Sonic Unleashed: The Post-PC Port Discussion Thread

The Unleashed robots look fine to me. I don't mind the more stylized looks. They still have goofy grins and all, only given a more "techno" look to them. I don't think it's fair so say that they don't look like Eggman robots - especially when Eggy has gone through different styles for his robots throughout the series.

In fact I find it ironic that people are bringing up Heroes enemies as an example of robots that actually look like Eggman robots, considering that I remember when Heroes came out and people complained that the enemies didn't look like badniks, having dropped the animal motif and looking more uniform and gaudy.

 

I think beyond them not looking like what many might consider "Eggman Robots", I think they also kinda just look bad, on their own terms. Except for that mech Eggman's in at first in the opening cinematic. I think that one's pretty cool.

I did not know the recomp had the option to change the controls. It was one of the first things I looked for in the options, but I didn't find it and moved onto playing the game. Thanks for confirming that it's there, I'll check again next time I play.

I am indeed talking about the hub controls, I did not yet progress to any Gaia Gates, but that is good to know. Please look forward to me possibly complaining about the controls in those (or not), in the near future!

Brother, this does not look like a GUN robot.

 

I don't mind the designs. They're way less expressive than heroes but that's not a deal breaker for me. They serve their purpose of being easy to spot at high speeds. The bigger problem is the lack of variety. There's like, 5 types of badniks max in this game and most of them existed to be bowled over. They needed more shakeups like the missile robot.

 

Unleashed also pulled-off humor better than the subsequent entries like Colors, where it felt forced in the other extreme direction, at least in my opinion.

 

I think Unleashed's robots look fine and far better than 06's, they just lack variety and look out of place in a lot of the environments. I think Colors/Generations made the right choice returning to the Heroes robot designs.

 

Broseidon God of the Brocean, does it look anything like a badnik either? Looks closer to a GUN design to me but this is another thing that doesn't matter. It's blander than it could have been, let's say that.

 

They gave HotDog Vendor region variations. Wish the robots also got region variations.

 

No, man. You said that Unleashed copied 06 turning Eggman's robots into GUN robots. That doesn't look like a GUN robot. It doesn't look like an 06 robot. "Looks more like....", no. It's got the goofy Eggman faces even if you can barely see them, so it has some Egg Pawn DNA there. GUN/06 robots aren't non-euclidean ergonomic mistakes like this is.

Earlier I was dunking on some of Eggman's machines in general (not enemy robots in particular) in the opening cinematic for looking like Movie Sonic shit, but that doesn't apply to these goofy, poorly proportioned abominations. They look enough like their own thing (as do the GUN robots, and 06's robots), even if I think these ones look especially bad on their own merits. 06's robots, though (particularly the machine-gunners), super look like Movie Sonic stuff tho; or put more appropriately: movie Sonic's robots seem to have pulled a lot from 06's robots, and some of the machines in Unleashed's opening cinematic. And I don't think I like that choice.

 

By the way, I think Unleashed’s hub worlds and entrance stages are actually what I felt Frontiers should’ve been, just at larger-scale. The hubs are full of life, and the entrance stages have objects and puzzle setpieces that actually blend into the environments.
I really felt the hubs in Unleashed were great.

Shadow Generations’s hub kind of started going back to that sort of thing.

 

You can barely even make out the "goofy face" in that image posted because of how hidden it is in the design and especially in-game, ESPECIALLY in-contrast to Heroes' enemies. If you ask me he's distinctly less "goofy" than this guy.

I might've abused the word 'copy', but you're using the word "non-euclidean" to describe a relatively forgettable robot design not any more over-the-top than what came before.

 

… that’s not goofy. Also, goofy is not just visuals. It’s body language and animation too. The ‘06 robots are stiff mechs. Unleashed’s move with cartoonish personality if you actually stick around to check the animations and sounds. Sure, it would’ve been better to have more variety.

 

Sonic Adventure is the only 3D game with great badnik designs, imo. Some of the Heroes ones are okay but on the whole I don't find them any better than the ones in Unleashed, and I agree that there isn't nearly as much variety as there should be.

 

All I'll say is that I think Unleashed's intro cutscene introduces the game's overall tone pretty well. Yeah the scope is dramatic and the stakes feel high but the cartoonish squash & stretch and overall playfulness throughout the entire scene goes a long way to sell the idea that it's a new direction, which is probably what the series needed after '06. I don't really see how the opening is drastically different than, like, the cutscene where Sonic meets up with Eggman in Mazuri. Unleashed is a pretty grand story with a cheeky sense of slapstick humour sprinkled on. It doesn't skew too hard in either direction unless it needs to.

If you wanna talk tonal whiplash, Sonic Lost World is the game you might be thinking of lol.

 

You're telling me Ball Arms McGee isn't goofy, with his obvious weakness that in of itself looks like a face? Having to stop your gameplay to even notice the animation on Unleashed's enemies is a memorability issue all on its own, and another thing Heroes and even 06 did better if you ask me. Getting to knock past all them like bowling pins is goofy I guess.

 

Some of the Egg Fighters in Unleashed deploy their hands to attack you, which proceed to stand up in to fingers as though they're legs and the other two fingers then becomes arms. These hand robots also pilot the Egg Devil Ray. But because of the speed of the game and the tiny scale of the enemies, you barely get any chance to see these things in action. But it's a wonderfully charming detail that's brimming with personality.


Imo, Unleashed has fantastic enemy design (included in character design in general tbh). You just don't get much of a chance to appreciate the creativity in the design of Eggman's mechs. And yeah, there's certainly not enough variety. The Dark Gaia spawn are all great though. I remember looking at them in 2008 and thinking to myself that I wished that the Iblis enemies had looked like that with 06 also adopting a tonne similar to Unleashed. Seeing Sonic attack not-robotic enemies was strange to me, but Unleashed got the designs so right that it didn't feel awkward.

 

You can't really see it most of the time, though. Egg Fighters may as well not have heads at all when you're playing as daytime Sonic. I'd say only the chasers and interceptors manage to bring that motif across, and that's because they're both locked in place long enough for you to get a look at them directly.

Not completely -- the Turtle and Jellyfish robots come to mind, along with the bird theme Eggman's own mechs have -- but I actually agree that the Egg Pawn line is more uniform and less interesting, I was merely using it as a point of comparison as to why I don't like Unleashed's as much.

I think most Sonic robots get that across okay, unless you mean cases where minor texture variations could lead you to mix them up or something. Like I don't love Sonic Forces's designs either but I think they still feel more in-line with the general shape language.

Colors and Generations did better than just returning to Heroes, because they updated and mixed in classic badniks with the Egg Pawns, and found new uses for them. Lost World actually did this the best, even if I don't prefer the "googly eyes" look.

Come on man, this is a little disingenuous. The animations are deliberately made to read well at long distances, but even if they didn't, you aren't blowing past Egg Fighters for the whole game, there's tons of them to fight in the nighttime stages.

THAT'S what those are? Holy shit, I never even noticed they were hands. I'm not changing my opinion on the whole but I had no idea this detail even existed. I always thought those robots were out of place but this revelation actually does make me appreciate them a lot more.

 

It honestly reminds me of the discussion around Black knight. Sometimes people talk about that game as if it's this super serious story that takes itself really seriously, but no, its about as jovial as unleashed is.

 

I'm using it hyperbolically to indicate that I think it's proportions are all fucked, yes. Switch out your use of "copy" for "are similar to", and I still can't really agree. The GUN robots, the Egg Pawns, 06's stuff, and Unleashed's stuff all have their own unique design sensibilities from one another, and none of them are all that "Badnik-y". All they really have in common with one another, in contrast to the Badniks of yore, is that they feel like cohesive armies with largely the same variety of types of units, including and especially bipedal humanoid-shaped foot soldier grunts.

Don't try to drag me into that 06 vs. Unleashed Goof-Off convo that has somehow managed to actually be a thing. I do not care about it. I do not think 06 is very goofy or whimsical (especially next to Unleashed), and your arguing that it is comes across as increasingly bad-faith. Might as well be arguing that the Cell arc in Dragon Ball is more silly and whimsical than the Boo arc. If you genuinely think that, okay, but that's your cross to bear. Nothing I can say will change your mind, and I couldn't be any less interested in trying.

 

The idea that unleashed's enemies are anything like 06's are funny to me. Like, the designs are more subdued than something like an Egg pawn, sure, but their body language and the way they animate is still really goofy and fun. The 06 robots are much more serious in that regard, they mostly just animate like a generic sci-fi robot.

 

I guess we'll have to agree to disagree here, because the Mazuri cutscene is a prime example of tonal dissonance with the opening in my eyes.

I actually hated the return of classic badniks in Colors. They felt out of place outside of a retro-style game like Sonic 4 or Mania to me, and came across as pointless fanservice IMO. Like, why on earth would Eggy go back to those archaic models for no given reason?

I liked thinking that the reason Eggman's robots changed over the years is that he keeps making improvements, with new models being stronger or more efficient or better designed than old ones. Colors threw that out the window bringing back Sonic 1 badniks and having them perform as well as the newest ones.