Note: This review contains spoilers for Sonic Unleashed.
Back in 2005, Sonic Team had conceived a third Adventure entry called Sonic World Adventure, though development wouldn’t start until after the critically panned Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) (Sonic ’06). As development continued, with no set completion date and coinciding with the creation of the Hedgehog Engine, enough innovations distinguished the game from the Adventure style, including the addition of Sonic transforming into a “Werehog” during nighttime, that the title changed to Sonic Unleashed (Unleashed). Additionally, the game saw two separate builds in active development, one for HD consoles (PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360) and one for the previous generation (PlayStation 2 and Wii). Both builds of the game would launch to mixed reception from fans and critics, with more favorable scores given to the PS2 and Wii builds, though Unleashed would gain more of a cult following over the years and now has a more positive reputation than before (though this opinion isn’t universal).
As for my own experience with the game, I remember getting excited for it after the disastrous Sonic ’06 (which I may still review in the future) to the point that I played the free demo. Upon playing it as a sixteen-year-old, however, I found myself getting stuck too often because, quite frankly, I sucked at it and had a hard time finding certain items to continue very far in the game. Seeing that the fanbase had warmed up to it more, however, made me curious enough that, right after I finished Sonic Colors: Ultimate (Colors), I gave Unleashed another chance. Now at about double the age at which I had played it initially, I found myself liking it a bit more and I could see some of what fans liked about it. However, as it dragged on, I found that the final design had also held itself back from reaching its full potential, no thanks to its technical issues in the final stretch, the Medal mechanic and, most of all, those Werehog Stages.
While pursuing Doctor Eggman in space, Sonic transforms into Super Sonic. However, Eggman captures him with his new Chaos Energy Cannon, reverting Sonic back to his normal state while also separating him from the seven Chaos Emeralds and draining them of their power. With the emeralds’ power, Eggman fires his weapon into the planet’s core, shattering the planet into seven pieces and unleashing Dark Gaia, a destructive entity slumbering within. In the process, however, Sonic is transformed into a Werehog, after which Eggman ejects him down back to Earth. There, Sonic meets a creature suffering from amnesia, whom he nicknames “Chip”, who has knowledge required to defeat Dark Gaia. With Chip’s help, as well as his best friend Tails, Sonic starts his quest to restore the planet back to normal and stop Dark Gaia before it can unleash its full destructive potential.
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Sonic obtains a new Werehog form. |
Unleashed has a pretty “out there” premise for a mainline title, but it has a certain level of sincerity, combined with a good balance of humor and drama, that makes it at least somewhat endearing. Sonic’s Werehog transformation feels like a bold, creative attempt at trying something new and it does lead to some realistic character moments while giving Sonic a secondary motivation for restoring the planet. I didn’t know how to feel about Chip at first, but my reaction to the ending of his arc made it clear that I had grown invested in his role and did end up caring about his fate. Eggman also shows off one of his most vile schemes up to that point, succeeding in breaking the planet apart just so he can harness the power of a destructive primordial being. In fact, we even get a rare look at a completed Eggmanland, which serves as the final Stage in the game.
That said, while Tails does contribute to the plot, he gets sidelined for most of the game, so we barley see him. We do see more of Professor Pickle, who helps Sonic through his research into the Gaia Manuscripts, but he’s not the most fleshed out character and he mentions cucumber sandwiches (presumably his favorite food) a lot. The character who really gets the short end is Amy, who shows up but doesn’t contribute anything significant to the story apart from showing her initial reaction to Sonic’s Werehog form and then cheering him on for the remainder of the story. It’s nice that her infatuation with Sonic doesn’t define her this time around, but even Sonic Adventure 2 (SA2) gave her more to do (in that case convincing Shadow to help save the world instead of destroy it).
Since the game contains two distinct gameplay styles, Hedgehog (Day) and Werehog (Night), I will cover those separately. First, however, we should lay the foundation, including the changes introduced with this game.
From the start, there’s evidence of the original Adventure DNA in the game’s design. Unleashed would be the last one to feature Adventure Fields, but this time in the form of scaled down Town Stages. Each Town Stage not only has hidden Medals, but also a Shop where you can buy souvenirs and other items with Rings, as well as various NPCs with their own dialogue and subtle side quests; bringing enough souvenirs to Professor Pickle will earn you a Sun or Moon Medal. Later in the game, you can purify people through Nighttime exorcisms with the Uncanny Camera (must recharge flashes by speaking to Professor Pickle or his assistant) or take on more challenging side missions at a Hot Dog Cart for the ability to buy a special Chili Dog that can help you power up Sonic’s abilities more easily.
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The first Town Stage (screencaps from Sonic Wiki Zone). |
Each Town Stage also has access to an Entrance Stage, where Sonic can access Action Stages. Much like the Town Stages, Entrance Stages are rather interactive as small Adventure Fields, with not only hidden medals, but also minor puzzle solving that can involve switching the time of day by striking a large hourglass (after fixing the first continent and restoring the first emerald, you can also change the time of day in the Pause menu while inside a Town Stage). Changing the time of day also lets you access certain events within Town Stages. Collecting items within Entrance Stages will not only increase Sonic’s moveset within Action Stages, but also let him access certain areas within other Entrance Stages (and even collect more items). Accessing Action Stages also requires possessing a certain amount of Sun and Moon Medals, which can occasionally result in some medal hunting that didn’t really bother me most of the time, especially after realizing that you keep any medals you’ve collected even if you exit an Action stage early.
While playing an Action Stage, Sonic now has certain stats that he can increase after collecting enough EXP from Chaos Orbs dropped by defeated enemies or by completing Action Stages. These stats are divided between his Hedgehog (Speed/Ring Energy) and Werehog (Combat/Strength/Life/Unleash/Shield) forms, which share the same pool of EXP. As usual, collecting 100 Rings will grant an Extra Life, but Sonic can now also collect vinyl records and tapes for extra content (you also don’t lose anything you’ve picked up if you die). I later discovered the hard way that if you lose all of your Lives, you respawn outside the entrance to that Action Stage with five fresh Lives.
Since Sonic’s journey takes him all around the world, a first for the series, he’ll travel between continents with the aid of the World Map (accessible after rescuing Professor Pickle) as he restores them. From here, he can travel straight to the Capital of the chosen location (aka the Town Stage) or replay any completed Action Stage. Since some events and Stage selection rely on time of day, you can advance time while in the World Map until it’s either Day or Night. As a nice quality of life addition, I appreciate that the World Map highlights the next location Sonic needs to go to, as it makes navigating the story far easier than it would be otherwise (though I did still get confused on how to advance through one location at one point because it wasn’t too obvious).
At this point, I already have a couple criticisms. A couple are more minor, as my muscle memory for the Homing Attack and Light Speed Dash briefly got in the way, but I adjusted. Then there’s the tedious Shop system that requires far more button presses than necessary by making you select the Buy option when trying to buy multiple items in a row. Plus, you can’t even access certain collectables unless you buy certain items, which feels unnecessary compared to how other games (including Sonic games) handled the same concept.
Unleashed is also the first in a string of mainline games where Sonic is the only playable character (unless you count the two brief flying sections). On one hand, this does address the arguably bloated cast of characters and players already have enough to juggle with two variations of Sonic. In that case, streamlining the game design makes sense. On the other hand, as we see in Unleashed itself, the side effect is sidelining the rest of the cast in favor of Sonic, creating a sense of neglect and, eventually, a lack of gameplay variety that eventually makes the Final Horizon update for Sonic Frontiers feel like a breath of fresh air.
As for how Unleashed handles the two Sonic variants, I actually like the idea, but the execution feels lacking, especially in the latter stages.
During Daytime, players can go through Sonic’s “Hedgehog” Action Stages. While these Stages incorporate elements that players would expect from the games released after SA2 (jumping, crouching/sliding, homing attack), the precision platforming is downplayed (though not completely removed) in favor of emphasizing speeding through a level as fast as possible. Fans would colloquially label this style as the “Boost” formula, which the series would emphasize up to and including Sonic Forces. As the first of their kind, these Stages impress with how they regularly switch between 2D and 3D perspectives while incorporating multiple routes and introducing a new form of level variety with Quick Step sections and Drifting around tight corners, as well as dashing across water. I’ll note that it was interesting to see some specific level design choices make their way into Colors, though a couple of them felt less frustrating here. The other significant change comes from an attempt at giving Rings an extra utility by filling up Sonic’s Ring Energy gauge, which can grant him a temporary speed boost that can knock back enemies, attract Rings and push certain objects.
Although the Daytime Stages do a great job at giving the player an incredible sense of speed without sacrificing level variety, more cracks in the design show up as the game progresses. Although multiple routes exist within a Stage, you may often go too fast to notice them (it doesn’t help that controlling the camera at the same time feels difficult). In fact, upgrading Sonic’s stats can make certain actions like Drifting, an already inconsistent move, even more difficult, so I quickly pivoted to putting almost all of my EXP into the Werehog.
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The Stage designs have some interesting variety. |
All of the Daytime Stage issues, however, rear their ugly head with Jungle Joyride (Day). It’s not just the fact that you need a whopping 120 Sun Medals to even access it, which made collecting the last fourteen Medals more frustrating than fun, especially considering the length of some Werehog Stages that contained some, but rather how the technical issues mar what should be a fun Stage on paper. The Quick Step section at the beginning provides some decent challenge and neat level design, but after a mildly annoying platforming section, you must dash across water from the 3D perspective in a baffling and unclear direction compared to previous Stages. Just as you get past this however, the framerate dips wildly, leading to some noticeable lag and inconsistent physics during a section that requires more precision, as well as a Drift section. By the time I finally reached the end, I had my patience thoroughly tested and never wanted to touch it again.
When it’s Nighttime, Sonic transforms into his Werehog form, which comes with an attempt at a “beat ‘em up” gameplay style. On paper, this can sound like an interesting way of diversifying the game’s design and showcasing the difference between Sonic’s two forms through gameplay. In this case, he fights through waves of enemies with various unlockable combos and must solve various puzzles to access new areas. During battle, Sonic can either dodge roll or Guard against attacks, though the latter comes with limited charges on his Shield Gauge. When enemies are weakened, he can grab them and throw them, hit them against the floor or initiate a Critical Attack that will defeat them if he succeeds in a QTE sequence. Defeating enemies or breaking objects adds Dark Gaia Force to the Unleash Gauge, which gives him a large boost of strength when activated. There are even platforming sequences where he must shimmy across ledges (sometimes with wall traps) or balance across narrow beams. Rings also have a new utility with replenishing Sonic’s health and his Werehog form can not only double jump, but also dash across the ground in a feral manner. Since the Stages are more focused on platforming and finding secret areas and pathways, it’s no wonder that these are where players can find a bulk of the Sun and Moon Medals.
Now, from my own experience with beat ‘em ups, it would be too easy to dismiss these Werehog Stages as the poor man’s God of War, since it not only has some very similar animations, but Sonic’s stretchy arms draw easy comparisons with Kratos’ signature Blades of Chaos. Since that wouldn’t be very productive, however, I’ll instead say that where some may find these Stages fun, I personally found them rather slow and tedious. Stages can easily take at least twenty to thirty minutes on a first run, but without any sense of speed to make you feel like you made significant progress. It doesn’t help that these Stages’ idea of “difficulty” can boil down to just mindlessly spamming enemy waves for what feels like an eternity to the point that it comes off as padding. I also personally found it inconsistent whether or not grabbing a weakened enemy would simply grab them or initiate a QTE. I’m not sure I can really say much of anything else apart from wondering why the QTEs use a doorbell sound.
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Imagine a doorbell sound here. |
Before I get into the biggest issue with the game, however, I should mention that there are two flying sections where Sonic and Tails shoot down Eggman robots, including bosses, between certain locations. However, these are presented as a series of QTEs, so there’s really not much to say about them, though I didn’t run into any technical issues at the time.
With that out of the way, I had the least fun during the final stretch of Unleashed. It starts with Eggmanland, a true test of how well you’ve mastered the game’s mechanics and a sweeping theme park of Eggman’s design that requires periodically switching between Sonic’s Hedgehog and Werehog forms. It was neat to finally see Eggman’s dream come to fruition within one of the 3D games, though it isn’t long before the novelty wears off. The Stage’s gimmick sounds cool on paper, and some may even still enjoy it, but my first (and only) run resulted with a 70-minute framerate-dropping slog through a gauntlet of every mechanic and gimmick at the highest possible difficulty, plus what feels like every normal enemy type thrown in for good measure. Although the Hedgehog and Werehog sections have some neat setpieces, including one or two that Colors would expand on, switching between them created an inconsistent pace that eventually had me wondering if it would ever end.
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I wish I had a better time with this Stage. |
When Eggmanland finally did end, I still had to go through three boss fights in a row: Egg Dragoon, Dark Gaia and Perfect Dark Gaia. I had a good time with Egg Dragoon, as it provided a good challenge without overwhelming the player and used its gimmick to its fullest. Plus, it felt more unique and not necessarily the type of boss that Colors would use. However, any joy I might have had with Egg Dragoon died once I got to Dark Gaia, which involves Chip approaching it with the world’s slowest mecha and attacking it more QTEs and then Sonic approaching it with a timed 3D segment with purple tentacle obstacles. Do this three times with increasing difficulty and you get to fight Perfect Dark Gaia as Super Sonic. Interestingly, Super Sonic doesn’t have Ring drain, but his health is determined by whatever Rings he grabs as he floats toward a dome of energy. After that, he just has to run around and slam into Perfect Dark Gaia’s dragon-like tentacles until enough are taken out. By this point, I’m used to Super Sonic bosses not putting up as much of a challenge apart from watching Ring drain, but the execution somehow felt less fun or memorable than Perfect Chaos or Finalhazard from the Adventure duology. As such, when it finally ended, I felt relief instead of excitement.
Aside from my feelings on the Action Stages, I found that Unleashed still looked pretty good, particularly in the FMVs, and placing cartoony animals within an otherwise realistic environment looks less off-putting here than in Sonic ’06. It helps that the humans are also rendered in a more cartoony style and the world assets have more hints of stylization over photorealism. However, I still saw some framerate dips within the Town Stages, especially Empire City, with a more noticeable draw distance in Shamar. I also found it odd that although the game does pause when you pause the game, Chip still moves around and you can still reposition the camera. I’ll also mention the lack of a Town Stage map outside of the loading screen (though it’s not like getting around is all that difficult) and that striking an enemy during their death animation restarts that animation.
As for the audio, I thought that the 4Kids cast did a good job in their last hurrah before Colors changed up the cast. Apart from Mike Pollock, Jason Griffith does a good job doing double duty as Sonic’s Hedgehog and Werehog forms and making them sound distinct from one another. I also wasn’t sure about Tony Salerno (perhaps best known for voicing Chazz Princeton in Yu-Gi-Oh! GX) as Chip, but he grew on me and showed some decent emotional range in the role by the end. Unleashed also has a good soundtrack for a Sonic game, though I found the music from the Dark Gaia fights rather underwhelming compared with the music from some other entries.
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Christopher Collet also voices SA-55, who resembles a prototype Orbot. |
While I wouldn’t call Sonic Unleashed a bad game, it’s not one that I could easily recommend. I can’t say how well the PS2/Wii version fares by comparison, but the HD version leaves a lot to be desired and I don’t find it the best entry point for a new Sonic fan. I know there are those who would love this game warts and all, but I’m sadly not one of them.
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