The thing about Sonic Unleashed is that it's an example of how desperate Sonic Team is to keep this franchise afloat. They strayed from their original style of game play and began experimenting with other styles of play. When that didn't work, they tried combining the old with the new. And that brings us to Sonic Unleashed. After many failed attempts at bringing the franchise back to life through 4Kids and through sub-par games they've failed to realize that the Sonic Games were good back around the time of Sonic 2.
(I really have no place to say whether or not the most recent games were good because the last Sonic game I played was that one where they introduced Shadow on the Gamecube, which wasn't great but since I was like 14 I enjoyed it.) Anyway...
To answer your question, yes, people would be bashing Mario if Nintendo completely abandoned the original formula for his games. It really doesn't make sense to switch their scenarios, because if Mario and Sonic were switched, Mario probably wouldn't have the fan base it does.
Also, to answer your other question, both of those are right. Sonic Unleashed has many flaws that only serve to frustrate the game play. And Yahtzee does act like a dick for the sake of being a dick. After all, he gets paid to do it. I'd review and trash talk games all day if I could get paid to do it. Just remember, Yahtzee's word isn't law, it's merely information that you can choose to acknowledge or ignore. He's also the most entertaining game critic I've seen.
