If you have never played Sonic the Hedgehog for the Xbox 360 or PS3, I urge you to download the demo -- and I am being serious. It is so bad that I was actually impressed by what I saw. The game was so ill-conceived and shoddily designed it was almost artistic. Sonic and the Secret Rings for the Wii, while an improvement, was still a massive disappointment. It seems that Sonic Team knows these facts, as it has gone to great lengths to assure fans that Sonic Unleashed is not like those works of shame.

"As a development team, we originally started off this project planning to create Sonic Adventure 3", stated lead designer Yoshihisa Hashimoto. "In our minds, this game will have more in common with the older Sonic Adventure series. It has no relation to Sonic the Hedgehog [on PS3/Xbox 360] or Sonic and the Secret Rings."

Hashimoto also shared a few slight details about the upcoming game, which will be made available for all three current-gen consoles. He promised that Sonic Unleashed will "purely be Sonic's game" and that the spin attack and homing attack will return. That's fine, provided the homing attack doesn't randomly send you off the edge of cliffs in this one.

That bone of contention, the "Were-Sonic" was also touched upon. In his new monstrous form, Sonic will be "a slightly slower and yet more agile beast. Where Sonic dodges past obstacles, Were-Sonic manhandles them out of the way and can toss enemies around like nobody's business." He's also going to use his long arms to swing across a level as opposed to running. 

I am as cynical as the next man about this game, but I am still willing to give it a chance, Werehog and all. We really haven't seen it in action and won't know if it's good or bad until then. By all means, keep the cynicism (we've been burned a LOT by Sonic Team) but still, let's keep an open mind.