Tails was also mentioned at the start, but I don’t yet know what other Sonic characters will be in the game. In the demo, I found all of Amy’s Memory Tokens and released some kind of digital imprint of her from a futuristic jail cell.
You’re also searching for Memory Tokens, which are used to free Sonic’s friends. There are platforming challenges that reward you with the opportunity to reveal parts of the map in a scattered, checkerboard order.
I didn’t feel like the boosted speed was nearly fast enough while running around the island, but you’ll upgrade Sonic’s speed throughout the game by finding lost Koco (think Koroks from Breath of the Wild).Īside from fighting robots and collecting lost Kocos, there’s a handful of other activities to do around the map. When combined with the homing attack, you can pull off some pretty impressive air combos. Sonic can double-jump in the air and use the boost to dash forward long distances. The aforementioned Boost is on the right trigger, which will give you an instant burst of speed followed by a sustained speed until you run out of energy. While running, the shoulder buttons will make Sonic juke left and right without losing momentum, which is useful for dodging attacks as you approach an enemy. Homing attacks lock on predictably and fairly consistently, and you have a lot more control both on the ground and in the air than I expected. Sonic’s movements are snappy and responsive, and it’s relatively easy to be precise while platforming. It’s a shame that what I played felt so staccato, because controlling Sonic actually felt pretty good. This could just be a symptom of the early game, which is frequently interrupted by tutorials and tool tips, and I hope later islands have a more handcrafted feel.
Instead of building momentum by navigating the environment with precision like you would in a linear Sonic game, you’re just running from one POI to the next, stopping each time to engage with whatever you find. The world feels like it’s made up of lots of little tiles that each have something interesting on them, but they don’t fit together in a cohesive way.
I tried to look for lines that connected all of the different platforming elements together, but I found everything to be pretty segmented. While the density of POIs keeps things engaging, there’s a noticeable lack of flow between them. The world is dotted with platforming challenges, combat encounters, puzzles, and more, and you never have to go far to find something new to investigate. I got the chance to run around the first of several ‘open-zone’ islands (Sega’s term) and check out the different enemies, points of interest, and collectibles Sonic can find. Related: Sonic 2 Is Proof That There's Nothing Wrong With Human Characters