The "Retro Game Reviews" forum, which includes Retro Game Reviews, has been archived and is now read-only. You cannot post here or create a new thread or review on this forum.
This thread has been linked to the game 'Sonic Unleashed'.
Sonic Unleashed is the famous spiky blue hedgehog’s latest outing and although it may be something of a return to form in places,it is sadly far from perfect.There is a demo available to download from Xbox live which is great fun with superb graphics and this runs at an unbelievable pace.Unfortunately though the whole game is not this impressive.The game is split into a few parts some are great,some are reasonable but some are really just very poor to be honest.
This time around Sonic has been transformed into a ‘Werehog’ by the evil Dr.Eggman so when the sun goes down he spouts fangs,sharp teeth,extending arms and razor sharp claws.This sounds great in theory but in practice it’s actually a hell of a lot less fun.The daytime Sonic levels are the best thing I’ve seen or played in a Sonic game in ages.They are fast,furious and switch flawlessly between 3D and 2D sections with no interruptions in the gameplay at all.You will feel your eyeballs are going to melt as you attempt to master the very well designed levels at 'Burnout' style breakneck speeds.Unfortunately these levels are amongst the shortest things in the game and make up only a small portion of it.After these you get to play the dreadful town stages.Here you get to walk aimlessly around,talking to the townsfolk who give you clues about how to get to your coming missions.These are dull,boring,pointless and like the very long and annoying FMV sequences in the game cannot be skipped.They serve no purpose whatsoever only to annoy you.The vehicle sections are also not very impressive either,but are at least they are reasonably playable.The biggest let down though are the night time ‘Werehog’ levels,they are little more than a ‘Crash Bandicoot’ rip off with a bit of ‘Devil May Cry’ and ‘Prince Of Persia’ gameplay thrown in for good measure.I found these dull,repetitive and plagued by slowdown issues.They are also overly long and take up a large percentage of the game.I found myself trying to plough through the town and night time missions simply so I could get to the fun daytime ones.If they didn’t take up so much of the game it wouldn’t be quite so bad.Also the game is rated for ages 7 and above,there are parts of this game which are very difficult and way beyond the capabilities of players of this age in my opinion.The game is also very mean in giving out its achievement points,again making them extremely difficult for younger players to win.
Graphically the game is impressive,but yet again it’s the daytime Sonic levels which impress.Apart from the odd frame rate issue,they look bright,colourful and very well defined.These levels are the best looking in any Sonic game by far.The night time and town levels do not look quite so impressive though and as I mentioned before when there is a lot of action going on there is some quite serious slowdown.The music and sound are all vintage Sonic and complement the game perfectly.
Despite the negatives I have pointed out with this game,there is still a lot of fun to be had on Sonic Unleashed.Its just that you will need to have the patience required to get through the not so good parts of the game.The payback for doing this comes when you get to the Sonic daytime stages.Its just a bit of a shame that after years of truly dreadful Sonic games (Sonic Riders,Sonic Heroes,Sonic Adventure etc.) Sega almost nailed it with Sonic Unleashed,only to mess it up for no real reason.They could have made the ‘Werehog’ levels much shorter and had much less of them and they could and should have ditched the terrible town levels altogether.Adding a mode to race through the Sonic levels against online opponents would have been fun.Also a local party style game where players raced against the fastest stage times in a ‘ghost mode’ could have worked too.
Overall Sonic Unleashed is the best Sonic game I have played in a long time.It’s just that I can’t help feeling disappointed due to it being flawed in so many parts.This is a real shame as it could have been fantastic.It is still worth picking up if you like the series and can forgive it for its problems.It is unlikely to gain many new fans though as other platformers such as Travellers Tales Lego games are better than this in my opinion.
6.5/10.
This time around Sonic has been transformed into a ‘Werehog’ by the evil Dr.Eggman so when the sun goes down he spouts fangs,sharp teeth,extending arms and razor sharp claws.This sounds great in theory but in practice it’s actually a hell of a lot less fun.The daytime Sonic levels are the best thing I’ve seen or played in a Sonic game in ages.They are fast,furious and switch flawlessly between 3D and 2D sections with no interruptions in the gameplay at all.You will feel your eyeballs are going to melt as you attempt to master the very well designed levels at 'Burnout' style breakneck speeds.Unfortunately these levels are amongst the shortest things in the game and make up only a small portion of it.After these you get to play the dreadful town stages.Here you get to walk aimlessly around,talking to the townsfolk who give you clues about how to get to your coming missions.These are dull,boring,pointless and like the very long and annoying FMV sequences in the game cannot be skipped.They serve no purpose whatsoever only to annoy you.The vehicle sections are also not very impressive either,but are at least they are reasonably playable.The biggest let down though are the night time ‘Werehog’ levels,they are little more than a ‘Crash Bandicoot’ rip off with a bit of ‘Devil May Cry’ and ‘Prince Of Persia’ gameplay thrown in for good measure.I found these dull,repetitive and plagued by slowdown issues.They are also overly long and take up a large percentage of the game.I found myself trying to plough through the town and night time missions simply so I could get to the fun daytime ones.If they didn’t take up so much of the game it wouldn’t be quite so bad.Also the game is rated for ages 7 and above,there are parts of this game which are very difficult and way beyond the capabilities of players of this age in my opinion.The game is also very mean in giving out its achievement points,again making them extremely difficult for younger players to win.
Graphically the game is impressive,but yet again it’s the daytime Sonic levels which impress.Apart from the odd frame rate issue,they look bright,colourful and very well defined.These levels are the best looking in any Sonic game by far.The night time and town levels do not look quite so impressive though and as I mentioned before when there is a lot of action going on there is some quite serious slowdown.The music and sound are all vintage Sonic and complement the game perfectly.
Despite the negatives I have pointed out with this game,there is still a lot of fun to be had on Sonic Unleashed.Its just that you will need to have the patience required to get through the not so good parts of the game.The payback for doing this comes when you get to the Sonic daytime stages.Its just a bit of a shame that after years of truly dreadful Sonic games (Sonic Riders,Sonic Heroes,Sonic Adventure etc.) Sega almost nailed it with Sonic Unleashed,only to mess it up for no real reason.They could have made the ‘Werehog’ levels much shorter and had much less of them and they could and should have ditched the terrible town levels altogether.Adding a mode to race through the Sonic levels against online opponents would have been fun.Also a local party style game where players raced against the fastest stage times in a ‘ghost mode’ could have worked too.
Overall Sonic Unleashed is the best Sonic game I have played in a long time.It’s just that I can’t help feeling disappointed due to it being flawed in so many parts.This is a real shame as it could have been fantastic.It is still worth picking up if you like the series and can forgive it for its problems.It is unlikely to gain many new fans though as other platformers such as Travellers Tales Lego games are better than this in my opinion.
6.5/10.
Thanks for the comments guys.
pb,yes mate you can replay stages once you have unlocked them (the game saves your stage time,ranking,items collected etc.).As with most things with this game the interface for doing this is unnecessarily drawn out.You have a globe and as you unlock worlds you can access them off that.It sends you to that worlds town or village.From there you advance time to make it day or night.Once you have selected the required timezone you can then try to remember where the hell the stage entrance you required was in the town !.Obviously Sega thought that a straightforward list where you simply clicked on the stage you wished to play was a really stupid idea !.
Regarding Sonic Adventure on DC,I thought the first one was mediocre but the second was OK to be fair.Where Sonic Unleashed does surpass these games in when it occasionally does get something right (always in the Sonic daytime stages) it's unbelievably good and its hard not to play these parts of it without a huge grin on your face.Sadly this is only for about 15% of the game and that is a real shame.Its like its developers felt the need to fatten up the game,so filled it up with lots of unnecessary crap.
Regarding the Wii version,my mate has bought it for his son and was told by one the guys in our local Gamestation that you really need the classic controller to play it as this game is a pig to control using the standard Wii mote thing ?.Can't confirm this as I don't own a Wii.It maybe worth checking out if anyone is considering getting the game for that console ?.
I have done a fair amount of the game with my daughter on her gamertag and there has been quite a bit of it she has found very difficult and extremely frustrating.I have also done a bit of it on my own gamertag,so it looks like i'm going to end up playing through the damn thing twice !.
pb,yes mate you can replay stages once you have unlocked them (the game saves your stage time,ranking,items collected etc.).As with most things with this game the interface for doing this is unnecessarily drawn out.You have a globe and as you unlock worlds you can access them off that.It sends you to that worlds town or village.From there you advance time to make it day or night.Once you have selected the required timezone you can then try to remember where the hell the stage entrance you required was in the town !.Obviously Sega thought that a straightforward list where you simply clicked on the stage you wished to play was a really stupid idea !.
Regarding Sonic Adventure on DC,I thought the first one was mediocre but the second was OK to be fair.Where Sonic Unleashed does surpass these games in when it occasionally does get something right (always in the Sonic daytime stages) it's unbelievably good and its hard not to play these parts of it without a huge grin on your face.Sadly this is only for about 15% of the game and that is a real shame.Its like its developers felt the need to fatten up the game,so filled it up with lots of unnecessary crap.
Regarding the Wii version,my mate has bought it for his son and was told by one the guys in our local Gamestation that you really need the classic controller to play it as this game is a pig to control using the standard Wii mote thing ?.Can't confirm this as I don't own a Wii.It maybe worth checking out if anyone is considering getting the game for that console ?.
I have done a fair amount of the game with my daughter on her gamertag and there has been quite a bit of it she has found very difficult and extremely frustrating.I have also done a bit of it on my own gamertag,so it looks like i'm going to end up playing through the damn thing twice !.
Apparently the Wii version is the best as it does away with most of the bad game bits.
It's also only £17,99 on Shopto.net
It's also only £17,99 on Shopto.net
Good review -
i did ask for this for christmas, and i enjoyed the demo but i tend to enjoy these kind of games more than most and i love sonic. But even 6.5 is a playable and somewhat enjoyable game in my opinion so good to hear it didnt get a 3 lol!
i did ask for this for christmas, and i enjoyed the demo but i tend to enjoy these kind of games more than most and i love sonic. But even 6.5 is a playable and somewhat enjoyable game in my opinion so good to hear it didnt get a 3 lol!
Good review. Sounds like it's not even worth the £20 it was being sold for last week.
I disagree with Sonic Adventure, though, the 2 Dreamcast (and subsequent Gamecube remakes) were quite playable even if some bits didn't work as well as others.
The second SA game on the cube even allowed you to play the minigames as multiplayer games.
One question: When you've played through a daytime and nighttime level does it unlock to let you play it at any time?
I disagree with Sonic Adventure, though, the 2 Dreamcast (and subsequent Gamecube remakes) were quite playable even if some bits didn't work as well as others.
The second SA game on the cube even allowed you to play the minigames as multiplayer games.
One question: When you've played through a daytime and nighttime level does it unlock to let you play it at any time?
Sonic Unleashed is the famous spiky blue hedgehog’s latest outing and although it may be something of a return to form in places,it is sadly far from perfect.There is a demo available to download from Xbox live which is great fun with superb graphics and this runs at an unbelievable pace.Unfortunately though the whole game is not this impressive.The game is split into a few parts some are great,some are reasonable but some are really just very poor to be honest.
This time around Sonic has been transformed into a ‘Werehog’ by the evil Dr.Eggman so when the sun goes down he spouts fangs,sharp teeth,extending arms and razor sharp claws.This sounds great in theory but in practice it’s actually a hell of a lot less fun.The daytime Sonic levels are the best thing I’ve seen or played in a Sonic game in ages.They are fast,furious and switch flawlessly between 3D and 2D sections with no interruptions in the gameplay at all.You will feel your eyeballs are going to melt as you attempt to master the very well designed levels at 'Burnout' style breakneck speeds.Unfortunately these levels are amongst the shortest things in the game and make up only a small portion of it.After these you get to play the dreadful town stages.Here you get to walk aimlessly around,talking to the townsfolk who give you clues about how to get to your coming missions.These are dull,boring,pointless and like the very long and annoying FMV sequences in the game cannot be skipped.They serve no purpose whatsoever only to annoy you.The vehicle sections are also not very impressive either,but are at least they are reasonably playable.The biggest let down though are the night time ‘Werehog’ levels,they are little more than a ‘Crash Bandicoot’ rip off with a bit of ‘Devil May Cry’ and ‘Prince Of Persia’ gameplay thrown in for good measure.I found these dull,repetitive and plagued by slowdown issues.They are also overly long and take up a large percentage of the game.I found myself trying to plough through the town and night time missions simply so I could get to the fun daytime ones.If they didn’t take up so much of the game it wouldn’t be quite so bad.Also the game is rated for ages 7 and above,there are parts of this game which are very difficult and way beyond the capabilities of players of this age in my opinion.The game is also very mean in giving out its achievement points,again making them extremely difficult for younger players to win.
Graphically the game is impressive,but yet again it’s the daytime Sonic levels which impress.Apart from the odd frame rate issue,they look bright,colourful and very well defined.These levels are the best looking in any Sonic game by far.The night time and town levels do not look quite so impressive though and as I mentioned before when there is a lot of action going on there is some quite serious slowdown.The music and sound are all vintage Sonic and complement the game perfectly.
Despite the negatives I have pointed out with this game,there is still a lot of fun to be had on Sonic Unleashed.Its just that you will need to have the patience required to get through the not so good parts of the game.The payback for doing this comes when you get to the Sonic daytime stages.Its just a bit of a shame that after years of truly dreadful Sonic games (Sonic Riders,Sonic Heroes,Sonic Adventure etc.) Sega almost nailed it with Sonic Unleashed,only to mess it up for no real reason.They could have made the ‘Werehog’ levels much shorter and had much less of them and they could and should have ditched the terrible town levels altogether.Adding a mode to race through the Sonic levels against online opponents would have been fun.Also a local party style game where players raced against the fastest stage times in a ‘ghost mode’ could have worked too.
Overall Sonic Unleashed is the best Sonic game I have played in a long time.It’s just that I can’t help feeling disappointed due to it being flawed in so many parts.This is a real shame as it could have been fantastic.It is still worth picking up if you like the series and can forgive it for its problems.It is unlikely to gain many new fans though as other platformers such as Travellers Tales Lego games are better than this in my opinion.
6.5/10.
This time around Sonic has been transformed into a ‘Werehog’ by the evil Dr.Eggman so when the sun goes down he spouts fangs,sharp teeth,extending arms and razor sharp claws.This sounds great in theory but in practice it’s actually a hell of a lot less fun.The daytime Sonic levels are the best thing I’ve seen or played in a Sonic game in ages.They are fast,furious and switch flawlessly between 3D and 2D sections with no interruptions in the gameplay at all.You will feel your eyeballs are going to melt as you attempt to master the very well designed levels at 'Burnout' style breakneck speeds.Unfortunately these levels are amongst the shortest things in the game and make up only a small portion of it.After these you get to play the dreadful town stages.Here you get to walk aimlessly around,talking to the townsfolk who give you clues about how to get to your coming missions.These are dull,boring,pointless and like the very long and annoying FMV sequences in the game cannot be skipped.They serve no purpose whatsoever only to annoy you.The vehicle sections are also not very impressive either,but are at least they are reasonably playable.The biggest let down though are the night time ‘Werehog’ levels,they are little more than a ‘Crash Bandicoot’ rip off with a bit of ‘Devil May Cry’ and ‘Prince Of Persia’ gameplay thrown in for good measure.I found these dull,repetitive and plagued by slowdown issues.They are also overly long and take up a large percentage of the game.I found myself trying to plough through the town and night time missions simply so I could get to the fun daytime ones.If they didn’t take up so much of the game it wouldn’t be quite so bad.Also the game is rated for ages 7 and above,there are parts of this game which are very difficult and way beyond the capabilities of players of this age in my opinion.The game is also very mean in giving out its achievement points,again making them extremely difficult for younger players to win.
Graphically the game is impressive,but yet again it’s the daytime Sonic levels which impress.Apart from the odd frame rate issue,they look bright,colourful and very well defined.These levels are the best looking in any Sonic game by far.The night time and town levels do not look quite so impressive though and as I mentioned before when there is a lot of action going on there is some quite serious slowdown.The music and sound are all vintage Sonic and complement the game perfectly.
Despite the negatives I have pointed out with this game,there is still a lot of fun to be had on Sonic Unleashed.Its just that you will need to have the patience required to get through the not so good parts of the game.The payback for doing this comes when you get to the Sonic daytime stages.Its just a bit of a shame that after years of truly dreadful Sonic games (Sonic Riders,Sonic Heroes,Sonic Adventure etc.) Sega almost nailed it with Sonic Unleashed,only to mess it up for no real reason.They could have made the ‘Werehog’ levels much shorter and had much less of them and they could and should have ditched the terrible town levels altogether.Adding a mode to race through the Sonic levels against online opponents would have been fun.Also a local party style game where players raced against the fastest stage times in a ‘ghost mode’ could have worked too.
Overall Sonic Unleashed is the best Sonic game I have played in a long time.It’s just that I can’t help feeling disappointed due to it being flawed in so many parts.This is a real shame as it could have been fantastic.It is still worth picking up if you like the series and can forgive it for its problems.It is unlikely to gain many new fans though as other platformers such as Travellers Tales Lego games are better than this in my opinion.
6.5/10.