Hype Muffin
Sonic Rush
The world's fastest hedgehog arrives on the DS with Sonic Rush, a return to speedy Sonic action with the introduction of Blaze the Cat, a mysterious figure with similar Sonic speed. Does the game deliver, or is the player left in the dust?
The game throws you right into the action, and as a result the story comes across as a little jumbled. Blaze the Cat and Eggman Nega appear out of nowhere along with the Sol Emeralds, the counterpart to the Chaos Emeralds. As Sonic pursues Eggman Nega for the Chaos Emeralds, Blaze chases Eggman for her jewels, with all four characters meeting up in the final extra zone. Overall the plot is a fairly weak, especially the clichéd development of Blaze's character as she learns friendship from Cream and Sonic.
Gameplay is back to classic Sonic platforming, rushing to the end of the stage with all possible speed. The stages are huge and offer a lot of different paths to the goal, some faster and some more tedious. The hedgehog's speed is a blessing and a curse, however, as at top speed it becomes a struggle to see what is happening on the screen. Additionally, instant death situations such as pits become frustratingly common by the last levels of the game. Boss battles are equally frustrating, difficult in the annoying sense rather than challenging. The best feature of the game, though, is the bonus levels reminiscent of the bonus levels in Sonic the Hedgehog 2. The Rush addition, however, comes in controlling Sonic through the stylus, which is wonderfully intuitive as all the player controls is moving left and right.
The controls are as simple as necessary, moving with the D-pad and using the buttons to jump and dash, which allows Sonic to plow through enemies. The best controls are, as mentioned, within the bonus levels utilizing the stylus. The game uses both 2D backgrounds in the main levels and 3D models for the characters and boss levels, which are great for the platform, but the 2D enviroments look smoother and crisper. Additionally the music is common Sonic game stock, fast paced and energetic. Despite the fact that both Sonic and Blaze are playable, the game is overall fairly short, especially because both characters run through the same levels, though in different orders. The game does offer two difficulty modes as well as local multiplayer races, but the game passes as quickly as Sonic himself.
Sonic Rush is a return to form for the blue blur, and aside from some frustrating issues offers a solid speed platformer. Not the deepest or longest of games, but Sonic fans will want to try it out.
8.0/10
Sonic Rush Adventure
The sequel to Sonic Rush, Adventure adds exactly what it promises: and adventure to frame the platforming action of Sonic's speed runs. Adventure builds upon the successful elements of the first game and offers a more whole game experience.
More than Sonic Rush, Adventure provides a narrative in which the action of the game unfolds. Sonic and Tails, finding themselves stranded on a mysterious island, befriend Marine the Racoon and explore the surrounding islands. Along the way, they run into Blaze and, realizing they have stumbled into Blaze's dimension, work to find a way home while helping Blaze in recovering the jeweled scepter from a band of pirates. There's more than meets the eye in the pirates' plots, however, and as in so many other Sonic games, Eggman makes an appearance. While not the deepest plot, it is a welcome addition to the formula Sonic Rush developed.
The core gameplay is exactly the same as the previous title, with thankfully far less instant death traps. The main difference is in exploring the islands in jet ski, boat, hover vehicle or submarine. After mapping out a course on the map with the stylus, the player controls the water vehicle with the stylus, collecting rings and dodging enemies along the way. This exploration also opens up hidden levels and jet ski races for chaos emeralds. Though sea exploration gets a little tiring, it provides a nice change from the main platforming gameplay. Additionally the controls are the same as Sonic Rush, with the addition of water vehicle movement via stylus and a few additional moves for Sonic and Blaze, including a short double jump that can be performed after jumping off springs. Like it's predecessor, Adventure provides tight and simple controls.
Similarly, the graphics and sound of Adventure maintain the quality of the previous game, with vibrant 2D backgrounds and hip hop musical influence. The game contains the standard seven zones of Sonic games, but with over fifteen hidden levels as well as finding emeralds and one hundred missions that can be performed to find Sol Emeralds. However, the game forces the player to replay levels in order to collect materials for building water vehicles, and the missions are actually just the same levels of the game with arbitrary goals such as collecting fifty rings or finishing in under a minute.
Sonic Rush Adventure improves upon the weakest points it's predecessor on the DS while remaining true to the best features. With plenty of challenges the game offers a lot of replay value, assuming you don't mind some repetition.
8.5/10
