Sonic Rush Adventure review (DS)

There are seven major islands in Sonic Rush Adventure, each of which has two stages, which can take from about one to four minutes to blast through, followed by a boss fight, about which the most remarkable thing you can say is that they bring a lot of polygonal spectacle to the 2D gameplay. While 14 quick levels and seven boss fights might not sound like much, there's more to Sonic Rush Adventure than that. In order to even get off the island that Sonic and Tails first crashed on, you'll have to build yourself some seafaring transportation. Tails can help you out with this, though he'll need you to collect the construction material. You earn material every time you finish a level, though how much you'll earn will depend on how fast you were, how many tricks you did, and how many rings you collected. Regardless of how well you do on a level your first time through, you're all but guaranteed to revisit it, as you need not only a number of materials to build your transportation, but different types, which can be found only on specific islands. Playing through the same levels repeatedly could have been a drag, but they're so consistently well made that it takes a number of plays before a level starts to get wearying.

The first vehicle you'll build is essentially a Jet Ski. Before you can go anywhere, you'll have to actually draw your course using the stylus. With your course plotted, you'll take control of the Jet Ski, which you can move horizontally with the stylus and is seen from a behind-the-back perspective. Though your course is fixed, there are still obstacles and enemies that you have to dodge and rings to collect. You can tap on the screen to boost, and there are ramps that you have to perform tricks off of by making a specific gesture with the stylus. Eventually you'll find that the aqua blast doesn't have enough range, at which point you'll have to build your next vessel. There are four different vehicles in total, each with its own control schemes and its own unique abilities that make it best suited for specific routes. The hovercraft is most similar to the Jet Ski, though with a heavier focus on offensive abilities. In the case of the barge and the submarine, you don't actually control the ship at all, instead worrying exclusively about firing weapons at incoming enemies. These traveling sequences are decent little interludes between the regular levels, though they're never any better than the initial Jet Ski.

It'll probably take you between four and six hours to defeat Captain Whisker, but you'll have to put in a whole lot more time if you want to see the game's true ending, which requires you to collect Sol and Chaos emeralds. You'll get Sol emeralds by taking on a series of missions that once again pits you against the game's bosses, while you'll have to search the seven seas for a rival speedster named Johnny in order to recover the Chaos emeralds. There are also a huge number of side missions you can take on at any time during the game, the majority of which challenge you to perform specific tasks on levels you've previously visited. Additionally, there are a number of multiplayer options, including local game sharing and online play. The multiplayer has players competing to finish a level faster or collect more rings, and the online play is bolstered by a competitive leaderboard.

The extra bells and whistles that Sonic Rush Adventure add to the formula might not equate to much of an overall improvement, and the game might not have as much impact as its predecessor, but this is still a mighty-fine platformer that is guaranteed to satisfy Sonic fans.