It’s a miracle. Sega have had a moment of realisation that could change the course of their games for ever. Yes, it’s the moment we’ve all been waiting for. They’ve announced that they’re making a Sonic game which will be a return to form.

Ok, they say that every time they release a new Sonic game. But this time it’s not only Sega saying so, it’s Sonic fans as well. “Project Needlemouse” is the codename for the 2D Sonic game due to be released in 2010. Unsurprisingly it’s been nicknamed Sonic 2010. Virtually nothing is known about the game except that it’s “built from the ground up”, it’s in HD and it’s 2D. Since the trailer also said that “speed returns”, it’s a safe bet that it’s going to be an old-style Sonic with new graphics. It’s surprising it’s taken them this long to figure it out, they managed to go about a decade with irate fans telling them that the old Sonics were the best and that they should just leave the game alone.

For those brief moments that Sonic games stayed true to the original games, like the daytime stages in Sonic Unleashed, everyone went wild with praise and admiration for Sega, hoping that they’d cotton on and realise that if they made a game out of the good bits they’d make a brilliant game. But Sonic moves fast, if the game was going to be longer than a few minutes they’d need massive levels and lots of them, which would cost money. It’s much easier to have him moving around with all the agility of a sloth for most of the levels. Before all this, back when Sonic was in his prime, Sonic was a gaming icon who rivaled Mario. Now the only time he comes close to rivalling that short tubby man is in Mario & Sonic At The Olympic Games, and even then he’s destined to lose anything which isn’t Track. 

But we should be fair to Sega, if they just made an old Sonic game and stuck to the style like glue then lots of people would get tired of it. The game’s already been made and lots of people already have it, they’d need to add something to keep it new. That shouldn’t, however, mean turning him into some kind of swordfighter. They could add a new obstacle, a new type of level, something like that. Nothing which dramatically alters the gameplay. With any luck that’s what we can expect from Sonic 2010. A 2D Sonic focussing on speed. Could it really go wrong?

Apparently so. Lots of people are sceptical, including myself. Will an old style Sonic game really work with modern (HD, even) graphics? Can we trust Sega to not ruin this one as well? They’ve not revealed much about the game yet, it’s still very possible that they have a brilliant twist in which he turns into some kind of turtle. Then there’s the fact that 3D Sonic can work, such as some of those earlier mentioned Unleashed day stages, which weren’t all 2D. It’s not that Sonic’s 3D which causes the problem, it’s the weird gimmicks they throw in as well. Let’s just hope that, after all these weird and no-so-wonderful games, the weird gimmick this time around will be making a game that isn’t an embarrassment to a once brilliant gaming legend.

Sonic 2010 is, of course, coming out in 2010. Until then we don't know much about it, besides the fact that it's in HD.

- Undead God