Ever seen a Hedgehog break the sound barrier? Dont let all the hater critics talk you into passing this game up.
Eggman is back up to the usual no good schemes, follow Sonic and pals on the journey to restore the planet back to its original form and stop Dark Gaia.
Gameplay 8- Speed, speed, and more speed make up the daytime levels. Sonic is very fast and back to the good levels where it is all about how fast you can finish. Along the way there are medallions to find, secrets to collect and good-timed button presses to execute. Keep in mind that at the insane rate the screen scrolls certain maneuvers can be difficult to time, and this can lead to a lot of cheap deaths, especially on levels later in the game.
The camera doesnt help sometimes either by the way it goes to a fixed point or flips around to another position that you cant move it from during an obstacle you are trying to get past. Aside from these complaints the daytime stages are well done and are a blast to play once you get down how to do everything.
Nighttime is a whole other game: sonic becomes a werehog at night, and instead of blinding speed, these levels are combat heavy. With simple puzzles inserted here and there. At first I was skeptical about the werehog idea, but the more you play the night stages, the more fun it becomes as you unlock more combos and get stronger. If you find yourself unable to get past something you need to grab, make sure to hold B down, instead of tap it, that is a surefire way to not miss something you have to grab in midair if you are in range.
Graphics 9- The Hedgehog Engine is quite amazing. Considering how many things you fly past there is virtually no framerate problems during the daytime. Night levels can have a little slow-down during large combat sequences, but its not severe.
Sound 7- The music tracks are okay, however nothing spectacular. They fit the general theme of each area of the planet accordingly. The voice overs for Sonic and during the cutscenes are decent. Some classic Sonic sfx are intact: such as getting a ring, hitting a springboard, etc.
Replay Value 8
Fun Factor 8- Once you work out how the game works; what to do during the day, and what to do at night, Unleashed is great fun to play if you like this kind of game. However it is rather difficult, and some stages will have you taking multiple attempts until you clear them. It's nice to finally have a good Sonic game again, yes this isnt the glory of the Genesis days, but it looks like the series is finally starting to turn around for the better. Those that give this game a lower score than Sonic '06 are fools.