TGS08: Sonic Unleashed and unbelievably cool

by JC Fletcher { Oct 10th 2008 at 12:41PM }

Hey, Sonic Unleashed on the Wii looks great! Sure, this level appears to pretty much play itself, requiring only occasional input from the player, but it's fast, the graphics are incredible, and the music is classic Sonic silliness. It looks much better than that other Sonic game in which he turns into a werehog with stretchy arms for some reason.

... what? That's this game? Oh, crumbs. This is how we'd want a 3D Sonic to be --not terribly 3D, and starring Sonic. Even the simplistic "hold right" gameplay is enough to sustain us for the single level we'll enjoy before the werehog, or Sonic's friends, or mandatory Rouge the Bat level, or cutscene, or whatever else shows up to ruin it.

Gallery: Sonic Unleashed

Tags: dimps, platform, sega, sonic, sonic-unleashed, tgs-2008, tgs08

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

RatMasterD21 @ Oct 10th 2008 12:49PM

It looks great..much uglier then its PS3/360 forms but still fantastic. I think i might get it for wii if stuff like this keeps up...cuz who needs HD? Not I!

Buntaro @ Oct 10th 2008 1:00PM

Hooray for DIMPS!
November will be a good month.

Nigeria @ Oct 10th 2008 1:04PM

Ok, that looks super fucking cool.

November? I'm not sure if I can squeeze it - but it does have a real SA vibe about it. The music still sucks though, but I've gotten used to that in 3D Sonic games.

Mr Khan @ Oct 10th 2008 1:24PM

I agree with Nigeria, in that it seems to be the first of the games since Sonic Adventure 2 to recapture that "feel"

Watching that video, i was reminded distinctly of City Escape, certainly.

Problem is, sidescrolling as this game is, it uses a traditional Wiimote n' Nunchuk scheme, with waggle only for homing attack (which still works well, i think) but doesn't capture the glorious Mario Kart-esque scheme of Secret Rings

Hopefully Black Knight returns to that form.

samfish @ Oct 10th 2008 2:08PM

It doesn't. Black Knight has been confirmed to use the nunchuck stick for movement and the Wiimote waggle for attacks in Black Knight.

I was disappointed to hear that, too.

Mr Khan @ Oct 10th 2008 2:38PM

Neil @ Oct 10th 2008 1:40PM

It looks pretty cool, but it kinda looked like it could play itself. Like you could close your eyes and push the D-pad forward and that would be enough to get through the whole level.

Also I can't help but wish he was in a world that looks like Sonic's and not the "real" world that we see here.

Mr Khan @ Oct 10th 2008 1:42PM

They're really blurring the lines of Sonic's continuity more in this game, since they've acknowledged that it kinda takes place in the "real" world, what is meant to be a representation of our earth

As opposed to the image they've cultivated since Sonic Adventure, where Sonic inhabited a world much like ours but with one world government and also with the animal enclaves (hedgehogs and echidnas, etc), which was again a departure from the world of Mobius.

manyquestions @ Oct 10th 2008 2:50PM

Eh, I like the SA setting better, personally. But this game is shaping up nicely; as long as "real" world references stay mostly in the levels and environments, and don't intrude into the story, I'll be fine.

Also, I'm not so sure it was a one-world government. GUN is an acronym for "Gaurdian Unit of NationS", plural, meaning it may have been a global military unit for defense against things like Eggman and Black Doom or as some kind of enforcers of international law, but there were still separate countries. Also, in a cutscene from SA2, Eggman tells the President that he must surrender or HIS COUNTRY would cease to exist, suggesting that his country needed to be distinguished from other countries, and why even use the word country if there's only one.

It's not really important, I just thought I'd point that out.

samfish @ Oct 10th 2008 2:11PM

I really hope this doesn't suck.

Even if it does, I expect the Wii version to suck the least. DIMPS have shown multiple times that they understand Sonic better than Sonic Team does.

Neil @ Oct 10th 2008 3:07PM

You expect the Wii version to suck less than the PS3 and Xbox 360 version? Is there some logic there, or just a bit of fanboy-ism?

samfish @ Oct 10th 2008 3:08PM

"DIMPS have shown multiple times that they understand Sonic better than Sonic Team does."

Neil @ Oct 10th 2008 3:12PM

I guess we will see, doesn't sound like you're doing anything more than pissing in the wind though.

TWOO DEE @ Oct 10th 2008 3:13PM

@ Neil
his logic can be found in the last sentence

samfish @ Oct 10th 2008 3:34PM

How is my planning to buy the version of a game made by who I feel are the superior Sonic game developers sound like pissing in the wind?

DIMPS made Sonic Rush and Sonic Rush Advance.
Sonic Team made...Sonic 06 and Shadow the Hedgehog.
(The "storybook" Sonic games are handled by a splinter Sonic Team group)

TX2 @ Oct 10th 2008 3:10PM

Are we watching the same game WiiFanboy? That was a joke! Gameplay wise that level had the variety of a sonic 2 special stage and the robots were completely generic and just stood there as stepping stones for the homing attack.

THIS is what's wrong with sonic. The extra gimmicks sega always puts in are a scapegoat.

TWOO DEE @ Oct 10th 2008 3:17PM

I did see an alternate route in there and you could backtrack, somewhat, in Secret Rings...so the game doesn't seem to be 100% linear

TX2 @ Oct 10th 2008 6:18PM

With luck the alternate routes will be more than just a bunch of dead ends and pitfalls like in sonic rush. But it doesn't change how shallow the interaction to the enviroment is.

There are some many zippers and bumpers around that sonic never stops running in this game. Sonics gameplay was about a platformer that uses speed to reach difficult areas. This is just a glorified linear pinball machine.

scissors125 @ Oct 10th 2008 3:47PM

I can already tell that I'm going to hate it.

This doesn't look like a platforming game. It just looks like eyecandy with little to no button input.

Dammit, it looks like it lacks challenge. I'm not going to pay $50 for eye candy.

Mr Khan @ Oct 10th 2008 4:12PM

Just throwin' it out there, but i remember reading (much to my joy) early in this game's dev cycle that Knuckles and Tails would be characters?

Whatever came of that?

Ghaleon @ Oct 10th 2008 4:19PM

Wow, way less interactive than the Genesis Sonics, apparently. Gamers today just want movies, I guess

Covarr @ Oct 11th 2008 12:33AM

Where are the enemies? Where are the obstacles?

All we want is basic gameplay with good level design. Not a complete lack of gameplay with pretty-but-simplistic level design. It's not that hard. Mario games have gotten this right over and over again. Classic Sonic games got this right repeatedly. Even Sonic Rush Adventure was decent if you could ignore the fact that you had to repeat levels just to collect crap. I KNOW YOU GUYS KNOW HOW TO DO THIS, SO PLEASE JUST DO.