Sonic Unleashed!

[Spud]

Dec 17, 2008 19:20:46 GMT -5 kirbychu said:

I forget what his Mario Galaxy review was like, but the Brawl one was extremely harsh.

He said it was fun... amongst other things.

[Deleted]

You guys realize you're sipping the Hatoraide because he gave a review that's par for his standards that just happens to be the reason this board exists, right? That the only reason you find his reviews skewed or offensive is because what he doesn't like in a game actually comes with a good reason? That hating Yahtzee because he almost always gives Nintendo games bad or sorta-bad reviews means that you're all blind-assed fanboys? ;D

Yahtzee has stated several times that storyline isn't what ties him into a game, although it certainly helps. One of his least favorite genres of games is the dreaded J-RPG, which are as story-heavy as they come. Also note that three of his favorite games are Killer 7, No More Heroes, and Earthbound, that his Super Paper Mario and Super Mario Galaxy reviews were for the most part positive. Oh, and let's not forget that he's given less shining reviews than that to big games on rival consoles, like Dead Space, Halo 3, Left 4 Dead and Uncharted: Drake's Fortunes.

But maybe it's just me! Maybe I'm the only one that takes what Yahtzee says with a grain of salt. Maybe I'm the only one that tries to see it from his perspective. Brawl is a fanservice game, and a person who is not as into the Nintendo mithos will not be as inclined to appreciate it.

So in short, I agree with his opinion that Sonic needs to be put out to pasture and you guys need to stop being such fucking babies about what a British game reviewer with a brain and knowledge in his profession has to say about the Game of the Week.

[kirbychu]

Calm down, TEi, nobody's hating Yahtzee. We're just calmly disagreeing, that's all.

I didn't find this particular review all that funny. Mainly because it doesn't seem like he could think of all that many bad things to say about the actual game. He says a little about the combat system, which was the only part of the video I laughed at, and says the game is too fast. Most of the rest of his time here is spent shitting on the franchise in general. But, y'know... he comes right out and says that the only reason he decided to review it was because he knew he would hate it. I don't mind that he hated it at all. I knew where it was going, I just wish he'd spent more time talking about the game itself.

Funnily enough, it seems that Yahtzee slightly preferred the Werehog stages over the regular Sonic ones - the exact opposite opinion of everyone else I've heard.

[kirbychu]

DOUBLE POST, but I'm going to put EDGE Magazine's review here. So far it's been the only one I agree with.

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With his roots in a 2D tech demo, it was perhaps inevitable that the 3D era would claim Sonic as its most high-profile casualty. A 'highlights' reel would include the unmitigated disaster of Sonic Extreme, the isometric curio Sonic 3D, and the false dawn of Sonic Adventure before the coup de grace of the 'return to form', Sonic The Hedgehog, perhaps the most abysmal 3D platformer of recent times. And let's not even mention the one with guns and cars in it.

They sell, though, so the conveyor belt isn't stopping any time soon. And there have been signs, particularly with Sonic And The Secret Rings, that Sonic Team might finally be getting a grip on things. Early showings of Sonic Unleashed's 2D sections raised hopes, promptly dashed by the inclusion of Sonic the Werehog. So is this the neat speedster that still exists in memory, or another outing for a trash-spouting klutz?

Unsurprisingly, it's both. The Sonic the Hedgehog levels are simply remarkable. A lot of their appeal is the spectacle - make no bones about it, this is a visually astonishing game. Sprinting on the sides of skyscrapers, dashing down the back of a dragon or whooshing like air across the surface of the water, 3D Sonic has never been realised like this before. In the 2D originals the sprite occasionally gained such momentum that the screen couldn't keep up, and that rush of exhilarating speed feeds into Sonic Unleashed's headiest moments. At times, you simply won't be able to process the detail, size and speed on offer, the result being twitch gaming of the extreme variety.

There's even the odd bit of straight platforming in here; a particular highlight is climbing the clock tower in Spagnolia only to head down it vertically, with a tableaux of slate roofs stretching out below. Of more surprise is the fact that the standard of the levels remains generally high, their appeal extended with challenges re-presenting sections featuring new elements or timing the most intense runs. Less impressive is the increasing frequency of instant-death QTEs and pits that pop up in later challenges, along with one particular level that fails to deliver the game at anything like its best.

Among the many pleasant surprises is the game's audio, for so long in this series mere thrashing guitar nonsense. Tomoya Ohtani's direction sees the music triumphantly reclaim the pulse and verve of the series in its heyday, and when it hits its frequent heights - Mazuri and Apotos during the day, and the memorable Spagonia theme - it's almost like none of the bad things ever happened.

So it had to fall down somewhere. The Werehog levels aren't disastrous as such, they're simply banal retreads of God Of War. Sonic's arms work much like Kratos's flails, he lifts doors exactly like the Greek anti-hero, and even the power orbs look the same. But God Of War's strengths aren't its repetitive combat and numbing puzzles, they're its sense of scope, brutality and, most of all, its encounters with bigger enemies. Sonic Unleashed has none of this. The same basic enemies recur, fall to the same patterns, and you repeat until the level ends. It's executed with competence, but next to the speed of Sonic, the Werehog just feels pedestrian.

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[Untitled Side bar]

Since 'were' means 'man', shouldn't the correct portmanteau phrase be something more like 'hedgewolf' or 'hogwolf'? Name aside, the Werehog is a truly baffling creation. You have to hope it isn't the hellish result of dreaded focus group tests.
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Hubba hubba [Side bar]

There are hub worlds in Sonic Unleashed, full of people walking around and a handful of shops. Oh, and an entrance to another hub world where you can actually access the levels. And occasionally the entrance to a lab where you have to talk to someone to unlock new areas, before going there to actually unlock the levels themselves. When all you really want to do is press a button and move to the next slice of action, this begins to feel like a grind. We counted nine separate loading screens to move from one level to the next. How does all this possibly fit with Sonic's most famous trait?
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As a package, Sonic Unleashed isn't quite the spectacular return to form promised, but it's a hell of a lot closer than Sega's other recent efforts. If Sonic Team curtails the gimmicks, the hub worlds and the daft sidekicks, and focus on exactly why that little blue blur can still get people excited, who knows? It could happen again. [6]
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Bearing in mind this is EDGE, who actually use the rating system correctly. An EDGE 6 is basically the equivalent of an IGN 8.

[8bitretroshit]

Dec 18, 2008 5:41:37 GMT -5 kirbychu said:

Bearing in mind this is EDGE, who actually use the rating system correctly. An EDGE 6 is basically the equivalent of an IGN 8.

You only say that because Sonic managed to get a decent score this time around.

You know the 2D parts of the game looked pretty fun, but the videos I saw of the Were-Hog stages were boring as sin. I don't want to play some shitty God of War ripoff to get to the next Sonic stage. And apparently there's coin fetch quests, welp. Passing this one up until it's like 10 bucks or so.

So here's the thing: If SEGA wants to make a GoW ripoff so badly, make it a different game. More importantly they should use one of their franchises that isn't about running really fast, but actually about kicking ass like, say, Golden Axe. And then polish the game so it actually looks worth playing through.

On the other hand, why should they? Slap a Sonic name on their game and shit sells.

[kirbychu]

Dec 18, 2008 10:59:03 GMT -5 8bitretroshit said:

You only say that because Sonic managed to get a decent score this time around.

...Uh? I was just explaining EDGE's rating system, for those unfamiliar with it.

IGN classifies a 6 as "passable", while for EDGE it's above average - what IGN calls an 8.

I never understood IGN's ratings, anyway. if you're using a 10/10 rating system, surely 5 should be average. Not 7.

[TV Eye]

IGN does it by the American school grading system. 90% and above is an A, 80%-89% is a B, 70%-79% is a C (or average), 60%-69% is a D, and 59% and below is an F.

[Koopaul]

I don't know what the problem with hubs are... I sure as hell liked the hubs in the 360 version better than the pictures you talked to on the Wii.

[Spud]

Dec 18, 2008 12:32:59 GMT -5 TV Eye said:

IGN does it by the American school grading system. 90% and above is an A, 80%-89% is a B, 70%-79% is a C (or average), 60%-69% is a D, and 59% and below is an F.

a terribly flawed system mind you.

[kirbychu]

Well, I think the idea is that neither should be included.

I think the "World Adventure" theme would feel somewhat empty without meeting people from the respective countries, though. And the World Adventure was approximately fifteen million billion times more appealing than the Werehog thing.

EDIT: Now it looks like I'm talking to Spud!

[Manspeed]

I'll admit that the Werehog is definitely a pointless addition. Sonic Team flat out admitted that the only reason they add things like that is to pad the game's length because people like long-games.

What they don't realize is that the reason the game whizzes by so quickly in the first place is because of the way Sonic's stages are designed. They take all that effort to build 1000 miles of ground, but it only takes five minutes to cross.

Instead of having a few really long stages, why couldn't they just make a bunch of slower-paced small stages to compensate? Yes, the Werehog is just that, but it's also possible for regular Sonic to traverse those kinds of levels.

What I'm trying to say here is what I was trying to say earlier in the topic. Sonic is not a one-trick pony. In all of his old games he was able to do a little of everything: Running fast, rolling through loops, going underwater, making timed jumps across platforms, etc.

Nowadays they strip everything away except for the speed. They take the game apart and dole out a different component to each playable character. Granted, Unleashed is a bit better in this respect due to only having two characters, but they still have a ways to go.

[Koopaul]

Yes it's true, I've always wanted Sonic to slow down a bit. Stop and do some platforming. Why in the orginal Sonic there were points where you had to push a block into lava and ride it across etc. You know, stuff like that.

[BeamClaws]

He wasn't even fast in the original. Mario was faster.

But maybe the correct term is take a break. After speeding through the first half, do some platforming, that's what it was like. I didn't like it that much.

But one reason I consider Sonic Advanced 2 the best gamei n the series is that it had speed platforming.

After dashing through the hoops, you come across a ramp, jump over it to take the low road and keep on dashing or, take the ramp and burst to rails, jump to the next one and use the spring at the end which transports you to the bouncy platforms o which you slowly flip across, land on the ground, resume your speed and progress.

[Manspeed]

That's nice if you have super see-outside-the-boarders-of-the-screen-o-vision in order to dodge everything.

Seriously, kid. You sound like you have no idea what you're talking about, and Sonic Advanced definitely can't be considered the best in the entire series by any sane person.

[BeamClaws]

Sonic Advanced 2.

And if you needed that kind of vision in SADV2, you needed it in all other 2-D games. You need quick reflexes, just like any other game.