TL;DR: Play the Unleashed Project.

This review hurts.

Because, I really want to love this game-- but really, I love only 1/4th of it. The day stages, the love they put into the map by researching every country-- the soundtrack. It's an absolutely gorgeous game graphically wise and gameplay wise. This is exactly what a modern Sonic game should be. You can see that someone actually tried, and that someone actually loved Sonic.

And then, terrible design choices happened.

The medal collection. The long and repetitve Werehog stages. The awful boss fights (excluding Dark Gaia. Somehow the Werehog boss fights were better boss fights then the Hedgehog fights).

I've never seen a game constantly shoot itself in the foot. It's one of the better modern Sonic games, for sure-- but a mid game overall.

PLEASE port this to PC already, SEGA, I'm begging you here. Playing this through an emulator was not ideal.

That said... HD Unleashed stands as the best looking Sonic game to this day. A combination of VERY strong art direction and a setup that allows for a world that perfectly fits Sonic, this is easily my favorite setting in the series.

I won't go over the game itself all too much since I talked about it a lot on my review of the Wii version. This one's just as good, but it has some snags. Medal collecting is a big pace breaker for the daytime stages, they should've reserved them for hub worlds and Werehog stages only. S Ranking stages can be a bit of a pain sometimes considering that dying completely zeroes your score, and Dark Gaia's first phase is not nearly as good as Sonic Punch-Out.

Daytime stages, Nighttime stages and the hub worlds were all vastly improved. You can actually walk around the continents you visit now! As someone who grew up with the SD version, this was so cool to see. I really wanted to go for 100% , but playing it through Xenia is still not as good as it could be. Missing models for collectibles, random crashing, and not playable at resolutions beyond 720p.(I mean, you can bump it up to 2k/4k, but you're just asking to crash every two steps that way)

Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease, SEGA. I know that the mid to late 00s was a very traumatizing period for you, but this game is the ONE home run you hit around that time. It deserves a modern port.

Sonic stages 👍👍👍

Werehog stages 👎👎👎

(Also has the best soundtrack in the series)

A genuine standout in a series of dubious quality. From the start of the game until its' end, it knows exactly what it wants to be. It wants to really show you what Sonic's capable of as a franchise and even a work of art, and mostly delivers with 100% sincerity. The game heavily encourages replayability almost to a fault, as beginners will most certainly have a difficult time with it and may feel like dropping it.

Despite all of that, though, this game is something you want to really feel out rather than jog through in a day like any other Sonic game. The gameplay is like a craft to master, and even gameplay clips can make it extremely clear who cares about the game and who doesn't.

The daytime stages, still have yet to be outdone in my eyes, even with Sonic Generations attempting to take them to a new level. Every setpiece, every loop, every strand of grass feels like it belongs there, like you're really traversing through the world of Sonic, and that you're using the environment as your obstacle course. The momentary glimpses of beauty you get really show what the PS3/XBOX 360 are made of, like the swirling grind rail of Apotos' sea, the climbing up and down of the clock tower of Spagonia's captiol, the great walls and dragon statues of Chun-nan, it's all meticulously thought out better than any Sonic game that has come out after, even Mania, as bold as that seems.

The Werehog's gameplay is also something that is very misunderstood. I wish the game had encouraged more diversity within the combat, because there is A LOT you can do with what's given to you as you level your stats up. A fully leveled Werehog is one of the most fun gameplay styles Sonic Team has ever created and it's a fucking shame it was never expanded upon due to the backlash it received at the time. The level design is very much an obstacle course, but rather than traversing thousands of miles in seconds, it's more about climbing the rooftops and slashing your way through. A vast amount of the slower parts always have a faster workaround, albeit with less of a reward, given the somewhat strict ranking system for level completion. I would love to see a remaster that gives a 30% speed boost to the Werehog, at the very least.

The hub worlds are also extremely easy to navigate and can really add to the feel of the world you're saving. The medal collecting is bullshit and locks the pre-final stage behind a HUGE wall with a number on it.

Overall, this is what I would absolutely call the best 3D Sonic game. It's got the most polish, the most heart, and the highest stakes. Would recommend to anyone who'd be up for a good platformer.

I just replayed this recently about a year ago on PS3 as I grew up with the Wii version and can I say that this game still holds up visually so well! Granted, it suffers from frame rate issues, but its art direction is so damn good that it looks gorgeous, even at high speeds. Which by the way, this game nailed the speed and its visuals as you run. You feel FAST which is a criticism that many Sonic games can be held accountable for. The CGI cutscene in the beginning is just a Sonic Fandom's dream. It is honestly held back by its were hog stages, which were cute at first but become insufferably unbalanced and slow which hurt the games pacing a lot. I love this title and Gaia is a great final boss with an outstanding soundtrack.

I hated on this game for years, calling it the most overrated Sonic game and saying people just liked it because of a few brief levels. The barrier to entry the Werehog and medal collection put up was just too much for me as a kid. But now, revisting it all these years later, I'm blown away by just how good this game is. The daytime levels remain the best "boost-style" levels the series has seen, the nightime levels are surprisingly not that bad (getting into action games helped me learn to like them, I guess), and the hub worlds and story tie it up in a nice package. This is really the last time that it felt like Sonic Team were trying something truly ambitious, and they managed to deliver on it.

Dia e noite, amor e ódio. Apesar de todos os problemas que eu tenho, Sonic Unleashed é BOM. Ele é apaixonante e seu carisma é inegável: toda a sensação de viagem ao redor do mundo, a variedade musical representando cada um dos países, os visuais lindos (muito carregados pela iluminação e direção de arte, claro), os carismáticos hub worlds com os NPCs e até mesmo o Werehog tem um certo charme que só os anos 2000 nos proporciona. As fases diurnas são incríveis, inegavelmente o destaque do jogo, com as correções que o Generations fez (como melhorar o drift e mapear o homing attack num botão diferente do air boost) se tornou um dos melhores estilos de gameplay da série. A exploração das fases do Werehog é interessante e o plataforming bem competente quando você tá esticando os braços da monstruosidade pra agarrar em postes, nas beiradas de plataformas e etc.

Simultaneamente, eu gostaria que ele fosse melhor. O combate do Werehog é desinteressante e repetitivo: os inimigos não reagem aos seus ataques, não tentam quebrar seus combos e só tomam porrada. Fazer os combos por si só não é recompensado pelo jogo, pois a forma mais garantida de conseguir um ranque S nesses níveis é finalizando os inimigos com Quick Time Events, e para isso você quer evitar usar e combinar combos o máximo possível. O próprio Sonic (Diurno) tem seus problemas, como o mapeamento escroto do Homing Attack, que por algum motivo é no mesmo botão do Air Boost.
Isso sem contar no sistema de progressão de medalhas, que de um país para o outro (Abadat Day) dá um salto GIGANTESCO no requerimento, indo de 80 pra 120 (!). Ah, claro, o frame rate é RIDÍCULO e cai constantemente no Xbox 360... mas felizmente o jogo está disponível para retrocompatibilidade no Series X, o que resolve esse problema.

Ainda assim, considero Sonic Unleashed um bom jogo. Seus altos costumam superar seus baixos, ele é apenas bem inconsistente.

Eu amo Sonic Unleashed, eu odeio Sonic Unleashed, mas antes de tudo, eu o respeito.

Surprisingly competent throughout, daytime levels are a masterclass of 3d sonic. The werehog levels, while a bit half baked were still surprisingly fun. I did not care for the seemingly endless waves of enemies disguised as level design though. The concept of combining night and day mechanics into one level is super interesting in concept, however, eggmanland ends up a bloated trudge through the worst mechanics from each gameplay type. The boring 2d sections and quick time events for the daytime segments, and the onslaught of enemies and janky camera of the werehog segment. The medallion system is such a cheap gimmick for forced replayability. There is no reason I should have to walk slowly through a daytime stage just to look for medallions. Also good lord this game needs a remaster, the daytime levels can be borderline unplayable when the frames drop.
All in all a fun game and perhaps spoken of too harshly, having said that I cannot imagine myself replaying the werehog levels any time soon.