Rush into Adventure with Sonic and Blaze

"Sonic Rush" is the first Sonic The Hedgehog game for the Nintendo DS. The developer is no stranger to the series though, as Dimps developed all three "Sonic Advance" games for the Game Boy Advance. This past experience has helped to refine its talents into a sharp pinnacle that allowed Dimps to put its best foot forward with "Sonic Rush". However new hardware brings new challenges, and while Dimps may have been at the top of its game on the GBA by the time it finished "Sonic Advance 3", the Nintendo DS is a whole new ball game.

Unlike the earlier iterations on the Game Boy Advance, "Sonic Rush" takes place on two screens, the top and bottom screen of the Nintendo DS. Sonic and Blaze, the main characters of the game, rush from the top screen down to the bottom and back again as levels advance. As a character climbs a level, it is likely that he or she will switch from the bottom screen to the top. Take a great fall or a drop in elevation, and the character will find himself on the bottom screen instead.

Much akin to the previous games, the levels are designed out of two dimensional bitmaps, though admittedly "Sonic Rush" has much more color depth and resolution to the textures. Unlike the GBA games though the characters are in full 3-D. While most of the game is spent dashing through the stages at high speed, examination of the 3-D models reveals that they are of a high caliber for the DS and can be favorably compared to those of the Nintendo 64 in terms of quality. Most of the time having the characters be 3-D seems superfluous but occasionally Dimps breaks them out from the 2-D plane that they usual inhabit to give a bit of a flash-bang experience that only 3-D can give.

A prime example of this is the boss battles. Departing from the usual, these encounters see both the enemy and the arena rendered in full 3-D. Though the characters still move in 2-D fashion for the most part, doing so will cause the circular stages to spin about their axis. These boss fights require a greater amount of concentration than the regular stages as the player will need to study the enemy to learn its patterns thus gaining the upper hand on his foe.

The music is something that enough cannot be said about. Though game music is often forgettable or underwhelming, the music in "Sonic Rush" really stands out from typical background melodies. Those familiar with the SEGA Dreamcast game "Jet Grind Radio" will already know Hideki Naganuma, the composer for "Sonic Rush". If you liked Naganuma's high-energy techno-esque beats that combine voice samples with eclectic musical instruments and sound effects then you will be in hedgehog heaven with this game. The music is so good that I found myself listening to it outside of the game and have added it to my personal music library. That is quite an achievement for any normal video game, let alone one for the Nintendo DS, a system that's home to many games featuring under-performing music scores.

The control scheme is almost exactly like it was in the "Sonic Advance" games. Use the D-Pad to move, the face buttons to jump or spin-dash, and the right shoulder button to perform stunts on rails or in the air for extra points. New here is the rush maneuver that allows the player to blast forward at full speed thanks to the rush meter. Resist the urge to use the move long enough to fill the meter entirely and you'll be temporarily granted the ability to rush fast and furious for all you're worth for a few seconds without draining the meter. Find one of the spinning circles scattered throughout the levels to latch onto and blast breakneck forward with the rush maneuver to enter the Special Zone and take your chance at obtaining a Sol or Chaos Emerald. Just like it always is, you need all the Emeralds, one from each Zone, in order to be granted the true ending. The stylus and touch screen are used in the Special Zone to control Sonic or Blaze. The acts here play out similarly as they did in "Sonic The Hedgehog 2" or "Sonic Heroes" with the character running through an open half-pipe attempting to avoid dangers and collect enough good items to catch the Emerald. Though this game is Dimps's first which uses the DS's touch mechanic, it feels natural and intuitive.

But while the music is great and the control is tight, Dimps did seem to tussle with the two screen nature of the hand-held DS. Having to repeatedly test the game during development, Dimps became insensitive to the game's pitfalls. The sky acts in particular are quite hazardous, with the character often gliding downward or blasting upward but the player unable to see where he is going well. This leads to many undeserved deaths and frustration, particularly during the game's competitive two player mode where each player is able to see only on one screen instead of both.

Though the story is simple and told in a style similar to Japanese adventure games, it is both charming and fun. Sonic pals around with his good friend Tails while newcomer Blaze gets matched up with polite rich-girl Cream. The two groups adventure independently trying to save the world until they cross paths due to the intertwining circumstances that they both share. The power of friendship, misunderstandings cleared, so-on-and-so-forth. While the story is new, the elements are all familiar to fans of the Sonic series. When there is as little plot as there is here, the less said the better. So let it suffice to say that the familiar territory is as rewarding as it is nostalgic by this point and leave it at that.

In the end, "Sonic Rush" is more than what we've come to expect from a 2-D Sonic The Hedgehog game. While the usual play modes and game-play are here, there is enough new and engaging content, music and DS-specific enhancements included, to make the experience seem fresh and exciting to long-time fans of the series. For newcomers without expectations the game is even more worthwhile as everything seems new and mind-boggling fast. "Sonic Rush" is undoubtedly worth the price of admission and would make an excellent first DS game or a great additional to an existing game library.