Sonic the Hedgehog [X360]

Sonic the Hedgehog made his public debut today during Sony's E3 2006Press Conference. Now, this isn't the first time the next-gen Sonic has shown up, of course, but it is the first time SEGA had revealed it in a playable form to others. The demo included two different stages and two different characters. We had seen these previously in earlier demonstrations, but like we mentioned earlier, we actually picked up the controller and gave it a whirl this time.

To start, we'll just say that Sonic on PS3 shoots for the same kind of experience as previous titles in the series. Specifically, it aims to deliver the speed and frenetic action of the 16-bit originals. Of course, developers want to refine and enhance that formula, so there's a whole lot of technical prowess in the system.

For Sonic next-gen, this translates to expansive environments, crazy speed and a new physics engine. It also means impressive visuals, branching pathways and a slew of graphical effects that the previous generation simply couldn't handle. But that's not to say the core mechanic has strayed far from the original inspiration... far from it, in fact. The PS3 version plays very much like a Sonic title and it looks like the kind of thing that long-time fans will likely devour.

The first stage of the demo took place in a grassy landscape filled with waterfalls and rolling hills. We started off on a narrow bridge with a few boxes and enemies in the distance. We had to run toward them, take out the boxes and then turn our attention towards two robotic fiends. We then jumped onto a set of platforms that led to another narrow bridge. This time, however, the bridge split into several pieces and each piece had a booster pad on it leaving us to hit each one to gain enough momentum to make the next leap.

From there, we rode a slipstream to another section of the level where we encountered an additional set of metal foes. The remainder of the stage featured multiple of platform collections, lifts, speed boosts and more narrow walkways. The action feels particularly fluid and decidedly frenzied. In fact, the game is so quick that it takes a few minutes to get a handle on the controls. Granted, Sonic is far from finished, but that this point it does feel a little squirrelly.