Rate the Story: Sonic Unleashed

[Narukami07]

As the topic says!

[FriendBot]

It was a nice story, so I'll give it a 4/5.

[KrazyBean]

It's up there for me. It didn't take itself TOO seriously like Shadow and 06, wasn't all jokes like Colours and wasn't just plain bland like Generations.

 

I'd give it an 8.5/10.

Edited September 24, 2013 by KrazyBean

[SnipSnap]

Eh, 8/10.

 

But only one thing comes to mind when I see Chip...

 

"KILL HIM!"

 

JK, lol...

Edited September 24, 2013 by speedyblue334

[McGroose]

Either an 8/10 or an 8.5/10 for me.

It was definitely a nice change from the stories we've been getting in previous games such as Shadow and Secret Rings.

Edited September 24, 2013 by McGroose

[spinny]

8.5/10. Actually my favourite story in the series thus far with how it doesn't go TOO serious (see Shadow and 06) and how it isn't all jokes and bland (see Colours and Generations).

[FriendBot]

Either an 8/10 or an 8.5/10 for me.

It was definitely a nice change from the stories we've been getting in previous games such as Shadow and Secret Rings.

Secret Rings' story was pretty good in my opinion.

[StaticMania]

Good, not great. Overall 6/10. I enjoy, but it wasn't as great as it could've been and that made less enjoyment value. It was however better than Sonic Heroes, Shadow the Hedgehog, and Sonic the Hedgehog(2006)in terms of story, and stills today as being better than Sonic Colors and Sonic Generations as well. It doesn't go in to the too mature to actually be mature setting, too serious to be taken seriously, its not over the top all the time with its humor, and its not an bland plot with nothing to tie around it. Its next to Sa1 in tone but still a bit worse in the story department.

[Vertekins]

It starts-off fantastically, pretty much flatlines during the middle and gets incredibly samey with many of the cutscenes being of emerald restoration and gets better near the end.

 

Whilst Sonic's contention with his new form is portrayed initially as being an issue ("I have to be careful about who sees me like this"), the manner in which it is disregarded is in line with how Pickle and Chip go into some detail about how Sonic starts acting as if he likes his new form's abilities and looks once he's gotten to grips with it and has seen what he can do isn't that acceptable. But it makes sense, what they say. Even Sonic loved his Laser form in Colours!

 

I really loved the story's theme, that of the cyclic nature of things and the mutual nature of light and darkness. Chip is a cool little character who's actually pretty tragic when you think about it, destined to lapse into sleep for millions of years and assigned the massive responsibility of putting the planet back together and yet not even knowing about the world he's protecting and those who inhabit it. Sonic's good-natured friendship that he never considered to be an obligation since he never needed any reason to help out his friend reflected fantastically on his character and is so true to the lovely person he is despite his shortcomings.

 

Being able to experience the world is one thing. Being able to experience it with a true friend is quite another. I loved Unleashed's story for that. And there's the way Sonic and Chip sometimes got on each others nerves and would even get one in over the other when 'slighted'

 

Speaking about Sonic, I have far more respect for this portrayal than what I ever had or will ever have for his Shadow and Colours portrayals and I consider it second only to his portrayals in the Storybook games. Yes he's curiously quiet but his subtle portrayal speaks better than the flanderizations that consumed him in the two aforementioned games. Sonic's expressions and his actions fairly frequently spoke louder than words to me throughout Unleashed's story and I respected that and still do. Proves he doesn't need to be morphed into some lame joke-spewing parody of himself or be portrayed as someone who acts like he's within the grasp of an almighty sugar rush to be interesting.

 

Overall? B- grade me thinks. The story has real heart to it, portrays Sonic marvellously, has a well-utilized and interesting theme and is competently told with no apparent plotholes and no OoC or exaggerated behavior.

 

It's never too dark and never too lighthearted, striking a nice balance. Gags are never extended and dragged out and humor is of fairly high quality. Serious moments are never convoluted or pretentious.

 

Drawbacks are it's nothing-y middle and lack of elaboration on Sonic's thoughts on his Werehog form, such missed potential is delegated to other characters revealing it instead of elaboration in the story itself. Amy and Tails could also have been better-utilized.

 

Unleashed has one of my favorite Sonic game stories but Secret Rings still stands as the best IMO.

[Narukami07]

8.5/10. Actually my favourite story in the series thus far with how it doesn't go TOO serious (see Shadow and 06) and how it isn't all jokes and bland (see Colours and Generations).

 

Yeah, i'll have to go with this. Chip and Dark Gaia were pretty meh/average though.

Edited September 24, 2013 by Narukami07

[Old dead account]

Starts off great, almost like how S3&K would end, goes nowhere for the longest time, starts to pick up after Adabat when we see some character development for Sonic, and then concludes pretty satisfyingly. 6/10 I guess, and that's being generous.

[LATER BUDDY]

As the topic says!

 

You need to edit this with more of a proper opening post on what the topic is about and your own input. If not I'll be forced to close it, which would be a shame since it's a good topic as far as your idea goes I think, thanks.

[Zavok the SpinningSilver]

It starts-off fantastically, pretty much flatlines during the middle and gets incredibly samey with many of the cutscenes being of emerald restoration and gets better near the end.

 

Whilst Sonic's contention with his new form is portrayed initially as being an issue ("I have to be careful about who sees me like this"), the manner in which it is disregarded is in line with how Pickle and Chip go into some detail about how Sonic starts acting as if he likes his new form's abilities and looks once he's gotten to grips with it and has seen what he can do isn't that acceptable. But it makes sense, what they say. Even Sonic loved his Laser form in Colours!

 

I really loved the story's theme, that of the cyclic nature of things and the mutual nature of light and darkness. Chip is a cool little character who's actually pretty tragic when you think about it, destined to lapse into sleep for millions of years and assigned the massive responsibility of putting the planet back together and yet not even knowing about the world he's protecting and those who inhabit it. Sonic's good-natured friendship that he never considered to be an obligation since he never needed any reason to help out his friend reflected fantastically on his character and is so true to the lovely person he is despite his shortcomings.

 

Being able to experience the world is one thing. Being able to experience it with a true friend is quite another. I loved Unleashed's story for that. And there's the way Sonic and Chip sometimes got on each others nerves and would even get one in over the other when 'slighted'

 

Speaking about Sonic, I have far more respect for this portrayal than what I ever had or will ever have for his Shadow and Colours portrayals and I consider it second only to his portrayals in the Storybook games. Yes he's curiously quiet but his subtle portrayal speaks better than the flanderizations that consumed him in the two aforementioned games. Sonic's expressions and his actions fairly frequently spoke louder than words to me throughout Unleashed's story and I respected that and still do. Proves he doesn't need to be morphed into some lame joke-spewing parody of himself or be portrayed as someone who acts like he's within the grasp of an almighty sugar rush to be interesting.

 

Overall? B- grade me thinks. The story has real heart to it, portrays Sonic marvellously, has a well-utilized and interesting theme and is competently told with no apparent plotholes and no OoC or exaggerated behavior.

 

It's never too dark and never too lighthearted, striking a nice balance. Gags are never extended and dragged out and humor is of fairly high quality. Serious moments are never convoluted or pretentious.

 

Drawbacks are it's nothing-y middle and lack of elaboration on Sonic's thoughts on his Werehog form, such missed potential is delegated to other characters revealing it instead of elaboration in the story itself. Amy and Tails could also have been better-utilized.

 

Unleashed has one of my favorite Sonic game stories but Secret Rings still stands as the best IMO.

 

Couldn't have said it better myself. It's the best story that I've experienced so far that's in a main series game. The theming was believable considering Sonic's personality, the light and dark element was worked in pretty well, and the tone of the story was exactly what I'm looking for in Sonic: a nice balance between good humor of subtlety and visual gags, and tension that can be taken seriously within the story's realms.

 

The only gripes I have with this story was that there were some underdeveloped ideas. Tails and Amy were present, but it would have been nice to see Sonic and Chip interact with them a little more too. Since the entire world was affected, I'd also expect to see a few other characters, like the "promised" Knuckles and Shadow (with the emeralds being drained and the United Federation being involved respectively). The townspeople seemed to act a little too calm for their destroyed planet, maybe have a few more people being scarred at their predicament or deeply troubled. Eggman could have done a little more than just send Orbot with a new mech or just throw mooks at him. More instances of him doing things like his visit to Mazuri would help.

 

It was a very entertaining story, and I really hope that future games can reach and surpass this level. A solid B- or 8 / 10 from me.

I'd personally hold Black Knight over Secret Rings as best story in the series though, only by the slightest margin. And by that, I mean that I'm a sucker for knighthood stories. 

[Kuzu]

Hey OP no offense, but you can be more specific? What are we rating it on? What's the rankings?

[Wraith]

It started out fantastic, slowly, but surely dropped off the face of the earth(lol), then kinda came back at the end. The NPCs were great aside from chip but they weren't really that involved.

 

I also hate how they shoved Tails and Amy to the side.

 

 

I'd give it a 6.5 out of 10. 

[Chili Dawg]

6/10

 

It's ultimately a less developed regurgitation of Adventure: Eggman awakens grimdark scary monster nobody cares about and yadayadayada. And Sonic turns into a werewolf (for some reason), which actually adds nothing to the plot. 

 

It does have it's pros: It gave us Orbot -that's pretty cool, and we get some nice scenes with Eggman eating his sandwich and crap, and Professor Pickle's pretty nifty, but overall the storyline is the definition of meh, with just a few moments to shine here and there. 

[Brad]

Story has was never really that impressive in Unleashed for me. Aside from the spectacular opening sequence, the remainder of the plot just seemed so dull. Unleashed still had the 4Kids voices which weren't all that enjoyable (apart from Mike, obviously) and Chip was just a poorly portrayed extra helper. Then there's obviously the typical big ol' monster fiasco which Sonic stories have employed plenty of times, Professor Pickle was never anything interesting, Tails was played down to a minimum... everything felt very predictable. The finale was a lot stronger than the main bulk which became tiresome and repetitive (go to place, get thing/restore piece, come back, get told of next place). 

Edited September 25, 2013 by Symbotic

[Jet Prower]

Honestly for me, Unleashed has been one of my favorites for a long time now, other than Sonic Adventure 1 when it comes to story. This has been one of my biggest complaints with the last few games is the very lacking story. I want something to draw me into it all and I want to enjoy getting to hear a bit more about this series, character, and world. This is why I have liked the comics, since there is alot of story for me to read there.

 

I know not everyone likes the whole werehog thing, but I personally thought it a nice twist. Yes, it could have been done a bit better, since the story isn't perfect. Yes, there are some things that I felt could have been added onto alot and working Tails and Amy into the game, especially Tails would have been nice. Other than drive you around, Tails didn't do much at all and basically let Chip be the best friend for the game instead of him, which I find odd honestly. I did like in Colors that this was put back, but with so very little story in colors and generations, it just seems like there needs to be alot more. I know sonic is all about gameplay, but they really need to put a ton of work into the stories as well I feel. This isnt like Mario where it can be super simple usually. I usually expect a bit more than Mario with Sonic.

 

I guess I would just go with the others and if rating on a ten scale and say an eight, since it isn't perfect, but loads better than the last two.

[Tornado]

I'd have a lot more to like about it if it was more consistent regarding what was an serious thing and what wasn't. As it was, it seemed to jump about regarding character motivations without much justifying it.

[Jin.]

6.5/10. Wasn't that big of a story but atleast it worked. I just have high standards.

Edited September 25, 2013 by 少佐 Jin H. Kisaragi

[KrazyBean]

8.5/10. Actually my favourite story in the series thus far with how it doesn't go TOO serious (see Shadow and 06) and how it isn't all jokes and bland (see Colours and Generations).

 

That's exactly what I said

[Chaos Incarnate]

8.5/10.

 

I'm one of the few people to like Chip even though his humorous moments can go over the top sometimes, but I think is bromance with Sonic is one of the most fleshed out aspects of any Sonic story I've seen.

 

Professor Pickle steals just about every scene he's in. "Sliced thinly, if you please!" \

 

Dark Gaia is one of my favorite villains in the franchise. Their isn't much character to him, but I love his design, and he's definitely a great contrast to the light and pure Chip.

 

Sonic in this game is the best he's ever been in any main 3D title, second to only the Storybook games. His cockiness finally bites him in the ass in the intro when Eggman manages to capture him in the intro. He's still really likeable in the game, making it his mission to stop Eggman and being a caring friend to Chip.

 

I can finally take Eggman's 300 I.Q thing seriously without calling bullshit on it, which hasn't been seen as credible since Sonic Adventure 2 IMO. He's got his genius moments like tricking Sonic and the opening and actually managing to control Dark Gaia's minions, but he's got some LOL ones as well, like managing to devour a sub sandwich all in one bite. Come to think of it, this is my favorite version of Eggman since Adventure 2.

 

I love the tone of this game's story. It's got a lot of serious moments, like the melancholy yet heartwarming ending, and Sonic feeling a little depressed after Amy doesn't recognize him, but it's also got a whimsical sense of humor, like Chip in the background of most scenes, to Sonic's werehog form making grabbing a falling ice cream cone with his stretchy arms. 

 

The only things that really hold this story back for me are a slightly weak middle act and not delving into Sonic struggling with his Werehog form. I wish we could have gotten more scenes like the Amy scene with people failing to recognize it and Sonic having to get used to it, but I guess we can assume that happened off-screen.

 

Nonenthless, this is tied with Black Knight as my absolute favorite Sonic story. 

[NiGHTS]

I would say I give it an 8. It wasn't so "out" there like 06, and it didn't have many loopholes or anything like previous games. It was very straight forward and there weren't to many characters flying all over the place. I really liked it, and probably one of my favorites in terms of storylines for Sonic currently.

[Diogenes]

As far as Sonic game stories go, I'd say it's easily in the top 5. And the technical quality, the graphics and animations etc, are probably the best (possibly to be usurped by SLoW but let's hold off until that game's out to judge).

 

But it's got one huge flaw in that the middle of the story...kind of...doesn't exist. The beginning and ending are fine, but the middle is just a blank spot where you're grinding away at the long-term goals because long-term goals are all you really have. Fixing the planet is incremental, but there's no payoff to fixing any particular piece. Attempts at restoring Chip's memory peter out after Apotos and the issue's basically forgotten until the answer falls into your lap. The werehog was a gameplay element so it obviously wasn't going to be solved until the end, but by halfway through no one even seems concerned about it anymore. And it's not like there are any small-scale complications; you just run in, do some levels, fight a boss, and that's it. Nothing special happens, there's no new obstacles to overcome, no new information is gained. When you compare it to things like the Adventures, where most of the levels have very clear and immediate reasons for existing, it's a pretty glaring flaw.

[Kiah]

To rate the story of Sonic Unleashed, I believe I would give it a 8.5/B+. As much as I enjoyed the story of the game, falling flat in the middle of it causes me to downgrade it.

 

With the beginning of the plot, Sonic Unleashed's does a better job pulling you into the plot with its action-packed opening, I thought. Just so much goes on within the first 5 minutes of the game: including Dr. Eggman capturing Sonic not once, but twice! By the time the introduction was complete, Sonic had become the Werehog and the Chaos Emeralds were gray and useless. Also Dr. Eggman revealed his intentions with creating Eggmanland right after he fired the lazer that woke up Dark Gaia and split the planet up and then sent Sonic down to Earth. That's a lot to happen in only in the introduction of the game with a lot more to come!

 

Sonic smiling in the face of danger...although that cockiness would end up costing him, I loved seeing that smile on his face

 

While they didn't contribute much, I liked how Sonic Unleashed had more characters involved to various degrees including Tails, Amy Rose, Professor Pickle, his assistant, and other NPCs, all having charm to them and not taking away from the plot.

 

Chip on the other hand, has a story behind him that we know about, has a purpose, has a personality and had even allowed some of Sonic's characterization to shine through among their interactions among the story. Don't get me wrong, as Sonic and Tails' interactions is where it's at, but I also enjoyed seeing Sonic and Chip's friendship in Sonic Unleashed, as it was nice to see Sonic actually interact with someone friendship-wise other than Tails.

 

It was nice to see Sonic's friendship with Chip in Sonic Unleashed.

 

Sure the middle of Sonic Unleashed's plot with the chaos emeralds being restored and whatnot was rather repetitive and really wasn't much in regards to being developed, but there were little things going on, including humorous, that kept your attention during these parts: 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MoWprALEm0&feature=player_embedded

 

Granted, Sonic Unleashed's story wasn't perfect by any means, and was guilty of missed potential as well especially in the middle of the story, but it just didn't leave me dissatisfied wanting more after all was said and done. The ending was good and very heart-warming. Sonic Unleashed's story was actually a story, with its plot feeling more complete compared to the stories in other Sonic games and having that balance between humor and seriousness. Issues aside, Sonic Unleashed's story left me delighted and content with it's plot from beginning to end.

 

Overall, Sonic Unleashed's story is really good and is one of my favorites in the series. That said though, add me to the list of those thinking that Sonic and the Secret Rings has the best story as well.