Hedgehog by day - Werehog by night

E3 08 … the moment of truth. Would Sonic Unleashed suck? Well, if you are willing to have an open mind, and can toss aside your hardcore “sonic must run fast all the time” mentality, then the answer will be no, Sonic Unleashed will not suck.

First off, Sonic unleashed is scheduled for release in November of 2008 for the Wii, PS2, PS3, and 360 consoles, and as expected, the next gen versions will be different in terms of both content and game play mechanics.

The version we were granted access to at E3 was the 360 version. So the information below is in large part specific to the next gen version of the game. The code we viewed was an early version, and SEGA made it clear that lighting, camera, and AI was still being worked on.

That said, lets dig into some Sonic Unleashed details.

THE PLOT

So why does Sonic transform into this Werehog creature at night?

SEGA tells us that In the early moments of the game, Dr. Eggman captures Sonic, and uses his chaotic emerald on him. During the day, Sonic is unaffected, however at night, he is transformed into a “Werehog”. In this mode, Sonic loses his signature speed, but gains added strength and a set of jacked up super elastic wolf like arms.

GAMEPLAY MODES

Sonic Unleashed will feature two game play modes. The daytime mode will be classic Sonic and revolve around speed, while the nighttime mode will focus on exploration and combat. During our E3 visit with SEGA, we were shown 2 daytime levels and 1 nighttime level.

DAYTIME GAME PLAY

Quickstep is a new daytime game play mechanic that offers up the ability for Sonic to continue traveling in a straight line while being able to move from side to side to pick up items etc. As best as I can tell, the feature is initiated by using the LB and RB buttons.

In addition to the speed game, daytime maps will require precision platforming skills

During the day, there will be times where gamers will need utilize “precision platforming skills and timing” adding another level of complexity to the speed based day time game play. The map example we saw of this was in China and had several spinning gear like saucers that Sonic had to navigate his way through by timing his jumps and moving from side to side.

Running on water will require Sonic to keep his speed up, otherwise, as we saw in the demo, Sonic will fall in and die. Apparently hedgehogs can’t swim very well.

NIGHTTIME GAME PLAY

Night time game play is combat based, where the day time game play is speed based. SEGA has fleshed out a pretty interesting combat system. Sonic appears to have an AOE attack with his stretchy Werehog arms that lash out claw marks all over the screen. I thought this looked pretty cool.

Sonic can also use his arms to help him advance through the areas. As he jumps from platform to platform he can use the arms to pull himself up if he falls short of his target. He can also shimmy across a wall by grasping the walls upper ledge and stretching an arm in the direction he wants to go.

Sonic uses his “Werehog” arms to swing in for a landing

Speed is reduced in the nighttime level. SEGA did not give an actual amount for the speed reduction, however when Sonic does his “charge attack” (what appeared to be his only speed move at night) it looked to be about a 50% speed reduction from what I could tell on screen. Speed isn’t really the name of the game at night though, so gamers willing to give this change up in game play a shot really shouldn’t be bothered by this.

The combat system in the build we saw at E3 features more than 30 moves and SEGA claims they are still working to add more. The two basic move types they outlined involved variations on the (Y) and (X) buttons.

The moves initiated with the (Y) button offered up more straight forward attacks, while those initiated with the (X) button unleashed “sideways swipes with a more AEO component”. Attacks started with the (Y) or (X) button can have (A) or (B) thrown in during the attacks to initiate combos.

In terms of targeting, I noticed a small green square on screen at times and was told that the green square was Sonic’s grab target. In addition Sonic has an auto targeting feature for hitting and blocking.

TAKING DAMAGE FUELS TAKE OFF

Getting hit doesn’t involve you losing all your rings. Rings in Sonic Unleashed act as hit points in a way. Filling your ring gauge allows you to activate a speed perk SEGA is calling “Sonic Boost”. I asked whether or not there would be various damage outputs that would cause you to lose more or less rings upon being hit or hitting an object, and they told me that they are still working on that aspect. So we will have to wait and see exactly how they fine tune that feature.

MAP ENVIRONMENTS

From what we were told, the map environments are based on real world places, and as of E3, the levels themselves had not received final names. Instead, they were being referred to by their real world inspirations.

Each map has a dedicated night time and day time area because of the different game play styles. The day time version of a map will be much longer in length because of the focus on speed during the day, where as the night time map will be smaller but more complex lending itself better to the combat focus.

SEGA is estimating about 30 minutes to navigate a day time and night time level. However they did add that not all of the levels have been finalized.

They have not revealed the actual number of levels they are planning to have in the game yet. That said, area inspirations for the 4 levels they have announced are: China, Mechinos, Africa, and Europe. No US based levels have been announced just yet, although I can’t see them making a Sonic game inspired by real world environments that doesn’t include a New York City inspired level.

SUPER SONIC

When asked about whether or not Super Sonic would be making an appearance SEGA, simply hinted at his inclusion in the official E3 trailer towards the end. You can see that trailer below in full. If I had to bet on it I would say Super Sonic is a lock, and that Sonic fans can look forward to it.

http://www.ripten.com/sonic-unleashed-e308.flv

E3 08 Exclusive Sonic Unleashed Trailer

CAMERA / SIDE SCROLLING VS STRAIGHT AHEAD

Camera angles switch on the fly adapting to the area of the map you are at, making it easier to see the action you are doing at that time. Very similar to Ratchet and Clank camera mechanics. Looks very fluid and nice from what I saw.

Being that many gamers, including myself, seemed to be very excited about the integration of side scrolling game play shown off in the trailers, I decided to ask SEGA about it. They said that gamers can look forward to about 40% side scrolling game play, however it will vary depending on the level itself. The Africa level for example, is said to be about 80% side scrolling. Drool.

CHECKPOINTS / SAVING GAME PROGRESS

SEGA says that they will have multiple in-game checkpoints to help balance things out and keep frustration levels down. Checkpoints resemble those in other Sonic games, as they have two pole like objects on both sides and give off a sound effect as Sonic passes through.

Sonic approaches an in game checkpoint

SOUND EFFECTS / MUSIC

Sound effects were what you would expect from a Sonic title. Standard ring collection noise, impact sounds, etc. The in-game music was up beat and offered up a bit of ethnic flare depending on the inspiration for that specific level. I am little miffed that the song which appeared in the UK trailer will not be in the game. Make use of DLC and get that in there SEGA!

In terms of customizable soundtracks, SEGA says that the 360 version will support that out of the box and added that other versions will allow you to mute the in-game music, if you want to  you to listen to another audio source.

PARTING THOUGHTS

I asked SEGA what they thought of the reaction from both hardcore gamers and those new to Sonic. Sega said that they focus group tested the two game play versions with kids and received an overwhelmingly positive response. They also understood that the nighttime game play was a change from the traditional “pure speed” Genesis Sonic, but were hoping that hardcore fans would keep an open mind and give the new night time game play a chance before dismissing it.

I believe that Sonic Unleashed has the potential to be one of the best Sonic games in a very long time, stretchy Werehog arms and all. A few months ago Nintendo took Mario into outer space, and frankly I see this as SEGA’s attempt to experiment with the Sonic brand in a similar way.

The change up between night time “exploration mode” and day time “speed mode” did not bother me one bit. In fact, the “Werehog” version of Sonic seemed pretty bad ass. I am keeping an open mind and will definitely be interested in getting my hands on Sonic Unleashed when it hits stores in November 2008.

Tags: E3 08, SEGA, Sonic Unleashed, Werehog

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