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By Tomeeboy at 05/26/2010 - 20:49
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 It seems that Sega is on a bit of a roll lately with product announcements. This one seems to have flown in under the radar, until a press release by Sega today. The latest in the Sonic franchise, Sonic Colors was announced for the Nintendo Wii and Nintendo DS systems and slated for a holiday 2010 release. In this new addition to the franchise, Sonic races through theme park inspired worlds to rescue a colorful alien race of Wisps from Dr. Eggman.
In what might be a somewhat refreshing twist on the classic Sonic gameplay, the various colored Wisps double as power-ups, allowing Sonic to perform feats such as drilling through the ground or shooting through a level as a laser beam. In addition to the press release, a short (okay, REALLY short) reveal trailer was also posted.
Feel free to drop by the forums, where this announcement is already being discussed. Thanks to Mysterious-G for the news.
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Technically, Sonic Unleashed was a lot better than some reviews gave the impression. Good enough, IMO, to erase issues with the first current gen Sonic game (bug city), and when they tried to use shooter mechanics like Shadow the Hedgehog. So I would give Unleashed the best Sonic 3D game we've had in years.
The 2D ones were more consistent, but less of a wow factor. What a lot lead up to was same Sonic gameplay, new boards using the same mechanics we've seen between Sonic 1 and Sonic and Knuckles.
Still, I've kept some interest in seeing what they do with the series, to bring it into the new. Mario, though not to downplay the work they did, just had an easier base engine to transfer to 3D. Slower platforming and minor tricks really transfer easier to 3D than Sonic's high speed and his brand of centrifugal physics. So while Sonic may not be able to go the way of Super Mario Galaxy, I'm hoping that they come up with something more akin to how Pacman went to Pacman Championship Edition. Something that keeps the focus on the mechanics people love, but give it an awesome facelift. New gameplay mechanics that, while a little more subtle, do a lot for the game, in practice.
Still, it's a bit of a shame that Sonic fans aren't as open to newer gameplay elements entering their sonic game like it can for Mario. I mean, in Super Mario Galaxy, there were entire levels in which they were overhead and pretty much completely anything but Mario-style in mechanics. However, people were accepting of that. Throw in a similar case of the Werehog parts in Sonic, which changed the gameplay up to something between a decently designed combat combo engine, and slower more methodical platformer, and a bit of a puzzler; and even while those were good, people are more likely to complain that the entire game wasn't just one style of Sonic platformer. So I think it's the case of Sega wanting to break out of the rut of only knowing Sonic games to be 1 trick ponies (which people seem to always want them to be), and want him to be able to pull off other game styles and be accepted, like Mario does.