Sonic Rush Adventure

"A good adventure that keeps you busy."

In the sequel to the original Sonic Rush, Sonic sets sail in a new world with Blaze and newcomer Marine. My first impression when I heard about this game was "When does Sonic & Water ever mix well?" Well, after seeing some previews on YouTube and some screenshots here, it looked like a great game. It was. A few aggravating parts, but great.

Graphics / 9: The Graphics are similar to Sonic Rush in that 2-D sections are drawn, while Main Characters, Boss Arenas, Area Hubs, and Sea Bound Areas are in 3-D. The 3-D is a bit smoother this time, but considering the DS's Graphics Card, it's as good as it's gonna get. There are more 3-D Areas to explore this time as well as some pretty short, but nice cutscenes that seem to have been carefully made.

Gameplay / 8: Gameplay is similar to the original game whereas Stages are concerned, but some things have changed. The Adventure part in the Game's Title refers to how the Game plays out. Sonic must collect certain items in order to build new Boats to explore new areas out on the high seas. Special Missions have been added depending on progress. Traveling on the Seas can be difficult if you don't watch your timing, and collecting the Chaos & Sol Emeralds are a bit more difficult this time as Sonic must Race for his on his Water Speed Bike and Blaze must complete certain missions to get hers. All in all you'll find yourself playing for several days if you're trying to find everything. You can now use the WiFi Network to trade lowest times although some people ruined it by using Action Replay Codes to get to the #1 Slots.

Controls / 8: Controls this time are a bit different. Whereas Stage Controls seem to be the same using the Buttons, there are more areas to use the Touch Screen this time. This includes, Menus, interacting with friends and Characters, and of course controlling your boat and plotting it's course on the Map. While many of the Controls are easy to handle, the only difficulty comes from controlling the various Boats in the game as the wrong timing can mean disaster and sometimes makes things hard to complete.

Plot / 8: The plot is almost as good as the original game. If they hadn't have used the corny Pirate Plot Line for this game. While searching for Chaos Emeralds, Sonic & Tails get sucked up by a typhoon and crash land on an lone island. After waking up, they meet Marine who decides to help them (whether they want her to or not) explore the area and the high seas to discover where they are. At one point while exploring a nearby Island, Sonic and crew come across Blaze who is in the process of stopping a strange Pirate named Captain Whisker from stealing an ancient artifact. Sonic learns from Blaze where he is (I'm not telling to avoid spoiling it.) and volunteers to help Blaze stop Whisker and his crew.

Music / 9: Music this time around is a bit better than the original game and actually has some catchy tunes. Only a few tracks contain lyrics this time, but some of them are still not clearly heard at times, but considering it's the DS and not a Console like Gamecube or Wii, it's a pretty good score.

All in all I give the game an 8 out of 10. Had it not been for some of the cornball dialogue and some of the difficult areas of the game such as many of the missions, it might have been a bit better. But it is a great game and Sonic Fans new & old should enjoy it.

-Billy (thegamemaster8)

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 03/04/09

Game Release: Sonic Rush Adventure (US, 09/18/07)