TV:

Chuck S1×1: Started watching this show after getting some online recommendations. The pilot is good although it hasn’t drawn me in. I might keep the rest of the season for a dry patch in viewing options, I don’t think I’ll be getting back into it right away.

Family Guy S7×15: Didn’t really like this episode, it did some retelling of a few of Stephen Kings previous films. But it wasn’t as funny as some of the more recent Family Guy episodes.

Sit Down, Shut Up S1×04: Like “Arrested Development” this one seems like a bit of a slow burner. It might take me another few episodes to get into it. Ennis is already my favourite character though.

Just read on a feed there, FOX has pulled this show from its schedule. Looks like it won’t even live for even 1 season.

The Mentalist S1×22: A good episode, although season 1 isn’t even over yet and I already feel this show is losing it’s edge. The main plot, centering around this “Red John” serial killer, is hardly touched on. Plus Janes mentalist skills seem to be getting weaker and more gimmicky as the show progresses. The whole camp-fire set up at the end felt, no pun intended, overly camp.

Fringe S1×22: I’m really getting into this show, it’s like a reboot of the format that made the X-Files so popular. This episode, which dealt with alternate realities, seems reminiscent of LOST and also the new Star Trek movie. I guess JJ likes his get-out-of-jail-free card that is time and reality manipulation. I just hope they haven’t blown too much of their budget on this 1 episode alone.

Also going to try to get into Leverage, Lie to Me and Testees

Film:

Princess Mononoke: Really outstanding anime. Ghibli Studios at its best. The animation is excellent, and the story, while initially appearing rather simple, is multi-layered. If you want to know why so many people can love anime that so many others think of as “just cartoons!” then watch this movie.

Dark City: Watched this really only because a few guys in work where talking about it and recommended the HD directors cut. I was pleasantly surprised. It’s like a grittier and more dystopian version of “The Matrix”. Reminds me of a cross between that movie and “Naked Lunch”. It’s very odd, but worth watching it purely for the crescendo.

Star Trek: I might write a more detailed review of this movie. Overall though I liked it. It’s not really a true Star Trek movie in my books, but it is a needed reboot of a dying series, so that can’t be bad. Plus there are enough virals and easter eggs around and in it that it will keep even the most rabid trekkie interested for a good while.

Left 4K Dead: Based on the Valve game “Left 4 Dead” it is a pretty good, java based game. What is so amazing about it is that it’s only 4KBs in size.

Mirrors Edge 2D: If you haven’t played the full version of this game (you should, it’s excellent) here is a 2D taster of the gameplay.

Totem Destroyer: Great game, which is as much about your timing as it is about planning which block to remove next.

Coign of Vantage: Very interesting game. At first you’ll be at a loss as to what the goal is. But once you realise it you’ll see just how unique this game is.

Warzone Tower Defense: I love Tower Defense games, and this is another excellent example of one. Plenty of turrets to choose from and loads of different ways to position them.

Free Tetris: Need I say more. It’s Tetris.

Electric Box: Interesting game where you have to get an electrical current from point A to B by whatever means available.

Play Hanna in a Choppa: Reminiscent of some of the old gravity based games on the C64. This game succeeds because it remembered to keep the gameplay simple and addictive

Boomstick: Just shoot the stuff flying overhead and collect bullets. Simple.

Boomshine: Feels a bit random at first, but eventually you’ll get used to the mechanics and know when you properly let off an explosion

Launchball: Get a ball from point A to point B. Not as easy as it sounds

Auditorium: Very interesting and unique game. Has to be played. You basically just get a stream to hit various points by using the tools available.

Hunted Forever: Just keep running.

Knuckleheads: Like a 2D platformer, but not quite.

Frogger: The old classic gets reborn. Still as addictive as ever.

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Frantic: Upscroller shmup. Highly addictive but gets difficult real fast

SuPuzzle: A puzzle game. But if does feel good when you figure them out.

Tactics Arena: I absolutely love this game. Not only is it a good game (sorta like a simpler version of Chess) but you are actually playing against real people. It got me through some long breaks in college when there was nothing to do but hang out in the PC labs.

Doeo: A fairly simple concept but interesting to play for the music and visuals. You just have to move your mouse over the Doeos to capture them.

ZWOK: A game that takes its inspiration from the old game Tanks and Worms. You play against real people and have to throw snowballs and try and take out the other players.

Flow: More than likely you’ve heard of this game, if not then play it now. It’s simple and relaxing. Your main aim is absorb other creatures and slowly grow your creature and its abilities. It’s very similar to the first stage of the game Spore.

Tower Defense Games: These are another one of my personal favorites, in fact I play a lot of the PS3 game Pixeljunk Monsters with the wife as its a coop tower defense game. But if I’m away from my console these flash games are just as good.

Powder Game v5.6: Not really a game, more of a simulator. Still, I’ve spent more time messing around with this one than I have with most flash game.

Dolphin Olympics 2: Pretty simple concept, control a Dolphin with WASD and make him do tricks. Reminds of Ecco the Dolphin on the Sega Genesis.

Hoshi Saga 2: A very curious series of mini games, the point of which is to find or make a star. Some of the puzzles will be blatantly obvious whereas others will be completely obscure.

Motherload: This is another very popular game that has been out for a long time. It’s odd because you think it will go on forever, but there is a definite ending to it. Play it for about 45 minutes and you’ll get to the rather odd ending.

Puzzle Farter: Absolutely hilarious game. Headphones are a must have. Kinda like Mario if he’d been eating beans the night before.

Orange Runner: A game where you have to run fast and avoid obstacles to stop you from slowing down.

Cubefield: Like a very basic version of the SNES game, F-Zero.

Ownage Burst: This game has pretty much the best title of any flash game I’ve ever played. It’s also very good. Plays out a lot like Metal Slug.

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I meant to post this review last week and I’m now glad I held my tongue, as it would of read a lot differently, specifically it would of been a lot more incensed and dissatisfied. I’ve been waiting for Sonic Unleashed since the day I wrapped Sonic & Knuckles 13 years ago. I’d hoped it would be a complete return to form, but it is not. That is not to say this game is not without it’s merits. In my opinion it is a step in the right direction.

Story: 7/10

The production quality of the CGI cut scenes is second to none. With the opening sequence dropping your jaw as you watch Sonic speed along Eggmans spaceship taking out Badniks, then transforming into Super Sonic, chasing Eggman as he tries to escape only to be caught in a trap and infused with the energy that Eggman is trying to harness from deep in the planet Mobius, called Dark Gaia, which turns Sonic into his night time alter ego, Werehog. This extraction of the Gaia energy breaks the planet apart and it’s now Sonics job, along with a friend he meets by coincidence named Chip, to restore the planet by returning all the Chaos emeralds to their temples. As Sonic stories go this one is actually fairly layered and deals with your usual struggle between light and darkness, good and bad, day and night. With Sonic transforming into his sluggish, stronger Werewolf-esque form as the sun sets (although why this gives him stretchy arms and spikes on the bottom of his shoes I’ll never know). So you fight the battle on 2 fronts, fighting Eggman and his Badniks as well as the minions that spawned over the Earth when Dark Gaia was released.

Design: 8/10

The game quickly introduces you to how you are going to progress through it. You choose your destination from a world view perspective where you can see which parts are still broken apart and which parts you have completed. From there you enter the City Area and from there you then enter the Entrance area and from there you can get to your next level. This is the games biggest flaw, and I mean, huge, this flaw will be a deal breaker for some people who will just get sick of looking at the mundane and drab loading screen that has some pointless scrolling programming code. No exaggeration, you will probably spend 25% of your time on loading screens or just commuting on foot to your next level. There are no options to skip right to the next level unless you’ve already completed the level. For the first few levels you will confused where and when you have to go next. Some levels require you to find special shoes to reach them and you are never prompted as to when they have been unlocked. To unlock levels you need to collect hidden coins, Sun coins representing the runner levels you play as Sonic and Moon coins representing the levels you play as the Werehog. For the most part the moon coins are in the Sonic levels, which are a real pain as it breaks from the speed and flow of the levels when you have to stop and traipse back and forth looking for the hidden coins. Within the first hour or so I almost quit out of frustration. I only wanted to be running Sonic through loops, instead I was aimlessly looking around for some special shoes, which when I found I realized that the level I was trying to play needed to be unlocked by collecting a load of hidden coins.

A lot of the time you will find yourself just loading and reloading different stages to see if you’ve unlocked any new levels, you then have to reload the stage in day and night to check if either Sonic or the Werehog has a new level available. It becomes tedious and boring fast and if you aren’t willing to suffer it for the decent enough Werehog levels and excellent running levels then you’ll probably quit.

Gameplay: 7/10

Overall, in retrospect, the game is a success in my opinion. The Werehog stages, whilst much longer, and less enjoyable to the Sonic levels, where still pretty good. The combo system allows for upgrades of your various abilities, which is not automatic, allowing you to choose which aspects you favour more. For me I rarely used the Werehog Shield or Unleash ability (where he goes berserk for a short period and can do a lot of damage) so I mainly upgraded his combos, life and strength. As a brawler it does fairly well, but falls short as a platformer. Some of the obstacles were such that the camera was locked and you where unaware of where you would  be dropping to or falling off of. I also felt that the game developers knew a lot of the puzzles where trial and error so they have provided an extra near every checkpoint so that you can try the area, inevitably die, then go back to the checkpoint and collect the life again. Of particular frustration where the balancing beam areas, as the camera would choose when and how it would move without your consent, you had to always be wary that at any moment the camera would swing, thus changing your direction and making you walk off the balancing beam. Again it was trial and error, once you had tried it a few times you could remember the cameras scripted movements and counter accordingly, but still its a flaw to not leave camera control solely with the player. On top of this, the game more than uses the much abhorred quicktime button mashing events, which almost seem like an industry standard at this point. To the point were there are entire levels that are just quicktime events. Still, your average veteraned gamer will make mince meat of them if they know their controller buttons off by heart without having to look at them, although on more than one occassion I had to grit my teeth in frustration as I missed the last button prompt forcing me to redo it all over again.

Aside from this, the Sonic levels are a breath of fresh air. I’ve heard it said that this game would of been better if they had left out the Werehog altogether, left out the horrible loading and commuting system and just released a linear game with all the Sonic levels for download off PSN or Xbox live. I would heartily agree with this. Every other aspect of the game is mere seasoning to the Sonic levels which have been executed really well. For the speed that Sonic is moving at it is amazing that there is no choppiness in framerates. The control system is such that Sonic really only feels at home when he is at ful pelt running, jumping, grinding and boosting in a straight line. These levels are really nothing more than glorified timetrials but bring Sonic back to the his past glory as a speed purist. There are quite a few moments where Sonic hits a jump, and everything slows down (of particular note is the first time you launch into the air thinking you are jumping out into open water only for a Whale to emerge and for you to slide along its back to safety) to let you take in the scenery and you realize how good it feels to effortlessly be moving at Sonic speeds and twitch maneuvering him around obstacles that are gone as soon you’ve seen them on the horizon.

Presentations: 8/10

The game looks simply stunning. Especially the day stages as Sonic. The opening Zone, Apotos, is brightly coloured and gleaming with white washed walls and a blue, sun soaked sky, what you will have come to expect from a Sonic game. The rest of the levels don’t disappoint either. They have all the stereotypes and architecture you’d expect from the locations these zones are supposed to represent (i.e. Apotos is Greece, Spagonia is Italy… etc) I also found the characters quite interesting, to the point where I didn’t mind talking to them, their mannerisms and expressions where well done as you would be reading their text bubbles.  The game does suffer in the Werehog levels though, the framerates drop and become choppy when there are more than a handful of badniks or Dark Gaia baddies to fight. The levels are also quite drab in comparison to the gleaming day stages. They have attempted to offset this by making the Dark Gaia baddies neon but this is merely a band aid in my opinion. Overall, the day stages and the excellently designed City areas save it though. They are a  pleasure to look at and explore.

Conclusion:

Sonic Unleashed is not without its flaws but what really saved the game for me was the grueling finale, which will last for well over an hour, or two, if you play through it from start to finish without break. It has a number of false endings which really push you and make it feel like a struggle at times. But its arduous and ends on a crescendo of epic proportions which equals if not betters the impact of the opening. Any die-hard Sonic fan will not be disappointed at the end. All in all it leaves you with a feeling of achievement, which all games should, and ends up being a game I’m placing in my mind next to Sonic & Knuckles, as a stepping stone to greater things to, hopefully, come.

Score: 7.5/10

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Pro-tip (possible spoilers):

I played this on the PS3, so I cannot guarantee this will be the same for the Wii/PS2/360. For the last Zone, when you have to hitch a ride with Tails before going to Eggman Land, make sure you have a stockpile of over 20 lives. You will lose a lot just testing out parts of the levels which will be completely different to anything else you will have faced in the rest of the game. To get a stockpile easily, here’s how I did it.

1: By this point you should have all the shoes unlocked, if not then get them.

2. Go to Apotos and load the entrance stage. Head to the bridge on your right that has 3 badniks standing on it. Mid way along you will see some flying badniks, jump out and do some homing attacks until you get to the last one, let yourself drop after hitting the last one and beneath you will be an extra life, jump and do a homing attack on the spring which will return you back to the bridge. Next, move along the bridge where you will see more flying badniks on the left leading to another higher area, again, use your homing attack to get there. From there you will see a line of rings leading to another area, use the ability you got from the Shoes made out of rings and fly to the next platform, destroy the badnik and collect your extra life. You can then use the spring to get back to the starting area.

3. Go to Act 2: Windmill Isle. Which is right at the entrance to the Apotos entrance stage, and complete this level (you should be well able to complete it after a few tries in less than 2:30 minutes which will also net you the achievements “Blue Meteor” and “Getting the Hang of things” if you don’t lose any rings and get an S Ranking. In the first 20 seconds you’ll come to an area where you jump up and there are 3 standing badniks below you (watch the video of this level below) when you pass them and have to use homing attack to cross the gorge, look to the elevated platform on your left, if you land there, you will find an extra life

4. After this, boost for as long as possible, after you pass through the cafe you are sure to pick up at least 100 rings, giving you another extra life (you can see the person in the video below getting one). Once you’ve completed the stage you are put back in the entrance stage. What you’ll find is that the 2 lives you collected here earlier have respawned so you can collect them again.

Repeat these steps as much as you like. This will also give you a large stockpile of coins as you’ll collect at least 450 each time through Windmill Isles, which you can use to buy food to pump up Sonics stats.

All of my school books where covered in my drawings of Sonic, Super Sonic, Knuckles and the evil Dr. Robotnik. In fact, because of this game I started designing the art work for my own 2D platformer, which, sadly, never came to fruition. Check out the album link below, my character “Spike” is not a rip off of Sonic at all *sarcasm alert*

My old video game drawings and ideas

I can’t think of my childhood without thinking of Sonic The Hedgehog and his sidekick Tails. I used to get “Sonic The Comic” to read and watch the Sonic The Hedgehog TV show on SatAM. I’d probably watch it eating my favourite can of Sonic shaped spaghetti pieces.

Which is why I was so devastated to see Sonic die a death in the releases that followed S&K. They just wheren’t good anymore. Sadly to follow was Sega itself, who made a few very bad marketing decisions and ended up isolating themselves from their core fans.

Sega have since stopped making consoles and are now solely a game development company. Most recently I played “Sonic Advance 2″ on the GBA:SP. It was very good in my opinion, which gives me a bit of hope that there is still a chance that they can revive Sonic. Also, I have high hopes for the new Sonic release, “Sonic Unleashed”.

I still come back to the originals though every few years by playing them through an emulator on my PC. Time is very kind to the 16bit era of games as they look as good now as they ever did. I guess the only aspect that has changed is the resolution and size of the TV that I play them on. I played Sonic first on a 15″ CRT TV in my bedroom. Most recently I played through it again on my current 42″ 1080i Plasma. The colours are still as vivid and the gameplay still as excellent but Sonic is now looking very jagged around the edges due to his low pixel count.

It seems though that a bunch of die hard Sonic fans wheren’t happy with Sonic aging the way he was and have decided to give him a facelift.

The guys over at “sonicretro.org” are working on a complete remake of the original Sonic 2 game but this time they are bumping up the resolution to the eye bleed inducing 1080p. You can check out their progress here: Community Projects: Sonic 2 HD

Sonic in HD

I’ve already tried out one of the early Alpha’s from their site and it is looking quiet impressive, but it is very bug ridden so it will probably be a while before we even see a complete level released. If you don’t want to take a chance with the Alpha you can watch the video link below. Also bookmark their site and stumble & digg this project as much as you can to get it the support it needs and Sonic deserves.

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