In the 1990's, Sonic the Hedgehog was one of the most popular and critically acclaimed franchises around. Today, with quite a few titles being launched to critical scorn, some claim that this series is "dead" or "ruined". However, this could hardly be further from the truth.

Each new Sonic game features a highly creative and interesting new twist, which for whatever reason is usually held in poor regard, despite such efforts from other series being praised.It's quite odd that while some series such as Pokemon may be scorned for lack of changes over the years, Sonic is scorned for the exact opposite reason. Some may claim that said gameplay twists are poorly implemented or ruin the gameplay, though this is rarely, if ever, the case.

The "Werehog" sections of Sonic Unleashed (Wii), for example, provide high quality exploration and Platforming, as well as adding variety, but they are held in poor regard for being "slow". This is also a bit of an oddity, since one of the greatest qualities of the genesis classics was that the games weren't afraid to slow down for the same precarious and enjoyable platforming that any good platformer can provide, something which these sections of Unleashed provide as well. The combat in these sections has also been criticised for being "Shallow" or "Repetitive" despite Sonic's ability to use a wide variety of different moves with which to dispatch his foes, to the point where a fair amount of depth and replayabiltiy exists within the combat sections of those particular levels (Though, to be fair, you would have to reach a certain level of experience to attain these combos). Combat isn't perfect, but it's nowhere near as bad as critics and "fans" would have you believe. These sections may not play as well as the Hedgehog levels, but they are enjoyable and creative, while they help shape the game into it's own unique experience without being noticeably worse than the rest of the game.

This isn't the only way that Sonic games are given inaccurate reviews, however. It's not uncommon for some of the good qualities of the games to be unmentioned in reviews. Almost any Sonic game can be counted on to provide entertaining and creative boss fights which generally make good use of the games' sense of speed or their different gameplay twists. The bosses from Sonic and The Secret rings adapt well too and make good use of it's gameplay twist fo example. The final bosses in the more recent entries into the series are also very much enjoyable and provide an "Epic" feel, most notably in the amazing three part final battle against Dark Gaia in the Wii version of Sonic Unleashed.

The games also tend to have great soundtracks featuring a combination of classic rock style songs featuring vocals and strong instrumental tracks (the exception to this is Sonic and The Secret Rings, which had a fairly mediocre soundtrack). However,many people who review these games choose not to mention this in their reviews. Perhaps the vocal tracks are slightly debatable or opinion based, but this is not the case for the instrumental themes. A good example of a great instrumental track from these games is Solaris Phase 2 from 2006 game Sonic the Hedgehog.

Though that isn't to say that all the games in this series are perfect. I found Shadow the Hedgehog to be a pretty boring game, with some of the mission objectives being quite tedious. The most recent game to be named "Sonic the Hedgehog" has lengthly and frequent loading times and poor city levels. I haven't played it myself though, so I will reserve further judgement on that game until I have.All of the other titles mentioned in this blog post are good or even great, however.

But hey! that could change in the near future. Sonic the Hedgehog 4 recently launched to generally positive reception, and the upcoming Sonic Colors has received very positive reception thus far. A 3DS game has been announced, but next to no information on that has been released just yet to my knowledge.

Overall, Sonic is almost always able to deliver a creative, interesting, and enjoyable game which generally also has great bosses, Graphics, and Music, despite what many critics and fans tell you.