The Telegraph awarded the game a 5/10.
Is anyone genuinely surprised?
Will this review change your mind about getting the game?
Will you wait for more reviews before making a decision?
On a side note, what was the last Sonic game you purchased?
The Telegraph awarded the game a 5/10.
Is anyone genuinely surprised?
Will this review change your mind about getting the game?
Will you wait for more reviews before making a decision?
On a side note, what was the last Sonic game you purchased?
Trying to stay as neutral as possible here, but the review score and the review contents didn’t really seem to match up particularly well. He gave it a 5/10, which, by most interpretations, would mean it’s a horrible game. Shadow the Hedgehog got 5s. Yet for over half of the review, he talks about how he actually has fun and the werehog bits aren’t nearly as bad as he thought they would be. His gripes that he brings up do seem legit, as just reading them I was frustrated, too, but 5/10 seems a bit overdone.
Still, the one thing in the review that bugged me was that he speaks of a desire for an old school “eye blistering” Sonic experience, but then complains about the difficulty. Old school Sonic wasn’t easy to begin with, but I wont’ knock him too much for that last comment, simply because it may simply be bad level design. But he complains about the game being on rails. Well… duh. What Sonic game hasn’t been on rails to do degree?
Still, I’m curious to see what the overall score ends up being, as I’ve heard that this is one of the better 3D Sonic games in a long time.
Edit: Just checked gamerankings - IGN gave the Wii version a 7.2. Not too shabby.
[quote=“RYB”]The Telegraph awarded the game a 5/10.
Is anyone genuinely surprised?
Will this review change your mind about getting the game?
Will you wait for more reviews before making a decision?
On a side note, what was the last Sonic game you purchased?[/quote]
I’ve not purchased a (new) Sonic game since Sonic & Knuckles. I own the compilation for PS2 of all the original Sonic games.
One of my classmates today told me that Sega is planning to have a collection of 40+ classics for release next year. I am definitely looking forward to that.
List of titles here.
[quote=“RYB”]Is anyone genuinely surprised?
Will this review change your mind about getting the game?
Will you wait for more reviews before making a decision?
On a side note, what was the last Sonic game you purchased?[/quote]
The last Sonic game that I purchased was Sonic Riders, and before that Sonic Heroes. I regret buying them both.
Sonic Adventure 2 was the last decent Sonic game on a console that I’ve played (haven’t played Shadow). Although it had a few problems, the Sonic/Shadow stages were fun.
Sonic Unleashed looks interesting, but I’ll wait for further reviews, and will try a demo if there is one before buying.
Sonic 1 could certainly be difficult in some places. Sega should take a good hard look at what made Sonic 3 and Knuckles so great (the pinnacle of the Sonic series in my opinion) and base future Sonic games on the elements found in that/those games.
One of the main problems of have with recent Sonic games (even Sonic Rush) is the number of places where it is far too easy to fall off the level. Sonic should be all about speeding through the level in a carefree fashion. If you have to constantly avoid falling to your death, it takes away from the fun.
I can’t comment on how on rails Sonic Unleashed is, but the Megadrive Sonic games offered multiple routes through the levels, something that was less common in the Sonic Adventure games which focused more on making your journey through the level a cinematic experience.
[quote=“Snow Girl”]I’ve not purchased a (new) Sonic game since Sonic & Knuckles. I own the compilation for PS2 of all the original Sonic games.
One of my classmates today told me that Sega is planning to have a collection of 40+ classics for release next year. I am definitely looking forward to that.
List of titles here.[/quote]
Nice collection! It will certainly be interesting to see these titles in 720p. Hopefully they will look similar to the Sonic 2 port on Xbox Live Arcade.
[quote=“Solo Wing Dragon”]
One of the main problems of have with recent Sonic games (even Sonic Rush) is the number of places where it is far too easy to fall off the level. Sonic should be all about speeding through the level in a carefree fashion. If you have to constantly avoid falling to your death, it takes away from the fun.[/quote]
I completely agree with you. I believe there are a lot less pits of death in Sonic Unleashed than in more recent Sonic games, so that appears to be somewhat addressed, but it was a long time coming. One of the key design successes in the early Sonic games was that the higher up in the level you went, the more opportunity you had to miss jumps and fall without dying.
I’m very pleased to hear that the developers have addressed this, even if only partially. Modern games tend to be more forgiving then their retro counterparts, so it seems oddly out of place that its more common to receive an instant death in the newer Sonic games.
And for Sonic’s next quest. Searching for the ability to turn around without falling off a cliff!
So I take the “on rails” comment means he’s always moving forward ala Secret Rings? Well I guess it’s better than camera deaths.
I will probably end up getting this for PS2 (I don’t have any other consoles it is for). If I don’t have to fall off levels every time, I’ll be satisfied. But my expectations are pretty low and this game is by no means a priority.
BTW the last Sonic game I got was the last one released, Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood. I think it is a pretty cool game. Though nothing to get too worked up over, I think it is a fun thing for Sonic fans who are also RPG fans.
I was considering picking this up until I heard about how there’s 2 to 3 werehog levels per traditional level. The Wii version has 2 stages omitted (mazuri, empire city) entirely (well, Mazuri has a boss fight staged in it, but thats it) as well as any accompanying minigames.
I may pick this up when I’m running low on future game prospects or if it’s pretty cheap.
Granted, I’ve just started playing, but that doesn’t appear to be the case. It’s just that the werehog levels are much longer (simply because you move so damn fast in the daytime levels). Not sure that there are actually 2-3 times more werehog levels. I’ll let you know when I get further into the game.
Remember the good old days when we all praised Sega for it’s creativity? Now look at what it’s churning out in that name. Thank God Panzer Dragoon is not suffering such ignominy.
Gamespot is talking absolute tripe - that superficial review definitely looks 'phoned in. He’d had that written before the game was even out.
Sega has my full support. There’s nothing at all wrong with Sonic - what it is wrong is the attitude of the press.
Sonic is perhaps unique in that it’s afflicted with the Snaf - the anti-fan who derives a perverse pleasure in hectoring and fleckspittle. For years now people critics have whinged and whined incessantly over the last few years that Sonic isn’t “fast enough” in his recent outings. They have been constantly bleating for “uninterrupted flow”. Even though its a solid and enjoyable title the first reaction - and continuing perception - of Sonic Chronicles was to immediately dismiss it because RPGs are “too slow”. I agree that it’s unreasonable and Sonic’s alwaus been about agility as much as straight speed, but unfortunately the mantra of speed has been repeated so much in the community that it’s consumed everything else. Why has Sega held off on the “hold right to win” crowd before now? Because Sega knows that the original Sonic was never actually like that - how many of these journalists have actually played a Megadrive Sonic recently, or do they just have their arguments on a macro? - and the werehog is in Unleashed in the first place because Sega knows that “hold right to win” on its own isn’t enough to carry a game, unlike idiot journalists whose sum total of insight is “omg shado has a gun thats teh stoopid lol” rather than actually contemplating game design.
Sega is in a bind, with their scores and success held hostage to an unreasonably demanding press seemingly bent on savaging them for not conforming to their wrongheaded misapprehensions. In Sonic Unleashed Sega gave these strident morons what they wanted. Now the press is turning their nose up at it because they’ve been talking utter tripe for the past five years… and yet now, bizzarely, it’s somehow Sega’s fault?
And so here are the works of the Fourth Estate - power without responsibility.
Don’t listen to the press - the knee-jerk anti-Sonic prejudice has been set in for years now. Try the game for yourself first. I’ve been having an absolute blast on the 360 version, as have most people I’ve spoken to.
last one i bought was… sonic and the secret of the rings O_o sonic has never been slower. before that i got sonic rush which would have been good if not for all those blind falls to your deathcough(virtical limit)**. i made the mistake of getting heroes, which would have been good if not for the whole being connected thing. sonic adventure 2, which also have been good if not for the tails(riding a mechO_O)and knuckles/robotnic/rouge levels that are not as good as sonic.sonic adventture , which for some reason is the best 3d sonic game, i liked all the fast levels and characters. and i have completely avoided 360 sonic the hedgehog, shadow the hedgehog(man that was bad looking),
i really think sega is being lazy now, they have the engine from unleashed and they wont take the time to make all sonic levels(so irritating).
Also it’s worth keeping in mind that other than the story, the PS2 and Wii version are not the same game as the PS3 and 360 version.
There is indeed twice as much werehog in the “shit” versions.
Eh, I thought they’re more or less the same, aside from lacking a couple of levels altogether. And that the werehog is always the same number of levels as the normal hog stages, except they feel “twice as much” because you travel with half the speed. So, if the Wii version lacks some hog levels, then surely it also lacks the corresponding werehog levels, no?
Well, I’m just waiting to see how Sonic and the Black Knight comes along, it looks quite good, at least Sega know how to get some good visuals on the Wii, if anything they can use that knowledge for other titles, like Mad World or whatever they do next.
and the black knight eh… i just cant imagine how thew sonic team has lost focus so much that theres sonic turn based rpgs, a sonic game where your a “werehog” and it a beat-em-up more than youre sonic, and sonic games where you use a gun/sword.T_T
anyone else here part of the sonic xtreme compendium forum
RPG was by Bioware, not Sonic Team. I don’t see anything wrong with that, I just wish it was better, on par with Mario’s RPGs, which are pretty sweet games.
As for the swrod, I don’t think it’s as bad as Shadow’s gun, considering that at least Sonic still does his trademark spinning attacks with it, in ways that make some sense. Heck, I don’t find much wrong with the whole let’s put Sonic in fairy tales deal as introduced with Secret Rings, which was arguably a far better effort than the other recent Sonic titles not counting Unleashed as I haven’t seen that much of it. Fairy tales are a better option than the real world.
the thing about the rpg is it seems to defeat the whole concept of sonic(you know the whole moving quick thing). and im okay with a fairy tale idea, just not the being a rail game idea(i mean NO insult to PD though ^_^), and honestly why cant they put him in HIS worl, they made more than enough cartoons and comics for them be be able to piece one together. the sword thing is fine but he had a spining attack without the need for a sword in sonic 3 and knuckles.
one other thing… what on earth happened to super sonic, he was awesome, and i havent seen a game in years where he was playable for more than a few minutes T_T
I don’t know why people complain about “on rails”, it’s almost the same thing as taking a 2D sonic and putting the camera behind him instead of to the side. Yeah, you can’t backtrack, but then again, you had the most fun with Sonic when not backtracking anyway. Even in Sonic Adventure there were tons of parts you couldn’t really go backwards and they were Sonic’s best, ie when going through huge loops or being chased by the Orca, or doing road-boarding, etc. Heck, the good parts of Sonic Unleashed look very similar to how Secret Rings was anyway, they just don’t advertise it as on rails and people like it more.
Anyway, Black Knight, while being a sort of sequel to Secret Rings, doesn’t use the wiimote to “steer” Sonic and instead has standard analogue stick control, I imagine it’s also not as on-rails anymore.