Sonic Unleashed (2008 Video Game) User Reviews

When the moon rises, Sonic undergoes a great change... in quality.

[ign7 · 7/10 · 18 November 2008]

When the sun is shining, Sonic Unleashed is a blazing fast roller coaster ride filled with loop-de-loops, jump pads, speed boosts, zigzagging pathways, alternate routes and more. As the blue hedgehog spins through chaotic, unpredictable environments at sound-barrier-breaking speeds, you will be hooked. These stages, which regularly shift from 2D to 3D perspectives, are executed so well, in fact, that I feel they not only successfully capture the frantic pace and addictive play mechanics of the long-gone classics, but surpass them. Unfortunately, Fantastic, yes, but unfortunately Sonic Unleashed has a darker side, literally, and I'm referring specifically to the well-publicized night-set levels in which the speedy hero transforms into a slow, stretchy werehog. Yeah -- a werehog. If the concept sounds a little forced, it is, but not nearly as forced and altogether boring as the repetitive selection of nighttime stages. The question is, how much are you willing to put up with to play the undeniably great daytime levels? Sonic Unleashed is the brainchild of Yoshihisa Hashimoto, who has worked on some of the previous hedgehog titles, but has never helmed one. He brings both a fresh perspective and new ambitions to the series, which has floundered in recent years, as far as I'm concerned. In no way could this title be described as lazy, even if you agree with me that the werehog component is completely unnecessary and unsatisfactory. The production values powering Unleashed are remarkably high, from the crisp, gorgeous cinematics, all rendered, to the epic overworld. There's also a chunky adventure to be found -- one spilling with challenges, side quests and collectibles, all of them amazing fan service for the die-hards out there.

The daytime levels are great fun, even if they do occasionally feel like they are playing themselves -- a running complaint of all Sonic games and let's face it, you either love this or you hate it. The game moves at an incredibly fast pace and most of the speed-killing obstacles present in other Sonic games, Secret Rings included, have been removed. The result are stages that feel like roller coaster rides complete with sharp turns, branching routes, and the trademark loop-de-loops and rail-slides of the series. When, on occasion, you actually do slow down, it's because you chose to do so and not because some poorly implemented barrier appeared out of nowhere, like a set of spikes you couldn't outmaneuver in time. And purists will be pleased to see that levels seamlessly change perspectives as you go so that at one moment you're blazing forward, side-stepping enemies and Z-sliding underneath walls and in the next, you've got a 2D view as the hedgehog rolls through a loop and takes a bumper straight up.

The daytime levels scream by, but Sonic Team and Dimps have devised methods to keep you coming back for more. You earn ratings and medals based on how well you play -- how many rings you collect and how much time elapses before you reach the goal -- and if you perform poorly the first time through, as you might, you can come back again and try for a better score. Meanwhile, there are secondary missions -- time challenges, and ring challenges that successfully re-use levels but add freshly enjoyable hurdles that feel well balanced and not simply tacked on to add a few extra minutes of gameplay time.

Given that the sunlit levels are so good, I had optimistically hoped that the nighttime element would be downplayed in Sonic Unleashed, but unfortunately the opposite is true. Early on, you will play roughly three times as many nighttime levels as you will daytime ones, a truth that might just convince you to put the controller down. Stick it out a while and more and more daytime areas will mercifully become unlocked -- you'll be able to travel across the world map directly to these missions. But all said and done, you will absolutely spend more time under the moon than you will the sun, and the clock count is multiplied because the daytime levels are over shortly after they begin; Sonic flies through these areas. In stark contrast, the werehog is a slow, dumb beast and thus the nighttime stages take three times as long to complete.

It's not even that the werehog missions are offensively bad -- they aren't. It's just that the werehog sucks the speed right out of the game, effectively transforming a Sonic the Hedgehog experience into something much slower and far less desirable. He's a tank. Imagine if Nintendo created a Mario platformer in which the plumber couldn't jump. In werehog form, Sonic stumbles around environments and fights enemies with simple combos. To the title's credit, it does include a detailed upgrade system that unlocks new moves as you progress through the adventure. On Wii, there's a lot of really stupidly mapped controls. For instance, you will actually have to shake the controller from side-to-side in order to gain momentum when the werehog swings off poles. Thankfully, you can opt to play the entire game with the classic or GameCube controllers, which eliminates this issue. Very quickly on, you will recognize a pattern -- a template that repeats itself over and over again. Enter area, break open some crates and barrels, come into a clearing and fight some enemies, jump across a couple of platforms and repeat. It goes on and on, the only differences the change in backgrounds; even the enemies remain mostly the same.

Presentation 8.0

Graphics 8.0

Sound 8.0

Gameplay 7.0

Lasting Appeal 7.0 Overall 7.2/10 www.ign.com®

bitter- sweet

[battylife · 7/10 · 7 April 2010]

If you've been gaming for a while, than chances are you've heard of Sonic the Hedgehog. You know, blue guy with spiky hair, runs real fast, got his start on the sega genesis. If you've been gaming recently you'll know that he hasn't been on top of the world lately."Sonic Unleashed" aims to change that.

There are three parts to Unleashed: day levels, night levels, and towns. Day levels are what you'd expect from sonic, it's fast, there's loops all over the place, but mostly it's fun. Night levels are a big change of pace, gone are the loops, bummpers, and speed. What's here is a weird mix of "Crash Bandicoot" platforming, and "God of War" combat. Sonic uses his new stretchy arms to swing on polls and beat up bad guys. It's not horrible, but once again we have something less about Sonic and more about something else. Last up are the towns, similar to what we saw in "Sonic Adventure" and Sonic 06. You wander around asking towns people questions about where to go and how to get there. Towns range from Greece to Africa and from New York to Alaska. They look nice, but are an otherwise pointless edition.

The big thing that brought this game down are the sun and moon medals. You need a set amount before you enter a level. So you'll spend half the game replaying night levels to find these stupid things. You have to do night levels too, because day one only contain a couple. There's nothing worse than having to replay a level you don't like, in order to unlock a level you don't want.

In conclusion, "Sonic Unleashed " takes two steps forward with some of the best speed levels in recent memory, and one step back with tacked on combat and item hunting. Maybe one day we'll see a Sonic game that's all about speed, but for now you'll have to sit through the bad to get to the good.

Half-Good, Half-Infuriating. All Fun, in a Way. :/

[sjarretth · 7/10 · 2 October 2018]

Sonic Unleashed is considered by some the Super Mario Galaxy of Sonic games. Is it really? It's been highly praised for it's music and Day Levels. But that can get drowned out very fast by the extremely frustrating puzzle/brawler aspect of the Night Levels. The story follows Sonic trying to literally put the world back together from an ancient monster awakened by Eggman. The gameplay at first was a blast, and Chip was a good sidekick character. But then came the Werehog levels. These were supposed to be brawler like levels. With puzzles mixed into the gameplay. Then the input of many, MANY quick time events. It was not good, and that's what put Sonic Unleashed in the "meh" category. But in a way it's still genuinely fun. It's given us some great levels that are considered the best Sonic Levels ever. The open world aspect is also a good touch. To me, this is a great comeback from Sonic '06. In conclusion; 7/10. It's music and certain levels are a blast to play, but gets drowned out easily by the more, unnecessary antics.

Sonic is back!!! blazing brightly until the sun goes down, then Beware of the Warehog!!!

[terence_303 · 28 April 2009]

Sonic Unleashed oh how I gasped with joy then held my breath and gasped with anticipation my mouth salivating at the prospect of a sonic that is truly good again, But as ever it was followed with a bitter after taste it promised so much yet delivered not so little but not enough.

Don't get me wrong the day stages are stunningly soaked with fantastic bright colors beautiful buildings and animations, visually the environments are bright and glorious the level design integrate and giving a true sense of a fresh but retro real looking familiar place echoing the flavor of its 2D counterparts, but most importantly Sonic is fast the feel of speed and acceleration is immense and tantalising and mouth watering and truly eye popping feast for the sensors, thus making me feel like I was 13 again on my Megadrive sitting down face and nose pressed against the screen as sonic span and looped-de-looped and whooshed across my television.

The sense of shock is there the sense of almost no control and skill needed to make it successfully though or just blind luck is there just like the 2D versions of sonic held beautifully, this time I feel I'm almost piloting a jet plane or a being carried with the intense speed of a runaway train, you really want to replay the levels to do it quicker and more perfect than the last to get more rings! Kill more enemies! And wave goodbye to the level in the form of a Category ten hurricane of speed, and that's what sonic was all about! Is all about! It's that simple.

The levels echo the feel of the old Sonic we all know and love CHECK! It has that sense of speed CHECK! The sense of no control and power CHECK! And of course old faces like Tails and Robotnik who had a name change for a while Eggman, OK then we have a hit on our hands folks 10/10 SEGA Congratulations and celebrations you did it guys, but wait a minute don't pop that cork yet! Because when the sun sets its party time but for sonic its time to turn into something entirely different a WAREHOG!!!

Confused? So was I expecting Sega finally to ditch all these stupid new characters and gimmicks they hoped would help reinvent the franchise Cough Shadow, and finally having sonic run free without having to halt for a little chat with friendly folks. It dose seem most of these problems have been addressed except sonic being a more social chap these days, you would think for someone who in such a rush getting to A to B that a chatting with some random folks would be out of the question? Afraid not! But this is a mere niggle compared to when the sun sets… No I said don't pop the cork yet SEGA!!!!

Yes the WareHog Bad move, if I wanted to play Sonic as a slow lumbering chap I buy him a Macdonalds everyday, slow fighting and simple thick headed game play that any simpleton could play on any third rate platformer, enemies pose no real threat and lets just say Were is the Speed? That's what Sonic is about were has he gone were! Were! He's under all that fluff screaming to get out. It's such a sad thing to see because during the day it is such a pleasure, but with this schizophrenic Jeckle and Hyde syndrome sonic is two games not one, one part a fantastic fast paced sonic romp more pleasurable than a large bowl of ice cream! the second part like your old Aunt Elger's horrible yearly Barbecue Burnt on the outside frozen on the inside. Making you feel slow and ill and clutching your stomach in agony.

SEGA hear this Please!!!

•Big Levels contrasts each Act looking more different than the previous more fantastic different and glorious.

•Wacky level names •Simple Story: Robotnik steals the Emeralds (how can that be messed up how) •Friends not to many and no look-alikes. •Fantastic soundtrack •Sense of SPEED (Unleashed performed well in this) •No RPG of any kind •A boss after every third stage •Inventive robotic opponents •Tricky yet fulfilling stages that require skill and timing. (Unleashed has elements of this)

Overall best sonic so far captures the spark from its origins and proves sonic is not dead he just awakening from a coma, the game suffers from indecision not fully understanding what it wants to be slow or fast, keep it fast simple lets have Sonic Unleashed 2 bigger and better and when the sun goes down lets keep the WAREHOG out of it thanks you.

Deserves some more credit.

[soroielijah · 6/10 · 19 November 2016]

I can't seem to find much wrong with this game personally. The beginning scene was really weird though, when they explain the Werehog form by showing how it happened. It felt pretty unexplained and confusing. Why would Dr. Eggman give Sonic an opportunity to earn more powers and a new form? Weird.

The gameplay is awesome though. The Day levels consist of your expected modern Sonic play similar to that of Sonic Colors, so it's all pretty good there. The night levels are really cool to me, because it's trying something new. It's sort of a beat 'em up with some puzzles but the animations and controls are pretty satisfying, so taking out a horde of dark creatures is pretty fun to do.

In conclusion, The story line is somewhat confusing overall but the in game activity makes it worth your time.

Has anyone here even played the game?

[jellybeanaidan · 8/10 · 20 April 2018]

This game was great! Not the best in the series but still pretty good. Provides an interesting story good graphics smooth gameplay and likable characters! We only have IGN to thank for these bad reviews. Please ignore them this game is good

A great comeback from Sonic 06 and Is an Underrated game as well

[vivifan · 7/10 · 18 October 2018]

Sonic Unleashed is a game that I feel gets way to much hate then it gets. Certain reviewers like IGN and Gamespot gave it a lower score then 06. That alone proves that Critics are people that you should never listen to. You should always judge a game or any form of media by your OWN view point. It's a far better game then 06 Since a lot of problems that were in 06 had been improved on. While the game has it's flaws I will talk about them. the first being the werehog and while I do agree it's not the best thing about the game it's not anywhere near as bad as the critics made it out to be. it's controls are fine, the platforming is decent and there are different combos/throw moves to make it more interesting then 06's combat which sucked hard. The stages tho do drag on a bit long around 15-20 minutes (Not 30 like IGN said). Second problem is the medals where you have to collect Moon and Sun ones to go to new levels which I found annoying and the last level Eggman land plus the final boss was a pain( I am reviewing the 360/PS3 version). So why is the game good? Well the graphics are wonderful, the cartoon appeal is back which is what sonic is about instead of being realistic, The game is sharp with it's character models and the humans look better then 06's. The hub worlds are much smaller and easier to get around, the music is great, sound effects are good, Voice acting that's good in Japanese and bearable in English(4kids acting is better in this game then any other sonic game with the 4kids acting) The story is good and so are the cutscene's to since it has heart with Sonic and Chips Friendship. The games framerate is good for the most part tho there are a moments you will find it to lag sometimes but it doesn't break the game as a whole. The camera is much better then 06's. The day stages are awesome fun and sonic is now fast again, the boost idea was great and it runs really well for the most part, I even bought the DLC for more day time stages all of which I had a blast with. They are also hard without being cheap plus rewarding. The games loading times are more bearable too. Boss fights are fun in both day time and night time stages imo. The ending of the game was heartfelt too. Overall this game is underrated and is good but not great. If you can deal with the werehog/ medal hunting you will find a game that is heartfelt and worth playing. A major improvement over 06 for sure...I recommend it.

Another terrible 3d Sonic

[nascentt · 2/10 · 30 December 2008]

I have been reading about Sonic Unleashed for months now, and actually had high hopes. There was a lot of information about sonic giving up on the 3d concept and instead using a 3d world but on a 2d plane, therefore becoming a more visually appealing version of the classic sonic 2d games. However this is not the case. The game is, again, 3D with a crappy combat system; there are points that the camera becomes fixed but they never seem to be completely at a 90 degree angle, thus leaving you trying to attack a fixed point at a 45 degree angle, which makes things very difficult.

Please, makers of Sonic games, do what the customers want and ditch the 3d worlds, as was advertised and make a 3d sonic but on a 2d plane as a platformer (with no homing button, nor rails, nor constant running) or just abandon 3d entirely and make a Sonic HD (based on Sonic 1, or Sonic2 with online co-op).

Sonic Unleashed a Pixar like adventure both story wise and game-play wise

[kardasniki · 9/10 · 25 August 2017]

I have known sonic the hedgehog for quite a while and with his ups and downs i thought the sonic franchise was pretty fun but then with SEGA's release of sonic unleashed (xbox 360,ps3) my whole perspective on sonic changed from that day on i was officially a sonic fan but who could blame me with such a great title surely comes some attention.

The story for this game begins in a cold open by egg-man up to no good again in space planning he's next evil plan when sonic from out of nowhere jumps in egg-man's armada of spaceships after that introduction follows a fierce battle between egg-man and sonic as sonic blasts through all of egg-man's robots until egg-man shows up in his new robot and catches sonic but little that he know that sonic had in he's possession the chaos emeralds turning him into super sonic(that hasn't happened since sonic 3 & knuckles) after that super sonic destroys egg-man's armada as egg-man tries to escape from sonic as sonic chases him from behind in the best sonic cut-scene ever created after that egg-man escapes into his final spaceship as super sonic still follows him finally he falls out of his drone and super sonic bursts through the floor egg-man surprised begs for sonic's mercy and as sonic is forgiving him egg-man traps him in a powerful electricity field sucking the emeralds out of him using the emeralds power to power a giant laser which blasts though the earth waking dark Gaia scattering the earth into pieces and turning sonic into the were-hog after that he tosses sonic out in space straight to earth as sonic is waking up while he's falling he gets surrounded by a force field stopping his momentum then the force field goes away and sonic falls in the ground and while getting up he is greeted by chip a strange looking creature which has amnesia now sonic must find a way to get the planet back together and help his new friend get his memory back.

First of all the story includes a wide variety of characters from sonic and chip to tails and Mr.pickle and sonic's character is well balanced without being to dark and heroic and neither to cocky or egocentric while being also quite sympathetic and chip is by far the best sidekick sonic ever had and this is the best of egg-man cause he was serious while keeping a cartooned look and the story is very balanced while keeping a light hearted look with some dark scenes and a powerful message about the balance of light and dark.

The presentation is fantastic and the graphics for this game are beautiful by far the best is the series the game is influenced by real life countries and their culture(like Greece,Italy,London,new York,Africa,new Philippines,china and southern countries) and they nailed it every bit of culture they totally nailed it and dark Gaia is by far the best villain in a sonic game and the hardest also and the voice-acting is the best in the series with Jason Griffin giving his best as sonic.

The game-play is the most innovative part of the game with the day stages taking the boost from the sonic rush adding it in with new moves like the side step the slide the stomp the drift and the light speed dash from the adventure series the level design is open with many pathways to take the quick time events are challenging and the environments are realistic and they are complimenting sonic's abilities and the night stages are being really fun by having aspects about games like god of war and devil may cry the were-hog has a big arsenal of moves and abilities and you'l spent most of your time fighting enemies climbing through buildings and solving puzzles the hub worlds are also well made with well made villagers and many stuff to do and the bosses are pretty fun on they own right and the air battle sequences are good.

The music is by far the best in any sonic game this is the best work that Tomoya Ohtani has ever done and certain tracks like world adventure and the opening sequence music are performed by Tokyo philharmonic orchestra which is even more awesome and the theme of the game "endless possibility" is well representative of sonic's character and motive.

In the end sonic unleashed is one of the best sonic games ever made with great story characters game-play replay ability awesome music the most of content that a modern sonic game can provide and a generally great message this is a game you should buy if you like a challenge.

Story 10/10 Presentation 8/10 Gameplay 9/10 Music 10/10 Overall 9.25/10 An awesome game sonic is not a clown

good game but very frustrating sometimes glitches

[siverns19932009 · 7/10 · 17 October 2013]

this game gets frustrating at the end when you get to the eggman stage the stage is really long and frustrating i must have died at least 100 times while playing that stage and completed it in 40 minutes on my first try and the bosses are even worse you need to do 3 sections in order to complete the game first the eggman robot then dark gaia throwing rocks at you have to get past that 3 times with frustrating sonic stages because you're against the clock then you play another section as super sonic with a frustrating cutscene at the end where you press a certain button 60 times you have to do all 3 sections without loseing all your lives if you lose all your lives you have to do all these 3 sections again and i was that fustrated i threw the controller on the floor and broke it you know whatelse is the problem it's that you have to ask the professor to unlock stages what's the point it's a waste of time and there can be sometimes glitching but the game is a lot of fun and the graphics are decent it's gets a 7/10

0/10

[scotbarnett · 1/10 · 3 September 2021]

Worst sonic game ever made 0/10 colors and generations and trs and transformed are better.

Why does everyone hate this game?

[giuseppejjibs · 10/10 · 6 January 2021]

THIS IS THE BEST SONIC GAME ESPECIALLY FOR THE 360 AND PS3, CANT SAY THE SAME FOR WII AND PS2 THOUGH, BUT STILL

Another Swing and a Miss in the Sonic franchise

[arorashadow_2003 · 4/10 · 22 October 2011]

Well Sonic is back for another round on the home console and once again only serves up another disappointment. After the terribly rushed and unfinished Sonic 2006 and the disappointing and clunky launch title "Sonic and the Secret Rings" Sonic Unleashed tries to be good but just isn't. In 2008 Sonic Team still cannot seem to grasp the idea that a Sonic Game does not need to be overly complicated or that amazingly different or progressive you just need speed a decent storyline if you so go that way and a well rounded well completed game.

"Sonic Unleashed" certainly behaves and functions a lot more effectively than "Sonic 06" and gives the player more options than "Secret Rings" but once again the game gets down to trying to be something that's not. It's almost like two different games. On the one hand you have the very enjoyable and very fun Day Time Stages that are going at mach speed with smooth and easy controls. Then you have the incredibly long incredibly tedious nighttime stages where Sonic turns into a Werewolf or in this case a Werehog. The day time stages function like classic Sonic games moving from point A to Point B with as much loot as you can carry but the Nighttime stages function like a beat-em-up hack-and-slash RPG.

Sonic Team we get you like RPGs and you have the Fantasy Star franchise to play around with RPG functions and skills. Sonic on the other hand you can't ever seem to make up your minds if you want it to be and Adventure Series or an RPG. The RPG elements included in the night stage as I said rely on a hack and slash element ripped straight out of "Kingdom Hearts", I kid you not, the only thing missing is Sonic with a Keyblade. The color pallets, the enemies and the music all try to be "Kingdom Hearts" like and fancy, zapping what little creativity this game had to start with.

This kind of half-assed attempt failed in "Sonic 06" and it fails here. The RPG Elements however are not just limited to the stages but also the continuation of Hub Worlds where you have to talk and explore and do all sorts of time consuming tasks that just aren't any fun, still it's amazing they didn't go the route of Sonic 06 and make you play pointless minigames.

Well once again the story is as dumb as ever with this cheap gimmick of Sonic being a Werewolf Hedgehog Hog and that's really all I know as I gave up playing half way because playing the slow time bulky hedgehog and beating up enemies ripped from another game got tired really fast.

"Unleashed" is another disappointing attempt by Sonic Team who can't keep to a relatively simple concept, SPEED. It's not as haphazard "Sonic 06" or as hard to work as "Secret Rings" But the game is only fun for it's Day Time Speed Action Stages which you cannot skip, it's another swing and a miss.

One of the best Nintendo Wii games I have ever played

[Catherine_Grace_Zeh · 8/10 · 24 May 2010]

SONIC UNLEASHED, in my opinion, is one of the best Nintendo Wii games I have ever played. Even though addition, even though I've never made it to the last level, I still enjoy the game. When I first started playing this game, I didn't even know how to pass the first level. Also, I must say that the graphics on this game are absolutely outstanding. Everything that happens when the moon rises in the beginning will surely make your eyes widen. Before I wrap this up, I'd like to say that the people at Nintendo know how to keep video game fanatics entertained. Now, in conclusion, if you're a video game fanatic, this is definitely one you'll want to play and own. If you're a Sonic fanatic, this one comes highly recommended from me.

Its bad

[scotbarnett · 1/10 · 3 September 2021]

Its the worst sonic game ever 0/10 sonic colors and sonic generations are better than this super bad game and its the worst game ever.

Chalk another up for another great Sonic game!

[andinsisi · 10/10 · 19 July 2021]

This game contains a mix bag of Modern Sonic gameplay and a Sonic version of devil man cry dubbed the werehog gameplay. The day stages are incredibly fun, brings you right up in terms of immersion, even more than the Adventure games standards. And the Werehog is not incredibly fun unfortunately, I think it's a ok gimmick but nothing exciting. The story between Sonic and Chip restoring the pieces of the continents with the chaos emeralds and stopping dark Gaia is very very well thought out. It's light-hearted and very charming! The story doesn't feel anywhere near as dark and is a good version of Sonic Colors' story. The daytime stages are the best boost gameplay in all of the series and the Werehog just does its job well enough. The music is fantastic as usual and the graphics from this 2008 game still rival some of the best graphics in today's standards of 2021. This is a nigh perfect game and people should look at this game free of criticisms and make up their own thoughts of the game before judging way too early. This game is great.

Eternal, everlasting, infinite shame on Sega for this absolute abortion

[CuriosityKilledShawn · 1/10 · 31 May 2013]

Let me get one thing out of the way.

THIS GAME HAS THE ABSOLUTE WORST, WORST, W-O-R-S-T CONTROLS OF ANY VIDEO GAME THAT HAS EVER EXISTED.

I realize that I am kinda late to the party, criticizing a now 5-year-old video game, but since Sonic Team's latest output with the truly awful Sonic the Hedgehog 4 was also aggravating and very poorly done I have to question what kind of work ethic is going on at Sega HQ. The programmers of this game should be blacklisted and banned from working in the industry forever. I'm not kidding. I'll get back to this after I detail the plot.

Doctor Eggman once again uses the power of the Chaos Emeralds to unleash a new nemesis in the form of Dark Gaia (nothing you haven't seen before in the previous Sonic Adventure games) which also smashes the planet apart. Instead of perishing in the vacuum of space the separate segments of the world remain intact, creating themed levels. With the Chaos Emeralds drained Sonic becomes a Werehog at night, giving the game split personality feel with one half being the high-speed 'thrills' that you 'love' and the other being a role-playing brawler. It doesn't really work so well, but I could have tolerated it if it were not for the very, very, incredibly looooong list of crippling flaws that absolutely destroy the game. I do not exaggerate folks, these are not merely superficial flaws. These are glitches that murder Sonic Unleashed right down to the marrow.

As you are probably already aware, the camera system for Sonic Adventure and Sonic Adventure 2 was epileptic and staggeringly disorientating. Compared to THIS game it might as well be the calm and measured cinematography of David Lean. The controls are a joke. Normally I'd say something along the lines of you only need luck, not skill or timing to finish some levels, but it just won't do for a game this terrible. A skinned, castrated, vivisected monkey with it's tongue nailed to the floor manipulating the controller with two forks sticking out of its eyeballs has every chance of finishing this game as you do. Make no mistake, the designers of this game better hope and pray that they never meet me, I just might be walking away from that situation in handcuffs. The level design is so poor, sadistic, badly-planned, and so utterly, utterly tedious I actually doubt that anyone at Sega played the game during the testing process.

How can a game this bad get produced and released? How? What is going on at Sega? You'd NEVER get Nintendo treating Mario this way. It truly boggles my mind that a major player in the video game industry can publish such utter garbage, and not only that, but starring their world-famous mascot too.

Do not buy this game. Do not rent or borrow this game. Do not go near it. Do not enter shops with this trash sitting on the shelves. There are not enough words in the universe to fully describe how breathtakingly awful Sonic Unleashed is. I fully intended to stick with it to finish story mode, but I can't put my sanity in that much jeopardy.

Graphics B Sound B Gameplay Z Lasting Appeal Z

I... like this game

[f-07238-09448 · 8/10 · 22 February 2021]

Sonic Unleashed is a good game. IGN must have been high when they dropped their review. I do like this game, but it has a few quirks. Firstly, I find the lack of a drop shadow on the werehog a little off putting. The homing attack is mapped to the boost. The frame rate drops are ugly. Now, with that out of the way, I can agree that this is the greatest boost game of all time, save for possibly generations. The graphics are absolutely beautiful and I hope it gets ported to modern consoles.

Underrated then overrated

[musicmanextension · 3/10 · 21 July 2023]

I don't get why people are calling this game a masterpiece after absolutely hating it. It's not good.

Sonic controls like ass, I can barely keep him on the stage on the final boss. He's slippery as hell and I got a lot of game overs thanks to that, especially on the final boss. The stomp didn't help at all with keeping me on the stage because you don't go directly down, you keep moving forward when it's supposed to stop all your momentum and send you downward. The werehog controls a little better but not by that much. The werehog would also not respond to my controller when I'd press buttons to grab ledges so that led to a lot of unfair deaths. Leveling up both of them takes forever and it isn't fun, it's just mindlessly mash buttons to defeat enemies. I didn't even know there were combos or that the X and Y button were different attacks. The game just told me that they were both "attack" and not that X is slap and Y is punch, punching does more damage and I spent so much time slapping enemies until I randomly decided to try Y after a while.

The game runs fine, there are a lot of frame drops but when it isn't, it's just fine.

Eggmanland is a crime against humanity. Sonic's controls make the stage way too hard as well as the depth perception and some quick time events. I couldn't stop Sonic from falling off a pipe in one of the werehog sections because of the control and the depth perception, I literally can't tell if he's directly above the pipe or slightly to the left of it and you don't even get full control of the camera, you can only move it left and right. The stage takes about 30 minutes to complete or even longer.

After beating Eggmanland, you get to fight the Egg Dragoon then fight Dark Gaia. Dark Gaia made me want to rip my hair out. First you start with the Gaia rock thing slowly making its way to Dark Gaia. For some reason they decided to make everything he does slow. So blocking the rocks Dark Gaia throws makes this slower because you can't move when blocking. Then they decided to give Dark Gaia a laser move that is unavoidable. I tried moving left and right without moving because you move slower when boosting but I still got hit and lost a lot of health. Then you need to do quick time events and then you get to play as Sonic. When you start to run from the Gaia rock monster thing, you have a limited amount of time to reach Dark Gaia and attack before being sent back to the first part. This is where you can barely keep Sonic on stage and it punishes you for taking too long, going slow is the only way you can actually stay on but even then there are obstacles that are almost impossible to dodge unless you know where they are. Then after being that you repeat this twice I think and then you get to the Super Sonic fight. I actually never made it to that and I don't plan on doing so any time soon, there are better games out there that are worth more than this.

Save yourself from this brain damage.

A beautiful entry to the Sonic series.

[fountasalexander · 10/10 · 10 January 2023]

Sonic Unleashed is an underrated masterpiece that is often controversial. The werehog controls is what mostly people nitpick about, however this game deserves much higher than 6.4

What makes up for the werehog controls however is the brilliant story, a Sonic game is always great at making you feel for the characters, but this game exceeded.

To me Sonic Unleashed is about a beautiful friendship fighting back the evil within. The day stages are so vibrant, the night stages are controversial, but the story really makes up for it.

This is if not my favourite Sonic game, possibly surpassing my favourite Sonic game, Sonic Adventure.

Frontiers was a great resurrect of the Sonic Franchise.

However, Sonic Unleashed, despite being released 2 years after the awful and broken Sonic 06, managed to become a brilliant game with meaningful lessons, and one of the best stories to ever peak in Sonic.

With an OST so heart touching, breathtaking cutscenes, Sonic Unleashed would've brought hope to Sonic Fans back in 08 without a doubt.

I would've been so happy playing this game back in 08, as happy as I was playing it right now in 2023.

Sega really outdid themselves with this one, and I'm shocked it took me so long to finally walk this beautiful journey.

Best Sonic Game along with Sonic '06

[LucaElliot123 · 10/10 · 1 August 2014]

For the record, Sonic Unleashed is a very awesome and fun game with good controls, awesome graphics, beautiful music and cool gameplay, the game starts off with Eggman trying the make the world shattered into pieces by help of a monstrous Dark Gaia, then Sonic comes and gets turned into a werehog.

This game is awesome, original and clearly the best sonic game in my top 5 list, the game's bosses are cool, gameplay awesome and controls no doubt, it's the best. No glitches, no problems and no harder levels except for the final boss where you need to click 50 times on the square or x button, wii version better

10/10

Literally rivals Generations.

[ajmarshall-62658 · 9/10 · 23 February 2023]

This game had the best sonic engine ever made which is better than Frontiers & Forces in my personal opinion. The speeding thrills in the daytime stages makes it top off most sonic games that Sega has ever made. The werehog stages honestly threw everyone off which I understand, but it has an cool upgrade system, fun beat-em up sections, platforming, & npc missions. If you're struggling with the werehog sections, I advise you to check your upgrades & find any weak points of your werehog, you can gain exp from eating or doing the missions at the hot dog stand. Lastly, the soundtrack of the game is amazing, & the surprising thing is Crush 40 didn't do any of the music for Sonic Unleashed.

Sonic

[saloniko · 10/10 · 2 August 2021]

This is so cool sonic game ever. They created a very good graphic game.

This is IT.

[captainsoldiaaa · 9/10 · 17 April 2022]

Sonic Unleashed is no. 2 on my favorite games after Grand Theft Auto. It's an overhated game, it does not deserve all this bad criticism because it is the best Sonic game, it is nostalgic. I grew up with it and I love it, the soundtrack, the locations. I love it all, it's my childhood and so is GTA V, if you hate it, you hate it that's your opinion but it's a masterpiece, for me at least. The night levels can be pretty difficult and challenging but the more you play them the better you become. I am trying to finish Eggman Land, one of the longest and hardest stages in Sonic Unleashed, and after that I think the game is over, I have to find the temple and put the shattered pieces back together and I might play the game again this summer. It's really fun.

The best like Sonic 06 until the ghost clip in the end...

[Irishchatter · 9/10 · 4 May 2015]

Seeing Sonic as a werehog was just amazing! His features between his normal form as a hedgehog and into a brilliant werewolf form was a good idea, he honestly didn't need to be known as a Halloween figure ! You would just really want to give him cuddle because he is just so fluffy! Of course my fangirling is showing so watch it now haha!

I thought Chip was hilarious and supportive of getting Sonics help in order to get his memory back. I say he would be good sidekick to go along with. I was so sad he had to leave Sonic, he was awesome! At least the world was saved all thanks to himself and Sonic!

Then after the credits, we then only see Chip and Sonic in his werewolf form fighting ghosts who look like they were from the 'Casper the friendly ghost' series. Very bad idea for a SEGA series! They should've at least gave each actor their say but didn't! It made me seriously disappointed that it should've left it at the credits, nothing else to ruin the game!