SONIC UNLEASHED (available for PlayStation 2 and 3, Xbox 360 and Wii, reviewed here on PS3) begins with a spectacular CG movie of Sonic in outer space battling the evil Dr. Robotnik, I mean Eggman, for control of the fabled Chaos Emeralds. Eggman manages to trap and strip Sonic of his super powers, and he watches helplessly as Eggman uses the Emeralds to fire a beam of energy at an Earthlike planet, breaking apart the seven continents and releasing the Dark Gaia, which he plans to use to control the world.

Sonic finds that he has been exposed to pure Chaos Emerald energy, and as a side effect it has awakened his inner werehog. Eggman sends the spent Emeralds, and Sonic, into the void of space, and Sonic crash-lands on one of the shattered continents. He is befriended by an amnesiac implike creature called Chip, and together they vow to make the world right again.

Yes, usually a SONIC THE HEDGEHOG game would not be considered appropriate material for a horror magazine, but to be honest, when the sun goes down in UNLEASHED, Sonic the Werehog becomes a character who deserves our respect. He even plays exorcist as he purges demons from townsfolk who have been taken over by supernatural baddies by pointing a special camera at the possessed, exposing the monster and beating the devil out of it. I’m not ashamed to admit that I enjoyed spending the night with Sonic; it’s a blast running through towns beating the hell out of people. However, once the sun rises, Sonic returns to being a hedgehog and the game falls back into the well-worn game play of running really fast on loop-the-loop tracks and avoiding obstacles so you don’t lose the golden rings you’ve picked up along the way.

Unfortunately, most of the creative level design went to the daytime levels, leaving the nighttime as more of an afterthought than a creative extension. It might be time to give Sonic the Hedgehog a night off and let Sonic the Werehog have his own adventure.