Shamar

"A town of ruins and ancient customs, now celebrating (at the time of the game) the Feast of Sun and Moon."

- Description in World Map

Shamar (Arid Sands) (ホットデザート) is one of the many locations and levels in Sonic Unleashed. It is derived from Middle Eastern themes with a desert landscape and is also based off of Petra, Jordan with its numerous ruins. Sonic comes here after Professor Pickle tells him that he decided to pack up and move his lab to Shamar, as the Gaia Manuscripts have a lot of information on the city. Shamar is also where Sonic fights the Dark Guardian.

Notable Locations
In the point-and-click HUB world of the Wii/PS2 version, many of the featured parts of Shamar are shown. These spots include:
 * Outside the Palace
 * The Merchants home
 * Palm tree Square
 * Back Alley
 * Pickle Lab
 * Food Market
 * Main Throughfare
 * Holy Shrine (as Sonic the Werehog)

Citizens
55. Ehsan (イフサーン)- One of the men helping to restore the ruins in Shamar. After years of walking in the sand and the dust, Ehsan can't seem to stop sneezing.

56. Hizir (フズル)- An impatient fellow who's in such a rush to fix up the ruins that he's been known to wreck them even more just so he can get started on the job sooner.

57. Raniya (ラニア)- A chatty lady who loves gossip like you wouldn't believe. Even on the most uneventful day, she and her friend Dinah can find some new morsel to talk each other ears.

58. Iman (イマーン)- A famous Shamaran fortune-teller who knows much about the powers of the moon and local legends. Apparently even people from cold and distant lands catch wind of Iman's miraculous talents and decide to visit her.

59. Utba (ウトパ)- One of the men helping to restore the ruins. Utba's incessant praying every night leaves him drowsy day after day. He's starting to wonder if you can't just pray in your sleep and still get credit for it.

60. Mufid (ムフィード)- An ice cream vendor known for his winning smile and the gooey stretchy ice cream he serves. Having been raised on these elastic edibles, Mufid naturally believes all the world's ice cream is the same. Somebody needs to bring the man a cone from another country and serve him two scoops of reality.

61. Erhan-  (エルハン)- Hizir's son. He helps his father with the restoration of the ruins. Erhan walks like his father, talks like his father...They're two peas in a pod. About the only tellable difference is his height, which he got from his mother.

62. Labib- (ラビーブ)- A stubborn carpet-maker with years and years of experience. Labib snuck into the workshop and made his first carpet at the tender age of five, flooring the other carpet-makers at the time. His pet peeve: flamboyant youngsters.

63. Sa'id- (サイイド)- A man who loves tea more than breakfast, lunch and dinner. Long ago, the girl he was dating asked, "Which do you love more, tea or me?" Sa'id looked at his sugar and didn't even blink before answering, "tea". Not long after, Sa'id was sugar-free.

64. Latif- (ラティーフ)- Labib's younger brother, a klutz with his fingers who wasted out before he could ever become a carpet-maker. He's spacey, he's unreliable...And yet oddly enough, he handles the carpet workshop's accounts.

65. Ara- (アラ)- Owner of the Golden Trading Company. She has a sharp eye for merchandise, and never misses a potential hit item. Take her latest product idea: a "shattered planet keychain." Leave it to Ara...

66. Dimah- (ディナ)- Raniya's gossip partner. Dimah has been blabbing away for so long that she wound up missing her chance to meet a nice man. This would undoubtedly bother her if she weren't too busy gabbing to notice.

67. Musaid-  (ムサーイド)- A chatterbox who appointed himself the local tour guide. He's thorough, make no mistake: give him a chance, and Musaid will treat even the grungiest restroom like the Eighth wonder of the world. It takes him half a day just to show people around one block.

68. Shadi-  (シャーディ)- Labib's son, an aspiring singer whose deep, rich baritone causes all the ladies to melt. Sadly, Shadi's father disapproves of such shameless razzle-dazzle, and the two are constantly clashing.

69. Sammar- (Fátima ファティマ)- Safi's directionally challenged older sister. Her sense of direction is so poor, in fact, that it's become almost legendary, with new and embarrassing chapters of the Sammar Saga being recorded on a daily basis.

70. Layla- (ライラ)- A confident and fetching university student with an exotic flair. She is currently researching the ruins. Layla always dots her i's and crosses her t's, but the truth is, she is very much a clumsy oaf. and yet (oddly enough) many of her suitors cite this as a plus.

71. Safi- (サファー)- Sammar's little brother, who has his hands full keeping his "directionally impaired" sister from wandering off a cliff. Safi insists that he's not clingy: he doesn't need his sister; SHE needs HIM. To the doubtery out there: this is 100% true.

72. Sadiq- (スドゥキー)- An admirable lad who knows you can't cut corners if you want to fulfill your dreams. These days, Sadiq has been practicing to become a tour guide just like Musaid.

73. Samia (Zena ゼーナ)- A resilient girl: so young and yet through so much grief by her completely unreasonable older sister, Yasmine. Samia consoles herself with the knowledge that she will grow up to be a patient person.

74. Yasmine (ヤスミン)- A spirited girl who protects Shamar along with her younger sister, Samia. She can't seem to decide on a name for her team. Currently it's the "Pretty Committee to Preserve Peace in Shamar". Last week it was "Darling Defenders of the Shamaran Sands," while the week before it was "Full Mettle Shamalchemists!" Someone really needs to take her comic books away.

75. Hot Dog Vendor (ホットドッグ屋)- The manager of the "Don Fachio" hot dog mega-franchise's Shamar location. Always reliant on the kindness of strangers, he gives back to the community via his tantalizing turkey dogs made with twenty plus different herbs and spices.

Town Products
In each town across the world, Sonic is able to buy souvenirs, food items and extras (music, videos) using his rings. The Shamar shop, run by Ara, is called the Golden Trading Company.

Souvenirs

 * Photo Frame
 * Miniature Flag
 * Lunisolar Charm: "A traditional charm carved in relief. It does not deter birds."
 * Carpet: "The work of a master. It would cost an arm and a leg abroad."
 * Shamaran Sand
 * This souvenir is bought from Wentos

Food

 * Paaf (30 rings): "Bread that puffs up in the oven. Goes perfectly with curry."
 * Chai (50 rings)
 * Elastic Ice Cream (60 rings)
 * Curry (60 rings): "A spicy dish only true Shamarans would dare to eat in this heat."
 * Chili Dog (50 rings): "Sonic's favorite, a jumbo frank slathered with spicy chili."
 * Sparkle Gelatin (30 rings): "Jiggly sparkly jelly that melts your jaded heart."
 * Canned Juice (40 rings): "The solution to your thirst. Shake it for volatile results."
 * Peach (30 rings): "A sweet and juicy fruit that's to die for. Don't bruise it!"
 * Cookie (20 rings): "Cream filling between two crunchy biscuits. Addictive!"
 * Candy (10 rings): "A bite-sized candy. Don't try to talk while you're chewing!"
 * Sandy Dog - Complete the Shamar Hot Dog Vendor's missions.

Hallowmoon
A festival celebrated at the time of the game where the people of Shamar switch their daily life to nocturnal. The celebration is to honor the moon and the morning sun.

Trivia

 * In the 360/PS3 versions, there is a DLC level in which the player must find Chao, much like the one in Spagonia. This marks the second appearance of Chao in the game.
 * One of the names for Yasmine's team was "Full Mettle Shamalchemists," a play on the words "Full Metal Alchemist," which is the name of a popular manga and anime series.
 * A controversial review of the game said that "The People of Shamar get blown up by suicide bombers everyday, so the events of the game will be somewhat normal to them." This is a reference to the fact that Shamar is based of the Middle East which currently has a big problem with terrorist attacks. The review has since been banned and the writer was fined for "Writing and publishing offensive content that may harm the judgement of others."
 * On the walls of Shamar's Gaia gates, it reads,in arabic, 'I testify that there is no god but Allah and Mohammad is his messenger'. This is most likely due to the fact that Shamar is based off of Arabian cities, in which most inhabitants are muslim.

Video
left|thumb|288px thumb|300px|right|Wii Gameplay