Yeah, this is my review of Sonic Unleashed from GameTrailers. I thought I was being too easy on it, so I took a look at it and re-balanced the score a bit. Yeah, it seems slightly negative for something that got a 7.75 out of 10.
I'd change it on GameTrailers, but even close to a year after the site revamp, all the stuff that we had available to us before then - the blogs, the reviews, and basically everything not a user video - still hasn't been ported over.
Ever since the release of, oh, say, Sonic Adventure 2, fans of the blue hedgehog have been disappointed by the lack of an entry that is the same quality of the early titles, particularly Sonic the Hedgehog 2. Mostly it is the result of a gimmicky gameplay addition, sloppy controls, and a recycled storyline.
When Sonic Unleashed was revealed in 2008, fans and gaming publications alike viewed this as the game that would break the cycle. The game showed more and more promise as time progressed.
It was all blind faith in the end.
Nerd rage then emerged from both the fanbase and the gaming magazines, with complaints of the Werehog gameplay being another gimmicky afterthought as well as the game being buggy and laggy at times.
This clearly wasn't "the game."
Graphics: 8/10
Well, at least the graphics aren't a jumbled mess.
Sega put a good bit of graphical detail into the game. Whether it be the Chaos on some of the signs in Shamar during the day or the patterns on the Titan's skin, the game looks wonderful. It's not perfect, but it's decent.
Sound: 8/10
The sound you hear when you collect a ring is still here, but I still miss some of the old Genesis/Mega Drive sounds.
The music is decent, and it's really wonderful in some spots. You'll probably get burned out on the music, though, so (thankfully) you can play your own music in lieu of the game's soundtrack.
Gameplay and Control: 5/10
Sonic is still able to peform his trademark moves, but it's all too easy to send yourself into the wild blue yonder to your death at times. The Sonic Drift technique looks pretty cool, but it's hard as crap to get the timing down for and you can beat the game without having to use it if you max out your stats. Playing as Sonic the Werehog is different; you're focusing more on trashing enemies than on speeding up to get through the stage. Some may consider it unnecessary; I had no qualms with the Night segments.
tl;dr: Night segments weren't so bad, day segments (especially with the homing attack) are just this close to awful.
Presentation: 4/10
This is where the game is truly a mixed bag. I like the RPG element where destroying enemies gives you experience that you can boost your stats with. Aside from that and collecting things, there's not really much else to enjoy. Sure, there are the Hot Dog Missions, but some of them are really difficult at times simply because you're fighting against (and cursing at) the level design. You also have no checkpoints in these missions either; you die, you go back to the start. It's really unforgiving at times.
Bugs creep in during the action at times, almost as much as cheap deaths, as even the screen indicators fail to load properly at times. You know you're in trouble when that happens.
For some reason, the game also gets laggy in a few spots. Most of them are when you're fighting a lot of enemies as Sonic the Werehog, but the ones where you play as Sonic the Hedgehog are particular nasty, particularly in Eggmanland. This combined with the loading problems makes me wonder if Sega adequately play-tests their games.
Replay Value: Low
If the game was cleaned up a little more and the difficulty was better balanced, I wouldn't mind playing it again. I really wouldn't. But once you collect everything and get all the Achievements/Trophies, there really isn't much to look forward to. As it stands, you probably won't play this again unless you really enjoyed it.
Final Score: 6.25/10
This game could been above average. Unfortunately, the same flaws that have marred Sonic titles from the 2000s (save for the Dreamcast games) also mar this one. I really hope Sonic Colors (and, maybe, Sonic Generations) will be any good.
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