Sonic Unleashed

The epic battle between Sonic and Dr. Eggman continues in the newest installment of the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise. The newly developed Hedgehog Engine shows off the speed that branded Sonic who he was then and is now.

After an enthralling battle of might vs. machine, Dr. Eggman fires a ray gun at the world, crippling it. Sonic, used as a catalyst, experiences a transformation that leaves him a werehog, a furrier, bulkier version of himself. Arriving on Earth only to find the chaos gems powerless, Sonic must embark on another adventure to save the world.

Sonic Unleashed's gameplay shifts according to Sonic’s physical state. When in his normal blue get-up, an attempt to follow the simplistic, yet legendary formula of blasting through a stage and collecting as many rings as possible in the least amount of time fails. Poor level design and camera angles make it almost impossible to flawlessly complete a stage on the first few attempts. 

The knowledge of where particular items are located, like jump pads, is gained only after you go speeding by one, to another unnerving death, and the little satisfaction gained from collecting all those coins is lost so easily after you face plant into a wall of spikes that you didn’t see coming.  Quick time moments (correct button sequences in a certain amount of time) happen at random and can launch you to different zones in a flash and add a good sense of variety.

These hedgehog levels become very tedious, very quickly and the desire to repeat the stage for a better score/time is promptly squashed.

After the sun goes down, Sonic transforms into a werehog and, unfortunately, these stages aren’t any better due to unresponsive controls and again, a screwed up camera.

Werehog form is slow, clumsy, and focuses more on combat. Sonic now has the ability to stretch his arms like rubber bands which can be useful both in combat and when jumping about. Combat involves button bashing which becomes boring way too easily, especially with all the cool combos learned too late in the game. This combined with the lack of variety in enemy types and their passive artificial intelligence makes you wish you could skip the werehog stages.

All the experience gained throughout a stage can be used to level Sonic's abilities, like attack power and speed which is wicked, but the mental fortitude needed to get through enough stages before it becomes noticeable is extremely high.

Between adventures, you're looking for the starting location of the next stage or a particular person who has information to guide you further. This becomes extremely annoying and tiresome due to a poor hub that has you wandering about with no idea of where to go next. Boss fights happen periodically but are no different from the rest of this sad adventure; they are long, boring and offer no sense of achievement.

The control scheme is basic; one button for jump and another for attack, but regrettably they aren’t responsive enough when you’re speeding around or making that life or death jump. The Hedgehog Engine looks and sounds great. Visuals aren’t top of the range but are extremely colourful and bright, and set an excellent atmosphere when combined with the audio, which is upbeat and pleasant.

A fight between pros and cons is unmatched and the Hedgehog Engine can't distract us from the obvious flaws that surround Sonic Unleashed. Looking good can only get you so far and proper level design is the key feature in any platformer.

It’s unpleasant to say, but the best parts of Sonic Unleashed are when you have the least amount of control over what is going on around you.