Pre-E3 06: Sonic the Hedgehog

We also saw a different type of action level, where you literally are just moving in one direction. In this case, Sonic was running so fast that he's actually in between two massive walls of water that haven’t splashed together yet. The point here was to rip through as quickly as possible, leaping from platform to platform, and occasionally tearing ass across that very column of water. Thing is, Sega claims the final game will run even faster than what we saw.

It's not all one big homage to the Sonic games of old, though. The entire world has received a humanized makeover, the normally rotund villain Dr. Eggman perhaps most of all. He's slimmed down considerably, and is after a human princess who's wearing a precious stone around her neck - we'd all know it as a chaos emerald. There's also a solid white character that's seemingly out to stop Sonic, but his reasons are, naturally, a mystery.

From what we've seen, this new Sonic the Hedgehog doesn't look like much new, but if all the pieces come together, there's no reason why it couldn't herald a new beginning for the in-your-face attitude and greased lightning gameplay that we enjoyed so many years ago.