This game is EXTREMELY overrated. The daytime stages are linear, claustrophobic, and overall boring. The game just holds your hand and just has you keep going, and going, and going, and then occasionally quickstep, drift, and jump to prevent getting hit. This game has you do SO little. In the daytime stages, that is. In the nighttime stages, while they ARE too slow, they actually have youThis game is EXTREMELY overrated. The daytime stages are linear, claustrophobic, and overall boring. The game just holds your hand and just has you keep going, and going, and going, and then occasionally quickstep, drift, and jump to prevent getting hit. This game has you do SO little. In the daytime stages, that is. In the nighttime stages, while they ARE too slow, they actually have you DO something, and their is ACTUAL platforming. But despite these nighttime stages being the best part of this game, they just DON'T belong in a Sonic game. These nighttime stages have you constantly fighting hoards of enemies like a Kratos from God of War. So with the boring, linear, and overall uninspired level design that just holds your hand the whole way through, and the slow, out of place brawling sections, this game is officially my LEAST FAVORITE SONIC GAME. I know Sonic 06 sucked, but at least you DID something in that game, and it was designed LIKE a platformer, (Although they failed) Now that the gameplay is out of the way, let's move on with the story. Sonic crashes Eggman's party once again, and chases the big bad Doctor to his interplanetary space ship. After transforming into Super Sonic with the mystical gems known as the "Chaos Emeralds" and destroying Dr. Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik's robots, Eggman begs for forgiveness, leading Sonic into a trap. Eggman drains the power of the Chaos Emeralds, reverting Sonic back into his normal blue self. Eggman uses the Emeralds power for his laser which he uses to crack the world into seven sections. The Earth's core is exposed, and an ancient creature who was trapped in the Earth escapes. This creature is known as "Dark Gaia". Eggman's plan is to harness this creature's power, (Considering how WELL that plan worked before) and rule the world in order to build his Evil utopia, "Eggman land". (Creative name, I know) However, Sonic absorbs Gaia's energy and transforms into a werehog. Yes, a WEREHOG. As in, whenever he sees the moon, he turns into this strong, furry, huge beast with stretchy arms. After falling to the Earth and surviving, he finds out that a little flying fairy dog, thing, has been knocked out. Sonic wonders if he has knocked out this tiny creature, and proceeds to try to wake him up. Startled by Sonic's strange appearance, the strange creature runs away. Sonic tells the creature that there's nothing to worry about, and this creature decides to trust him. Soon, the Sun rises, and Sonic is reverted back to the blue form that we're all familiar with. Sonic says that he will help this creature, and after walking around town for anyone who might know him, Sonic decides to name this tiny thing "Chip". After exploring the town and it's incredibly linear and confined areas, Sonic and Chip find out that in order to restore the continents, they must place the Chaos Emeralds in shrines all around the world. After realizing this, the two find Tails the Fox, Sonic's long time best friend, who tags along for the ride, and travel all around the world searching for these shrines to stop Dr. Eggman's plot, defeat Dark Gaia, and restore the world to it's original state. I can see a LOT of effort and thought put into this story. Although I prefer Sonic storylines to be a bit more simple, a bit of seriousness can never hurt, and there are a few Comedy scenes that balance out the seriousness. Finally, the graphics and visuals. The visuals in this game are STUNNING. The humans aren't realistic, and don't TRY to be realistic, so they feel a bit less out of place with the Giant mutant animals. The stages are beautiful to look at, and the character models are very polished, and this game looks beautiful in HD. But despite the stunning visuals and amazing storyline, the gameplay is just too shallow and too out of place to make this game any fun. Sonic's levels shouldn't be confined, they should be open and free. You should be able to fully EXPLORE the world around you, and not be trapped on ONE path which will occasionally branch out into two or three pathways. The funny thing is, that the HUB WORLDS in this game allow more exploration then the actual levels themselves. In conclusion, this game, while the story had a lot of effort put into it, and the visuals are very pretty to look at, the gameplay, and the level design is just shallow and boring in the daytime stages, and out of place during the Nighttime stages. This is, in my opinion, the WORST Sonic game in terms of level design and gameplay. While the story is a grand step up from games like Sonic 2006, and Shadow The Hedgehog, this game just offers you nothing to do half the time, and the brawling sections in the Nighttime stages can get very repetitive after a while. This is the most overrated, over-hyped, and overly loved game in Sonic history. If you're looking for a Sonic game with some thought put into it, DON'T get Sonic Unleashed. I'd suggest getting Sonic Generations or Colors. I give this game a 2 out of 10.… Expand