Check it out: Sonic Rush

 

Sonic Rush is a game I got for the DS when I was young. I couldn't believe that like Sonic advance series, Sonic was on a Nintendo console and this time..on the Dual Screen console which is the Nintendo DS! 

After like 14 years, how does it hold out?

Sonic Rush

Platform: DS

Developed by: Sonic Team & Dimps

Release date: 2005

Type of Platformer: Straight-forward

Collectibles: Yes. Chaos Emeralds are required to get the true ending.

Difficulty: Easy-Medium

Total Number of Levels: 15(including the extra zone boss)

So then what is the plot about? Honestly, it's not even that major here. Just Sonic encountering a mysterious girl(which spoilers, is Blaze) and upon meeting her, Sonic and Tails realize that the dimensions are messed up due to her and the odd Eggman Nega being part of it. So then the two attempt to save the universe stopping Eggman in the end once and for all.

Bruh, cool down. It's not like you do anything useful here anyway.

And the other characters like Amy, Cream, Knuckles and Cream's mom while there, are very minor and don't do much other than guide Sonic or Blaze on where to go. Blaze does get a bit of character development. But again, not much. But really now, what kind of deep plot can you expect in a Sonic game(*Looks at Shadow the Hedgehog, Sonic 06 and Adventure games*Let's pretend this conversation never happened!) 

If you've played at least one Sonic game, then you probably know what to expect. Straight-Forward Platforming with speed being a reward for going to different routes of the levels, collecting rings to protect you and beat two or three acts(in this case two), and beat the boss to complete the zone.  

And Sonic Rush does just that and that's a good thing too given that the game was released on the "Dark" times with the series

But the game does offer something different than the others. Now you have the Tension gauge that allows Sonic to go at super-speed wrecking almost anything that stops him! The catch though is that it depletes kinda fast and once it runs out, you can't boost until you either beat up Badniks or perform tricks, both of which are pretty easy to do as you stumble upon springs which allow you to perform tricks. Do a finished one to earn more gauge for the Tension bar.

The boost makes running through stages very rewarding!

Once you get a hang out of the boost mechanic, you'll find that the levels are heavily designed on it as you require it to bypass certain roadblocks, defeat enemies faster and get to other pathways that require a good amount of that boost. The levels are also quite generous with the invincibility powerups too as you have that and the boost to make breezing levels more fun.

Borrowing from the Advance trilogy, you can perform mid-air trick actions which can help to reach to certain platforms and to add to the score. You notice points when you perform tricks and do whatnot but the question is..what does it do?

Nothing but giving you rank from C to S depending on how high your score gets. But that ain't what you need to 100% the game. What you really need here are the Chaos Emeralds. That's right, the usual seven of them.

Unlike the two Advance series, however, getting them is actually straight-forward as all you need is to find the Special Generator, use the speed boost for a while, and complete the special stage. And as always, half pipe structures where you get the required rings to get. And since this is on the DS, you move Sonic using the stylus on the touch screen. Some ballons appear which have you to press numbers correctly to earn extra rings. Other than that, a bunch of badniks to touch to destroy them and just get avoid getting hit by spike balls and whatnot so you complete the stage with the required rings.

And to be clear, the stylus controls are precise and get the job done so there's no need to worry there. There's also no problem finding the Special Generators either as they can be easily found in sections that you would normally go for progress though since you only get one emerald for each zone and not acts.

Real talk here. What's so special about these special stages if you're doing the same thing over and over again?!?

However, you do need to complete the act once you get the Chaos emerald otherwise you have to get the emerald again. Not that it matters since the acts aren't too tough to beat( it happened to me once so just a heads up).

But this is just Sonic we're talking here and the game offers a new playable character who is Blaze the cat. She controls similarly than Sonic but she also has the hover ability which can help in certain platforming sections and that her air tricks are more acrobatic than Sonic's.

Besides some differences, she plays the same as Sonic though.

The only real difference playing as her is that the zones are shuffled for some reason and unlike playing as Sonic where you have to start all the acts and boss over if you end up with a game over for the boss, Blaze allows you to straight away face the boss.

As for the overall level design, its overall well crafted. It has a good balance of levels with bottomless pits, fairly positioned blocks that only crush you if you're very careless(something that Advance 3 is partially guilty of), and most importantly, a speed which is very rewarding as expected in a Sonic game.

Thanks to the DS, you can see both the top and bottom parts of the levels!

There are never any moments in the levels that have lots of spikes placed unfairly. Of course, enemies do appear throughout and can cause some trouble but not by a long shot since they can be beaten mostly with one hit and the only times that the levels drag are these mini beat em up sections where you have to defeat all badniks to proceed.

But the bosses are a bit different. Unlike the previous games where you could easily beat them without waiting to trigger breaking eggy's glass, here you kinda have to wait for him to trigger his weak glass spot. 

These boss fights can take a while to beat.

Take the first boss from Leaf Storm for example. The boss will only expose its weak spot when it slams at you. Until then, you're waiting for it to slam at you to like defeat it. This is one of the problems the game has as some of the bosses can take a while to defeat and some of them can be tedious to deal with. But at the same time, you are doing some action here and there to make up for the delay in beating the boss. 

Aesthetically, they aren't very original. Most of the levels borrow level art assets from the Sonic Advance trilogy with Leaf Storm being similar to Leaf Forest from Advance 2 and Huge Crisis being similar to Ocean Base. That's not to say that they can't look good. It's just that they don't stand out as levels on their own outside of their gimmicks which stand out more than the visuals,  with the only exception being Water Palace Zone as not only does it have nice waterslides that are fun to ride on but it also has the best song in the entire game. 

This level looks very familiar somehow.

Speaking of songs, this game has the best soundtrack ever. And I'm not saying this because I like this game. I'm saying this because this soundtrack is too good that it can't be in any other Sonic game and its because it's composed by the one whose responsible for the soundtrack of Jet Set Radio and you can see some references here and there!

Graphically, it's good. I'm personally not a fan of the polygon graphics that they used here as I prefer the sprites that the Advance series does so great at. But I guess we have to move on with 3D based graphics. But on the bright side, the presentation is nice. And I like it when you complete the trick, you see animal buddies cheering you from the top screen!

So then, what's the downside? I mean its an overall solid platformer and a Sonic game at that. How can it get any worse? Truth is that it doesn't. It's just one simple problem. The game is very short.

For one thing, there are only seven zones with two acts each bringing in only fourteen levels. It kinda gives that same feeling of playing just Sonic 3 alone without the Sonic and Knuckles add on..a feeling of being incomplete.

And the problem is that there aren't many collectibles other than the Chaos emeralds. Blaze's playthrough has you simply beating the levels to get the other type called the Sol emeralds which is too straightforward. It would have been nice to make use of her abilities to find them hidden in the levels themselves or a different kind of special stage would have done instead of this way. As a result, you're replaying the same levels again with little to no change in them.

Once you get all the Chaos emeralds and beat the game as Sonic and Blaze, you unlock the extra zone, and past that, there's nothing left to do other than getting better ranks and completing levels with the best time. This makes the game incredibly short of content. And sure, you unlock extra time attack levels but they aren't worth at all considering that they are microscopic level sections!

For the record, that purple-blue orb isn't a collectible but a plot element that does nothing really.

But then you might ask, Sonic Advance does the same thing so how come you don't call them out for that? Because you play more than just two? And their abilities make it so you can get to the special stages easier thus increasing the replay value? And at least Advance 2 and 3 had more to do to get the collectibles despite them not being fun. 

The point is that they offered more content than Rush. Rush is simply a game that can be beaten in about like 4 hours! That's not something I think most would be fine with. And no, multiplayer content doesn't count because we're talking about single-player platforming as a whole which is lacking.

But hey, short games can still end up being solid and Sonic Rush is no exception. If you happen to come across a DS and want a Sonic game, you probably should try out Sonic Rush. 

Soon after the game was well-received, it got a sequel titled Sonic Rush Adventure. How did that turn out? We'll see that in my review of it sometime!

And there you have it, folks! Until next time, this is SPG saying. Oh wait. This is a Sonic game where it's more of running than jumping. but you kinda do platforming here and there. So what's it gonna be?!?

Pff! Whatever. QUIT RUNNING AND START JUMPING AND THEN START RUNNING!

that didn't turn out right