While we didn't get a walk through of the game's storyline, we were given a chance to mess around with a chunk of the game.

The DS title shows the action of the game on the bottom, touch screen, while the top screen is taken up by a large colorful map of the section of the world you are currently exploring.

The game has you playing a team of Sonic characters, selected among 11 playable in the game.

Typically while playing only one of your team is shown on the screen and controllable, but you can switch between them by tapping on their icons. Each character has different abilities, which can be used by tapping icons that pop up at times while wandering the map.

For instance, only Big the Cat was able to make his way through a dense fog of clouds in portions of the map I was on, while a wing icon showed me that I could use Tails' flying ability.

The fighting segments of the game did a nice job of capturing the essence of typical role-playing and adding enough to make it exciting. While you still select who you are attacking and how you are attacking them in a turn-based setting, once the attacks start some require the gamer to rhythmically tap the screen or drag the stylus in particular places, ala Elite Beat Agents, to succeed.

Fleeing an encounter is also very hands on, as you have to keep an eye on your entire team and tap different members to get them to jump over obstacles as you run from the bad guys in a sort of mini-game.

Despite being on the compact DS, the game seemed to pack most of the features one would expect to find in a role-playing game including lots of wandering, dialog trees, puzzles, leveling up and even an equipable pet of sorts.

Over the years I've found myself losing interest in role-playing games, but this slight blending of genres, a move that gets more involved in the process and makes the title feel slightly more like an action game, has me thinking that this would be a great game to take with me on a trip.

Yes, the game was still in its infancy, but we got a decent glimpse at the gameplay mechanics that should make Sonic Chronicles another BioWare hit.

The game is almost entirely stylus controlled, with Sonic (or whomever you're playing) following touchscreen taps and drags. Context sensitive pop-up actions will appear at certain points, letting the player enter doors, sprint through corkscrews or cross gaps. Some are character or ability specific, requiring the use of a flying Rouge the Bat, for example.

In battle, fights with angry woodsy creatures will require a knowledge of turn-based RPG tactics. Your quartet of fighters will load out with a series of special attacks that depends on who is in your current party. Tag-team moves may require both Sonic and Amy, with some special attacks that can only be done via threesome.

Those special attacks are executed with a rhythmic Ouendan-style series of touchscreen presses, an addition that brings a bit of welcome action to an otherwise passive Sonic game.

There's no lack of options for stats obsessive RPG gamers, with a skill leveling system and a Chao breeding mechanic that will let players tailor how Knuckles or Tails evolve. Expect Sonic Chronicles to feature an impressive depth in line with the BioWare pedigree.

It's hard to pass any sort of judgment on a game so incomplete, but the few minutes of Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood we played certainly held our interest in playing a more plodding, calculating Sonic the Hedgehog game. Put it on your 2009 wishlist.

MTV Multiplayer's Stephen Totilo asked BioWare founders Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk about the challenge of making, say, Rouge the Bat or Big the Cat tolerable to play.

"I think maybe the challenge there, if people are not as excited about having the friends, is making them worthwhile, making them a good part of the game," Zeschuk says. "They're not going to be gimmicky. They're not going to be side things. It is actually a core part of the gameplay mechanic. It's actually, we think, going to revitalize the love of the Sonic friends, especially Big the Cat."

We'll give it a fighting chance and promise to go in with an open mind. We might even learn to... like Shadow the Hedgehog in some tiny way. But you've got your work cut out for you BioWare.

BioWare: New RPG Will 'Revitalize The Love Of The Sonic Friends' [MTV Multiplayer]

According to details from the newest issue of Nintendo Power, the game has a hand-drawn watercolor style. Each member in your party—which can total four of the eleven available characters—will have special abilities (we're betting the farm on Sonic being fast). Battles are turn-based and attacks are said to follow an Elite Beat Agents model.

There's more to read at the message board post linked below.

Bioware's Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood in new NP [NeoGAF]