Sonic Unleashed?

[PSMad]

Well there’s a new article at IGN with some shiny new screens. While they don’t talk about much we didn’t already know theres some interesting talk in fully 3D town stages… which can be mostly ignored if you choose to. Also they mention one other playable character but reiterate the focus is mainly on Sonic.

By brain tells me to still be cautious but just looking at the new screens fills me with hope that the game won’t suck. Seriously, if the 2D/3D Sonic gameplay rocks I can put up with some shitty Were-Sonic stages and long as they aren’t too numerous.

[Majestic Joey]

So with 2d levels and 3d towns this game in a way is going to be like Goemon's Great Adventure. I wish ign released a video of some new gameplay though.

[FlashTHD]

theres some interesting talk in fully 3D town stages… which can be mostly ignored if you choose to.

Reminds me of that "oh but you can blissfully ignore it" bull shee-it i've heard several times before from these types, about things that not only -aren't- ignorable (ex.: Shadow in Sonic 06), but they will also probably rant about for so much as existing when the review comes. Is it worth risking some brain cells and reading this thing to find out?

So with 2d levels and 3d towns this game in a way is going to be like Goemon's Great Adventure.

I was gonna say Mega Man X7.

[Esrever]

Although Hashimoto has said that Unleashed is not based on any previous Sonic property, the 2006 360 / PS3 misstep or the much better Wii game, Sonic and the Secret Rings, the title certainly seems to share some fundamentals with the latter. Sonic races forward, crashing through chairs and tables and it's up to you to keep him moving, dodging walls and following tight paths, which zigzag up, down, left and right, lead to ledges and bumpers, jumps and tracks, and ultimately to a dozens of loops and corkscrews.

This sounds like Sonic will be running forward automatically again. Right?

[Wooduck51]

NUNCHUCK AND GAMECUBE CONTROL SCHEME FOR Wii. That makes me feel 50% better immediately.

[Shadow Hog]

I dunno, I thought the 2D gameplay would lend itself well to the NES-style Wiimote orientation - just use the D-Pad instead of tilting.

[Radrappy]

I absolutely hate the fact that they're making a version for ps2. I'd bet my life that it's going to be nearly identical on Wii with some shitty motion options slapped on. Boo.

[Majestic Joey]

I really like the sound of this side step. I mean in Sonic Adventure 2 you'd have to press like 3 different buttons to switch from rail to rail but now it's just a tap on the shoulder button. That's actually like innovative. well, not actually innovated as much as it is obvious.

[FlashTHD]

I mean in Sonic Adventure 2 you'd have to press like 3 different buttons to switch from rail to rail

1, unless you're counting the jump button.

[Majestic Joey]

Nah, didn't you have to hold down the "b" button then press left or right on the control stick then "a" to switch rails fast?

[FlashTHD]

Nah, didn't you have to hold down the "b" button then press left or right on the control stick then "a" to switch rails fast?

...no?

[Majestic Joey]

Seriously?

That's what I always did for the best results.

[P.P.A.]

The B button is just to speed up the grinding, but it's entirely unrelated to switching rails. To do that, you just had to hold into the direction you wanted to go and press A. Also I found the fastest way to grind around corners, and easier than leaning back and forth, is to rapidly press the B button without any direction, you'll go though at full speed.

On-topic: Am I the only one who thinks the surroundings' and Sonic's style totally contradict? As ugly as Sonic 06's Sonic was, he at least fit with the realistic environments and the overall picture made sense. But here this cartoony Sonic looks incredibly misplaced in all the rather realistic stages.

(I cut out half of the quotes to shorten my post.)

Dash move: Fuck, it's Rush all over again.

B-button slide: A slide? Please no, that was a pathetic idea to begin with. Can't you just make him, you know, curl up into a ball?

The drift move sounds interesting though, I dearly hope they make it work just like the one in Sonic R.

Sonic races forward, crashing through chairs and tables and it's up to you to keep him moving, dodging walls and following tight paths, which zigzag up, down, left and right, lead to ledges and bumpers, jumps and tracks, and ultimately to a dozens of loops and corkscrews.

Saving my words, I just bolded everything that worries me.

In our opinion, the Sonic series has always played best with linear level design -- the sheer speed of the character is better let loose into an environment created specifically to nurture it.

Note to self: Ignore IGN for anything Sonic.


I'm losing my hope already. Bring it on SEGA, so I can get over it and worry about the next incarnation of your formerly glorious platformer series.

[FlashTHD]

B-button slide: A slide? Please no, that was a pathetic idea to begin with. Can't you just make him, you know, curl up into a ball?

There might be room for both. Rolling could maintain momentum for longer but be more reckless (see SA1). In a decent physics engine, that is.

In our opinion, the Sonic series has always played best with linear level design -- the sheer speed of the character is better let loose into an environment created specifically to nurture it.

God, it only figures eh? Let me be the first to

HIT

HEAD

WALL

[Shadow Hog]

I should really finish up "Nothing But Speed" sometime...

[Isuka]

The "GIMME SPEED GODDAMMIT" crowd reminds me of the "graphics over gameplay" dudes, while the "GIMME PLATFORMIN' GODDAMMIT" people reminds me of the "gameplay over graphics" lads.
I'm surprised this kind of discussion isn't already banned or something.

And I second P.P.A. in that Sonic's new design looks surprisingly out of context with its surroundings. The surroundings themselves look like something out of SkullMonkeys at times.
Also, hey, 30 frames per second! Didn't see that one coming.

[FlashTHD]

The "GIMME SPEED GODDAMMIT" crowd reminds me of the "graphics over gameplay" dudes, while the "GIMME PLATFORMIN' GODDAMMIT" people reminds me of the "gameplay over graphics" lads.

I condemn one (the former) and know better to not advocate either of them. All I know for sure is, one of those angles is proven sucks.

[Majestic Joey]

Everybody knows "gameplay" beats "graphics," graphics" beat "music," Music" beats "story" and "story" beats "gameplay."

it's like a cycle, no, IT IS A CYCLE!

[Wooduck51]

As they say: "You can't spell ignorance without IGN"

[Esrever]

1up, on the other hand, seems to have some perspective:

http://www.1up.com/do/previewPage?cId=3167856

Warning Sign: From the areas we've seen, there seemed to be a lot of emphasis on incredibly fast action, but not so much focus on the platforming. Let's hope the development team doesn't forget that, at its heart, Sonic is a platform game, not a racing game.

They also confirm in absolute terms that Sonic does indeed run forwards automatically, ala Secret Rings. Pretty disappointing! I still think there's potential for an on-rails Sonic game to be fun, but it's not the kind of fun I wanted!

[Segaholic2]

Oh geez.

[Locit]

Oh geez.

What he said.

[b_boult]

Actually, there seems to be a little confusion surrounding this, Game Informer who also attented the event say that you can come to a complete standstill. I'm pretty sure that IGN and Gamespot would have said so as well to be honest if you were constantly moving ala Secret Rings, because they did so in their previews of that game. I reckon 1up jumped to conclusions because the game was so fast.

[Isuka]

Or perhaps you can only stop for a brief period of time. Standing still for too long would kind of go against the Ring Energy gauge thing to keep moving fast, wouldn't it?

It should be mentioned, though, that we noticed quite a bit of slowdown when Sonic was running fast -- but this is the sort of thing that should no doubt get resolved by the time the game ships.

Not quite there, Sammy.[/pun]

It's not the kind of stuff you, as a game journalist, would like to point out, but this Hashimoto guy helmed the Adventure 1 and 2 ports for the GameCube and the Chao nonsense of the second game, not the original games themselves. But oh well, it's still leaps and bounds over IGN.

EDIT: Hey, now I'm feeling much more thrilled about Mirror's Edge platforming than this game's.

[Majestic Joey]

Yeah, Mirrors edge looks fucking amazing. One thing I'm wondering about it though is if you'll be able to walk on the regular streets or if the game mostly takes place on top of buildings with like bottomless pits.