Sonic Rush is the best Sonic game to come out ever since Sonic & Knuckles.
A conundrum: what happens?
Player A will pickup the game and love the living crap out of it. He’ll play it consistently, mainly for the speed, till his eyes get glued to the screen, sucked out of their proverbial sockets.
Player B will play the game, and notice the small flaws, notice the small tinkering itsy bitsy little problems. He’ll die a few times, find a problem and/or impossible challenge, and give up all together. The latter is rarer, but the universal thing about player B is that, he’s very critical.
Sometimes Player B is a pain, and sometimes Player A is ignorant.
Sonic Rush eliminates this conundrum with the simple fact… there should be no player B’s. Not if you know Sonic the Hedgehog like most fans do. Sonic Rush I can say without a doubt, is the first time in years Sonic Team has given 100 percent into a game they’ve created. And that makes me happy, because Sonic Rush is the best Sonic game to come out ever since Sonic and Knuckles.
The game’s premise is simple. Sonic is on his usual routine of thwarting Dr. Eggman, when he discovers that another Eggman(Eggman Nega) has appeared and is also causing havoc. Sonic must work to stop these two from causing any more havoc. Sonic is also joined by a friend, Blaze the cat… someone from the same world as Eggman Nega, and guardian of the Sol Emeralds. It’s a much more interesting storyline than previous Sonic 2D titles… so that’s fresh.
The game play consists of the usual Sonic dash through a stage with flair, speed, and style all while collecting rings and racking up points. However there’s a few new mechanics at work here. First, and most apparent, is the Nintendo DS interface. ST did an amazing job of having the action be displayed on both screens. The entire level has you moving through it occasionally switching from screen to screen as you run through. The formula really works well, because being able to see where your moving, and what obstacles may be coming up next by looking on the second screen really does come in handy. And it’s not just a gimmick, there are times where you’ll need to do some checking, and be weary of obstacles. The other new mechanic at work, is the tension gauge. Displayed at the left hand side of the screen, you rack up points on the tension gauge by performing special tricks and such. By pressing X, Sonic(and/or Blaze) will do a high speed dash, destroying any enemies in their path, speeding them up, and helping them through the level. This, is ingenious and ultimately what helps this game so much. It seems like a simple mechanic, but in practice it adds a lot of appeal to the game while taking away some of its flaws. In the recent Sonic 2d Titles, Sonic Team has been accused of placing enemies in awkward spots, and having you get hit, and slowing you down at times awkwardly. The Tension gauge helps alleviate this once you get to use it. You dash through the stage using the tension Gauge to take out enemies in your way, all while gaining insane speed.
While the new mechanics certainly add a lot more to the game, they’re made even more useful by Sonic Team’s superb level design. Loopholes, dash pads, jump springs… everything is so well placed and well conceived in Sonic Rush. They knew EXACTLY what they were doing. There are times in levels where you have to stop and actually fight enemies, but even then they come at JUST the right time… JUST when you need a break from the action a little bit to destroy a few robots and then press on. They don’t slow you down, this time, Sonic Team SUCCEEDS in adding variety within the combat. Also hidden within the stages are small little spin poles for special stages. You use your new dash on these and move your controls around on the D-pad to move you to a special stage. Not only is it much easier to work with than the previous Advance titles with special stages, but also… the stages themselves are what will really get you excited. The special stages are reminiscent of the old Sonic the Hedgehog 2 special stages, and yes, they’re just as awesome. Only you don’t control with your d-pad, but more-so with the touch screen.
Not only is the level design good, but the Boss Battles are amazing. Fully 3-d, yet on a 2-d plane, the boss Battles in Sonic Rush take a high point by correcting the disappointment in Sonic Advance 3 and giving us greater bosses than the advance games ever did. They take place on one screen, while the bottom screen gives you tips on how much life the boss has left and such. They can be hard, but always satisfying, fresh, and fun, and never annoying… and that’s a rare thing to have in a videogame.
The graphics and technical achievement of Rush also give it some appeal. Graphically, it has a nice blend of 2d and 3d graphics, as Sonic and Blaze are both animated in 3d while the stages themselves, save for the boss fights, are all in 2D. The Sound is astounding, with tunes reminiscent of Jet Grind Radio, as well as some fairly comparable voice acting(though Tails and Cream screech like the sound of a truck stopping after a 150 mile an hour run.) Many people have discussed their distaste for the soundtrack, and I don’t know what to tell them. It’s JGR style, and it’s awesome, and I think everyone should love it, but hey, it’s their taste in music. I say give it another chance… put on headphones or something and listen to it. It’s awesome.
There’s also a multiplayer option, but it experiences intense slowdown, so while it is still fun… prepare to have the frame-rate drop a bunch. It detracts away from the action, but the experience can still be rewarding.
It’s hard to fault Sonic Rush on anything it does, it’s so well conceived and well executed it’s hard to think people won’t like this. This isn’t only said as a fan of Sonic games but a fan in general, it really is an amazing achievement in bringing what Sonic fans have been clamoring for. There are flaws, small ones, like the framerate drops and a few voices, but nothing really glaring at all about this experience. If you play through with both Sonic and Blaze you’ll get the final and obligatory Super Sonic mode… and while some people may find it hard to collect all the emeralds, it does add replay value… and it’s hard to imagine people putting the title down only after beating it once. There’s so much variety, so much fun put into these stages that you can’t help but go back to it. It’s really the greatest gift Sega could have given us. Sonic done the way he should be. People can complain and such about very minor issues, and post reviews trying to slander this game but in truth… it really is something Sonic Team should be proud for… it proves that Sonic Team really still can make Sonic look good. It proves that our hedgehog is still as good as he ever was. Thanks Sonic Team, you’ve finally done it.