Kotaku
Coming this holiday, Sonic Unleashed is the first Sega title built on the Sonic-loving "Hedgehog Engine," a next-gen platform in development since 2005. Perhaps to show off the new engine's muscle, Sonic Unleashed will take place in real world settings on a fractured Earth and feature both 3D third-person and 2D side-scrolling action. I caught a glimpse of the first level set in Greece and the fourth set in an unnamed European city during Sega's recent Gamer's Day.
The multiplayer-free game has Sonic traveling through the fractured chunks of an Earth recently shattered by Dr. Eggman, collecting Chaos Emeralds in an attempt to return the planet to its former state. The game will include stylized humans, but likely no hot hedgehog-on-female action.
The developers said one version of Sonic Unleashed is being developed for the Xbox 360 and PS3 and another for the PS2 and Wii. The Wii version of the game will allow you to use the remote and nunchuk or the classic Gamecube controller.
The developers showing off the game to media said that, while the engine was designed to "work well with Sonic titles," it can be used for other games.
Sega brought on Yoshihisa Hashimoto to lead the project because he "knows what needs to happen to make Sonic new and relevant again."
It was unclear if that meant the occasionally over-the-blue-fur look of the game or the yet to be unveiled "surprise" about the game, which I suspect might be his still-unconfirmed werewolf nature.
In our short session watching the game, it felt to me that playing through the third-person perspective sections of the game could be, if not nauseating at times, at least very daunting. The developer who ran us through several sections did just fine, though I imagine first-time gamers wouldn't be as adapt at jumping and maneuvering through the maps with such little warning of approaching turns.
Sonic Unleashed will have day and night gameplay and maintain the ability to collect ring energy. The faster you collect the energy the more you obtain. Eventually you can use it to boost your speed, making Sonic go so fast it blurs the scenery.
The sections we saw did include a couple of split paths, giving the game at least a bit of replayability.
Comments
"multiplayer-free"
And suddenly, all fears were put to rest.
Every outing, they keep telling us this is the Sonic game that we (Sonic fans) have been looking for. This looks better than the last time out, but I'm still going to shake my head and wonder where the Sega of old is. It might be good, but I'll stay on the fence for a price drop. Welcome to the Last Level.
sounds cool. i hope they do something to remove the load times. the load times seemed so attrocious in the last PS3/360 release and the prior releases just seemed bland, such that I have not bought a sonic game since sonic CD for sega cd. if they remove load times and make this game more like the early sonics, which that blur seems to do by giving a feeling of speed, i might just budge and buy it.
@Mainman: How so?
Pre-E3 PR fatigue is already wearing on me. How the hell am I going to get through the summer?
I can't be the only person here unhappy with the decision to put the game in the real world with real people...
Could be interesting. I'm not buying that without trying a demo first though, soooo, yeah, heads up Sega.
I really want this game to be good, but after Sonic 06 and Sonic and the Shitty Rings, I just really don't trust Sega at all. They're going to need to do a lot to make up for their past mis-steps.
@munchausen: let me add some emphasis. i just checked wikipedia and apparently that means I have not bought a sonic game for nearly 15 years. damn, i am old. and, damn, sonic needs some help.
If they can top the experience that was Sonic Adventure, then I'm sold. Though I do wonder if the Sega that made the original Sonic Adventure is simply gone forever. They have released a few gems since then, but it seems like the moment they pretty much ditched development on any sort of quirky, arcadey titles is about the same time Sega as a whole went straight down hill.
Meh, this might be fun on the Wii.
It could be good, it could be horrible. Please, SEGA, stop letting Sonic suck.
@Pezdispenser: Strangely enough, I don't think anyone's happy about it at all!
Also, all of you assholes whining about how much Sega sucks now: buy Yakuza, play the hell out of it and get ready for the sequel. It's coming to the US in the fall. They still make good games. You just don't buy them. >:(
This looks great even since the last few previews, but since there was no mention of the "wolf" parts, does this mean they scrapped it?
This better be ten million times better than Sonic the Hedgehog (PS3/360). It was decent, but it had so many bugs.
@Pezdispenser:
you most certainly are not... give me a vibrant cartoon fantasy world over... Greece... anyday, but Sega just don't care anymore
I really hope that this plays well as a platformer too, and not just a supersonic rollercoaster, something that the Sonic Rush games weren't up to
people seem to forget that what made the classics great was that they were great platformers, speed was used intermittantly as a reward for dextrous platforming
new Sonic games have ignored this and focussed on speed and bland samey level design...
This is going to be a great game. It's set in the real world, which I know might be scary to some of you considering its a rare occurance for you to venture there, but it will work wonderfully bringing sonic into a real world and not just his own convoluted, angry robot filled fantasy land where water is the highest evil. The addition of boosts and faster speed sounds great as I feel like sonic has never truly reached the potential of how fast he can go in other games. The closest I ever felt was in Sonic Adventure. Sonic and the secret rings was an alright game because of the control scheme and the fact that it somewhat returned to the track sonic usually stays on, unfortunately it was so short they added in a huge amount of what they deemed to be "replay-value" which just made the game a lot harder and a lot less appealing to play. Also, everyone is up in arms about Sonic being able to supposedly transform into a werewolf of sorts, but what about when he transformers in to supersonic? That's even more ridiculous. Have any of you played games like Prince of Persia or Jak and Daxter? Those games included transformations and they worked just fine, in fact they recieved some very high scores for what they were.
What I'm saying is this, this new sonic looks to include an abundance of the true essence of sonic the hedgehog, along with some great new features and hopefully an entertaining story. This game could be a failure is it's anything like the Sonic for the 360/PS3, but lets hope they took a hint from that game.
Wait, real world setting?
... This may kill it for me.
I would like my classic sonic style worlds please!
@Puck: You mean the PS2 port?
Bundling "PS2 and Wii" make me feel abit uneasy...
Yoshihisa Hashimoto "knows what needs to happen to make Sonic news and relevant again", we can all pray and hope that history does not repeat itself again and again.
Just a thought on the big surprise: It's the last Sonic game.
"and another for the PS2 and Wii"... please... make it stop. I bet this will look worse than the first Sonic Wii game.
There's something in the air surrounding Sega, and I think it's Progress. With Platinum Games, Sonic Chronicles, Sonic Unleashed.. I don't know. I'm shaking off the skepticism. Everything is looking good and sounding good, so I'm done being a skeptic, even given the history.
Does anyone else see that picture and wish this was a thread about Jet Set Radio instead of Sonic?
Sonic will get his glory back, but not by turning into a werewolf. please remove this mechanic. im tired of games that have me turning into a demon or a monster or something as a power-up, its boring and old.
@frank0127: Not if it's a success.
I have to say, that screencap is SEXY. Imagine, a Sonic game on the Wii with Galaxy graphics! Joyous!
@Fonzy: good logic. but why not go out with a bang like this one seems to be?
@Spoony:
I do, Jet Set Radio <3 sequel should be made, but so should Powerstone and Space Channel 5 and many other SEGA titles that just never got sequels D:
@pandafresh: Twilight Princess did well with that mechanic.
I'm kind of sad they're making it like this. Sonic & the Secret Rings had some problems, but overall, it was a pretty fun game and definitely the right direction of Sonic.
Regressing back to 2D just isn't the way to go, if you ask me. I'd rather they really improve upon the Secret Rings formula, as opposed to shoehorn in elements of it into Unleashed.
@frank0127:
Lots of people loathe the wolf mechanic. In fact, it's the lowpoint of that game. I've seen numerous people stop playing because the wolf segments are so poor.
That screenshot eerily reminds me of the old Tony Hawks games. Weird.
@Ashurahori: It basically guarantees that we won't be bogged down by a new wave of Shitty Sonic Friends during the story. That's half of what makes modern Sonic games bad taken care of; now all we have to worry about is how it plays.
@Demonbird: I never saw it as bad... and not out of blind fanboyish bias either. I just loved how you ripped and gnashed apart an enemy as Wolf Link. It felt primal (and right) to me. >:D
@Mainman: and it looks like it'll play like the original sidescrollers, so far. THAT is a very good thing imo.
There's some pretty poor spelling and grammar in this post:
adapt should be adept
nuncuk should be nunchuk
news should be new (I think...unless Sonic should be news again)
And it seems unnecessarily confusing to use the phrase "classic GameCube controller".
But, as always, a good read anyway.
@frank0127:
And that is what we call a unique opinion. You liked it, other people hated it.
Also, weirding me out =O
I love the story line of these games:
A: An evil villain is destroying / trying to conquer the world.
B: Jump on the evil villain.
C: Victory!
wtf. a ps2 and wii version?! they didnt make a ps2 version of sonic and the secret rings! why the hell would they make a ps2 version of this?! damnit! something told me sega would backtrack on this. this better look on par with the secret rings or better, or else heads will roll!
@frank0127: Because unfortunately, even the good people at Sega love money as much as the next person! But aside from money, Sega has also needed SOMETHING to get their groove back (and Sonic's), so if it's a success, it's hard to believe they wouldn't explore ways to keep fans pleased CONTINUING IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION. You hear that Sega? Don't go back to your Sonic-destroying ways if this one is a winner.
@munchausen: So you never got to play the awesomeness that was Sonic Adventure? if you played it and didn't like it, it's okay but if you never played a game post Sega CD out of pure bias, then you're missing out. SA1 was really good. (SA2 also, but not as great as the first...)
As again Haze confirms, it's not good until it's in your hands.
@Mr. Fap☆Fap!: Sonic and the Secret Rings made me feel like I was driving a vehicle. It was also pretty frustrating in a different, expectant way Sonic games usually are. I think it was an experiment, it was "meh" and not what they, or the Sonic fans, really were looking for and now they're moving on.
I hate the real word things, too. But I have an open mind. I really want this to be good. It doesn't even have to be amazing (though that would be nice). Just make it enjoyable, finished(unlike S360) and we might be in business.
@herfy: wait, isn't that Mario you just described?
@Demonbird: did you mean the wolf mechanic was weirding you out, or me?
@frank0127:
lol
"It felt primal (and right) to me. >:D"
@Demonbird: what's your opinion?
@Fonzy: true, they do enjoy money. they kind of have to in order to stay in the business. and hopefully this IS what sonic needs to "win" again. Real-World settings, blurring the environment when you run, etc.
i have to agree with you though, if this one IS a winner... i'd love to see more. (i'm also dying for Madworld!).
Sonic will never be a great true 3d game. They should just make it a 3d rendered sidescroller.
@Grave: Yakuza is irrelevant by now. It sucks if you're into the current gen.
Stuff like not being able to see turns coming up has always been in Sonic games really. It doesn't detract much from the game though. More recent 3D Sonic games like Sonic Adventure 1 and 2 required you to memorize levels as if they were a racetrack in order to get the best ratings on them. As you play more, the better you get, and the cooler you get to feel as you breeze through levels.
Real world environments though? You don't need those to flex graphical muscle. Take any of the elaborate stages from the old 2D games and you will have plenty to flex. The first thing that comes to my mind is the opening jungle levels of Sonic 3. Create awesome looking fictions worlds like that and combine them with this gameplay, then you should have a fantastic formula.