Sonic Unleashed: "no relation" to latest Sonic titles

Well, thank God. In a recent interview with Official Nintendo Magazine (what, you don't subscribe?), Sonic Team's Yoshihisa Hashimoto noted that Sonic's latest outing, Sonic Unleashed, "has no relation" to his previous next-gen effort Sonic the Hedgehog (or the Wii's Sonic and the Secret Rings for that matter). For those of you who missed out on Sonic the Hedgehog, you should know that Sonic Unleashed having no relation to it is a very, very good thing. Giving us more reason to hope (and thus greater hopes to be dashed), Hashimoto says that Sonic Unleashed began as Sonic Adventure 3, adding that "this game will have more in common with the older Sonic Adventure series." While many would argue that Sonic Team should look back even further for inspiration (oh sweet, sweet Sonic 3), it's still a damned sight better than the 360 Sonic the Hedgehog.

So, potentially good news then. Dare we have the audacity to hope that Sonic Unleashed might actually be good?