10 Video Games That Were Vindicated By History

Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) is considered the lowest point in the franchise due to its unfinished state and began the series' true dark age. To rise up from the controversy, Sonic Team released Sonic Unleashed in 2008, which attempted to reinvent the franchise.

The game features two gameplay styles with day and night stages. For the day, Unleashed introduced the boost gameplay, allowing Sonic to move faster than ever before on a whole new game engine. At night, on the other hand, Sonic transforms into the Werehog which placed emphasis on combat and traditional platforming.

Unfortunately, Sonic Unleashed was not well-received during its release with some reviews even considering it worse than Sonic '06. Its graphics, while visually stunning, suffered from frame rate drops and slow down. The Werehog, especially, received criticism with many already brushing it off due to the ridiculous premise.

But in the years to come, Sonic fans would take a second look at Unleashed and now consider it one of the best 3D entries of the bunch. Its boost gameplay is lauded for featuring multiple pathways while taking a risk vs. reward approach, and many fans adore how quick reflexes are directly rewarded. Even the visuals remain stunning today, with Unleashed running smoothly on systems like Xbox Series X.