Sonic RPG, Will This Save The Hedgehog?

http://ds.ign.com/articles/798/798275p1.html
You know, I was just thinking about something like this. I was wondering what they could do to save Sonic, Megaman, and the other old 2D game characters that never made the jump from 3D as gracefully as say Mario or Link. I thought a nice open-world/GTA-style game set in a big city would be good for Sonic. I mean how else can you make a Sonic game, a game that should be all about speed, and not have it boil down to either an on-rails or racing style game?
You know, I was just thinking about something like this. I was wondering what they could do to save Sonic, Megaman, and the other old 2D game characters that never made the jump from 3D as gracefully as say Mario or Link. I thought a nice open-world/GTA-style game set in a big city would be good for Sonic. I mean how else can you make a Sonic game, a game that should be all about speed, and not have it boil down to either an on-rails or racing style game?