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Sonic the Hedgehog made his public debut today, during Sony's Press Conference. Now, this isn't the first time the next-gen Sonic has shown up, but it's definitely the first time Sony had it in playable form. The demo included two different stages, and two different characters. We'd seen these before, like we mentioned earlier, but today we actually picked up the controller and gave it a whirl.


To start, we'll just say Sonic on PS3 shoots for the same kind of experience as previous games in the series. Specifically, it aims to deliver the speed and frenetic action of the 16-bit originals. Of course, developers want to refine and enhance the formula. There's a whole lot of technical prowess in the system, so it's only fitting that developers make us of it.

For Sonic next-gen, this translates to expansive environments, crazy speed and a new physics engine. It also means impressive visuals, branching pathways and a slew of graphical effects the previous generation simply couldn't handle. But that's not to say the core mechanic has strayed far from the original. Far from it, in fact. It plays very much like a Sonic title. In short, it looks like the kind of thing long-time fans will likely devour.

The first stage of the demo took place in a grassy landscape filled with waterfalls and rolling hills. We started off on a narrow bridge with a few boxes and enemies in the distance. We had to run toward them, take out the boxes and then turn our attention to the two robotic fiends. We then jumped onto a set of platforms that led to another narrow bridge. This time, however, the bridge split into several pieces. Each piece had a booster pad on it, so we had to hit each one to gain enough momentum to make the jump.

From there, we rode a slipstream to another section of the level where we encountered another set of metal foes. The remainder of the stage featured sets of platforms, lifts, speed boosts and more narrow walkways. The action feels particularly fluid and decidedly frenetic. In fact, it's so quick that it takes a few minutes to get a handle on the controls. Granted, the game is far from finished, but that this point it feels a little squirrelly.

Combat, on the other hand, seems very fluid and intuitive, if a little simple. Sonic can use a powerslide attack to kill enemies, for instance, and it felt easy to use. There's also a jump attack, and that wasn't much harder. We could actually jump on one enemy to destroy it, then immediately jump and kill four more in a matter of seconds. All we had to do was tilt the analog stick toward enemies and hit the attack button. Sonic then simply charges in that direction and takes em' out.

The second stage featured a new playable character known as Silver the Hedgehog. He looks a lot like Sonic, only he's (surprise!) silver. But even though looks a lot like his blue brother, he doesn't act like him at all. Silver trades in a killer sense of speed for telekinetic powers. He can actually charge up an energy meter and automatically lift any object that's not bolted to the ground. This includes boulders, crates and cars. He can also take these items and chuck them at enemies. Also, Silver's stage looked far different that Sonic's. Instead of grass, hills and waterfalls, it had wrecked cars and tattered buildings; post-apocalyptic, in other words.

Stay tuned for more.