Format: Xbox 360
Maker: Sony
Review: Jason Round

Ah, I can recall a good 14 years ago when the original Sonic was released. Until then, it had really been a plumber’s world, but the feeling of speed and freedom with the blue-haired one had me hooked from the moment I looped that first corkscrew.

Hailed as ‘the best Sonic yet’, the latest 3D offering for the Xbox 360 still delivers what you’ve come to expect from the franchise, though with a few very novel new features.

Again, a princess is lost and it’s up to you and your mates to whisk her back to safety from the highly rock-spider-esque Doctor.
Mates? Yep, you can now play Sonic himself, old mate Tails, bad boy Shadow or new kid on the block Silver, complete with trippy telekinesis abilities that allow you to move large objects and send enemy fire back from whence it came. However, we just couldn’t go past Shadow and his ability to drive vehicles, because hey, is there anything better than rippin’ up a pixel kingdom on Harley?

There’s also the new hub-town of Soleanna for you to explore, complete with side missions and chatty townspeople, though we largely found the place of little interest over the main missions – that is, if you ever get past the loading screens…

Weird camera placement, stop/start action and loading aside, though, this really is a great game for fans of the series. Of course, some may still argue the original 16-bit version is still king, and although that may be true of gameplay to some extent, the overall quality of this new title cannot be denied.

The graphics are well, well up thanks to the Xbox 360, and the music, though it can begin to grate on your eardrums after a while, is, as expected, bright and cheery for the most part.

Sonic boom? Perhaps not, but it’s still rip-roaring fun with the spiky one.

3/5