Sonic Unleashed

Sonic Unleashed, also known as Sonic World Adventure in Japan, is an upcoming video game in the Sonic the Hedgehog series developed by Sonic Team Japan and to be 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 will primarily consist 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, Sonic will be able to upgrade to gain new abilities.

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 will shift 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, Shield and Vitality; the Vitality bar acts as a health bar and replenishes by collecting rings, whilst the Shield bar activates with a button to protect the Vitality bar, and replenishes by defeating enemies.

Levels
Nine levels exist in the game, all of which are based on real-world locations. Those levels whose order is known include the first level of the game, Mykonos - initially generically dubbed "Greece" due to its design being based on the country - which will be used to initiate the player into some of the game mechanics, as well as provide a sense of speed. The fourth level is one based on Europe.

Further levels include those seen in screenshots, such as a sandy, desert-like level set in Africa, and those that have been previewed by journalists. These include China, which includes a run along the Great Wall, and a level based on New York City, where Sonic was shown to run between skyscrapers. Stage Levels will have multiple pathways for players to follow.

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 will easily be able to advance time manually during the areas allowing either form, should they prefer one or the other.

The game will also feature town stages, or "hub-worlds", that are set in the same environments as the action stages, and players will be 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 will also be 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.

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. However, Eggman manages to trap him using a powerful new ray weapon which corrupts the power of the emeralds. He then uses the Emeralds' energy to unleash a powerful beast from the center of the planet, which has devastating consequences, shattering the planet into pieces; it is up to Sonic to solve the crisis by traveling the world, finding shrines that will fix the Emeralds, in order to return the world back to normal.

In addition, Eggman's ray also causes an unexpected transformation to Sonic's state, and Sonic's progress will be made even more difficult when the ray and the transformed Emeralds have the unforeseen side-effect of transforming him into a "Werehog" - a beast form with greater strength and abilities - at night.

Characters
While these characters have been confirmed to appear in the game, Sonic is the only playable character during the main action stages. However, optional mini-games are available, during which time another character will be used in order to complete them. Tails will also be able to control the Tornado plane in missions similar to that of Sonic Adventure.


 * Sonic the Hedgehog
 * Super Sonic
 * Sonic the Werehog
 * Miles "Tails" Prower
 * Doctor Eggman
 * Amy Rose
 * Knuckles the Echidna
 * Shadow the Hedgehog
 * Chip the Dog(cameo)
 * Dark Gaia

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 is currently being developed internally by Sonic Team. It will be 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 will 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 will not take advantage of the Hedgehog Engine, instead using a modified version of an existing, internal Sega engine.

The Wii version of the game will be developed specifically to take advantage of its controller's capabilities, with notable differences in gameplay. The game will use the Wii Remote and/or Nunchuk option; whilst character movement and basic actions will be assigned to buttons, certain actions will benefit from physical movements. It will support 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, will be different to those shared between the Wii and the PlayStation 2 versions, and Dimps will only be 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 will be available on the PlayStation Store and on Xbox Live near to the game's release.

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

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

A Japanesse magasine has also released a manga adaption of Sonic Unleashed. This manga was th first siting of Chip.