Sonic Rush Review

Initially a rebuttal to Nintendo’s flagship mascot, Sonic the Hedgehog has found a nice home on the GameCube and Game Boy Advance. He fits the Nintendo universe so well, it seems like he should be included in the next Super Smash Bros. I doubt that will ever happen, however, but he has jumped aboard the DS rather quickly. Sega has proven to be one of the DS’s greatest supports, and Sonic Rush continues the trend unabated.

If you’re wanting a game to show off the DS’s power to your friends, Sonic Rush is a great choice. Boss battles are done in smooth, cel-shaded 3D while the normal stages take place in 2D and span both screens. By taking up both screens, the levels feel bigger, and Sonic will occasionally move from one screen to the other as he ascends or descends the level’s layers. Admittedly, the two-screen approach isn’t very necessary. Battle matches take place on one screen, anyway, so it seems plausible that the 1-player mode could as well. The framerate manages to keep up with the speed of the game except when in the battle mode. There, the framerate takes considerable hits.

While the graphics certainly shine in Sonic Rush, this game’s sound is far better. Wow. I was not expecting Sonic Rush to sound like this– nor any DS game for that matter. While a developer has yet to fully eliminate the subtle scratchiness of DS audio, Sonic Rush comes very, very close. In fact, if you heard this music outside the game, you’d probably think it was done on purpose. The music itself is really energetic and catchy and ranks as some of the coolest stuff this year. It maintains a familiar Sonic presence but sounds more like a mix of Billy Hatcher and Jet Set Radio. That’s a good thing, by the way. Clear (but cheesy) voice samples are also included as well as some nostalgic sound effects.

Mario has always had the upper hand when it came to intricate jumping and clever power-ups, but Sonic isn’t about either. Sonic has always been at his best when relying solely on speed. Sonic Rush continues the old-school feel of blazing through levels as fast as possible. Plenty of wild and over-the-top obstacles make the levels even more interesting, including loops, corkscrews, rails, and lots of springs. A problem, however is that the game moves so fast, it starts to feel less like a game and more like a movie. While the sense of speed is definitely pleasing, I’m constantly left wondering what to do– or if I need to do anything. That’s kind of been a staple in all 2D Sonic games, though, so if it’s never bothered you before, then you won’t find anything wrong with it now. But levels aren’t entirely a quick run through. There are moments where you’ll need to slow down and do some careful jumping, enemy bashing, and timed button pushing. Boss battles are an obvious diversion. Taking place in 3D, you either run back and forth or around an arena, waiting for the boss to attack and miss and leave himself open to a bop on the head. It’s not very interesting, but it works.

Because Sonic Rush is a fast game, it is often difficult to anticipate dangers like enemies and bottomless pits. There are a lot of the latter, and the only way to find them is to fall in them. It is impossible to see what’s in front of you, and you can only hope whatever comes next isn’t too detrimental. Beating a level, then, becomes a task of memorization. I don’t really like that. This is marginally fixed by being able to fill up a special meter which will let you boost ahead unharmed, but that still leaves a lot of those pesky bottomless pits. Somebody needs to fill those in.

Sonic Rush contains a small selection of “zones,” but each zone is actually two levels and a boss battle. Levels aren’t going to be easy, either. I’ve had to play some at least four or five times before I could beat them. It wasn’t frustrating, though, which is why I didn’t mention it above. Sonic Rush is an enjoyable experience from start to end, always tempting you to give a level one more try. The end is a little saddening, however. I feel little incentive to play Sonic Rush again, because I already wore it out the first time through. You are encouraged to go back through as Blaze the Cat, but she doesn’t differ much from Sonic, and her levels are the very same as Sonic’s. It’s a poor excuse to make the game feel longer. A single-card, two-player battle is also available, but the word “battle” is a little misleading. This is just a race through the same levels with little interaction between players. It feels like both people are playing a separate game. Not too exciting.

Final Comments

Sonic Rush is a cool game. It is very enjoyable to kick back and race through a high-energy 2D game while listening to one of the year’s most surprising soundtracks. Sonic the Hedgehog has never interested me much, but I’ve found plenty to like about his latest adventure. However, there are problems with the Sonic design that plague every installment, and they haven’t changed much for this DS game. Running through a level doesn’t require much on your part except for the occasional, hopefully memorized spot where you need to jump in order to evade death. I suppose sacrifices must be made to keep the game as fast as it is. Sonic Rush is still fun to play, but in the end, I’d rather have a more open and varied platformer… like Mario.