Sonic Unleashed

Sonic Unleashed, also known as Sonic World Adventure in Japan, is a video game in the Sonic the Hedgehog series and the third Sonic game with the rating of E+10 (fourth, counting SEGA Superstars) developed by Sonic Team Japan and published by Sega for multiple platforms. The game follows Sonic the Hedgehog as he attempts to restore the world to normal after his nemesis, Doctor Eggman, splits the world's continents into pieces with a powerful new ray weapon and the power of the Chaos Emeralds, as well as his struggles with his new beast form generated by the corrupted Emeralds, Sonic the Werehog. Whilst incorporating Sonic's traditional platforming and trademark speed, the gameplay style for this game is notably different, focusing on 2D side-scrolling platform gameplay rendered with 3D visuals, as well as behind-the-back, third-person stages; gameplay seamlessly transitions between these two styles.

Gameplay


Gameplay primarily consists of two modes: 2D side-scrolling platform gameplay, rendered with 3D visuals (as found in the Sonic Rush and Sonic Rivals series), with seamless shifts to behind-the-back, third-person stages. Concepts returning from past games include Sonic's trademark high-speed gameplay, as well as improved lock-on for automatically targeting and hitting enemies. Sliding across the ground also returns, and a new feature, Speed Drift allows Sonic to slide around a corner at high speed. Players will also be able to perform a new side-step maneuver known as Quick Step, allowing Sonic to instantly dodge obstacles to the left or right. As the player goes through the game, and Sonic gains more experience points, player is able to upgrade and gain new abilities for Sonic and Werehog.

An on-screen Ring Energy meter can be filled by collecting rings, which is used to activate a temporary speed increase known as Sonic Boost, during which time the camera uses a fish-eye effect and motion blur; hitting enemies and obstacles will reduce the meter. Action Chaining allows the player to collect energy more quickly, by collecting rings faster or by stringing together sets of actions, including button input sequences, some of which will be in midair. Repeated action chains will allow the player to perform special moves or access different routes in the level. Shield pick-ups from previous games will make a return, protecting Sonic from various hazards.

During night sections of the game, Sonic transforms to his alternate Werehog form, and gameplay shifts from fast-paced action to a slower, more platform-oriented style of gameplay. The Werehog form allows Sonic a great deal of strength, and gameplay involves smashing enemies and destructible environments, whilst his stretchy arms will allow him to reach high platforms and perform special attacks. The Ring Energy meter changes to two bars, Unleashed and Vitality; the Vitality bar acts as a health bar and replenishes by collecting rings, whilst the Unleashed bar activates with a button to increase attack strength, decrease vitality loss from enemy attacks, and enables special moves, and replenishes by defeating enemies, and defeating enemies.

Levels
Nine levels exist in the game on seven continents, all of which are based on real-world locations. Each stage is place on a different continent on Earth. These locations include:


 * Apotos (Windmill Isle): This level is the first level in the game and serves as the backdrop to most of the tutorials in the game. Its architecture is influenced by Greek Mediterranean architecture, like the real Greek island of Mykonos.
 * Mazuri (Savannah Citadel): The sandy, desert-like level inspired by Africa . This is present in the Xbox 360/PlayStation 3 versions as a hub world, day, and night stages, on the Wii and PS2 version it is only playable for the boss Egg Beetle and as a map page.
 * Spagonia (Rooftop Run): A level influenced by western European architecture, most likely Italy.
 * Holoska (Cool Edge): An icy location, most likely based on Alaska.
 * Chun-Nan (Dragon Road): A level inspired by China. It includes a run along what looks like the Great Wall.
 * Shamar (Arid Sands): A stage designed to resemble a Middle Eastern desert landscape.
 * Empire City (Skyscraper Scamper): A location based on New York City where Sonic is shown to run between skyscrapers. This stage is not available on the Wii and PS2 version.
 * Adabat (Jungle Joyride): A level inspired by Angkor and Southeastern Asia themes. It contains many flowing rivers and high cliffs.
 * Eggmanland (Crimson Carnival): Eggman's empire, based on an island near the fifth continent. The stage is combination of an amusement park and a factory. It resembles a fusion of Circus Park, Lava Shelter and Final Egg.

Levels have been designed so that the two aforementioned modes of 2D and 3D gameplay will be switched between roughly every fifteen to thirty seconds, whilst no stage will last for more than five minutes. In addition, the game features a day-and-night system; some parts of the action stages have been specially built so that time will pass, and these can be played as either Sonic or his werehog form, while others are only built for one specific form, and during these areas, time will not pass. The player is easily be able to advance time manually during the areas allowing either form, should they prefer one or the other.

The game also features town stages, or "hub-worlds", that are set in the same environments as the action stages, and players also are able to walk around the environment freely and speak to townspeople, even gaining items from them. However, this "overworld" can be completely ignored, should the player prefer to simply play through all the stages. Optional side-quests are also available from these stages, for instance, using Tails to fly the Tornado plane ; side-quests will be the only time characters other than Sonic will be playable. Such side quests are only avalable for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions of the game.

Plot
Sonic Unleashed begins describing the end of an untold story which sees Sonic confronting his nemesis, Doctor Eggman, bounding around a fleet of spaceships, and transforming to Super Sonic - Sonic transformed using the power of the Chaos Emeralds - in order to stop him, destroying Eggman`s mech and knocking Eggman himself to the ground. As a trap, Eggman pretends to plea for mercy. When Sonic is close enough, he activates his laser, which traps Sonic in the center and begins drawing the Chaos energy out of Sonic and the Emeralds in a fashion that is clearly extremely painful for Sonic. After the laser is charged, Eggman fires it at the earth to wake a monster known as Dark Gaia, splitting the planet. The dark energy of the Emeralds is brought out by the ray, transforming Sonic into a monstrous version of himself and rendering the Chaos Emeralds gray and powerless. Eggman then opens an airlock which sucks Sonic and the drained Emeralds out into space and down to Earth. While Sonic is saved from a fatal landing due to an unknown energy source, he still ends up taking a heavy fall, landing on top of a flying dog-like creature whom Sonic names Chip. The resulting impact causes Chip to lose his memory (which Sonic thinks is his fault). Sonic agrees to help Chip restore his memory during his journey.

After exploring the city of Apatos, Sonic and Chip run into Tails, who reveals that Professor Pickle of Spagonia University may be able to help them. Once they reach Spagonia, they discover Eggman has kidnapped Professor Pickle for his knowledge on Dark Gaia. After traveling to Mazuri and freeing him, Professor Pickle explains the nature of Dark Gaia and reveals that restoring power to the Chaos Emeralds via the Gaia Temples would help the planet return to normal. Sonic then sets out to the seven Gaia Temples to restore the emeralds and reassemble the planet. All the while, Dr. Eggman makes plans to reassemble Dark Gaia and finish Eggmanland.

During the restoration of the sixth Chaos Emerald, it's revealed that Chip is in fact Light Gaia, the opposite of Dark Gaia, and he lost his memories because, like Dark Gaia, he was prematurely awakened by Eggman's laser; likewise, Dark Gaia has not yet been fully reborn due to his premature awakening, and Sonic must stop Eggman before Dark Gaia's full powers return. At this point, Sonic travels to the location of the last temple, over which Eggman has built Eggmanland using Dark Gaia's power. While Sonic is able to restore the last emerald and defeat Eggman's newest mech, Dark Gaia becomes complete, knocking Dr. Eggman out of the way. Chip, using the Gaia Temples to form a body to combat Dark Gaia with, and Sonic hold off the beast, but Dark Gaia manages to take its final form. Sonic then transforms into Super Sonic and take Final Dark Gaia down, but the battle leaves him too drained to escape. As the final continent moves back into place, Chip flings Sonic back to the surface while he remains behind. After Sonic wakes up, Chip's necklace is found on the ground. Sonic then picks it up and puts on the necklace as a bracelet.

Characters
While these characters were confirmed to appear in the game, Sonic is the only playable character. However, optional mini-games were going to be available, during which time another character was planned to be used in order to complete them. Tails also controls the Tornado plane in missions similar to that of Sonic Adventure and that is played in the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions.


 * Sonic the Hedgehog
 * Super Sonic
 * Sonic the Werehog
 * Chip/Light Gaia
 * Gaia Colossus
 * Amy Rose
 * Miles "Tails" Prower
 * Professor Pickle
 * Doctor Eggman
 * Dark Gaia
 * SA-55

Development
The development of Sonic Unleashed was announced in April 2008. Unleashed was originally intended to be the third installment of the Sonic Adventure series and subsequently, at an early development stage, had the working title Sonic World Adventure, complete with work-in-progress logo. However, the development team began to introduce enough new innovations to separate it from the Sonic Adventure titles, and so a new title, Sonic Unleashed, was decided upon. It was then later revealed that the game's name in Japan would in fact remain Sonic World Adventure for its release there.

The title was first brought to public attention when the Sonic Unleashed name was trademarked by Sega on March 12, 2008. Screenshots of cut scenes, artwork, and a video were leaked ten days later; the title was then officially confirmed by Sega on April 3, 2008 with a small selection of screenshots and an updated video.

The game was being developed internally by Sonic Team. It is a multiplatform release on the Wii, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3,and the Xbox 360. There are two development "silos" that work on two separate builds of the game: one for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 version, and one for the Wii and PlayStation 2 version. The Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions run on Sega's "Hedgehog Engine", which has been in production for three years and will produce a frame rate of 30 frames per second. The Wii and PlayStation 2 versions do not take advantage of the Hedgehog Engine, instead using a modified version of an existing, internal Sega engine.

The Wii version of the game has been developed specifically to take advantage of its controller's capabilities, with notable differences in gameplay. The game uses the Wii Remote and Nunchuk option; whilst character movement and basic actions are assigned to buttons, certain actions will benefit from physical movements. It supports the GameCube controller, and also the option of using the Classic Controller. The levels, whilst sharing the same styles, themes and motifs as the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions, are different to those shared between the Wii and the PlayStation 2 versions, and Dimps was ony involved with design of the daytime stages for these versions.

Initially, it was stated that Unleashed was to be intended solely as a single-player experience, and would not offer any multiplayer or online modes. This was then cast into doubt when references to online modes were alluded to around E3 2008, but a later interview re-iterated that Unleashed would have no online modes at all. A demo was said to be available on the PlayStation Store and on Xbox Live near to the game's release, and was released recently.

On March 12, 2009, Downloadable Content was released for the Xbox 360 called the "Chun-Nan Adventure pack" the expansion includes four new daytime stages and two new Nighttime stages. A framerate patch was include to fix framerate issues on areas and levels in the game such as the hub-worlds and Adabat. The package cost 250 Microsoft points to download while the framerate patch comes free. On March 26, 2009, an additional expansion was released called the "Spagonia Adventure Pack", just like the level before it, it contains four new daytime stages and two new nighttime stages. It is very likely that more level expansions will be released in the coming weeks. On April 2, 2009 the "Chun-Nan Adventure Pack" was released for the PS3 on the PlayStation Network. It has the same features as the 360 version and again will likely receive updates as well. On April 15, 2009, these two packs were made available to USA PS3 owners. It is highly doubtful if the Wii version will receive extra content due to the system's limitations and due to the fact that it was made by a separate team.

Music
The game's theme song is Endless Possibility by Jaret Reddick. The song seems to take Sonic's point of view as to the events of what happens within the game.

The ending theme is Dear My Friend, about the brief but touching friendship between Sonic and Chip.

Other media
Archie Comics recently stated that they had plans for an adaption of Sonic Unleashed.

A Japanese magazine has also released a manga adaption of Sonic Unleashed. This manga was the first sighting of Chip.

Close to the game's release, Sega revealed a trailer for an upcoming short animated film tilted Sonic: Night of the Werehog. The film, starring Sonic and Chip, has no dialogue, except for one instance where Sonic says "oops." The film is about 10 minutes long and was released in November 2008 alongside the game.

Trivia

 * In the instruction manual for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions, it is mentioned that Sonic loves chili dogs.
 * The photographs from Sonic: Night of the Werehog appear in the game, in the first scene at Eggmanland.
 * Knuckles and Shadow were planned to appear in the game, but they never made it. This makes Sonic Unleashed the first game since either of their debuts not to feature them.
 * In the opening movie, a SEGA Dreamcast can be spotted when Eggman pushes the button to fire the laser. It is seen again later when the Egg Dragoon is defeated.
 * In the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions of the game, in the nighttime Spagonia hub to the right in a small lane, a person in the shower can be heard whistling the theme from the teaser trailer.
 * In the PlayStation 3 / Xbox 360 versions, in the daytime Mazuri hub, two giant elephants can be spotted. However at night, two zebras can be spotted.
 * This game marks the first appearance of SA-55 "Ergo" the robot.
 * This is the third game that Eggman succeeds in his plans; the first game being Sonic Adventure, and the second being Sonic Riders.
 * This game was originally going to become a third entry in Sonic Adventure series.
 * This is the first game in the main series that has a different name in Japan, "Sonic World Adventure".
 * This game has the smallest voice & character cast of any 3D Sonic game.
 * This is the 3rd Sonic game in the whole series where Sonic`s speed (MPH) is shown; the first 2 being Sonic Chaos & Sonic Labyrinth.
 * This is the only Sonic game where Sonic can crawl.
 * In PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions of the game, Mazuri is a playable level, but in the Wii version, it only features a boss battle.
 * Mazuri is the only level in Sonic Unleashed to be named after a real life location.
 * Strangely, this is the second time that the planet gets split apart by Eggman, the first time was in Sonic Advance 3.
 * In the 360 version, when you go to Spagonia, you'll see that the statue in front of the University looks like a Golden Snitch from Harry Potter series.
 * When the planet is pieced back together, on the bottom of it you will see a missing piece of land.
 * Some key characters are apparently unaffected by Dark Gaia's influence and aren't corrupted nor do they change in any way. This again is most likely due to the lack of space on all of the disks.
 * This is one of the few Sonic games that was not released in Japan first.
 * The music is similar to "Toei Animation" and "Dragon Ball Z."
 * This is one of the only Sonic games in the main 3D Sonic series were Eggman doesn't team up with Sonic and his friends in the end, apart from Sonic Adventure.
 * Chip's popularity sky rocketed due to his theme song "Dear My Friend," his sacrifice for Sonic and his personality, so it could be possible that just like Shadow when he died in Sonic Adventure 2 and returned in Sonic Heroes and stayed in the series, Chip could also return.
 * Apparently SEGA said that the Sonic The Werehog could come back, another possibility that Chip could come back into the series. This is a possibility due to the Werehog being a side effect from Gaia energy, meaning that the two Gaias could return.
 * Because of the game's high speed action levels this is one of the few Sonic games that doesn't have the Power Sneaker power up.
 * This is the second game in which Sonic transforms into Super Sonic twice in one game (the first being Sonic the Hedgehog 3). It's also the second game Super Sonic loses a fight. Ironically, the other one is also Sonic the Hedgehog 3, when Sonic had the Chaos Emeralds knocked from him by Knuckles.
 * This is the first game in the series that allows the player to control a gigantic form.