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Sonic Unleashed

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I'm leaving the office in 15 minutes, should I buy this game before I leave to go home? Like others have said, most recent Sonic games have been pants, in fact my last favourite one was on the dreamcast and that wasn't even that great, but you all seem to love this so much.

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I'm leaving the office in 15 minutes, should I buy this game before I leave to go home? Like others have said, most recent Sonic games have been pants, in fact my last favourite one was on the dreamcast and that wasn't even that great, but you all seem to love this so much.

 

Depends how much you can get it for really?

 

The Sonic sections, the parts that everybody loves, haven't changed much from the first adventure game. Sure, there are the 2D parts every now and again but it's not much different than what you are used to in the past.

 

If you aren't already a fan, the Hedgehog parts could convert you. But by the same token, if you aren't a fan, then you may find it difficult to stomach the parts in between.

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It's about £20 in Game and Gamestation, I think I'll give it a try :)

 

At £20, you can't go too far wrong. I got it as soon as it was released, and have sunk quite a bit of time in, but I still get a buzz off the Sonic levels.

 

Here's a tip for you - channel all your early experience points into the werehogs strength attribute. I did that and it really helped to cut down the time I spent fighting and consequently, in the werehog levels.

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Ok, that means nothing to me right now, but I'm sure it will make sense once I start it up :)

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Ok, that means nothing to me right now, but I'm sure it will make sense once I start it up :)

 

No doubt sold on the basis it would to add "depth", some bright spark thought leveling up your powers would be good fun. Obviously they never tried to max out the werehog.

 

The other thing thing is always be on the look out for Coins, especially in the werehog levels (they have more than the running levels), as you have to have so many to unlock the next level. Early on, it won't be an issue, but you could find yourself having to go back to early levels to find more in order to progress.

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Well this turned up from tesco rentals. So gonna give it a go later on. How long does it take to get through? If I enjoy it I will likely buy it unless I can polish it off quickly enough.

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Can be bought in the BOGOF deal at PC world for £25.... got this and Farcry 2 for £25 ^^

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Well this turned up from tesco rentals. So gonna give it a go later on. How long does it take to get through? If I enjoy it I will likely buy it unless I can polish it off quickly enough.

 

It can take quite a while, I would say 15-20 hours mark.

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It can take quite a while, I would say 15-20 hours mark.

 

ah right, sounds bigger than the last sonic game of played secret of rings on wii.

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The Blog Sega Doesn’t Want You to Read

 

Maybe you’ve heard of this story before, and maybe you haven’t: Back in 2006, an anonymous Blogger by the name of “jpeg” appeared, claiming to be somebody within the game industry. He made various posts about both his personal life and his job (like any normal Blogger), though never anything terribly specific. That all changed in early 2007, when he made a post about NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams. He spoke on a great many things; he confided that he did not have much faith in the game, despite what he considered the best efforts of Sonic Team. He knew of the game’s troubled development, which he used as a segway to discuss the internal workings of Sega and how it related to Sonic Team, claiming that he knew Sonic Team, personally, “on a professional level”.

 

Given the deliberately anonymous nature of his blog, though, not many people knew whether to believe him.

 

A month after writing his post about NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams, “jpeg” deleted all of his blog posts and bid farewell to his Blogspot users. Thankfully, however, the internet never forgets: after a little bit of figurative legwork from Green Hill Zone forums user FlashTHD, an archived version of the original blog post regarding Journey of Dreams has been recovered. By now, you are probably wondering why an unconfirmed blog post from an anonymous person on the vast expanse of the internet is so important. As it turns out, one possible reason all previous posts had been removed from the blog is because “jpeg” left a little hint at the end of the post about NiGHTS:

 

“Sonic Team are a relic from a past age who have overstayed their welcome. For the same marketing reasons that their name was initially kept (and has since backfired) they should be dissolved - it may already be too late for NiGHTS (and I really hope it isn’t and they manage to turn it around, which with Iizuka-san’s passion for the project is a possibility), but for the good of the company’s image; for the future of Sega’s other prestigious IPs and lastly for its iconic mascot it needs to be done… before they release another Sonic game with a transforming Evil ‘Night’ Sonic who looks like a werewolf and can stretch his arms out Dhalsim-style. It will happen, mark my words.“

 

Over a year before anybody had ever spoken the word “Werehog”, this blog user had tipped us off to the existence of Sonic Unleashed. Obviously, this most likely constituted an illegal breach of NDA, resulting in all posts on the blog being removed.

 

Today, his blogspot account is still active, containing only his “Goodbye” post. The sidebar of his blog now contains a typical “My opinions are my own and do not reflect upon my employer, and I will not discuss my job with you” disclaimer, but most importantly, reveals the blog owner’s true name: Ben Andac. Ben Andac, as it turns out, worked as a “Game Evaluator” and an “Admissions and Recruitment Executive” for both Sega Europe and Sony Computer Entertainment Europe. Ben’s job was most likely to evaluate the quality of products coming out of the publisher and potentially scout for new recruits to develop software. Ben now works for online gaming website Idle Thumbs, writing editorials and reviews. (TRISTAN EDIT: Since this story has been published, the Blogspot account linked above has been made completely inactive.)

 

By confirming Ben’s identity as an employee at Sega Europe, re-reading the March 2007 blog regarding the development of NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams shines a spotlight directly on a side of Sega rarely seen by the public. In particular, it reveals an internal strife between Sonic Team and Sega of Japan, highlighted by the fact that NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams was originally developed as an Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 title - going so far as to say he (Ben Andac) played an Xbox 360 build of NiGHTS at one point. Upon witnessing the overnight success of the Wii, Sega of Japan apparently forced Sonic Team to retool the game for Nintendo’s lower-spec platform, something its producer (Takashi Iizuka) was not happy about. Despite the shift in platform, the game’s fast-approaching release date and limited development budget remained firmly unchanged, giving Sonic Team roughly one year to rebuild NiGHTS exclusively for the Wii (when most games typically take two years or more to develop).

 

As it turned out, according to Mr. Andac, after Sega had restructured itself to re-integrate external development houses like Smilebit and AM2 back in to the main Sega offices, Sonic Team was kept external strictly as a sweatshop to milk the Sonic cashcow, assembly-line style. Sega of Japan had intended NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams as a brief rest from the never-ending onslaught of Sonic game after Sonic game. In Ben’s own words: “There’s no doubt that Sonic Team have lost their quality touch. They are worse than talentless: they are without passion. Bored, weary, closed-minded and out of touch with any sense of what makes games good anymore.” Quite simply put, after making so many of them, Sonic Team is tired of Sonic games - something Ben cites as a reason for Yuji Naka’s resignation in 2006.

 

In the end, what this blog really represents is that, even within their own ranks, members of Sega’s staff are unhappy with the direction Sonic Team as a development studio has headed. While it was easy to assume such, we now have confirmation of internal strife between Sonic Team and their parent subsidary, Sega of Japan. In relation, this goes a long way to explain the shortcomings of games produced by Sonic Team: They are forced to work on a franchise they no longer care about, and when they do get a chance to stretch their legs, it is under tight restrictions.

Stay tuned to TSSZ as we cover all aspects of Sonic the Hedgehog and his related franchises.

 

TSSZ

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Unleashed really doesn't seem like a game made by people who don't care.

 

I mean...if they didn't care they could have just done the main Sonic/Warehog levels and the game would have been long enough.

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Is this supposed to be some kind of backhanded compliment then to Sonic team?

 

I'm reading - "Sonic Team are beyond crap but it's not their fault because SEGA of Japan made them that way".

 

I agree with Cube - SU doesn't come across as a game made by people who don't care. I wonder who it is though who comes up with the main concepts then - is it SEGA's head honchos or those within Sonic Team. SU strikes me as a solid execution of somebody elses poor idea.

 

Still, you've got to feel a bit sorry for ST. Once they were held up there with Nintendo's EAD and now look at them.

 

That said, I still continue to believe and probably always will - Sonic 06 is the only really disappointing ST game I've ever played.

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There's a demo for this game on the PS3. I'm gonna try it now when it downloads. Hopefully it won't have much werehog.

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I think the demo is just the first level (Apatos?) where you play as Sonic and no Warehog do-dah.

 

Speaking of Unleashed, its currently sat in my games collection needing to be completed. Stuck on Empire City as the Warehog. Boss on a roof, keeps knocking me off leading to my instant death. If only I got to play as Kratos or Nero from Devil May Cry... :p

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Well have played through a few hours of this and not sure its for me. When the Sonic levels work they are great and I love them, but they still have the odd problem (like camera and frame rate) that you'd expect to have been ironed out by now. Still though it is up there as some of the best 3D sonic action ever. One thing that does annoy me is the medals system I don't want to be slowing down to explore and try and uncover them all...

 

The werehog levels however are pretty good, but just repetitive and last that little bit too long for what I see as a distraction from the main fun of a sonic game.

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Just played the demo, and wow. Absolutely amazing. I'm going to rent the game on friday definitely. Hope the warehog doesnt suck too much.

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Just be aware that you will spend a lot of time as the Werehog. Not in the gameplay ratio though but time spent playing

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Just beat Dark Gaia...

 

...apart from the annoyingness of the last boss(es), the only thing I dislike about this game are the timed button presses that are required all to often...like at the end having to press one 60 times in a matter of seconds...i barely did that...

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Just beat Dark Gaia...

 

...apart from the annoyingness of the last boss(es), the only thing I dislike about this game are the timed button presses that are required all to often...like at the end having to press one 60 times in a matter of seconds...i barely did that...

 

I don't think the QTE things were that bad - the most annoying one are on the critical finish moves because you have so little time and when you fail, you get hurt and the enemy recovers most of it's health.

 

In other news, I managed to get the Speeding Ticket achievement legitimately. I had a couple of goes at the level and couldn't break the 4 min mark, but after youtubing some run throughs, I saw a few ways to cut down my time - two parts where you cut out a platforming section by going over it saved the most, the rest was memorizing the falling pillars. Now my best time is 2:45 and every time I play the level, I constantly get below the target time even if it's not by much.

 

And I got Eggmanland down to 23mins whilst I was at it too - though I could save a few more minutes if I could make it through on one life.

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I hate the end boss... I can get to the third bit before the Sonic bit, you know where the boss is throwing stuff, the first and second waves of stuff are dodgeable so nps there so is the fourth and sixth I think, I can counter most without getting hit, the beam always gets me a bit though >> but it's when I get closer like a few boosts away there doesn't seem to be enough time to counter and so I always end up getting pwned :/ I wouldn't mind so much but it's just shit that there is no checkpoint at the real final boss.

 

*edit* also, godammit! I just saw a you tube video of the part of the boss battle I'm on and I think it's from the Wii version as it has Gamecube like button promts on it and it seems like tha annoying bit where you have to dodge projectiles, isn't even in it, just skips straight to one on one fighting and then the sonic bit with no repeated fighting inbetween >< they should have made it like this in all versions. >>

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnWrwgQMiTI

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I hate the end boss... I can get to the third bit before the Sonic bit, you know where the boss is throwing stuff, the first and second waves of stuff are dodgeable so nps there so is the fourth and sixth I think, I can counter most without getting hit, the beam always gets me a bit though >> but it's when I get closer like a few boosts away there doesn't seem to be enough time to counter and so I always end up getting pwned :/ I wouldn't mind so much but it's just shit that there is no checkpoint at the real final boss.

 

*edit* also, godammit! I just saw a you tube video of the part of the boss battle I'm on and I think it's from the Wii version as it has Gamecube like button promts on it and it seems like tha annoying bit where you have to dodge projectiles, isn't even in it, just skips straight to one on one fighting and then the sonic bit with no repeated fighting inbetween >< they should have made it like this in all versions. >>

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnWrwgQMiTI

 

But the real, real final boss does have a checkpoint and if you die, you just go back to the start of that last segment. Whilst the flying part was a pain in the backside, and the last segment was perhaps something of a let down, I still think it's better than the Wii version that only allows you to attack the boss when it feels like it - trying to land the final blow can have you waiting around for what seems like ages since you can't attack unless you see a button prompt.

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to be honest i think sonic unleashed is crap i traded it in for something else

 

Well to each there own - that's the beauty of opinions.

 

I won't sit here and pretend like it's all dynamite, but for me, the good points definitely outweigh the bad. When Sonic is in full flow, and he actually gets to do it a lot in this game, I don't think there is much quite like it.

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i suppose we all have different opinions it doesnt really matter wether someone likes it or not its the person who has the game to decide for themselves

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