Sonic Unleashed

For the mobile game of the same name see Sonic Unleashed (mobile).

Sonic Unleashed, called Sonic World Adventure (ソニック ワールドアドベンチャー) in Japan, is a video game released as part of the the Sonic the Hedgehog series in late 2008. It was launched for the Xbox 360, Wii, PlayStation 2, and PlayStation 3 as a reformed and reworked take on the Sonic franchise, likely to counter criticism of the earlier 2006 Sonic the Hedgehog game. Sonic Unleashed sees Sonic the Hedgehog hindered by a new "Werehog" form at night, and travels to both return to his normal self and stop Dr. Eggman from breaking up the world.

Unleashed debuted with a rendering system dubbed by Sonic Team as the "Hedgehog Engine", designed specifically to handle the drawing of 3D geometry and environments in a fast-paced setting. As this suggests, Sonic Unleashed is a much faster game than its predecessors, being a mixture of 2D and 3D gameplay with the boost mechanic which debuted in Sonic Rush.

While Sonic Team made the HD version for the PlayStation 3, which received a port to the Xbox 360, a alternative version of Sonic Unleashed was developed by Dimps for the Wii, and also received a port to the PlayStation 2. This was the last Sonic the Hedgehog game released for the PlayStation 2 in Western territories (in Japan this title goes to the first Sonic Riders).

Story

The story starts as Dr. Eggman's battle fleet is in orbit around Earth, and Sonic the Hedgehog goes to stop him. Using one of his robots, Eggman is eventually able to capture Sonic, only to have the robot destroyed as Sonic turns super. With his creation destroyed, Eggman flees with Super Sonic pursuing. Eggman lures Super Sonic into a chamber which rips the Chaos Emeralds from him and harnesses their power to break the world apart. This causes a beast to awaken from the center of the planet.

Eggman's machine, however, caused some unintended side effects: The chaos emeralds are changed somehow, and they turn Sonic into a Werehog. Sonic then falls toward the broken planet, and meets a small creature who has lost his memory. Feeling remorse that he may have caused the creature's amnesia, Sonic decides that he must find someone who knows his new friend, and put the planet back together with the help of Tails, Amy, and Professor Pickle. In order to fix the planet, Sonic must find shrines (known as the Temple of Gaia) to reawaken the Chaos Emerald's positive energy and with their power, they will restore a piece of the planet back to surface.

While restoring the sixth continent in Adabat, Chip regains his memory and reveals that he is actually Light Gaia, the opposite of Dark Gaia. The Gaias go through of cycle of the Dark breaking the planet and the Light restoring it . However, due to being released prematurely, Chip lost his memory and Dark Gaia was broken apart. Afterwards, Sonic and Chip reach EggmanLand with the help of Tails' Tornado bi-plane and get to the final temple. However, they are interrupted by Eggman and battle his Egg Dragoon. After defeating it though, a now nearly complete Dark Gaia rises from the Earth.

Eggman orders Dark Gaia to destroy Sonic and Chip, but this backfires with Dark Gaia blowing him away. Dark Gaia then absorbs Sonic's Werehog powers, curing him of it. With no other choice, Chip calls all Gaia Temples and merges all of them together with him, creating the Gaia Collosus. The Gaia Collosus then begins to battle Dark Gaia and distracts him, giving Sonic a chance to attack. Sonic and Chip seem to have defeated Dark Gaia but Dark Gaia then transforms, engulfing the planet in darkness. Dark Gaia has became Perfect Dark Gaia.

After Dark Gaia's transformation, the newly revived Chaos Emeralds then transform Sonic into Super Sonic and the final fight begins. In the PS3 & 360 version, you must get to Perfect Dark Gaia's shield and destroy it by defeating the Dark Gaia monsters that create it as Super Sonic and the rings fill in your Health Bar. Then, you battle Perfect Dark Gaia through quick time events. In the Wii & PS2 version, you must defeat Dark Gaia by collecting rings in order to do the Super Sonic Boost to attack Dark Gaia's eyes while dodging meteors at the same time.

Super Sonic and Gaia Collosus defeat Perfect Dark Gaia and light is restored to the planet. Super Sonic, now having used up all his energy, loses consciousness and the time comes for the two Gaias to go back inside the planet. Chip's final move is saving Sonic by warping him to the planet. Sonic crashes and wakes up, finding Chip, but it turns out to be an illusion. Chip necklace, though, turns out to not be and Sonic puts it on as a bracelet, hearing Chip's saying that he'll never forget him and reminds Sonic that he is now part of the planet again. The game ends with Sonic speeding off with Tails flying behind him via the Tornado.

Gameplay

Sonic travels though various levels, each of which takes place on a different continent. Unleashed contains two different styles of gameplay, noted by the separation of day and night, and of Sonic and his Werehog form.

In addition to the two gameplay types explorable "hub-worlds" are also available. These Hub-worlds are a bit different depending on the version played. The PS3 and Xbox 360 versions are 3D and fully explorable and contain townspeople to converse with. Side quests can be undertaken to gain experience or unlock items such as artwork, videos, and music tracks. Sun and Moon medals can also be found in these versions. These versions also have a hotdog stand, and somewhat amusingly the manuals allude to the fact that Sonic loves Chili Dogs. This was mentioned in the American cartoons but was never mentioned in the games until this point. The Wii and PlayStation 2 versions feature a menu-based map system which players simply make menu selections to talk to townspeople and find information.

Sonic the Hedgehog

In daytime gameplay, Sonic must race through various stages while dodging obstacles and destroying enemy robots, all while trying to get through the level in the most aesthetically pleasing way possible. Some levels contain branching pathways and semi-hidden areas where the player can collect bonuses such as extra lives. As such, daytime levels have some light platforming. The 2D sections of the level design are reminiscent of the side-scrolling Sonic games.

Sonic’s gameplay from the first and second Sonic Adventure games, and, to a lesser extent, Sonic Heroes and the 2006 Sonic the Hedgehog game are gone. Instead, his gameplay retains most of the moves he has in previous games, such as the Wall Jump and Homing Attack. In addition he also has new moves: the Quick Step allows for Sonic to quickly dodge left or right, the Drift allows Sonic to turn around corners at high speed without slowing down, the Sonic Boost will increase Sonic's speed and allow him to smash through objects and access different level paths. The PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions have an on-screen "Ring Energy" meter which displays how much boost is left, which can be increased by collecting Rings, though taking damage will cause Sonic to drop a set number of Rings to decrease it (for example, taking a hit with 330 Rings will knock the player back to 60). The Wii and PlayStation 2 versions of the game represent the "Ring Energy" amount with bars and is increased by performing "Action Chains" (attacking a string of enemies), earning "Drift Bonus" from doing Drifts or by collecting Rings.

Sonic the Werehog

In nighttime gameplay, Sonic transforms into a Werehog where he moves substantially slower, but is much stronger. Additionally, his arms have the ability to stretch; useful in both attacking and in grabbing onto ledges, poles, and various other level elements. Thus, platforming gameplay is heavily emphasized. Another special move, called "Unleashed", increases the strength of his attacks for a limited amount of time.

In most cases nighttime levels normally take longer to play than daytime levels, while daytime levels tend to be physically longer since Sonic is moving at a greater speed. Throughout the game, the player can collect Sun and Moon Medals which allow further level progression.

Items

Level objects

Characters

The playable characters are Sonic and his new werehog form. Tails is also playable, although in mini-games rather than actual 'Sonic' gameplay. Chip is also playable as the Gaia Colossus in the final boss stage.

• Sonic the Hedgehog: Sonic's role in Unleashed is to put Earth back together by collecting the chaos emeralds and putting them in "Chaos Shrines" that reside every chunk of the planet.
• Sonic the Werehog: During the night, Sonic transforms into a were-creature (called "werehog" by SEGA) that, while looking sinister, still retains his will to do good. He cannot run as fast as he normally can, but in return he has enhanced physical strength and the ability to stretch his arms very long distances.
• Dr. Eggman: Seemingly the cause of all the problems in this story. He turns Sonic into the Werehog, blows Earth into pieces, and unleashes the monster that has been living in the core of the planet for centuries.
• Chip: He is about the same size as a Chao and looks like a reddish-purple dog with wings. His purpose reflects that of Omochao, Tikal, the Duke of Soleanna (voice only), and Shahra, giving Sonic information as he runs along the stages. He likes chocolate and offers chocolate to every good person in the game, show both his kindness, and his hunger.
• Tails: Using his Tornado, Tails assists Sonic in traveling to the various continents.
• Amy Rose: Appears only in cutscenes, and is rescued by Sonic during a part of the game.
• Professor Pickle: Eggman captures Professor Pickle, and is later rescued by Tails. He is an odd scientist obsessed with cucumber sandwhiches and is very helpful to Sonic.
• Dark Gaia: Eggman splits apart the earth in order to use Dark Gaia to build his Eggman Empire. He is the final boss in the game, being fought by the Gaia Colossus and Super Sonic.

History

Development

"Sonic Unleashed" was trademarked by Sega on March 12, 2008. Screenshots of cutscenes and gameplay were posted on March 22, 2008 along with a video shortly after. The same site that first posted the screenshots later indicated that Sega had confirmed them as official material. It was originally intended to be the third installment of the Sonic Adventure series, but the development team began to introduce enough new innovations to separate it from the Sonic Adventure titles, and so the idea was dropped.

Sales data

Copies sold	Date	Platform(s)	Regions	Cumulative sales	References	Notes
2,027,000	200x		US/EU/JP	2,027,000	[23]
423,000	200x		US/EU/JP	2,450,000	[24]

Versions

Platform differences

• In sections of the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions of the game, the player may choose to advance the time of day in order to play as either Sonic or the Werehog. The Wii and PlayStation 2 versions advance the time of day automatically.
• The PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions of the game include the Empire City and Mazuri levels, while the Wii and PlayStation 2 versions contain only a limited version of Mazuri.
• The Wii version of the game also expands upon the ratio of night-time levels to daytime, with more than three times as many night-time levels (twenty-five in all).
• The PS3 version contain explorable hub worlds and town stages, while in the Wii version they are replaced by static backgrounds.
• The Wii and PlayStation 2 Versions of the game feature an entirely different engine rather than the Hedgehog Engine.
• Tornado Defense is not present in the Wii and PS2 versions.
• The level-up system in the Wii and PS2 versions only applies to the Werehog, and is far less complex.
• In the Wii and PS2 versions, the Interceptor enemy behaves differently. Instead of using lasers and creating shockwaves by slamming the ground, it uses its wheels to try to run Sonic over. The robot can also be attacked and defeated in the Wii and PS2 versions by boosting into it when the camera pans behind it. In addition, the day boss music begins to play when it is encountered in said versions.
• The Dark Guardian boss battle is vastly different between the two versions. In the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions, the player must move boxes to one side of the arena to defeat the boss, while stunning it occasionally and defeating the enemies it spawns. In the Wii and PlayStation 2 versions, the boss does not spawn any enemies and is more of a 1-on-1 fist fight.
• In PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions of the game, rings are pulled into the bar that says Ring Energy. In the Wii and PlayStation 2 versions, rings simply disappears once touched by Sonic during day stages.
• The Perfect Dark Gaia battle is completely different between the two sets of platforms. The higher end platforms have a five part battle that consists of Super Sonic making his way to the boss, destroying the force field it ups up, and then freeing the Gaia Colossus from Dark Gaia's grip. The Colossus then must use a 60 button quick time event to block a point black laser shot, and then Super Sonic dashes to deliver the final blow. The lower end versions simply have Super Sonic dodging attacks and putting Dark Gaia's eyes out.
• Additionally, in the higher end versions, Super Sonic has a health meter instead of the traditional reliance on Rings found in the lower end versions.

The PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions versions have both voice language tracks included in the game disc and feature an option that allows to switch between both English and Japanese voice language, which is present in all the regional variations of both versions. While the game is entirely multi-lingual in all regional versions of the game, the text language is automatically defaulted by the console language settings.

The Wii and PlayStation 2 versions feature only one voice track in the game disc and according to the regional version, due to size constraints. The Western versions have the English voice language whereas the Japanese version has the Japanese one, while the text language is entirely multi-lingual in all regional versions. Since the PlayStation 2 version was never released in Japan, this version lacks the Japanese voice language completely. The text language is entirely multi-lingual and manually selectionable in all the regional variations of both versions, although the Japanese text language is manually selectable in the North American PlayStation 2 version; in the European and Australian PlayStation 2 version it can only be accessed if the console language settings are in Japanese.

Downloadable content

Several Stages in the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions of the game have a downloadable "Adventure Pack" which gives the game some replay value. These include Empire City & Adabat, Apotos & Shamar, Mazuri, Holoska, Spagonia, and Chun-nan, that also give a 'Hard mode' to the original stage, however, this got critical reception due to being most Sonic games having these modes included with the original game, such as Sonic Adventure 2, Shadow the Hedgehog, Sonic the Hedgehog and others.

Production credits

Voice actors

Role	English	Japanese
Sonic the Hedgehog	Jason Griffith	Junichi Kanemaru
Sonic the Werehog	Jason Griffith	Tomokazu Seki
Chip	Anthony Salerno	Ryoko Shiraishi
Professor Pickle	Dan Green	Cho
Miles "Tails" Prower	Amy Palant	Ryo Hirohashi
Dr. Eggman	Mike Pollock	Chikao Otsuka
Amy Rose	Lisa Ortiz	Taeko Kawata
SA-55 (Ergo Robot)	Chris Collet	??

Manuals

Promotional material

Artwork

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Physical scans

Wii version

PlayStation 2 version

PlayStation 3 version

Xbox 360 version

Technical information

ROM dump status

System	Hash	Size	Build Date	Source	Comments
?	CRC32 ea27d841 MD5 00dcc7c411162981ba44d0ba8f24ca8f SHA-1 ac2afd47ecb430fb199f3c04f80c612107d6d1ce	7,835,492,352		DVD-ROM (US)
?	CRC32 5cd5ccdd MD5 e6e249e87064ee75fee6cf35135d3ca8 SHA-1 b03e4afbc3a379d58f9c14bdf5b23f9fb284d09f	7,835,492,352		DVD-ROM (EU)
?	CRC32 72a16d70 MD5 604d128c807f4bffcb580e7680b2f503 SHA-1 fdaf4f7fa214d11fc8c22255a6ae3247e1697050	7,835,492,352		DVD-ROM (JP)
?	CRC32 MD5 SHA-1		2008-10-14	DVD-R[25]				Page
?	CRC32 MD5 SHA-1		2008-10-28	DVD-R[26]				Page
✔	CRC32 284c90ce MD5 6941726c3aa0e352e8882203b89ac583 SHA-1 da9b84ab8370cc3a756c1822be8e624df9b1480a	8,352,825,344		BD-ROM (US/Asia)	BLUS-30244 (V01.01)
✔	CRC32 2082efd0 MD5 e495434ae68560c7fbea85dac1f20475 SHA-1 73e316c38b3cd8ce989e895edfe6f080fb6b2243	8,352,825,344		BD-ROM (EU)	BLES-00425 (V01.01)
?	CRC32 fcea9317 MD5 46ac260326822be97e3d1a71ff6e5343 SHA-1 72082fd018152577456bd810548fcd828f517385	8,353,218,560		BD-ROM (JP)	BLJM-60112 (V01.00)
✔	CRC32 698738ac MD5 2ff85c46143c86922ab68061097ced34 SHA-1 e3f792b613ff82f2adde06329a0c1b179be4091d	4,699,979,776		Disc (US)
✔	CRC32 e3484c7a MD5 ac7e0c7d9012f84a7828bc6c26e13ed2 SHA-1 02b33ebb0c5bcdf8abdf9501d56c5a9698ad8fa4	4,699,979,776		Disc (EU)
?	CRC32 61f2055f MD5 1f904185bf139836443e60b8670ae20e SHA-1 985fa131df91daedb5fce4b9f48106d6c4c69f78	4,699,979,776		Disc (JP)
✔	CRC32 91ac8f84 MD5 7579bf8c312bc4d4291107ab8732f867 SHA-1 6cc2bef4ca074d93419cc60f5382ca1ed8bdd962	4,680,941,568		DVD-ROM (US)	SLUS-21846 (V1.01)
✔	CRC32 2e61aaaf MD5 e8a457b34f58c564241ba7378d5dbd61 SHA-1 433f13fd1637d483bab6a9f1b5be6c019512cc57	4,680,941,568		DVD-ROM (EU/AU)	SLES-55380 (V1.01)

External links

• Sega of Japan catalogue pages: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii
• Official website on Sonic Channel (Japanese)
• Night of the Werehog - A short standalone film used to promote Sonic Unleashed
• Sonic Unleashed director blog run by Yoshihisa Hashimoto
• Sonic Unleashed hamidashi (jutting out of bounds) blog run by Natsuha Matsubara and Utako Yoshino
• Nintendo catalogue pages: US
• Sonic Unleashed on PlayStation.com: PlayStation 2: US; PlayStation 3: JP, US, UK, KR
• Sonic Unleashed on PlayStation Store: JP, US, UK (Digital), UK (Retail), AU (Digital), AU (Retail)
• Sonic Unleashed on Xbox Marketplace: JP, US, UK, AU, KR

References

Sonic Unleashed

Main page Comparisons Maps Achievements Downloadable content Credits Manuals Promotional material Magazine articles Reception Merchandise Development Hidden content Bugs Technical information Items

show;hide Levels Eggman's Robots Dark Gaia's Minions Bosses Prereleases Media Windmill Isle Savannah Citadel Cool Edge Rooftop Run Dragon Road Arid Sands Skyscraper Scamper Jungle Joyride Eggmanland Tornado Defense HUB Worlds: Gaia Gate Apotos Mazuri Holoska Spagonia Chun-nan Shamar Empire City Adabat Eggmanland Aero-Cannon Aero-Chaser Egg Blizzard Egg Burst Egg Fighter Egg Fighter Knight Egg Fighter Shield Egg Fighter Spring Egg Fighter Sword Egg Flame Egg Launcher Egg Shackle Egg Shooter Egg Typhoon Electro Spinner Gold Aero-Cannon Interceptor Little Fighter Mole Cannon Spinner Thunder Ball Big Mother Cure Master Dark Bat Dark Bat Sniper Dark Eel Dark Fright Dark Master Deep Nightmare Evil Flower Fire Master Fright Master Killer Bee Lightning Master Little Rex Nightmare Power Master Red Deep Nightmare Red Fright Red Killer Bee Red Nightmare Red Rex Red Titan Spike Thunder Bat Titan Egg Cauldron Egg Beetle Dark Gaia Phoenix Egg Devil Ray Dark Moray Dark Guardian Egg Lancer Egg Dragoon Dark Gaia Perfect Dark Gaia Xbox 360: Preview build 2008-10-14 prototype 2008-10-28 prototype Books: Prima Official Game Guide Music: Planetary Pieces: Original Soundtrack Shorts: Night of the Werehog Songs: "Endless Possibility" | "Dear My Friend"

Sonic the Hedgehog games for the following systems
	2006  Sonic the Hedgehog     2008  Sonic Unleashed     2009  Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection     2010  Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing     2011  Sonic Generations     2012  Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed      Prototypes  Sonic Generations (Demo 1/2)

2006  Sonic the Hedgehog     2008  Sonic Unleashed     2009  Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection     2010  Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing | Sonic Free Riders     2011  Sonic Generations     2012  Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed      Demos  Sonic the Hedgehog (2006 Xbox Live demo) | Sonic Generations (Demo 1/2)  Prototypes  Sonic Unleashed prereleases | Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing (prototype; 2009-12-01)

2003  Sonic Heroes     2004  Sonic Mega Collection Plus     2005  Sonic Gems Collection | Shadow the Hedgehog     2006  Sonic Riders | Sega Genesis Collection     2008  Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity | Sonic Unleashed     2009  Sega Fun Pack: Sonic Mega Collection Plus & Shadow the Hedgehog      Demos  Sonic Riders Trial Version  Prototypes  Sonic Mega Collection Plus (prototype; 2004-08-18) | Sonic Riders (prototype; 2005-12-08)

2007  Sonic and the Secret Rings | Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games     2008  Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity | Sonic Unleashed     2009  Sonic and the Black Knight | Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games | Sega Fun Pack: Sonic and the Secret Rings & Super Monkey Ball Banana Blitz     2010  Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing | Sonic Colours     2011  Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games      Demos  Sonic to Himitsu no Ring Taikenban  Prototypes  Sonic and the Black Knight (preview build) | Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games (GamesCom preview build) | Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games (review build)