Review round-up: Sonic Unleashed (X360, Wii)
Sonic Unleashed is a pretty ballsy name, equivalent to Sega saying “okay, we know some of the recent Sonic games have been a bit tame, but check out this!”. Now imagine that ‘this’ is badly drawn sketch of Sonic with extra fur. Going by Metacritic rankings, Unleashed is yet another vague disappointment for fans, with an average score of 63% on Xbox 360 and 70% on Wii.
Harshest of all the critics is the rather disappointed sounding EuroGamer, awarding 4/10 on Xbox 360 (“Sonic Unleashed is an obviously poor effort from a series that is still hopelessly lost in the modern gaming landscape.”) and a slightly more generous 6/10 on Wii (“...simply a more satisfying rendition of the same thing.”).
The pattern of separate scores is repeated with IGN (4.5/10 for Xbox 360 and 7.2/10 for Wii) and to a certain extent Game Informer (6.0/10 and 6.5/10), although bucking the trend in every possible way is the US Hardcore Gamer Magazine, awarding 9/10 on Xbox 360 and 8/10 on Wii and calling it “a glorious return to true console form for Sonic.”
Clearly few people agree, and despite a warm-ish review or two, particularly on the Wii, such as the UK Official Nintendo Magazine’s 79% (“Sonic Unleashed is both one of the best Sonic games we’ve ever played and one of the dullest.”) and Nintendo Power’s 80%, most of the ratings have been much lower. The clear message, however, is if you insist on buying it, avoid the Xbox and go for the Wii. | 
