The Sonic Unleashed Dilemma

I’m today’s video I cover my complicated feelings about Sonic Unleashed. I gush about what makes it such a phenomenal game, yet acknowledge it’s detractors have some seriously valid arguments. Sometimes it’s hard to separate my love as a fan and my want to be a critic for a general audience, but in this video I do just that to best show my view on Sonic Unleashed.
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-Chapters-
Intro: 0:00-1:17
Sponsored Segment: 1:17-2:28
Story: 2:28-14:47
The Werehog: 14:47-18:40
The Day Stages: 18:40-20:31
Everything Else: 20:31-22:40
Conclusion: 22:40-26:10
Credits: 26:10-26:29
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[@zobirismage2813]

You said it perfectly, Unleashed really is a game for the fans. I don't know if it's just me, but Unleashed is the last game that truly felt like a next generation experience.

[@inkchariot6147]

I've always seen Sonic Unleashed and Black Knight as a heartfelt goodbye to an era. And then came the downward spiral.

[@spritvio639]

To be fair it hasn't been all bad, Colors, Generations, and Mania were awesome. Lost World was good to though an obvious downgrade, and Forces was.......uh.....atleast decent?

[@inkchariot6147]

@Ewan Callister You're not just a clown, you're the entire circus.

[@inkchariot6147]

@@spritvio639 Colors was phase one of the downward spiral

[@rooraa1861]

Wouldn't really call it a downward spiral, considering we got generations and mania. It's kinda just standard sonic fare with fluctuating quality.

[@DanielFahimi]

@Ewan Callister lol

[@TheDatabaseNetwork]

10:42 Ah maybe that's why those clips of Sonic and Chip bonding in Chun-Nan (Sonic & Chip getting the last Dumpling), Holoska (Chip's Frozen Chocolate), and Adabat (Chip drinking Coconut Milk) were added, but were never part of the main story.

[@kkluan06]

that's my favorite Sonic Game, i just love the Werehog

[@itachisusanoo3689]

love the waryhog

[@martinvillalobossilva3374]

Same

[@Eldarin]

I wanted to wait to properly watch the video till I finished the game myself due to spoilers and all but now since I finished it...here I am! Fantastic video, the only gripe I had with unleashed was some of the transitions felt kinda jarring as example some bosses had a bit of an intro cutscene to show where/when it was happening and then some just kinda plop you into the boss like it’s nothing. I personally love the werehog stages as much as the boost stages, and I’m not a fan of action games generally. This game blew my mind but I definitely see where you are coming from in criticisms you pointed out in the video. Phenomenal job as always!

[@pleaseenterausername9516]

I wish the photos in the credits had in game cutscenes or something, like the photo of sonic the werehog celebrating the festival in shamar as a cutscene could have been a good chance to build a connection between chip and sonic. Stuff like that over the entire middle of the game would have been nice.

[@RueSolaris]

I really hope ppl don’t take the title the wrong way because you made some great points that some refuse to listen to or acknowledge. Great video once again Nick!!

[@JaveStrider.]

Ngl I used to be one of those people that always hated unleashed because of the werehog, but now that I've beaten and played it myself a few times I have a passion and a heart for it, it's truly one of the best sonic games out there and I don't even mind the werehog because I enjoy the fighting style combat and the themes at nighttime, and I love the stages and the characters that you can talk to in it. and I've always enjoyed chip too, sadly he didn't come back but he was also a great character to me too. the duo of sonic and chip felt special and the cutscenes around those two were wholesome and funny in a way, and I also loved tails being in this game being alone and still helping in his best buddy. Overall I really enjoyed this game and the music itself, its in my top 10 of favorite soundtracks lol.

[@Gemnist98]

This is literally my favorite video about Sonic Unleashed on KZbin. It captures my positive feelings on the game - and negative feelings about how the fanbase worships it - perfectly. Props to you, Nick.

[@mayracordero382]

Sonic Unleashed is A great Game to like even The Moves when Sonic uses as A Werehog, Sonic's Friendship to Chip, and Super Sonic's Battle with Dark Gala! I think Sonic Unleashed has good Levels and Wonderful Music!🎮🌑👍🦔♥️😍

[@SplotchTheCatThing]

Honestly I'd still love to replay this game. ...if only I could sort out the mess of cables behind the TV since the cat unplugged my 360... But I can say for myself, the second time I played it I enjoyed it as much as the first time. There are some weird decisions, and the werehog is an.... interesting... gameplay addition, but none of it is bad enough to bring the game down for me.

[@vladc137]

Can't agree on the part about Chip's bracelet. You can't toggle with his timeless design like that. I'd rather it be hidden away kept safely somewhere.

[@jaredkage4152]

I can't help but disagree with some of the story aspect. The effect of Sonic/Chip putting the world back together has an indirect influence on the people of each country. This gives that sense of immersion that you may have been missing out on, and in this case, actions speak louder than words. While yes, the game doesn't require you to talk to people in each continent. Keep in mind, this game came right off the heels of Sonic 06, where you were forced to talk with townsfolk to progress the game. Chip's memory could've been explored deeper throughout the whole game, but it's not a huge problem for me. I really don't want to come across as critical, but Unleashed is my favorite Sonic game (while not perfect).

[@matt.ramosss]

This is my favorite game of all time and this is probably one of THE BEST reviews of the game on KZbin no doubt the criticism was extremely valid and things i think are true! Fantastic video!

[@Callum-sp8wj]

A ‘Sonic Unleashed Ultimate’ could be genuinely phenomenal with certain changes. The EXP change you mentioned sounds like a great idea, so that players are forced to upgrade the Werehog as well showing mini videos for each new combo you unlock. Removing any need for medal collecting and instead making them unlock cosmetic items would drastically improve the pacing of the game while also allowing an incentive to collect the medals! Even with just those few changes, I think the game would improve by quite a big margin!

[@ReeseyPuffy]

My thoughts are pretty similar to yours, to be honest. Although Unleashed is tied for my favorite sonic game personally. When I first played Unleashed, I actually wasn’t much of a fan at all. Not because of the werehog, not because of the hub world, but specifically the day stages. I hated how loose the controls were and how fast everything would fly on screen without any sort of reaction. I actually preferred the werehog stages more since I could tell what was going on. And all the medals did was make me lose interest in the game and take long breaks from it. I basically had to force myself to love Unleashed by replaying the day stages over and over again, and now it might be one of my favorite games of all time. Definitely not a game I’d recommend for newcomers, but honestly I wouldn’t recommend most sonic games to newcomers.

[@spritvio639]

Another thing about Unleashed's story It's kind of like Adventure and alot of other games at the time. Eggman reads about an evil God monster and tries to harness its power to take over the world, the chaos emeralds also have more or less the same role being the only way they can stop Eggman and the monster. Despite Sonic and his friends efforts they fail to stop them and the monster regains its power, betrays Eggman and Sonic goes Super to stop it. Over course it's not entirely the same but still, Major similarities.

[@ASOtheprO]

I love the thumbnail

[@thefriendlydefault9684]

I'm just gonna sumerise the story. (Explains the whole story in depth)

[@quirky.9143]

Great video! This captures most of what I both enjoy and hate about this game, and your perspective on the Werehog is very refreshing. I agree the game should have those better parts of design like most hack and slashes for those sections, I had never even thought about the cobo videos on unlock and it giving you the button prompts thats genius, its such a trivial thing most other action games, like DMC, but it'd improve the game considerably if the game encouraged variety and taught new combat skills to perhaps get a better score.

[@SonicHubYT]

Awesome video, I agree with just about all of your points! Keep up the good work

[@genehen6495]

i liked the werehog gameplay more than the daytime stages as a kid. This is probably because I've never been a big fan of Sonic's typical gameplay - im not a "sonic fan". The werehog levels aren't brilliant as far as platforming beat-em-up's go but they were fun enough. I didn't know you could level up stats at all before watching this video either haha. But while never being a 'favourite' game of mine, its one of the very few sonic games I look back to and think "I had a good time with that one. That was fun." (though the only other two sonics on that list are Sonic3&K and, more recently, Sonic R... judge my taste accordingly lol) its probably about time i replayed this... thanks for reminding me ;)

[@mayracordero382]

I love Sonic Unleashed because of The Levels and The Soundtrack has great Music and wonderful Moves that you can use as Sonic The Werehog because I'm A Fan of Sonic myself!🎮⭐🦔🤩♥️😁💙

[@EthanMastercrafter]

I do love me a video of someone talking about sonic unleashed for a long period of time

[@Feartheredchicken]

I have never played the Xbox 360/PS3 version so I have nostalgia for the wii version

[@KimberlyFaith260]

Absolutely love the video, as well as I love the game. There is just so much to appreciate that could not all be said. I feel Unleashed is one of those games that every time you return to it, you find something new to enjoy. For example, I love this stylistic choice on the Werehog design. Almost everything about Sonic in his Werehog form is different from his Hedgehog form; his eyes. As we all know, eyes, symbolically, are the gateways to the soul, meaning that even though Sonic has almost completely physically changed because of Dark Gaia’s power, psychologically, he’s still the same. Whereas everyone else who was controlled under Dark Gaia’s power was psychically the same, but psychologically unstable. This also shows during the opening cutscene. When Sonic first interacts to Eggman in his Werehog form, his entire face is covered in his shadow, except for his eye. This could be converging to Eggman that no matter how much he could physically drain Sonic of who he is, he still is the same character, and also foreshadowing to the idea that the power of darkness cannot change him from who he is.

[@Eldarin]

Lets goooo!!!!!

[@MegaGlassguy]

This is a very well thought critique and I fully agree with it. But honestly I wouldn't even call this a dilemma, we love it for all it does right while not liking all it does wrong, it's the nature of a player, a fan and a critic. There is nothing wrong with pointing how the game could have been better even if we like the game, because ultimately those critiques come from a place of love, of wanting whatever comes next to be even better and create even better memories. While I don't like Colors as much, there's no denying that it was a needed game at the time who answered some of those critiques by only focusing on the part everybody loved (although I'd argue the blocky level design didn't do it any favors but that's a discussion for another time) and making it more accessible to a larger audience, making it understandable why that game still has a high reputation outside of the community.

[@supersonic2175]

I wonder what would happen if Egg Man accidentally sent sonic into the center of the earth with dark gaia

[@AlexYardZone]

Good points here! I have only played wii version and after watching Lots of KZbin videos about the HD version I'm excited to try it someday. If they remastered that, it will be a day 1 preorder. Subbed

[@JamesHawkins17]

Honestly I thought that this video was very well put together. Sonic Unleashed is without a doubt my absolute favorite Sonic game but even with that I can still find flaws in the game, especially with the story. Your video basically emphasized my issues with the game and more, while at the same time brings into light some of the many good aspects of the game one of which being the presentation.

[@toalesovikk7168]

Sonic being in control of his werehog form had nothing to do his “doubt”. He’s uneffected cause he’s pure heart and has a strong heroic will.

[@satelliteprime]

I REALLY enjoyed this video because it is one I myself have been planning to make for a long time now. This game is tied with Generations as my all time favorite Sonic game. Tied. I should elaborate on that but let me just say that I gush over this game all the time in casual discussion of Sonic. There is not a game out there I respect more for its sheer passion and dedication to being as good as it possibly could be and I see this amazing title as the Super Mario Galaxy of the Sonic franchise. That said, it is tied with Generations for a reason, and I DO feel like its quality and the hype it gets a little overplayed these days. Both games have many numerous flaws that hold them back in some small, some downright fatal ways. Both games are pretty exceptional even within their own franchise but their many missteps prevent them from being truly top tier. For countless reasons, most of which are addressed in this video, I see Sonic Unleashed as the peak of Modern Sonic, doing fierce competition with SA2 in that regard, but ultimately despite it being my preferred game, I will always defer to the Classic era fans who cite Sonic 3 & Knuckles as being the BEST Sonic game. Because I agree with them there. But nevertheless this game is my fixation, my addiction, my favorite title in the series tied with Generations for the countless ways it improved upon the formula Unleashed setup, Generations itself being let down for the ways in which it embodies the so-called "meta era" of Sonic and doesn't aspire to be as great as what came before. Alongside the fact that I feel the level design in Unleashed was truer to the nature of the boost gameplay and superior overall. This video was spectacular, great job articulating your points and summarizing your thoughts! Subbed.

[@newagehero9605]

Can’t wait until you do colors and generations!!!!! I love unleashed as well

[@supersonic2175]

13:29 and kids that's how the colors writers murdered chips continuity

[@BreetonBoi]

This was a pretty dope video! I might have to give Sonic Unleashed another playthrough, I originally experienced the game on Wii as a kid so I had a slightly different experience to most people haha

[@El_Mince]

I haven’t played much of the game, but I like the things I see

[@RipZanyisCute]

This channel is awesome!!! I’m subscribing!

[@SuperSaiyanSonicYT]

Nick out here with another banger of a video, and one about Unleashed too! 👌🏻

[@henrygokufan10]

Like i said unleashed is better than 06

[@artistanthony1007]

Even though 06 is longer and bigger, there's even lots of playable characters, ie:Sonic, Shadow, Silver, Tails, Knuckles, Omega, etc.

[@StrikerMadio]

@@artistanthony1007 None of those thing's makes it a good game. A game can be long and boring. More playable characters means there is less time spent on the characters people really want to play as. I'm not gonna say either is better but the reasons you listed don't really say much.

[@henrygokufan10]

@@artistanthony1007 but the playable characters are not fun to use at all

[@JaveStrider.]

anything is tbh besides forces

[@warriorofthegrandline2y618]

@@JaveStrider. Amen!

[@tituskolars3843]

Thank you! Great well though out perspectives!

[@mayracordero382]

This is great and I love The Powers of Sonic as a Werehog and I think The Temples of Gala are wonderful so I think Sonic Unleashed is a Good Sonic Game!🎮😍♥️⭐😁👍

[@AmariR28_]

Still my favourite till this day, nothing else has comes close. Decided to go for the platinum almost 2 years ago - my proudest platinum if I do say so myself.

[@itachisusanoo3689]

great start of the video!! wow

[@jfkandthedinosaurs6575]

Chip regains his memory when restoring the 6th chaos emerald not 7th bro

[@ykgcaramel6515]

Favourite game ever

[@chriss.249]

Pre watch: 1 of the things I loved about unleashed is it's focus on travel. Going to such diverse places with different cultures so close to our own really felt like a world tour. Yes it's been done b4 but with animals, however this felt more realistic and relatable. It eased that fear I had of travel a lil. And replaced it with curiosity. Imo I feel it's the best of the sonic games(outside the classic trilogy and rush)

[@lootria]

Firstly: 100% understandable and valid points. But, secondly, i have recently played this game for the first time after hearing many things about it, both good and bad, and after playing the wii version 6 months prior, and ive had so much fun with both boost and werehog stages. I put skill points in both styles as equally as i could (ignoring the shield lol) and all tbh this might be my favourite sonic game (was potentially favourite game until i played sega rally 2 in the arcades recently lol) and i really wish those flaws it has were ironed out Anyway, good game, fuck the flying stages, theyre boring as all hell

[@Hatibrella]

I was watching this like “wow this is big, time to read the 3k comments” I thought this video had like 3M views, cuz this is high quality

[@ItsNickForShort]

Sharing helps a ton! Algorithm is killing me lmao. Idk how other people pump out 20 Sonic videos a week 🤣. Fr thanks for the support, I hope you enjoyed it!

[@KingTvlip]

So, in conclusion. The World Adventure was the friends we made along the way.

[@maximillius939]

I love these types of videos

[@elitef40]

Sonic Unleashed is a game I always appreciate. Especially because at the time, it really felt like something new and fresh. At first, I didn't like the Werehog stages and that was my main problem with the game along with terrible FPS! Especially on the PS3. But after giving it a chance months later, I quickly realized how well designed the day stages were and with a challenging difficulty, adding to the S Rank satisfaction. The night stages were actually awesome for me after ignoring how slow paced they were. Also the combos are actually pretty good and easy to remember. No complex tekken stuff lol😂 The soundtrack is easily one of the best in the Sonic series. Top 5 at least in my opinion. Tornado Defense act 1 is my favorite track in the game. The story was well written and it's one of my favorites! And unfortunately, it was overshadowed by the Werehog's reputation. Honestly, I've always loved how cheerful and emotional the story gets at times. It's kinda clear how underrated and forgotten Chip is. He's literally one of my all time favorite Sonic characters. Btw I've always found Chip's first appearance in the game to be kinda odd and random. Also, I honestly would've liked it even more if the story had more characters like Knux, Silver, Shadow and more. But hey! Even without them the game's still awesome. Overall, Sonic Unleashed is truly underrated as a game in general. Not just a sonic game. I feel like everyone should give it a chance. One of my childhood friends played the game when it first came out and he hated it a lot! His main complaint was the FPS and how tedious and Dynasty Warriors copying the Werehog stages felt to him. And he refused to ever play it agian. A few months ago, he got the Xbox Series X. So, I told him to give Sonic Unleashed one last chance. Now that the FPS is stable, there are no excuses. And guess what? He loved it a lot! And he told me how he wished that he'd played it more then. And as of right now. He's 89% through the achievements. And that's a good example of why you should give this awesome game a fair chance. Who knows, you may actually enjoy it.

[@themphantom9138]

Honestly, Beating a boss that took me 1 Year to defeat will always be Cathartic. (Dark Gaia was Hell to my childhood self)

[@SuperSireBoyYT]

I’ve never seen a youtuber sponsor another youtuber, thats genius

[@Mike-mf3ed]

I’ve always loved this game and I still do. It’s one of those games that I want more of, but I don’t ask for more because of what I’m afraid SEGA would do if they did release a second game (I don’t want them to ruin a perfectly ok game). I also love the Werehog and though the gameplay could’ve been better, the lore is great (if you choose to dig deeper into the game like I did. For example, the werehog has stretchy arms because he’s got the same energy that the dark gia minions are made of. I wish they at least would’ve kept the egg pawn designs for the other games (they’re too good).

[@chaosprogrammer2219]

I agree with everything you said... well except for the leveling up system, if you ask me I say get rid of daytime Sonic's level up system and replace it with just upgrades you find in the hub worlds, that would balance things out in my opinion. Also sorry about my comment on the last unleashed video.

[@spritvio639]

I called it!

[@Hybattt]

For level up elements they could remove the hedgehog upgrades all together. After you beat a world they could just put a message on your screen Sonic speed and boast gauge has increased. And people will put all the upgrades into the werehog

[@lpfan4491]

Or just make the daystaged purely skillbased by not enhancing him at all. Unwiished did that and it works pretty well in context.

[@auxilirious]

Awesome stuff dude! I liked the video a lot!

[@ItsNickForShort]

Thanks my guy!

[@orangeslash1667]

@@ItsNickForShort bad news Sega lost the people who made Sonic Unleashed in addition to losing Yuji Naka. So that just leaves the directer of Sonic Generations as the last one remaining. Things are looking grim for the blue bur.

[@lpfan4491]

Meanwhile me in Unwiished just spamming uppercuts, because that is the most effective normal Werehog-attack in that game. I still love that game, even with the flaws. I kinda want to play Unleashed but also don't want to at the same time, meanwhile. Many people say it is superior, but hearing some of the gameplayflaws really makes me doubt that statement every single time. Good thing is that I can't even play it, because I don't have a good way to play on console and the game makes the XBox-emulator die before the first level is even over.

[@calistusjay60]

We once criticised this game because we expected that any game SEGA made after this would only get better as technology improved and the team listened to feedback. We didn’t expect for SEGA’s talented members to leave, for every game after this to have bare bones story, acting, animation and graphics. So now, we regret our criticism. We wanted them to make unleashed but better. Instead? They never reached these heights again. So yeah, people “suddenly” like this game now. Because in hindsight, it’s the best we’ve ever gotten. We didn’t know that at the time. We were fools that expected a game company to only getter better with age. We were wrong.

[@dolphin24923]

I personally believe Generations is better

[@El_Mince]

@@dolphin24923 you are entitled to your own opinion

[@lpfan4491]

Yeah, you guys were fools because you seriously expected such a raw deal to do good after the crash of 2006?

[@anotheryoutubeaccount5259]

No

[@PhirePhlame]

Really, it's not so much that the werehog stages are badly paced - it's actually rather normal for a beat-em-up like God of War (which imo it plays most similarly to) - it just gives the game a huge identity issue, because who buys Sonic to play God of War?

[@bryanc7094]

I think the boost is a gimmick generally, but if sonic team wants to make a good high budget sonic games then make it like unleashed 👍

[@mediamuncher6982]

20:33 sonicgenerations,sa1,sa2,heros,colors,and the classic games would like to have a word with you.

[@Daggett1122]

I know it's been said too many times by now, but this game desperately needs a remaster/remake. Leave the good parts alone and fix the handful of flaws and you'd have a truly amazing game.

[@chillihog1543]

Great video man. While I still love Chip, I do agree the middle section could have done more on Chip's development. Also I do agree the werehog could improve in shorter lengthy lvls, skills, and more clever platforming. Still there's also one thing I would like to change for Unleashed and I honestly think it fits way better since it would strengthen on what Unleashed tried to be. The thing I would change is replace the boost formula by having adventure formula imo. Even as a Unleashed fanboy, even I can admit the biggest issue Unleashed suffers is half of the game has fun fast pace boost gameplay while the other has slow dull werehog gameplay. If both gameplay styles were standalone, then it would be solid, but together can be a drag. However if Unleashed is built for exploring each stage that was inspired by real life places, then the Adventure formula would make more sense. Don't get me wrong, the boost formula in Unleashed is cool and the formula in general I don't really thinks it's terrible, but the Adventure formula fits Unleashed and the boost formula got some issues. First Adventure formula can fit both a fast platformer and easier for players to collect medals n other items because of how smooth Sonic with Adventure gameplay moves right n left unlike the boost formula where he feels like a truck just by moving him around. Second, Adventure gameplay gives players freedom to explore what the devs have done for each lvl if they want too again, unlike the boost formula where u just dodge obstacles and blitz through lvls nonstop :/. And last, its kinda ashame that the players spent most of time breezing through the lvls that the devs worked passionately on and its takes less than 1 or 2 mins to beat the lvl. Ok tbf, Unleashed later stages does take longer than 3 mins, but still its kinda sad the rest of Unleashed daytime lvls are just rushing through by 1 or 2 mins without exploring the rest of lvls. Gens kinda also have this issue, but tbf most of the lvls are just mostly same old lvls. However, Colors and Forces lvls definitely have this issue of mindlessly blitzing through lvls that takes shorter than 1 or 2 mins without actually taking the time to explore the lvl. Its reminds me of how the music composers worked hard on the Big Arm Boss remix music from Gens 3ds but its been rushed over due to how quick n easy the actual boss was. Its fine for beginning lvls to take like 1 or 2 mins to beat and depending on how good the lvl design is for the boost formula, then its cool as long as its enjoyable and memorable. However if the rest of the boost game offers more lvls that's lower than 2 mins or even 1 min thats is just blazing through lvls mindlessly, then the game would just kinda feel short, effortless, and unmemorable imo (Which kinda how I felt about Forces and hot take, even some of Colors acts and thats with wisps even). Unleashed with boost is still cool imo, but I think Adventure formula just compliments on what Unleashed tried to be more than the Boost formula imo. Plus I feel like more ppl could get into Unleashed or lessed bother by the game if its has mixed of the Adventure formula and werehog formula, especially since the speed different between Adventure gameplay and Werehog gameplay wouldn't be drastic, kinda like how Adventure 1 n 2 handed different gameplay styles.

[@chillihog1543]

Sorry for the long asf comment, but gotta explain why I think Adventure formula would benefit Unleashed more compared to Boost formula greatly and why its fits for Unleashed.

[@fnsiii7975]

That was fantastic.

[@Ausholliday15]

Sonic unleashed is my absolute favorite game, for the theme, music, world. But I agree with everything you've said about it criticisms. My first play through solely focused on sonic because I liked his stages more until I was kinda forced to upgrade the werehog due to being underleveled but I've grown in appreciation due to having to level up the night combat andgetting those flashy combos. After my first playthrough, I only ever had urges to repay certain stages to scratch that itch but I never touched the werehog if I could avoid it

[@RipZanyisCute]

I feel like sonic generations is way too easy

[@zizo5349]

Huh. I thought I heard everything there was to hear about this game, but this video actually brought up a great point about the story being non-existent mid-game. Thanks!

[@kinggalactix]

I love this game, too.

[@orlandofurioso7329]

Every time Sega tries something new people get upset. Unleashed and 06 were peak creativity but were bashed for werehog and too much ambition in too little time respectively, Sega needed to play a bit safe after that and i think after Mania and Forces they are ready to give something as big as Unleashed and 06 with more development time, since they have more franchises that give them money like Yakuza and Persona. Honestly Forces was an underrated experiment for more playable characters, as shown by wispons that mimic knuckles and other characters abilities, as well as a test for Hedgehog engine 2, which has shown a huge potential with fan mods.

[@bunsmasterbunny]

I disagree about the Humans fitting naturally alongside Sonic and Eggman. They are way too pixar/cartoony looking for a series as cool as Sonic that has established a realistic aesthetic with them previously. The game's environments are gorgeous but the better choice would have been to keep the 06 style of Sonic, Eggman, and the Humans as well but update them with the better graphics. The Humans in this game are inconsistent with how Eggman looks anyway so it's not like they "fixed" the "issue" people had with 06. In 06 you had Realistic Humans/Environments, and more realistic Sonic designs which was a really cool look imo. I'd prefer Sonic and his friends to be the only "cartoony" things about the games because it leads better to a more serious and dark tone which I also feel this game could have used more of. There's no rule saying that such a world can't exist in a fictional universe anyway. I like Chip but I feel (because of the reasons you listed) his story isn't fleshed out as much as it should have been and as such he's probably the weakest of all of Sonic's one off companions/narrative focuses for me (I might like him more than Shahra for his story, but her story is more focused on.) At the very least you can buy optional scenes showing them as friends in the shop as well as all the dialogue you can get from feeding him various things. Likewise I feel the game dropped the ball on the villain of this game because he's entirely mindless with no depth to him whatsoever. If you compare this to the previous villains (Chaos being an innocent chao corrupted by anger and hatred, Gerald being a kindly scientist who went mad over the loss of his granddaughter, Metal Sonic having his "Real Sonic" Complex, Black Doom...Okay, he's pretty badly written but he does at least have a character, Solaris being the literal devil of the Sonic series and having a very crafty and manipulative personality as well as having an effed up backstory, and Erazor Djinn being cursed by the fate of the book that he was written in... And, Dark Gaia isn't as impressive in comparison. He certainly is the most terrifying looking of all of the Sonic villains, but in terms of character there isn't one.

[@mediamuncher6982]

21:02 unpopular opinion I don't like the cartoony design I Preferre the art style or SA1 or SA2 human design. I think the realistic humans compared to the cartoon designs of the Sonic characters look more better because it adds the fact the sonic characters are different and Aliens in away so having before of them being cartoony kinda makes a blane for me. (P.s. I do believe in the two worlds if you watch sega scourges video on it. And there's more evidence to back it up too.)

[@chadeckols8155]

Ooh a good sponsorship genuinely good music.

[@HenriqueHCA14]

Facts: Chip is one of the greatest and most charismatic ''tutorial'' companions in video games. Navi can go bluck itself

[@ToaArcan]

I'm pretty early in the video, but I think Sonic's more reserved tone in this game compared to Black Knight makes a certain amount of sense. In Black Knight he's retreading old ground (pulled into a parallel realm that might be a book by a magic lady with pink hair to fight a supernatural villain) and at the top of his game most of the way through. In Unleashed it's a little different. He's a werewolf, the Emeralds are dead, the world's in pieces, and there are nightmare monsters roaming the place and possessing people in the dark. He's technically dealt with one of those things before (Eggman broke the world in Advance 3 too), but he's going through a _lot._ It makes sense that he'd be a little more withdrawn.

[@sometf2player752]

Well if you wanna have fun with the werehog you gotta know how to play it you gotta learn combos and stuff if you wanna have fun it’s like a beat ‘em up

[@ChibiSteak]

15:47 fin.

[@starmaster65]

Great video! Unleashed definitely has a lot of flaws, but I find myself being drawn back to the game. However, I can definitely agree that I usually go back for the boost stages. To me, playing as the Werehog is like eating a bag of Salt and Vinegar chips: Sure, I like them in moderation, but a whole bag? I think I'll pass. Especially if I've already experienced eating a whole bag in the past. Anyways... I wonder what an Unleashed 2 could've been like if Sonic Team were able to take the criticisms of the story, werehog, Medal collecting, etc. and create an even better experience!

[@artistanthony1007]

The Werehog is part Dark Gaia Minion and Dark Gaia will return, just not in Sonic's lifetime since Light Gaia aka Chip is a being of rebirth and they were woken up when they shouldn't have been, Sonic lost his Werehog form when DG took its essence back from him.

[@anthonyyawtwumasimensah197]

If the leaks are real rangers is probably going to be that. Since people didn't like the hub worlds and night time stages they have mashed it together into a giant open world were you explore talk to people and complete platforming challenges.

[@TrueHDR]

17:00 unwiished had that, not saying this to bash you for not knowing, but just to say that different devs come up with different stuff

[@laurenregnier3710]

I have a hard time with the Xbox version because it's so HARD with the QTE . The Wii version is much easier .

[@Hybattt]

I really hope for and unleashed remake . A lot do these big problems are easy fixes excepted I guess the story, but who know maybe they could add some new cutscenes but that asking a lot. Also maybe give sonic in unleashed generations drifting there both in the same engine so I don’t know if it possible but I hope they at least do something to make drifting slow sonic down more

[@ItsNickForShort]

If they threw in some new cutscenes and addressed the criticisms here oh my goodness what a landmark game for the series.

[@N617A]

I liked the wearhog more then main sonic on my first play through because to me, he reminded me of 2d sonic with some hero’s mixed in. But I’ve gotten much better at both now. S ranked most of it…. Which will year you apart btw…. And you get nothing for it. But I can see some of your points and I think they’re fair. I still love this game more then all other sonic games including the coveted SA2. That game has flaws and annoyances as well. Still love it, but like you with this game, I don’t “like” it. Oh and bowling for soup is one of my favorite bands so unleashed admittedly has some bias from me XD

[@revolution_is_my_name8981]

Unleashed was just FAR too ambitious for its time

[@dima_keller]

I finished Wii version of Unleashed like an hour ago. I don't know how much better PS3/Xbox version is supposed to be, but the game I played was a giant disappointment and I don't see why people love this game so much. I'd elaborate, but I'm incredibly salty now and really need to cool down... for a day or few

[@bowmaj8666]

The main thing that I can't stand about Unleashed, and the main reason that I feel like it's a tad overrated, is that it feels like a pandering game, but pandering to negative fans and feedback, rather than positive. Years of fans whining about the most trivial of things ("Sonic's stupid friends, edgy emo story", etc) seem to have caused irreparable damage to the Sonic series as a whole, and after the disaster of Sonic 06, this was the first main line game where it felt like Sega were appealing to negativity, rather than positivity. There is a rumour that Sega included guns in Shadow's game because fans suggested it. That can be considered a bad idea, but at least to Sega's credit they were listening to fans and giving them what they wanted, whether it benefited the series or not. As for Unleashed, nobody asked for Sonic to turn into a werewolf; it was included simply to be a cheap alternative to "Sonic's stupid friends!" Almost like Sega knew that people would complain about Sonic's friends even if they were implemented into the game and story well, but they still needed something to pad out the game, since the new boost levels would be over in a flash if that was the entire game. It's been said many times before, but if Sega wanted to include some kind of fighting or brawling mechanic then Knuckles is the perfect character for that. Even the story is about restoring power to the Chaos Emeralds, and Knuckles, the character who has the strongest connection to the Emeralds isn't part of that? I even think that a story about Sonic and Knuckles traveling the world and letting their unique personalities bounce off of one another, and developing their rivalry and friendship could've been amazing. However, apparently we can't have that because too many people were whining"Noooo, not Sonic's stinky friends, don't like 'em get rid of 'em or I'm never playing another Sonic game again!" It's ridiculous that this kind of negativity is having an effect on the series, and not for the better! Why do people who think this way get to dictate what can and can't be in a Sonic game? I wasn't a big fan of Chip either. So Tails gets shoved to the sidelines and isn't allowed to do anything worthwhile in the story because "he's an annoying, cutesy flying sidekick", but then he gets replaced with ANOTHER cutesy flying sidekick? Not to mention that I personally found Chip to be a tad more annoying than Tails ever was. I don't really buy his friendship with Sonic; they just meet, slap a high five and BAMM, they're instant BFF'S! I can understand that Sonic would never turn down the opportunity to help someone in need, and I honestly could've been a bit more forgiving of him if he had more interactions with the other members of the cast like Tails and Amy, but he really does feel more like their replacement. Almost like Sega went "Well, people hate Tails and Amy! We'll introduce a new character, but he'll only be in this one game, so if people hate him as well then it doesn't matter, does it?" I don't know, with characters like Chip and Elise and even Chris Thorndyke in Sonic X, it feels like these characters are all the same; they need help, Sonic helps them, they absolutely worship Sonic, they have to say goodbye to Sonic by the end, sad scene plays, they are never seen, heard of or mentioned ever again, all the while all of Sonic's other friends are just standing around twiddling their thumbs like they aren't important. I just don't find this that interesting. That's my issue with Unleashed; all the things that they're presenting to us as vast improvements over previous games, personally I'm just not a fan of.

[@promisentsizi1032]

I knew Nick will have a fun time dissing my favorite Sonic game!!

[@ItsNickForShort]

It was constructive criticism 😭

[@hattoripool1533]

This game was screwed over by both sega and the fans

[@ItsNickForShort]

SEGA gave this game a huge budget and as much time as they needed. The polish on this game is incredible. Fans may not have appreciated it but this is one instance SEGA as a cooperation barely affected development.

[@hahasamian8010]

Thanks so much for this analysis! I've heard so much praise for Sonic Unleashed lately, and while I think there's elements I'd like about it... honestly, I always imagine that everyone who genuinely loves the game is just playing the day stages on a completed save file from years ago, ahah... Breaking down the problems and explaining how to overcome some of them (at least a bit) is pretty helpful though! I've never played this game as it isn't on PC, but I might give it a shot sometime

[@artistanthony1007]

Nope I love it for everything.

[@cpab27]

24:43 well i think the ign critic was really bad because in a lot of parts you can see the players playing like shit and than criticizing the game just because he plays like shit

[@owtheedge3956]

Imo werehog has much better stages than sonic

[@dima_keller]

Dude! You can't be serious about the soundtrack! This game's soundtrack got one good song. Full stop. Then there's Adventure games, Heroes, Riders and Riders Zero gravity, even Forces got great soundtrack and you want to say that THIS game is in top 3?!?

[@artistanthony1007]

It's better than Generations because there's dialogue for all Boss cutscenes, stages are bigger, everything is original including the music, the moveset is the exact same but Sonic's faster in this game, the game is longer than a few minutes including the script, the dialogue isn't cringe and Sonic speaks to everyone unlike Generations where he's completely silent, characters matter and given a time to shine, there's more replay value, there's no automation especially given Classic Sonic has too much, all of this is why Unleashed is far better than Generations and is S Tier, Generations is C Tier.

[@DaMrWiz]

To summarize: Sonic Unleashed is a great game when you know what to do but is bad at explaining it

[@dima_keller]

Imo visuals in this game are incredibly overrated. Environments are OK, but people look like they were made for a cheap early 2000's game for kids. I hate this style

[@Terminal_Apotos]

Werehog Sucks, Sonics Good. Good Game Overall but kinda overrated by fans now

[@CanalDoRyu]

Thank you, I''ve gotten tired of having to explain to Unleashed stans why this game's story isn't anywhere near the amazing piece of work they make it out to be, it even does some of the things they complain about when the 2010s stories did: Tails being a wuss and crying to Sonic for help instead of at least trying to take the enemies down, the story being generally uneventful and lame comedy being used in place of character development. Of course, it's not as bad as the stuff Pontac and Graff wrote for Sonic, but there were already some signs of that direction in Unleashed's story.