Sonic Unleashed (Part 1) - Sonic Was Always Good

[@lasercraft32]

My issue with the 2D section isn't that I don't want 2D in my 3D games, but rather I just _don't like_ the 2D sections. The 3D sections are much more fun because (surprise) you can _actually see_ what is coming instead of being blindsided by random spikes and whatnot.

[@Hyp3rSonic]

Based

[@Itz_Kwame]

You are a certified CHAD for addressing the 2d criticism in the fanbase, truly a Christmas miracle!

[@boleslau69]

Indeed

[@NIGHTBLOODUSAGI]

a certified CHAO

[@runningoncylinders3829]

@@NIGHTBLOODUSAGI A HERO Chao

[@elibonham4388]

Shiveria mountain mod is entirely 3d and that works really well

[@dn22pkkdd476]

Also he figured out a practical use for the speedometer. I always thought it was just for show. I would have never thought to use it to see how much faster each shortcut is.

[@nothinghere8434]

Something I want to add against the argument that "every game technically becomes a QTE when you are speedrunning it", is that QTE-inputs are usually entirely digital. You either press the button within the timeframe, or not, it is binary. If we look at a popular speedrunning game like Super Mario 64, timing is only a part of what you do. What also matters is what angle on the control stick you hold, how much you hold it, how long you hold the Jump Button, etc. You aren't just timing digital inputs, but analog inputs as well. There's both "temporal" and "spacial" precision involved, if that makes sense. There's nothing analog about the slide, quick-step, homing attack, sommer sault or the light speed dash. As an action on their own, they have as much depth as opening a door in 3D Zelda, which feels weird for something calling itself a platformer, a genre centered around analog inputs. Timing to stay fluid while optimizing for speed is pretty much all there is as long as you aren't trying to use the jump boost/spindash jump to break the stage whenever you can. Funnily enough, homing attack chains are like a streamlined version of the automated clawshot chaining setpieces in the Sky Temple in Twilight Princess when you think about it, and even the skills in Frontiers remind me a lot more of the Hidden Skills in TP than attacks in your typcal beat 'em up action game. Adventure 2 has a context sensitive action button, a concept popularized by Ocarina of Time. In the classic 2D games, your jump height was analog. The Spindash had multiple levels of speed so it was kind of a digital-analog hybrid. Rolling was a digital input, but aside from attacking it was an option to let slopes influence your analog speed variable. I can see though why this is the case. Asking an entire additional dimension of precision from players while going fast in 3D might've seemed a bit much to expect of most casual players, so they kept trying to streamline it.

[@thetbhresistance7042]

The summersault, lighstpeed dash and homing attack especially do have a lot of analog elements to them. You can influence whether or not you get launched at the end of a ring trail by whether or not you hold the button or tap it multiple times immediately after the trail ends in SA2, the summersaults duration is decided by how much you press the action button and how you time the button presses, and also by i think how long you hold it even. And depending on how you do it Sonic can do either a kick or a punch at the end of the move. The homing attack, while having a generous range, does require aiming of the joystick to target a target in many games, and depending on whether or not you hold the button down while hitting an enemy, that determines how far you bounce up in many titles too.

[@nothinghere8434]

​@@thetbhresistance7042 Okay, I'm sorry, I didn't know/overlooked that. Still, the way you describe it, the options you have at the end of a lightspeed dash sound more like choosing between two branching options like in a combo tree. The summer sault thing was surprising. Did you find any good uses for it in the level design? Aiming the homing attack helps with not getting targets confused, which is nice, but isn't the same as lining up the correct angle, judging distance and your velocity, making a small plan of how to do the jump and executing on it. The thing where you bounce higher by holding the button after a homing attack is like the summersault thing where I want to ask what uses you found for it, because it sounds situational at best on the surface. I admit it, I only played Colors. I should know better, but it's always tempting and I don't have anything fun to do anymore. At least you corrected me. 😆

[@thetbhresistance7042]

@@nothinghere8434 well, getting a punch at the end of a summersault is marginally better than getting a kick, since the punch is a bit faster whereas the kick is slower and gets you to a complete stop. Other than that yea it is only marginally useful. Bouncing up high at the end of a homing attack is extremely useful and a very fundamental part of using the homing attack in the games that have it I say, especially in Heroes. An example is the big enemy chain in Green Forest, I always found it difficulty to chain together homing attacks in that part of the level. Until I figured out to strategically either tap or hold the button depending on how far each enemy was away from me. it also gives you a little teeny tiny bit of extra decision making, do you want to bounce up to get extra height, or do you just want to tap it so you can quickly return to the ground?

[@andreobarros]

About the variable heights. Idk about unleashed, since it was generations that i played a lot, in generations, the quick hops you do by taping jump have variable heights. From level design perspective, I think I can remember a couple of instances where your precise control of quick hops / jump height + steering are defining of your speed. The upper route of green-hill after fleeing from the big fish, after the wall jump section. You can boost thorough it, if you do 2 very precise height hops (too short, you fail and hit the wall, too high, you cant react in time the next obstacle). The upper route of sky sanctuary, right at the start, you can technically go boosting there if you hop + steer it right. And there's the last level from planet wisp. There you can take the left route after the cannon, right at the start, you can just boost through it by doing the most precise small 2 hops of all time, along with a tiny nudge on the analog stick to steer sonic slight to the (right?). Right after this miracle maneuver, in the small cave, you can use your analog stick to steer to the left and get the a spring, which can bring you close just enough, so you can do a homing attack on a enemy, without touching the ground (in this case you wouldn't have the ground since the spring takes you too far) There's also crisis city, you can skip some platforming, by right at the first bottomless pit, releasing the boost and jumping while holding A and with small bumps to forward in the analog stick, if you do it correctly, the first enemy you give you a bump in height just enough to get to the second, which you bump you up again, and then you nudge sonic a bit to the right and boost, to skip some slow platforming. There are others and all of them are completely optional, also very demanding, also its you who need to find them. Being mostly pointless, unless you are trying to speedrun, or get a good ranking in the online scoreboard, which is filled with 0:00:00 and glitch full times. But they do exist. Also while playing to get S ranks on the earlier versions of the unleashed project (with their very strict times), you find a lot of analog things, that you simply didn't have to deal with in vanilla, since the game was very forgiving. Like, if you are not on ground boosting, you are losing speed. So not only small hops are the way, but you need to hop and time well with an air boost, to keep up speed. Or like, you better of not using drift if you can, which means analog steering, bcuz non-glitchy drifts lower your speed in generations. And also how you can use the environment to come to an instant halt, from max speed, or skips you can do by hopping and steering sonic in the air. The only things digital on generations are quick step*, homing-chains, stomp and the first couple of seconds while boosting. Somewhat, you can do some funny things, but its mostly trickery.

[@sonic5993]

Unleashed will always have my favorite Boost levels. They're challenging, but long enough so that they actually have some meat. Really sad the Director of this game was one and done because he really made something special that really hasn't been captured since.

[@somehelluvafanboy8357]

I'd take a level length of Unleashed with the Generations level design and gameplay, cuz it took me a really, really, really long while for me to get somewhat good at it and start liking it. Even thenz though, I despise Cool Edge, it is not a fun level when you're in the ice or on the sled

[@DaddyJoe1]

@@somehelluvafanboy8357nah imo the level design in sonic generations is too platformy

[@wreday720]

This is the turning point. Glad you mentioned the context behind this game because people REALLY seem to forget that for many of these titles and why they were made in particular way

[@kinggalactix]

Sonic Unleashed is the reason why I love this series and why I know it.

[@ChaddyFantome]

Absolutely well put when it comes to the conceptualization of the game's approach to 3D Sonic compared to past Entries. I don't think i could really add anything to it. One thing I will add though on the point of polish aspect is how this streamlining of the approach to 3D Sonic into more of hallway design likely was also done *because* it allowed them to make the game more table and consistent. The approach to 3D Sonic in the Adventure-style for a lack of a better term, made it so there were an insane amount of variables and I believe it made it easier for the devs to make things consistent by streamlining the game so heavily in Unleashed the way they did. it's a give and take you can say in that way. Think of thing slike Rails for example. The reason rails can be as consistent in game slike Unleashed, for as dumbed down as they are mechanically compared to past entries, is BECAUSE of how simplified they are. Now that isn't to say I believe this makes Unleashed superior, I still prefer the previous approach to 3D Sonic, but I also get the appeal from the perspective of the devs to do so, especially when complaints about how variable and inconsistent Sonic games could be in the past. Also THANK you with the point about 2D and 3D in the Bost era games. I have said the same thing myself a ton. I GET the general sentiment but people treat it as some major design sacrilege or flaw as opposed to just a design choice they don't fancy and it's really annoying similar to the "boost to win" complaint sof the Boost era games in general. particularly in the Boost games, the 2D sections are incredibly necessary because they are what provide the player with opportunity to be presented with a needed change of pace and given actual platforming and junk rather than just being a boost forward and react to obstacles simulator. Like you said, l I also don't even necessarily agree with the direction or approach for a 3D Sonic game as a baseline conceptually as I believe it has near irreconcilable flaws, but that isn't the same as it being bad or invalid. You still judge a game on it's merits rather than on some weird ideological line. I will disagree with your point at 38:51 because I do not believe it is at all accurate to say things like that do not exist in the Classics. Things like the Pull eyes you grab in Marble Garden to get up hills or the Elevator's you have to spin dash on to go up and down vertical shafts are staples in the Classics. The only way to get past the second lava floor in Marble Zone in Sonic one is to push the block and ride the lava spout up to the higher level, etc. These kinda things are in platformers in general and are in the Sonic games in general and I don't really see them as some unique example of SA2's design to the exclusion or departure of other games in the series. In fact, I'd argue SA1 was a lot more inorganic about it due to the mechanics not flowing into each other nearly as well, feeling more like key items to progress rather then extensions of the player's moveset. Off the top of my head for example, the player can spindash over the gap they have to otherwise use the Light Dash to cross in Metal Harbor. I think what it is more accurate to say is that SA2 having been a game that pushed the idea of 3D Sonic forward significantly, naturally later games, independent of core design, naturally use the knowledge acquired from it into their own design. Because in terms of overall game design. The same way you could say 3D World is more similar to Mario Galaxy than Mario Sunshine. 43:45 I also don't agree with this point either. Much of the "dead-Time" in SA2 is a consequence of the player not taking advantage of or interacting with the level design elements presented in order to boost score for ranking, which is how much of the game is the designed. At that point, it's kinda on the player for not basically engaging with the game as little as possible on purpose if you ask me. This is different from Unleashed or the Boost games where the player doesn't really have the modularity or freedom of approach to the levels in the same way. It becomes less trying to overcome obstacles and interact with level design in a smooth manner and more just trying to keep your forward momentum and being in the correct "state" to not be stopped or interrupted by the thing flying at you. Really this aspect is less an element originating in SA2 as it is as thing that was in the games since Sonic 2 itself, as even then the devs goign into the sequel started introducing tons of elements and set pieces to break up the gameplay so it isn't mostly a series of speeding forward, which is how we got things like the Marble Garden tops to break certain walls or spin dashing to break certain pillars to progress or pressing certain buttons to open up doors, etc. being more prominent in the level design. I do agree that the Boost style Unleashed gameplay requires the challenge to remain engaging, which i where I feel some later entries kinda miss the mark especially when we get to Forces. Wait hol' up. My man's is a Point and Click Adventure connoisseur? My man! Werehog is gonna be interesting

[@peanutbutterrocket]

The video we’ve all been waiting for

[@elibonham4388]

Yea buddy merry Christmas

[@exelotour4387]

yeah buddy yeah....

[@kaxcommentssomethingREAL]

yeah yeah buddy yeah... yeah yeah yeah... buddy...

[@NamelessCrusad3r]

Yeah yeah buddy yeah yeah yeah yeah buddy…

[@peanutbutterrocket]

@@NamelessCrusad3r listen buddy

[@RKzero10]

The Crash comparison is funny since the Prototype Name for Crash 1 was called "Sonic's Ass Game"

[@MuhammadIbrahim-hp4ld]

no way

[@andersonsansonowski5644]

What?!!

[@sebastianmartinez5963]

I think that Sonic Unleashed is a transitional game, which has both Dark Age originally, ambition and random ideas and Meta Era with Eggman that gets ridiculed by his own robots, Sonic as only character playable and basic story. Also can be said that at a playable level I laid the foundations for what came later.

[@odd-eyes6363]

There's nothing of the Meta Era. Is just a game with the same vibe from the early 2000s but given a proper budget and production time. It's just Sonic '06 but good in terms of scope

[@kilometersperminute4113]

I think with Modern Tails debuting in unleashed I think that it’s not farfetched to say they’re starting to incorporate some of the ‘criticism’ that leads to the meta era.

[@sebastianmartinez5963]

@@odd-eyes6363 What you say is not entirely true. As much as you deny it, Sonic Unleashed was the game that laid the foundation for the mainstream games of the Meta Era. I mean, Unleashed first introduced the 3D Boost formula, which literally became a standard in subsequent mainline games. Unleashed made Sonic the only playable character, completely ignoring characters like Tails or Knuckles. Which also became very common in Meta Era games The story still has that ambition that they had in the Dreamcast and Dark Age games, but it's been simplified a lot. We went from having an elaborate plot like Sonic 06 to something very basic. The comedy in Unleashed is in stark contrast to previous games, being much more harmless to the whole family. The humans in Unleashed became more cartoonish in contrast to the Japanese anime look they had in games like Adventure and 06.

[@lauraikoko]

this whole sonic era bull shit is stupid,just look at each game separately instead of putting them into a stupid era thing! like this shit is stupid

[@just_ducky]

The perfect Christmas gift. My favorite game in the series being reviewed.

[@stanzacosmi]

41:14 a great example of this is a fangame from back in 2013 called Sonic Quick Step Challenge. It was basically Sonic Unleashed if it were a top down game, and it does basically the exact opposite of this. The 2D Sections get split up into different paths, but they play basically the exact same as normal with only the minor mechanical differences like no gravity to the center platform so you just fall down a pit

[@stanzacosmi]

42:26 actually you can adjust the camera in most sections to look more upward with the second stick

[@stanzacosmi]

48:44 it's mainly to help aid in the reaction based level design since for example, the bombs are placed in the level and not randomly generated, and since the aerochaser is unpredictable, they don't want a path entirely blocked off by a laser when it's the only bombless path, and so that you can be able to jump over it.

[@Yuti640]

Also can we just appreciate how AMAZING this game looks, there’s so much beautiful modelling all for areas that you’ll just zip right by

[@chowdown]

19:00 As a side note, I mostly replayed the "main" Act 1 day stages for the spectacle in Unleashed, so I never really played all the side-act stages. Thus, this particular Act wasn't really in my active memory. Watching this part being played out in this video, I immediately went, "HEY! That's one of the Acts that they used the Cyberspace homage levels in Frontiers!"

[@seematahir5970]

As much as I hate the mentality that "2D in Boost Game = Bad", I sorta understand where those people are coming from. Colors was really the starting point for the anti-2D sentiments in the fanbase because of how blocky and shallow it was in that game. You could argue that Colors is shallow and watered-down in general, but Generations also suffered similarly. It had good 2D sections but others were slogs, and Planet Wisp being unanimously agreed on as the worst Generations stage didn't help things. It was further compounded by Gens and Forces already having 2D focused gameplay with Classic Sonic, making the 3D/2D split even more redundant. And with Sonic Team clinging more and more to nostalgia people saw it as cheap way to imitate the classics instead of an actual mechanic. Personally, it comes down to the fact that Unleashed was the only boost game that really replicated the feeling of the Rush games in 2D, i.e the normal boost gameplay but with a different camera angle. Everywhere else it was used, it was usually just a way to slow down the gameplay and shove in platforming because of the backlash Unleashed got for "being too fast" and "not being a real platformer". Looking back it was the wrong thing to do but Sonic Team have always been very reactionary. Anyways great video as always, really interested to see what you have to say about the Werehog. Easily one of the most controversial inclusions to any Sonic game to date.

[@spritvio639]

I think Forces was the real culprit of the 2D hate. Prior to it coming out people weren't really as anti2d.

[@seematahir5970]

@@spritvio639 Eh, I guess, but EmBani's pretty popular "Adventure vs Boost" disection video was scripted before Forces was out and had an entire rant dedicated to hating on the 2D sections in boost games. For what it's worth Forces has decent 2D sections with some neat speed running tech. I could be remembering wrong but I feel like people were getting sick of them by Gens.

[@seematahir5970]

@Banjo n' Ka'shootie For the ps4 I know Gens top to bottom and I can't really think of any examples of that. Most levels bottleneck into 2D sections and the punishment comes from the bottom paths being slow 2D and the upper ones being fast 2D (ex. Rooftop Run after you grind down the clock tower). There is a section in Crisis City where if you fail a platforming challenge you get thrown into a short 3D section that leads back to the 2D section, but that's kind of the opposite of what you're saying. I don't think any boost game has that much interplay between 2D and 3D. I think Planet Wisp is an overhated stage but 1/9 is not a good fraction. Gens is a short game, so just one mediocre stage really hurts the replayability. And like I said the game as a whole has quite a few good 2D sections, but I always groan whenever I get to the 2D portion of Crisis City or Planet Wisp. It felt like a way to appease people who thought Unleashed was too fast and needed more platforming. It's still tough to say whether Unleashed or Gens has the better boost levels though, they are each excellent in their own ways.

[@SuperChrim]

I realized unleashed had more intricate physics in Arid Sands. Those pillars that move up and down. When standing on then, Sonic’s jump will be either amplified or reduced depending on when he jumps off. I remember thinking it seemed kinda pointless since the boost gameplay took over so much.

[@casswury]

I think it's really interesting that despite Sonic Unleashed being incredibly simplified, it's one of the most challenging games in the franchise. Could you imagine if a trick system and meter management was stacked on top of the DLC levels?

[@TheDrunkLawyer]

They really ducked up in Gens and Colors because getting S ranks in these stages, particularly the later ones, is some of the most accomplishing feelings I’ve got in games. Just to complete Jungle Joyride or Empire City with no death feels like an achievement

[@Mostillist]

agreed you actually had to master the stages to s rank them generations was so easy it honestly shouldn't even of bothered with a ranking system

[@technicallyinept2120]

0:01 Version stuff 2:06 A new direction 6:23 the third way 9:43 How did they do? 11:09 Feel the speed of Sonic 16:32 New stuff 19:50 The best new mechanic 21:08 Meter (Mis)managament 24:21 The redemption 31:09 Classic Based Pariah 35:10 Unleashed’s genre change (not that one) 45:11 The physics

[@TheDrunkLawyer]

This is what we’ve all been waiting for

[@ScrapsandSlaps]

THANK YOU for talking about the drift! Everyone just calls it shit without realizing how to use it. People are to harsh on the 2D section in these games. But as you said, the speed works better in 3D because you can see where your going. They don’t use it well here but it’s kind of fundamental. Still, this is my favorite boost game. Can’t wait for you to find something nice to say about the werehog lol

[@galacticspecter4364]

I didn’t realize unleashes was running so well on Xenia now, awesome

[@ZobirisMage]

I love the boost games because I feel like it explores Sonic's speed from a cinematic/spectacle perspective. Even if I don't necessarily have to "work" for my speed, keeping it going through these stages makes me feel like the Sonic CD/Unleashed opening

[@gregtom3272]

YEAAAAAAAAH , could not imagine it comes this soon but it's and it's a fantastic video , again , thank you for your sonic analysis videos as well as other ones of different games series , i've been waiting for this video for a long time

[@giannicayon2806]

Finally the unleashed review And I don't like the 2d in games like sonic colors and forces and frontiers but in sonic unleashed and generations I love the 2d sections Can't wait for part 2 and the story video

[@miqwerty]

I definitely struggle with the whole "judging a game for what it is and not what it isn't" thing, especially when it comes to Sonic and the boost games in particular. This series in particular has led me to realize that there are so many Sonic games that iterate on or bring really strong and interesting ideas to the table both gameplay and story-wise that are so often discarded or undermined by future installments. I feel like Dr. Frankenstein, wanting to cobble all the disparate elements together to make the ultimate Sonic game. Of course it's a reductive way of viewing media in general and overlooks the elements of the games that *do* work in tandem but with all the mismanagement that's happened with the series at so many points over the years it's hard not to think about what could have been.

[@penguinlord9984]

I LOVE this game! The creativity, setting, the flow of the gameplay all come together for me and I wish another sonic game captured the same magic that this game did. (This does not include the warehog which somehow has horribly designed stages which is ironic considering they already had other examples to work off of while the day time stages didn’t. Also the controls for the day time stages could be a bit better). Oh also the level design is top notch especially Skyscraper Scamper Day Act 1. And the music is absolutely top tier. Endless Possibilities is just incredible.

[@nightlydata2181]

All I wanna say as someone whos fav 3D game is Unleashed I jus wanna say THX SO MUCH FOR THAT WHOLE SPIEL BOUT 2D IN THESE GAMES I'VE BEEN SAYIN THIS FOR SO LONG.

[@brendanblair64]

I really loved hearing how much you like the bonus acts and DLC after hearing for years that people hate them, and not really enjoying them myself. I don't know, it's just kinda cool hearing someone be so positive about something that's generally hated, while understanding why they feel that way.

[@davidgoble5479]

About the whole 2d argument, you make a really good point. I don't think switching to 2d is inherently bad. BUT I believe there's an important distinction that needs to be made. The way that Unleashed implements 2d from a level design perspective for the majority of the game is drastically different from every game that came after. In Unleashed they understood how to build 2d sections around the boost gameplay, and make it flow pretty much seamlessly with the rest of the level. The 2d sections in this game are more reaction based and usually less platforming heavy, which plays to the strengths of the boost really well. The way sonic team built the boost gameplay really is just not conducive to platforming, so when they try to turn these 2d sections into classic sonic esque level design (gens), or more generic platforming heavy 2d (colors), I really don't think it works nearly as well, because they don't have the proper controls and physics to accommodate that type of level design. I would say that I do fall into the camp of not wanting 2d in my 3d sonic games, but not because "2d stinky bad". It's really because Sonic Team have only ever made 1 game where going into 2d didn't actively harm the experience, so honestly I would rather stop seeing them try. As a side note, for some reason when they were designing eggmanland, they forgot about the boost-oriented 2d level design entirely, and all the 2d sections in that level make me feel like I'm playing Sonic Colors. Almost everyone hated that level so of course the logical course of action is to design every level in the next game the same way.

[@Pariah6950]

Then people should stop complaining about 2D and start complaining about bad level design lol. And I'll talk about the heavy emphasis on traditional 2D platforming in the Colors video.

[@GustavoSuperSonic2001]

I've never think that much about Sonic Unleashed, but after seeing your video I had a lot more of appreciation for this game

[@ALegendaryBlueHedge]

Thank you so much for addressing people's peoples complaints with 2D sections in this game.

[@elmark3550]

I love how the game always lets you see extremely far ahead, it feels like one of the most fair games in the franchise despite being much faster

[@Laekith]

I think there's one big reason why people hate on 2D sections: Sonic Colors (and now Chaos Island from Frontiers too)

[@spritvio639]

It's moreso Forces that turned everyone Anti-2D. At the time and even for a good few years after Sonic Colors was very highly regarded. The original game still has an 8.2 for user scores. It wasn't until Forces came out that everyone started to turn on Colors and act like it was never good.

[@Ibalistic_hedge]

What gets me how little sonic fans understand. They don’t understand that it’s actually harder to make a game switch between 3D and 2D. They’d be putting less effort into the game if they just made it 2D or 3D. So basically, fans are complaining that sonic team are actually trying.

[@Hyp3rSonic]

Agree

[@snakey888]

Great observation about the physics in the game! It's great to see someone actually noticing and commenting on how the physics work and the momentum that is applied to the movement. Good job!

[@Difegue]

The 2D is more than fine in Unleashed since it's basically watered down Rush, my main beef with 2D boost always came down to Colors: That game leaves you with a terrible taste of it due to all the padding it throws at you in the form of slow 2D levels which are overly reliant on wisp gimmicks. I always felt 2D was fine in Gens, and in Forces it's terrible but then again what isn't when it comes to the level design in that one Interested to hear your thoughts on Eggmanland (personal highlight of this game) considering the talk about difficulty, but I guess that's reserved for the werehog video. :^)

[@yall_girl_eve]

43:50 An Actual Sonic Rhythm game like metal hellsinger is something that should already happened tbh

[@tadaokou4919]

About the whole 2D topic you address in this video: First of all, I find your opinion about this whole topic very reasonable and understandable, and it fits perfectly in line with your previous reviews. One should judge a game for what it is and not for what it's not. I think that is one of the reasons why the boost formula in general gets so much hate by a vocal minority. People don't judge the boost games for what they are, but for what they want these games to be. With that being said, the only time 2D gameplay ever really annoyed me in ,,modern Sonic games" is in Sonic Frontiers on Chaos Island. Obviously, there are bad 2D segments in other Sonic games, but those were bad due to the level design and not due to being 2D.

[@Pariah6950]

Frontiers is different. The 2D there does not fit at all in an open zone. And the 3D movement in that game is so fun that the 2D parts actually are worse to play.

[@kinggalactix]

I've been waiting for this video! This is going to be amazing.

[@michaelkindt3288]

@18:21-.-As someone who has never played this game but has played Frontiers, this is trippy to see.

[@andtrees3192]

i’m so glad that i have these videos during my own sonic fan crisis you are a lighthouse

[@_pixelatedsilver2a412]

I always thought Boost\Rush style stages would make for good special stages alongside a differently playing core 3D gameplay loop myself, which would help with the idea that unleashed style boost stages might not be practical to make a whole game around due to the detailing involved with them, and to a degree it's more or less what Frontiers does with them... although I had hoped such a scenario would have them as richly detailed as unleashed stages were. Slowing down and looking at the actual models you run through in Unleashed, the detailing is actually incredible for 2008 and I'm not really sure why they went so hard on it, but I'm glad they did. Generations looks great too, of course, but I really would love if boost games lent more on Unleashed's stage length. Frontier's cyberspace levels, well I don't really think I could call them 'detailed' except in what's stolen from Generations assets, for the most part. There are a couple of moments in the CPZ theme that could look cool, if it wasn't just a floating adventure style island level, I guess. Even Frontiers overworld is more or less a floating level structure, because the ground is just a heightmap that can't take advantage of physics based level geometry, while all the "sonicy" stuff just floats above it. It'd be a lot of work to make an overworld that actually had slopes, loops, caves and special physics friendly pathing all across it without resorting to putting rails above the actual ground and creating two separate games, one above the other essentially. Oh, I massively digressed. oops.

[@elibonham4388]

I'm so excited man it's Christmas, sonic unleashed is my favourite sonic game along with sonic adventure 2. This game is amazing. Thank you pariah for making this Christmas a great day

[@kilometersperminute4113]

This should probably be under the frontiers video but The level design of forces and frontiers (open zone) made a shallow gameplay style even shallower with excessive automation (to journalist-proof the game) that it reached a tipping point where you’re essentially just running in a straight line (insert luminous forest)/QTE bonanza (open zone). It is after playing frontiers 3 times (100%, 100% Lv1, 100% memory tokens Lv1) that I understand your argument of “it’s just a bunch of QTEs”: your destinations are carried by dash pads, hoops etc and you home onto springs, pulleys and enemies, occasionally doing some rail switching and wall climbing. There is very little active decision making to do other than ‘press the button’ (within the intended ways). My catalogue isn’t really vast enough to make solid conclusions about the direction of the series, but I feel like it’s less ‘2D bad’ and more like lately we’ve gotten more ‘bad 2D’, but I’m planning on playing unleashed next and I feel like I’m gonna have a good time with the 2D. Heck as a rhythm gamer I’m ready to bang my masochism on unleashed.

[@Pariah6950]

What Frontiers has that helps is because it is an open world and the controls are much tighter, you can circumvent around a lot of the automation and actually do things manually with platforming and physics. That's the stuff I enjoy most about it.

[@kilometersperminute4113]

@@Pariah6950 Question: Do you think being able to use physics to circumvent the automation makes the automation problem negligible? I enjoy the open zone format as well, IMO it doesn’t excuse the fact that the open zone segments has the potential to be more sophisticated instead of relying on automation. But that’s probably in line with their goal to journalist proof the game. Also I just think that with you liking hard games you might have an opinion about the most controversial 3D sonic fangame. But I guess that’s a video in 2 years’ time if I am still following you by then lol.

[@Pariah6950]

@@kilometersperminute4113 No. While you can avoid the issue and have a lot of fun that way, building the game around such heavy automation greatly harms the potential of the game if it was designed without that. We would get even better ways to put the movement to use if the game actually tried to incorporate it into the design. If you're talking about Omens, I haven't played it. But I will probably try it. And if I have something to say about it, there will definitely be a video.

[@MasterDisaster64]

Am I weird for thinking the boost just doesn't fit Sonic as a character? Like, on an aesthetic level. The classic and Adventure eras make it seem like his speed comes from extreme athleticism - he's physically running, doing parkour, agile stunts, etc. to keep up his speed. With the boost, he gets this glowy energy field and basically becomes a rocket-powered tank, destroying almost anything by just ramming his head into it. (And Knuckles's supposed to be the strong one?) It's like there's some seperate force pulling him along. That fits characters like Blaze and Metal Sonic, but not Sonic himself in my opinion. And the the franchise has only gone further with that depiction of his abilities, what with the movies, the combat moves in Frontiers, and any time he runs in Boom or Prime. As for the 2D section thing, I'm more OK with it than I used to be. Like you say, if the core gameplay has to be as shallow as the 3D boost games, at least mix it up a bit. I think what really bothers fans is that Sega doesn't give Sonic *any* pure 3D games anymore, while they continue to put out pure 2D ones. It makes it seem like 3D Sonic is inherently lesser and needs to include 2D sections to approach the glory of the 2D games.

[@Pariah6950]

I don't really think of the boost as a canon ability. It's just a video game mechanic.

[@MasterDisaster64]

@@Pariah6950 That's fair, but the way a character appears in gameplay shouldn't be fully divorced from how they're supposed to be in canon. And it has bled into non-gameplay stuff as I said. Frontiers pre-Giganto cutscene has Sonic seemingly flying for several seconds from an air boost, which looked really weird to me. And the cinematic angles of all the special moves really seem to suggest that this is more than just gameplay, it's how Sonic "really" works.

[@Pariah6950]

@@MasterDisaster64 This is the wrong series for wanting gameplay to represent canon, dude. According to Rivals gameplay, Silver is a fast as Sonic.

[@Breakaway-ic5gj]

I think the way he is a rocket tank is really awesome and way cooler than any other approach

[@ViltrumiteIsRite99]

I hear your comment. I think Unleashed just pushes his athleticism to the next level. ‘He’s SO fast that Sonic now has this Speed O Sound-aura that allows him to barrel through most things. ‘ I think it works. In the classics, they were hyping 300 mphs. At utmost, he can reach the speed of sound (767mphs, maybe with ring energy or speed shoes, or purely with 100% effort) Then adventure has him hit light speeds, when he charges his speed/energy. SA2 let’s him hit light speed instantaneously with ring energy, growing from SA1. Unleashed said, NOW dude surpasses Speed of Sound much more casually. The question becomes ‘How far into Mach Speed is he now?!?’ The dude’s just gotten stronger since the 90s, and I think it’s a cool progression of power.

[@shaankelly1302]

Love the video as i have all of them. Glad i found your channel and youre going through every game as i love this series to death. I've agreed with you on a lot and disagreed with you a lot but they are great analysis videos and respect. Cant wait for the Colors and Generations videos

[@turtlefood4083]

You don't understand how long I've been waiting for this

[@mekhiwalker1292]

glad it wasn’t just me. I’ve been counting down since the rush vids

[@MariusUrucu]

I've played Sonic Unleashed on Xenia Canary and it runs like a dream, but I noticed on your footage your bottom half screen when boosting is blurrier than usual and Sonic's motion blur looks broken.

[@niclasneziru1854]

I've been getting into Sonic recently and so far I'm having a great time I started with Generations which I'm still playing and then afterwards I will move to Colors Ultimate which looks amazing (And then I'll go to SADX and SA2B) I really love 3D sonic gameplay, a lot more than 2D Sonic so hearing that Unleashed is now fully playable on Xenia and seeing how Sonic P-06 keeps making progress makes me very excited to enjoy 3D Sonic

[@spritvio639]

I find it very funny the lines Sonic fans choose to draw. Apparently it's a bad deal breaker when a 3D Sonic game has too much 2D. But its not a bad deal breaker when a Sonic game thats supposed to be a Sonic game, is mostly not a Sonic game. I don't get it.

[@AdamWright-t7w]

Agree

[@Hyp3rSonic]

Also agree

[@ghhn4505]

I don't think most people are saying "3D Sonics should never go 2D," just that they find the 3D parts more interesting (At least when they're designed well and provide for freedom of player expression) and don't like 2D being used as a "crutch" in certain games. Personally I only take issue with the 2D stuff in Colors, Gens, and Forces. Colors and Forces because it feels more like standard slow paced platforming than Sonic's brand of 2D Platforming (Not a lot of room to do some fun skips and experiment like in that Sonic 2 clip you showed), and Gens because Classic Sonic makes Modern Sonic's 2D Platforming feel redundant, especially when the 3D parts of that game are genuinely some of the best in the series. However I will say, Unleashed's 2D Platforming I never really had an issue with because it feels closer to Sonic's brand of high speed 2D Platforming.

[@96crashban]

Bringing attention to Project Mirai just warmed my heart. Thank you

[@aortaplatinum]

Before Frontiers, this was the last Sonic game I considered feeling truly finished- extra stages, tons of unlockables, DLC, complex and huge stages- Generations came close but the smaller, shorter stages make it such a joke to go back and replay because I can just load up my save and finish all the main stages in like 20 minutes. Frontiers 1.0 doesn't have anything in the way of unlockables or DLC but it's massive enough and diverse enough and replayable enough to feel "complete" even without all the cool 2023 content updates. Fuck yeah I LOVE how hard Unleashed is. When it works. Hedgehog Engine is a BEAST when uses properly, Unleashed still looks incredible, but they absolutely could have stood to tune down the bumpmapping or reflections my god. I'm surprised hearing there are still input drops when it's emulated at 60fps, I played the fuck out of the PS3 version and very nearly 100%ed the 360 version [DLC stages notwithstanding] and I thought that the dropped inputs were due to the unstable frame rate. Speaking of which- while I enjoyed grinding out 100% for the 360 version while listening to Wendigoon's entire Conspiracy Theory Iceberg, the performance was UNBEARABLE at times. I was proud of myself having finished the PS3 version and finishing a ton of hot dog missions as a teen with a controller who's shoulder and trigger buttons didn't work, I'm SCARED of teen me now knowing that he did all that shit with the least optimized version of this game god damn what a psycho. Thank you SO MUCH for shutting down the 2D bitching of the childish twitter Sonic fans. Whining about that, to such a degree, is just as idiotic as the Sonic 4 green eyes debate that greeted me with a cock slap to the face as a kid in 2010 who just really liked Sonic Colors and wanted to see what the online Sonic fanbase was like. I wonder what dumbass shit the bored teenage terminally online hivemind side of the Sonic fanbase will find to bitch and moan about next.

[@evilevie87]

Totally agree with every bit of this!

[@pengeibro7548]

I like the 2D in Generations and Unleashed :). There's honestly level design you can't pull off in 3D without it being completely wonk. Oddly enough it took until playing Sonic Robo Blast 2 to realise that. 2D is just better for heavier platforming in my opinion where as 3D platforming is better for openness and creativity.

[@TehJellyLord]

I’m glad someone else realized that Unleashed (and Gens) has some of the most accurate to the Classics physics ever in a 3D Sonic game. Seriously, if we got a game that controls like Generations, but replace shit like the homing attack, air dash, and boost with an insta-shield, drop dash, and spin dash respectively, and gave us levels with multiple paths and what not, it would probably be the best 3D Sonic game and by far the closest we’d ever get to a proper Classic Sonic game in 3D. Even jumping into and through enemies feels really damn good in Gens especially. Maybe add a badnik bounce in there and man it would be so good.

[@spritvio639]

I think the 2D hate began when Forces came out. Alot of people point to Colors when in reality unlike today the game was seen in high regards at the time and a few years after it came out. It wasn't until Forces that people really began to complain as much as they do now.

[@DeltaHunterL]

While I don't hate the 2D to 3D transitions. I must admit it would be nice to have a full 3D Sonic game, since we already got plenty of excellent fully 2D Sonic games. In Sonic Frontiers, I especially hated being locked into a 2D section in the overworld, since it limited your exploration options a lot.

[@Voltricity435]

i didn't mind it much in frontiers since usually it was short and sparce, though in chaos island it does get pretty egregious

[@WeeAddy]

I'm definitely on camp "3D over 2D." However, not with Unleashed - and I think most people nowadays are sensible in agreeing with that. Unleashed's 2D Sections had fantastic level design, reaction gameplay, speed, platforming -- it was genuinely fun and blended seamlessly with the 3D gameplay, transitioning without even realising. I think what has beaten most of us down, those of us that dislike it as a whole comparatively I feel dislike it now because of Colours, Forces, and even portions of Frontiers now. I don't know about others, but for me personally, what ruined it for me was how blocky and basic the 2D got in Colours, and how it appeared almost more than the 3D stuff. It also got much more stop-and-go and basic, I never got the same sense of speed and thrill from it that I did in any level of Unleashed. And if that's Colours, the one that's heralded as "the return to form for Sonic," then Forces needs no explanation. Frontiers Chaos Island specifically was the one that annoyed me in that game simply because I wanted to explore the island, and jumping from mini-challenge to mini-challenge or set piece, I was constantly locked into a basic 2D section. There were still really fun ones in that game, I think some in Ares and Ouranos were very fun, but I can't deny I got the feeling of "Why am I doing this in my new free-moving 3D game?" -- So whilst I definitely don't want it at much, if at all, in my 3D titles, I'll accept it if it's there, and I still love it when done well. Unleashed does it so well. Never had an issue with it there, and I would love to see that level of quality for the 2D sections going forward if they're sticking around. But that also includes the physics / feel of Sonic, cos the likes of Forces or Frontiers Cyber Space stages are not as exhilarating. You can still do cool stuff in Frontiers, as seen in your Let's Play videos and the Sonic Speed Strats videos, but I think on a base level they could be more fun. Tl'dr - I may not like 2D in the 3D games anymore thanks to Colours and Forces, I think most people don't due to fatigue and lower quality 2D Sections in those games, but we can all agree that Unleashed's are fantastic and what we wanna see, and I'd like to hope others are not as dense to just go "no, 3D only, forever and always, screw 2D."

[@spritvio639]

What is your ideal 3D Sonic game?

[@LeafRazorStorm]

I think the fandom is just mad that we haven't had a "fully 3D" Sonic game since 06, as if Sega only includes 2D sections in their 3D games to placate all the IGNs of the world. Even if those 2D segments happen to be of good quality, the implied trepidation still makes several die-hard fans uncomfortable. "Great, one more perfectly good design choice that just happened to be in 06, therefore we'll never see it again." The worst thing you can give your toxic fandom is a martyr.

[@oxytheaxolotl981]

Never been this hype for a video in a long time

[@Farkonso]

that lengthy 2D rant was kinda maniacal LMAO

[@nottoofast]

I think the “2D bad” argument does not work for Unleashed, or even Generations. The 2D sections are fun and challenging- They’re built to test you and give you an actual moment to platform. With Forces and Colors (To a much lesser extent), the 2D sections are not bad because “These are 3D games”. The 2D sections are not bad because 2D games are worse than 3D games. They’re bad because the level design is just not as good as it was in Unleashed and Gens. It’s the same with the 3D sections, though- Both level design types have become less interesting and engaging. It’s better to have none of these boring and mindless sections than have them keep making the majority of the levels be boring and mindless. them when they can’t do it right like they used to. I think they’ve got a long way to go, but I do enjoy having fully 3D levels again- I hope that they’ll become more engaging and open, though. Outside of that point, I *do* prefer full 3D Sonic. I do thing it’s more fun. But not just because 2D bad.

[@tonycorona8501]

The first game without Yuji Naka or Takashi Iizuka...it's the most polished one. Quite ironic.

[@helrazr44]

Imperial City's roads being green because of a graphical problem weirdly enough adds cohesion to the series for me, it feels like an evolution of the energy roads from Grand Metropolis.

[@SaddieMoon]

Tbh, the only time I’ve ever heard anyone complain about boost hallways was only about Colors. No other game they complained about it in then Colors as they find the hallways very basic and boring, not even having the high speed spectacle most of the time. Even Starlight Carnival is very boring as it’s very slow and there really isn’t much going on to please the eye when you’re waiting until the next bit of gameplay. At least with SA2, Gens, and Unleashed, you have more pleasing to look, and/or quick hallways to not bog down the experience. Colors having not much going on when it’s 3D makes it more boring to a lot of people.

[@biodock2003]

The 2D sections in Unleashed give more flow to the level design imo, same thing in Generations to an extent

[@arcbuff44]

Finally a sonic video that actually broke down the decision making process of boost game and why so many people dislike them. They've borderline qte games

[@CanalDoRyu]

The only times 2D sections actually bothered me were in Frontiers' open zones because... Why the hell would you do that? If you're giving me a big open map to explore, then make it fully 3D, I always groaned when I was just exploring around but then I got thrown into a 2D section where I had no way of getting out aside from playing the section all the way to the end.

[@thajocoth]

I tended to prefer when the daytime levels switched to 2D. It allowed for some platforming instead of just a very long quicktime event challenge. I don't really like the 3-lane hallway aspect of the daytime levels when it's 3D, finding it to be too constraining. Having the Boost just skip over large segments of the levels makes it feel like I don't get to play through all of the game's content, even with the repetition of each level having multiple missions. (The level design also feels super repetitive to me; nothing ever stands out. Two daytime levels in the same zone never really feel any different from one another.) On the topic of some of these elements coming from SA2... In the Zelda series, for comparison, Ocarina of Time received very high praise (despite how incredibly short & easy it is). As a result, the games that followed used a lot of elements from Ocarina of Time, eventually distilling what was unique about it over time until we got Skyward Sword, the only bad game in the Zelda series. It's not the existence of the QTE stuff at all that's the problem for me, it's that it's not mixed with enough exploration, or platforming. In SA2, it's only a _soft_ QTE, and it's not constant. In Unleashed, you get occasional little 2D breaks from the constant flow of hard QTEs. I really liked the night stages though... A little too much combat, but much more exploration & platforming to more than make up for that. I think thematically that they should've used Knuckles for the night stages though.

[@JJunkWarrior]

Been waiting for this one for a looong time

[@NIMPAK1]

Personally I feel like it's a bit presumptuous to say that there are only three styles of 3D platformers. Something like Sly Cooper for example doesn't perfectly fit into the categories you describe. Heck even Sonic Adventure has some elements of all the styles you described (even having a Crash section where you run from a boulder). I think my issue with Unleash's approach is that it's more linear than even most 2D platformers. Even in something like a Mario game, you can replay levels in multiple different ways. Heck, you were even given the choice to literally fly over levels in 3 and World. To be fair, Unleash does have different routes in each level, but I feel like there aren't a lot of ways to customize your experience. Just optimize it.

[@SuperSonic68]

8:34 Was this a joke, reversing Wumpa Fruit and Rings there?

[@ahmedalouffi]

the way you talk about game design is very interesting and profound

[@michaelkindt3288]

@45:35-.-That sounds like A dunker in my opinion. The only reason to have a low turn speed is to make it so that you're not accidentally hurtling yourself in directs as you're not intending to go in. I don't think having to account for how fast you can turn should ever be part of the challenge. I also hate the existence of handling stats in part racers, and think literally any current eraser would be better if all cards just handled the same, and we're differentiated by other properties.

[@runningoncylinders3829]

Here's the game where Sonic really first starts to handle like a car. Unless he's a werewolf.

[@santiagomarin1882]

I genuinely love how all the Crash footage shown while talking about how it inspired the Boost games is from the game that came 10+ years after Unleashed lmao

[@xhwh1138]

These stages are actually more complex than the former games. In fact they are no more or less complex than the past games, unless it’s arid sands, Eggmanland or empire city. Those are the only stages that have more routes than any other 3D game. Like all sonic games, everything is simple until you use the mechanics in conjunction with the stage interaction. For instance, Air boosting is faster than regular boosting and if you stomp and hold down the button, you’ll transfer that momentum and you can keep doing it to keep the speed or hitting a dash pad that’s launches you faster than your max speed, you can do the same there. Short hop or slide to short hop. Look at glitchless speed runs or speed runs in general. It’s extremely intense vs past 3D games and there’s still so much room for improvement. It’s simple to pick up and play but hard to master when you have everything at your disposal.

[@osu-osu-osu]

I think Unleashed does 2d levels really well. But to use your own words I think it's unacceptable how much they rely on it in Colors and Forces. Generations is mostly tolerable because similarly to Unleashed it succeeds in making 2d sections engaging and dynamic unlike the repeated generic platforms that constitute the lazy level designs of Colors and Forces. Even as a kid I hated them because they just felt like worse versions of the older 2d games.

[@osu-osu-osu]

Instead of building on top of what they made for Unleashed they dumbed it down so much and it's simply a shame, it probably has to do with the fact that Colours was limited to the capabilities of the Wii.

[@jaceybella1267]

I tend to be critical of the 2D usage in Sonic games, but you're right that sooooo many people treat it like it's an innately bad thing. I dislike the 2D-3D balance in colors, because I feel like the 2D in that game is more about padding level lengths and re-using assets, it doesn't feel like a legitimate part of the toolbox. I personally really like how Unleashed uses 2D, it feels like it's purposefully used to add challenge and break up the level, and I appreciate that.

[@captainrick4513]

Once I figure out how to get the Sonic Unleashed mod manager to work on the steam deck, I'll be able to run this game nearly flawlessly at 45 FPS.

[@andersonsansonowski5644]

When played for final score/ ranking system this game is phenomenal

[@Ender-kk7gg]

Merry Christmas! I'm so happy this video is finally out! btw, there are a lot of people uploading today which I didn't expect

[@izanami8249]

Yes Sir. I have been waiting for this.

[@spiritweaverart]

This guy gets it!! you literally have my exact thoughts on the game

[@Hack_Man_VII]

I realize this is not related to Unleashed itself, but bringing up SA2 made me think about the animation differences. Am I the only person who prefers Shadow's skating animation in that game over the later ones? Maybe it's just me, but I always disliked the way he was animated in the later games. It also bugged me when Shadow would be running at speed, but the thrust animation from his jet skates was missing on some cutscenes.

[@antidisestablishmentarianism3]

This video helped me get my first s rank in unleashed, thanks!

[@spartanq7781]

Sonic World Adventure is a far better title than what we got. I find it stranger because the demo did have that name. So I'm even more confused as to why they changed it's name. What is it in our versions of games having far inferior names? Anyway about the gameplay this is so fun to play. I really wish we got a game of nothing but this gameplay snd no Sonic Colors is not it. That game plays so differently I never understood why people say it's the daytime stages without the werehog. A full top to bottom boost game with the reaction based gameplay would be insanely fun. So why haven't you done it Sonic Team? Money is on the table but you refuse to take it. Merry Christmas and all that.

[@thelastgogeta]

I think it was probably to add some distance to the Adventure games which is supported a bit by how the game attempts to frame itself in a different box to Adventure 1 to Sonic 06 as far as standard mechanics go. I don't think the Storybook games were the exact answer but I partially liked them because they were reaction based without the QTE (lite) stuff being so front and centre though the balance is all over the place in Secret Rings in particular due to how upgrades work, not to mention how we get levels.

[@Zejgar]

Props to Unleashed for being the progenitor of the endless runner genre.

[@thelastgogeta]

Sonic 2 bonus stages: *Drops rings*

[@GamingintheAM0801]

Nah, bro, that's Pepsiman.

[@Zejgar]

The lack of sidestepping which effectively splits the track into distinct lanes is a big detriment.

[@thelastgogeta]

@@Zejgar It definitely completes modern endless runners which can only have so many touch based buttons but it is a small factor to me which makes movement more simple and QTEish (though consistent).

[@halohunter1.081]

LETS GOOOO!!! Finally, my favorite Sonic Game!

[@Nickika]

I think they did want to make a true momentum sonic game. It is not only the physics, but it's also some animations you can see in the game. When you are on rails, you can see that Sonic is trying to balance himself. You could call that just a small detail, but you can also move Sonic on the rail when you are going slow, and when you press the B button, he changes the way he is looking(even tho it does nothing) and why would you change rails by using LB and RB, well, because you were going to use the joystick to balance sonic, its no only on the rails, the slide is really similar to the roll, you can kill enemies with it, you gain more spped with it while going down slopes, your hitbox is smaller. But just for some reason, they decided that they did not want that gameplay.

[@BakuganRey]

For the longest time i always thought the overall package was why i liked sonic unleashed, the complete experience was what made this game top of the list for me, but pariah single handedly opened my eyes on why i don't like the future boost games, their difficulty never reaches the ones this game has, granted i also don't like the near infinite boost but i personally felt like default sonic should have the way the wii version handles boost, and then once you beat the game you can turn super and then you have the infinite bar

[@shalltear159]

I've never seen someone invent so many strawmen in a single hour

[@ABlob]

I think the reason why people despise the 2D sections in 3D Boost games so much is that the 2D sections in Sonic Colors, Lost World and Forces are for the most part really trash while the 3D sections at least look a lot more involved and just look cooler overall. I don't think the 2D sections in Unleashed are bad at all. But when I play Generations, I think of the 2D sections as parts that you want to get out of as quickly as possible to enjoy what there is of the much better 3D platforming/racing game aspect of the game. And yeah, they want you to think of it more as a racing game, especially in Generations where you get time stamps for every checkpoint after you pass through one more than once... So when they throw you into a slower 2D platforming section (where you can't see where you're actually going if you boost in them, especially Frontiers and Generations mods which have worse level design and worse camera angles; not to mention that the 2D physics slow Sonic down a lot more than when he is in 3D), you'd rather want to get out of there ASAP to go back to 3D. Especially when the 3D platforming Generations has is so much more fun to navigate around because of the camera and many different ways you can approach things with those faster 3D physics and the viewpoint making 3D platforming a lot more fun. And for Unleashed, I think it's more of the same that Generations did, except it takes away the platforming for most of the 3D sections because of its much heavier racing game-like feel in 3D; most really wouldn't be able to do 3D platforming in Unleashed as well as in Generations because of the more unwieldly 3D controls, so I understand why they don't do it that much in Unleashed. So when they throw you into a platform section in Unleashed, it's like throwing your racing car into a 2D Crash Bandicoot platforming section. "Why would I want to do slow platforming in an obstacle course racing game? How do I get out of this as fast as possible?" For Unleashed, it still works because the 2D platforming is still decent enough to make a lot of skips over tedious platforming bits possible. For Generations, it's less jarring because the 3D sections already have a lot more platforming than in Unleashed, while still being very snappy fast 3D platforming. But now think about how bad the 2D sections in Colors, Lost World and Frontiers are. For the most part, they're extremely slow, they feel sluggish, the 2D level design makes the game not fun. At least when you're in 3D in those games, you can choose where to go, and you can see everything you're going to run into because of the third-person camera viewpoint. If you'd try to do anything daring in 2D, you'll likely run into an obstacle you couldn't see coming, or with Lost World, they want you to do the platforming really slowly and it's just tedious. And with Forces, the 2D isn't slow or sluggish, but the camera makes it so much more boring than if I could see the world whoosh past me from a third-person point of view. That doesn't mean Forces would be a fun game if it was all 3D, the game would still be trash because of the terrible controls and physics that were carried over and butchered even more from Colors (except they just removed any challenge Colors had)... but it would be slightly less unfun if the 2D just wasn't there. ...Well, actually scrap that point for Forces, I just remembered that the 2D platforming in Forces was actually terrible in the final zone where they want you to either use the wisps to skip everything or platform very slowly without much choice, because of Forces' terrible jump physics that have no air control whatsoever unless you've picked the bird species for your OC so you can at least correct your jump with a double jump. If the 2D platforming in Forces' final zone was actually all 3D, they could've done so much more with it because of how you could see everything ahead of you, and I would've had more fun.

[@spritvio639]

For Forces and Lost World, I agree. For Colors, not really. The 2D sections of the game are where the wisps primarily are, and with most of them like drill and spikes you can speed up with them and go to alternate pathways. Even aside from that though, if you know what you're doing a lot of the slow sections can be easily speed through. Yeah you may get hit, but that's not really a thing exclusive to that game.

[@ABlob]

@@spritvio639 If the original Colors level structure (mandatory main acts and optional gimmick levels) would've stayed in the game, I dunno, maybe? But when optional gimmick levels become mandatory, the levels where you wait on platforms a lot or wait for lasers to move or the reappearing yellow blocks or the blue wisp block ones, levels that do not let you have alternative paths as wisps, it kind of just blurs the line and makes me think that the 2D platforming in Colors isn't good... And I also don't think the main level's level design isn't great either, to be honest. A step up from Forces, yes, but it does feel like a game that was built around the "wii remote only" control scheme; not just because of the gimmick sections like quickstepping and drifting, but also the level design feeling a lot less involved by being a lot more simple compared to say Generations or Unleashed. Which is fine, as a Wii game, I suppose.

[@nicu227]

Coming here after I finished frontiers and the final horizon and.... tbh I think finally I understand why I like sonic unleashed so much. I hope this time sonic team will evolve the gameplay instead of.getting another lost world

[@iamlordapollo]

Dude I been waiting for this video forever

[@ierdandrakslei1176]

I was thinking on holding from commenting before hearing the part concerning the werehog... So much for that \>3>/ At least it'll help a lil bit with the algorithm... Hopefully. I never thought about how similar is unleashed to crash bandicoot with it's level design, that's a point I'm happily surprised to hear about seeing they're both big franchises that influenced lots of childhoods... Mine having currently a big fan boy moment honestly. Other than that, the reason I'm doing this comment is that in the off chance you're still going through the werehog's stages and these little tips could help. 2 things that makes it's campaign a bit less of a chore to go back to (if we put aside the whole sun and moon medal... issue): You can destroy the ennemies very easily and quickly with the upgraded charge punch technique, even with little damage upgrade... So with the damage stat upgraded you basically cut certain boss scripts with how crazy powerfull it gets. It's also possible to jump during the edge/pole grab, it's a bit finnicky at times but for going through it's plateform sections it's pretty satisfying and useful for getting through somewhat rapidly. Hopefully it's useful info... If not well sorry, also I'm basing this on my experiences from the ps3 version when the game came out so don't know how it is with the xbox version and I played just a bit of the wii/ps2 version so no idea if these versions have similar mechanics to the "next-gen" ones.

[@Ibalistic_hedge]

Why is the road in empire city so green?

[@FNFFAN737]

THE BEST CHRISTMAS GIFT