Bit of a tangent, but was Unleashed Wii the first time DIMPS made an alternate version of a mainline Sonic game for the lesser systems? I know after this they shifted to handhelds (Colours DS, Gens 3DS etc..), but we didn't see anything of this variety since the Game Gear (Sonic 1/Spinball) variations of the 16 bit titles. Still, to answer the original question, The HD version is definitely my pick just for being the prime version - warts an' all. I kinda treat Wii Unleashed like I do Game Gear Sonic 1 when comparing with the MD original. Both I can play whenever and enjoy for different reasons, but if we're talking Sonic 1, the 16-Bit version will always be the prime game.
HD version, easily, specifically the 360 version. I bought the PS2 version at launch because it was the cheapest ($30, the Wii version was $50, 360/PS3 versions $60) and enjoyed it for what it was. However, as others have pointed out already, the day levels are emptier and far less interesting, while the night levels are simpler and for some reason there's three times as many. I know people have made the point that three Wii/PS2 night levels adds up to one PS3/360 night level, though in my experience you can clear most of the HD Werehog levels in less than ten minutes if you don't waste too much time, whereas each SD Werehog stage is at least five minutes long, thus still adding up to more Werehog content. My ideal version of Unleashed is one in which Dimps and Sonic Team just collaborated on one version of the game, scrap the Werehog entirely or at least made it a faster, more fitting alternative play style and still leaned more heavily on the daytime Sonic stages. I know this was from the time period in which Sonic Team felt every Sonic game had to be this massive, AAA experience, and maybe a shorter game would have still been panned. Adding up all the daytime levels between the base HD game, the Wii version and the DLC gives you roughly 3-4 hours of gameplay at least, and they could have easily squeezed even more out of it by redirecting the resources that went into developing the Werehog stages. Give each level three main acts, a boss, numerous side missions, and they would have had the all killer, no filler 3D Sonic game I'd dreamed about since SA2. Oh well - still think Unleashed is a highly underappreciated game in its own right, but it could have been so much better.
In my eyes, the best version is easily the 360 version played on the Xbox One. It seems to smooth over some of the frame rate dips I remember so clearly in the Werehog stages on 360, although that is anecdotal and I haven't actually measured anything.
i only ever beat the Wii version when i was younger, but it was... just okay, i guess? not exactly mindblowing. i also wound up getting the ps3 port later, but between the medal collecting and me getting stuck on the day stage of dragon road because of the section with the spinning discs over a chasm throwing me off, i just didnt care much for it. im of the opinion that the only particularly good way to play unleashed is through the unleashed pc project. it's not the exact same, but it's so close to the original with so much less fuss that anything else just isn't worth yout time
I hate to bump such an old thread, but I’ve finally figured out which version is better. Let’s just say I WISH I was joking when I say that I spent two whole hours in Skyscraper Scamper night Act 1 and received four game overs while trying to beat it. So yeah. Neither version is particularly great, but the Wii/PS2 version makes the 360/PS3 version look like Big Rigs.
These past few days I've been playing Unleashed 360 from start to finish for the first time in almost a decade (and '06 but that's another matter entirely). And that bolded comment is utter crap. Yes, the game is unpolished and the game should never have been released when the framerate is so all over the place. But fuck off can it be compared to anything as buggy or unfinished as Big Rigs. The Wii version is polished in the sense that it doesn't feel like anything was left unfinished, but it's a no-frills, shallow and dull game. The 360 version is brimming with content and new ideas. Whilst not glitch-free, it's hardly what you could call buggy either. It simply lacks polish and suffers from some very poor design choices. Talking about Skyscraper Scamper Night Act 1 in particular, you've got the following big issues: excessive bottomless pits, the camera panning when you're in the middle of balancing sections (and causing you to fall into a pit), enemies that can 1-shot you into a pit, excessive enemy encounters and a laughable framerate. These are mostly the result of the game being unpolished and unbalanced due to a rushed development. If it had been baked in the over for a while longer, I'm certain these issues would have been somewhat if not entirely rectified. I can throw shit at Unleashed all day for some of its core game design being as bad as it is. The Werehog is mediocre at best and tedious at worst, and it doesn't belong in a game alongside the day time gameplay. It also requires you to traverse at least three hub worlds when progressing from one level to the next, sometimes more if you need to visit Professor Pickle en route. And Sonic's controls in Hedgehog form are the so slippery and unwieldy that I don't know how they even progressed past the early stages of engine development when he plays like that. The level design in all of the main acts and especially in the extra acts is some of the cheapest crap I've ever seen in a game; you put a single foot wrong and you'll get punished with a death. The game got savaged by critics back in 2008 - perhaps unfairly, but also understandably. However, I don't accept the narrative it's bad. The Wii version is a lesser game. Whether you're playing as hedgehog or werehog, the gameplay is slow, bland and repetitive. No visual flair, no creativity, no action. Nothing. Levels are wide and empty too. The game is stable in terms of performance and bugs, but I can't say much else in its favour over the 360/PS3 version. And while it lacks some of the bigger issues concerning medals and double-layered hubs for each level that come in both daytime and nighttime variants, it's got its own sort of padding with cumbersome and confusing menu-based hubs, multiple nighttime acts and forced daytime act missions. It ain't good, but it runs better than it's 360/PS3 counterpart and was polished at least to the point where its balanced. That's all it boils down to. Refined mediocrity.
I was exaggerating for the sake of humor when I said it was like Big Rigs. Nothing can truly ever reach that level. It’s just that while the highs of the HD version are better than the highs of the SD one, I find the lows to be so, so low that they ruin the entire experience. The SD version has quite a few warts, but they never reach the level of BS that the HD one has in my opinion. I'd rather play a game that's consistent and streamlined compared to a game that balances one half of extremely polished platforming with another half of tedium and frustration.
Personally, I'd rather play a highly flawed game that's mostly at least a decent experience than one that's consistently boring and bland. There's just no fun to be had with Unleashed Wii. It's consistently never any good.
Yeah replaying the Daytime stages on the PC mod for Generations made me realize how well designed the levels were. They're so complex with so many different pathways and routes to go down. I don't know how anyone could play the Wii version now with it's simple levels that really did feel like boost to win and compare the two. Or even prefer it outside nostalgia. The werehog stages were a slog in both versions but if you see past them in the PS3/360 versions there's still fun to be had
Here's why I think the Wii/PS2 versions are better: The Werehog stages, IMO, are significantly better, in both design and execution. There's next to no bottomless pits, they're much shorter (each one clocks in at around 3-5 minutes, so you'll only spend 10-15 minutes in them at a time), they're easy to play really fast (you know, like a Sonic game), the controls are much easier and more responsive, and you're not stopping every three minutes so you can button mash to kill some enemies. They're still not great, but they're what I'd call average platforming challenges. They're not the poorly-designed, maddeningly difficult slogfest that is of the HD versions. The medal collecting system is much more streamlined and natural. Instead of having to constantly replay levels and restart because you were mere inches away from a medal, the Wii/PS2 version gives you medals based on your score. That means you rarely have to backtrack and go back to levels, which, in the HD versions, severely slows down the pace and just makes the replay value feel forced and artificial. The daytime levels are still fun even if they're not as complex as the HD version. There's still loads of alternate paths to explore, sections requiring split-second precision, and really fast gameplay. And the later levels aren't all that barren (just look at Eggmanland). The reduced emphasis on the boost actually makes the game more replayable in my opinion because it's (A) more similar to the Adventure games and (B) still accommodates the breakneck speed that's characteristic of the boost games. (I also feel like people forget there are some pretty forgettable daytime stages in the HD version too, like Savannah Citadel Act 2). The HD version is filled to the brim with BS quick-time events that (A) don't give you enough time to react 50% of the time, (B) often don't register your button inputs, and (C) are so common it becomes maddening. The Wii/PS2 version reduces the number of quick-time events to only a few levels and they feel more special when you encounter them. The boss fights, IMO, are better in the Wii/PS2 version. The daytime ones are more challenging, while the nighttime ones really benefit from the more streamlined Werehog mechanics. And again, the nighttime ones aren't bogged down by quick-time events. The framerate in the Wii/PS2 version is very stable, unlike the HD version. And even though the graphics aren't mind-blowing, they're still relatively polished and colorful. Again, there are some things I think are better in the HD version. The daytime stages, graphics, the fact there's more levels, and the hub worlds. But when it comes to consistency and lack of severe and basic design flaws, I think the Wii/PS2 version is much better. I think you're better off using the Unleashed Project if you need to experience the HD version's daytime levels, because there's no Werehog, no medal collecting, and you've got the quality-of-life improvements that Generations brought to the controls.
I own the Wii version. I liked the nighttime levels more than the daytime ones. I didn't really like the nighttime levels. If you're telling me unwiished nighttime levels are better than the HD ones, I'm not sure I'm really missing something for not playing the other version, but I can tell you for sure that I don't want the shallow daytime levels I played either. Oddly for most people here, I still like unwiished more than colors. When I played the game the first and only time I did, I didn't know both versions were so different, I knew about the final boss and little more. Regarding the final boss, it was the only moment I really had fun with that game since it was so absurd and epic at the same time, but that was a matter of plot more than anything else and it was a super sonic fight, not standard gameplay, so it's quite irrelevant.
The problems I have with the HD nighttime levels are (A) they're not well designed. (B) They're needlessly difficult for the sake of being difficult, and they're only difficult because Sonic Team said "ey! let's just put a buncha bullshit everywhere HAHAHAHAHA!" (C) You spend way too much time in them (which is mostly because there are too many enemies, which really slows you down), they range anywhere from 10 to 45 minutes. And if you're on a really bad one? Let's just say you should cancel your evening plans if you're planning on beating it. The daytime stages are much better in the HD version, but as I said you're better off playing them in the Unleashed Project if you have Generations PC. I'm not trying to discourage anyone from getting the HD version if they're curious - I still think it's a decent time - just be prepared to absolutely hate some of the BS it puts you through. If you've never played either version, I'd say the Wii/PS2 version is far more enjoyable because it's more consistent. But again, that's just my opinion.
For me, I played the PS2 and PS3 versions, and it came down to... They're both not good lol, I never finished either, I gave up half way through, but for differing reasons for each. I would personally count the PS2 version to be better, just because the lows weren't as low. The PS2 version was a lot more consistent in quality. The werehog stages did drag, but being shorter levels split into chunks allowed me to instead return to the game whenever I felt up to it, meaning I never felt burned out whilst playing it. The day-time stages never hit the same highs as the PS3 version, but at the same time, they still had a fair bit of enjoyment to get out of it, even if being worse. On the whole, it's not a great experience, but I could see it being a game you slowly whittle your way through over a long period of time. The PS3 version, on the other hand, was a rollercoster of poor decisions, a terrible experience with only a few highs occasionally. The day-time stages were pretty awesome, marred by poor framerate and having to stop and find medals to unlock the rest of the game. The werehog stages, on the other hand, are genuinely the worst experience gaming I've ever had. The levels are tedious, that stupid werehog music that plays every. single. time. you hit an enemy (so you'll effectively hear it on loop for 10 to 45 minutes), poor control, I find no enjoyment out of those levels. Add onto that the length of the werehog stages, it becomes a slog that is unbearable to play. Nothing about the day time stages will make up for the awful experience of the night time stages. The reason I didn't finish the PS2 version was due to just fizzling out of it, there was no reason to go back to it as there were better games to play. The PS3 version, on the other hand, was the one I actually refused to complete, due to how unbearably angry I was at the experience. The latter left a sour taste in my mouth, hence why I consider it to be the worse game; being unenthusiastic is better than making me angry.
While not being capped at 30 makes a difference, the PS3 version also runs at a consistently lower framerate. You can see it in this video. The gameplay doesn't even properly hit 30fps most of the time. Most stages have areas that run basically at 20fps. Adabat has 15-ish zones, too. It runs really badly on the PS3.
I only have the 360 version. I finished it without any major complaints. The Werehog levels could have been shorter. I don’t remember any frame rate problems. Maybe a couple of spots with slowdown. I hated the QTE. Mostly the 2 sky fights. So glad they never returned in a Sonic game. So far anyway. Only saw the Wii/PS2 version at a friends and online of course. Can’t comment on the gameplay but I’m pretty sure I would still prefer the 360 version.
I completed Unleashed 100% on 360 on release, and then again on Xbox One when it was made available there. I have never had a single problem with it registering button inputs, and found I had enough time to react in the vast majority of cases. I'm not going to defend their existence - they're poorly done and completely unnecessary - but they're not in any way like you describe here.
I'm mostly talking about the ones in the nighttime levels, when you're performing combos on enemies. The daytime ones aren't as bad (though they still have some of those problems). It may just be the controller I'm using (I'm playing on Xbox One using a third-party controller), but I've never had any problems with the controller in the past.
Definitely the 360/PS3 version in my opinion. I started with the Wii version, and enjoyed it at the time, but when I bought my 360 I bought Unleashed with it at the same time, and it completely ruined the Wii version for me. It immediately got the to situation where I actively dislike playing the Wii daytime stages. On the Wii you are running down barren, empty corridors with steering that is painfully heavy and causes you to constantly smash into walls, whereas on the 360 the controls are great (I never had a problem with buttons not registering, and I completed it 100% with all achievements) and levels are beautiful and packed with gimmicks that I absolutely loved and made it clear that I was playing on a much more advanced console than the Wii. As for the QTEs on the 360 version I sucked at them having just got my first Microsoft console and not having learned the layout yet. However it was a minor problem because I quickly realised you could pause during a QTE to give yourself a chance to work out what you needed to click and in what order before unpausing. As for the nighttime stages, sure they are a bit long, especially on the 360 version, but I don't mind as I actually enjoyed playing them a lot more on the 360. The left and right shoulder button attacking on the Wii (Classic Controller) and PS2 was a terrible idea and just led to me mashing them whenever an enemy got close, and the use of more standard controls in the 360 version makes it really fun to explore the stages. Saying that, I understand that the length is a deal-breaker for people who don't like the slow-paced brawler gameplay. I just feel that the only benefit to the night-time stages on the Wii is their length and, in my opinion, they are worse in every other way.
Then you're not attacking them enough. The lower their health, the more time you get to hit the button prompts when you do the finisher.
