Special thanks to Ryan Schultz for the following preview of Sonic The Hedgehog:
At the Sony booth, next to the giant movie screen, sat the demo for the new Sonic the Hedgehog game from Sega. While we were given our first look at Sonic's next-gen outing late last year, the game was fully playable on the show floor. Upon picking up the controller, the first thing I did was wave it around to see if the game took advantage of the recently announced motion sensing capabilities. Alas, Sonic did nothing but stay put. Instead I jumped, or ran, straight into action.

While I was jumping into bad guys and speeding around the level, I was highly impressed with the games visuals. That is, until the slowdown started to occur. Apparently the game is at 40% completion, which may explain the slowdown, but this is the PS3 right? Let's hope Sega gets the game running a little smoother. Other than the framerate hiccups, Sonic the Hedgehog sports some pretty sweet visuals, with plenty of motion blur, particle effects and bump mapping. It all looks very impressive in motion.

Another concern I have about the game is its controls. Keep in mind that we are controlling Sonic, a very speedy hedgehog. I expected tight responsive controls, but what I got instead were jerky controls that kind of put a damper on gameplay. Sonic seemed to move at 45 degree angles instead of a more smooth transitional control mechanism. I found myself accidentally falling off of ledges instead of staying on the levels themselves. Fix the controls Sega and we may have the next great Sonic game.

Before the demo cut off, i had a chance to play as a new character to the Sonic universe, Silver the hedgehog. Silver's level consisted of a destroyed city, with lava shooting every which way, and crumbling buildings abound. Silver has the ability to float around and fire charged energy shots at enemies. The graphical effects added to her attacks were slick and impressive, but she still suffered from the same stiff control scheme.

While the game is only 40 percent completed, it looks like Sonic team has already produced some very impressive software in the new Sonic the Hedgehog. Luckily, they have a few more months to really polish the graphics and controls before launch. It's safe to say that the future looks bright for the little hedgehog.

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