The Wii version is slick and polished, with no segment I could really point out for feeling cheap or being badly designed. Visually it looks really good for Wii too.
While the story and cutscenes are the same, the gameplay is entirely different and honestly with a handfull of better design choices to boot.
While there's no city hubs there's the gaia gate hubs with small puzzles to solve for more missions and goodies. No more mandatory pace breaking medal collecting for story progression, in this version you get them based on your stage rank, and then use them to explore more the gaia gates and get sidestuff.
The levelling up system only counts for the Werehog, and the Night Time stages has more emphasis on platforming, with elements and puzzle mechanics here that aren't even present in the hd version. Controls are fine and responsive although a bit slippery when dashing which can be a problem especially for when you initiate the dash by analog tilting especially for sections with tiny platforms as you easily tumble to your salt and misery.
While the 360 version had 15-20 minute night time stages, the Wii version splits that up for 4-5 sequent stages ranging from 4-8 minute length in general. each of the shorter werehog stages takes on some different layered designs and feels like actual proper levels.
Daytime stages are completely different and instead of having a nonstop gauge of boost you need to use one boost per press and time it well with the stage layout and your precision. I really appreciated the wii version not tossing out the sub boss robot every single stage as well. They're super fun, Holoska Daytime is easily one of my favourite sonic levels out there.
The absence of the Mazuri stages (aside from a bossfight) and Empire City being completely absent is a bit of a shame as well as not having explorable city hubs, there's at least the gaia hubs.
Let's just say I think they handled the final world a lot better on Wii as well as the final boss too.
It's honestly a lot to compare between the two versions, but there's also the point of respecting the games for their vastly fundamental differences, while Unleashed has the higher peaks it also had the lower lows, while Unwiished is just overall keeping itself at a very good high throughout.
While the story and cutscenes are the same, the gameplay is entirely different and honestly with a handfull of better design choices to boot.
While there's no city hubs there's the gaia gate hubs with small puzzles to solve for more missions and goodies. No more mandatory pace breaking medal collecting for story progression, in this version you get them based on your stage rank, and then use them to explore more the gaia gates and get sidestuff.
The levelling up system only counts for the Werehog, and the Night Time stages has more emphasis on platforming, with elements and puzzle mechanics here that aren't even present in the hd version. Controls are fine and responsive although a bit slippery when dashing which can be a problem especially for when you initiate the dash by analog tilting especially for sections with tiny platforms as you easily tumble to your salt and misery.
While the 360 version had 15-20 minute night time stages, the Wii version splits that up for 4-5 sequent stages ranging from 4-8 minute length in general. each of the shorter werehog stages takes on some different layered designs and feels like actual proper levels.
Daytime stages are completely different and instead of having a nonstop gauge of boost you need to use one boost per press and time it well with the stage layout and your precision. I really appreciated the wii version not tossing out the sub boss robot every single stage as well. They're super fun, Holoska Daytime is easily one of my favourite sonic levels out there.
The absence of the Mazuri stages (aside from a bossfight) and Empire City being completely absent is a bit of a shame as well as not having explorable city hubs, there's at least the gaia hubs.
Let's just say I think they handled the final world a lot better on Wii as well as the final boss too.
It's honestly a lot to compare between the two versions, but there's also the point of respecting the games for their vastly fundamental differences, while Unleashed has the higher peaks it also had the lower lows, while Unwiished is just overall keeping itself at a very good high throughout.
2 Comments
This comment was deleted
Yeah, the Wii version skimmed down some of the good stuff, but also a lot of the less intuitive design choices from it's HD counterpart. Heck, I got all the medals and did all the sidemissions and actually enjoyed it, contra the hot dog runs, npc missions, and the medal collecting from HD.
BlazingWaters
1 year ago
Been years since I've finished either version to completion but I very much agree. The Daytime stages in HD are for the most part better, but there's the medal hunts, the two really dumb and tedious Sky Chase QTEs, as well as the Werehog stages being rather lengthy that makes playing that version an unnecessary commitment. SD isn't free of the issues HD has, and it even omits stuff strangely (there's the stages you mentioned which suck, but I distinctly remember a fight where you rescue Tails not even being there in SD) but it's at least something I could sit down and had a consistently fun time with.