Metascore

Mixed or average reviews - based on 24 Critics What's this?

User Score

Generally favorable reviews- based on 58 Ratings

  • Summary: Having been broken apart by the evil Dr. Eggman, it's up to Sonic to put the pieces of the world back together again by retrieving the power of the chaos emeralds! In doing so, Sonic finds himself in a race against time and faced with an unusual situation that challenge hims in ways never before seen. Both day and night play different, yet important, roles in Sonic's newest quest... as the sun sets, a new adventure awakens. By completing a wide variety of action-packed stages, spanning the seven broken continents of the world, gamers unleash Sonic’s amazing abilities to save the world, and himself! In addition to running at high speeds, which is highlighted in four new speed mechanics, combat fighting now becomes possible. New combat, movement, functional abilities and platforming are introduced to offer increased depth and variety. Sonic Unleashed offers a re-defined experience for fans and newcomers of the franchise alike by combing picturesque & detailed scenery, an expansive world with multiple paths to choose from and dynamic viewpoints for an immersive and renewed gaming atmosphere. Along with seamless 3D to classic 2D camera transitions, the game is built on a powerful, new proprietary "Hedgehog Engine," which introduces impressive lighting abilities and new technology tailor made for Sonic’s new speed capabilities. [Sega] Expand
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 24
  2. Negative: 8 out of 24
  1. To be quite frank, Sonic Unleashed is half great game, and half unnecessarily unleashed. The Sonic levels are extremely fun and bring back the memories of yesteryear, and the night-time levels will leave players wondering why Sonic Team continues to torture their fans by continuing to add pointless things to prolong good gameplay.
  2. As a reviewer, I pray for the day where I can test out a perfect sonic game. Until then though, Unleashed is a decent effort worth the attention of the Hedgehog’s fans.
  3. Despite the game’s clumsy story progression and repetitive werehog combat, it manages to be the best Sonic game released in recent memory. This is thanks mostly to the excellent hedgehog levels that evoke memories of classic Sonic titles while still managing to feel fresh and new.
  4. 48
    This is far from the return to form many have expected, and we now see why Sega was so keen to keep its new take on Sonic’s character a secret. Despite some promising moments, Sonic Unleashed collapses under the weight of its flaws.

See all 24 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 15 out of 23
  2. Negative: 2 out of 23
  1. This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I'm a long time Sonic fan, since Genesis, and I absolutely LOVE this game. It's alarming to see so many giving it so little credit, and highlighting their woes about certain aspects. Personally I had a fun time playing as Sonic the Werehog, but more than that, the speed levels are utterly incredible. Spectacularly crafted, graphically too. Couldn't be more pleased with the outcome![2] 10 for that one Expand
  2. I was really excited to play this game and it was pretty good. The day missions can be frustrating at times, but running on water was really fun. The Werehog missions were time consuming in my opinion, but it was fun to fight 20 monsters with the Werehog's strength. You can explore any continent in the world, interact with people and complete side missions. If you're a fan of Sonic the Hedgehog, you should definitely play this game. Expand
  3. When I first saw gameplay footage for this game (aka. the daytime stages), I rushed to get an HD console.

    The daytime stages, although plat
    forming-devoid and linear, are so thrilling and fun, complete with gorgeous environments, ear-climaxing music, and a ton of cinematic camera angles, switching from the 3D to 2.5D perspectives. It's everything that made Sonic Adventure famous back then, except on complete overdrive. Although the controls were a bit unresponsive, it was a thrilling part of the game that impressed nearly every person I showed.

    Then, *sigh*, we get to the Werehog stages. Why is there a Werehog? Don't Know. However, while it's not as bad as people made it out to be, it certainly is a below-average combat experience. Think God of War, except a hell of a lot easier with an annoying combat music (that comes on EVERY TIME you encounter an enemy). It tries to be cool by being completely different from the daytime stages, but it just comes off as completely flow-breaking and unneccessary.

    Nevertheless, I enjoyed the game despite that. The hub worlds feel like they have been done right, and they're a hell of a lot better than the ones in Sonic 06 and Sonic Adventure. While people have been annoyed with the mandatory medal collecting, it honestly never bothered me until I got to the Adabat daytime stage, and even then, I only had to play a few of the optional stages to easily collect the medals I need (the majority of them being in the Werehog Stages).

    There are a few other setbacks like the frame rate (although I heard that the Xbox 360 version had less framerate problems), but other than that, this is generally a good game. Not great, but simply good. My suggestion is to download the demo and try out the first daytime stage to get a good glimpse at the gold mine of speed and excitement, then look at the Werehog Stages. If you're still cautious, then I suggest renting it.
    Overall Rating: 7.5/10
    Expand
  4. This game is EXTREMELY overrated. The daytime stages are linear, claustrophobic, and overall boring. The game just holds your hand and just has you keep going, and going, and going, and then occasionally quickstep, drift, and jump to prevent getting hit. This game has you do SO little. In the daytime stages, that is. In the nighttime stages, while they ARE too slow, they actually have you DO something, and their is ACTUAL platforming. But despite these nighttime stages being the best part of this game, they just DON'T belong in a Sonic game. These nighttime stages have you constantly fighting hoards of enemies like a Kratos from God of War. So with the boring, linear, and overall uninspired level design that just holds your hand the whole way through, and the slow, out of place brawling sections, this game is officially my LEAST FAVORITE SONIC GAME. I know Sonic 06 sucked, but at least you DID something in that game, and it was designed LIKE a platformer, (Although they failed) Now that the gameplay is out of the way, let's move on with the story. Sonic crashes Eggman's party once again, and chases the big bad Doctor to his interplanetary space ship. After transforming into Super Sonic with the mystical gems known as the "Chaos Emeralds" and destroying Dr. Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik's robots, Eggman begs for forgiveness, leading Sonic into a trap. Eggman drains the power of the Chaos Emeralds, reverting Sonic back into his normal blue self. Eggman uses the Emeralds power for his laser which he uses to crack the world into seven sections. The Earth's core is exposed, and an ancient creature who was trapped in the Earth escapes. This creature is known as "Dark Gaia". Eggman's plan is to harness this creature's power, (Considering how WELL that plan worked before) and rule the world in order to build his Evil utopia, "Eggman land". (Creative name, I know) However, Sonic absorbs Gaia's energy and transforms into a werehog. Yes, a WEREHOG. As in, whenever he sees the moon, he turns into this strong, furry, huge beast with stretchy arms. After falling to the Earth and surviving, he finds out that a little flying fairy dog, thing, has been knocked out. Sonic wonders if he has knocked out this tiny creature, and proceeds to try to wake him up. Startled by Sonic's strange appearance, the strange creature runs away. Sonic tells the creature that there's nothing to worry about, and this creature decides to trust him. Soon, the Sun rises, and Sonic is reverted back to the blue form that we're all familiar with. Sonic says that he will help this creature, and after walking around town for anyone who might know him, Sonic decides to name this tiny thing "Chip". After exploring the town and it's incredibly linear and confined areas, Sonic and Chip find out that in order to restore the continents, they must place the Chaos Emeralds in shrines all around the world. After realizing this, the two find Tails the Fox, Sonic's long time best friend, who tags along for the ride, and travel all around the world searching for these shrines to stop Dr. Eggman's plot, defeat Dark Gaia, and restore the world to it's original state. I can see a LOT of effort and thought put into this story. Although I prefer Sonic storylines to be a bit more simple, a bit of seriousness can never hurt, and there are a few Comedy scenes that balance out the seriousness. Finally, the graphics and visuals. The visuals in this game are STUNNING. The humans aren't realistic, and don't TRY to be realistic, so they feel a bit less out of place with the Giant mutant animals. The stages are beautiful to look at, and the character models are very polished, and this game looks beautiful in HD. But despite the stunning visuals and amazing storyline, the gameplay is just too shallow and too out of place to make this game any fun. Sonic's levels shouldn't be confined, they should be open and free. You should be able to fully EXPLORE the world around you, and not be trapped on ONE path which will occasionally branch out into two or three pathways. The funny thing is, that the HUB WORLDS in this game allow more exploration then the actual levels themselves. In conclusion, this game, while the story had a lot of effort put into it, and the visuals are very pretty to look at, the gameplay, and the level design is just shallow and boring in the daytime stages, and out of place during the Nighttime stages. This is, in my opinion, the WORST Sonic game in terms of level design and gameplay. While the story is a grand step up from games like Sonic 2006, and Shadow The Hedgehog, this game just offers you nothing to do half the time, and the brawling sections in the Nighttime stages can get very repetitive after a while. This is the most overrated, over-hyped, and overly loved game in Sonic history. If you're looking for a Sonic game with some thought put into it, DON'T get Sonic Unleashed. I'd suggest getting Sonic Generations or Colors. I give this game a 2 out of 10. Expand

See all 23 User Reviews

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