Sonic Unleashed

It has the potential to be the best Sonic in years. So - is it?

	Version 360, (PS3, Wii, PS2)	Developer Sonic Team	Publisher Sega	Genre Action

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Further in the story mode you can earn new abilities such as wall-jumping, mid-air boosts, ring-dashing and ground-stomping. All of these can be used in some way in each of the Sonic stages, and rushing through a bunch of baddies before leaping into a wall and jumping off to reach a higher platform makes you feel like a real pro. There are even Quick Time Events that occur during the action, which allow you to take an upper path if executed correctly. These certainly add to the fun, but the game somewhat relies on them heavily later on, particularly in the final stage when such events mean the difference between life and death.

The Werehog stages are nowhere near as fast and at first they offer a nice change of pace from the manic action going on in the daytime. But once you get into them you realise that they're really rather shallow, offering next to no satisfying gameplay (unless you're a fan of Fighting Force or something).

You fight multiple enemies with health bars in different rooms, one after the other, and because of the monotony of the fighting these stages can feel three times longer than the Sonic ones. When you're not hitting the Y button constantly to rid the enemies as quickly as possible, you'll be spending time balancing on beams over bottomless pits or engaging in frustratingly simple platform puzzles. There just doesn't seem much point or joy in doing these.

In between the Sonic and Werehog levels are world hubs that you can explore. Well, I say 'can' but I mean 'must' - there's no choice in the matter. As nicely crafted as these areas are, it goes without saying that all these hubs do is get in the way of what we really want to do. Which is play as Sonic. And not the Werehog.

The camera is probably the worst of any Sonic title yet, particularly in town or Werehog stages where moving the analogue stick at times simply jerks the camera rather then rotating it. The hand-holding and level progression is particularly lacklustre, as the game will give too much advice on simple sections but none at all for more confusing areas. It doesn't help that you will mostly find yourself wandering from town to town trying to figure out what stages are unlocked and which ones still need medals to open.

Sonic Unleashed is by no means a terrible game - it's just a very average one, and next to some of Sonic's best over the last 17 years, just doesn't cut it. For what it's worth, it feels like Sonic Team has tried its best to create a game worthy of the franchise (and it's a slight improvement on Sonic's 2006 outing) but it's still forgotten to go back to the series' roots and see what made the originals so popular and successful.

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