Sega and Sonic Team have once again brought back the fast, blue hedgehog. Sonic arrives on the scene with both new and old characters, but one must ask them... "Where is Mighty the Armadillo?" Split up into four teams, they all have one goal, defeat Eggman "Dr. Ivo Robotnik" and not get torn up by his, very familiar, ultimate weapon on the way.

Team Sonic has Sonic the hedgehog, Knuckles the echidna and Miles "Tails" Prower the two-tailed fox. Team Dark has Shadow the amnesiatic hedgehog, Rouge the bat and Omega the robot. Team Rose has Amy Rose the hedgehog, Cream the rabbit, Cheese the Chao and Big the cat. Team Chaotix brings back Vector the crocodile, Espio the chameleon and Charmy the bee. Where is Noah when you need him?

While each team's main objective is the same, the methods are rather different. Team Sonic is all about speed and is meant for the dedicated players. Team Dark is for those hardcore fans who want the extreme challenges. Team Rose is a team for the newbies. Team Chaotix serves to fill the hole where players do not like the speed, but enjoy the puzzle solving. Throw in the new two-player options with the improved game engine and you have a party.

The graphics on this game are now officially the best I have seen. The graphics are vibrant, highly defined, clear, crisp and any other words to describe heavenly. I love a game where you can tell distant scenery and characters apart. It also does not hurt to have the ability to move the camera around as needed. There is almost no way anyone could get a bad camera angle since the player controls the camera. The main character design is much like that of the Sonic Adventure series, but again, a lot more definition.

The sounds will be very familiar to long-time fans; they most closely resemble the sounds from the Sega Genesis classic Sonic & Knuckles. The music is also a mesh of new with the classic. If you have ever played a Sega Genesis Sonic game before, you certainly known where I am coming from. I have been unable to tell up to this point if the new music comes from Johnny Gioeli or a new source. Nonetheless, the music and sound quality is of high caliber.

The controls in a basic sense are easy. However, once you get into advanced team moves, you then have to learn three formations with multiple attacks. Team members are divided up into three categories, speed, power and flight. Each formation where the leader is either one of the categories has at least three special attacks. Luckily, the attacks for each formation in each team are generally similar. Also, keep in mind various characters have special moves other characters do not have.

Formation classification leaders divide up as the following:

Speed: Sonic, Shadow, Amy and Espio.

Power: Knuckles, Omega, Big and Vector.

Flight: Tails, Rouge, Cream and Charmy.

What makes this game fresh? Gee, I do not know maybe the new levels and revival of some classics in a new layout. Perhaps it is the playability of 12 different characters right off the bat. It could be the two-player options which unlock with every 20 emblems. The ability to collect chaos emeralds in hopes to become super powerful sounds pretty inspiring. Whatever the reason, this game has a lot to bring to the GameCube, Playstation 2 and Xbox.

As with any game, what gives a game life is the determination of the player. That never say quit attitude! The need for speed! The love of the characters! How hot Amy Rose looks in a certain light. All of these and more will bring players back.