Sonic the Hedgehog celebrates his 15th birthday this year, but doing so by making the grave mistake of turning his spikes on the Green Hill Zone and entering the world of humans! Luckily, Silver the Hedgehog is at hand to put a positive spin on things.
Yes, Sonic the Hedgehog is back and we’re hardly complaining. Every great console needs Sonic to blaze a trail around its innards, and Xbox 360 is brilliantly equipped to allow our blue spiny hero to dazzle at his best. In addition to supersonic speed, Sonic is also famed for his gang of oddball (though adorable) buddies. Since this is the first time for Sonic on next-gen, his latest flame is slick fellow spine-back ‘Silver’. Silver the Hedgehog’s powers are telekinetic, ushering in a mysterious new puzzle-solving element to compliment our old friend’s express delivery style gameplay.
For Sonic’s part at Leipzig this week, he’s still right at home hurtling through ancient ruins of Kingdom Valley and cutting through lush greenery. Familiar obstacles and collectables litter the realistically portrayed ‘real world’ – pinball bumpers propelling the little guy upwards, rails or rail-like sections for grinding, and of course bright shiny rings to collect. Sonic has a new attack though, allowing him to chain a series of homing attacks by flipping while in midair.
You’ll have plenty of time to investigate Silver’s origins later, for now let’s talk about what his telekinetic powers can achieve. Basic capabilities include hovering after performing a jump, giving him access to distant ledges and platforms. He can also mimic the X-Men by using his mind to launch huge objects through the air, such as crates and abandoned vehicles, sometimes being required to use them as shields against enemy fire. Amazing, and very cool! By manipulating objects in this way, we get the impression that the rich new world of Sonic the Hedgehog opens up in some fantastic new ways. Pity we didn’t have enough time to explore it fuller.
Our taste for impossible speed has certainly been rekindled with next-gen Sonic at the Leipzig GC. The mind-boggling potential of Silver makes it even harder to wait until November, when the game is expected to be released.
