn't look as horrid as it's being made out to be. I'll probably never play the nighttime levels again after completing them for the first time, but the daytime levels look like too much Sonic-fun to pass up. I was initially skeptical of this game for taking place around too many real-world monuments as opposed to the fictionalized cities in the Sonic Adventure games, but something about this trailer now has me really excited. :)