Sweet Dream is a masterpiece.... one of the best vocal themes in the series (if you count it) That Akon remix though... "REMIX!!! YEEAAAHHH!!!" Instrumental is nice though, very 2006
Why does Akon need to spend the entire 30 second intro telling us his name and that this is a remix? I know this about you and the song Akon, good chances I've seen the title.
I couldn’t remember how the song sounded from when I played through in 2006, so I was looking forward to it when I played last year since I care more about DCT and music in general now. I wasn’t really a fan. I can’t remember what I disliked in particular as I haven’t listened to it since, just that I was disappointed.
Re: the entire Unleashed discussion a few posts up... I still absolutely adore Unleashed and think that it is unironically the peak of what the series accomplished in 3D. People will naysay this point of view with points about the Werehog, or how the game is actually quite often 2D instead of 3D, or that the progression system is annoying... All true points. I couldn't argue any of them, but how much they colour your enjoyment or even just appreciation for the whole package, is completely subjective. From the first trailer we saw with Endless Possibilities playing, those bright colours, those ridiculously fast stages, that more exaggerated style... I knew that it was where I wanted the series to be moving to, and after the stink of the previous few games, it was so refreshing and actually gave me hope for the series for the first time in years. The final game hit and, yes, I had issues with it immediately. I too found the Werehog stages to be mind-numbingly boring. I found the progression irritating. I found the daytime stages quite often frustrating and trial-and-error based. So I didn't complete the game for a good few years. But after going back to it, playing through the whole thing and taking it all in as a package... It is not only extremely polished and well-presented, moreso than any other Sonic game had ever been in my opinion, it's incredibly ambitious at the same time. The sheer amount of the world you get to see, the rush of seeing a huge part of it fly by at insane speeds after walking and fighting through it, the fantastic cut scene direction and animation that looks like something out of a CGI film for kids, the soundtrack... Yeah, I can't let a few medal collecting sessions and a slightly-above-average beat-'em-up system ruin how I feel about this game. The first time in years that Sonic had been treated with the respect he deserves as an icon of the 90s.
The "turn in favor" for Unleashed was a failure that didn't change public opinion of it any. People have mostly gone back to hating or not caring about it, and people who liked it for it's 'ambition' or sense of scope either moved on to another series or are being fed just fine by Sonic Frontiers. It's legs have been blown off so thoroughly that I always feel a little miffed when people stop to throw salt in the wound even as someone who's grown cold on it. He's already dead.
The idea that Unleashed recently had a turnaround in public opinion is definitely a misconception. It was always well-liked within the fandom, and there was a lot of rage about how poorly professional critics were scoring it back when it came out. If you look at the earliest recorded user score and the current user score on Metacritic, it's a 0.2-point difference. The reasons fans like it now are probably a little different than they were in 2008 (anything will look amazing in comparison to this fuckin' shit) but it's always been liked among fans. And I don't think the wider public's opinion of Unleashed has changed all that much, either
While I was never a huge Unleashed fan, a lot of the reviews did seem to be exaggerating just how bad certain aspects of it were while ignoring others. The IGN review in particular, with its snarky tone and poor gameplay, deserves its reputation. The writer never even brought up the medals. What I particularly didn't understand was all the hate the hub worlds got. I kinda miss them myself.
What about the boost gameplay in Unleashed specifically was SO good that it elevates it above all 3D Sonic? What did Generations then get wrong relatively? I get not liking Classic Sonic in it but that seems unfair if you're not gonna hold the Werehog against Unleashed. I think I can understand loving the whole package and missing when Sonic was more ambitious/well-funded, but just on a gameplay level? I wouldn't call a game I dropped for years out of frustration "the peak" regardless of how fast I can blast through its scenery. I seem to recall appropriately mixed reception within the fandom at the time. I was 12 though.
When it came out, no one (me included) knew how to play. Today, we know it's the boost formula in its purest form. It has a unique concept, original levels, and the right amount of challenge. The drift animation is more realistic. Some side quests are funny. The Werehog deserves a second chance, too. You don't actually have to fight every enemy you encounter. Unleashed wanted to be better understood. That's why we got Colours, Generations, and Forces.
Yeah sorry, I've given the Werehog like 3 chances and its still a dull, miserable experience. It really sucks too because there were a few moments that actually felt nice to play, mainly segments where I needed to react quick to grab onto a pole or flying enemy to swing across death pits. Those moments were following the spirit of the day stages imo, focusing on testing reaction time and stringing together actions couldve easily worked for the Werehog while keeping things slowed down. Instead we get dollar store God of War and generic 3D platformer in a disappointing package. I agree that Unleashed's day stages offer a different experience with the boost that the later games generally don't, but I'm not too torn up over that. The levels have an unfortunate problem of feeling kinda same-y, since there's very very very few gimmicks that help give levels more identity. Some of them also are really cheap and need damn near perfect memorization to have a good time. As for the whole "polish" thing, there's no way I can call Unleashed the most polished when it can't even hit its target fps half the time. That's a pretty huge issue for a game to start chugging at <20fps when hazards are frequently popping up to kill you. I can't be mad at people loving the game (my fav is Colors and half the fanbase hates that game to death lmao, so I get it) but it does weird me out seeing some of its issues get ignored in order to prop it up
People who think critics were unfair towards Unleashed probably are the same people who go apeshit whenever critics give a bad review to (insert big franchise movie here) while audience scores are through the roof. IGN was right about Unleashed in 2008 and they're still right now. And I'm tired of pretending that they're not. They said the daytime levels are consistently enjoyable (they are) and it's a fantastic way of bringing Sonic into 3D (it is) even though it often has frustrating trial-and-error type design (it does). They said the Werehog stages are a repetitive, boring, half-hour slog (they are) and that this type of gameplay doesn't belong in a Sonic game (it doesn't). They said the Adventure portions are mindless, unfun busywork (they are) and serve no purpose but to pad out game length (they don't). And they said the fun parts, the daytime stages, do not make up for the other two-thirds of the experience. They don't. Ordinary Sonic fans simply don't value the same things as critics do, or anyone who cares about game design in general. As long as Sonic does really cool shit in cutscenes, the soundtrack is great, and the story is decent with a decent amount of character interaction and expanded lore, I'm convinced they honestly couldn't care less about the gameplay. At best, they value "good ideas" but the execution of said ideas doesn't really matter to them, as long as it's functional and bug-free. And involves platforming on some level...maybe.
One thing worth mentioning is that a ton of modern fans are playing Unleashed through either Generations mods that don't include the night stages, or emulation, which up until recently required a 100% save to access every stage. So the impact of the werehog (or the campaign, god people are too soft on it) is lessened by way of accessibility differences for many. That was me for a long time, I didn't realize how much the game kind of pissed me off until emulation was in a place that you could play the whole game front-to-back. Ultimately, Unleashed is eight pretty-good levels and a load of styrofoam. I guess you can call it "the boost formula in its purest form" if you really want to, but every 2010s Sonic game offered more in the way of platforming and didn't waste giant swaths of my time in its campaign. Yes, even Forces. Not in isolation, I'm not saying those levels are anything but shallow, but at least the campaign is paced sensibly and doesn't exhaust me with a bunch of stuff Sonic isn't made to do.
As someone who can't stand when Sonic fans do this sort of thing (eyes locked on Frontiers), I can't 100% say all that about Unleashed in good faith. I like the hub worlds a lot and only find fault in the game needing you to check in with Professor Pickle so much. The Werehog could've been better, but I ultimately didn't find it all that bad when you got into it. Meanwhile the QTEs and medal collection I found to be some of the worst things in a Sonic game ever, but that wasn't much of a talking point at all in the reviews. The fans are wrong for ignoring all of it's faults, but IMO so were the reviewers sensationalizing the wrong things haha. I also can't give it to the reviewers when they acted like the Wii/PS2 version was the better of the two. Doesn't matter how bad you thought the HD version was, they were so wrong for steering Nintendo players into believing they were making the wiser decision getting that one lol. Best thing I could call Unleashed is "contentious". You either love, loathe, or are polarized by it.
I seem to recall people finding the Xbox Live profile of a reviewer who gave Unleashed a pretty scathing review and claiming his profile indicated he'd only made it to Empire City before writing the review. I don't know if that's true though.
Having recently replayed Sonic Colors Ultimate on PC with some mods, I realized that it actually rules and is a significantly better overall experience than Unleashed
Unleashed's biggest problem was that it's a good game hobbled by the massive turd that is the Werehog stages. But it gave us much better games following it in Colours and Generations, so I'll happily play the PC mods that just have the Unleashed day stages in Generations.
