The currently announced animal bases players can choose from include a variety of animals rarely utilized, if ever, in the Sonic universe. Each animal base will include its own abilities to use in-game. These abilities don’t necessarily correlate to real world skills for each creature, allowing players to choose they’re favorite animals without restriction. The list of possible bases includes:

Wolf: Automatically draws in rings when near them. Rabbit: Has longer invincible time after receiving damage. Cat: Keeps one ring after being hit. Dog: Restarts with five rings after the player dies. Bear: Blows away enemies with a homing attack. Bird: Flies high with double jump abilities. Hedgehog: Collects rings when getting damaged.

The player’s hero character is slated to be part of a story that revisits the classic conflict of Sonic versus the evil Dr. Eggman and his empire. How much of a role the custom character will play beyond fighting has yet to be revealed, as more details about the game are supposed to come at E3 2017. 

These new character options give fresh life to the the Sonic formula, while allowing more options in a single-player campaign than ever before. This news will likely entice players to join forces once more to defeat Eggman’s Empire.

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