Sonic Unleashed oh how I gasped with joy then held my breath and gasped with anticipation my mouth salivating at the prospect of a sonic that is truly good again, But as ever it was followed with a bitter after taste it promised so much yet delivered not so little but not enough.
Don't get me wrong the day stages are stunningly soaked with fantastic bright colors beautiful buildings and animations, visually the environments are bright and glorious the level design integrate and giving a true sense of a fresh but retro real looking familiar place echoing the flavor of its 2D counterparts, but most importantly Sonic is fast the feel of speed and acceleration is immense and tantalising and mouth watering and truly eye popping feast for the sensors, thus making me feel like I was 13 again on my Megadrive sitting down face and nose pressed against the screen as sonic span and looped-de-looped and whooshed across my television.
The sense of shock is there the sense of almost no control and skill needed to make it successfully though or just blind luck is there just like the 2D versions of sonic held beautifully, this time I feel I'm almost piloting a jet plane or a being carried with the intense speed of a runaway train, you really want to replay the levels to do it quicker and more perfect than the last to get more rings! Kill more enemies! And wave goodbye to the level in the form of a Category ten hurricane of speed, and that's what sonic was all about! Is all about! It's that simple.
The levels echo the feel of the old Sonic we all know and love CHECK! It has that sense of speed CHECK! The sense of no control and power CHECK! And of course old faces like Tails and Robotnik who had a name change for a while Eggman, OK then we have a hit on our hands folks 10/10 SEGA Congratulations and celebrations you did it guys, but wait a minute don't pop that cork yet! Because when the sun sets its party time but for sonic its time to turn into something entirely different a WAREHOG!!!
Confused? So was I expecting Sega finally to ditch all these stupid new characters and gimmicks they hoped would help reinvent the franchise Cough Shadow, and finally having sonic run free without having to halt for a little chat with friendly folks. It dose seem most of these problems have been addressed except sonic being a more social chap these days, you would think for someone who in such a rush getting to A to B that a chatting with some random folks would be out of the question? Afraid not! But this is a mere niggle compared to when the sun sets
No I said don't pop the cork yet SEGA!!!!
Yes the WareHog Bad move, if I wanted to play Sonic as a slow lumbering chap I buy him a Macdonalds everyday, slow fighting and simple thick headed game play that any simpleton could play on any third rate platformer, enemies pose no real threat and lets just say Were is the Speed? That's what Sonic is about were has he gone were! Were! He's under all that fluff screaming to get out. It's such a sad thing to see because during the day it is such a pleasure, but with this schizophrenic Jeckle and Hyde syndrome sonic is two games not one, one part a fantastic fast paced sonic romp more pleasurable than a large bowl of ice cream! the second part like your old Aunt Elger's horrible yearly Barbecue Burnt on the outside frozen on the inside. Making you feel slow and ill and clutching your stomach in agony.
SEGA hear this Please!!!
Big Levels contrasts each Act looking more different than the previous more fantastic different and glorious.
Wacky level names Simple Story: Robotnik steals the Emeralds (how can that be messed up how) Friends not to many and no look-alikes. Fantastic soundtrack Sense of SPEED (Unleashed performed well in this) No RPG of any kind A boss after every third stage Inventive robotic opponents Tricky yet fulfilling stages that require skill and timing. (Unleashed has elements of this)
Overall best sonic so far captures the spark from its origins and proves sonic is not dead he just awakening from a coma, the game suffers from indecision not fully understanding what it wants to be slow or fast, keep it fast simple lets have Sonic Unleashed 2 bigger and better and when the sun goes down lets keep the WAREHOG out of it thanks you.
