So I've put about 4 hours into the game so far, and I like it. A lot. However there is an unfortunate recurring theme with Sonic Team, and that is lack of ability to figure out that sometimes less is more.
Sonic Speed stages:
At first the controls will make you say "What the fuck is this crap?!" Sonic is very slippery. In fact his animations reminds me of Sonic Xtreme (open grass field boss stage engine--not the fish eyed trash levels), it's hard to explain but you can get used to it. The thing about this game is that just like Sonic Adventure you can go from stand still to full speed within 2 seconds, but I do think Sonic Adventure still had the best "feel" of Sonic, in this game he can't stop quick enough but I guess that's due to the fact that hes running faster than he ever has before. Sonic has almost no acceleration he goes from standing to full speed almost too quickly without even using a Sonic boost--his acceleration in this game is insane! Unlike Sonic's slow as molasses acceleration in Secret Rings, I hate his slow acceleration in that game. The controls work just fine when playing the game the way you're expected to though grabbing and jumping off poles seems wrong. It can also get a tiny bit screwy when trying to take it slow and explore (for fun or for hidden coins), but it doesn't get annoying to the point of anger.
Another unfortunate thing is that some sections of the speed stages can almost play themselves, sort of. You have to actually choose to play it like this though. It's still very interactive, but there are stretches where you can press up or right and boost your blue ass off and make it through okay. Note that I'm not very far into the game and I am assuming there is more challenge (and thus more interactivity and less mindless boosting) in the later levels. But I should also note that if you want to earn an S rank or even A rank then you need to have learned the levels and play it very well from start to finish and mindless boosting is NOT ALLOWED for the higher ranks. There are alternate paths that require timing, skill and memorization, just like the older Sonic games, as well as a lot of cool things to see in each level, from running on water to riding a snow mobile (it's fun I swear!) to drifting around wide bends, the variety is there. One thing that bothers me is that dying drops your current score (has been like that since Sonic Adventure 2 I think), so you have to finish an entire level without dying for the higher ranks. This was not present in the game 4 months ago and was added towards the end of development. Oh well.
Frame rate in Sonic speed levels so far has been perfect at a locked 30 frames per second, thankfully Sonic Team came through for this! There are a lot of hidden items (VHS tapes, vinyl records, books, sun coins, moon coins) and exploring every area of a speed level will take some time (20 minutes plus). If you can't stand the idea of purposely going slowly through a Sonic level to explore then you will find this game to be less enjoyable than I do.
Sonic Werehog stages.
Remember when I said less is more? Yeah, this applies to the werehog. Playing as werehog actually isn't that bad, it's just that the levels drag on for far too long. It's freakin' annoying to see a long series of thin balance beams where you have to walk slowly, geez Sonic Team, you didn't have to make it extra tedious for us. I've cleared two werehog levels and both took me over 30 minutes. Note that I purposely went slow to explore every nook and every alley to collect as many coins as possible. Going through the level quickly should knock that time down to 15-23 minutes no doubt. However if you plan on getting 100% in the game, be prepared for long, grueling werehog levels. You can run fast as werehog Sonic (much faster than any other platform character out there), however so far there really haven't been any stretches of land where I can take advantage of it.
The combat is exactly like you'd imagine it, sort of. It is very button mashy, however there are a ton of moves to unlock and they are damn cool looking. Grabbing a robot then tossing it into 7 other enemies killing them all at once saves time and feels quite satisfying. However there's too many damn quicker timer events. We did not need them, and if you hate quick timer events you will enjoy this gameplay portion less. Also it is annoying that you must press the B button to grab ledges/poles/etc. The game has some Prince of Persia aspects with lots of ledge hanging, wall-hugging and other similar acrobatic feats. Overall werehog Sonic could have been a disaster, fortunately it's not. It would be fine if the levels were 30% their current size. Less is more!
Hub areas:
The hub stages aren't horrible, but they can be somewhat bothersome. First impressions are important and unfortunately the first hub stage is garbage. The issue lies with the camera. First off THERE IS NO RESET CAMERA BUTTON now add a jittery camera that never ever wants to stop moving around, finally mix that with the first hub world which is very tiny but still comprised mostly of small alley ways and you have created an awful mix of POINTLESS FRUSTRATION. Thankfully, hub areas 2, 3 and 4 so far have been much better, they are much wider open areas where the camera isn't constantly pissing you off (but you will still have to constantly keep your thumb on the right analog stick to adjust it--it's just not as difficult to adjust as it is in hub area 1). Another bad thing of the hub stages is that there are TONS AND TONS of invisible walls, oh my are there tons of them. If you hate invisible walls blocking you then you'll despise these hub stages. It's really annoying for a gamer like me who loves to explore every inch of every area. If you don't care to explore much, then run right through to the levels.
There's a lot of pointless (optional) chit chat in the hub area, I think so far I've only come across one point in the game where it was mandatory to speak to people to figure out a clue to continue. Some NPCs sell you items (an old-school mono sound TV to playback VHS tapes, a gramophone to play back those vinyl records, and a bookcase to view artwork from your collect books), you can also buy food to earn more EXP for Sonic, buy food and give it to Chip (no idea what it does but there has to be an unlockable or something to it) or buy more records and books and other stuff. Also the frame rate is very good in hub areas when playing as speedy Sonic, but it's a little less solid when playing as werehog Sonic, I have no idea why.
There are two types of hub stages, town areas and level select areas. The level select hub stages has rings, enemies, bumpers and other stuff. It's almost like a mini-level, and yes you can die in them.
The graphics:
The hedgehog engine is so fantastically magnificent, the levels are so detailed that sometimes it's fun to just stop, and look around with the right stick to view your surroundings. Amazing stuff, SEGA has made good on their word that they are able to rival the graphical capabilities that only top-tier shooting games so far have been able to display. Some of the polygonal cut-scenes look damn near CGI quality, it's simply superb! However during some of the cut-scenes there are a couple of instances of frame rate drops (kind of reminds me of Halo 2, just not as bad), it does not happen often and it only lasts for a second or two at most, but it is noticeable.
Other stuff:
Sonic can now duck (first time in 3D?) and crawl on his hands and knees like Mario (wat?). It's odd watching Sonic crawl around.
You can drift with the L or R triggers, you don't have to press the B button to do it (it's not mentioned in the manual).
Chip doesn't have a horrible voice, but it's not a great voice either, it's very Saturday morning cartoon style-ish, he also acts just like a dim-witted cartoon character.
Werehog Sonic's voice kind of bothers me, it makes sense that his voice would change but I don't have to like the change.
There is A LOT of content to this game, you will have to return to levels again and again and again for higher ranks or to cross off special challenges such as defeating a certain number of enemies, collecting a certain number of rings or beating the stage under a certain time limit.
With the game installed on my hard drive, loading a speed level took 11.5 seconds. There are no mid-level loadings as well.
Conclusion:
No one can call Sonic Team lazy, without a doubt they have poured countless hours of hard work into this game, that doesn't mean you have to like it obviously, but I know that they are trying very hard to impress us. They keep trying to aim for the "more bang for your buck" style of gaming which doesn't really work for Sonic games. The most favored Sonic games are the shortest ones, the 2D games that can be beaten within an hour or less. I will gladly take a shorter Sonic game that contains nothing but Sonic speedy levels, and I think just about everyone else would be too. However they are getting closer to what most people love about Sonic and want from a Sonic game, it's a step in the right direction no doubt about it. Overall I can not deny this game's flaws, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't having a (Sonic) blast... at least half of the time.
You have to deal with the mundane to experience the exhilarating. That is Sonic Unleashed.
