Sonic Unleashed (PC) - Tornado Defense 1
15SA Thread: https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=4084502
They clearly had an idea here but I don't think it works at all. Someone pointed out to me that Eggman meeting Sonic here does not work in the slightest with a slightly later cutscene where he's surprised that Sonic is still alive, so clearly at some point someone went "hey we should make Tornado segments, like in Adventure!" and someone else said "we're a bit strapped for time but we could just reuse the QTE code" and a third person probably suggested to put the minigame between every country transition but got defenestrated
Anyway, here's the promised details about the time-out: for an S-Rank you need 500,000 points, which is equal to a combo of 152. In order to achieve that, it's sensible to not kill the Cauldron and instead shoot down more and more projectiles to keep pushing higher. Also, if you do screw up somewhere around 140, you might still get enough if you keep shooting more things. Once the timer runs out, Eggman will retreat automatically, ending the level in your favor. Apparently, a max score is roundabout 620,000, so the S-Rank is quite stingy considering the escalating combo multiplier (it's something like every 10 kills, you get +1 multipler, e.g. after 60 kills, each kill is worth 6x as much as the base amount).
Timestamps:
0:00 Intro
0:07 Cutscene: Tails rescued, Liftoff
2:27 Tornado Defense 1
7:53 Outro in Spagonia
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Sonic Unleashed was released in 2008 for XBox360 and PS3. Its ambitious engine struggled to perform well on both consoles, with the former being locked to 30 fps and the latter uncapped, but rarely reaching high values. Only ten years after its release, with being made available on XBox One, could the game reach its potential. And now, there is a fanmade PC port for people who don't own that console!
This is where you can get it: https://github.com/hedge-dev/UnleashedRecomp
You will need legally obtained files from both the game (360 version) and your console. I do own both.
I am going to show off Sonic Unleashed playing this PC port, because I really like the game, warts and were and all. It is really difficult to be optimal at Sonic Unleashed (both from a gameplay and a collecting all things perspective) and the game auto-saves, so I will approach this a bit more casually. I will make some mistakes and miss some things, at least at first. I do think that I'm competent enough to present this game in its best light and shadow - I hope you have fun with me!