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New Sonic Game Looking Strangely Tolerable

Posted by Bob Mackey

I know, I know; Sega's been using the marketing ploy of "This time we didn't fuck up!" for over half a decade now. But there's something strangely compelling about this new footage of Sonic Unleashed I recently scrounged up from YouTube. Many of the franchise's problems still exist in Unleashed, but the game play looks refreshingly traditional. Check it out:



The clip starts out with a less-than-promising addition: a new shitty friend for Sonic who goes by the name of Chip. There's also about two minutes of cutscenes, when all we really need are two sentences: "You are Sonic. Go fast."  But the game play--which resembles the best parts of Sonic Adventure 1 and 2--looks okay, even if it does feature the same sort of cruise control action that's been attached to Sonic since the Dreamcast days.  I've always been under the impression that Sonic needs a complete overhaul; his simple transition from 2D to 3D produced a rather empty series of games that don't require much input from the player.  But still, we takes what we can gets, and Sonic Unleashed could be much worse.

Of course, I'm going to hold my tongue until the game actually comes out--I won't exactly be surprised if Unleashed needlessly includes multiple game genres and interminable stories about inter-species love. But at least we know that they've gotten one level right! That's all the congratulation my healthy sense of skepticism will allow.

Related Links:

Sonic Bound: After Three Botched Reboots, Sonic the Hedgehog May Finally Get His 3D Due
The Aberration of Sonic
Sonic's Lost Innocence...Sort Of.


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Comments

LBD "Nytetrayn" said:

Actually, story/character-wise, Unleashed is looking to go a bit more oldschool.  Almost Disney-ish, in some ways.

More cutscenes of that, from what I've seen, won't be unwelcome on my consoles.

And as long as you're not forced to play as Chip, I think I can deal.

--LBD "Nytetrayn"

November 10, 2008 10:19 PM

Demaar said:

This game looks like it's on cruise control as much as Secret Rings, and the only reason that really worked for me was because the motion control was rather novel. I'll still give Unleashed a chance (lord knows I've given every other Sonic game a chance), but my hopes are riding on Black Knight.

November 11, 2008 12:38 AM

Roto13 said:

Chip looks like the worst Sonic Friend ever.

That level looks like a lot of fun, but I refuse to get excited. I've been burned too many times before. The fact that there's a Werehog shows that Sega still doesn't understand Sonic games.

November 11, 2008 12:40 AM

John Constantine said:

Just to allay everyone's fears, Unleashed is the least cruise-control 3D Sonic made. These vids make it look like you're just pushing right to win, but you're really not. You actually have to play. I died a number of times on the level in this vid and it was because I wasn't playing well, not because it had cheapo Sonic deaths. Have faith!

November 11, 2008 1:00 PM

AlexB said:

I've got cautious optimism. I didn't think I'd like Sonic Rush, but I did.

I was hoping there would be evidence of more 2D gameplay, as was hyped...suppose more comes in later? I'm glad to hear your report about the controls, John. I'd say "this could be the game" to bring back Sonic's reputation, but, um...I've said that before.

November 11, 2008 5:00 PM

Nemo Incognito said:

I'd seen that stage before in other preview videos but this is the first time I've seen it played so well.  This game looks a whole lot better when it's being played better.

But if I had a choice I'd take a little less of the constant HAH! HAH! GO! HAH! GO! GO! HAH!

November 11, 2008 7:35 PM

Demaar said:

Well, that's reassuring John. There is ONE other fear this video introduced though, a hub city. I sure as hell hope it doesn't make you do tedious non-sense like Sonic 06.

November 11, 2008 8:28 PM

About Bob Mackey

For a brief period of time I was Bull from TV's Night Court, but some of you may know me from the humor column I wrote for Youngstown State University's The Jambar, Kent State University's The Stater, and Youngstown's alternative newspaper, The Walruss. I'm perhaps most well-known for my bi-weekly pieces on Something Awful. I've also blogged for Valley24.com and have written articles for EGM, 1UP, GameSpite and Cracked. For all of my writing over the years, I have made a total of twenty American dollars. It's also said that I draw cartoons, which people have described with words such as "legible." I kidnapped the Lindbergh Baby and am looking to do so again in the future.

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John Constantine, our superhero, was raised by birds and then attended Penn State University. He is currently working on a novel about a fictional city that exists only in his mind. John has an astonishingly extensive knowledge of Scientology. Ultimately he would like to learn how to effectively use his brain. He continues to keep Wu-Tang's secret to himself.

Derrick Sanskrit is a self-professed geek in a variety of fields including typography, graphic design, comic books, music and cartoons. As a professional hipster graphic designer, his recent clients have included Hooksexup, Pitchfork and MoCCA, among others.

Amber Ahlborn - artist, writer, gamer and DigiPen survivor, she maintains a day job as a graphic artist. By night Amber moonlights as a professional Metroid Fanatic and keeps a metal suit in the closet just in case. Has lived in the state of Washington and insists that it really doesn't rain as much as everyone says it does.

Nadia Oxford is a housekeeping robot who was refurbished into a warrior when the world's need for justice was great. Now that the galaxy is at peace (give or take a conflict here or there), she works as a freelance writer for various sites and magazines. Based in Toronto, Nadia prizes the certificate from the Ministry of Health declaring her tick and rabies-free.

Bob Mackey is a grad student, writer, and cyborg, who uses the powerful girl-repelling nanomachines mad science grafted onto his body to allocate time towards interests of the nerd persuasion. He believes that complaining about things on the Internet is akin to the fine art of wine tasting, but with more spitting into buckets.

Joe Keiser has a programming degree from Johns Hopkins University, a tiny apartment in Brooklyn, and a fake toy guitar built in the hollowed-out shell of a real guitar. He writes about games and technology for a variety of outlets. One day he will stop doing this. The day after that, police will find his body under a collapsed pile of (formerly neatly alphabetized) collector's edition tchotchkes.

Cole Stryker is an American freelance writer living in York, England, where he resides with his archeologist wife. He writes for a travel company by day and argues about pop culture on the internet by night. Find him writing regularly here and here.

Peter Smith is like the lead character of Irwin Shaw's The 80-Yard Run, except less athletic. He considers himself very lucky to have this job. But it's a little premature to take "jack-off of all trades" off his resume. Besides writing, travelling, and painting houses, Pete plays guitar in a rock trio called The Aye-Ayes. He calls them a 'power pop' band, but they generally sound more like Motorhead on a drinking binge.


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