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 E10+ (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/White Island): 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/Clay Castle): 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/Orange Roofs): A level influenced by western European architecture, like the real Italian city of Siena.
 * Holoska (Cool Edge): An icy location, most likely based on Alaska (due to the name).
 * 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, probably Petra, Jordan.
 * 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 Apotos, 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 uses the Gaia Temples to form a body to combat Dark Gaia with, and he 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 and some parting words are found on the ground. Sonic then picks it up and puts on the necklace as a bracelet to remind them of their adventures together. The game ends as Sonic runs off with Tails, who is in the Tornado, towards another adventure.

Characters
While these characters were confirmed to appear in the game, Sonic is the only playable character (although the player does take control of Chip for brief sections during one boss battle). 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. Several other Downloadble Contents were released. Later, a "Holoska Adventure Pack" and a "Mazuri Adventure Pack" were released on April 9, 2009 and April 30, 2009 respectively, also containing four daytime levels and two nighttime levels. On May 21, 2009, another Downloadable Content was released including extra levels for Apotos and Shamar, including five daytime levels and four nighttime levels between the both of them. In June 11th 2009, another Downloadable Content was released including extra levels for Empire City, and Adabat, including five daytime levels and four nighttime levels between the both of them, and it was also said to be the last downloadable content for Sonic Unleashed. 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.

Reception
Sonic Unleashed received mixed reviews. Initial anticipation when the first media for Unleashed was revealed was high, as the demonstration videos hinted at a possible return of Sonic to his traditional platforming roots, especially after the decrease in the series' popularity and critical success after Sonic's transition to three-dimensional gameplay and a number of poorly received titles in the franchise that preceded it, such as Shadow the Hedgehog and the 2006 game, Sonic the Hedgehog. However, critical reception to Unleashed was mixed, with Metacritic aggregate scores of 54 and 60 out of 100 for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions respectively, and 66 out of 100 for the Wii and PlayStation 2 versions. The added element of motion controls for the Werehog sections, as well as text-based hub worlds and better Werehog level design and camera system, were reasons cited for the higher review scores for the Wii version of the game, though a few review websites, such as 1UP, gave the Wii version a lower score than its 360 and PS3 counterparts.

Positive elements of Unleashed remarked upon by reviews include the environments, such as the "postcard-perfect architecture", and the graphics, with stages looking "absolutely gorgeous" and being "very pretty and lovingly animated", with one reviewer comparing them to a playable Pixar film. Praise was given to the technical competence of Sega's new Hedgehog Engine as a whole on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions, with "bright cartoonish graphics that fly by without a stutter"; however, some complaints were raised about frame rate reduction when large numbers of enemies appeared during the Werehog sections. Although the Wii and PlayStation 2 versions do not use the Hedgehog Engine, graphics for these platforms were still praised for their high quality, with the title being nominated for Best Graphics Technology for the Wii by IGN in its 2008 video game awards. The soundtrack to the game was also praised as being an improvement on more recent installments in the series; use of an orchestral score, rather than rock as in more recent games, was appreciated.

An overwhelmingly negative reaction was given by critics to the Werehog concept and corresponding night-time sections, which contributed greatly to the lower than expected review scores. Complaints stemmed from the game's change of speed, from high-speed daytime sections to the slower, night-time sections; the "pace-breaking combat levels" were described as "plodding", as well as "lethargic" and "combat-heavy". Further to the change of pace, the new style of gameplay that accompanies the night-time levels was widely criticised, involving "frustrating" platform elements and combat described as not "terribly interesting" and "boring", Some reviewers felt that the Werehog as a concept did not mix well with the daylight areas and traditional Sonic gameplay; GamePro's review described them as "dreadfully out-of-place", while IGN stated that they have "nothing to do with Sonic whatsoever", feeling that the Werehog was "being slapped on" to the Sonic experience.

In stark contrast to the Werehog sections, many reviewers found the daytime levels to be enjoyable, especially the "exhilarating" sense of speed they provide; with "the most satisfying gameplay of any Sonic title in years", the game "perfectly captures the feel of classic Sonic". Many also enjoyed the mixture of, and transition between, 2D and 3D sections. Indeed, many reviewers remarked that they would have appreciated the game more had it comprised solely of, and expanded upon, the daytime levels. GameSpot's review for the Xbox 360 version however argued that the controls were "unresponsive" in the daytime levels, and that most of them were "horribly designed", instead describing the Wii version as a "vastly superior experience", with its daytime levels praised for better control and design.

Aside from the criticism of Werehog levels, further aspects of the game were criticized, contributing to the mixed review scores. The quests that players must undertake in hub-towns were described as "inane" and "tedious", where "figuring out what happens next involves aimlessly wandering through towns and speaking to citizens, only to discover that most of them don't know what we're looking for". The story and overall tone of the game, including the new character Chip, were criticised, some remarking that it was too juvenile, or comparable to that of a Saturday morning cartoon. Some reviewers also felt that the English voice acting for characters was poor.

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.
 * 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 cutscene where Sonic loses his Werehog transformation, you can see next to Eggman a SEGA Dreamcast to the far left.
 * 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 and PlayStation 2 versions, 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.
 * 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 is one of the many Sonic games that was not released in Japan first.
 * This is one of the only 3 Sonic games to have a Hub World; the other 2 being Sonic Adventure and Sonic the Hedgehog (2006).
 * This is one of the only two games in which Sonic transforms into Super Sonic at the beginning of the game, the other being Sonic the Hedgehog 3.
 * Sonic Unleashed is Sega's 3rd best seller with 2.45 million copies so far, despite the negative reviews this game has been getting.
 * The music in the Adabat day stages is the same as the background tune in the level Regal Ruin in Sonic R.
 * This is the only game where Amy realizes almost right away that she mistook someone for Sonic, except this time it is him. In Sonic Adventure 2, she mistakes Shadow for Sonic, and in Sonic Next Gen, she mistakes Silver for Sonic, and both times she does not realize until much later.
 * This is the only Sonic game where Sonic keeps the Chaos Emeralds for the entire game.
 * The animation for the spin dash is derived from Super Smash Bros Brawl.
 * In the Wii/Ps2 Sonic Unleashed Apotos, Mazuri, Spagonia, Shamar, Adabat, Holoska, Chun-nan, and Eggmanland all contains a Temple of Gaia. This makes 8 temples. Strangely, there are only 7 Chaos Emeralds and 6 temples of Gaia come to Eggmanland to form the Gaia Collosus, which means there is one unused temple of Gaia that could be used to restore the last Chaos Emerald, therefore there would've been no reason to go to Eggmanland, this could possibly be an error on Sega's part. However, the error is quickly resolved when one looks closely: The "temples" in gameplay are actually what are known as Gaia Gates in-game. We can assume they are separate, as Apotos never had any cutscenes showing a temple, however, Mazuri, also on the same continent, had one. (Likewise, Apotos doesn't have a boss foe, which always occur with the other temples.) However, it is very easy to mistake this.
 * When Sonic is first transforming into the Werehog (aboard Eggman's Star Cruiser) his hands appear to be tan (like his arms).
 * It may be possible that My Destiny from Sonic 2006 is used in Sonic and Chip emotional cutscenes.
 * Currently the only Sonic game from the main console series since Sonic Adventure not to have Crush 40 perform the theme song.
 * This is the second Sonic game ever to have visible blood (From Dark Gaia while it was transforming). The first were the Black Arms.
 * This is the first Sonic game were Sonic gets visibly tired.
 * This game, along with Sonic and the Black Knight, are heavily criticized for introducing new fighting mechanics for Sonic (Unleashed: Werehog ; Black Knight: Swordplay). But regardless, the two games were praised for the same mechanics by Nintendo Power magazine.
 * This is the third Sonic game to receive a E10 rating- the first two were Shadow the Hedgehog & Sonic the Hedgehog (2006).
 * The broken pieces of the Earth maybe are derived from Rock Star, in Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards. But these planets have a difference between them: Rock Star doesn't have a core like the Earth, which may be why Rock Star's pieces are constantly pushed together.
 * When rotating the planet, you can see the mountain elevations but Angel Island is no where to be found
 * If you look at the Newspaper people are reading in Rooftop Run Day Act 1 a picture of the cover of Sonic The Hedgehog (2006) will be in it.
 * Ironically, all of the bosses for Sonic the Hedgehog are Dr. Eggman in big machines like most games, and all of the bosses for Sonic the Werehog are big Dark Gaia creatures, but Sonic the Hedgehog's final boss is the Dark Gaia and Sonic the Werehog's final boss is Eggman's final creation.
 * At the begining were Super Sonic is being drained is the only time Sonic felt pain while super. Unless you count in Sonic Rush, Sonic 06, or this game's final boss were he has a chance to lose some rings while super.
 * Since this was originally going to be the third install ment of the Sonic Adventure series, Endless Possibility must have been Sonic's theme instead of the main theme.
 * The three main models of Egg Fighter's serial numbers are the initials for the XBox(XB), Dreamcast(DC), and Mega Drive(MD), followed by the year the console was released.(ex.XB2006)
 * Sonic's "Sonic Boost" Move was carried over from the Sonic Rush titles.
 * Some Fans say that this is also called Sonic Adventure 3 since they think the game was great and it was said to be a part of the Sonic Adventure series before that was scarped.
 * This game has the least amount of recurring Sonic Characters present of any 3D Sonic Game.
 * When Sonic is doing the Sonic Drift the Ring Energy meter fills up, wether you have rings or not.
 * In Empire City Act 1 During the Beginning of this stage you can notice street signs that are named after some Characters that does'nt appear in this game like S.Shadow Avenue, Rouge St. Omega Rd, Blaze Rd, and Silver Beach, Plus there also street signs that display Chao Garden and Seaside park.
 * The only main Sonic game since Shadow the Hedgehog (game) where Bella Hudson isn`t part of the cast.
 * If you jump between two people sitting down and talking sonic will stay in jump form for a few seconds.
 * Chip is the same size as cheese the chao but most people say chesse is the smalest character even though chip and cheese share the title