UPDATE: The spoilsports at Sega seem to have caught wind of the Youtube escapade, as the videos that were featured in this story were taken off shortly after. If you’re looking for a way to view the videos but can handle waiting a million years, Ruliweb have downloadable versions on their website. The last two links in either the HD or SD segment of the page lead to the Sonic Unleashed videos, the other links are other games, we imagine.

It appears someone’s got their hands on review code of Sonic Unleashed early, because there’s a few gameplay videos popping up over Youtube courtesy of “Ruliweb”. The first video, above, shows a cutscene between Sonic and Chip in the Apotos stage, whilst showcasing what the ‘hub’ worlds will look like and even a little bit of main stage action. Chip does sound rather irritating with his sundae fetish, but maybe that’s the point. It’s altogether a pretty charming cutscene, and overall a pretty cool display of Sonic’s character. In the hub world you can talk to various non-playable characters about this and that. You get the option for multiple-choice responses, but as the video quality is pretty poor we can’t tell whether you’ll get any sidequests or anything for doing this.

The Sonic levels still look awesomely impressive. Calls of ‘on-rails’ gameplay may be justified, but if it’s fun and entertaining (and above all, satisfying to play) then does it really matter? It’s no throwback to what made the classics great, but it at least taps the relative success and win that the Sonic Rush series is made of. Basically, it looks like a bowl full of funchips. Also, no loading! We just hope that the ‘EXP’ system doesn’t make the game a chore to play until you level up like in Sonic and the Secret Rings.

There’s more though – Ruliweb kindly captured the introduction cutscene for the game too, which you can download using the link provided above. Trust us though – this opening cutscene is made of a trophy built from the rarest awesome, dug from the farmost mines of win.

Thanks to PeTePoPsS on the SSMB for finding the videos and sharing them!