Hedgehog Engine

The Hedgehog Engine is the game engine for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions of Sonic Unleashed and the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC versions of Sonic Generations. It spent three years in development. The Hedgehog Engine is a graphics engine, and has no bearings on gameplay style. It is only compatible with the PS3, Xbox 360, and PC because the Wii's and 3DS's hardware isn't powerful enough to handle its next-gen lighting and visual effects. The engine is not to be confused with Havok Engine, which is related to certain physics tasks, or Sonic Team's in-house engine used for gameplay. Hedgehog Engine is also used in the game Sonic Generations. Sonic Generations was in development for three years since after Sonic Unleashed 's release.

As well as featuring camera position changes and a blend of classic elements from other Sonic games, the Hedgehog Engine also uses a revolutionary new piece of technology. This was called the Light-field, which can create CGI quality graphics in the in-game graphics system. The basic concept of the Light-field is that light bounces off every single thing on screen, creating an ultra realistic look on the area around. Also, not only did the graphics around Sonic change, but so did Sonic's model. Light is reflected off of him too, to make sure that he didn't look "out of place" as many reviewers would claim from past Sonic games. This was the longest part of the Hedgehog Engine to make, taking three years to develop.