Sonic Unleashed

Sonic Unleashed is an upcoming video game in the Sonic the Hedgehog series. The name was trademarked by Sega on March 12, 2008. Screenshots of cut scenes, artwork, and a video were leaked ten days later; the title was then officially confirmed by Sega on April 3, 2008 with a small selection of screenshots and an updated video.

The gameplay style is markedly different when compared to recent games. It will focus on 2D side-scrolling platform gameplay, rendered with 3D visuals, as well as behind-the-back, third-person stages. Gameplay will seamlessly transition between these two styles.

Story
Dr. Eggman is the primary antagonist for Sonic Unleashed. At the beginning of Unleashed, Dr. Eggman manages to trap Super Sonic - Sonic transformed using the power of the Chaos Emeralds - using a powerful new ray weapon, and uses the Emeralds' energy to unleash a powerful beast from the center of the planet. This has devastating consequences for the planet, which subsequently shatters into pieces; it is up to Sonic to return the seven broken continents back to normal by retrieving the Chaos Emeralds and activating their power.

In addition, Eggman's ray also causes an unexpected transformation to Sonic's state. Allusions made in the press release to a new twist to Sonic's abilities, combined with leaked artwork and the official teaser trailer - entitled "Sonic Unleashed - Werehog Teaser Trailer" - indicate that Sonic's progress will be made even more difficult when he undergoes a transformation into a werewolf at night.

Characters

 * Sonic the Hedgehog / Super Sonic / Werewolf Sonic
 * Doctor Eggman


 * Miles "Tails" Prower
 * Knuckles the Echidna
 * Amy Rose

While the following characters have been confirmed to appear in the game, Sonic is the only playable character in the story.Tails, Knuckles and Amy Rose are playable only in minigames.

Gameplay
Gameplay will primarily consist of two modes: 2D side-scrolling platform gameplay, rendered with 3D visuals (as found in the Sonic Rush and Sonic Rivals series), with seamless shifts to behind-the-back, third-person stages. Concepts returning from past games include Sonic's trademark high-speed gameplay, as well as improved lock-on for automatically targeting and hitting enemies. Sliding across the ground also returns, and a new feature, Speed Drift allows Sonic to slide around a corner at high speed. Players will also be able to perform a new side-step maneuver known as Quick Step, allowing Sonic to instantly dodge obstacles to the left or right. As the player goes through the game, and Sonic gains more experience points, Sonic will be able to upgrade to gain new ablities.

An on-screen Ring Energy meter can be filled by collecting rings, which is used to activate a temporary speed increase known as Sonic Boost, during which time the camera uses a fish-eye effect and motion blur; hitting enemies and obstacles will reduce the meter. Action Chaining allows the player to collect energy more quickly, by collecting rings faster or by stringing together sets of actions, including button input sequences, some of which will be in midair. Repeated action chains will allow the player to perform special moves or access different routes in the level.

All of the levels in the game will be based on real-world locations. The first level of the game, Mykonos, was initially dubbed "Greece", due to its design being based on the country, and will be used to initiate the player into some of the game mechanics, as well as provide a sense of speed. The fourth level is based on Europe. A further level seen in screenshots shows a sandy, desert-like level, and two more levels have been shown to journalists, which comprise a level in China - including a run along the Great Wall - and a level based on New York, where Sonic was shown to run betweens skyscrapers.

Levels will have multiple pathways for players to follow, and a day and night system for levels will be introduced, whereby different levels will take place at a set time of day. However, the system will not be dynamic for each level, meaning that time will not advance during the action stages.

The game will also feature Town Stages, and players will be able to walk around the environment freely and speak to townspeople; however, this "overworld" can be completely ignored, should the player prefer to simply play through all the stages. Side quests will also be available from the Town Stages, whilst players will be able to gain various extra items by talking to different townspeople.

Development
The development of Sonic Unleashed was announced in April 2008. Unleashed was originally intended to be the third installment of the Sonic Adventure series and subsequently, at an early development stage, had the working title Sonic World Adventure, complete with work-in-progress logo. However, the development team began to introduce enough new innovations to separate it from the Sonic Adventure titles, and so a new title, Sonic Unleashed, was decided upon.

The game is currently being developed internally by Sonic Team. It will be a multiplatform release on the Wii, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and the PlayStation 2. There are two development "silos" that work on two separate builds of the game: one for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 version, and one for the Wii and PlayStation 2 version. The Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions will run on Sega's "Hedgehog Engine", which has been in production for three years and will produce a frame rate of 30 frames per second. The Wii and PlayStation 2 versions will not take advantage of the Hedgehog Engine, instead using a modified version of an existing, internal Sega engine.

The Wii version of the game will be developed specifically to take advantage of its controller's capabilities, with notable differences in gameplay. The game will use the Wii Remote and/or Nunchuk option; whilst character movement and basic actions will be assigned to buttons, certain actions will benefit from physical movements. It will support the GameCube controller, and also the option of using the Classic Controller. The levels, whilst sharing the same styles, themes and motifs as the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions, will be different to those shared between the Wii and the PlayStation 2 versions, and Dimps will be involved with design of the daytime stages for these versions.

Unleashed is intended solely as a single-player experience, and will not offer any multiplayer or online modes.