Sega has released a trailer for Sonic Generations Dreamcast. The game, due out in November, recreates levels from the 3D era of Sonic the Hedgehog.

The trailer shows City Escape, Seaside Hill and Speed Highway, re-imaged. The game will allow you to play those and more as both the modern and the classic Sonic.

The trailer also hints at an appearance from Shadow the Hedgehog at the end.

What do you think? Excited for a new Sonic game? Leave some comments below.

If you’re a gamer who was born in the late 90s, chances are you ask your older brother one question. “Why does your generation like that stupid blue hedgehog ?”.

Yes, indeed Sonic is now considered a flop, but there was once a time when Sonic was the arch nemesis of Mario, both of them were the most successful characters in the video gaming industry, Sega even created a subsidiary development team called Sonic Team, Sonic was on fire!

Nowadays though, it seems that Sonic is on life support, the shift from 2D to 3D wasn’t too kind to the hedgehog, with SEGA releazing one terrible Sonic game after another, and creating many useless characters along the way, such as Silver the hedgehog, and that dreadful Werehog in Sonic Unleashed. The quality of Sonic games have declined considerably over the years, the blue hedgehog no longer felt on par with Mario, but rather felt like some generic, mediocre mascot.

However, that was then and this is now, SEGA have decided to take Sonic back to his roots, and have released Sonic 4, the sequel to Sonic 3, and a game that fans have been waiting 16 years for. The question that many people will ask, is it good? And the answer, finally, is a “Yes”.

Sonic 4 Episode I is the best Sonic game in a very long time, it took SEGA over a decade, but they finally got it right. The gameplay in Sonic 4 feels like that of a true Sonic game.

The game starts out fairly simple, you find yourself in Splash Hill, an almost updated replica of Green Hill Zone, you play the first level in the game and pass with absolute ease, and then you are taken to the screen where you get the complete freedom to choose which zone you want to choose, and which act you want to choose from that zone.

While Sonic games usually didn’t let you choose the zone or act you wanted to be in, this feature doesn’t exactly give or take much from the game, just like past Sonic games you take on the boss of each zone after finishing all three acts.

The graphics in Sonic 4 are gorgeous, the game stays true to the Sonic 2D formula while updating it with HD graphics and a constant framerate that never drops, the great news to Wii owners is the fact that the game looks exactly like the PS3 and X360 versions, only in 480p, which isn’t a dealbreaker at all really. In fact, the game felt more at home on the Wii than the PS3 and X360, having the game next to other Sonic titles new and old in the Wii library made it feel like this is where it truly belongs.

Some fans have wondered what Sonic’s appearance is like in Sonic 4, does he resemble Sonic of yore? Or does he resemble the modern day Sonic? While playing Sonic 4, we played Sonic 3 and Super Smash Brawl alongside it, seeing how the best 2D sonic models of past and present are featured in said games. Sonic’s model resembles the modern day Sonic more than that of the old Sonic during SEGA’s golden era, with his long legs being the most distinctive feature.

The music in Sonic 4 is a step in the right direction, it surpasses the music in the majority of the 3D Sonic games, the downside is the fact that the music sometimes doesn’t feel like that of a Sonic game, the music is slow, and at times it’s too slow, it just doesn’t mesh with the sprinting hedgehog at times.

The gameplay in Sonic 4 adds nothing new to the franchise, and that is probably one of the greatest things in this game, seeing as how every time SEGA adds a new element to the game (like that God damned dreadful werehog), the game turns out to be a disaster. The new feature in the game is the homing attack, while this feature isn’t new in the Sonic 3D games, it’s new in the Sonic 2D ones, when Sonic is in mid-air and near an enemy, a lock-on appears and Sonic can attack that enemy, this feature actually fits in with the gameplay quite well, and is also crucial at times to progress through a level.

While the gameplay is solid, it does have some issues of it’s own. For instance, the only power ups available are the temporary invincibility and the ability to breath under water, features such as the fire ball and electiric ball were present in Sonic 3 almost 16 years ago, SEGA not including them now is an awkward strategy on their behalf.

Another issue that is noticed almost immediately is the speed of the game. It is obvious from the get go that Sonic 4 is slower than previous iterations in the Sonic franchise, especially in 2D sonic games, add the fact that you will be stopped from progressing in certain levels later on in the game until you perform some minuscule tedious tasks, and the sense of momentum in the game falls flat. It’s not as bad as it sounds, but it stops the game from being truly great.

The final, and perhaps most annoying aspect of the gameplay is the difficulty settings. Usually in video games the game becomes harder gradually, helping the players adjust to the gameplay and introduce new enemies and challenges at a reasonable pace. Sonic 4 throws this strategy right out the window and disorients you in a way like no other.

You spend the majority of the game unchallenged, quite literally breezing through the leves, by the time you reach the final zone, you’ll have around 20 lives and the only real challenge you’ll have faced is the boss of zone 3, during the three acts in the final zone, you will die around 6 times (assuming you get lucky and pass certain frustrating parts of the game quickly), then you will face the final boss of the game. Here you will die over and over again, in one of the longest boss fights in a Sonic game, at times the fight will be hard, and not in a modern day game hard, but in a Mega Man hate yourself kind of hard. And the most frustrating part about the final boss, is the tempo of the level. It is so slow it hardly fits a Sonic game.

The biggest downside for Sonic 4 isn’t the game itself, but it’s the price. Sonic 4 Episode I is priced at $15, the game can be finished in less than 3 hours if you’re dedicated enough to finish it in a single session. It has good replay value, and you can even unlock Super Sonic, but it’s not enough to slap a $15 price tag, especially when there are games like Castle Crashers, and Lara Croft and The Guardian of Light that offer mad replay value and multiplayer gameplay for the same price.

The Blast Factor: It’s almost hard to believe this, but this might the first time in over a decade that Sonic fans get two great Sonic games in a single year (assuming all goes well with Sonic Colors), this could be the year Sonic fans celebrate after all. If you’re a Sonic fan who’s been dying to play a great Sonic game, Sonic 4 is well worth the 15 dollars, if you’re hesitant and wondering if it’s worth the investment or not, you might wanna check Other PSN/XBLA titles first, like Castle Crashers and GoL, or Wii Ware titles like Cave Story.

LOS ANGELES — Sega is working on a new 2D platform Sonic game in the spirit of the original series. They had a demo of it available at E3 2010, allowing people to play one of three early levels in the game. The game takes place after the Sonic and Knuckles game.

Sega promises that this is the beginning of a new series of games. The game starts with Sonic going off exploring, and Egg-Man comes after him wanting to just kill him now and get him out of the way, so Sonic won’t stop his next plan.

The game levels are built to feel like the original with a slight difference. The bosses will play like the original but with upgrades. The game then has a twist ending that will lead into Episode 2, and continuation of the new series. They are taking great pains with this title, since the last game in the series was in 1994, there is a lot of time in here, and gamers have a lot of expectations from a new sonic game.

This is evident from the fact that they have delayed the game to make it correctly. They were originally scheduled to release at the end of this summer, but are now targeting the end of the year. When I played with the game it looks like the original sonic games, just having a higher resolution. Sonic has a nice upgraded look, without changing too much to character. I was disappointed with Sonic’s acceleration in the demo. When you move Sonic he walks too long before he will start to run.

They said that was one of the issues that they have decided to rework after showing the demo off. I also had an issue that when you press down to go into a roll it would usually not start spinning rolling fast, but goes back to slowly moving. This bothered me as being very unlike the previous sonic games that were always about speed. The people at the booth said that was one of the reasons they have delayed the release of the game, to give them more time to make it more like sonic.

Sega has included the Chaos emeralds in the new Levels. Like the original games, it requires 50 rings to activate get them, though the game allows the player to replay, and jump to a level that they want. This is nice since if you miss a chaos emerald you don’t have to start the game from the beginning like the previous ones.

They included the original power-ups from the original series, plus some additions from the later Sonic Adventure games. One such addition is the ability to jump attack from one enemy to another. The invincibility and fast shoes are back though.

They made some differences between the PlayStation 3, iPhone, Xbox 360, and Wii Versions for the special stages. The PS3 and the Wii can control using the Tilt controllers. The iPhone can control any level with either tilt, or by controls on the screen for directional pad, and action button for jumping. They arranged the level, and the View point on the iPhone so that the controls on the bottom wouldn’t obstruct viewing the level.

Definitely excited to see this one come out.

Have an Xbox 360 and an incessant urge to race around zany tracks with a hedghehog?

If those odd circumstances describe you, you’re in luck, as a demo for Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing came to Xbox Live today, just waiting for you to download it.

Here’s the goofy product description for the game. 

“Dodge weapons, perform tricks and drifts, seek short cuts and look out for that elusive all-star move pick-up as you blast past your rivals in to pole position. Winning has never tasted so sweet!”

We’re not going to tell you to go download it, but it is free and these cart racers are pretty much completely fun, so you might miss out if you don’t download it.

Start your download for the demo, even if you’re at work or school, right here.

After a lengthy stealth name of “Project Needlemouse,” SEGA today officially unveiled the latest Sonic The Hedgehog game.

It’s called, very blandly, Sonic The Hedgehog 4, is a direct sequel to Sonic 3 and Sonic and Knuckles, returns to a familiar 2D presentation, and will release on the Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation Network, and WiiWare this summer.

The title is actually Sonic The Hedghehog: Episode 1, which means the game will see an episodic release schedule, meaning a little bit at a little time.

The first episode will be available this summer for somewhere around (we guess) $15 across the board.

For the game’s debut trailer and developer interview, check out the game announcement story at GameSpot.

Let’s get something straight, right up front. There are two major audiences Sega needs to cater to with each Sonic game: those who are of a younger generation that love the sidekicks and the 3D game worlds, and those of us who grew up with Sonic in the early 90s, and are used to the multiple pathways and high-speed platforming of yesteryear. Sega does plenty of both–look no further than the Sonic Advance titles, or the Sonic Rush games on the DS for proof that they still know how to make an old-school Sonic with new technology–but as far as console releases go, they have stuck more towards appeasing the younger crowd. When a game like Sonic Unleashed comes out and tries to make both fan bases happy, all it does is serve to anger the hardcore, who feel like they were tricked into playing (and paying for) a game they cared about just one-third of the time.

That is why this interview that Gamespot did with Ken Ballough, the associate brand manager at Sega, is intriguing on a few levels. First, there are a few responses that let you know Sega is not about to stop going after the younger audience that loves those sidekicks–and why should they, given the sales numbers of the series?–but there is also a sign–a fast moving, hedgehog-shaped sign, in fact–that Sega wants to make things right with their other fans.

Sonic, back in two dimensions, and with HD graphics. Presumably this puts the game on a console rather than a handheld. Maybe some good has come out of Sonic Unleashed–the love people showed for the daytime levels may have just turned into a brand new (yet old-school) style Sonic game. It’s tough to tell now, given we have nothing to go on, but the fact that it’s 2D will at least force me to keep an eye on this project. “Project Needlemouse” (obviously a working title) has no developer, no platforms and no concrete release date, but my personal hope is that Dimps is somehow involved, given how well their handheld Sonic’s have been received.

Sonic’s Ultimate Genesis Collection has an obvious appeal. For only 30 bucks, gamers can own a collection of 48 Sega Genesis, Mega Drive, and Arcade games to play on one disc. From every major Sonic the Hedgehog iteration to lesser known titles like Comix Zone and Beyond Oasis, Sega fans can carve out hundreds of hours of gameplay in one location.

But what isn’t obvious about this compilation is that an inherit aging problem hurts some of these games. While they are all presented in top-notch form, with perfect emulation, customizable controls, and a wide variety of unlockables, some of these games are simply not worth playing anymore. Those looking for nostalgia will no doubt find their fix here but newcomers will uncover both classics and absolute duds.

The commendable amount of attention paid to this collection is recognizable from the very start. The main menu resembles the classic Genesis system with a large black panel on the left, L-shaped with a round center, listing all games immediately playable. On the right, video previews of selected games play within the shape of the standard Genesis cartridge, even exposing the motherboard slightly on the bottom.

Each game on the main list, one that can be sorted multiple ways (Alphabetically, chronologically, or by genre and preference), is given perfect presentations with multiple display options. As a default each game will start in their original format of 4:3. Those with widescreen TVs will see a game-specific background and a border adorning the edges of the reduced gameplay screen. However, in the collection’s pop-up menu, accessed by hitting Select, the game can be stretched to fill a 16:9 format.

Under that same “Video Setup” menu, a “Smooting” option can be activated, which gives each game a waxy veneer, apparently hoping to make them look more presentable on bigger TVs. While it does help to wrinkle out some otherwise noticeable imperfections, it also hinders the original look and style which will definitely drive some away. Also, games with heavy uses of text, like the Phantasy Star saga, don’t utilize the feature that well as some of the words become harder to read. Luckily, though, it can turned off, which is highly recommended.

Also in the pop-up menu are options to change the control scheme. The compilation automatically uses an altered layout to help fit the 360 controller, assigning actions where they feel more comfortable. But an “ABC Mode” is also available, which gives the A button of the original Genesis to the X button on 360, the B button to A and the C button to B. This won’t effect most games but others, like Vectorman, will definitely feel different.

Using the ABC mode, Vectorman jumps with B and fires with with X and A on the 360 pad, but with the default controls he jumps with A and shoots with X and B which seems to fit with most platformers available on the more modern system. On the original Genesis controller, all three main buttons were aligned horizontally, making it easier to assign a jump button to C, since most gamers could place the lower half of the thumb on that button and easily reach A and B with the top. The 360 controller, however, aligns its buttons in a square, so having a platformer use the jump button on anything other than A just feels awkward.

Regardless of the choice, 360 owners using the standard controller will not be able to escape the dreaded D-pad. Unlike the PS3, which uses four distinct buttons for all four directions, Microsoft’s pad is one large concave piece that feels mushy and unresponsive. Developers have dealt with this issue in the past but it particularly hurts Sonic’s Ultimate Genesis Collection since these retro games were designed to be played with the D-pad. The only other option is the analog stick, which works in some instances, like Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and Streets of Rage, but not so well in other cases, like Fatal Labyrinth and Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine. The latter games require precise movement to play effectively and the analog stick just doesn’t match what a good D-pad can offer.

During our interview with A Cursive Memory, we asked Shaun, Colin, Mark and Dillan what their top five games for the tour were. Here were there responses:

1. Super Smash Bros. for N64

Shaun and Mark were emphatic that it was the Nintendo 64 version of Super Smash Bros. they were hopelessly addicted to, not Melee which was “whack” or Brawl which was “whack too.”

2. Call of Duty: World at War

By CoD:WoW, they really meant Nazi Zombies, which they were playing both before and after our interview and referenced during their show.

3. Sonic the Hedgehog

This was Dillan’s pick. There was no explanation needed.

4. Grand Theft Auto

The guys were tied between Vice City and San Andreas as their favorite. However, since they grew up in San Andreas, it led to this anecdotal exchange:

SHAUN “Mark will just roll up, sock an old lady in the face, and take her money.”

COLIN “That’s my life at home. Running people over. We’re wanted.”

SHAUN “For fun, we see who can get a tank on [the cops] the fastest.”

5. A toss up

The number five spot was a tie between Call of Duty 4 (Colin), Mortal Kombat: Armaggedon (Dillan) Pac-Man (Mark) and Hanoi for the iPhone (Shaun).

So there you have it, the top five (or eight) games A Cursive Memory plays while on tour.

In 1996, Nintendo released Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars for SNES and decided to have an outside company known for their success in the genre to develop it. Sega must have taken a cue from that, because they went to another popular RPG developer, BioWare, makers of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and Mass Effect, for Sega’s first mascot-friendly RPG. While Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood is a valiant effort on BioWare’s part, it has several flaws.

The game has a few nods back to Sonic’s past, and not only his video game past. Growing up, I’m sure we all would wake up every Saturday morning to catch the Sonic the Hedgehog cartoon. One of Sonic’s notable traits in his cartoon was how much of a complete and utter asshole he was. Sure, he had a friendly side when he needed it, but for the most part, he was snarky, full of himself, and “way past cool.” Bioware titles are notorious for their dialogue sections — where you pick what the protagonist says in conversations, in a return back to the old Sonic cartoon, you can once again have Sonic be an ass.

This is a nice nod back to the old cartoon. In Dreamcast titles, from Sonic Adventure onward, Sonic has become rather flat and undeveloped as a character, and it”Ëœs nice to see what BioWare does with him. Another nice nod to the old cartoon is the return of Dr. Robotnik’s SWATbots. I always thought they were much cooler than those goofy Eggman robots which littered Sonic Heroes and Shadow the Hedgehog.

The music and graphics are good — nothing really special, but by no means bad.

There is a bittersweet mechanic involving special attacks where one must tap circles on the screen or follow a circle as it glides over a line in a very Elite Beat Agents sort of way. However, the biggest flaw with this mechanic is that unlike EBA, the tapping isn’t in sync with any kind of musical cue – Something that some players might find annoying, and it might take a few tries before one can successfully get the hang of initiating or dodging an attack. I guess this mechanic was added in to make the game more upbeat and “tricky” like some Sonic games are, but in many cases it becomes tedious and repetitive. This could be a turn off to more traditional RPG gamers.

Let’s cut right to the chase: “de Blob” is worth the price of admission.

For those Wii owners who feel abandoned by third-party developers, it’s a paint-slathered roll in the right direction for the system’s future.

This offering from developer Blue Tongue and publisher THQ is destined for cult status, but it should be played by everyone who owns a Wii.

You play as Blob, who, from his perch on a hillside, sees the invasion of the INKT Corporation space ships on his hometown — the brilliantly colored Chroma City. INKT sucks all of the color from the city — the buildings, the plants, sidewalk trash, and even from its citizens, the Raydians — for no apparent reason other than the fact that they love the bland look of a monochromatic decorating scheme.

They enslave the Radians-henceforth known as “Graydians”, in their captured state-and change all of the local hangouts and neighborhoods into dull office buildings and police stations. Blob sees this happening, and comes to the aid of his fellows by rolling around in paint and injecting color and life back into the beaten down city and its people. This is the Color Revolution, after all.

The delightfully named Comrade Black is your main adversary, as he is the leader of the INKT Corporation and the man behind the deportation of color. Though not a single sound besides that of gibberish comes from his mouth, he is an entertaining character in much the same way that the Raving Rabbids are, thanks to the humor and personality they exude in their wordless dialogue and actions.

The story itself is thin, but in the same way that a story for a Mario game would be; there’s a problem (the city lacks color) and you need to solve it (repaint the world and defeat the bad guys). The reason to play de Blob is not for the story-though the cut scenes are well done and humorous-but for the gameplay.

The game is controlled simply: you roll around using the analog stick on the Nunchuk, and you jump using quick flicks of the Wii Mote. Rolling around is easy enough, and is incredibly satisfying, since everything you move over will become the color that you are carrying on Blob at that time. Jumping is another story though, as occasionally you will not jump where you would like to, thanks to a lack of response from the flicking of the Wii mote.

It should be noted that this is a very limited problem — one that will occur just a few times during an entire play through — but it does exist, and makes you wonder why jumping wasn’t simply mapped to a button (or an option to change the control scheme wasn’t made available). Overall, it’s a minor quibble, but some people may be concerned with it.

A first-person view of the camera is controlled with the directional pad, and is useful for finding objectives that are in hard to see or reach areas along walls or the skyline. There are four types of objectives: paint an area a specific set of colors in a set time limit, race to a destination, defeat the INKT police force in the area, and reclaim an old Raydian landmark through the power of paint. The last of these uses an incredibly satisfying mechanic, as you jump inside of the building and shake the Wii Mote and Nunchuk back and forth in order to inject your paint points into it. Though rhythm is not required, there is musical accompaniment to the shaking (such as a cowbell) and you will catch yourself matching the beat of the infectious music.

After completing the challenges you will unlock new ones in each area, and completing an entire set of challenges will earn you awards at the end of the level. There are awards for freeing all of the Graydians, painting the entire map, finishing a level speed run style, and various other elements, and you can also unlock a pair of sub levels for each of the main story portions. These are designed to be more difficult challenges where you are awarded medals depending on how well you did, giving you reason to return to both the original levels and the sub variety after completing the story mode.

Blob can also hook up with up to three friends for multiplayer fun outside of the main game mode. Here there are various challenges turned into contests, such as painting as many buildings as you can, or racing through a portion of a level. Though these modes are not as fleshed out as the single-player and the split-screen doesn’t hold up as well graphically, it’s still fun if you’re trying to show off the game for your friends and get them interested in the main attraction.

The music itself is one of the main draws of this game. The soundtrack is one of the best in recent memory, and the more you paint and the deeper you delve into a level, the more upbeat the music becomes. This mechanic works to immerse you into the gameplay, as you can feel yourself picking up speed with the music in order to keep things running smooth. Not only do the funky jazz tunes fill out and pick up steam as you paint, but they also feature different instrumentation based on which color you are using. Want to hear a DJ scratch a turntable while roll around Chroma City? Mix colors to turn brown and listen to your tune of choice. Add to this that you can select any music you have unlocked for use in any level, and you are sure to enjoy this portion of the game as much as Blue Tongue hoped you would.

The game plays well, it sounds great, and the graphics are on par with both of those areas. The opening movie looks as good as anything Nintendo has produced this generation-think of how gorgeous the animated intros for “Super Smash Bros. Brawl” and “Mario & Sonic at The Olympics” looked, and you wouldn’t be far off-and the cut scenes use the same style. INKT, and their monochrome color scheme, are designed beautifully despite lacking color, and the city looks great for it even before you splash around in your purples and yellows. The style is unique, the graphics are crisp and clear, and it is obvious Blue Tongue put a lot of work into getting a great look out of the Wii hardware. Here’s hoping that more third-party developers take notice in the future.

Blue Tongue has made a fantastic and original adventure on the Wii, while putting together a universe of likable characters, both good and bad. Though the game has room for improvements that a sequel could address, this product is one that you do not want to miss.

There is always a clamor for unique efforts on the Wii that utilize the hardware, and Blue Tongue has done just that with a game that will have you coming back again and again. If you have money for just one Wii game during the next few weeks before the holiday releases start to pour in, use it on “de Blob.” You won’t be disappointed.