playtest – The Sonic Stadium

Chris@ONM, one of Official Nintendo Magazine’s writers has announced in an ONM forum discussion that he will be going hands-on with the Wii version of Sonic Unleashed in 1 to 2 weeks time.

Aye, naturally the controls will be slightly different. What I mean is that the basic game and levels will be the same on each version.

I don’t know what the Wii controls are as yet because I didn’t go hands on with it. I believe it’s movement with the analogue stick though. I’ll be getting to play it in a week or two so I’ll let you know.

Incidentally, a couple of people have mentioned to me that other sites have complained about the 360 version’s framerate. This game is still in early stages of development: please don’t think for a second that the finished game will have the noticeable framerate problems the demo I played did.

Link

Chris had recently been to GDC Leipzig to try out the Wii version of Sonic Unleashed but unfortunately when he got there he was told by a Sega rep that the Wii demo isn’t working and got directed to the Xbox 360 demo instead. Continue reading Chris@ONM to go hands-on with Wii Unleashed in 1-2 weeks

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xxOLDOfficial News

SoS in 23 Days: Play Sonic Chronicles

17th July 20086th November 2009

Dreadknux

Everyone and his dog wants to go to the Summer of Sonic convention. That much is obvious. So what exactly will be there for people to salivate over? Sure, Sonic nerds like me and you can hang and play Sonic Rivals for six hours, but will there be any EXCLUSIVES, yo!?

Well guess what. If you can even manage to get inside the hall on the day (I’m not even joking, it’s going to be packed in there) then your prize will be playing Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood first. Before anyone else in the world (it’s being released in September, you see). How does that strike you? You probably won’t be able to hear the lovely Richard Jacques soundtrack with all the background noise most likely, but we should have a remedy for that…… headphones, for example.

It’s probably a good idea to keep an eye on the Summer of Sonic website on a regular basis from now on – there are two (three?) more special guests that have yet to be revealed, all of which will make the Sonic fan cream thyself. The second special guest to complement Lee Brotherton will be announced tomorrow. If you fancy playing a little guessing game, head over to the SSMB where a clue has been dropped of the guest’s identity.

Play Sonic Chronicles Before Release – Summer of Sonic

xxOLDOfficial News

E3: Watch a Demo of Unleashed in Action

17th July 20086th November 2009

Dreadknux

Gamespot’s at E3. We aren’t. SAD FACE. But luckily Gamespot’s able to pick up the slack that we can’t otherwise manage, and have grabbed a SEGA Brand Manager guy to help showcase some real in-game demos of Sonic Unleashed. What’s interesting to note here is that the 3D segments, contrary to popular belief, are not on rails, and many are fully 3D analog-stick playable. We saw some areas in the China stage that looked more like a SatSR-style “shift left, shift right” style of 3D play, but generally we’re looking at some good old 3D movement here.

The guy demoing the game’s not too hot, and there was one section where Sonic glitched and failed an automatic spring-to-grind section, but the rest looks solid. We’re told that there will be equal nighttime versions of every stage, and Sonic segments will be much longer than the Werewolf ones to compensate for the speed at which you blitz through them. The nighttime alter ego is officially labelled as ‘Sonic the Werehog’, and the fighting aspect does look pretty cool.

Truth be told, this demo lays some concerns to rest, particularly with the Werehog. Sure, we could have done without any brawling segments at all and just had Sonic run from left to right and up a Z-axis, but the nighttime sections do look like they’re going to hold some enjoyable, classic platforming action. There are two attack buttons and a grab move in addition to your jump (which also has a double jump for additional height), and while Werehog isn’t as agile as traditional Sonic, he can use his massive arms to grab ledges and pull himself up. We still don’t like carrying pots around but grabbing enemies doesn’t seem compulsory at least. In fact, the whole thing reminds us that we want a new Streets of Rage game; this mechanic would be perfect for it.

SEGA pretty much confirmed that alternative characters may be playable (using the classic PR “We’re not ready to announce anything yet”) besides Sonic, which sounds like a bowl of fail. Let this be a game about Sonic for once and not his over-publicised friends. Sonic Unleashed will also have an online component, although quite what this is has yet to be revealed. Check the video if you have half an hour, it’s a good watch.

Sonic Unleashed E3 2008 Stage Show Demo – Gamespot (via SSMB)

xxOLDOfficial News

First Sonic Unleashed playtest to be in ONM (UPDATE)

9th April 20081st January 2010

Shadzter

Now that Sega Europe have officially announced Sonic Unleashed, Official Nintendo Magazine have announced their first playtest of Sonic Unleashed will be in their upcoming issue 29. You can pick up a copy of the magazine Friday April 11.

UPDATE: Official Nintendo Magazine have unveiled on their website the Sonic Unleashed front cover of their magazine which reveals that new screens and information will be in Fridays issue. They also say – “Yes, by day Sonic is the blue hedgehog we all know and love but, when the sun sets, he turns into a werehog with claws and fangs.

This does make a difference to the gameplay as the werehog is slower but stronger, meaning he can swing around levels, move obstacles and hurl enemies around.”

ONM Website

xxOLDOfficial News

IGN Playtests Sonic Heroes

28th September 200324th June 2024

sonic_hedgehogs

IGN has reviewed Sonic Heroes at TGS 2003. From IGN:

Sonic and heroes made their Sonic Heroes debut in Japan earlier today as the Tokyo Game Show kicked off just outside of Tokyo. Sonic Team’s latest take on the Sonic franchise was first shown at this year’s E3 through a demo of a single level that showed off the game’s cooperative play mechanics. The Tokyo Game Show version of the game featured the same level and its team of Sonic, Tails and Knuckles, but also had another level featuring Shadow, Rouge and E-102.

We first tried out Sonic, Tails and Knuckles level and were very much impressed. The level moves fast, has lots of sections to show off the series’ trademark blazing speed, and offers up good chances to make use of each character’s abilities. We honestly can’t think of a single complaint about this level, aside from a few times where controlling the characters can become difficult. Camerawork, in particular, seems to be superb, with the occasional difficulties from E3 having apparently been cleared up. If the entire game ends up being like this level, we’ll be in Sonic heaven later this year. Continue reading IGN Playtests Sonic Heroes