Honestly Sonic Unleashed is a horrible game

[theofficefan99]

I've been playing the PS3 version.

 

I enjoyed it at first, despite the atrocious framerate, massive padding via Werehog and obscene medal requirements, etc.

 

But then the stages just became way too much trial-and-error.

 

I just completed Eggmanland, and it was honestly the worst stage I have ever played in a video game. It was utterly ridiculous.

 

Sonic is also way too slippery, and the lock-on is very unreliable. Many times the lock-on prompt would be up, and I press square to homing attack, but instead Sonic launches himself to the other side of the continent and kills himself. 

Oh, and the camera sucks, especially in the hub stages. 

 

There's just nothing fun about constantly dying over and over again to memorize a dumb stage. 

 

And now I'm on the final boss. It's slow and tedious, just like the rest of the game, and now because I died and ran out of lives, not only do I have to do all of it over again, but also Egg Dragoon.

 

 

Seriously, this game is just horrible. It could've been great, but it isn't. 

 

Who else feels this way with Unleashed?

[blueblur98]

oh no, an opinion

boo

hiss

JK, you can have your opinion. your opinion is one i don't personally agree with, but it's yours and you are 100% entitled to it.

i agree that the framerate and medals are absolute trash, though.

[Scott]

Can't say I ever had a problem with locking on to enemies. Gameplay was pretty tight for me, from homing attacks, quick-steps to simple things like jumping and drifting. 

 

Hated the medal collecting though! Oh! And the Hot Dog Challenges!!!

 

Believe me, if you think Eggmanland is awful or difficult, wait till you try the Hot Dog Challenges....

 

Been there! Done that! Got the achievements! 

 

But my god...

[Blue Blood]

Honestly, I think Unleashed is a game that's worse than the sum of it's parts. The daytime gameplay is the strongest part of the game, no doubt. Especially back in 2008, it was new, exciting and a welcome step up in quality from other recent Sonic games. It did suffer from cheap design at times, but it was overall solid. The nighttime gameplay also isn't awful; it's just rather bland and repetitive. And it greatly outweighs the daytime gameplay in terms of content. That means the game is a mostly slow, uninteresting and very un-Sonic experience. You also have to consider the time spent in hub worlds further detracting from the best of the gameplay and poor technical performance. Individually, no part of Unleashed is offensively bad. But all of it is far from perfect and the nuggets of genuinely good content and hidden amongst so much boring gameplay that nobody wants out of a Sonic game.

If it was just the daytime levels it would be a decent, albeit unpolished, fresh gameplay experience.

If it was just the nighttime gameplay (and not in a Sonic game), it would be brushed aside as a generic beat-em-up platformer.

Hub segments arbitrarily force you to move wander around slowly as you look for level entrances and NPCs, you have to hunt for medals and perform a few fetch quests. Nothing totally bad, but very contrasting to the good parts of Unleashed . And throughout the entire game you have to fight against a rubbish framerate. 

Put it all together and you get a bad Sonic game.

[Badnik Mechanic]

The wolf hog stages are not so bad once you max out it's stats...

 

The issue is you have to max out his stats.

[Cayenne]

I love Unleashed to bits, but the framerate is really terrible. I have the Xbox 360 version (capped at 30 FPS, but more stable than PS3 Unleashed, if I remember well) and Jungle Joyride has very nasty slowdowns that can kill Sonic when you aren't expecting them. Eggmanland and Dark Gaia Phoenix are almost unbearable thanks to the same reason as well.

[Blue Blood]

33 minutes ago, Mayor D said:

The wolf hog stages are not so bad once you max out it's stats...

The issue is you have to max out his stats.

Absolutely. Rooftop Run Night can be easily beaten in about 10 minutes when you're maxed out, but going into the level on a new file will see you spending 45 minutes to a full hour in there. It's horribly unbalanced.

[MegasonicZX]

4 minutes ago, Blue Blood said:

Absolutely. Rooftop Run Night can be easily beaten in about 10 minutes when you're maxed out, but going into the level on a new file will see you spending 45 minutes to a full hour in there. It's horribly unbalanced.

It really doesn't take that long unless its a first time playthrough, when you know what your doing it typically only takes about 12 minutes. I know this doesn't completely invalidate the complaint (since if you don't pump strength then yeah, fights generally will take long amounts of time) but I feel like you're exaggerating a bit.

[Blue Blood]

28 minutes ago, MegasonicZX said:

It really doesn't take that long unless its a first time playthrough, when you know what your doing it typically only takes about 12 minutes. I know this doesn't completely invalidate the complaint (since if you don't pump strength then yeah, fights generally will take long amounts of time) but I feel like you're exaggerating a bit.

I'm not exaggerating on this one. Go into the the level or one of the many others without any strength upgrades and it will very easily take you that long to beat. If you know the game already it will shave some time off, but it's really long. If you've never played the game before, you'll spend ages on most of these night time levels - be it because of hit-sponge enemies, cheap deaths or getting lost.

[UpCDownCLeftCRightC]

I don't think its "horrible" but I do agree with Blueblood in that it feels like less than the sum of its parts.

Ironically I rate this game about evenly with Sonic Adventure 2 as an overall experience, maybe slightly higher actually. Unleashed has a better presentation and soundtrack than SA2. The Sonic levels are also a lot more cohesive even though lacking polish in certain areas. For the first time with Modern Sonic since 1998, the gameplay actually fit the corridor A to B level design.... much better than SA2 did. SA2 has more portions of the game that are outright awful as well. Both have gameplay that is majority un-Sonic like, SA2 moreso. SA2 does have a few very good moments that makes you wish they were in another package altogether. Every time I think of Unleashed, I'm reminded of this for some reason.

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

Unleashed HD is in many ways like Sonic Advance 2 for me. Unfortunately, to varying degrees, they both share an extreme problem. In a game that shills speed and boosting, they also ask that you slow down to find collectables. And they do it BADLY.

[Wraith]

I really like Sonic Unleashed, but I don't blame people for disliking it. It's a game you have to approach a certain way that isn't made clear going into it. It's unintuitive and inaccessible. 

No one is going to know about the routes the medals lie on in the day time stages going into them so you'll inevitably have to replay the stages and sacrifice the pacing of the game to progress.No one is going to know that you should only focus on leveling up a few of the werehog's stats to unlock his other moves that make the levels more fun and quicker.No one is going to react well to the framerate obscuring their vision in reaction based stages. None of Sonic's friends are anywhere to be found. Tight, reaction based gameplay in a series that has never really pushed that on it;s's players before outside of specific difficult stages at the tail end of games is gonna turn people off.

Unleashed has all sorts of hiccups and flaws like this that you have to account for and mitigate to enjoy the good stuff, but the good stuff is really good to me.


The hubs work as breathers and a lot of work was put into the people making them all feel unique and lively. If you're willing to indulge it creates a world you can care about. Thee are enough lovable new characters to make you forget the usual suspects aren't there and even wonder if they're always necessary to begin with.

The day stages are the most difficult set of 3D stages in the series without falling too deep into the bullshit category. An older Sonic fan like me appreciates the attempt to push my limits in a series that has now settled on handing the player an S rank for buying the game. The stages are beautiful and constantly shifting location as you progress, giving a scale like nothing else in the series aside from maybe Generations

The Werehog stages, outside of combat often have unique gimmicks and segments that take advantage of the place they're in, and the slower pacing more easily allows for exploring and actually taking in the locales better than the daytime stages do. The combat gets better if you level up the right things because a lot of the moves get rid of the stiffness the werehog is notorious for. He's also a damn cool design.

The world travel vibe gives the game a unique flavor within the series. The story is simple and lighthearted but something more intense wouldn't fit as well if you want the player to take these places in.

The soundtrack is one of the best in the series.

You can buy hotdogs.

It's okay to love Sonic Unleashed and it's okay to hate it. 

[TheBlueGuardian]

I like Sonic Unleashed, I think the daytime stages are fun and fast though gets thougher as you progress, you'll need good reflexes to succed, however though if you are playing through Eggmanland, shit gets even tougher, my advice if you lose all your lives, don't go to Tails in Shamar unless you want to play through the Tornado chase and Eggmanland again, I think you can go to the Eggmanland flag, though it will take you to the last save (e.g. Dark Giga after you beaten Egg Dragoon) also it is wise to get fimilar with the QTE segments. (Or be a dick and pause the the game for the fast ones).

The hubs are great to explore in and you can find extra acts for some extra medals, the people are far more helpful than Sonic 06, and you can buy food for Chip.

The Werehog stages are good, however I feel the night stages are a little more balanced than the Wii/PS2 version (They have way too many night stages), though I wish that battle music would not play on every fucking encounter, every time, it just gets annoying and repetitive after a while.

I can understand your opinions on the game @theofficefan99, everyone is entitled to thier own opinion on the game.

[Blue Blood]

Oh for what it's worth, Unleashed always means the PS3/360 version for me unless specifically stated otherwise. The PS2/Wii version is absolute crap.

[JezMM]

6 hours ago, Blue Blood said:

I'm not exaggerating on this one. Go into the the level or one of the many others without any strength upgrades and it will very easily take you that long to beat. If you know the game already it will shave some time off, but it's really long. If you've never played the game before, you'll spend ages on most of these night time levels - be it because of hit-sponge enemies, cheap deaths or getting lost.

45 minutes to an hour on a new file when you have prior experience is definitely an exaggeration, I've played through the story multiple times and when you know what you're doing, you're looking more at 10-20 minutes for most stages.  Still pretty unreasonable considering they don't even come close to day stage length but 45 minutes to an hour is definitely "VERY first playthrough only" territory.

And even then I only recall reaching 40+ minutes on Arid Sands Night my first time through the game (I recall this one in particular because I was so flabberghasted by this time that I took a photo of my results screen to post online lol).

(Obviously Eggmanland too but yeah).

[Blue Blood]

2 minutes ago, JezMM said:

45 minutes to an hour on a new file when you have prior experience is definitely an exaggeration, I've played through the story multiple times and when you know what you're doing, you're looking more at 10-20 minutes for most stages.  Still pretty unreasonable considering they don't even come close to day stage length but 45 minutes to an hour is definitely "VERY first playthrough only" territory.

And even then I only recall reaching 40+ minutes on Arid Sands Night my first time through the game (I recall this one in particular because I was so flabberghasted by this time that I took a photo of my results screen to post online lol).

(Obviously Eggmanland too but yeah).

I did say that prior knowledge will shave off time. Those levels are long. If don't know the game already (I.e. You're playing it for the first time and getting first impressions), the imbalance of day and night time segments is even more ridiculous that it is when you're better at the game.

I know that I definitely spent upwards of 30, 45 minutes on some of the Werehog stages on my first attempt. Arid Sands probably took the longest, but that was because of that totally optional, pointless and incredibly difficult room with crazy numbers of enemies.

[JezMM]

It was just this in particular I was responding to:

6 hours ago, Blue Blood said:

I'm not exaggerating on this one. Go into the the level or one of the many others without any strength upgrades and it will very easily take you that long to beat. If you know the game already it will shave some time off, but it's really long.

Just coz I have a bunch of times and no stage takes close to 45 minutes to beat.  "Shave some time off" just didn't imply a difference of 20-25 minutes to me (which is a massive difference in Sonic time, where anything above 5 minutes is considered a long stage), which is why I felt it was still a bit of an overexaggeration, that's all.  I definitely don't disagree with your point that first, inexperienced time through, the stages take up to 40+ minutes.

I wish I could provide more than anecdotal evidence but I don't think there's much of a market on youtube for footage that isn't either a first-time player in a let's play or a crazy competent speedrun lol.

[The Man On The Inside]

Not gonna talk about gameplay really as it's really all been said elsewhere, but I will say this:

It has lovely graphics and music (to this day it looks wonderful), it has a very charming overall look and feel to it, and the different destinations feel like holiday destinations you would want to visit (except Eggmanland of course). So in that respect, Unleashed is a success - it sells its "travel the world" idea to me (e.g. I remember thinking "oh, I wonder what kind of food I'll be able to buy here") etc. Travelling through that world was an adventure and this "charm" was refreshing.

[MegasonicZX]

28 minutes ago, Blue Blood said:

I did say that prior knowledge will shave off time. Those levels are long. If don't know the game already (I.e. You're playing it for the first time and getting first impressions), the imbalance of day and night time segments is even more ridiculous that it is when you're better at the game.

I know that I definitely spent upwards of 30, 45 minutes on some of the Werehog stages on my first attempt. Arid Sands probably took the longest, but that was because of that totally optional, pointless and incredibly difficult room with crazy numbers of enemies.

Admittedly its been a while since I've actually played the game without upgrading the proper stats (only time was back when I first got the game and I can't remember much from that since it was close to a decade ago) so I can't remember if the unbalancing was necessarily all that painful. I do remember getting road blocked at the last part of mazuri's night stage though because the enemy encounter at the end was busting my balls.

[theofficefan99]

49 minutes ago, SaberX said:

I agree. This game is pretty much terrible overall.

 

The God of War wannabe gameplay here is the major painhere. And when you mix this with a crappie plataforming and camera problems...well the rest is up to people who enjoy wasting time losing lifes and taking about 5 minutes on those stages. As for the soundtrack, I see nothing special really. Avarage at best.

But thanks to Unleashed I have Colors at least. And Colors is a way better experience(even still it has some problems).

I agree. I love Colors <3 

[Harkofthewaa]

I think I said this somewhere else before, but I have both HD and UnWiished and honest to god think the latter is the batter game. Sure, it doesn't look as pretty as HD, but it's easier to manage overall, doesn't have that nasty habit of killing you for no good reason like HD, and the sun and moon medals were made optional (and actually worth getting at that, as they unlock rooms were you can increase your life cap). It also has a unique lives system were instead of having a pool, you have a cap that refills upon entering a new stage, so if for instance you die a lot in a stage and get down to 0 lives, you enter the next stage with whatever your cap is instead of having to go grind lives somewhere. I like that.

[Jango]

The music is fucking great tho'.

Who can forget such gems as Rooftop Run Ni..

 

PADAM PADAM PADADAAAAAAMMM

[Ultimate Victory 64]

"Honestly Sonic Unleashed is a horrible game"

[Jar Jar Analysis 1138]

On 12/16/2017 at 1:15 AM, theofficefan99 said:

But then the stages just became way too much trial-and-error.

 

That is to be expected, yes. In a game about god-like speed, there is bound to be objects to stop you on the way. Learn to hone on your own skills of perception and reaction. 

I will admit that this game is one of the hardest in the series(not for me but it is difficult to master). Even Iizuka stated that this game was too hard for people. I guess that was the start of the downward spiral again.

On 12/16/2017 at 9:44 AM, Blue Blood said:

That means the game is a mostly slow, uninteresting and very un-Sonic experience. You also have to consider the time spent in hub worlds further detracting from the best of the gameplay and poor technical performance

Hub worlds are extremely minimal and take up very little time at all. Every stage barring Arid Sands is easily navigable and normally gives you a straight shot to the goal.  It honestly depends on perspective. I view the hub worlds as intricate of an experience as Sonic's gameplay. I personally don't see this as a distraction when the game is all about exploring the cultures and the world.

If you add up the time spent in the world, yeah but you're going pretty quickly from Point A to Point B. 

"poor technical performance"

Depends on the stages and if you downloaded the DLC. There aren't *that* many performance failures save for a couple of stages or so. Jungle Joyride and Empire City Hub are the best examples of how shoddy it can get on occasions. I agree that the game has FPS issues...

On 12/16/2017 at 12:08 PM, Blue Blood said:

I'm not exaggerating on this one. Go into the the level or one of the many others without any strength upgrades and it will very easily take you that long to beat. If you know the game already it will shave some time off, but it's really long. If you've never played the game before, you'll spend ages on most of these night time levels - be it because of hit-sponge enemies, cheap deaths or getting lost.

 It's unwise to not to level up your strength. The thing is, you can easily upgrade your strength in the first level once you hit 1 bar of EXP. Doing that will grant you easy access to defeat enemies without trouble. 

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To the OP, I view World Adventure as the most flawed "boost" game in terms of technical performance but I say it's the best Adventure game that at least makes both gameplay's have significant purpose and depth.  It's disheartening the game got less favorable reviews because of the Sonic 06 backlash. 

The game is one of the most unique platformers to ever exist and there hasn't been anything like it since. 

 

[theofficefan99]

On 12/18/2017 at 11:08 AM, Jar Jar Analysis 1138 said:

That is to be expected, yes. In a game about god-like speed, there is bound to be objects to stop you on the way. Learn to hone on your own skills of perception and reaction. 

I will admit that this game is one of the hardest in the series(not for me but it is difficult to master). Even Iizuka stated that this game was too hard for people. I guess that was the start of the downward spiral again.

Hub worlds are extremely minimal and take up very little time at all. Every stage barring Arid Sands is easily navigable and normally gives you a straight shot to the goal.  It honestly depends on perspective. I view the hub worlds as intricate of an experience as Sonic's gameplay. I personally don't see this as a distraction when the game is all about exploring the cultures and the world.

If you add up the time spent in the world, yeah but you're going pretty quickly from Point A to Point B. 

"poor technical performance"

Depends on the stages and if you downloaded the DLC. There aren't *that* many performance failures save for a couple of stages or so. Jungle Joyride and Empire City Hub are the best examples of how shoddy it can get on occasions. I agree that the game has FPS issues...

 It's unwise to not to level up your strength. The thing is, you can easily upgrade your strength in the first level once you hit 1 bar of EXP. Doing that will grant you easy access to defeat enemies without trouble. 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

To the OP, I view World Adventure as the most flawed "boost" game in terms of technical performance but I say it's the best Adventure game that at least makes both gameplay's have significant purpose and depth.  It's disheartening the game got less favorable reviews because of the Sonic 06 backlash. 

The game is one of the most unique platformers to ever exist and there hasn't been anything like it since. 

 

It's unique, but it's not well-executed. And the developers were far too concerned with people thinking it's short, so they inflated the playtime in as many ways as possible. 

 

Well when the controls feel this imprecise/slippery, the frame rate is this atrocious, and the camera is this unreliable, the trial-and-error seems a little unfair, and definitely frustrating. 

 

My issue with the hub worlds was that the camera and Sonic's movement were usually at its worst here.

 

You must've had a magical copy of the game, or maybe you didn't play the PS3 version. But the PS3 version almost never had a stable frame rate and it was particularly awful in Adabat and Eggmanland. The hub villages were practically slideshows. I wish I was exaggerating.