Sonic Unleashed Video Game Review

To put it rather bluntly, Sonic Unleashed comes in as one of the most uninteresting and chaotic games in the series so far, and that says a lot for a title that has released less than stellar games like Sonic 3D and Sonic Labyrinth.

Released in 2008, Sonic Unleashed attempts to create a world similar to the classic Sonic games of our past, while adding new traits that are supposed to make the game more interesting.

Read on as we explain why the game fails to achieve either one of those goals.

What the heck is a werehog anyway?

The premise of the game is that a curse by Doctor Eggman has changed Sonic into a werehog (werewolf-hedgehog) after Sonic laid siege to his evil space-station.

To start with, werehog Sonic really isn't even that scary, and nor does he get any additional traits that usually come with a werewolf curse. He's actually slower as a werehog, which is counter-intuitive to anyone who knows anything about werewolves from folklore and legend.

Secondly, the time frame that Sonic becomes a werehog is highly scripted, not allowing you to pass time naturally in the game and requiring you to complete the level as the game wants you to, not how you want to.

Lastly, who even thought of a werehog? Sounds like something a 4-year-old would make up and invite to tea on a boring rainy day.

Sonic Unleashed makes use of two different kinds of gameplay: a straightforward, chaotic platformer and an open-world 3D atmosphere similar to Zelda: Ocarina of Time or Super Mario 64.

In between the crazed gameplay is a storyline that is often boring and tends to be somewhat overdone. The entire look of the game can also be very different depending on what you are doing in the game at any particular time.

Much of the controllable gameplay is segmented into somewhat badly designed levels and mediocre graphics; on the other hand, the story cinematics are defined by exceptional scenes that some say rival Pixar movies.

Going between playing the controllable game and RPG-like storyline is sometimes a shock to the player. You go from eye-straining straightforward levels into 20 minutes of miscellaneous storylines that make little to no sense.

Why is Sonic a werewolf again? And who is this little squirrel creature?

Overall, there is little good to take from the game. There isn't much to enjoy since the gameplay is both choppy and segmented and the storyline tends to be bland and uninteresting.

Your little companion is a horrible replacement for old friends like Knuckles or Tails, and the interactions between the two are as enlightening as an episode of Zoboomafoo.

Sonic Unleashed comes with a rating of 3/10.

Pass on this game and you will thank us later.