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Sonic Unleashed - What is it now after four years?


Dr. Homem

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Leaving aside voicework and dialogue, Unleashed had characterisation by the way of movement and facial expressions (aside from Iris movement), basically perfect. Sonic moved as you'd expect him to. Naturally his movements and expressions were greatly exaggerated in Colours (and to a lesser extent in Generations) in order to match the ligher tone, but still none surpasses Unleashed.

Edited by Scar
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Leaving aside voicework and dialogue, Unleashed had characterisation by the way of movement and facial expressions (aside from Iris movement)

 

I agree with this to an extent but nevertheless, it seemed that on the uncommon occasion that normal form model didn't have his irises/pupils fixed to brows, that expression would be used to put across shock or concern quite well;

 

1o7yom.png

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I agree with this to an extent but nevertheless, it seemed that on the uncommon occasion that normal form model didn't have his irises/pupils fixed to brows, that expression would be used to put across shock or concern quite well;

 

1o7yom.png

 

I was more referring to lateral movement. They seemed constantly bound to the front of his face and rarely moved away to the sides. At least from what I can remember.

 

@Dio

While I agree that it is shallow, the enjoyment that the daytime gameplay offers is distinctly different and can work in isolation (for no more than a handful of games, mind). Yeah, it would probably not be immediately reminiscent of Sonic if you time-warped a fan from the 90's (and removed the excitement and gawping at the fancy graphics) and had them play it.

Its a temporary fix yes, but one I'm glad they used, because its fun as hell and extremely satisfying to master.

Edited by Scar
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Sonic Unleashed is one of those games that would be good if it didn't have all these little annoyances and bugs that add up and make the game seem way worse than it actually is.

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The gameplay's split in two, one an obvious mistake, the other not quite so obvious. The werehog's the former; whether it was a misguided response to cries for "Sonic only" or something entirely of their own choice, 

Yeah, sorry to cut a major chunk of your post (most of which I agree with anyway), but I think I should add that it was more so their own choice...well specifically Sega of Japan's choice. Sega of Europe and North American respectively told them not to include the werehog in the game, and that advice was ignored.

Edited by ChaosSupremeSonic
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Would any of you hold it against me if I said that I found the Werehog's dashing speed more enjoyable than the crazy speed of the Daytime stages (which is why I rarely, if ever put any experience points into speed; he's already breaking faces at his current speed, I don't need him to be even faster)?

Edited by Malpercio
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Don't get mad at opinions.

I wouldn't have gotten mad at that particular opinion if I hadn't felt it was a lie. But I don't feel like dragging this up again; I'm already over it and I don't want/need a reason to get riled again.

Edited by Malpercio
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Yeah, sorry to cut a major chunk of your post (most of which I agree with anyway), but I think I should add that it was more so their own choice...well specifically Sega of Japan's choice. Sega of Europe and North American respectively told them not to include the werehog in the game, and that advice was ignored.

Really? Sega of Japan messed up real bad.

 

The speed stages definitely left much to be desired with the loose, almost unworkable controls, but the Werehog...oh, man. Those were some of the worst controls for a beat 'em up (half)game that I have ever played. It reminds me of Devil May Cry 2. Different control schemes, same unredeemable shit.

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The animation overall is good, but there is one aspect of it that bothered me...

 

Facial animation is another one that stands out. Sonic's expressions are quite realistic and rarely exaggerated.

 

[pic]

 

Exaggeration is exactly what you want from a cartoon character. You don't want it to be over the top, obviously, but the lack of brow movement hurts the overall expression. A lot of the time it looks uncomfortable too, as though his brow is fixed in one place.

Edited by Pawn Crackers
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The animation overall is good, but there is one aspect of it that bothered me...

 

 

Exaggeration is exactly what you want from a cartoon character. You don't want it to be over the top, obviously, but the lack of brow movement hurts the overall expression. A lot of the time it looks uncomfortable too, as though his brow is fixed in one place.

 

This did bother me too. It seems pretty weird to me how the animation was so reserved and yet some of the scenes had some incredibly silly and cartoony sound effects in them. That just made the sound effects seem out of place to me. This was handled much better in the secret Sonic and Chip cutscenes since the animation was more exaggerated and it actually fits with the sound effects. Those scenes were CGI though and I don't know how much of that is possible to pull of with the in-game cutscenes but I sure would like to see more of that type of animation.

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One thing the Storybook games did really well was giving Sonic a much better range of facial expressions. It's one reason I actually enjoy the aesthetic choice of using still pictures instead of animations. If the next iteration of Sonic's 3D model could handle all the faces his hand drawn counterpart can manage, I'd be tickled pink.

 

Anyway, Sonic Unleashed is a decently fun game for me, but it's far too much of an investment for me to just pick up and play like Sonic Colors or Generations. Although it rectified a great many of Sonic 06's mistakes, one that remained was the excessive amount of filler, filler, filler. All the time you spend in a superbly fun level like Rooftop Run day is quickly counterbalanced by the time you spend sleuthing through hub worlds, constantly being forced to head back to Professor Pickle for a few lines of text that (somehow) unlock the next levels, grind for sun/moon medals, and then get stuck in a Werehog level that takes up to three or five times as long to traverse as that fun daytime level that you've by now lost the excitement from.

 

I'm really happy for the players who enjoy the nighttime levels, but they've never been fun for me. Not even after learning how to play them well enough to diminish the frustration. Button-mashing interrupted by quicktime events is something other franchises do a hell of a lot better than Sonic Unleashed, so if that was what I'd wanted I'd simply go play those games instead. The werehog platforming isn't too bad, but the fact that you should hold down the grab button instead of tapping it when the indicator appears should NOT have been a reward for giving souvenirs to Pickle - it should in fact have been the one of the first hint bubbles in the Werehog's first level. Why would you EVER design a control opportunity that reduces frustration and then keep it secret from the player? It's idiotic. Also the balance beam mechanic can die in a fire ("Hey, let's make werewolf Sonic even slower and demand incredibly precise input using camera-relative controls and a camera that doesn't stay still - nobody would find that torture!")

 

The daytime levels are still a lot of fun for me, but coming back to them after Generations makes it clear just how linear and invariable they really are. Still, those levels have some of the best set pieces in the 3D era, and they're a good ride. I'll happily play them again, but the thought of all the relentless chores you have to perform for each daytime level puts Unleashed really low on my replay list.

 

Overall, though, Unleashed was a turning point after the steady decline of the franchise. Even with the parts I dont' think are fun, I can't honestly call it a bad game.

Edited by Grumpy Old Grinch
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I get you hate the game, but don't be a fucking liar about it.

 

Umm, first I am NOT lying I am simply stating MY opinion, second I have every right to my own opinion- 'kay? Do you see me slagging people off for differing in opinion? no, because I am mature, and respect other people's views. 

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I can tell that this game had a lot of love and care put into it, but that doesn't save the it from being a hodgepodge of bad ideas.

I'd say it's a badly designed game. I think Colors and Generations are far better titles, despite not having this atmosphere or world building or story that has stuff happen (despite the fact I forgot this game had a story) or whatever magical stuff it has. A bad game is still a bad game even if it has all the things that Unleashed is praised here for.

 

These two parts pretty much sum up my thoughts on Unleashed. It's a shame really, because I really wanted to love it, Werehogwarts and all (though the Werehog is kind of alright tbh, better than the medal collecting and the tornado levels by far).

 

Maybe it's because I didn't play this game until after both Colours and Generations, but I found it such a chore. The atmosphere means nothing when I don't enjoy it, and it's mostly typical real world with more cartoony stuff (which, in terms of real world, is good I guess) but I didn't find anything particularly special about it. Even with the atmosphere stuff, nothing gripped me like the remakes of say Speed Highway and Crisis City in Generations, or Planet Wisp and Aquarium Park in Colours.

 

I appreciate it for what it did for the series, but I just think the other two modern games are a shit ton better. I don't hate it, I just... eh... don't really like it. I'm finding this with a lot of the 3D games lately, which saddens me.

 

The opening cutscene is amazing though, it's so good the rest of the game fails to compare anyway. I also liked the twist that you had the emeralds all along, but you couldn't use them until they were activated. Saved us another 06 where everything was FIND THE CHAOS EMERALDS.

Edited by Semi-colon e
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Umm, first I am NOT lying I am simply stating MY opinion, second I have every right to my own opinion- 'kay? Do you see me slagging people off for differing in opinion? no, because I am mature, and respect other people's views. 

Okay fine, my original reaction was too extreme, I'll admit that. But here's the thing: Parts of your opinion, primarily animation, is almost a stark contrast to every other opinion I've ever seen regarding this game. It threw me off to the point that I thought you were deliberately lying about what you disliked just to slag Unleashed, especially considering animation was one of Unleashed's strong points IMO.

Edited by Malpercio
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...apart from Professor Pickle and Dr. Eggman, looking back now I hate the voice acting in this game, but the VA's at least seem to have the oomph to actually try this time, so I guess that counts for something... right?

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I think the worst thing about the voice acting this time around was using Jason as the Professor's assistant. He sounds exactly like Sonic, and it's awkward as fuck during that one cut scene.

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I think the worst thing about the voice acting this time around was using Jason as the Professor's assistant. He sounds exactly like Sonic, and it's awkward as fuck during that one cut scene.

 

 

Or the Chun-nan elder sounding almost exactly like Eggman.

 

 

 

EDIT: Dear lord, what did I just say? I can't bash Mike Pollock like that!sleep.png

Edited by DarkLightDragon
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Exaggeration is exactly what you want from a cartoon character. You don't want it to be over the top, obviously, but the lack of brow movement hurts the overall expression. A lot of the time it looks uncomfortable too, as though his brow is fixed in one place.

 

I should've made my point clearer ^^;; Yeah, a little exaggeration can be incredibly endearing but too much exaggeration for me can be brassy and off-putting. I really, really liked the sheer expressiveness of the characters in NOTW and feel that Unleashed should've gone a bit more in that route. Not that it's animation wasn't already stellar.

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It's shit! Frankly, after going back to it, I just don't have fun playing it.

 

When it comes to the plot, it feels a little...short-handed to me. I felt like so much could've been done with this premise, and some things should've never surfaced. For instance, I hate the Wherehog plot. I should've been something else, like a type of powered-down Super Sonic, or Dark Sonic, or something. The idea of Sonic turning into a Wherehog because of a Chaos Emerald disruption just makes me facepalm! Nothing about this plot makes me smile, or think it's good. All I see is a missed opportunity, and wish it could be re-written.

 

As for the gameplay, I can't stand it. That includes the day-time stages, yes I said it, the day-time stages suck, in my opinion. So let me explain. The day-time stages just feel too automated. I feel like I'm more of an advisor, instead of playing as Sonic. Not only that, but it feels like "Trial-and-Error the Sonic Game" and it only frustrates me more, and more. Every level I play, I feel like I have to memorize every single gol-damn pixel just to enjoy it! When I don't remember the stage, I find myself constantly running into obstacles, off cliffs, and missing crucial platforms, speeders, ramps, or trampolines. I lose so many times, I'm not having fun, I'm raging! Ugh, I forget why this section was so acclaimed.

 

I'm definitely glad they never went back to the Wherehog gameplay. It's just God of War starring Sonic, and it completely disrupts the flow of Sonic. If I wanted to play a beat-em-up like this, I would go to God of War, since it's way more fun anyway. Now it may not seem fair judging the Wherehog because it's not "original sonic gameplay," and you'd be right, so to judge it from a non-Sonic standpoint, it still sucks. I'm sorry but the combos are boring, the enemies are bland and repetitive, and compared to GoW, it sucks.

 

Other than that, the graphics are nice and cool, though bland. Sonic Colors shits on this game in asthetics, since it's more colorful and vibrant.

 

So I can say I don't like Sonic Unleashed.

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Ew. What would a generic "dark" form be good for? The werehog at least was creative.

And at least opened new avenues to explore Sonic's psyche (though it wasn't explored to its fulles)

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I got a chance to play it again today... I think it actually made me suck at generations. What the fuck were they thinking? With the shit button mapping and the slippery controls, QTEs, long stretches of nothing, etc. Dang, The levels there have more spectacle than Generations' but that's about it. I can't hate on its great soundtrack though.

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Ew. What would a generic "dark" form be good for? The werehog at least was creative.

 

Absolutely nothing! My perspective was "If they needed a Mr. Hyde, what would be better?"

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