This is helped by the fact that the terrible design issues present in 2006’s Sonic the Hedgehog seem to be all but gone. If you approach these speed sections with an eye to looking stylish and perfecting a run, as opposed to being challenged by puzzles or enemies, then the stages featuring regular Sonic become a lot more fun. It has to be said that narrowly ducking under low walls and bouncing off enemies to make it across chasms may not feel completely interactive, but it does feel incredibly cool. In fact, it could almost be argued that these “speed” sections are not about challenging the player in a traditional way, but rather challenging the player to perfect one’s progress through the stage. There are brief Quick-Time-Events that hit you as you speed through the level and you’re encouraged to pay attention if you want to get through each section perfectly. Sega has certainly tried to spice things up though. There are vast sections where you do little more than run and occasionally jump, nothing that approaches the clever level designs of the old Sonic games. While not a bad experience, Unleashed certainly suffers from one of the glaring faults of recent Sonic games, in that the levels are so fast, you feel like you’re on autopilot for much of the time. The gameplay that was on offer, sadly, was not quite as breathtaking as the visuals. Colorful games always stand out in this modern age of dark grittiness, and Sonic Unleashed manages to stand out even among those. The bright sunshine, the strong and vibrant colors - this really is a gorgeous looking title.

The first thing that strikes you with the game is how truly beautiful it is. I can’t understand Japanese, so it took a while for me to get the attendant to start the bloody thing up, but once we got through the near-traumatic process of choosing a level, I found myself starting out with our familiar, pint-sized, regular Sonic the Hedgehog.

So, having taken on two levels and gotten to grips with both regular speedy Sonic and his werehog counterpart, have my hopes been reignited, or dashed completely? Also, what was it about this hands-on session that proved me right? Hit the jump and find out. However, I must confess that with Sonic Unleashed - Sonic World Adventure in Japan - I was still keeping a glimmer of positivity alive. I tried to keep my hope for this one rather quiet, as the consistent disappointment that Sonic games bring to the fans has become something of a self parody. I grew up with that tragic blue sod, it’s only natural. I did know, however, that Sonic Unleashed was going to get played at some point. There really is so much here and you can’t get your hands on it all. When I was getting ready for the Tokyo Game Show, I had no clue about the types of games I wanted to cover.

Sonic unleashed gameplay