
But it doesn’t stop there, the game has you spend roughly half the game as werehog Sonic where you must fumble around poorly designed platforming stages along with simple combat where you fight mundane enemies. Unfortunately, Sonic Unleashed continues this pattern. You either are in the flow that the world has set up for you, or you’re stuck on the side trying to gain speed, only to be hit by one of the several chaotic obstacles that you often can’t see coming due to the camera pointing elsewhere. The Werehog gameplay features were poorly designed, too, and for most they just feel like a weirdly tackled on story addition that lacks any kind of meaningful punch.Īrguably every 3D Sonic game has had an issue with its camera controls and overall gameplay. The day and night stages are interesting and diverse, but the night stages are not very fun. The main thing to note about Sonic Unleashed is that it at least tries to be outside of the box in its thinking. An interesting concept not handled well (6/10) If you are looking for a highly polished Sonic experience, though, you will not find that here. Really, one of the only endearing parts of the title was the daytime stages – other than that, there is precious little to love about this edition of the Sonic series.įor those who played it in adolescence, though, Sonic Unleashed might offer a nostalgia trip in the same way that other Sonic spin-off titles have offered. Many found the game’s Werehog mechanic to be annoying and insignificant, and many of the gameplay concepts were panned. The game was well-received at the time for its visuals and its audio, but the actual gameplay left a lot to be desired. It is hard to find a direct comparison to Sonic Unleashed, as it plays so differently to anything that came before or after it. This was supposed to be a long-awaited sequel to Sonic Adventure 2, but it plays nothing like the game in many ways. Given the combination of 2D and 3D movement felt a bit weird, it is fair to say that Sonic Unleashed managed to put a lot of people off the series.

Given the game is the best part of 15 years old, though, how well does it hang up if you were to play this PS2 and Xbox era title today? A unique take on the Sonic series

It was not well very received by critics, though some did enjoy the daylight stages and the pace of play. The 2008 release of Sonic Unleashed was one that was supposed to help add something new and fresh to the series a platformer that combined 2D platforming with behind-the-back platforming.įor many, the development of this title was one that did not really pay off.


Out of all of the flagship video game series that really kicked off the medium in the 1980s and 90s, few have been challenged quite like Sonic the Hedgehog.
