"Another step forward, but not quite enough."

Sonic Rush is currently the only Sonic game on the Nintendo DS, and is also the only true Sonic 2-D side-scrolling platformer in many many years. I'd had my eye on this game since its release, but never bothered to pick it up. Finally, I was able to find a used copy for a reasonable price, and I'm here to share with you my experiences concerning the game.

A Step Forward
Sonic Rush takes the nostalgic speedy platforming that made the Sonic Genesis games so great, adds a new character, and throws in "3D" boss battles to create a game that will surely bring you back in time. The game is a fresh breath of air in a room full of rotten Sonic games such as the recent Sonic the Hedgehog for the PS3/Xbox 360, Shadow the Hedgehog, and Sonic Heroes. In all honesty, this game could be considered a certain "Sonic Advance 4." After the mortally-wounding 3D Sonic games that have been released in the past few years, many Sonic fans will rush (no pun intended) to buy this game. I'm just ask that you hear me out before you possibly disappoint yourself.

GRAPHICS: 10/10
Classic. The backgrounds are mostly the same. A lot of graphical updates are present and obvious, but some are not presented well. Sonic Rush reminds me a lot of the "New Super Mario Bros." of the Sonic the Hedgehog series. Hopefully, that will give you a clear idea of how the game looks.

Also notable, Sonic Rush's new feature, "3D" boss battles, allow you to enjoy decent visuals while knocking Eggman out of his massively-deformed robotic machines. You'd think that Eggman would learn by now not to put a huge weak spot on your robots...

STORY: 5/10
It's a Sonic game. Sonic games don't have great stories. The only real notable subject is the addition of a new character, Blaze the Cat. Playing with Blaze will make your storyline different as you progress through stages. This idea was used as far back as Sonic & Knuckles and more recently in games such as Sonic Adventure, so it's nothing too noteworthy.

CONTROLS: 8/10
The game plays like it should. You can charge up a dash by pressing down and A at the same time, just like you could as early as Sonic 2. Also, you get a Rush move which pretty much makes you dash forward quickly. You have a gauge that must be filled in order for these attacks to work. Everything works fine, button-wise.

Let's talk about the touch screen. Not-so-intuitive. The game doesn't exactly use the touch screen function much at all. Also notable, the game has Sonic traveling between the top and bottom screens at high speed. This event can sometimes be confusing and dizzying, especially at such high speeds. Some have complained that you can't see Sonic for a split second while he's going from top to bottom screens, but I never had a problem with that.

GAMEPLAY: 7/10
It's classic Sonic gameplay, but with WAY too many gizmos and gadgets in the way. Remember how Sonic 1-Knuckles would have those nice and famous loops and occasinally some other things you can spiral up (such as a tree in Sonic 3)? Yeah, those are EVERYWHERE in this game. You can't go for three seconds without finding some gizmo that you have to activate or step on or run through or jump on JUST RIGHT before you fall to your doom. It, in my opinion, ruins the Sonic gameplay, and just ticks me off. I'd like to run at high speeds without much interference, personally. Boss Battles are done fairly well, however. You run around in a 2-D/3-D perspective facing Eggman's robot. Unfortunately, the game promotes a fully-3D boss battle, and this is not what you actually receive.

REPLAY: 6/10
You'd have more fun replaying the classics, in my opinion. You are assigned ranks just like you have been since Sonic Adventure. Apart from this, you can also go back through and do all the Special Stages, which are an almost direct rip from Sonic 2. Other than that, after you've beaten the game with Blaze and Sonic, there's not much to do.

VOICE ACTING: 3/10
I. hate. 4Kids. The Sonic Team is still using the voice actor chosen by 4Kids to play Sonic in the crappy English dub of Sonic X. I can't believe how awful he is. He says things like, "No sweat!" and "Alright!" in a horribly over-enthusiastic voice. Sonic sounds like someone off of those crappy get-rich-quick commercials where you just KNOW the "satisfied customers" are just actors. Also, Tails is extremely obnoxious, as usual. At least they stuck with a better voice actor for him this time around...

FINAL WORD: 7/10
It just doesn't quite live up to the expectations set by the Genesis classics, but that has been something that I've gotten used to with Sonic games. Honestly, the game is a step in the right direction.

The Sonic Teams is back in the ballpark. All they need now is to be directed to the plate.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 03/20/07