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| Sonic Rush; A return to form for a near-dead series. | |
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| Topic Started: Mar 18 2007, 11:13 AM (813 Views) | |
| Evil Hamster | Mar 18 2007, 11:13 AM Post #1 |
Osu!
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Sonic Rush was a game that pumped life into a near-dead series. Many of the previous entries into the Sonic franchise have failed, because basically, Sonic doesn't do 3D. However, this game goes right back to the roots of the 2D Sonic games. And I love Sonic Team for it. The game starts when a mysterious cat named Blaze enters Sonic's universe to reclaim the Sol Emeralds, which have been taken from her universe into Sonic's. The long and short of it is, if the Sol Emeralds stay in Sonic's universe for too long, this alternate universe will be sucked into the first universe by the Sol Emeralds, causing havoc and destruction. It is your job to reclaim the Sol Emeralds to their universe, and save both worlds in the process. One of the main problems with many recent Sonic games are the endless spin-off characters. Characters such as Cream, Amy Rose and Blaze are a constant annoyance. You just want to play as the legendary blue hedgehog, but yet you have to replay the game with the alternate characters to fully unlock everything in the game. Whilst, in this case, there is only one alternate character, it is still an annoyance to have to replay the game with Blaze to unlock the bonus levels at the end. The gameplay of Sonic Rush consists of running through the seven zones (each with two platforming levels and one boss level) as fast as possible, collecting as many rings as possible. The simple gameplay works brilliantly, and it plays like a dream. However, unlike previous Sonic games, you caan do 'tricks' in the air and on rails to gain points, which is converted into a boost bar for you to use whenever you want. You can also use boost to kill enemies, and, as Sonic, enter bonus touch screen levels spread throughout the seven zones to collect Chaos emeralds. All in all, the boost bar is a welcome addition to the game. Posted Image The game makes use of the dual screens of the DS by effectively turning it into one big screen, so that both screens cover a bit of the level. This works well, although there is the occasional problem of the gap between the screens making you run into something you didn't realise was there. Sonic's touch screen levels play very differently to any other part of the game. Basically, you race round a track, collecting as many rings as possible whilst avoiding the enemies and the spike balls. The way it plays is very similar to the Sonic the Hedgehog minigame in Sega Superstars (PS2, eyetoy) The touch screen is used to steer Sonic, and you can jump up the sigdse of the level by moving the stylus to the side of the screen. These levels are great fun to play, and are a fun diversion from the main game. Posted Image The boss levels consist of a huge Eggman robot thing, about 100 times bigger than your character. He can generally be beaten by a jump at his vulnerable head. The boss levels are the only levels in the game to use 3D graphics (although movement is solely 2D) and they only use one screen for gameplay.The boss levels aren't particularly challenging, and they are comparatively dull compared with the rest of the game. Posted Image There are, as with most Sonic games, some 'Gold Sonic' levels at the end of the game, when you completely beat it. These levels are enjoyable, and play completely differently to any other level in the game. (I won't spoil them for you by saying exactly what happens.) Once you have beaten the game with at least one character, you unlock a 'time trial' mode. This is great, for the earlier levels. However, for some of the later levels, when it is fairly difficult to complete them anyway, it becomes near impossible (as you have to do it without losing any lives) There is a limited multiplayer function in Sonic Rush, in which you can race a friend through any of the acts you have unlocked. This could have been great fun, except for the fact that there are only two characters, you cannot use the same character, and one character is a lot faster than the other. The impossbility of a fair race ruins what could have been a great multiplayer mode. The graphics in Sonic Rush are made up of both 2D and 3D character models. The platforming levels play incredibly smoothly, with only a little bit of multiplayer slowdown. Whilst you won't have much time to admire the scenery as you're going so fast, it certainly looks pretty. The 3D boss levels are good-looking, and, although not quite up to the standards of games such as Mario Slam Basketball, do the job perfectly well. Quality of the sound in Sonic Rush is very variable. Whilst there is some nice background music in the levels themselves, the voice acting is utterly terrible. Some of Sonic's phrases are so horribly corny I have to play with the sound off, as it gets on my nerves so much. Blaze is even worse. However, this doesn't detract too much from an otherwise brilliant game. Sonic Rush, by returning to it's 2D origins, has made a fantastic game. Go buy it. Now. Presentation 8 Graphics 8 Sound 7 Gameplay 9 Lasting Appeal 9 Overall Rating 8.5 |
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