Reviews from

in the past


Sonic Unleashed is definitely one of the more polarizing entries in the series, and it's easy to see why. The 2 gameplay styles clash so hard to the point that you're playing 2 games in 1, so it's easy to heavily prefer one style. But the despite that, I still really enjoyed this game for what it is, so here's why, with positive and negatives. Let's start of with the presentation. The presentation of this game is phenomenal, and it still holds up to this day for a game made in 2008. The Pixar-like art direction and the awesome global illumination effects does a great job at making the world feel alive and fits really well with the world adventure theme of this game. Same thing goes for the soundtrack, which is easily one of the best in the series due to how much variety there is and just how darn catchy and fitting it is. The story is also more on the lighthearted side, which is pretty fitting for the world adventure theme of this game. The opening CGI cutscene does an awesome job at setting up the story, and I think the theme of light vs. dark is a pretty neat idea. My main criticism with the story is that I kinda wished there was more that happened between the beginning and the end. At least it somewhat makes up for it with really good character writing, and the voice acting, primarily with Sonic as Jason started to get much better with his performance as the character. Now onto the gameplay! The daytime stages just might be some of the best 3D Sonic gameplay in the series. The sense of speed you have is exhilarating, and the levels are a blast to run through, with some solid enough platforming, and obstacles you have to quickly react to in order to stay alive. As a result these levels can feel incredibly rewarding to master, but they can also be kinda frustrating if you're playing these on your first time, cause some of the later levels can feel a bit trial-and-errorish. It's like the desginers were aware of this, since the levels hand out lives like candy just in case. The controls can also feel slippery but nothing you can't get used to after some time. Now onto the night gameplay! Yes, it is indeed strayed far away from what you'd expect from a Sonic game, but what's here is fairly competent. really enjoy the platforming sequences from swinging on poles to grabbing onto ledges, and it can feel good once you start to get a good flow. The combat is solid enough, though you'll need to level it up quite a bit to get a bigger moveset and power. The puzzles are pretty basic and not anything special, but they aren't offensive either. As a result, my favorite night stages are ones such as Cool Edge and Skyscraper Scamper Act 1, while my least favorites are Dragon Road and Arid Sands Act 1 due to how repetitive those stages are with combat. Some other criticisms I have are that the controls of the Werehog could be a bit tighter, and the lack of a proper drop shadow can make certain sections such as beam balancing ones much harder than they need to be. Overall, I think the Werehog is pretty solid for what it is, but I can't blame others for being fully against the idea. This was clearly something added for padding, as Sonic Team knew that game with just day stages would be extremly short otherwise. As for the boss fights, I think the day ones are pretty good with how you have to boost into the bosses in order to knock them over while dodging their attacks, though they can feel kinda samey. I'll have to give a slight edge to the night bosses, as they all have something to set them apart with how you have to expose their weak point, then attack. Last aspects I'll touch upon for now are the hub worlds and pacing. I think the hub worlds are pretty good and they do a solid job at adding worldbuilding, and it's not too hard to figure out where you have to go. The pacing on the other hand is a pretty major issue, primarily because of the forced medal collecting you have to do in order to finish the game. The medals aren't too much of a problem in the night stages as you're meant to take things slower, they're an issues in the day stages, because you are running by so fast that it is very easy to miss medals. Doesn't help the fact that some of these medals are hidden in REALLY obscure places. While it is something that does become less of a problem on repeat playthroughs, it can be pretty demoralizing to encounter the first time and can absolutely drive away new players from the game. Despite the major flaws, this just might be one of my favorite Sonic games. As for recommending this one, I would NOT recommend this game to anyone trying to get into 3D Sonic. I'd suggest playing Colors and Generations first to get used to the Boost formula, and then ask yourself how much can you tolerate alternate gameplay styles in Sonic. If you have a high tolerance for them, I'd say give this game a shot if you don't mind having to deal with medals. If you don't meet these recommendations, perhaps this isn't the game for you.

No esta la version de Play 2 y Wii pero a pesar de ser algo inferior esas versiones es un buen juego, pasable y disfruton

on ps3 this game is so laggy it’s not enjoyable to play at times, but literally on any other platform, it is a top 3 sonic game i’ve ever played

Mi amor por los hombres lobo casi hace que termine siendo fan de Sonic, CASI


The only thing i remember about this game is getting stuck on a level and never been able to finish it

GUYS I DID IT! I FINALLY FINISHED A 3D SONIC GAME! :D

It was alright

I just couldn't, too much 360 jank constantly trying to wrestle with the camera and when it made me backtrack to previous stages that was enough for me.

Upon replaying this game I realised I feel so SO damn divisive towards it.
I love most of the stages, day AND night, I love the ost, adventure fields, voice acting, boss fights (except the final one) etc etc. The ending as well is AMAZING.

But then there's just so much annoying stuff that prevents me from rating this game higher. Precision platforming in both day and night feels ass even with the Werehog's double jump. The quicktime events being random for regular enemies is annoying because it means EVERY time I fight and enemy its a maximum 1/4 chance I get the right QTE and since the speed is so fast unless you deplete their health enough I basically am doing guesswork. Sun and Moon level grinding feels like a slog in the day levels because I'm basically stopping and starting alot of the time just to do a quick comb over among many things.

I love this game a ton but MAN do I also hate it too.

I think it's telling that I didn't finish this game when I was a 12-year-old. I had a lot more patience for sloppy mechanics and tedious-level design. I think I liked Secret Rings and Black Knight better, and those weren't good games either

I wanna give the werehog a hug :)

Wasn't that good though, dragged tons, but there was fun to be had

Turns out all you need to do is add hack n slash combat that's really fun and I'm sold.
Also how the fuck did they even make this game able to run even a small bit on a goddamn PS3 and 360, this game looks straight out of the fuckass PS5 and Series X.

honestly one of the better sonic stories out there and the opening cinematic for this game is a technological marvel of it's time that should be studied. The Were-Hog aspects of the game though hated, I find to be a nice break from the 3D Sonic levels and were short enough to not feel repetitive. The challenge modes for this game though are fucking insane and I give fair warning to any 100%er's

Paved the way… for FURRIES!

el ultimo juego de sonic que jugué (no cuenta frontiers) antes de pensar como fracasado sabiendo que todos los juegos de sonic son mid

play this game on the xbox series S/X and you will realize just how fucking good it is. WHERE IS THE PORT?!?!@?!?$>@$@

Es el mejor juego de Sonic, me la pela

This is the first time I've played this game in almost 15 years.

I loved this game as a kid, it was one of my favorite Sonic titles, right alongside the Adventure games. Sadly over the years, I've seen more and more people say this game isn't great. Constant video essays, twitter debates, and discussions about this being yet another mediocre entry to the series, with confusing ideas and bad execution. I was worried that upon returning to it, my opinion would shift, that the passage of time would have caused me to view this game as lesser.

I was wrong. Sonic Unleashed is not only underrated, I believe it to be one of the best games in the series. I think everything this game does is great.

The daytime levels are a blast of pure dopamine and speed. They are methodically designed and challenging, highly replayable and memorable, and despite being the first instance of the Boost format of 3D Sonic, it EASILY does it the best.

The nighttime levels are constantly called the worst part of the game, labeled as dull and boring, and I couldn't disagree more. Its an excellent change of pace. The combat is extremely simple, but fun and flashy. The slower more precise platforming is a great refresher after the blinding speed of the day stages. The boss fights are all fun too, minus maybe one or two.

The story is also heartwarming and easily enjoyed. The characters are charming and its a wonderful globe trotting adventure with Sonic and newcomer Chip, the latter garnering way more hatred than he ever deserved. It all leads to a bombastic final level and ending, extremely challenging, fun, and exciting.

I will never ever understand the hate this game receives. Does it have it's issues? Of course it does, the boost and homing attack both being the same button sucks, some of the bosses are a little boring, the framerate chugs in many levels, the camera is wonky, but I don't think ANY of that negates what is otherwise a truly special experience.

Sonic Unleashed deserves to be played, it deserves to be remembered, and it deserves far more than what people have given it since it's release.

The game is very good! The music is incredible, the characters are very charismatic, the gameplay is good and it has great graphics. The bad thing about this game is that it ends :(

why does this game look so damn GOOD.
It's art direction and level design is unrivaled even by today's standards. THIS is the best boost game. ironically enough it’s the first, so you’d THINK it’s children would perfect the gameplay style. if it weren’t for the god awful stupid fucking werehog stages it would be fantastic. seems to be a running theme with the boost titles. terrible gimmicks that are halfway thought through that no one likes, and the game would’ve been better without.

As the game to follow the worse of the series, this doesn't do the worst job. The best modern sonic gameplay in the series with the day time levels and some enjoyable night levels. A pratty cool story, an upgrade system and the best graphics in the series, it all makes this a solid title.


Best Sonic gameplay, story and aesthetic. Glad I decided to go back and play it, they haven't peaked like this since.

Note: To make my replay of this game more comfortable, I decided to install 2 major mods for the game that will help improve my experience of the game overall.

No Medal Requirements - Basically removes any need to collect any medals to unlock any stages and progress the game, cutting any unnecessary backtracking the game had to nothing.

Battle Music Fix - Removes the trigger for the Werehog battle music to play whenever enemies are fought, purely there to make sure I don't crazy listening to the song again and again and can enjoy the actual stage music.

With that out of the way, I was pleasantly surprised about how much I enjoyed this way more compared to my previous playthrough back in 2020, with things feeling a lot more consistent than I remembered and overall having a better time with the game, though it is still not perfect.

Day Time Stages:
- While I still felt the control and gameplay for the 3D Boost gameplay felt more refined in Colors and especially Generations, I still had a pretty good time with them.
- I didn't have issues with many of the daytime stages, and what issues I had mainly came down to either very minor difficulty spikes or platforming that didn't work due to the game's slippery controls when trying slowly platform in the daytime stages (Though it was only bad in Chun-Nan and Adabat where they were the most prevalent)
- Finally, I felt that the upgrades for Day Sonic, while a bit noticeable especially in the Ring meter upgrades, didn't feel quite as drastic as the Werehog upgrades, which I'll get into shortly.

Night Time Stages:
- This was the part of the game I was most curious about when replaying it, mainly since I've played so many proper action games when I last played Unleashed (Devil May Cry series, Bayonetta 1, Metal Gear Rising, Transformers Devastations) that I wondered if the Werehog sections still hold up or aged poorly.
- First of all, I'm happy to report that I still got plenty of enjoyment from the level design, with its varied locations, puzzles, and the game rewarding you for exploring around, I especially like it more now since I didn't feel like the game didn't throw as many cheap tricks as I remembered before (Though Chun-nan and Holoska were minor exceptions to this).
- More importantly, though, I ended up enjoying the Werehog gameplay just as much if not slightly more than the Day Time gameplay. While the Werehog does start a bit unimpressive with having a very limited movelist, if you take the time to upgrade his moveset (And by that, I mean taking advantage of an exploit with the Wandering Salesman that allows you to gain infinite money and buy a shit ton of exp food which I did) then the Werehog ends up becoming way more fun to use. There are so many cool moves and combinations to use on the character that it made me wish there was an entire game dedicated to this playstyle (Which will probably never happen but that's beside the point).

Overall, while I still don't think it deserves the hidden masterpiece status that so many Sonic fans have claimed it to be, I still think it's a pretty great game on its own. I'm still able to enjoy the simple yet great story, its incredible worldbuilding, great-looking graphics, and amazing music along with being much more appreciative of both of its gameplay styles, even if the game needed some refining on its level design and progression with the sun and moon medals.

Also, Eggmanland isn't that hard, you all just need to get good.

eu gostava muito do jogo mas quando criança nao sabia o que era r3 l3 e acabei dropando o jogo

I liked this as a kid. Thought I was emo.