Haku's Sonic Unleashed(PS3) Review

[Hakudamashi]

So, I just found out that there's a review section, so here's mine.

WHAT I LIKE

Day Stages
I like that you don't have to upgrade Sonic at all to beat most of the missions in these stages, and you sure as hell don't need to to beat the story. I like how Sonic controls and I find him responsive enough to platform reliably, and I appreciate that his light speed dash has it's own button.

Hub Worlds
Quite frankly, I love the hub worlds. They're small and concise (save for Spagonia maybe), everywhere you need to go is close together, and the townspeople, at least for me, were interesting to talk to 95% of the time.

Night Stages
You guys know how I feel about these levels, but I'mma talk about them again anyway. I love the night time stages. The Werehog, for the most part, is pretty responsive to my button presses, checkpoints are evenly placed, and they contain a nice blend of combat and platforming, even more so than most beat-'em-ups which promise the same thing. The move list I found to be well varied and fleshed out, so it's not like you learn the next move and forget about the previous ones, but each move feels like it works with a different scenario. And maybe it's just me and my history of action games, but the Werehog levels, save for Rooftop Run, seemed to run at a comfortable length, when I spend my time searching for stuff I finish a level is about 25-30mins, but when I just have fun and rush it, it ends at like 5-8 mins, especially if he's upgraded.

Medal Grinding
Quite frankly, at least in my playthrough, there wasn't any. They give you well more than enough in the Werehog stages alone, plus if you stick to the "S Rank Path" as I call it in the day stages, then you'll leave with at least half the medals. I also like how once you pick up a medal, you never have to worry about it again, as in, you can pick up a medal and exit the stage and you'll stick keep that medal.

WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE

Day Stages
I will admit, going through some of these stages the first time were quite miserable, with some paths seeming to require split second timing, but that was only initially however as nowadays I find these levels to be some of the best in the franchise. It does however make it hard for me to recommend to others though...

Hub Worlds
Now this is where my biggest problem with Sonic Unleashed is that bothers me the most, it's atmosphere is f*cked. Here we have little areas with fairly interesting people and atmospheric music with realish locales. I also like how themed everything is and how nicely is all fits together and comes into place... but then the sun goes up... and you turn from the original duo of Werehog and Chip to... Sonic the Hedgehog, then you get painfully reminded "Oh yeah, this is a Sonic game". It bothers me to no end how Out of place Sonic, Tails and Amy are, especially in Rooftop Run Day Act 2 where suddenly you had to gather the Chao, the Chao felt out of place, that they don't belong in Europe, they felt more like cameos, and that's a BIG problem to me. I'm playing a Sonic game, why do the Sonic characters feel like they shouldn't be there? It doesn't bother me during the night time cause Werehog doesn't look like Sonic, doesn't play like Sonic, doesn't sound like Sonic, so I have no problem just pretending he's an original character in this new beat-'em-up/RPG IP made by SEGA with a cameo of Amy Rose from the Sonic Universe as she stays there at Shamar doing nothing, but then you get to the day time stages where you're Sonic again and your sense of atmosphere is ruined...

Night Stages
The inconsistent camera, the framerate drop, and I'm very dissapointed at how short Dragon Road and Jungle Joyride are . I also hate how you can't "power down" the Werehog, or there's no option to have the levels scale with you... And having a drop shadow would've been very helpful... just saying.

Medal Grinding
As painless as it is, it still really shouldn't exist in a Sonic game... or any game for that matter coughmario3dlandcough.

The Optional Missions
Can someone explain to me why all the "Destroy all the enemies" missions are for the day stages, and the "Time trial" and Platfroming missions are for the Night stages? I really would've preferred if it were the other way around...

My Verdict

After much soul searching I have come to the conclusion that this game... actually is my favourite video game of all time... yup. I love replaying it from start to finish, I can pick it up at any time and enjoy it, no matter what mood I'm in, I love the soundtrack, it's aesthetics and I had a positive reaction to it's story, clashing atmospheres and all... The only reason I put this game in higher regard over Sonic Generations is cause I enjoy Werehog over Classic Sonic, I can genuainely say I enjoy ALL of Sonic Unleashed.
With that said though, those problems I listed are still huge problems that bother me, so ultimately I give this game:

7/10
4/5
B⁺
Rent It

I can't decide on a review scale...

[Tanassy]

I like this review. Seeing this section finally get some love is nice~

[Hakudamashi]

Yeah, I just found out this was here today...