A Sonic Fanboy, His Despair For The 3D Series, And The Latest “Unleashed” Trailer Which Resurrected His Hope

In my short number of years on this planet, there is one thing I know for sure: I love Sonic The Hedgehog.

The fast and furious gameplay of the originals was fantastic, and when the franchise moved into the 3D with Sonic Adventures 1 & 2 (complete with generic college rock tracks), it seemed to me that the series’ would go from strength to strength. But then a dark age began in the form of:

It wasn’t horrible, but there were many glitches (in my copy)  and the story and most of the characters were almost unbearably stupid (WTF are Big the Cat and Team Chaotix doing in this game?). The game had a lukewarm to bad reception (at least in my school) and I forgave the franchise as the game that didn’t live up to its predecessors and looked forward to the next one:

OOOOOHHHH, SONIC WIT GUNS!

Too bad the game focused on Shadow (why was never really explained, something about him being a clone at the end of Sonic Heroes or some such nonsense) and completely disregarded SONIC THE HEDGEHOG. You know? The blue hedghog? Main character of the series?

What’s worse was there were more needless tack-ons (like multiple endings which weren’t worth the effort at all) but the biggest problem was that the gameplay sucked and it was even more frought with glitches than Sonic Heroes. So, after the even worse reception of Shadow the Hedgehog, everyone was still waiting for a good Sonic game on the level of the Adventures (outside of the DS, which actually had the awesome Sonic Rush, but I’m focusing on the majority i.e. console owners). Interest in the series was fading fast, but then SEGA announced a re-invention of the Sonic series, simply titled “Sonic The Hedgehog”, was coming; a game that would bring the series back to its roots.  Trailers were shown, hype was created, speed was seen (something severely lacking form the two previous games) and everyone looked forward to:

Surely this would be the game to bring the series out of it’s slump and resurrect it to its level of greatness?

Gamespot: 4.4/10

Gamespy: 1.5/5

Gametrailers: 4.6/10

IGN: 4.8/10

XPlay: 1/5

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

I was hinging saving up for a next-gen console or not on this game (I’m still stuck with my PS2) and it was labelled one of, if not THE, worst Sonic games ever. Though at the same time, a game known as Sonic and the Secret Rings was released for the Wii, which actually had average to good reviews, the massive, horrible blemish on the face of SEGA that was Sonic The Hedgehog was too fresh in gamers’ minds to redeem the series much.

So by now, everyone’s given up on the blue hedgehog. The franchise is pretty much a joke. But finally, finally, there has arrived one slim chance for it to redeem itslef: Sonic Unleashed. The first trailer leaked on the net showed Sonic RUNNING FAST (which was a step-up from the previous installments) and people who were in despair about the series had a small glimmer of hope….

Except for the fact he’s a fucking werewolf.

But other than that GLARINGLY STUPID DECISION minor setback, if the gameplay is good, I don’t care what the graphics or storyline are like, and the gameplay does seem gooooooood.

Except for the fucking werewolf sections, which are really slow.

But despite all that, I’m still looking forawrd to the game, ridiculously stupid yet catchy college rock that has managed to become a staple of the series, anthropomorphism and all (seriously, the song’s called “Endless Possibilities”? How obvious can a subliminal message be? Play the song backward and it probably says “Don’t give up on SEGA, there are still _____________”).

There’s also some sort of crap about him with a sword in a Wii game, but that’s even more stupid than the werewolf idea.

Wait, no it isn’t.

Whatever.

And so, all that’s left for me to say is:

PLEASE DON’T FUCK IT UP, SEGA!!!!!