TGS 2005: Sonic Rush Hands-On

TOKYO--The game was first unveiled back at E3 in a short, one-level demo. Here at the Tokyo Game Show 2005, the game appears to have come a bit further, up to and including the introduction of Sonic Rush's second playable character.

Imagine a standard, Sega Genesis-era Sonic the Hedgehog game--Sonic 2, for example. Now, imagine that game with twice the vertical height that it would normally have. That's roughly what we're talking about with Sonic Rush. The game uses the dual screens of the DS pretty well, with long drops that take you from the top screen down to the bottom, large launchers that pop you back up top, and basically all the same sort of high-speed action you'd expect from a Sonic the Hedgehog game.

Sonic has his pretty standard set of moves. Blaze the Cat, however, is a female cat that has fire-tinged moves, including a set of boost boots that she can use to hover for brief periods of time. The main game has the same sort of 2D side-scrolling action you'd expect from Sonic, but the boss battles appear to be more 3D in nature. The one being shown at the show takes place on a polygonal ring, for example.

Sonic Rush is planned for release in North America this November.