Sonic Unleashed - 360 - Arid Sands Act 1

Channel:

Overhazard

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Published on August 2, 2009 8:53:24 AM ● Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHZmkhgYhWs

Game:

Sonic Unleashed (2008)

Duration: 3:10

18,521 views

69

Shamar
Day
Arid Sands Act 1

The Middle Eastern region has been done many many times throughout the Sonic games, and with the exceptions of Sonic Heroes and Sonic Rivals 2, the obligatory desert area in each platformer goes to the Middle East by default with Sonic. SEGA follows tradition with Sonic Unleashed, assigning its hot and dry area to Shamar, a fictional area that seems to combine Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Egypt.

The 360 version of this stage is frantic from beginning to end, and that's because its design and concepts are rather creative for a theme that seems to have been sucked dry by now due to Sonic and the Secret Rings. SEGA puts an interesting inversion: In contrast to the ancient world that Sonic often finds himself in, Sonic makes his way through Shamar's capital city (which I'll assume is called Arid Sands), a highly industrialized and technologically advanced area that seems to have established a firm spot in the list of developed nations. It looks like the sort of place that would have Wi-Fi installed throughout the whole city.

And what a busy city it is. You'll quickly notice that Arid Sands Act 1 is the 360 designers' experiment on just how many obstacles can slow Sonic down. Sonic dashes through the marketplace, a thoroughfare, and the outskirts of the city, the entire place filled with people out and about. Needless to say, they can seriously slow Sonic down, though they're harmless. Sonic then goes out into the desert, where there are many outposts. People in the Shamar hub mentioned that the ruins are fragile and can fall any moment, and they're not kidding--just by having Sonic come close, the pillars and boulders come tumbling down to the ground, and they have some pretty nasty timing. If you haven't absolutely mastered the Quick Step maneuver, Sonic WILL get hit by them.

Not to mention some of the 2-D areas are upward climbs (I skipped one of them through a shortcut at 1:17) full of retracting platforms to make you fall where you don't want, flamethrowers coming out of the walls in the nastiest spots, and enemies in just the right places for maximum annoyance.

There's an Xbox Achievement or PlayStation Network Trophy called "Speeding Ticket" awarded to you when you can clear Arid Sands Act 1 within 2 minutes 50 seconds. I fulfilled that requirement, but just barely. I can't tell if the programmers misaligned that Goal Ring on purpose or not, as I accidentlaly missed it and zoomed off a distance back.

Requested by Octogeddon.

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