Sonic Rush is fast, perhaps too fast.
Story: At the start of the game you're told that Dr. Eggman is threatening the world AGAIN, and you need to stop him. Big surprise. But of course, anyone who reads the instruction manual (All five of you raise your hand) will know that the first boss valls himself Eggman Nega, and he drops a new emerald called a Sol Emerald, which is picked up by a cat known as Blaze, who you can then play as. Learning who this purple female feline is (And no, she's not related to Big the cat fortunately) and what she's doing in your homeland takes up the majority of the story, which takes up a whopping 1% of the game. Unless you don't die repeatedly, then it'll take up 3%.
Characters: Sonic the hedgehog is the hero, he runs around as fast as he can to reach the finish. Blaze is the second character, and player two in multiplayer, she's somewhat slower but can jump a little higher and hover a little in air then her blue counterpart. Tails and Cream are available to urge on Sonic and Blaze, respectively, Dr. Eggman and Eggman Nega drive crazy Blaze and Sonic, respectively, and the ever-present rock singers are in the background for either character. Knuckles and Amy also make an appearance or two per character as the story goes on.
Gameplay: Press left or right to run. Press A or B to jump/attack. Press Y or X to boost (If you have any energy in your boost meter), which also can attack. Run fast, don't fall in the ever-present pits, and beware of the eternal army of foes waiting to kill you. But beware pits more. Sonic has always been about running fast, but he's also been about sometimes slowing down for a tricky jumping challenge or taking out a foe. Sonic Rush won't let you, it throws your head first into every challenge it has to offer, and if you die the first time, well, you have more lives. Wait, you're out? Okay, it's back to the start for you. And since the game saves your progress only on the second level, dying forces you to restart both of them until you've won them, which allows you to save. Even as early as world one you'll be finding a lot of cliffs, as well as a few other traps of doom. And dying is harsh here, the later and harder the game gets, the scarcer extra lives become. And it's not like you have the choice of going slowly to see hat's ahead of you, the game thrusts you along with a ton of downhill ramps and impossible drops that don't let you stop. Translation? Prepare for a lot of trial and error.
Also in the game is a carry over from some of the Advance titles: The trick system. If you jump into mid-air via a ramp/srping/bouncy rope you can press combinations of the A, B and R buttons to do tricks in mid-air to net you bonus points at the end of the level. Other tricks including pressing R to "Grind" on a rail or pressing jump at the end of a ramp to increase your distance. All tricks count towards your ranking at the end of the level, ranks range from C (The worst) to B to A to S (The best), and factor in such features as rings collected, time taken, average speed, points collection, and tricks performed.
Once you beat both levels in a world you're good to go in that world, you can return to the level any time to replay it, and try for the ever-elusive S-ranks, or you can play as Sonic and attempt to grab that world's Chaos Emerald, which is a feat in itself. There's also a boss fight in every world, these are in pseudo-3-D, where the boss is in 3-D and attacks in 3-D, but you can only move either in a circle around the center or back and forth on a 3-D ledge that you are not allowed to fall off of by yourself. Calling the fights themselves 3-D is an overstatement, they look pretty, but really the fights just act 2-D. These are also the only things that the difficulty level setting in options adjust, easy mode gives a boss two less HP then normal mode does.
After seven worlds of two levels and one boss fight apiece, you reach the end, a bonus level in outer space. And after that you need to beat both stories and have Sonic collect all seven Chaos Emeralds in order to reach the REAL ending. And then, you're done with story. It's that short, a length that was fine in the Genesis days (And in reality it was often longer), but is cutting it short for a DS game.
Game Modes: But there's more to the game then story mode. Once you beat a level in story you can play it in time attack, which is exactly the same, only you're timed, which really isn't any different. Boss fights can be timed as well, but it's definitely not worth it. The most interesting thing about time attack is that after you beat the game, you unlock four new levels, the "X" levels, which are short courses that head in a circle around a course, you need to complete the circle five times to finish the level. An interesting addition to be sure.
Besides that there's a music room that allows to you to listen to any music you've unlocked, and multiplayer where you can race over any course you've unlocked (Including X levels, not including bosses) with one player as Sonic and the other as Blaze. You can also play the same levels in Wi-Fi races, if you can still find anyone racing, or submit your best times to Wi-Fi to see how you match up. In this case, only a few courses might be for the best, simply so you've only got 18 courses to work on until perfection.
Items/Weapons/Power-Ups: In each level there are two power-up sources: Balloons and boxes. Boxes sit on the ground and have labels of what's inside, balloons flaot in the air and don't have labels, though you always get the same item. Items range from more rings to more/max energy for your boost meter, or you could get an extra live, invincibility, or a shield to protect you from one attack. No speed shoes like in past games, not that you really need them anyway with how fast you go. No ring loss items either, which is a plus.
Levels: Usual Sonic fare: You get grass world, water world, casino world, desert world, sky world, and Eggman's base, plus the two different endings. The only really unique setting is a military base (Apparently from the military organization G.U.N. from the Sonic Adventure series). The X levels are based on the grass, desert, casino, and military worlds.
Technical Details: The graphics are great looking 3-D for a 2-D game, except despite appearing zoomed out they still seem to not show enough of what's coming out, though that's likely just an illusion based on how terribly fast you're running. The music is brilliant, there's not a tune I didn't like. The sound effects are most of what we've heard before, from jumping to running downhill to rail grinding. The new sounds (Boosting, timer, etc.) are made so that they fit with the rest of the game's sound. That's not to say that any of it is bad, it fits with what is being portrayed in the game. The controls are tight as well. Voicework is iffy, the heroes and villains are all right, but Tails/Cream get on your nerves telling you "Ouch." "Good luck." "Ohhh." and such. Fortunately, they're only in cutscenes (Which you cannot view again) and boss fights.
Chaos Emeralds: Every Sonic game has a unique way to access the less likely way to be uniqie Chaos Emerald stages. In this case, you must have at least 2/3 of your boost meter filled, then find a hidden spinning level (Red, has a star on it), and hold down X/Y to build speed until you teleport into the stage. The Chaos Emerald stage is of the most popular variety, you run along a limited length tube trying to collect enoug rings to gain the emerald at the end. This time around you use the touch screen instead of the D-pad, which makes the levels easier, more precise. Getting to the stages isn't too hard, sometimes you need to restart the level but often you can just grind on a rail to build up your boost until it's full enough again. And of course, the first six special stages aren't that hard and the last one is a nightmare, though it's easy enough in comparison to many Chaos Emerald stages. Afterwards you must win the level if you never have before, and you're set. All seven emerlds and two beaten stories later gives you the final story and the final battle as Super Sonic and Burning Blaze against the Eggman pair. Big surprise, since it always happens that way.
Replay Value: You can replay the stages to your heart's content, but beware of coming back to the game after a good while, you'll have to memorize it all over again.
Final score breakdown:
Story: 7/10
Gameplay: 8/10
Graphics: 9/10
Sounds and Music: 9/10
Fun: 7/10
Replay Value: 7/10
Pros
No gimmicks to deal with.
No loss of ring boxes.
Story is entertaining without being in the way.
Multiplayer gets it right.
Cons
Game is too fast for the amount of obstacles.
Tails and Cream can drive you insane.
The game can be beaten in three to six hours, depending on how much you die.
Overall: 8/10
I've said it before and I'll say it again: This game is fast. And while I like fast, I like fast tempered with the ability to know what's ahead before you crash into it, not having to memorize the best way to take every leap of faith. And that is something Sonic Rush lacks. So in the end, enjoy yourself, but beware of what might be around the corner.