pew, pew, pew pew pew, pew pew pew, pew, (explosion)...

That's me shooting it down.

Reading the PR gumpf, sounds like the day stages of Unleashed, no bad thing, just a bit anachronistic.

Those weren't strictly 2D. This game (if you believe the reports) is.

I'm thinking 2D sonic goodness with a really high level of HD graphical polish could be WIN. If they implement some sort of optional zooming feature so you can see more of the play filed the faster you go then that would be aces too. The irony is that I bet all of the teath in my mouth that this game will be the best sonic in years and it will sell poorly as the Sonic buyers these days are all about the guns and the swords and 3D warehogs.

Yeah.

This is a company called Sammy trying to work out what to do with the Sega name now that Sega no longer exists.

ooooo, he just went there.

Damn you and your truth.

I'm still able to buy into whatever lies they're pushing me.

10th anniversary of the Dreamcast US launch today.

I guess this is the closest Sega will come to some sort of official recognition of that.

Weak.

I don't know.

Having been forced to play almost all of the past three years' Sonic games, I'm positive that Sonic Team have it in them to turn the franchise around. Most of the their recent games have been disasters but some of them do at least contain hints of brilliance - little moments of classic Sonic buried beneath a ton of bad ideas either forced into the game by the whims of a clueless exec or the dubious results of 'market research'.

If they can shed away all the bullshit and retain those core ideals then I know they can make something good.

And I really do think this will be made of polygons rather than high-res sprites. 2D seems to mean 2D gameplay these days.

That's ok. I can live with 2.5D or whatever it's called, provided they don't start dicking around with the camera angles. As I said in my earlier post I can cope with, and would welcome, some light zooming, but what I don't want is control wrecking shifts in perspective.

The only fundamental flaw with the early Sonic games is that it's almost impossible to react to what's coming up when you're travelling that fast. It pushes the game into memory test territory or just hold right and hope for the best. With a bit of careful zooming they could give the player just enough warning to actually 'skill' their way through the levels. If they can mesh that with some suitable audio cues then I think playability would be enhanced.

As you say Kaladron they've demonstrated flashes of brilliance in the past. There's a saying about monkeys and typewriters that's applicable here. They've certainly had enough time to 'get it right'.

I think widescreen displays should help in that respect. They should give you a bit more opportunity to see what's ahead, in theory.