Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg Updated Impressions

We got to try our hand at a new version of Sega's upcoming Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg. The game is being developed by Sonic Team, and it focuses on a young boy dressed in a magical chicken suit who must use the power of eggs to free chickens from an evil crow king determined to keep the land covered in darkness. The new version of the game gave us a taste of the CG intro, new levels, different gameplay elements, a boss fight, and the game's multiplayer mode.

The game's intro CG shows young Billy rolling his heart out as he shepherds an egg through various locales in the game, passing the game's eclectic cast of poultry, crows, humans, and bizarre enemies. The theme song is best described as aggressively peppy, and it's extremely catchy. You'll probably find yourself humming the tune long after you've switched the game off, which will likely force those around you to hit you with a blunt object.

The game has a mission-based structure that requires you to accomplish various tasks in each of the worlds. In an interesting twist, you'll face off against a boss after the third mission in each world and then have the option to finish the rest of the missions in that world or move on to the next one. Our version of the game featured a total of six worlds with roughly 10 missions each. The flexible structure keeps the game from feeling stale as you go through it, which helps the overall pacing.

As far as gameplay goes, Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg seems to be shaping up really well. The core game mechanic revolves around using an egg to deal with enemies and solve puzzles. While this sounds pretty simplistic, Sonic Team is really making inventive use of the mechanic. The game's basic controls are simple. You'll control Billy with the analog stick, use the A button to jump, the B button to speak to characters, and the left trigger to center the camera behind you. Your move set expands once you throw an egg into the mix. You get control of an egg by simply running up to it and pressing a directional button to roll it anywhere you like. Once you have an egg under your control, you'll have a variety of options open to you. You'll be able to use it to deal with enemies by rolling into them normally, dashing into them using the right trigger, throwing the egg at them with the B button, or performing an egg driver (jumping with the egg and then slamming down into the ground at high speed). Your egg can also serve as a booster when you're jumping to let you reach new areas, which you can reach either by jumping up to them on your own or by using rings that launch you and your egg around. In addition, you can use the egg to interact with the environment by using it to hit switches, ride rails to new areas, navigate downhill paths, and take down obstacles blocking your path.

We hopped around various levels in the game and are pleased by how the mechanics are working together over the course of a level. For example, in the forest village level we flipped switches, used rings to pop up to higher areas, and used an egg-shaped rail to roll to another part of the level. Even though our version of the game was still a little rough around the edges, it showed off a level of polish that had been missing in previous demos of the game. The grassy, tree-filled area featured detailed textures, rich colors, and little touches, such as falling leaves, that added personality to the surroundings. After we explored a bit, the level segued into a boss fight with an evil gecko. The boss fight served to demonstrate the game's unique gameplay and physics. The battle began with the evil gecko voicing its displeasure and threatening Billy in the middle of a thick patch of tall grass. When the fight started, the gecko hopped down on all fours and hid in the grass, forcing Billy to move around in the grass in search of him. Depending on the size of the egg Billy is rolling, the grass will be displaced to varying degrees. Smaller eggs squash down tiny chunks of grass, while larger eggs flatten a wider area of grass. When the gecko is exposed, Billy can attack him with his egg. As the gecko takes more damage during the fight, he will water the grass, causing it to grow back again. While the pattern is simple, the fight showed off the inventive ways Sonic Team is working with the seemingly basic mechanic of rolling an egg. One of the most promising aspects of the gameplay is that it appears that Sonic Team is going to feature some unique elements in every world to keep things fresh. For example, in the Blizzard castle area, you'll be able to roll snowballs, which grow in size, and you'll even be able to make snowmen.

The other key component to using eggs in the game is hatching them. As you go about your business, you'll find fruit suspended in bubbles that you'll feed to the egg by rolling over them, which will cause the egg to grow in size. You'll be able to track your egg's growth via an onscreen meter that slowly fills as you collect fruit. When the meter is full, you'll be able to hatch the egg by releasing it and pressing the right trigger, which will cause Billy to perform a rooster call. The cry will shatter the egg and release any number of creatures from it--which creature you get depends on your egg. You'll find anything from a penguin to a winged monkey in the eggs, with each creature possessing a special elemental ability. By going over to your newly hatched minion, you'll be able to have it follow you around and attack when you press the X button. As you progress through the game, you'll come across some puzzles that require you to use a minion in order to solve them. You'll find there's a bit of strategy involved, due to the fact that you can have only one minion with you at any given time.

Finally, we checked out a very rough version of the game's multiplayer feature, which seems to be shaping up to be a solid mode in its own right. You'll find three game types--time, stock, and hatch--for two- to four-player split-screen egg action. You'll choose from one of four characters--the game's star, Billy; a girl named Rolly; a big guy named Bantam; and a small chicken named Chick--and hop into one of the games. In time battle, the winner is the player who takes out the most opponents within a set time limit. Stock battle is essentially a standard last-man-standing mode where whoever manages to be the last player on the map wins. Finally, hatch battle challenges you to hatch eggs for points within a set time. The modes we tried were fast-paced and fun, and they felt a bit like Super Monkey Ball's monkey battle mode, although they didn't play the same. A nice twist to the gameplay is that you'll be able to steal your opponents' eggs during battle if they're not adept at egg handling.

From what we've seen so far, Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg is shaping up to be an engaging game. The egg handling ends up being a pretty interesting mechanic that offers a surprising amount of depth. The single-player game is looking good, and the multiplayer mode has potential as well. Sonic Team has even thrown in some bonus minigames you can download via the GameCube-Game Boy Advance link cable. On the technical side of things, the game will offer progressive scan and Dolby Pro Logic II support, which is a plus. All told, Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg should be a game to watch for when it ships this fall exclusively for the GameCube.