User Score
4.6

Generally unfavorable reviews- based on 336 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 96 out of 336
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  1. KevinR.
    Feb 3, 2007
    4
    OK I am a longtime fan of Sonic, and before i went out and got the game i read both positive and negative reviews. after 2 days of playing it now, there are really awesome aspects to the game, but there are far too many downfalls. I heard about the loading times, but my GOD the loading times are SO MUCH WORSE than i could have imagined. I dont know how they could have made it so poorly. OK I am a longtime fan of Sonic, and before i went out and got the game i read both positive and negative reviews. after 2 days of playing it now, there are really awesome aspects to the game, but there are far too many downfalls. I heard about the loading times, but my GOD the loading times are SO MUCH WORSE than i could have imagined. I dont know how they could have made it so poorly. Literally every quest starts like this > Talk to npc quest giver >>> load for 30 seconds >> npc tells you one more line of information about the quest >>> load for 30 more seconds >> play the quest if you fail, you have to go through all the loading over again. it is unimaginably annoying. on top of that, at 1080i resolution, there is a massive amount of framerate slowdown in even the most obscure, unpopulated areas. when you have 3 or more bad guys on you, its like youre playing in slow motion. and the camera, wow. it can make it impossible to play at parts. you cant see where you need to go, or where the powerups are at. and if this all wasn't enough, the voice acting is just terrible. every time you talk to an NPC they all make a one word sound like "Huh?" or "Heyy!" in a really cheesy ps1 quality sound. ug but the gameplay is really fun when you get the alternate characters. thats about the only really great aspect of the game. I would not recommend this game to anyone, it is not worth buying in any way. if you must play it, please rent it, and thatll still set you back $10 and not worth even that Expand
  2. JoshK.
    May 4, 2007
    4
    What was Sega thinking?! Unlike the 360 version of this game, there is nearly nothing good about this P.O.S. Downsides include muddy, undetailed graphics, long(er) loading screens than the 360 version, and more glitches than the original. And to top it off, this game came out 3 months later after the 360 version did, which was more than enough time for Sonic Team to fix the problems of What was Sega thinking?! Unlike the 360 version of this game, there is nearly nothing good about this P.O.S. Downsides include muddy, undetailed graphics, long(er) loading screens than the 360 version, and more glitches than the original. And to top it off, this game came out 3 months later after the 360 version did, which was more than enough time for Sonic Team to fix the problems of the original for the PS3 version. I don't even think this game is worth a rental. Just skip it and play another Sonic game. Or if you must, and you have a 360, pick up the other version, at least it looks pretty and plays smoother. Expand
  3. Jun 25, 2013
    4
    Sonic is the one franchise I will go out of my way to buy a whole console for anymore. Smash Bros is the only other game that has that distinction. Sonic is a series I love and will continue to. Writing this MANY years after the release of this game seems silly and pointless, but this is a game I feel the need to lampoon for two valid reasons. It had A LOT of potential to be the best thingSonic is the one franchise I will go out of my way to buy a whole console for anymore. Smash Bros is the only other game that has that distinction. Sonic is a series I love and will continue to. Writing this MANY years after the release of this game seems silly and pointless, but this is a game I feel the need to lampoon for two valid reasons. It had A LOT of potential to be the best thing to the franchise, but it failed to deliver. The other reason is because I like to use failures such as this to learn from for future titles in this series or other games. Consider this a teaching and learning exercise for all of us.
    The story is fairly standard with Sonic showing up to save a princess from Robotnik/Eggman who has found an evil magic McGuffin to help him take over the world in his vaguely evil plan. The McGuffin turns out to be a real monster that rebels against him and turns into a bigger monster that will destroy all of reality. Sonic is killed and brought back to life DBZ style just in time to take it a step farther and go Super Saiyan along with his buddies Shadow and Silver. So it is pretty much Sonic Adventure but with an added human-character love interest that gets kind of creepy as well as a new story line that pretty much gives Sonic (Goku) a Trunks character in the way of Silver the Hedgehog.
    Each storyline plays out like a different bad train wreck. Each has their own bugs unique to them and it shows just how rushed this game's production was to have so many ideas and not enough time to polish them and make them really stand out. There were some genuinely good ideas here, and I feel like some were even built off from for the currently good games (like Colors or Generations).
    Sonic plays as per the norm except now his controls are worse. His spindash and homing attack have weirder physics to them. He has special sections called "Mach Speed Zones" where he runs at full speed through parts of levels where hitting an obstacle can send him flying off the stage or just lose his rings. Knowing exactly what is an obstacle and what isn't can be tough at times. Controlling his direction is a bit of a challenge like a pig rapist is a bit on the creepy side. These are essentially the worst parts of the game, often taking all your lives and requiring a full-level restart to actually beat. Tails joins Sonic's storyline as a playable character, giving us the SECOND worst part of the game. He handles poorly in the air. His attacks are both stupid and unreliable. On the ground he's somewhat slow. And we're never given much time as Tails to really get handle for the bad controls anyway. Knuckles also joins the fray, but his controls aren't as offensive and his sections are MUCH MUCH shorter and less numerous.
    Shadow brings some of that "Shadow the Hedgehog" gameplay to the table with some vehicles and guns. However, this time, the dev team decided to save time and effort by combining the two instead of having guns and vehicles being separate things. A good idea in theory, as it would reduce the loading times and lag that this game already has instead of making it worse. But trying to drive these uncontrollable monstrosities and shoot at something is about as easy as a mountain lion without being maimed. Not to mention Shadow's gameplay much slower and, at times, tedious because you have to destroy all the enemies in an area to progress and you don't even get the fun Chaos powers from his own game to at least make it bearable. There are sections where you play as Rogue the Bat and Omega. They aren't terrible. Just weird.
    Lastly, there is Silver. He is probably the best main character to play as simply because combat for his sections is much easier and less stressful. His gameplay is also slower, but that's because his levels focus more on exploration, genuine platforming and (a few times) puzzle solving. In the hands of a dev team that was actually trying or had been giving time to make this fun, this would have been the highlight of an otherwise servicable Sonic game. As it stands, his levels are merely PLAYABLE with heap amounts of to help keep this consistent with the rest of the game. Puzzles are not explained well and even if they're figured out, still require massive amount of trail and error. Combat MUST BE with his powers and he can't do anything without them. And the platforming is sometimes unreliable and can even be broken by using your powers to get to places in unintended ways.
    Sonic 2006 is an example of a rushed game with many bold ideas that could have been one of the best games of all time. But whoever was in charge of putting this together didn't have the time needed to make it work. The result was a sloppy mess of a game and probably the biggest mark against the Sonic franchise entirely. I'm glad to see SOME elements of this game have evolved and made their way into more recent games. And, anything deserves a remake, it's this game. A good version of this would be nice.
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  4. Jun 27, 2015
    4
    Ha ha. This game is so terrible. It took me a month to finally beat it. It gets really boring when you're in Shadow and Silver's campaigns, Sonic's campaign is sorta fun. And the story sucks... but hey, we still have that scene where Shadow kicks Silver in the back of the head to look back on.
  5. Sep 5, 2017
    4
    This was a rushed garbage waiting to happen. If only SEGA allowed more time for the developers to work on, this would've been a decent game. The SUPER glitchy controls to the overall plot, it was very difficult to even finish the game. The plot was messy and the romance between Sonic and Elise was absolute crap. They tried to squish too many characters to the story which made it even moreThis was a rushed garbage waiting to happen. If only SEGA allowed more time for the developers to work on, this would've been a decent game. The SUPER glitchy controls to the overall plot, it was very difficult to even finish the game. The plot was messy and the romance between Sonic and Elise was absolute crap. They tried to squish too many characters to the story which made it even more messier. TBH, the only that made me consider even giving it a 4/10 is the music, crisis city and my childhood. Expand
  6. Mar 9, 2017
    4
    The game itself was not bad ERA PÉSIMO! The game itself would have been a fairly passable game clear if they had finished, the game has many bugs, a story a little loose and was responsible for the decline of one of the most beloved mascots of gaming unfortunately.

    How bad for sonic you do not deserve it friend 4/10
  7. Dec 16, 2017
    4
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. [Just a heads up that this review WILL contain spoilers. If you want to avoid them, which I don't know why you would, this review is not for you.]

    I have been a Sonic fan for many years, and very little games have disappointed me. However, this is unfortunately one of those games that carried so much potential, and yet was wasted in execution. Due to SEGA rushing themselves to get this out for Sonic's 15th birthday, the gameplay is simply a broken mess.
    However, the story can be really interesting. Well, Shadow and Silver's stories, anyway. Sonic's story is based around rescuing Princess Elise III of Soleanna. Now, I don't mean to offend Elise, but can we compare how many times she's been kidnapped in this ONE GAME ALONE compared to the amount of times Princess Peach Toadstool was kidnapped?
    Shadow's story shows him now working for G.U.N, but is trapped in a dilemma created by Mephiles (more on him soon) that his friends will eventually abandon him, leaving him to face the world alone. 3 words for Sonic Team - OW THE EDGE.
    Silver's story makes him the most developed - as a fighter from the future, he is tricked by Mephiles to attempt defeating Sonic in order to change his future. I just love how he's so intrigued by the atmosphere of the present. It's adorable. But his gameplay still sucks. I don't have time for your apples, Silver.
    And speaking of Mephiles, let's talk about him. No doubt, he is the real villain of this game, and he is epic! He is the mind of Solaris, separated from the god's body known as Iblis. In order to reunite with Iblis, Mephiles has to release the Flames of Disaster from within Elise by making her cry. This is why he tricks Silver into thinking Sonic is the Iblis Trigger, as if he knows Elise will form an attachment to Sonic and therefore cry when Mephiles... let's just say he accomplishes his goal in a historic execution that is then crushed by the cringiest scene in Sonic history. You guys know the one.

    But in my opinion, this is a game that contained high potential for the Blue Blur, but because of the rushed development, the departure of Yuji Naka, and Sonic Team split in half to work on 2 different games at the same time, we ended up with a broken mess. It's not Sonic's worst game (*cough* Sonic Boom *cough*) but it's still pretty bad. My recommendation for this game would be for you to form your own opinion on this game through experience. You'll either like it, hate it, or just feel mixed about it.
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  8. Dec 14, 2017
    4
    This game has nothing good, except the music, atleast it gives me a reason to give it 4/10 instead of a 1/10.
    This game looked so great, that's the ultimate proof that you must NEVER judge a book based on its cover.
    The least annoying story between the 3 stories is probably Sonic's one.
  9. Jun 20, 2018
    4
    this game is full of glitches and the story is awful its just the same thing over and over and a terrible camera this game is not good and is not worth 10 dollars do not buy this game
  10. Jan 18, 2019
    4
    Si bien la historia es mas o menos profunda y la banda sonora es de una calidad excepcional, esta plagado de fallos de programación por todas partes
  11. Oct 22, 2020
    4
    It sucks that Silver debuted in this game since he's pretty hated and it's been wonky to fit him into Sonic's universe because of it. I at least like some of the soundtracks in the game which're memorable to me. His World, All Hail Shadow, Dreams Of An Absolution, White Acropolis, Flame Core, Aquatic Base... I love 'em so much. The few CGI cutscenes were real nice, but the others were likeIt sucks that Silver debuted in this game since he's pretty hated and it's been wonky to fit him into Sonic's universe because of it. I at least like some of the soundtracks in the game which're memorable to me. His World, All Hail Shadow, Dreams Of An Absolution, White Acropolis, Flame Core, Aquatic Base... I love 'em so much. The few CGI cutscenes were real nice, but the others were like watching stoic Power Rangers. The story was something outta the ordinary from what Sonic usually does, but I wouldn't completely knock the idea though it needed some changes. However, it's all over the place with inconsistencies among other things. The gameplay speaks for itself and it's sad that the development went downhill for it.

    Also, that one scene where Sonic is revived by a kiss from Elise (well, specifically the Chaos Emeralds)... that wasn't necessary and it's personally not even because of the whole "human × anthropomorphic" thing. It was just pointless really, especially when Knuckles prolly could've did a chant and accomplished the same thing, not to mention Amy's hilarious would-be reaction to that. What that whole sub-plot should've been was one about inspiring Elise to live up to her title as Princess of Soleanna, if anything.
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  12. Mar 17, 2020
    4
    After a while, I understand that this game is incomplete and crooked **** Of course, not so much **** to be the worst in the series, because there are advantages, for example, quite a good plot, quite long and varied locations, a good soundtrack, good main characters, and Elise here is not bad, character animation is not bad, great, as always, Japanese voice acting.
    But the damned and
    After a while, I understand that this game is incomplete and crooked **** Of course, not so much **** to be the worst in the series, because there are advantages, for example, quite a good plot, quite long and varied locations, a good soundtrack, good main characters, and Elise here is not bad, character animation is not bad, great, as always, Japanese voice acting.
    But the damned and **** technical component destroys the desire to play it. Bad controls, a very strange camera, lags and slowdowns in the PlayStation 3 version, an infinite number of bugs in the Xbox 360 version. Add the bad acting of American actors, who clearly did it on get away, some unnecessary and unfinished gameplay elements. And it turns out we have a complete disaster. Although, it was worse, and even now some games in the series are much worse than this ****
    In short, the game gets from me:
    4.8 out of 10.
    (If there are errors, then I'm sorry, I used a translator)
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  13. Jul 21, 2020
    4
    While it is very pretty and some of the gameplay styles are interesting, but that doesn't excuse Sonic 06's very complicated and nonsensical plot, and the overabundance of glitches and bugs that have clearly not been tested.
  14. Aug 31, 2020
    4
    Лагучий оргызок программного кода - вот как можно коротко описать эту игру и от части версию, т к на Xbox 360 никаких проседаний нет. Единственный и то не законченный плюс игры - сюжет. Всё остальное это сущий кошмар. Анимации в этой игре это какой то пи***ц. Просто подойдите и поговорите с каким нибудь жителем. Тогда вы узреете всю 'прелесть' анимации в этой игре. Графика тут впринципеЛагучий оргызок программного кода - вот как можно коротко описать эту игру и от части версию, т к на Xbox 360 никаких проседаний нет. Единственный и то не законченный плюс игры - сюжет. Всё остальное это сущий кошмар. Анимации в этой игре это какой то пи***ц. Просто подойдите и поговорите с каким нибудь жителем. Тогда вы узреете всю 'прелесть' анимации в этой игре. Графика тут впринципе неплоха, но анимация просто убивает её в пух и прах, а теперь самое сладкое - геймплей. Персонажи слишком резко управляются, чуть троните стик влево или вправо и можете улететь в воду или пропасть. Руж почему то хрен отстыкуется от стен, а Наклз литает на слишком малькие расстояния и врагов бьёт так будто у него кулаки размером 1 миллиметр. Шедоу раздражает своей боёвкой, у Омеги обычные снаряды почему то улетают в землю, Тейлз летает как алкоголик, но как ни странно на скоростных секциях за Соника я не ощущал большого дискомфорта да и он пожалуй самый играбельный персонаж из всех. Что там с Сильвером? Это Наклз скрещённый с Тейлзом. Литает на расстояние 1-го метра, пьяный и 1-номиллиметровые руки. Если бы Sega не поторопилась это могла бы быть лучшая игра в серии, но не судьба. Expand
  15. Aug 10, 2021
    4
    Pass away from this game! the story sucks, the gameplay sucks! and the game camera...... the camera.... I won't even comment. only play this game if you want to laugh with the glitchs
  16. Apr 1, 2023
    4
    I'm surprised that I don't HATE this game. I don't like the missions, there's the constant lagging, and the glitches. But once you get into a stage, you start having some fun. The issue though is that the moment it gets going it either stops or loads the second part. Also, the mach-run sections. The story is okay, but inconsistent.
  17. BenD.
    Jul 7, 2007
    3
    If you want a Sonic game that's actually GOOD, there are several options: 1) dust off your Sega Genesis and fire up Sonic 1 or 2, 2) dust off your Dreamcast and fire up Sonic Adventure, or 3) get Sonic and the Secret Rings for the Wii. Sure, all three options involve neglecting your 360 or PS3, but it's better than TORTURING them with this piece of garbage.
  18. May 13, 2011
    3
    It has some good ideas, but unfortunately, Sonic the Hedgehog is just too overly flawed. In stead of giving fans of the 15-year-old Sonic series the best, SEGA gave them the worst. Pros: The best visuals in a Sonic game to date; fantastic cutscenes; some of the Sonic stages are fast and impressive, while Shadow's and Silver's offer some unique adventure elements as well. Cons: Far too manyIt has some good ideas, but unfortunately, Sonic the Hedgehog is just too overly flawed. In stead of giving fans of the 15-year-old Sonic series the best, SEGA gave them the worst. Pros: The best visuals in a Sonic game to date; fantastic cutscenes; some of the Sonic stages are fast and impressive, while Shadow's and Silver's offer some unique adventure elements as well. Cons: Far too many glitches and bugs; terrible and often unresponsive controls; peculiar camera; dreadfully long loading screens; and overall, the graphics are disappointing and lackluster. Expand
  19. Mar 24, 2011
    3
    Not the platforming game of the 90s that I remembered. My wife picked it out of a bargin bin for our kids. While the cutscenes are stunning to see on an 52" HDTV, that's about all that's entertaining about this game that tries to develope an Final Fantasy format. My kids don't care to play it past the first hour/ hour and a half. Good thing it didn't cost us much.
  20. May 19, 2011
    3
    Sonic the Hedgehog isn't just the worst Sonic game to date... it's also the worst game of 2006. Pros: Fantastic FMVs; overall, there's a lot of variety in the gameplay. Cons: Far too many glitches to bugs; unresponsive controls and camera; poor level design; it has one of the most cringe-worthy kisses in gaming history, as well as a ridiculous storyline.
  21. Sep 12, 2015
    3
    wow this game was stupid! And really what's with the unnecessary interspecies love interest?!?! Is it always like in her 20s and sonic is 15 so I guess that's statutory rape? XD besides the OBVIOUS unnecessary love interest this game is a glitched out mess that was obviously rushed, funny how they start with the very first cut scene being a CD I cut scene which looked amazing and then youwow this game was stupid! And really what's with the unnecessary interspecies love interest?!?! Is it always like in her 20s and sonic is 15 so I guess that's statutory rape? XD besides the OBVIOUS unnecessary love interest this game is a glitched out mess that was obviously rushed, funny how they start with the very first cut scene being a CD I cut scene which looked amazing and then you go to the crappy gameplay Cut scene that shows up how terrible the graphics are. Fatal frame based on a true story for the PS2 came out in 2001 and they had much better graphics than this. The story was not interesting, playing the same story as three different hedgehogs was not interesting, the love interest was UNNECESSARY, "I wasn't "fast and edgy", and overall this game is a complete flop. I can't see how the sonic fanboys can say this game is "perfect" when it's not it is horribly flawed and it's a glitched out mess. Example: you can't walk in a straight line on the edge of a sidewalk without it getting stuck, if you stand still your AI companions will disappear and respond in their death animation, The environments were completely Bland and low textured and so were the people and monsters. you can really tell this game is rush if they use the same monsters for both Iblis and you can really tell this game is rush if they use the same monsters for both Iblis and mephalis but change the colors so you can tell which group of monsters belong to who. if you're going to bite his game you're better off using the CD shiny side up as a coaster so we can get scratched up and destroyed. Expand
  22. Jan 5, 2015
    3
    Garbage bin material, rushed piece of trash and bugzone 101 are the subtitles this "reboot/not reboot" deserves. if you are the kind of person that breaks things in frustration DO NOT TOUCH THIS PRODUCT.
  23. Jul 6, 2015
    3
    As a huge Sonic fan i must say this game is a massive disappointment, not only the problems of camera are awful, the game is unfinished and the story is confusing as hell, the worst game of the blue blur
  24. Jan 21, 2016
    3
    Im here to tell you all this game sucks.the glitches,and the freaking silver boss battle the only good thing about this game is the music which i agree is better than ROL but the cgi are good,and the cutscenes(not the cgi) is just ps2 era,what i really hate about this game is the beastiality eww.Please Do not buy this game 3/10 nothing else to say except ITS NO USE.
  25. Sep 8, 2017
    3
    Sonic the Hedgehog 2006: Jesus were to begin... ok lets start off with the positives: enjoyable soundtrack, not one of my favorites but still solid, Graphics are pretty nice and at least a decent number of interesting of ideas. Ok now for the... negatives *sigh* well I guess we can start off with horrendous story, disgusting voice acting, poor collision detection, sooooo many scriptedSonic the Hedgehog 2006: Jesus were to begin... ok lets start off with the positives: enjoyable soundtrack, not one of my favorites but still solid, Graphics are pretty nice and at least a decent number of interesting of ideas. Ok now for the... negatives *sigh* well I guess we can start off with horrendous story, disgusting voice acting, poor collision detection, sooooo many scripted scenes, glitches and frustrating mechanics, unnecessary large hub worlds, very sensitive controls and overall not a very fun game, unless if you like rushed games for a holiday I can't recommend this game to anyone. Expand
  26. Feb 6, 2018
    3
    The Games Music was one of the best in the Sonic Series, staying on a comfortable 5th Place on my Top 10 Sonic Soundtrack,The Graphics were a Step-up from Heroes ,For Sonic's First HD System Release I came into 06 with so much hope but left with mixed emotions,The Game itself is messed up real bad Glitches after Glitches after Glitches,There is not a single good thing about the gameplayThe Games Music was one of the best in the Sonic Series, staying on a comfortable 5th Place on my Top 10 Sonic Soundtrack,The Graphics were a Step-up from Heroes ,For Sonic's First HD System Release I came into 06 with so much hope but left with mixed emotions,The Game itself is messed up real bad Glitches after Glitches after Glitches,There is not a single good thing about the gameplay for this game The controls are awful and Sonic and Co. is incredibly slow,Poor Amy ,She was climbing herself out of her Sonic Adventure Gameplay with Sonic Adventure 2 then Heroes but she was horribly reduced to nothing because of this game Expand
  27. Sep 18, 2021
    3
    Este jogo parece que está inacabado, lançaram sem terminar, tá todo bugado, os controles nem se falam, os gráficos são uma porcaria, e o final....
  28. Oct 11, 2022
    3
    A total mess from a gameplay, presentation and story perspective. Unsalvageable.
  29. Oct 30, 2022
    3
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. In shadow story in kingdom valley your supposed to guide rouge somewhere and the worst part is massive lag, black screen, green screen and a little bit of flickering lights which makes it unplayable because you can’t see where your supposed to go during rouge part of kingdom valley Expand
  30. TonyD.
    Feb 4, 2007
    2
    When I opened the box. I was very excited. I have played a demo of this game and I was looking forward to it's fast moving levels. But instead I am served with a dull boring game. Right away when you have control of Sonic the Frame rate of the game begins to slow the game down at very random moments. The city looks like something out of the original Dreamcast version of Sonic When I opened the box. I was very excited. I have played a demo of this game and I was looking forward to it's fast moving levels. But instead I am served with a dull boring game. Right away when you have control of Sonic the Frame rate of the game begins to slow the game down at very random moments. The city looks like something out of the original Dreamcast version of Sonic Adventure. Even the first action level uses the "whale is chasing me " scenario from that as well. With the power that the PS3 can provide I was disappointed to see that SONIC TEAM did not take advantage of it. Rent if you must but dont be like me and waste your money on this mundane game. Expand
Metascore
43

Generally unfavorable reviews - based on 17 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 0 out of 17
  2. Negative: 13 out of 17
  1. Game Informer
    68
    In the end, Sonic nuts will love it. Everyone else should stay away.
  2. Sonic the Hedgehog may share its name with the Genesis original, but this game is even more broken than most of the other recent Sonic games have been.
  3. If you're willing to withstand the constant onslaught of glaring issues regarding the control, you might be able to revel in some of those aforementioned highlights, but it won't last. In the end, you'll find yourself wishing for the good ol' 16-bit days.