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Theories

Sonic Unleashed (Sonic World Adventure in Japan) is Sonic's next foray onto the 3D platforming stage. After the somewhat lesser-recieved Sonic 2006 game, the prospects of the franchise's future were pretty grim, to say in the least. That was until we were shown the latest of the game's footage and visuals, and boy, they look delicious indeed. Crisp visuals, smooth gameplay mechanics, and more. By more, I mean that there are already some slight improvements. For one, Sonic hopefuls are to be assured that the blue dude is the main playable 90% of the time. For another, (and this one is for the Eggman hopefuls), Dr. Eggman, Ivo Robotnik, himself... plays a much bigger part in the upcoming title. In fact, he probably makes one of his bigger splashes into this new game by accomplishing a feat that none before him had done so prior.

That feat, for those who are unaware, is actually triumphing over Super Sonic. Despite the hedgehog having all of the Chaos Emeralds, going Super, and cleaning house on his entire base, the doctor pulls around in a huge comeback, luring Super Sonic into a facility hovering in orbit around the planet, and making use of a machine that completely negates the energy within Sonic's body. That energy is then transferred into a huge beam that crashes into the planet, and awakens a mighty foe from within. Due to the now-negative energy of the emeralds, Sonic seems to regress into some form of beast, and in the meantime, the monster inside of the planet is released, thanks to the energy beam tearing the planet into several pieces, a la Sonic Advance 3. As the Chaos Emeralds clutter to the floor, drained of every ounce of energy, Eggman shines in his new-found victory, and sends Sonic hurtling back towards the planet, Emerlads and all. It's up to the hedgehog from then on to restore the power of the Chaos Emeralds, get the pieces of the planet back together, and face-off against our favorite villain later after all is said and done.

See, in one sweep, the good doctor has done something huge, and all without causing himself harm in the process. This is pretty much all that we know about his role thus far, and do keep in mind that once more information is released (presumeably, once the game comes out this November), we at the mighty Eggman Empire will keep you informed. For now, we shall bask in the light of victory, for our villain has finally seen a turn-around! (And as if -that- wasn't enough, check out the article on our Chronicles information, that'll definitely spin you on your Egg Head!)

Screenshots

NEW UPDATE - 01/26/09

BUT WAIT! There's MORE!

Actually, for the sake of those who don't wish to be spoiled with the game's content, I would highly suggest that you don't go any further. If you have yet to touch Unleashed, haven't finished it, or just don't wanna know yet either way, then it's highly probable that you don't want to persue this paragraph any further. SPOILER WARNING, and all that jazz. If you're not ready, or what, then go check out another section or something in the meantime while we all take a look at this.

((Hey, I hear that the sprites section is looking a little thin... Maybe go take a look and see what you can supply us with, eh? Eh?))

Anywho, I digress. If you're ready to go further, then awesome. If not, turn back! Final Warning!


I shall take the time to note that the version I will be discussing is the 360 version of the game, as that is the copy I've purchased and played, so there -will- be differences somewhere between it and the Wii/PS2 versions, I can assure you.









... The last Final Warning, I promise. ...












... Okay, are we all set then? Great. Let's start off by showing another video, but this time with -all- footage of the actual opening cinema, to get a good feel of what exactly Eggman did here. A better idea, so to speak.

So, after watching the above (or not, provided you have played the game already), you can see that Eggman was definitely quite the hot shot here. A classic clash between supersonic hedgehog and megalomaniacal genius. What a fight! It definitely took -me- back to when the games focused on the struggle between those two key characters... And frankly, the game overall does a fairly awesome job of keeping the focus -on- that struggle. Though it's not 100% of the time, it's definitely a great deal more than what games like Heroes or ShTH provided.

After Sonic was sent hurtling back to the planet, Eggman eventually comes to the realization that when he threw Sonic off of his space station, he had forgotten about the Chaos Emeralds... And thus, figures out that Sonic can restore the planet by bringing the Emeralds to several temples known as the Temples of Gaia, reviving the emeralds and bringing the pieces back to where they belong. So it ends up becoming a race against both adversaries, as Sonic speeds all over the world to reach the temples, and Eggman tries to impede his progress with many robot minions and mechanized destroyers.

Another video for the masses. A cutscene with Eggman and his robot lackey, dubbed SA-55 (Or, 'Sass', pretaining to his backtalk and smarting up to the doctor), as the doctor tries to figure out where to go with his plans afterward.

Needless to say, it's pretty obvious by this point that Eggman has one of the bigger roles in a game since his SA2 outing, or, perhaps, Sonic Rush.

As the game goes on, the pieces continue getting put back into place one after another, and eventually, Eggman, who's key goal was to utilize the power of the Dark Gaia substance, discovered a means to bring all of the scattered matter from all across the globe right onto his doorstep. And from here, he is able to put everything together to create his one dream ambition that he had been fighting for since Sonic Adventure.

I am of course talking about...

EGGMANLAND

Yes, Eggmanland. His ambition for nearly, if not already, a decade. It finally makes its debut in the latest Sonic game, and good -grief- it's terribly difficult. Watch that video, and you may get a good idea of just how much you would have to keep a lookout for. If I could compare Eggmanland to any other Eggman stage, I would have to say that Scrap Brain Zone probably holds a candle to it. Albeit, probably a rather weak candle. This place is kinda like Scrap Brain on steroids. Remember how everything was out to kill you? It's the same idea here; Except, moreso. Having played the stage myself, I can vouch.

Not much else to really say. What else -can- I say? Eggmanland is an enormous emperical city, taking on the tone of demented theme park, with dark clouds in the sky, colorful buildings and neon signs, the many images of Eggman plastered over nearly every surface, complete with several gold statues, and about as much twists and turns and traps that would make even the most seasoned player go loopy. It's pure insanity, both inside and out.

I can see why Eggman wanted to build it so bad. The place is great. (But aggravating. Darn you for being... villainous again like we all like you to be!)

On another note, Eggmanland is also the final stage in the game, combining both daytime and nighttime elements into one full-length stage, presenting something akin to the final exam for a class; You fail, you die. It's as simple as that. The good doctor definitely pulled out all of the stops for this one.

Reaching the end of the stage brings you to the final Temple of Gaia, but once the emerald is in place, Sonic is brought face-to-face with Eggman and his latest and greatest machine yet, powered by the forces of Dark Gaia.

Interesting piece of work, isn't it? It can use that drill on its left arm to bring about shockwaves and destroy the ground right beneath your feet. It can utilize electrical and wintry elements all around, and Eggman is even able to summon robot minions with it. In addition to this, he can fire rapid shots at his target with ease, though it's generally simple to dodge those. Dr. Eggman hassles Sonic with this final boss mech before Sonic, of course, defeats it and sends Eggman flying. Afterwards, long story short, the final battle begins once Dark Gaia regenerates from the core of the planet, taking Sonic's werehog abilities as the final piece of Dark Gaia that was required for it's full restoration. We see a saddening return of Deja Vu as Dark Gaia sends Eggman flying for good, out of the picture once again...

So, no, he isn't the final boss of this game either... However! We need to remember that, in this particular title, our doctor did quite the damage, and caused quite a lot of chaos and mayhem. His latest scheme brought forth so much trouble for Sonic and Co., unleashing demons from within the core, leaving the planet in pieces, as Eggman himself went through a ton of effort to bring the forces of darkness together in one place to unleash his -own- ambition of ten years to the -world-, and even though it wasn't quite till the very end, his workings -still- got in Sonic's hair until the hedgehog came out on top again, as he usually tends to do.

So, what else can be said about the game? While it isn't perfect, it was definitely a step in the right direction, and in comparison to the latest 3D titles of the series, the doctor was definitely quite involved, and very important to the plot, and without him, nothing would have come about anyway. No Metal Sonic going backstabby, and no Black Doom to lay the generic smackdown on the earth. Frankly, I do believe it's safe to say that, regardless of how things turned out in the end, Dr. Eggman was definitely the key antagonist to this title, and I sincerely hope that we can get more out of SonicTeam's new development staff in future titles to come.

This game definitely earns 4 out of 5 stars from me. Definitely worth checking out! Imaginative, colorful, and a small step back into a slightly more lighthearted environment that we used to know, Sonic Unleashed is definitely leaps and bounds beyond former attempts post-SA2.

((Though, if you want my personal opinion, go for the 360/PS3 versions. Definitely much more to offer than the Wii/PS2 versions. Go research around, and you'll see why I believe so.))

Thanks for reading along, Eggman fans. More to come to the Empire soon enough!

Sonic Unleashed article by Tony. Partial credit for videos and screens goes to Doc Eggman.