8. Sonic Unleashed
2008’s Sonic Unleashed exists in the weird window immediately following the backlash to Sonic ‘06, trying to return to basics, but not quite shaking off some of the experimental aspects of Sonic’s aughts era. Yet, it trims down to only having Sonic as a playable character, and its speed-based levels are some of the best of the era. The gimmick of the game is that, during the night, Sonic turns into a Werehog. Yes, that means a werewolf hedgehog. When Sonic undergoes this transformation, the game shifts into a beat-em-up platformer, complete with more box moving, puzzle-solving, climbing, and slapping enemies around instead of running past them. While it’s not the most popular diversion from Sonic’s speed, it is relatively restrained. Unleashed takes some swings, and while they don’t all land, it was a decent recentering following some overcrowded games.
