SonicTeam haven't really mastered the 3d platformer in quite the same way as their now friendly Japanese brothers, Nintendo. Sonic Adventure wasn't 100% the real deal and Sonic Adventure 2 didn't seem to know how to shuffle cards. For this roll of the 3d platformer dice Sega, SonicTeam and Yuji Naka have come up with a brand new character in a brand new world involving a remarkably large amount of poultry, eggs and black birds manifesting themselves as evil beings. The story isn't important. The game follows the recipe: several worlds, be it ice, pirate, circus, use these levels multiple times with multiple goals, get to the end, leave to boil for 3 minutes runny or hard and et voilà a 3d platformer.

Billy tries to be unique in several ways. First off Billy, the main character, can only walk, jump and climb ledges. In the good old days if a character could climb ledges, it would've been hailed the greatest. Now however standards have changed, so Billy can use eggs of the large variety to dispose of the enemies polluting the idyllic world of Morning Land. Once a conveniently located nest has been found, Billy is able to walk up to an egg and immediately roll it. Rolling giant eggs, or normal sized ones could be perceived as impossible. An egg is not a ball, it is not uniform in shape or density, i.e. It would roll off somewhere at random. Fortunately our rooster suit wearing hero is no stranger to rolling these mutant eggs and is capable of rolling them in the same fashion us normal folk would roll a zorb.

Giant egg rolling physics aside, Billy is capable of a number of egg related talents: jumping with an egg, throwing an egg, bouncing with an egg , running with an egg and spinning an egg forward and it returning like a yo-yo. With these veritable egg skills mastered, Master Hatcher is able to extinguish the dastardly army of black birds. These fellas manifest themselves as anything really; brown things with eyes, blue things with eyes and spiky things, some beak related enemies, a few dinosaur type what nots, whatever the situation a previously unimagined creature will appear with a disturbing intent.

Destruction of said foe can involve walking the egg into them. However, if one wanted to use a tad more finesse, then a quick yo-yo throw sends the evil beings off with ten pin bowling richochets, and these combos are a very neat way of making the task of saving the universe a lot more engaging. Groups of enemies line up in triangular formation, a swift flick of the egg and they go flying into each other with bemused expressions of defeat. Be wary though as eggs are not invincible and can only take a finite amount of hits before they explode leaving a rather depressing yoke in its wake.

Vanquished crows leave behind fruit encased in bubbles. Rolling over this hygienically sealed food feeds the egg. There are many eggs of many different colours and patterns and they have three stages of growth and proportional power, from the initial size, all the way to potential hatching. Once an egg has been hatched it can contain any number of delights that aid young Billy in his quest. Mostly the hatchings are offensive weapons presenting themselves as some of the single most bizarre creatures ever witnessed. Flying green and white duck billed platypus/dogs or maybe a yellow deranged bat monkey that shoots lightening. It's all dependant on the livery of the shell, but essentially they provide a direct attack straight ahead, but they are also integral to puzzle solving as certain hatchings are capable of freezing water or putting out flames and so forth. Some eggs contain what can be best described as 'Billy Upgrades', enhancements making Billy faster, invincible, more charming, the usual. Curiously though, it is not possible to know exactly what an egg does until after you have used it, and even then its not guaranteed until the egg database is checked once the level is complete.

The levels in Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg definitely follow ahorribly well trodden path of influences, including the hopelessly predictable snow level and the slightly less used pirate level with a dash of clowning around on the circus level. It seems that SonicTeam aren't ashamed to follow this route, and to be fair the actual design and structure of the levels are quite enticing. The first phase of each level usually involves finding the local rooster/leader character and getting them to call the sun up on the land. This is quite a subtle way of introducing the land, its motif and general vibe in a fairly tame way, but what it does do is show off the rest of the level architecture. From giant swooping slides to fiery chasms, it really encourages and invigorates the experience, the sense of wonder and discovery is sparked.

Within any level will be specific platforming tasks which can only be accomplished with use of the ubiquitous egg. Billy can jump into a green ring and bounce from it like a trampoline, a series blue rings is used like a pipe taking Billy over vast distances and orange rings are directional pinging devices where timing is the key. In amongst the rings and egg bouncing there are bridges and slides. Bridges are pinball style tubes, where, depending on the colour, the egg will roll down solo or with our poultry enthused hero in tandem, these also bridge gaps, but judging the speed down them can be tricky. Shooting an egg down a solo run means a swift sprint to the other end of the bridge minus an egg and a lot of timing and skill. Sending an egg down the chute with Billy attached too fast or too slow can lead to messy end. The slides have an interesting Super Monkey Ball influence. Once on a slide, Billy will grasp the egg for dear life and will roll with it, controlled in a similar way to the encased monkey game. However, Billy can jump, so the element of timing jumps, rolling and balancing on slides certainly mixes, or scrambles things up a bit. There are probably too few slides sadly, but when they are implemented they certainly get the heart racing.

Billy is one charming experience and this is enhanced by the visuals and the sounds. The game looks like a high end Dreamcast game with a bit of GameCube graphical flair. Is this a bad thing? It certainly is solid looking. However, on occasion during particular intense moments or graphics that are trying to show off, the game does let itself down a tad in the frame rate department. The character models are all very respectable and especially endearing and likeable with the bad characters being slightly more nasty and evil looking, in a nice way. It just oozes character, and this is thrown over the top by the intensely memorable theme tune and music, and the voices are so darn cute and cuddly it should be illegal. Billy exclaims 'Good Morning' when he successfully completes a level, and it makes even the strongest person wilt a little.

This game is jammed packed with unlockcable extras for those who persist and perfect and collect the tricky gold emblems. In fact the extras are so good that all that needs to be said is to keep a GBA and GBA link cable handy. The multiplayer is reasonably entertaining too, although not exactly packed with options. It builds on what is learned in the single player and lets you use those skills in combat.

Billy Hatcher isn't without its flaws. Some phases of levels involve killing 100 crows. Fine, its fun, but finishing the level means traipsing past all the enemies that are superfluous and getting the emblem at the end, which can involve dying and game over. On the upside though dying is handled quite well. Invisible check points are triggered at useful points throughout the level, so if all the lives are used up its more the incompetence of the player than the terseness of the level design.

The biggest flaw, which can be attributed to all of SonicTeam's forays into the 3d realm, is the camera. Unlike Nintendo's camera, the SonicTeam version is a fixed distance from the character, so pulling down on the stick brings the camera closer to the floor, as opposed to the more useful zooming out. This causes frustration when trying to locate what to do next on a level or trying to judge distances on the few but critical jumping sections. Not only that, but at times the camera will shoot off into a 'helpful' third angle, completely uncontrollable, and causing mild disorientation as the camera swings into position. Those who have played Sonic Adventure will be familiar with the nuances of the camera; those who haven't will be taken a-back by its strict nature.

Charming, that certainly covers it. One damned charming game from start to finish. It's not perfect, it's not flashy, but it is a real adventure of discovery, and there are plenty of extras to keep everyone happy.