While a few lucky people got to see the game being played at SEGA Gamers Day, the rest of us have to sit back and settle for some new screens of Sonic Unleashed. We’ve seen the game in motion briefly but these screens definitely reconfirm that we’ll be getting plenty of both 2D and 3D Sonic action in the game. They also confirm that Sonic is going to look darn pretty while he’s blasting through levels at top speed. Word on the street from the event is that the build that was playable at the event has a few frame rate issues (a huge problem in a Sonic game) and some clipping here and there but that this is all to be expected from a game so early in development.

Levels seem to be designed around running fast and spin jumping onto enemies, which is what a Sonic level should be designed around. We can also look forward to power-ups and acrobatic tricks ala the Sonic Adventure games. Let us all keep our fingers firmly crossed until the game comes out and hope that the whole ‘weresonic’ thing is actually an interesting gameplay mechanic and not yet another lame attempt to once again make Sonic “to cool for school,” which happens to be a phrase that went out of style right around the same time Sonic did.

[See also: Sonic Unleashed gallery]