Why do people hate this game?

[madbuk]

I see a lot of people disliking/hating on this game, and when I ask them why, I never get any actual reasons. I loved this game - by far my favourite Sonic. The difficulty level was perfect, the story was decent (considering it's Sonic), the werehog sections were a lot of fun due to how much platforming is involved, the sun/moon medals felt rewarding to collect, the hubs were fun to explore, the level up system was interesting and the upgrades gave reason to revisit levels.

The only bad thing I can think of in relation to this game is the combat for the werehog, but I can look past this as the platforming is so enjoyable. Also, Wentos was kind of a pain, but once I figured out he always stays in a single location until you find him again, this is really a non-issue.

 

When comparing this to Generations, which seems to be loved by everyone, I would definitely say this was the better game. Generations was ridiculously easy, and I had to stop playing because the "challenges" were mind-numbingly dull. Only went back to get the platinum and be done with it.

 

I could not put this down when I started it, and it was sad whenever I had to. I couldn't recommend this game enough to anyone who is considering playing it.

[TheRealPadman88]

because its worse spin off idea to make 

[ShadowGandalf]

I don't HATE the game, I'm just not interested in playing it. Why you ask? One word... "Werehog". When I play Sonic, I want speed, running fast, loops etc, not slow combat sections. 

 

Other reasons include, Hub worlds. These don't work in Sonic Games, that's why I preferred Sonic Adventure 2 over 1. No fuss, just go from stage to stage. (though the game lost points for the slower paced segments), and the annoying Sidekick character. Really? Tails was annoying enough (when he speaks) but who the heck was that? (I did play a little of the start when over a relatives house, and didn't like this character straight away)

 

I'm glad you enjoyed it, that's good for you, but I know I won't.

[Trigun1081]

Let me preface.  I LOVE Sonic games, and I LOVE action based GOW style platformers.  If you look at my trophy collection you can see that I have Sonic 1, 2, CD, both episodes of 4, and Generations at 100%.  I also have many great as well as sub-par platformers at 100% as well.  You would think Sonic Unleashed would be a perfect fit for me but I have tried to play it on 3 separate occasions and I can never get passed the second continent before giving up out of boredom.

 

I think the problems are the hub world and the medal collecting.  The Sonic parts are OK (nowhere near as fun as they are in Generations or Colors), and the werehog parts although tedious and repetitive are easy enough to get through.  It's just never worth it for me to spend ten minutes in the awful hub world trying to find out where to go, only to find out that I don't have enough sun or moon medals to access the area.  So now in order to continue the game, I have to bring up a guide and hunt for medals that I missed JUST TO ADVANCE IN THE GAME.  I'm willing to do the "guide and hunt" thing when I platinum a game, but I want to have fun my first time through.

 

The funniest thing that I notice about this game is that not even 15% of owners have even beaten the game according to this website.  For a website where you can safely say that most members are more dedicated to gaming than an average "casual gamer" it is very funny to me how many people actually quit playing Sonic Unleashed before even finishing the main story.

 

So I guess that the main problem with the game for me is that the enjoyable aspects of the game are not good enough to warrant sitting through the bad parts. 

[Addy7stt]

.

Edited August 26, 2015 by TTaym743

[merciful84]

Personally, I've never played it but its the idea behind it that I don't care for. It reminds me too much of what became of the '87 TMNT cartoon...it got really stupid with the turtles transforming into monsters at will

 

I cringe just thinking about it *shutters*

[yellowwindow7]

The most thing people hate in this game was the werehog levels as it doesn'sound so original and it's nothing more than a god of war cash-in.

This is the problem with sonic games, when you play a sonic game you were expecting a fast paced platformer where you don't stop running and jumping until you want to search for power up's, the problem with sonic unleash is that the game is focused much more on the werehog parts of the game which is gonna bored you quick when its kept going and going and going and its so slow...

I only played the ps2 port, the platforming in the werehog part is a mess there, but the daytime of sonic were awesome, I don't know about your thought but I found chip kinda cute.

Edited March 18, 2015 by yellowwindow7

[Berryjammy5]

honestly, the music is so good that i was willing to put up with anything the game threw at me. the game is actually really good. i would recommend it to anyone. i do NOT recommend platinuming it. holy hell, it was BRUTAL.

[madbuk]

The most thing people hate in this game was the werehog levels as it doesn'sound so original and it's nothing more than a god of war cash-in.

This is the problem with sonic games, when you play a sonic game you were expecting a fast paced platformer where you don't stop running and jumping until you want to search for power up's, the problem with sonic unleash is that the game is focused much more on the werehog parts of the game which is gonna bored you quick when its kept going and going and going and its so slow...

I only played the ps2 port, the platforming in the werehog part is a mess there, but the daytime of sonic were awesome, I don't know about your thought but I found chip kinda cute.

The PS2 port I never managed to beat because the levels seemed really simple and the constant loads (especially at the beginning... God that tutorial sucked) really put me off, not to mention the collectibles didn't feel rewarding at all.

 

The PS3 version is by far superior in that it's actually fun (imo)

[StrickenBiged]

I tried it on 360. I found it wasn't worth my time once I got to a point where I had to start backtracking for medals. Sorry, I just thought it was too boring to keep going on with, much as I tried to enjoy it.

 

The sections where you played as "normal Sonic" were ok, but the Werehog bits... 

[CaptainAskHole]

[limelight1979]

Sonic Unleashed is the "better" one. 

 

Sonic the Hedgehog 2006 is the pile of poo. 

[Shadiochao]

I think it mostly comes down to whether or not people enjoy the werehog gameplay. It's the high-speed platforming that people expect when playing a Sonic game, so it's no surprise that most people won't be happy when over half of the total gameplay is the complete opposite. I still think it has a lot going for it: Amazing music, distinct level themes, beautiful graphics and a nice level of challenge that's rare for a Sonic game (AKA Eggmanland). It's just a shame that the werehog and the problems with the medals is enough to offset all that.

 

Even though I consider this my favourite Sonic game, whenever I go back to Unleashed I'll almost never play the night stages. I don't dislike them, but it's just not something I'd ever be in a hurry to play again. I wonder if it weren't for the werehog, would people prefer this over Sonic Generations? Personally, I don't think any of the levels in Generations come close to the day stages in Unleashed.

[That_Pterodactyl]

Sonic has been awful since Adventure 2, and even that game was still just a "fun" kind of bad

[yellowwindow7]

The PS2 port I never managed to beat because the levels seemed really simple and the constant loads (especially at the beginning... God that tutorial sucked) really put me off, not to mention the collectibles didn't feel rewarding at all.

 

The PS3 version is by far superior in that it's actually fun (imo)

I did beat the ps2 port, not 100% though, i still haven't unlocked all the movies. the werehog levels is a bit glitchy, the Chinese werehog levels is so annoying! at some of the parts you were required to walk so slowly to avoid falling but werehog sonic on the ps2 port have a bad habit of running, no mater how you move the stick, I think bad programming or the ps2 version is just a Wii washed out port without fully polishing have something to do with the poor controls / delays and terrible platforming. loading screen on the ps2 port is really bad, if its wasn't for sonic 06, sonic unleashed ps2 and maybe Wii version would've won the worst long and too much loading screen on a sonic game To date.

[NibiNoKitsune]

I actually really like this game too, but I also understand some of the negativity about it. It has some excellent aspects, and some not-so-good. There are essentially three parts to the game - day stages, night stages, and hub worlds/missions. My take on it:

 

Good:

• The day stages are, IMO, some of the best 3D sonic levels ever made
• The soundtrack is excellent, as usual
• The controls on day stages are tight and the camera works well
• Beautiful graphics
• Story is adequate (I don't care too much about whether a Sonic game has a good plot - let's be honest: this isn't Uncharted)

Neutral:

• I actually did enjoy the night levels to a degree, but they felt like they didn't really belong in a Sonic game (and as several have said - sort of a God of War knock-off).
• The hub worlds and missions are OK, but rather unmemorable.

Bad:

• While I praised the camera in the day stages, it was awful in the night levels. There were so many times I died simply because I couldn't see what I was doing or the camera was fixed at some bizarre angle giving me no depth perception.
• Likewise, the controls had some issues at night. There were times I was trying to rush through a time trial and I couldn't grab a lever because I wasn't standing in the exact right spot to do so. Also, trying to jump off of climbing poles/icicles/etc is incredibly annoying. There's a delay of a second or more before the game allows you to jump after moving; I must have hit the X button five or six times before actually jumping on several occasions. This combined with the fact that some materials break after just a few seconds led to a number of cheap deaths.

The day part of the game is really fun and for me is enough to overcome the negatives. However, it depends on how you weigh things. Many felt the opposite - the negatives were too much for the positives to counteract them.

Overall, I'd rate Colors higher since it felt a lot like Unleashed with everything bad removed, but I still like this game and do recommend it to people.

 

If you're into trophy hunting, this game is also brutal. I went and played some other stuff because I got so frustrated, then decided to come back and collect some more. I still have three trophies to go before the platinum. Eggmanland hot dog stand missions...f**k that place.

Edited March 19, 2015 by ChicagoRedSox

[ShadowGandalf]

Sonic the Hedgehog 2006 is the pile of poo. 

 

On that I think we can all agree. 06 was the Worst Sonic game EVER. I didn't get far into it before I got rid of it. That says something because I usually stick with games, even when they aren't good, to finish them at least once. But 06, I deemed it unplayable. Awful loading, awful controls, awful everything.

 

If I had to play 06 or Unleashed, I'd choose Unleashed without hesitation. Luckily though, I'll never have to make that choice.

[KirFreecss]

I recently got this game from the ps store because it was just 5€, so I thought about giving  it a chance because I had always been a fan of the hedgehog, despite the bad comments I had always heard about the game. After been playing it for some days, I can say the game itself is good, I like it, Day Sonic is enjoyable, the Sonic we love, with some cool and with good difficult level stages, about the Werehog, well, it's not that I hate it, I'd say it's original and gives the game more gameplay. 

 

So, why is this game bad, you say? It's simply because it's bad done. Have I been the only one who have noticed so much lag in some stages? specially in the werehog ones! (more reason for people to hate it) the fps fall way too much and makes the game a pain, even when you are running in cities the game lags. The reason because this game is bad it's not because of the werehog, or it's gameplay, it's because it is just bad done.

 

It's a pity, I feel like this could have been a good Sonic game, they were doing bad, just if they had dedicated more time to it and give it some love...

[DanZorg420]

I agree i thought unleashed was really good, there were frame drops in a few sections but damn that music was amazing. 

[willmill97]

I personally liked it, but only because it was a very challenging platinum.

[EctoCooler_87]

Now that I finally got it, I'll opine.

 

 

Like many Sonic games then and now, its a bunch of little things that bog the experience down, things that didn't need to be integral to advancing.

 

IE

 

They hubs worlds were interesting/fun diversion, but having them mandatory segments to finding levels, not to mention to in many of them you can actually die? Why? 

Collectng medals could've been a fun sidequest, but actually locking out levels until you collect a certain amount? Again, why?

 

But, to me, the major sin of this game is mapping the boost and the homing attack to the same button.

The BOOST, which literally flings you in the direction you are facing, and the HOMING ATTACK, which is a neccesary tool used to traversing large gaps of pitfalls.

 

And likeKirFreec said, the game plays horribly on the PS3. I mean, when it runs smooth, its beautiful, gorgeous. I'm serious.

 

Problem, it rarely does. Its always hiccupping, lagging, always in a tense situation, always in a place where precision is needed.

[Sir-Syzygy]

The reason I hate this game is that the night time levels with the "Werehog" are really repetitive and boring, plus the platforming is super slippery while somehow having controls feel incredibly stiff. These things being like this are odd since previous titles didn't have such issues to this degree.

 

Edited March 7, 2018 by Crispy78923

[larenga-carp]

Honestly,this is the Best Game on the series so far,the gameplay is great(for both day and night stages),the story works perfectly for Sonic the hedgehog,the soundtrack is great like always,the hub world are superior to the ones on Adventure (they are smaller,so you have all the content not too separated and it feels less empty,unlike Adventure),and the graphics are amazing for 2008,they hold up incredibly. Most of the hate comes from being released shortly after '06. Generations is inferior in almost every way, difficulty is way too easy,the game is shorter,and the story is worst,yet people like it more. I'll give this to generations: framerate and drift work better there, apart from that, unleashed wins in everything.

Edit: yes,mapping homing attack and Boost on the same button is Bad,but i can forgive it because the game is so great.

Edited October 29, 2020 by larenga-carp
Added text

[ultimate_life_f]

On 29/10/2020 at 5:17 PM, larenga-carp said:

Honestly,this is the Best Game on the series so far,the gameplay is great(for both day and night stages),the story works perfectly for Sonic the hedgehog,the soundtrack is great like always,the hub world are superior to the ones on Adventure (they are smaller,so you have all the content not too separated and it feels less empty,unlike Adventure),and the graphics are amazing for 2008,they hold up incredibly. Most of the hate comes from being released shortly after '06. Generations is inferior in almost every way, difficulty is way too easy,the game is shorter,and the story is worst,yet people like it more. I'll give this to generations: framerate and drift work better there, apart from that, unleashed wins in everything.

Edit: yes,mapping homing attack and Boost on the same button is Bad,but i can forgive it because the game is so great.

what are you talking about? this game has awfull controls, Sonic plays better on 06 then on this 1, the level design is pretty mediocre and comparing it to the very good level design of generation is a crime, i have more fun on the night stages even with its bad and boring combat then i do with the day stages with its soap controls with random glitches

[Roxas-blaziken]

Framerate. The fact that it’s uncapped too is either a sign of hubris, or a tight time table for development.