Sonic Unleashed (Xbox 360 preview build)/Comparisons

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General comparisons

Preview Build

Final game

The title screen has a different background. It also uses the same sound effect for pressing as in the 2006 Sonic the Hedgehog game.

• The claw slash effect doesn't play in the main menu.
• The loading screen is different for both nighttime and daytime.

Gameplay comparisons

Preview Build

Final game

Sonic the Hedgehog's jump animation is different, being much more transparent.

Preview Build

Final game

Sonic the Werehog's HUD is unfinished, and identical to the one seen at E3 2008.

• The game runs at an uncapped framerate. This is fine on hardware, but produces poor results on emulators using powerful computers, as the game's physics start breaking at framerates above 60. You need to cap it using external software.
• The player cannot Drift by pressing or holding - they have to brake, then make a sharp turn. Much harder to pull off, and makes snaking much harder to do.
• Sonic the Hedgehog makes an annoying sound everytime he slides. He also exclaims "WOO!" everytime he Stomps.
• The visual effect for boosting is a work in progress.
• The camera is much less dynamic, zooming out less while boosting. It creates a placebo effect of daytime feeling much slower, despite Sonic the Hedgehog having identical speed values to the final game.
• The physics are overall much less refined. Sonic the Hedgehog has less air drag, feels even more slippery than the final, and cannot turn as effectively. Sonic the Werehog is slow, and lumbering. Both of them feel worse to play.

Preview Build

Final game

The lock-on reticle for the Homing Attack is different.

• Sonic begins the game with all of his moves, and the upgrade system is not present.
• At the end of a level, S Ranks are always achieved no matter what.
• There's a 'replay' button on the end of level screen. This is missing in the final, but returned in Sonic Generations.
• In-game cutscene music continues into stages and hub worlds when skipped. This does not apply to FMVs.
• Sonic the Hedgehog is even slower in the hub worlds, and slides around in a neutral stance when paused.
• Neither of Sonic's forms play an intro animation at the beginning of stages. The only exception is Cool Edge Act 1 (Daytime).
• Sonic the Hedgehog's quickstep is much less powerful outside of dedicated quickstep sections, barely moving Sonic at all.
• The global illumination is much higher resolution than the final game. It looks better, and doesn't have any noticeable impact on performance.
• Despite the GI being higher resolution, the lighting is overall worse on the majority of stages. Most likely because compiling the advanced lighting could take days, and it'd be far too much effort to go through for every single minute layout change.
• Entrance stages use the same UI as action stages, having a timer counting down along with a score counter during the daytime.
• Entrance stages all have their stages laid out in the beginning of them, likely for playtesting purposes.
• The transformation cutscenes for Sonic changing between forms in the hub worlds is not present.

Preview Build

Final game

Sonic the Werehog's fur is a slightly different coloration. He resembles the textures used in the Wii version far more than the final game.

Preview Build

Final game

Sonic the Werehog's claws use white trails, rather than the purple used in the final game.

• M-speed is much easier to pull off, requiring less precision.
• Sun and Moon Medals are not present, however the UI for them still exists.
• Motion blur is significantly less intense.

Stage comparisons

Apotos

Windmill Isle Day Act 1

• Nearly identical to the final game
• Slightly buggier collision, Sonic is able to get hitched on stray collision occasionally.
• The only SET data difference is that the final Quickstep section lacks spikes.

Windmill Isle Day Act 2

• Same as Act 1, this stage is nearly indiscernible from the final game.
• There are a few minor SET differences
• Camera angles are slightly different during the Rail Grinding segments.

Windmill Isle Day Act 3

• This level has finalized lighting and geometry.
• The SET data is very incomplete.
• The camera is far too zoomed in to see properly while playing.
• This stage lacks any music.

Windmill Isle Night Act 1

• Geometry and lighting are finalized
• SET data has minor differences such as ring placements and enemy varieties

Spagonia

Rooftop Run Day Act 1

• Nearly identical to the final.
• Some scripting is unfinished, leading to occasional unfortunate deaths or fails.
• Some of the camera angles are a work-in-progress.

Rooftop Run Day Act 2

• The scripting for the 2D section is completely broken, so the player has to use Debug Mode to break into 3D to explore the level.
• The SET data is completely unfinished, and the level is near impossible to traverse.
• The lap counter hasn't been implemented here yet so the stage isn't even beatable.
• No music plays.

Rooftop Run Day Act 3

• The Chao aren't present, so the level cannot be beaten.
• The SET data is unfinished, with most platforms, enemies, and rings not put into the stage yet.
• No music.

Rooftop Run Day Act 4

• The lighting is unfinished.
• There's no scripting to speak of, so Sonic isn't locked into a Quickstep section, and the loop-de-loop can bug out sometimes.
• There are no Aero-Chasers present, just a bunch of Egg Fighters littered about the stage.
• No music.

Rooftop Run Day Act 5

• The concept for the level is here, but the SET data is completely different.
• The level design just... stops, at one point, and Sonic gets dumped off of a grind rail into a pit.
• There's no goal ring present, so the stage is unbeatable even if you use Debug Mode.
• No music.

Rooftop Run Night Act 1

• The skybox parameters seem to have been set incorrectly, so there are low-poly buildings from the skybox littered throughout the level.
  • Thankfully, they have no collision so the player can press onward without worry.
• The goal ring is present directly at the beginning of the level, however the rest of the level is explorable.
• The SET data is incomplete.
  • There are swinging hammers littered about the level's first third, they can't hurt you but they're just.. there.
  • There are no enemies in the level.
  • The Clocktower has no gears or platforms inside of it, so the level ends there if you don't have debug mode.
  • There are buttons to open doors in place of what are supposed to be puzzles.

Rooftop Run Night Act 2

• The game immediately crashes the second the player takes a step forward.
  • You are able to pan the camera around briefly, however.
• The stage seems to just have incomplete SET data from what's able to be gleamed.
• No music.

Mazuri

Savannah Citadel Day Act 1

• Nearly identical to the final game.
• Some SET data is slightly different, stage specific gimmicks are all WIP.
• Scripting is early on, can lead to deaths occasionally.

Savannah Citadel Day Act 2

• Geometry and lighting are final, but level is incomplete otherwise.
• Lap counter isn't implemented yet, so the goal ring is just sitting directly behind the starting point.
• No music.

Savannah Citadel Day Act 4

• SET data is barren.
• The level ends early, and past the goal ring objects are even sparser.
• No music.

Savannah Citadel Night Act 1

• There are less enemies throughout the stage, and the enemies that are present are of more menial varieties than the final.
  • This is most likely because the Werehog deals a pitiful amount of damage and attacks extremely slowly in this build.
• SET data is unfinished, with most puzzles not being properly implemented yet.
  • As such, most doors are either impassable or opened with simple switches. You need to use Debug Mode to complete the stage.

Savannah Citadel Night Act 2

• Geometry is incomplete. The balancing rails just stop halfway through the level so you can't pass any further.
  • Unbeatable via normal means due to this, you need to use Debug to get to the goal ring.
• No music.

Savannah Citadel Night Act 4

• Lighting, geometry, and SET data are all very unfinished.
• 0 scripting is present, and thus Sonic can't even grab onto ledges.
• No goal ring is present.
• No music.

Holoska

Something to note about this country is that all stages lack their ice physics.

Cool Edge Day Act 1

• Some sound effects for the stage gimmicks such as the whale are missing.
• The sled physics aren't quite there yet, so it can be a little harder to maneuver the sled areas than the final.
• Mostly complete SET data for the first half of the level.
• Halfway into the stage, the goal ring appears early.
  • If you bypass the goal ring using Debug, the rest of the level seems to have finalized geometry, but with unfinished SET data and scripting.

Cool Edge Day Act 4

• SET data is very basic, only having rings and jump panels.
• Lighting is basic.
• The water looks strange.
• Grind Rails work incorrectly, as Sonic seems somehow magnetized to them, unable to jump from rail to rail.
• The gimmick where the player has to go through the level a second time in reverse hasn't been implemented, and thus the stage ends early.
• No music.

Cool Edge Night Act 1

• For some reason, this level, and only this specific level, is capped at 30 FPS. The rest of the game is uncapped.
• The SET data is very early on. There are sparingly few objects present, and no rings.
  • The majority of puzzles aren't implemented, as such, the majority of doors open with a simple switch.
• No enemies are present, making the stage feel very lonely.
• Despite being so early on, this stage is beatable via normal means.

Chun-Nan

Dragon Road Day Act 1

• A very complete stage, this stage just has minor SET differences and a few models are slightly different.
  • Most notably of the changed models, the "pie-piece" platforms are hollowed out rather than full like the final.
• The water running portions of the stage are significantly more difficult, as Sonic cannot drift on water in this build.

Dragon Road Day Act 2

• Probably the most complete sub-act, both the lighting and geometry are finalized.
• However, the SET data is a lot less polished and the scripting breaks extremely easily.
  • It's very easy to break out of 2D and die.
• Still, the looping function works properly and the level is actually properly completeable.
• No music.

Dragon Road Day Act 5

*Unfinished geometry and lighting.

• The water seems to be using a placeholder texture despite Act 1 using the final texture.
• Level is has very few objects, and the looping function isn't implemented so you cannot complete the stage.
• As with Act 1, the lack of a water Drift makes the level a lot harder.
  • Despite this, the stage layout makes a lot more sense due to this as in the final game you can simply drift past the majority of the layout. Not possible here.
• No music.

Dragon Road Night Act 1

• This is probably the most incomplete out of all the main stages, with early lighting, geometry, and barren SET data.
• The entireity of the sectioned-off area from the final game is explorable and has collision. There are even enemies and doors present.
  • This area was later repurposed for Dragon Road Act 1-2, but was supposed to be apart of the main stage.
• The geometry for the Dark Gaia Phoenix battle is present, but has no collision. Could this imply that the boss was originally supposed to be apart of the level itself?

Dragon Road Night Act 2

• Incomplete lighting.
• No scripting has been done yet.
• No music.