Introduction: Today I picked up Sonic Rush for the Nintendo DS. It’s the first and only Sonic game on the DS, following Sonic Advanced 1, 2 and 3. I was willing to pay full price for this, so it wasn’t a budget purchase. Here’s my little rundown on what I think.
Gameplay: Sonic Rush plays just like the original Genesis games. To keep it fresh, there’s a lot of style to it. Gameplay-wise, it stays fast-paced most of the time. Rush makes use of the Dual screens by using both for control of Sonic. You will stay on the top screen until an event forces you to the bottom, at which point the game focuses on the bottom screen allowing you to see what’s going on above you. Each screen moves up and down according to Sonics movement, but there is a threshold that separates the screens, allowing movement between the two. You will see unreachable things on both screens that will make you want to play the level again out of curiosity. This Sonic game, much like the others, include special bonus stages that will let you aquire a chaos emerald. These bonus stages are similar to the ones used in Sonic 2. They are the half-pipes that contain rings. Get the correct amount of rings and you get an emerald. What’s cool about this is that you use the stylus to move Sonic around; obtaining rings and avoiding spikes. This was done very well; I’ll have to give them props for that. The Boss battles add something neat which start at the end of each two act stage. These battles are in full 3-D, where Dr. Eggman moves around all he wants on the screen, moving Sonic in 3-D on a 2-D plane. While a neat little addition, it sometimes takes too long because you have to wait for each attack, just trying to survive. Similar to 8-bit and 16-bit era bosses.
Graphics: The stages are somewhat bland, but you are moving at such a high rate of speed that you don’t even notice it. Sonic is a full 3D polygonal character, making his animations fluid and varied. They did a good job with this. The enemies, though, seem to be hand drawn, and limited on animation…IMO, not as good as the earlier games. If anything, you will be pleased. There’s nothing here to really complain too much about.
Sound: The techno beats fit Sonic well, but I’m more of a fan of the punk sounding tunes. The special effects are all reminiscent of the older games, which gives the game that old-school Sonic feeling. All the characters have voices too. That was pretty unexpected and it adds to the atmosphere.
Final Thought: Good game if you’re a Sonic fan, and a good game if you’re a fan of platformers. I’ve only played through three worlds, but so far I don’t regret paying full price. A little on the difficult side…but I love it like that. You own a DS, you understand the games on the handheld. This is a game to own on it.
Verdict: Buy
