Sonic Unleashed

Sonic Unleashed is an upcoming action video game title in the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise. The title aims to reinvent Sonic the Hedgehog while maintaining the traditional spirit of the series. SEGA of America's Vice President of Marketing, Sean Ratcliffe, claimed that, "Sonic Unleashed will introduce a new, unexpected storyline along with innovative gameplay that compliments traditional skills and features, allowing players to experiment and engage in new ways."

The title is currently under development for the Xbox 360, Playstation 3, Wii, and Playstation 2. SEGA is planning a worldwide release during the 2008 holiday season.

Gameplay
Sonic Unleashed features the following known gameplay features:


 * Gameplay will primarily consist of two modes: a 3D sidescroller, with two-dimensional gameplay (as found in the Sonic Rush and Sonic Rivals series), with seamless shifts to 3D. A day-and-night system will also be introduced


 * A level up system will be featured in which a player can enhance and improve Sonic's abilities, much like an RPG.

Story
Dr. Eggman is the primary antagonist for Sonic Unleashed. In this installment, Dr. Eggman unleashes a powerful ray that has devastating consequences, calling forth a slumbering beast from the center of the Earth, and shattering the planet into pieces; it is up to Sonic to return the seven broken continents back to normal by retrieving the Chaos Emeralds and activating their power. However, Eggman's ray also causes an unexpected transformation to Sonic's state. Allusions made in the press release to a new twist to Sonic's abilities, combined with leaked artwork and the official teaser trailer - entitled "Sonic Unleashed - Werehog Teaser Trailer" - indicate that Sonic's progress will be made even more difficult when he undergoes a transformation into a werewolf at night.

Locations
Stages are based on 'real world' locations. These include:


 * Africa
 * China
 * Mykonos, Greece
 * "High Europe"
 * New York City

Confirmed Characters

 * Sonic the Hedgehog/Sonic the Werehog/Super Sonic
 * Dr. Eggman
 * Miles "Tails" Prower
 * Knuckles the Echidna
 * Amy Rose
 * Shadow the Hedgehog

Note that apart from Sonic, all characters are only playable in minigames.

Wii Version
The Wii version of the game will be developed specifically to take advantage of the system's capabilities, with notable differences in gameplay, and with completely different levels created specifically for this version. Dimps will be involved with designing the stages of this version.

Trivia

 * Speaking to Official Nintendo Magazine (which is set for release on Friday) Sonic Team's Yoshihisa Hashimoto has revealed that Sonic Unleashed originally began development as Sonic Adventure 3. "As a development team, we originally started off this project planning to create Sonic Adventure 3", Hashimoto told the magazine. "In our minds, this game will have more in common with the older Sonic Adventure series. It has no relation to Sonic the Hedgehog or Sonic and the Secret Rings". Sonic Unleashed is on track for release towards the end of the year, sometime in November as GameStop lists for upcoming releases.


 * Japanese Name: Sonic World Adventure


 * The track used in the E3 trailer was Endless Possibility by Jarek Reddick.