Sonic's newest title, Sonic Colors, puts him in a massive space-based amusement park run by Eggman. This time around though, he won't be saving small woodland creatures from Ro-butt-nik. Instead, he is releasing alien creatures known as wisps, and best of all, some of them give him powers.

Wisps come in several colors, the most common of which is white and while these white ones don't grant our blue friend any special abilities (besides some added boost), the others give Sonic the advantage he needs in order to stop Dr. Robotnik. The available levels at this year's E3 included yellow and cyan wisps, and while more are promised, Sega was tight-lipped about their colors and abilities.

The yellow creatures turn Sonic into a yellow drilling blur and allow him to dive under the surface of the level in order to collect trapped items like coins and extra lives, as well as dig deeper in order to uncover whole new sections of the level. The cyan ones, on the other hand, give Sonic laser guidance and a speed boost that he can use to plow through the level and take out any enemies along the way. As an added bonus, if Sonic hits a conduit along the way, he will become a beam of light and follow a set path to more interesting areas of the level.

Sonic Colors will be released on both the Wii and DS, and while the two have similar stories, there are many differences between them. For one, the Wii version will use a mixture of side-scrolling and 3D environments, while the DS version will feel more like Sonic Rush. Also, there will be some wisps that are exclusive to each platform, but exactly which ones they are, and what their powers will be, is not clear at this time.

Look for both versions of Sonic Colors to be released late this year.