Shop RadioShack for Great Gifts
GameSpot editors' review
-
CNET editors' rating:
stars
Excellent
Detailed editors' rating
- Reviewed on: 09/19/2007
- Released on: 09/18/2007
- Originally published on GameSpot: Sonic Rush Adventure (DS) Review
2005's Sonic Rush for the DS was a 2D side-scroller that picked up where the already excellent Sonic Advance series left off, injecting a little polygonal flair into the graphics and the gameplay, making smart use of the DS hardware, and generally serving as a bracing reminder of what made Sonic the Hedgehog so great in the first place. At its core, Sonic Rush Adventure offers a very similar experience, filled with an incredible sense of speed, serpentine levels, a variety of gadgets, contraptions, geegaws, and whirligigs for you to fling yourself off of, and rings, rings, rings. What Adventure adds is more structure outside the action, as well as some brief moments of simple 3D action. Some of these additions arguably don't add a lot to what made Sonic Rush so great, but they don't take away from it, either.
Sonic Rush Adventure kicks off with Sonic and Tales being sucked through some kind of dimensional portal and ending up on a small island inhabited by a young raccoon named Marine. It would seem that Marine is the type of character that's supposed to be the comic relief. In practice, she ends up grating on the nerves with her coy obliviousness, making you want to skip right past the game's dialogue sequences. Luckily, you won't miss much if you do. As Sonic, Tails, and the increasingly intolerable Marine try to figure out a way to get Sonic and Tails back to their dimension, you eventually hook up with Blaze the Cat, the other playable character from the original Sonic Rush, and go after one Captain Whisker, a mildly inept robot pirate in possession of an ancient artifact that Blaze is trying to recover.
Your quest will take you to a series of nearby islands. You'll see thick jungles full of giant, springy mushrooms, a brassy, steam-powered island dense with pipes and clockwork, an underwater cavern encrusted with glowing gems, and more. These are some great-looking backgrounds that are rich with detail, and if running through the levels at incredible speeds weren't so much fun, you'd probably want to stop and drink in the atmosphere. There's also some terrific background music that, like the original Sonic Rush, has a sample-heavy, hip-hop-inspired sound, though this time with a little bit of island flavor. The 2D rollercoaster ride offered by much of the game is broken up by the occasional 3D flourishes. Though the action plays from a side-scrolling perspective, the characters and other key elements are actually polygonal, making their transitions into 3D action surprisingly smooth. The levels are consistently really exciting, with alternate routes to explore and plenty of great set pieces. They're the kinds of levels that you'll want to play through more than once--something that the developer banked on.
Though you'll initially play through the first few levels as just Sonic, you'll eventually be able to choose between him and Blaze. They handle almost identically, though you'll occasionally stumble onto routes that Blaze's fiery disposition enables her to take. In addition to the run, jump, and spin abilities that are Sonic standards, you can perform a few different dash maneuvers, allowing you to plow through enemies and make your way to areas that an unassisted jump won't reach. These dashes drain a meter that you can refill by doing tricks, which you can do simply by hammering on the B button whenever you've been launched into the air, or when you find yourself grinding a lengthy piece of rail. The trick here is that the B button also serves as the jump button, so knowing when to ease up on the tricks is key to maintaining your momentum and not plummeting to your death. The whole dash and trick mechanics were a big part of what made the gameplay in Sonic Rush feel fresh, and they continue to work well here.
Continue reading
Sonic Rush Adventure (DS):
%20DS%20Game%20reviews%20-%20CNET%20Reviews&srcUrl=http://reviews.cnet.com/ds-games/sonic-rush-adventure-ds/4505-10068_7-32416638.html){kind=small}