So I played SONIC UNLEASHED For The First Time... 

It's nice to come up for air with some modern Sonic titles. May grind a few out before I tackle -peak fiction- Shadow The Hedgehog.

I think generations is smoother and has less janky things like the drifting, but still I find the boost levels from unleashed MUCH more grand and fun. It also pushed me to really try to get s-ranks, it looks a lot better, has more personality and it seems like the budget was 5 times as big. I feel like sonic unleashed is the last big AAA effort and sonic team just gave up after the unfair reception

The NPCs in Unleashed looked like a natural progression of the models from SA2, im glad they went back to semi cartoony vs super realism.

Unleashed's charisma is peak Sonic in my opinion. I love the pixar-like art direction it has going. It works to portray realistic environments without making Sonic seem out of place (unlike an upcoming current gen game i know)

22:21 Is nobody gonna mention how on point that Chip impression was?

I love Unleshed and miss so much these dark age stories. Just imagine what Forces might have been with an Unleashed-like writting. I see how people can find Chip annoying, personally I find him endearing, but that's also thanks to the CGI animated shorts. Story-wise, I'm cautiously optimistic about Frontiers. With Ian Flynn as the writer, we might have a small return to the more serious formula

Sonic unleashed was legit the LAST game that really gave me a WOW I got to play this reaction. so it was definitely one of my favorite top tier titles.

This was one of the first games I ever played. Definitely a big part of my childhood. I remember having nothing but fun playing this game

This is definitely a based MrMattyPlays moment 😎 edit: your Chip impression is SCARILY good

Fun Fact: the whole 'drop some rings instead of all of them' damage system originated in Shadow the Hedgehog as a way to compensate for gunshots.

This game really needed just a few things to be at least a strong 8/10: -the 60fps boost, which is already available on Xbox Series S and X; -place the homing attack back to the jump button; -an option to disable the Werehog combat music; -and the option to create more than 1 save. I wouldn't even want a graphic upgrade, because Sega would probably break the game and mess with the gourgeous graphics and lightning.

I honestly quite enjoyed the werehog stages, it was after all my introduction to the whole action fighting games, it was my first best ‘en up styled game and it gave me some great appreciation for those games

Unleashed imo got a ton of recognition when the generations mod of it came out. The levels are great, the werehog just isn't what a lot of people want from a sonic game.

Sonic Unleashed is my favourite game. I know it isn't perfect, and I understand why people don't like it. But I just love it. The only changes I'd make to the game are very minor post-game things. I'd put Chip's ring on Sonic's character model, and I'd make the final state of the world map fully restored. And even then, those changes aren't necessary because the 'state' of the game in the postgame is just before you go to Eggmanland anyway.

Unleashed has the best boost stages to date! So wide open and the camera being close to sonic gives it such a fun immersive feel. Also some of the devs who did Mario Odyssey worked on this game so the polish is understandable.

Definitely one of my childhood favs Sonic game. I never got to finish it as a kid but I got it digitally on the Series X and later on they patched both Unleashed and Generations with 60fps patch which is such an amazing thing. I’ve not played it much but I’m gonna finish it now after seeing your video.

Man the Dark Gaia boss fight looked so different from the Wii version. I don't remember it super well but I don't think it had as much movement especially not around a big shield as Super Sonic. It was just flying towards his eyes in the Wii version I think. Also I did know about the open areas for the different continents but in the Wii version, all the continents are played in a visual novel style way I guess. This game is certainly interesting

This game is still one of my favorite childhood video games of all time, despite what people say about it. It will always hold a special place in my heart. Also, Endless Possibilities is the best Sonic song ever right next to Escape From The City.

By far my favorite Sonic game, but also what I would consider the absolute best Sonic game. The music is top notch, story is fantastic, love the characters, and the gameplay is just the best it's ever been even to this day. Only major problem I have is the boost and homing attack button being on the same button, but it doesn't screw me over too much, it's just annoying when it does

While everyone else's English voices are on point, I recommend watching the Japanese dubs of the cutscenes to see if getting a Chip that sounds like a little kid instead of a middle aged man will help endear him to you a bit more. Also, I think that Black Knight is the last Jason Griffith Sonic, and arguably has the best version of Sonic's personality and the best writing in the series thus far.

If Sonic Generations didn't exist Unleashed would easily be my favorite 3-D Sonic game. For everything thing it does wrong there are 3-5 things it does brilliantly that I don't think get enough credit. Not as big a fan of Unwiished, but it's last boss is way better than the HD version. The final boss in that version is eldritch horror Punchout.

19:42 "Low-key torture scene for Werehog Sonic". When you realise that Unleashed subtly shows Sonic in a no-escape situation that results in him becoming the Werehog, whereas in Forces, Knuckles states that Sonic has been captured and tortured for six months but when we next see Sonic is as if nothing at all happened that would suggest that narrative. Show, don't tell, is maybe the lesson here for storytelling in future Sonic games? Great review here though. I loved the daytime stages but the Werehog did feel tedious by the end of my playthrough. I loved the story and music, and did like Chip & Pickles though. Agree with bringing back Jason Griffith, this game and his final appearance in Sonic and the Black Knight are the highlights of his performance in the games and I think he had the perfect voice for the character.

I see the Werehog stages as a pallet cleanser from the day stages. When you get done with that long beat ‘em up experience no matter if you like the Werehog or not, it’s gonna make the day stages so good to go back to after going through such a different gameplay style. Great job on this video man.

A couple things. First: Chip didn't die, he just went back to sleep for the next million years until Dark Gaia awakens again. Second: Jason Griffith's last performance as Sonic was actually in Sonic & the Black Knight, which is canon to the main series as of Sonic Generations. And his final words in that game were just so good

I was so happy to hear your comments on Jason Griffith! I agree, he really nailed sonic.

This is personally my favorite Sonic game. The challenging aspect of the game is probably my favorite part, it just takes so much skill and time to S rank some stages. Except when you did eventually obtain that S rank, it's a feeling like no other. Great video, I can't wait for your reviews of Shadow The Hedgehog and Sonic Colors, those two games are almost complete opposites in tone and both have some substantial gameplay differences.

The Unleashed intro cutscene is the best in any Sonic game ever, goated

I don't care about reviews or anything, i loved both day stages and night stages as a kid, this game is a banger and no one can convince otherwise

I'm really happy that you have enjoyed another Sonic game man! Unleashed is definitely my second favorite Sonic game only behind adventure 2. It holds a special place for me. And the game is probably the hardest modern Sonic game out there. So no shame at all for finding it hard cause it will bust even a Sonic Veterans' balls. But hey I can't wait see more of the blue blur from you! It would be cool seeing you tackle the Wii version maybe one day. It's truly a different beast. It was developed by Dimps the guys behind the Advance and Rush games.

Man I'm glad you enjoyed it! It's funny going back to forums from when this game released and people just didn't know how good they had it.

YES, every track in this game BANGS! Many people loved Unleashed when it came out honestly. Though it was a game with many flaws it was a huge step forward in the next evolution of Sonic that lead to Colors and Generations. Granted, when most people think of the good parts of Sonic Unleashed, they're thinking of the daytime stages rather than the nighttime stages or even hub world exploration... which makes up barely a third of the game. Similar to the adventure games, while many of the fans praise, it's mostly for a small bit of the game that most people praise.

While I’ll never be a sonic fan, I do enjoy your videos. I like your passion, explanation of game mechanics and cuts with gameplay footage. Keep doing awesome work!

To be real this is the most fun I had playing a sonic game. The sonic sections are perfect and the wearhog sections are fun as hell. A friend got me it for my birthday on PS3 and I enjoyed the hell out of it.

Chip didn’t die, I’m pretty sure he just returned to the earth’s core cause dark gaia got defeated. So he’ll return in a million years when dark gaia awakens

How you reacted to the music at 15:23 put a huge smile on my face xD the music in this game is like non other I love it

It's great to have a respected reviewer like yourself on our side. Sonic games are far from perfect, but they ooze charm and are generally unique from entry to entry.

When I was a kid, my parents rented a Sega Genesis from Rent-a-Center (yeah, this is a real story), and we had original Sonic with it. Still one of my favorites. I've played a smattering of modern Sonic titles, and I liked "Unleashed" the most, even though I didn't finish it. As always, thanks for the review, Matty.

Some fun fact about Sonic unleashed -Unleashed was supposed to be the third entry to the sonic adventure sage and it was supposed to be called Sonic world adventure - The reason why the reason why the intro is so we'll made it because unleashed was supposed to be a movie and this was the only thing they worked on but then they decide to tun into a full game

Great video and I agreed so hard with everything you said about the battle music!

Idk if anyone else said but this game actually came out before colors so it was the first take on the 3D boost gameplay, some points in the vid made it sound like this was a second go at it. Great review!

Two small corrections: sonic and the black knight is the last sonic game with jason, not unleashed, and also chip doesn't die at the end, he just goes back to hibernating with dark gaia

I think what makes the Werehog special to me is how they get to the core of what Sonic is really all about. Normally in stories when the hero has a corrupt evil side to them, it’s the purity of the their heart that makes them incorruptible and not susceptible to any dark influences. That their purity is what saved them and nothing else. Not to say having a pure character is bad, just that it’s been used too often in stories that it comes off as lazy if used poorly. Sonic initially thinks that it was because of Chip’s power as Light Gaia that kept Sonic from losing himself during the night, but that wasn’t the case. Chip states that Sonic remained in control as a Werehog because he’s the kind of person who is self assured and doesn’t doubt himself even in times of hardship. That no matter what befalls Sonic or how he is challenged, he remains confident in who he is and do what he believes is right. It’s funny to think that the one element of this game that was lambasted for being very un-Sonic like, helped emphasize the core of who Sonic really is.

Unleashed wasn’t Jason Griffith’s last sonic game. If you want an even better performance, watch the Black Knight cutscenes. They get Sonics character so right and he sounds absolutely perfect.

Sonic Unleashed is a game that I honestly wish would get a sequel. It'll never happen but I think you could do more with Werehog Sonic. Hell you could turn Knuckles into a Were-Echidna. You could give werehog forms to other characters like Tails, Shadow, Blaze.

If you're looking for a good Sonic story, the one I'd point to is definitely Sonic and the Black Knight. The majority of the fanbase agree that SatBK had the best characterisation for Sonic, and that's kinda what sold me on the layers and depth he has as a character, it really doubles down on that teenage shounen vibe Sonic has in this era. The actual buildup of the story and Adventure influence is pretty appealing to me, too, so if you're interested in the story-telling aspect of the series -- Sonic and the Black Knight has my vote. Loving the content, btw. Looking forward to seeing more 👍

Really appreciate what you had to say in general about this game. Just very understanding of where it stands and how it progresses the boost system throughout the other games, really neat stuff. Something I would like to mention is for the final boss in the Wii/PS2 version (SD version for short), it is actually way more fun fighting Dark Gaia with the Gaia Colossus because it is essentially punch out and Super Sonic is more enjoyable since it's on you to collect many rings like in S3&K Doomsday Zone and to damage Perfect Gaia yourself without any quick time events. There is more I can say about the SD version like it's pacing without needing any medals, collectables, and gameplay but wanted to mention the final boss the most.

I had many of the same opinions as you. I went into this expecting a masterpiece since the Sonic community now considers it one of the better entries and... it's a little more jank than I expected. That being said, I hated this game early on but by the end I absolutely loved it. It's extremely replayable and some of those S ranks are tough

The intro cinematic is god tier.

22:20 That threw me off lol, best Chip impersonation hahahaha

Definitely my favorite Modern Sonic game. I really hope Frontiers can top it, but we shall see.

If I had to explain my history with Sonic it would be Sonic 2: Was my first game Sonic Unleaded: Got me hyped up for a game for the first time Sonic Colors: Made me a fan Sonic Generations: Made me a Sonic fan Sonic Adventure 2 &Sonic 3&K: Made me a die-hard Sonic fan

This and Adventure 2 are my favorite Sonic games. I got a Series S just for this game and Skyrim with mods. 🥰

Favorite jewel of the modern era (boost era) The over-the-top and crystal-clear opening was one of the reasons why i love this game. Daytime action stages is amazing and challenging, especially Jungle Joyride stage, wish is my personal favorite. Not even Forces wasn't be able to top this.

Finally ! I'm so happy to see people discovering and enjoying what is, to me, the best 3D Sonic of all time ! It took time, but better than never.

Unleashed will never get old definitely still one of my favorite sonic games

Great, awesome and fair review, ( subscribers after watching). This is my favorite modern sonic game, I agree with some of the issues but I can’t help but love it😂😂😂 But definitely sonic generations controls better, if we ever get a remake of unleashed, we need generations’ tight controls.

Ian Flynn is writing is very mature with amazing dialogue in the comics, so you can see why we were so happy when we learned that he was writing Frontiers. He said he brought back the more mature vibes, so I have faith that the story/dialogue will be the best part about the game

I first played sonic unleashed in 2013 i really hope it's gets remade soon.

I loved this game growing up and I'm so happy I can play it today if I wish but this game is what got me hooked into sonic

Glad to see you enjoying these sonic games and even though i felt the werehog could be replaced with knuckles i still loved playing this game over and over (mostly the day levels) and the music kicks ass!

My #1 fav sonic game ever! I remember see gameplay when I was in kindergarten being so amazing at the graphics/gameplay (which still hold up to this day) coming after sonic 06, which I personally liked. I remember begging my dad after school to buying me this game and being the happiest kid ever! I hope they port/remaster (obviously the xbox version) to ps5 and pc with 4K/60

Just a few details, this wasn't Jason Griffith's last Sonic game. It was Sonic and the Black Knight. It was also the last time Sonic tried to have a more serious story. Also, you are right on how Sonic became the werehog.

21:41 Close, but not Jason’s last performance. You gotta check out the storybook titles. Yeah, Secret Rings is frustrating at times but underrated for how many concepts it created for the franchise, like alternate versions of characters. In terms of Jason Griffin specifically, his final who-rah and what many consider as Game Sonic’s defining character showcase, is Black Knight. Gameplay wise, Black Knight is a significant improvement of Secret Rings.

I remember the completionist saying that the ps3 version had horrendous frame rate issues . I played the 360 version on the vanilla console and didn't experience that much lag as far as I remember

I Remember getting this for Christmas in 2008 for ps2. I wasn’t able to fully appreciate it at the time bc I was 8 and the game was really text heavy. Now that I’m 22, I would love to go back and replay this. I remember having so much fun for what I did play, but never really finished it :(

Sonic unleashed is amazing! The sense of speed and fast paced environment design makes it a g.o.a.t. especially when you master a level, blasting through it at top speed is so fun.

Probably my favorite sonic game! It was so different for the time and felt fresh. Played it on the ps3 and wii

So I saw goatse for the first time.... (Matty soystares at goatse in the thumbnail of the video)

The very first console game I played was Sonic Heroes, and I remember smashing out a bunch of replays of Unleashed on the Official Xbox Magazine demo disk some years later 😂 never picked up the full version though

I just replayed this litterally this week

Sonic Unleashed is One of my Favorite Games in the Franchise other than 06 and Generations,this is the Faster we even when and while it's Cartoony it's Deep and Emotional,plus Endless Possibilities is the Best Sonic Song Ever.

16:31 it already has a moding scene in the original x360 (yeah need to mod the console), and i actually play with the mod that removes the battle music, and 20 minutes of cool edge night is one of the best things in any sonic game. In regards of the whole thing, you were spot on with almost everything i think about unleashed. At the time i didn't like how werehog stages were big and i was left desiring to play more of sonic stages, but nowadays i absolutely adore them (specially with the no battle theme mod lol) cuz the platforming bits are trully well made and creative. I love sonic for the speeding by the level type of structure and it's characters, but the why unleashed is my favorite 3d game (yup even over generations) is because the werehog portions tap in the stuff that made me fall in love with mario games, the awesome level design and creative ideas. Like windmill isle was neat and all, but when i got to rooftop run night and we have to make a whole journey towards the tower, than climb it from the inside, and than solve a puzzle to use it's clock hands as platforms! my god i could have a whole sonic team game based only on what they did there... and levels only got better and more creative!

Sonic colors came after unleashed. Unleashed was the first 3d boost game.

It’s my favorite sonic game it’s always been my favorite this game and colors were the reason I got into the series

havent been following sonic for like 2 years now and its cool ppl found out that unleashed was actually pretty fun

Even as a child I knew this game was amazing, imagine my confusion after seeing reviews back then

Just imagine if this was the review the game got back in 2008, glad it's finally getting the recognition it always deserved but if this came out back then Sonic could've been a lot different from how the current state of the games are.

this game is a huge role of my childhood. i can definitely say that this is peak sonic.

21:01 no you're right. It IS because of Dark Gaia energy. Ever notice that during the final cutscene Dark Gaia pulls the purple energy out of Werehog Sonic, which rips the form out of him? And when Sonic switches back to werehog, you see the exact same purplish fog energy the Dark Gaia monsters spawn from too.

I never played the Xbox or Playstation games but I played it on the wii and I think that might be the better way to play it in my opinion, the werehog stages just feel a lot better with the motion controls but I'm one to like them, this was definitely my favorite game growing up and glad you got to this one!

Gonna clean up my GameCube and play some og sonic games I still have. I've been dying to play Sonic Heroes after I played SA1 and 2. Also gotta replay Shadow the Hedgehog, found that in the pile of games. Matty you NEED to play Sonic Generations.

I used to play the demo of this game over and over and I got so good at it that I would go blazing through the level in like a minute tops

I totally agree that this really felt like the end of an era for Sonic. When the stories felt like this ambitious, epic scale adventure and Sonic felt like a nice balance of this untouchable badass, but cocky teenager. Although, this wasn't Jason's LAST game as Sonic. That honor would go to Sonic and the Black Knight (I know, what a sendoff), and honestly the story's about the same level of coolness and charisma as this title, which is crazy. While I agree that Generations really perfected the Boost gameplay, they did a lot of really cool stuff with this game that I really appreciate. And I'll have to try this game out with the buttery smooth frame rate, cuz that really pissed me off when I played Unleashed and I wanna see how much of my perspective would change.

So many of these more recent Sonic games feel like they were born out of a fever dream.

I love this game, so much that I have made a whole game overhaul mod for it, not to fix whats bad per say but to improve on whats great

Sega really dropped the Werehog on us back in 2008 and said "I guess the 360 isn't quite ready for that yet... But the Series X is gonna love it"

Seems like a lot of people don't realize that you can boost into Egg Beetle repeatedly once he does the attack when you're close enough. And yeah, someone said it before, but Black Knight is the last game that had that type of mature storytelling (as well as having the 4kids voice cast with Jason Griffith and the rest), and then Colors and onward is very much into having nostalgia pandering and afraid of having a lot of characters and lacks all kind of sincerity in its storytelling. The last gen version is a completely different game, btw, all different levels, controls, hubworlds,... Pretty much everything, aside from music and cutscenes, is different in the last gen version.

This was the game i played the most in my childhood when i didnt have a good pc yet. I was around 10 and i spend so much time on it i basically mastered 90 percent of the levels both day and night and 100 every boss. But Eggmanland and Dark Gaia were really hard for me at that time. Eggmanland took me a week to finish because i couldnt do the long quick time jump fast enough. And then another 2 weeks for Perfect dark Gaia I was playing on 360 (I have perfectly smooth FPS thro out the whole game except the The Final fight where it dropped around 30. (I still loved every second of it)

first FF13 now this? you're revisiting my old 360 library! :D and you're cute so im subbing

Could we get a video of your whole collection currently? That would be sick to see!

I'd lose my memory too if a man-sized hedgehog monster fell on my head from space.

Great gameplay

Holy crap this is some childhood nostalgia!

Team Unleashed of course. Great review

The Wii version is the same story, but different level design. And no sun and moon medals to collect. They are still there, but not mandatory. Drifting is much better. When you are playing with the pro controller the game is even better without the motion controls. I definitely recommend this version. I have played both, and I live them both the same.

Side note this actually isn't Jason Griffiths last performance as sonic. It was sonic and the black night and to date that seems to be a lot of peoples fan favorite performance for Jason as sonic and everyones or most people's favorite interpretation of Sonic.

I'm so glad this game is getting the recognition it deserves. I never really understood the hate it intially got. I still remember that terrible IGN review. Sure the werehog stages were not perfect but they were still fun. The day time stages on the other hand are probably some of the best Sonic gameplay ever. Especially with maxed out Sonic and knowing the stage, speeding through it makes you feel so badass. They had the right idea with generations focusing on the same gameplay and polishing it, though it wasn't as fast as unleashed. Really hoping Frontiers delivers! I want a unleashed like level design and speed!

It was sonic in the black knights that Jason last played sonic. He killed it in that game!

Some correction: Jason Griffith's last game he's in is Sonic and the Black Knight and it's have the best Sonic performance he ever has

Funny, but the reason why I didn't play this game is that as a fan of Knuckles I was missing him showing up in the games as more than a comic relief or another Sonic cheerleader (because all characters became that with time at that point), but this game went all Sonic but like with the need of not just go all Sonic? and then they made him a transformation that could do almost all that Knuckles could have done instead. I remember I even made an angry fanart of Knuckles fighting the werehog. xD