Best Sonic game in years, and that doesn't mean much. All the same, this is actually a very good game at times.

User Rating: 8 | Sonic Unleashed WII
By Shadowtails9000 | Review Date:
Sonic and Pokemon were my childhood, keep this in mind as you read this review. I loved the old 2-D Sonics, I loved Sonic Adventure 1 and 2, etc etc. And for the past five or so years; Sonic has been dying. Sonic Heroes was okay, Shadow was... wow. Secret Rings was good with speed, but cheesy in delivery. For a series that used to rival THE Mario, Sonic games should be way better than they are these days. Which is why I am choosing to review this game, as it is the closest to a VERY GOOD title Sonic came out with in a long time.

Gameplay: Gameplay is mixed into a few parts. First off is the day stages. Here you use the new, and just plain awesome 'Hedgehog Engine'. This gives you great control of Sonic, with breakneck speeds. You can jump, attack, dodge, and quick-foot (a favorite maneuver of mine) through the levels. This is where the game shines. If they were to take this engine, extend it and polish it into a full game, THIS could rival Super Mario Galaxy. That's right, if they were to keep this superb idea in, throw in a better storyline and slicken controls just a bit more; as well as get rid of the excess in this game, Sonic could once again compete with Mario. Unfortunately, SEGA still didn't learn anything from this it appears, as the Black Knight jumped right back into the boat of failure.

There is also the night stages, where you play as this new 'werehog' character. A lot of people dislike these stages, but I for one love them. With the responsive Wii controls, it feels great tearing into enemy swarm after enemy swarm. The level-up system is good, and nothing beats the sense of victory earning S-rank after S-rank. So anyways, here we have two great styles of gameplay; so why an eight? Why not a ten if the gameplay is pretty much perfect? The reason is because you only play half the game. A good chunk is spent in villages, reading dialogue, going random places, watching random Saturday morning cartoon-esque cutscenes and the like. This gets very irritating after a while due to how slow it is, especially in a Sonic game! 8/10

Graphics: The ten minute cutscene at the beginning is the greatest display of graphics on the Wii. It is. If anyone can name a more smooth, fluent scene on the Wii, message me about it; as I want to see this game. However, in gameplay, Sonic and co is a bit pixelly. The building and background during gameplay also seem a bit lazy occasionally. Fortunately, this won't matter as you are usually speeding by anyways. Very, very good, sometimes the graphics seem good enough to rival the next-gen, like 360 or PS3. 9/10

Sound: The voices are still 4kids, but at least there are some improvements. Eggman sounds a bit better, and Sonic's voice is a bit smoother. Chip is just... well, not as bad as Steve from Resident Evil: Code Veronica X. Japanese is available if you absolutely can't bear goofy voices. Also, there are some cartoony sound effects, which doesn't seem to fit considering this game is about the apocalypse and trying to prevent it. Music is very good, some orchestrated. Very, very nice. 7/10

Replayability: Unlockable artwork, music, and scenes. Basic platformer extras, but enough to want to see a bit. 8/10

Overall: Best Sonic game in years, but only good for the Wii. Should have been a Wii exclusive if you ask me. 8/10

Other Helpful Reviews for Sonic Unleashed

Load Comments (0)