I just know I'm gonna be asked about this, so I'm getting my opinion out right now. Sega has released pictures of what the cast of Sonic Boom is going to look like: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Bf0CXjpIgAARTqC.jpg:large along with a gameplay trailer: http://video.lefigaro.fr/figaro/video/la-bande-annonce-de-sonic-boom/3161522154001/

My initial response to the new character designs was 1: Someone is a big fan of Naruto with all those random bandages and 2: I'm really starting to hate DC now because everyone has gone reboot crazy since the new 52. There is NOTHING inherently wrong with these designs, they look FINE, the only problem is that people are ALWAYS going to react negatively when you change the look of an icon. Someone else's art style is one thing, but to change the character's inherent look is going to make people wonder why you didn't just make up a new IP and leave their favorite characters alone. So to sum up my opinion, new designs are okay, but the change was pointless.

As for that gameplay trailer. I was shocked to see that this was a GAME, I thought Sonic Boom was only going to be a new cartoon. It kind of makes me think of Pacman and the Ghostly Adventures, in that it is a cartoon series but got a new game based on it. The game LOOKS amazing and the gameplay looks awesome too, it kind of reminds me of the thing they had going in Sonic Heroes. For the record I really liked the gameplay designs in Sonic Heroes (that game is really underrated mostly because of the overly childish tone IMO.)

The thing is, thanks to the Comic series I am totally accepting of a Sonic multiverse, heck BLAZE THE CAT is technically from another dimension, I will gladly accept this game based on the cartoon as an alternate Sonic universe, but I don't think I would be able to accept this as the default Sonic team now. After all I've been attached to the old look for nearly 23 years (the difference between the "classic" and "modern" looks is a very minor change, especially compared to this.)