Sonic Unleashed Review
System: Playstation2
Rating: E10 (Ages 10 and up)
By: CJ

"The difference is night and day."


In Sonic's latest 3D outing, Sonic must (once again) do battle against the mad scientist Dr Eggman, his giant robot army, not to mention a new foe: a demonic entity known as Dark Gaia. Oh, and did I mention Sonic turns into a werewolf? Yes. That's right. A WEREWOLF. Sonic Team, what are you smoking?

I recently got the Ps2 edition as a Christmas gift, here's my review.

The game begins with a very nicely done CG intro inwhich Sonic destroys a giant fleet of spaceships. But Dr Eggman has a trick up his sleeve and Sonic is caught inside of a laser beam, which, for some reason, turns him into a werewolf. After splitting the Earth apart, Eggman opens the hatch door, sending Sonic crashing towards Earth, where he somehow survives the impact, and meets a pink.. poodle.. fairy.. thing, named Chip who has lost his memory. Sonic sets off on a quest to bring the pieces of Earth back together, and to help Chip get his memory back.

Sonic falls into Eggman's trap

The game switches between daytime super-fast gameplay as normal Sonic, and nighttime levels where WereSonic (and his gigantic, strechy, ape-like hands) beat the living crap out of any monsters that come his way.

The daytime stages are fun, but take some getting used to. Sonic controls a bit differently than he did in the "Sonic Adventure" days on the Dreamcast and GameCube. His spindash is gone, in favor of the new "Sonic Boost" Get enough rings to enable the boost, which sends Sonic running at a ridiculously high-speed, breaking anything in his way, and knocking any unfortunate robots sky-high. Hit any walls and Sonic will comically smack right into it. (They should've added some Flickies flying around his head for when that happens.)

There's not a lot of challenge in the daytime levels, (except for the last one) but they're still a blast to play. A shame that the Ps2 edition lacks some of the levels the 360 and Ps3 editions have.

When night falls, Sonic turns into "Sonic the Werehog" a fanged, snarling, beast (Who seems to resemble Crash Bandicoot) The goal of these levels? Beat up anything that comes your way. These levels aren't as fun as the daytime stages, but do offer more of a challenge. In fact, this is the first Sonic game since the Genesis titles where I was actually concerned about how many lives I had. These levels get really difficult, especially towards the end of the game, where you are jumping from pole-to-pole over bottomless pits while trying to avoid spikes and flames which can send you falling to your death.

Sonic the Werehog

The music in the game (Especially Adabat) is excellent as always. No matter how mediocre or bad Sonic games get, they always seem to have some great music (With the exception of 2005's Shadow the Hedgehog and the screaming of Powerman5000 contained therein)

Each world in the game has a "Temple" (I didn't much care for how the Chaos Emeralds in each temple were regarded as Religious artifacts. It seemed a bit sacreligious to me) full of doors where the levels are accessed. Everytime you complete a level, you get either a moon or sun medal. Collect enough medals and you can open secret doors to get extra items, such as previously viewed cutscenes to watch over and over again, Hidden artwork, or music to listen to.

I don't know why, but I get the feeling this guy might be one of the villains..

The game is not without its flaws. Many of the Werehog stages require walking very slowly over narrow ledges. Fall off these ledges and you die. Now, some genius at Sonic Team decided that the button you use to walk is also the same button you use to run. (Hold the left analog down to walk, tap the same button to run) Many times i'd be cautiously walking over a ledge trying not to fall, and all of a sudden, Sonic would sprint off to his death becuase of the poor control scheme.

Some of the voice acting (Tails particularly) is horrific to the ears. Sonic, Chip and Eggman have decent voicework, but as for everyone else.. get your earplugs ready.

In closing, this was a pretty solid title. It had its flaws, but was still an enjoyable experience and an improvement over previous Sonic titles.

Pros:

-Great music
-Daytime stages are a blast
-Lots of unlockable extras

Cons:

-Weak storyline
-Werehog stages get 'tear your hair out' difficult later on
-Voices (with the exception of Sonic, Chip and Eggman) are irritating

Rating: 8.0 out of 10

(Also, check out Nightofthewerehog.com for a short cartoon starring Sonic & Chip.)