Sonic Unleashed

Sonic Unleashed launched simultaneously on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in November 2008, bringing a key new twist to the series - Sonic the Hedgehog turns into a werewolf-like Werehog at night, with slower, power-based combat gameplay featuring stretchable arms, while during the day the game returns to the traditional fast 3D/2D platforming sections that made the series famous back in the Sega Mega Drive days. This version was developed directly by the in-house Sonic Team and graphically ranked among the series' most ambitious entries on the hardware of the time, with a journey across seven stylized continents inspired by real places on Earth.

The PlayStation 3 version launched the same day as the Xbox 360 release and was practically identical to it - same settings, levels, and length, with only minimal technical differences due to the different hardware of the two consoles, such as small variations in loading times. This pair of versions offered the full, graphically most polished Sonic Unleashed experience, while the simultaneously released Wii and PlayStation 2 versions from a different studio were designed quite differently, with a different level structure and engine.

The Werehog sections split players and critics at the time - many reviews praised the fast daytime sections full of acrobatic running and jumping but criticized the slower, repetitive nighttime combat sections, which made up a substantial part of the total playtime.

Still, the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions remain the ones players return to most often today, precisely thanks to the best balance of graphical quality and smoothness among all four simultaneously released platforms.

The difference between the Xbox 360 and PS3 releases was minimal even technically - both versions ran on the same Hedgehog Engine that Sonic Team developed for this entry, so players had essentially a free choice of platform without worrying about a noticeable compromise on either console.

Why play it: For Sonic fans it doesn't matter which console they pick - both the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions run on the same Hedgehog Engine and offer a practically identical experience.