For nearly a decade, fans of the Sonic the Hedgehog series have lamented the blue blaze's transition from 2D to 3D. Gone were the speedy sweeps through twisting landscape. Gone were the buzz saw jumps through enemies. Nary a sign of forest, trees, or cuddly woodland creatures eaten by vicious looking robots.
Instead, the series ventured off into contemporary cityscapes, often mixing unwelcome humans with the game's mythical creatures. The most recent title even sported a kiss between a human character and Sonic, causing an outcry among fans.
Fans have repeatedly stated that what they want is edge-of-your-seat speed, not the fluffy trappings of modern, triple-A titles. They don't care about the story. They don't care about the fancy cut-scenes. They don't care about the eye-candy as Sonic automatically takes a loop! (That by all rights should be under the player's control.)
Just make it go fast.
Well, Sonic Team claims that they have finally listened. Sonic Unleashed is a new entry into the Sonic mythos that focuses on speed, not shine. Powered by the all-new "Hedgehog Engine", Sega promises to take players back to the days of "Blast Processing" with scorching runs through twists, turns, loops, and jumps. The camera automatically pans to a psuedo 2D perspective as Sonic takes off, only to spin behind him as Sonic powerslides around a corner, just before snapping back to 2D for a wild ride on the multitude of neck-whipping coaster rides.
Sound exciting? We thought so. So we dove into this game and learned everything there is to know about the new Sonic.
That's right, we're back in 2D, baby!
In this new title, Dr. Eggman is back with a nefarious new plan. During his latest quest to take over the world, he has shattered the world into pieces. Worse yet, he has unleashed a beast and abused the power of the Chaos Emeralds to transform Sonic into a nighttime Werehog!
In the Werehog form, Sonic will slow down and be forced to use his new-found strength to bash his way through platforming levels. Rather than zipping around, he will climb ledges, throw boxes, and use the destructible environments to his advantage. This mechanic is appears to be intended to provide a reason for the breaks in speed, and give players a chance to do more than simply zip through the levels as fast as possible. It even has the potential to provide more satisfying combat than the rather weak pinball-like mechanic used in previous titles.
Everyone knows that Werehogs stretch like Armstrong
Back in the daytime, Sonic transforms back into his slender self and once again takes to the air on a roller coaster ride. Different from previous games however, Sonic is not going to auto-run through the speedy parts just to stop for a corner. Rather, Sonic will control more like a race car. He will have momentum that will be conserved as he slides around corners. He will have to react to obstacles in his path. But most importantly, he can move along a variety of different paths as he speeds along.
Which is very important feature. Many of the previous games forced the player to make a choice before zipping off into coaster-world. Once on a path, the player was usually committed. A few robots or jumps might be thrown in the way to force some reaction from the player, but there was otherwise very little interactivity during these sequences. Unleashed is finally offering the first real attempt at changing that mechanic.
Through the tree, down the chute, off the springboard, around the pipe, nothing but net
Another interesting mechanic in the daytime mode is that Sonic can collect rings for greater speed. As the player collects rings, a "Ring Energy meter" will fill up. When the meter reaches a sufficiently high value, the player will be able to gain a temporary speed boost that will rocket Sonic to previously unseen speeds.
This mechanic is further enhanced with a feature known as "Action Chaining". Action Chaining allows the player to gain Ring Energy more quickly by gathering rings as fast as possible or doing tricks in mid air. If the player performs enough of these Action Chains, he will be rewarded with new moves and secret areas.
Greece-ed lightning!
Unleashed will feature 9 levels, each one loosely based on a real-world location. These locations include areas like Greece, China, New York, and Africa. Each location will have its own play style such as running along the Great Wall or swinging through Skyscrapers. Levels are designed so that players will switch between 2D and 3D every fifteen to thirty seconds.
What good is a dragon if you can't run on it?
All in all, Sonic Unleashed is looking like it could finally bring the classic gameplay of the series back to life. Only time will tell if the game actually delivers.
Expect the game for the Wii, 360, and PS3 on store shelves this holiday season.
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