Sonic Unleashed Wii/PS2 VS 360/PS3

[famicommander]

To paraphrase what someone once posted in the old SSMB's Dead Space Extraction thread... it's easier and cheaper to make an on-rails game than a non-rails game. Guess they didn't feel like putting as much thought, effort or developmental skill into the gameplay as they do the cut scenes.

It's no more on-rails than the day stages of Unleashed or Secret Rings.

[Solid SOAP]

Yes it is, in retort to Unleashed. In Unleashed, in most sections, you could run around where ever you like whether or not it was necessary. There were various secret paths that you were unable to access unless you explored a little bit. In SatBK, however, you hold up and Sonic goes on an on-rails path that you have lery little control over.

[speedfreak]

It's no more on-rails than the day stages of Unleashed or Secret Rings.

Actually yes, yes it is. At least in SU you don't have shit loads of invisable wall preventing you from going too far left or right. It is about the same as SATSR though.

And it was I who said that on-rails thing in the Dead Space thread......and then again in the new RE for Wii thread. It's lazy game design. It's fine for a series like HOTD because it was always that way, but not for games like RE IMO.

Edited March 9, 2009 by speedfreak

[Patticus]

And it was I who said that on-rails thing in the Dead Space thread......and then again in the new RE for Wii thread. It's lazy game design. It's fine for a series like HOTD because it was always that way, but not for games like RE IMO.

To be honest, I think it depends entirely upon what the devs do with the game, ergo, on-rails in and of itself is not lazy because, like anything, it's a blank canvas. One thing you can have, just as in static camera games like early Resident Evils, are entirely pre-rendered environments, allowing for specular visuals that go above and beyond anything else available for the platform.

If a developer creates a game that's sort of on-rails but isn't really as the player has a choice of pathways and such to take, then makes another game that has a far more limited scope for movement (and no free choice of routes) and is thusly perceived to be much more on-rails, they're taking a step backwards and when they already have to expertise for the former game experience, going for the latter because it's cheaper and easier to pull off in a shorter space of time is laziness, plain and simple. Each game should be advancing on what the previous ones achieved and bettering them, not hiding behind some gimmick.

[YumeTakato]

I enjoyed the game greatly, despite my difficulties with most of the bosses.. and some of the missions are going to piss me off but.. whatever.

I've just beaten the game (credits are literally rolling right now) and I must say, I enjoyed it greatly. I don't think I've been so happy while having just beaten a game ever. It's ussually just relief or something, but I'm actually quite happy. It's been a while since I was able to fully beat a game so... yays~ X3

I recommend it- but until the prices go down, maybe borrow it from a friend or something. I'm not sure- In the end, my experience was pretty much worth the money I paid.

9/10- Boss difficulty jump and some of the missions just... rrrgh. But if your a more hardcore gamer, you wouldn't really have a problem like I did/do.

[Blash]

GamesRadar gave it a 6/10:

http://www.gamesradar.com/wii/sonic-and-th...721153028947019

[Phos]

Based on their description, I'd expect them to give it a lower score than "decent" (They describe it as having unresponsive controls and being too "on rails"). I guess they can put up with more than people like me.

They also list Empire: Total War as being published by Activision even though "Sega" is on the box, in all it's bright, boldfaced high contrast glory.

[Ammish]

Urgh... I hate signing up for a new account

Anyway, I've got my latest issue of Gamemaster Mag and I've found out the score for Sonic and the Black Knight. They gave it a score of 57%

Just one more 1% than Sonic the Hedgehog 360 and 6% lower than Sonic the Hedgehog 2 for the Genesis xD Oh well, at least they were happy with Sonic Unleashed.

Apparently, the flaws is that it's too on rails and haven't took note from Unleashed's 'better mechanics'

[-Mark-]

Just got my copy of ONM early, and they gave it 78%. 1% less than Unleashed, 3% less then Secret Rings.

[SuperLink]

Wow that's surprisingly not bumming from ONM there. Maybe now they stopped the Wii exclusive bumming in favour of being sheep.

IGN's remains to be the lowest by far.

[The-BB]

Wow that's surprisingly not bumming from ONM there. Maybe now they stopped the Wii exclusive bumming in favour of being sheep.

IGN's remains to be the lowest by far.

In the review, they do go on about Sonic "Not being like the good old days" and "We just want Sonic to run really fast and jump".

And IGN are just IGN.

But hey, they still gave it a better score than Mario Power Tennis, which got a 77%.

[famicommander]

2.5/5 from GamePro:

http://www.gamepro.com/article/reviews/209...e-black-knight/

Not that I care what GamePro thinks.

Still waiting for EDGE, Eurogamer, and GameTrailers. I've already made up my mind about the game, but I'm interested to hear what they think. Those are the only three sources I actually follow.

[famicommander]

6/10 from Gamervision:

http://www.gamervision.com/gamer/coop/revi...lack_knight_wii

[7Force]

Lots of mixed feelings for the game. I'm waithing for EDGE and Games TM reviews more so for Games TM as I alway enjoy reading their reviews despite the fact they gave Unleashed and Rush Adventure a 5/10

[Super Peytonky]

Hi, I'm back. Here is my personal review. This might have a few spoilers so read with caution or only read if you've beat the game.

So I got the game the day it was released in fact I went into gamestop just when the guy was getting it out of the box. I played for a few hours and thought it was okay, very easy but I was obviously only at the beginning. The next day I played again and beat the boss that I left off on the day before only to see credits roll. Now that was completely ridiculous. But the story went on and soon I was chaos controlling around as Lancelot. Then I got stuck on the dragon (I didn't know until afterwards you could beat him in only three runs through the stadium instead of five). And then found I was faced with the final boss. So it truly was a very short game in the end and the final boss was the only challenging part (until I tried unlocking the extra battle characters). I never did get the hang of sword locking.

This next part has major SPOILERS:

I really liked the Adventure 2 references (being my first Sonic game) Like the reused music and the Bio-lizard reference when fighting the dragon. I must say I really liked the two new editions to the cast: Caliburn and Merlina. Merlina went from being a Sharha-clone to a unique and powerful villian. Merlina is interesting just because she's one of the few female villians alongside Wendy and Void (or at least I think Void's a girl). I never counted Rouge or Wave as villians.

Well today I just got all twelve characters (or more like nine) and I have to say the absolute best of the game was the optional characters in story mode. I loved how you could beat the story using anyone and the levels never altered this would be the best technique in future Sonic games (would've been great for Unleashed).

Too bad Silver and Jet weren't playable in story mode though.

All in all it was just okay. A better version of Secret Rings really (mostly because I love the fantasy setting and ability to go backwards). There was some disappointments like how it was semi-on rails but not the bad of a game. Perhaps a 6/10.

[Ming Ming Hatsune]

I can't wait for X-Play's review. =3

[KTV]

When I read IGN's review, I was surprised. Why? As much as I LOVE Sonic (not in a gay way, of course), and as much as I HATE IGN, I actually agreed with the man.

I saw the whole playthrough in YT after realizing I lost all of the money that I was going to spend in it (most likely I got it stolen, but that's beyond the point, I'm not that dumb).

-He said Unleashed was almost Sonic's comeback. And daytime levels are awesome.

-He said SATBK has high production values

-He said the voice acting is actually GOOD here.

-He said the graphics ar beautiful for Wii.

-Praised both pre-rendered cutscenes and storybook cutscenes.

-Hardly any loops, cockscrews and stuff.

-Praised music too.

-Praised Story.

-All he said about the gameplay is true (waggle like crazy as hoards of enemies attack, goes slow, etc.)

-You slash knights two times and they're done for, before they end their lines in boss battles.

What's so wrong about what he said? I'd have given it a slightly higher score, but...

You know, when I don't want to buy a Sonic game the moment I can and rather let it slide after seeing part of the playthrough (in this case all of it), there's something wrong. Seriously.

It's truly a waste. Voice acting is actually GOOD here, Crush 40 is back and as awesome as ever, graphics are sweet, story is cool and so are cutscenes. You can tell there's some high production values. But gameplay really messed it up... also, I couldn't prove that the sword is a good thing, but I still think so, it was wasted too... mehh. Oh, and wasted shadow gameplay, after so much time he'd the same gameplay as Sonic, wasted aswell.

Edited March 10, 2009 by KTV

[Dejablue]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPEzrUdf7hg These guys explain why Black Knight is a bad game.

[Carbo]

Gamereactor Sweden gave it a 5/10, praising its crisp graphics, comparing some of the levels to the daytime levels in Unleashed and overall having quite a speedy feel at times, said that waggling doesn't get in the way much, although they criticized it for being childishly easy and very unvaried. They didn't really cite much about the gimmick, only that it could have worked out much better.

A 2nd opinion gave it 6/10 citing that it was quite a fun game, even though mediocre at times and also said that the difficulty could have been beefed up.

[PSI Wind]

Why do people say you SLOW DOWN when using the sword to fight enemies!? All you do is the Air Slice .

[Phos]

Screw Attack just did an "Out of the Box" on this game. I can't remember which guy was reviewing with Craig (It was either Chad or Ben, both of which are known Sonic fans), they said it was alright. Craig, on the other hand, went off on the game, saying that thanks to it, he no longer cares about Sonic.

[YoshiUnity]

http://rr.wii.ign.com/rrview/wii/sonic_the...4268379/101549/

Well. Here's my review of the game. Told everything I knew and believed.

8.4/10. I encourage people to read it to see why I made the choice.

Edit: Okay, I'll admit. I forgot to mention the Soul Surge, but I enjoyed that feature as well. So there you go.

Edited March 10, 2009 by YoshiUnity

[Lukar]

http://rr.wii.ign.com/rrview/wii/sonic_the...4268379/101549/

Well. Here's my review of the game. Told everything I knew and believed.

8.4/10. I encourage people to read it to see why I made the choice.

Edit: Okay, I'll admit. I forgot to mention the Soul Surge, but I enjoyed that feature as well. So there you go.

I honestly think that IGN needs to take down their review and replace it with this one. You nailed it.

[YoshiUnity]

I honestly think that IGN needs to take down their review and replace it with this one. You nailed it.

Hey thanks. I'm glad that you approved. I wanted to make sure that I hit as many positives and negatives, form my experience, as possible.

I also want to know. Even though I appreicate it that you were positive. Do you like it because it was what you want you hear, or because you believe it's fair?

Just asking.

Edited March 11, 2009 by YoshiUnity

[famicommander]

C+ from 1up:

http://www.1up.com/do/reviewPage?cId=3173204&p=44

He called Sonic a porcupine... Also:

Black Knight is a competent action game starring Sonic and friends, but one that's replaced the classic gameplay Sonic fans seek with overly simple swordplay. It'll do the trick just fine for younger players still infatuated with the blue porcupine, but everyone else will likely be just as let down as I was.