Sega surprised the world by putting the Sonic the Hedgehog demo for free on Xbox Live. The demo is an updated build from the one we tried out at E3, except that you can only play as Sonic. Silver (pictured below) is a new character in the game, who is completely unlike Sonic. Instead of relying on speed, Silver is a slow tank with telekinetic powers. He can lift large boulders to throw and stop bullets with his special powers. Another batch of screenshots show Shadow driving around in a car. Think that’s strange? Sonic is about to interact with the human world as he tries to save Princess Elyse’s kingdom. Sure Sonic is in the game, but Sonic the Hedgehog is a far cry from the Sonic the Hedgehog on the Genesis.
On the plus side the Xbox 360 demo keeps Sonic’s most important trait, speed. Sonic games should feel fast and that has been a difficult task with some of the 3D Sonic titles (I’m looking at you Sonic Heroes). Now that you’ve played the demo and seen a little bit about the world is Sonic’s shift a pro or a con?
