Sonic Unleashed released in 2008, shifting things away from the debacle that was 2006’s Sonic the Hedgehog. Instead of playing as a multitude of characters like the previous 3D Sonic games, Sonic was the only playable character this time around. However, he only raced through levels at supersonic speeds half of the time. The other half had him transform into the monstrous Werehog for more combat-based, beat ‘em up style action.

Fans have gone back and forth on how they feel about the Werehog, the gameplay, and the story. All of which received mostly negative criticism but still managed to gain a cult following of fans who actually really enjoyed each of those elements. Most fans do seem to look back on the game fondly, though, citing the music, level design, and fun story as reasons to love it. With all that being said, there is one element of Sonic Unleashed that needs to be talked about more, and that’s its opening cutscene.

See the cutscene in question here: Sonic Unleashed – Opening Cutscene (HD)

In this cutscene, the nefarious Dr. Eggman is commanding his mechanized Egg Fleet from space, ready to attack the Earth. Sonic races along one of the ships, takes out a slew of malicious robots, and has a one-on-one battle with Eggman in one of his mechs. After Sonic spends some time dodging Eggman’s shots, he’s ultimately caught. The blue blur manages to escape by transforming into Super Sonic and taking out one of Eggman’s ships. Super Sonic slowly approaches his longtime enemy, who cowers and begs for mercy. However, it’s all a trick, as Eggman activates his trap, which electrocutes Sonic, launches him back to Earth, and splits the Earth open. Sonic is then transformed into the Werehog, where the game begins.

Just reading the description of the clip makes it seem like anything you’d normally see in a 3D Sonic the Hedgehog game, but this feels much more than that. For starters, it’s extremely action-packed, making it an exhilarating way to kick the game off. It’s also extremely well animated. Cinematic cutscenes for video games often are, but it feels like there was special care put in for this one. The fleet of warships looks epic, the characters move smoothly while stretching and bending like 3D versions of the Looney Tunes, and the explosions look real.

The instrumental music throughout this whole scene is phenomenal. It fits perfectly in with the high-octane action on the screen while sounding beautiful. It’s as good as an Oscar-worthy movie score.

It’s also just an overall awesome scene. Sonic battling robots, zooming around in space, and hovering toward Eggman like he’s finally going to strike him down is exhilarating to see. It’s also quite interesting to see for longtime fans. You can actually feel their decades-long rivalry built up over time to this crucial moment, and it can send chills down your spine.

This cutscene is so epic that it could easily be enjoyed on the big screen. Imagine how cool it would be to eventually see a fully animated Sonic the Hedgehog film in theaters that matches this quality. The live action movies are fantastic, but this could win audiences over just as much, if not more. It could be as popular as Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse or other modern animation staples. At the very least, it would be cool to see Sega match the feel of this cutscene of future games

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