I'm not sure if anyone has tried this new Sonic Unleashed game, but I'm pleasantly surprised!

First, let me just say that it's beyond me as to why the Sonic-developers keep meddling around with crappy implementations of 3D gameplay - for the last 10 years, I think they've been "experimenting around" with various gameplay mechanics, as if blindly trying to find something, anything, that worked. Finally, 10 years later, they've decided to throw in the towel, and against their will, inject a bit of the old-style gameplay -- and guess what? It works!

I have to say, I've never had so much fun playing a sonic game - and when I mean fun, I'm talking about the first "daytime" acts of each world (there are 9 of them - each lasting 5-10 minutes). The rest of the game is completely forgettable, but never boring or annoying. But, even with the daytime acts, you're talking about almost 2 hours of gameplay (which is close to one of the original Sonic games).

I would encourage anyone who's thinking about picking up a copy to just discount the parts of each review that talks about the "warehog" gameplay. Yes, the warehog levels are unoriginal and completely unnecessary in a sonic game; however, it does provide decent filler to stretch out the length of the game, and it's varied enough that you won't feel like it detracts from the overall experience. The amount of fun that is to be had in the normal levels is well worth the expense of the warehog levels.

If you were a sonic fan BEFORE the developers started pumping out the 3D crap, then you should definitely pick up this game!

That sounds so positive, i'm a big fan of the first 2D sonic games and I feel Sonic Adventure on the dreamcast wasn't bad but I feel it all went downhill from there.

I really hope what you say is true! I can't wait!

All went downhill from there? Have you played the sonic rpg for ds? It's not your normal action sonic but it's fun.

All went downhill from there? Have you played the sonic rpg for ds? It's not your normal action sonic but it's fun.

I'm not considering the portable versions of the Sonic games - the limited graphics power of the DS (in comparison to consoles) prevents those sonic games from ever going fully 3D. Which, from what I hear, is a good thing, given those portable Sonic games were well received by the critics.

When I say "went downhill" I mean: The original sonic adventure was a decent entry into the 3D world. It wasn't perfect, but the levels were fun to play, very fast paced and not too tedious. For all intents and purposes, it could've been believed that future sequels might be even better. But then in Sonic Adventure 2, the gameplay became more tedious and the speed aspect became more of an afterthought. Then as the Sonic team continued to make more sequels, the focus went away from Sonic (with the introduction of all of the other characters). Eventually the franchise hit rock bottom in 2006 with their latest iteration, which was almost unplayable due to the loading screens, running around finding the right person to talk to, and the level of trial and error due to the unintuitive controls.

I loved the first Sonic Rivals on PSP. 3D graphics but classic 2D gameplay. They kind of jumped the shark with the sequel. I'd pay for an arcade version of that game.

Thanks for the review.

I'm a huge fan of Sonic Adventure. Playing the demo for Sonic the Hedgehog, I was extremely disappointed. The level design was horrendous. I spent most of the time dying because Sonic would only grab onto things when he felt like it. The parts that did feel speedy you had almost no control, you were just kind of watching Sonic.

I hope Unleashed is good. I will have to try it first though. Also, they need to bring back the Chaos. Those things were awesome.

I just got Sonic Unleashed, i'm sorry to report that it's not even as good as Sonic Adventure. It's better than the last few 3D Sonic games but that's not saying much. Why don't they give up and make a new 2D sonic game with pretty graphics?

Super Mario Galaxy is a much better game.