Sonic the Hedgehog’s new game melds Inception and Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater

polygon.com:

Sonic the Hedgehog has a new game coming next month that pairs his trademark high-speed 3D platforming gameplay with the replayability and discovery of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater. Sonic Dream Team, developed by Sega’s Hardlight studio, also features a unique setting — the tangible dreams of Dr. Eggman — and a character totally new to the Sonic-verse.

Sonic Dream Team, which Polygon played at a hands-on preview event earlier this week, borrows from a variety of influences. Its levels are inspired by skate parks, with grind rails, halfpipes, and pathways that loop around, and the impossible dream architecture of Christopher Nolan’s Inception. Levels are brightly colored distillations of Dr. Eggman’s dreams, filtered through Sonic’s friend Cream the Rabbit.

The skate-park-inspired levels of Sonic Dream Team are built so that players will run them multiple times, and with multiple goals in mind. In some of the levels I played, set in the dream worlds known as Scrambled Shores and Dream Factory, I was tasked with finding keys to unlock new pathways, reaching the goal under a time limit, or tracking down a hidden object. A level’s architecture will change depending on the goal, and players are encouraged to revisit levels again and again. Levels are full of hidden collectibles, including blue coins and red stars scattered throughout.

Some collectibles and areas can only be reached by certain characters. Sonic the Hedgehog is playable, and his friend Amy Rose plays identically to the blue blur. Tails, Knuckles, Rouge the Bat, and Cream the Rabbit are also unlockable and playable. Knuckles and Rouge can both glide and climb up walls, giving them access to locations that other characters can’t reach. The same is true for Tails and