Game Review: Sonic Unleashed for Wii

Sega’s blue blur returns to home consoles with Sonic Unleashed. Does this game finally redeem the much maligned mascot? Read on and find out.

Sega’s speedy mascot returns in Sonic Unleashed for the Wii. As with most of the sonic games that have come before it, this game has an almost obligatory gameplay hook. In this case, it is a difference between Sonic’s appearance in the daytime as opposed to the nighttime. In the daytime, he is the Sonic of old. At night however, he transforms into the werehog. Each world features both daytime and nighttime stages, so there is ample opportunity to try out both versions of the character.

One of the biggest pluses to this game is the graphics. On the Wii, the graphics are some of the best that I have seen from multi-platform games. Sonic looks better than I have ever seen him look on Nintendo’s system. In addition, the levels have varied themes that are all very beautifully realized.

The story is engaging, although somewhat ridiculous. It involves Dr. Eggman luring Sonic into a trap to steal the energy from his Chaos Emeralds. Using that energy, Dr. Eggman fractures the world, and releases a dark, evil entity. Sonic is expelled from Dr. Eggman’s space station and falls to the planet below. That is where the game begins. As the game moves on, you meet Sonic’s friends and learn that you must travel to shrines throughout the world to restore the light to the Chaos Emeralds and allow the world to heal itself.

Ultimately, the game’s biggest problem is its most publicized feature. The dichotomy between the day and night stages is so pronounced that it cannot be ignored. The day stages emphasize everything that is good about the Sonic series. The stages go by in a blur as the game flawlessly demonstrates a sense of speed that harkens back to the original games. In fact, some of the stages go by at a dizzying pace. This makes the day stages some of the most fun I have had with Sonic in a long time. If the game would have been all day stages it would be close to perfect. However, the developers had to include the nighttime stages. When you transform into the werehog, all sense of speed is lost. The werehog does not run, he plods. The developers have tried to make up for this with a set stylized attack moves meant to capitalize on the extendability of the werehog’s arms. These “stretchy” arms also allow the werehog to swing from bars and grab out of reach ledges. As fun as these moves are, they do not make up for the lack of speed and it seems like these levels take forever. Every time I entered a night level, I found myself hoping that it would be over soon so that I could get back to the “real” Sonic game.

I also have a couple of other gripes. Each location you travel to has a hub world. Most games that have hub worlds require them. The hub world in this game is one of the most useless I have ever seen. It usually consists of 5 or 6 locations where you can go to have a conversation with one of the citizens of the place you’re visiting. Sometimes they give you information. Sometimes they tell you to find someone else. And, sometimes there’s no one there. I am at a loss as to why they felt the need to have hub worlds in this game, but there is really no reason for them. Also, please explain to me why there is a LOADING SCREEN AFTER EVERY MISSION! I can’t even begin to tell you how annoying it is to have to wait 30 seconds for each new level to load. This is a Sonic game. It is supposed to be all about SPEED! WHERE DO LOADING SCREENS FIT IN THAT EQUATION?

In the end, the daylight levels provide a tantalizing glimpse of the game that could have been. Unfortunately, the nighttime stages, loading times and useless hub worlds all but obscure it. A number of development teams over the last few years have been trying to “fix” Sonic. It seems to me that the best way to “fix” Sonic might be to stop trying to “fix” Sonic.