Hands on Sonic the Hedgehog 15th anniversary

Sonic’s next generation debut is also the blue guy’s fifteenth birthday. To celebrate the event Sega is going back to the roots of the series. They are even calling the latest Sonic game simply Sonic the Hedgehog. The game lets players play two different characters. Of course one of them is Sonic who speeds around levels. Sonic has new moves like using the homing attack to bounce from enemy to enemy as an extended jump and a slide kick attack. Sonic also can grind and ride jet streams a la Sonic Riders. The best part about this Sonic the Hedgehog game is that it feels fast. In one of the running levels Sonic jumps from wall to wall, runs on the side of wall and keeps running at top speed until you reach the goal. The game also introduces Silver, a hedgehog from the future. Unlike Sonic, Silver is slower than a turtle. To compensate for this he has telekinetic powers. His stages are designed to be more like a platform game where you jump around and use his hovering ability to make it to the end of the level. Silver’s areas have objects like crates that Silver can throw as weapons. Yet Silver doesn’t need wooden boxes to attack. If an enemy fires bullets or missiles at him Silver can stop them in midair and send them back Matrix style. Sonic the Hedgehog also includes Shadow, although his role in the game is unclear. Look forward to Sonic’s return this fall for the Xbox 360 and the Playstation 3. Check below for a couple more screenshots of Sonic’s next-gen debut.