Sonic Colors Hands-On

Sonic Colors is a marked departure for the little hedgehog that could; you don't turn into a werehog or wield a giant sword. In fact, there is a distinct lack of gimmickry about the game, which instead offers a purer 3D experience not seen since the likes of Sonic Adventure on the Dreamcast. There are tons of fast loops to roll through and springs to leap from, as well as new wisp power-ups that have been tuned to fit in with Sonic's breakneck speed.

Our hands-on focused on the opening stage, named Planet Whisp. Like the opening stage of earlier Sonic games, it featured familiar visuals, with lush green plants, waterfalls, and simple badniks. Sonic's move set was much the same as in Unleashed, with homing attacks and boosts. The level opened with Sonic already in motion, racing through a long green field toward a banked section of track. To make our way around the huge banked curves, we had to hold down the B button, which gave us a burst of speed in the corners and made Sonic's famous red sneakers glow bright yellow.

There was a real sense of speed as we raced through the level, with numerous springs, loops, and track sections turning Sonic into a round blue blur. Of course, it's not all about racing through loops, and soon enough, we hit a large metal structure, which tested our platform skills. At this point, the game changed perspective and switched from the third person to a side-on view, much like the original 2D side-scrolling adventures. We made our way up the platform, jumping on badniks and collecting rings until we reached our first wisp power-up. This wisp gave us the ability to turn into a rocket, which we activated by shaking the Wii Remote. This launched us into the air for a brief time, after which we could guide Sonic back down to earth and onto platforms that were previously out of reach.

Later in the level, we found another wisp, which turned Sonic into a laser beam. Once activated, a blue line indicated the direction the laser was pointing in and the surfaces from which it could be deflected. We used it to scale a large tower, bouncing off each wall until we reached the top. We also used it with a special blue prism, which amplified the beam, allowing us to travel a huge distance in a very short space of time. In laser form, Sonic destroyed all enemies in his path, which we found useful for taking out a huge group in one swift move. The final wisp we tried turned Sonic into a cute green mini-blimp. A bar at the bottom of the screen indicated how much flying time we had left, which we could increase by collecting rings as we flew. By flying through a string of rings, Sonic would follow their path, allowing to us to reach a secret areas and sections of the level that would otherwise be impossible to reach.

What stood out the most from our time with Sonic Colors was how much the power-ups have been integrated into the lightning-fast platforming that has become a hallmark of the series. Unlike the mindless werehog combat of Unleashed, the wisps serve to enhance the core gameplay experience and not drastically change the pace. The visuals in Colors also look good, and Sega has put a large amount of detail into the backgrounds, with the lush foliage-filled Planet Whisp looking particularly impressive. Sonic Colors is due for release on November 16 in North America and November 12 in Europe. Look out for more coverage on GameSpot soon.