Sonic the Hedgehog (Pre-E3 2006)

In the glory days of the Genesis and Super Nintendo, Sega’s little blue hedgehog was the only character in gaming capable of giving Nintendo’s Mario a run for his money. The original Sonic the Hedgehog focused on giving players a unique experience by having them blast through stages at breakneck speed while battling robots working under the evil Dr. Robotnik (now called Eggman). As the years went by and technology was upgraded, Sonic seemed to fall by the wayside while Mario and crew continued to enjoy new levels of success on the Nintendo 64.

Going from a flat, two dimensional world to an expansive 3D realm was not an easy task and Sonic just seemed to lose his way. Well, fifteen years after the initial release, the developers at Sonic Team are looking to take the big blue back into the forefront of gaming. The next generation Sonic game will go back to doing what the series does best: dazzling gamers with speeds not typically found in a platformer. The new game will play out more like Sonic’s older adventures, despite some visual changes. Expect a lot of speed boosters and bouncing around like a pinball as you blaze your way through the environments.

The game’s story hasn’t been fully revealed just yet, but does involve a bit of the old school princess kidnapping that seems to have waned in popularity in recent years. I’d like to give Eggman a round of applause for reminding us what it is that video game villains do best. The princess he kidnaps isn’t just your run of the mill princess either; she has some dreadful secret that could devastate the world if it fell into the wrong hands, hands like Eggman’s. Cue the hedgehog here; Sonic takes it upon his spiky blue shoulders to go after the princess and save the planet from certain destruction.

Oh, if only it were that simple. Much to Sonic’s dismay, the developers are introducing a new character to the series, a mysterious white hedgehog that seems to have a beef with Sonic. So not only will you have to plough through Eggman’s robotic army, but you’ll also have to deal with this new clown as well. The white hedgehog’s ultimate purpose in the game isn’t known at this time, but it is rumored that he will be a playable character at some point; sounds interesting to say the least.

The demo of the game at E3 should shed some new light on gameplay issues, such as any new abilities and how world exploration will play out. The game is currently set to appear on the Xbox 360, but it was also revealed that the team should have an up and running PS3 demo at the show as well. You can be sure we’ll be looking into that for you; so check back for more details this week and after the show!