Well, it’s about damn time. After all that (rather baseless) legal posturing, it’s official: Sega’s Sonic Team is hard at work — and has been for around three years — on a brand-new adventure featuring their most iconic character. In a press release sent out this morning (after the jump), Sega gave us an overview of Sonic Unleashed, which is being developed for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii, and PlayStation 2.

The story, which you probably couldn’t care less about, isn’t anything groundbreaking: Dr. Eggman (*sigh* I miss the good ol’ days of Dr. Robotnik) has broken up the world into seven continents — wait, isn’t that already how it’s set up? Anyway, Sonic has to find the Chaos Emeralds and use their power to set everything right, blah-dee blah-dee blah. But there are a lot of promising details in spite of the banal plot.

There’s an intriguing mention of a day/night dichotomy being used as a gameplay device, as well as “seamless” transitions between 3D and “classic 2D” camera angles (yay!). But here’s the main selling point for me (I guess the Sonic Team saw Jim’s “How to save Sonic” piece):

Players will have an opportunity to engage in ways never before done with the Sonic franchise, so in addition to running at high speeds, which will be highlighted in four new speed mechanics, combat fighting now becomes possible. New combat, movement, functional abilities and platforming will be introduced to offer increased depth and variety.

I know I’m not the only one whose pants are tent—splooge! Seriously, that’s what I’ve always wanted to see in a new Sonic game. Though the trailer (viewable above) consists entirely of Sonic dashing through gorgeous levels, just the thought of platforming has got me titillated. Speaking of the trailer, it’s quite different from the one that was originally leaked on YouTube. Okay, the first minute is nearly identical, but after that, this trailer — which presumably comprises gameplay footage — shows off a previously unseen water-themed level that brought European seaside cities to my mind.

Alright, Sonic Team, I am officially stoked for this game; don’t let me down. Sonic Unleashed is set for release this holiday season. For more information, check out the game’s official website at http://www.sega.com/sonicunleashed/. It has two more screenshots, along with the debut trailer and press release. Are you as excited as I am, folks?

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This entry was posted on Friday, April 4th, 2008 at 8:24 am and is filed under PS3 News.You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.