This game could either be the best thing to happen to Sonic in a long, long time or another in a much-too-long series of disappointments.

This statement isn't exactly bold.  Every Sonic game in recent memory (with the exception of the sure-to-be awful games like Sonic Riders or Shadow the Hedgehog) has fallen under this statement and has, unfortunately, fallen more to the side of disappointment.  Mucking around with the Sonic formula, trying to do genre-breaking games, taking my favorite blue hedgehog into 'new territory' have been motivators behind these games and are largely a reason for fans subsequent distaste for the poor little guy.  The problem with this game may very well be we're getting exactly what we said we wanted.

Clearly, this game jumps back to the Sega Genesis that I so love.  Being my first real console (the NES was technically my cousin's...) I have a particular love for the Genesis and the majority of it's games, no matter how pathetic they may have been at the time (I hold my copy of F-22 Interceptor in high reverence).  Everything from the opening logo (complete with authentic SEEEEGAAAAAA!) to the level art style to the game start screen look as if they were taken straight from a long secret Sonic sequel that Sega malevolently kept from us.  Everything about this game is a huge throwback to Sonic's glory days and has me beyond excited for what could very well be Sonic's redemption.

That's the problem.

Ever heard of too much of a good thing?  This may very well be it.  It's almost as if the developers have decided to ignore the twenty or so years that have passed (and the gaming innovations that have come as a result) to give the fans what we think we want.  They claim it's a 'new' game, but all I see is the same Sonic game I spent hours on as a kid, only this time Sonic has green eyes and the homing attack.  Sonic fans are clamoring to hear more about this game and cannot wait to play it because of this fact: it's the formula we fell in love with.  Sega is clearly playing to our collective feelings of nostalgia, but nostalgia isn't going to make a dated game good.  What if Sega abandoned this formula for a reason?  What if all these years of plopping this speed-demon into teams of laughably bad stories, character rosters and locales were Sega's attempt to find a successor to an outdated formula?  What if the only reason they're going back to it is that the fans will probably burn down their offices if they released anything but this game?

What if we sit down to play Sonic 4 and realize "I already own this game... It's sitting in a cartridge upstairs".  Sure it'll be in HD, but from what I've seen (that leaked footage) it doesn't look too great in motion.  Granted, the person behind the controller was dead awful at this game (probably had one hand on the controller and one on the camera) but for all their power I didn't get that same thrill from that Sonic 4 video on these consoles that I get from Genesis-era Sonic.  While every great game series sticks to a formula that their fanbase knows and loves, this game seems to take this formula way too seriously.  Even the Halo series, one panned by a lot of people for a lack of innovation, had significant changes from game to game.  This is exactly Sonic 1 from what we've seen so far, and that's not gonna fly.  I want a new game, not a re-skinned, re-hashed 'homage' to the glory days.  While, yes, I really want Sonic to be sprinting at breakneck speeds in 2D, I feel there's a lot of chances to add a twist to the gameplay that won't fundamentally screw it up.

Hopefully this is just the beginning of a wealth of news about the greatness of this true Sonic sequel; hopefully we can look at this game as the rightful predecessor, both because it sticks to the formula and takes Sonic's first step in the right direction in quite some time, rather than another disappointment.  While this news of Sonic being the lone character and the gameplay starting back where the franchise was last truly successful, let's just hope these aren't the last of the announcements Sega has planned, for both the gamers and that poor blue hedgehog.  While I remain hopeful, Sonic's history has taught me all too well to not be too hopeful.