Putting a mascot of a company into a racing game is pretty common with publishers these days. Nintendo's made a killing over the years producing quality entries in their Mario Kart series; Vivendi Universal has made constant revisits to the Crash license with his kart games; and even Sega gave us a slight taste of racing Sonic the Hedgehog with Sonic R for the Sega Saturn a few years ago. (If you can't find that version, check out Sonic Gems Collection for the GameCube, a title we recommend.) Now Sega is revisiting Sonic-land once more for what could be the Hedgehog's last title for the current generation, Sonic Riders.

In Riders, Sonic and friends take to a series to new race tracks, per a challenge by Dr. Robotnik. It seems that he's harvesting a strange new Chaos Emerald and is taunting Sonic and friends with it, while also providing the opportunity to keep it for himself. So Sonic grabs a jet-powered board and takes to the tracks, where challenges await against not only some familiar faces, but an all new league known as the Band of Thieves that's ready to leave you in the dust.

Sonic Riders will allow gamers to participate in this Worldwide Grand Prix, which takes place in different locales all across the Sonic universe, from lush jungles to high-speed futuristic tracks that kind of take a nod to the Sega-produced F-Zero GX that was released a while back. The game moves at a frenzied pace from the video we've seen on the title, and manages to hold its own with good animation and nice tricks, such as being able to do a drift of some sort by sliding Sonic (or whoever you're controlling) along the edges of the track. The game will also implement different tricks you can perform, giving it an SSX-like twist that lets you rack up points and pick up a few rings that could make a difference to getting to the finish line.

The use of power-ups may remind some gamers of Wipeout, but it's really done in the Sonic style. Some will allow gamers to get a boost, while others will let them "take out" other racers temporarily in an attempt to bump up in rank. The finished game should also feature some solid modes to choose from, including a multiplayer rout that will allow four players to jump in for some super sonic racing. No word yet if Sonic Team's working to include online support for PS2 or Xbox, but you never know.

With a zippy presentation, gameplay that borrows but somehow integrates into its own inventive experience, and lots of opportunities to put Sonic back on the race track, Sonic Riders could very well be a good send-off for the hog for this current generation. Of course, some of you may be too distracted by his forthcoming PS3/Xbox 360 adventure, but this is something to blaze through while you're passing the time. Look for it to arrive in winter 2006, just in time for the Christmas rush. Wow, maybe it redefines Christmas rush, eh?