I got my hands on the PS3 version of the upcoming addition to the Sonic library this afternoon.

First of all, the game looks great. It certainly looks great watching someone else play it. It also ticks that important Sonic box - its fast. It seems really fast actually, which is a great thing. Similarly to the Dreamcast Sonic Adventure, the camera switches back and forth between full 3D and side-on views. As with that title and all others since, it looks good but never really captures that 16-bit spirit. The controls are way too easy and most of the time I felt like the game was on rails, in that Sonic would move forward no matter which direction I held. This is mostly because the camera is darting around so much that the developers have had to compensate the gamer with controls that allow you to do no wrong. There are all the usual suspects; like jump, spin and dash but this time there is also duck/slide. This makes for some stylish running past spikes and under crevices but doesn't add a great deal to the overall gameplay.

Probably realizing this, Sega have included a new mode called 'Werewolf mode'. This mode does little, if anything to brighten up even the most hardcore Sonic fans. It's frustratingly slow to move about as the werewolf character, who is an unlikeable lump of hairy flesh in the same general shape as the famous blue hedgehog. You can hit enemies with your arms and jump about, but the combat and platforming is a few years out of date. The Wii version of werewolf mode is particularly horrible. The textures are rough and ugly and the controls are unresponsive at best. The werewolf has barely any moves to dispatch the simply awful enemies and the only thing that delayed me from completing the uninspired demo level was the fact that the little hovering enemies kept moving too high and fast for me to hit. The entire mode felt like a chore and it was a relief when I finally reached the giant gold ring at the end.

The main Sonic mode fares better on the Wii, which I thought flowed quite smoothly. The controls are similar to Sonic and the Secret Rings, but the camera doesn't stay behind Sonic like that game does. The camera flits about the screen, but doesn't cause and inordinate amount of trouble and the mid-air dash move works better in this version than it did in Sonic's last Wii outing as the move is mapped with a flick rather than a push.
To conclude, the main mode looks pretty solid and nice to look at, if a little samey and basic. The werewolf mode leaves a foul taste, but as with all of these hands-ons I cannot properly judge the game until the final copy is ready for release.