Sonic Rush Adventure Review

[Producer's note: This game came out on September 18th, so it is very recently released]

Few people will argue that the original Sonic Rush for the Nintendo DS didn't live up to it's name. Really, would you expect a sequel to do any less? Yes, Sonic Rush Adventure takes the rush to a whole new level, and then some.

After the near-complete lack of any noticeable story in the Sonic Advance series of games, it was nice to finally have a 2D Sonic game with an actual plot again when Sonic Rush rolled around. The sequel, as can probably be expected, takes it up a notch. Sonic the Hedgehog and his buddy Tails are flying the not-so-friendly skies in their biplane the Tornado when they find themselves in...well, a tornado. The next thing they know, they've crash-landed on a mysterious island, and meet a strange new friend: a decidedly Australian-sounding raccoon named Marine. Before they have a chance to catch their breath, they're catapulted into a brand new adventure. What started as a simple quest to find parts to get her boat going soon becomes an island-hopping struggle for survival against the nefarious pirate Captain Whiskers (if you don't notice a striking resemblance to another mustachioed antagonist in the series, look a little bit closer) and his robotic jet sidekick...thingy, Johnny. The plot doesn't get too complicated as recent 3D Sonic games do; it strikes a fine balance of lighthearted fun and dark (for lack of a better term) plot. There's a heavy dose of dialogue in the game, much of it attributed to Marine, who never closes her mouth from the moment she first appears on the screen. Still, you don't feel too weighed down by words, and the plot flows smoothly along with the gameplay.

New characters featured in this game are enjoyable, for the most part. While Marine does get annoying with her constant blabbing and wanting to be involved in everything, I couldn't help but find myself noticing a certain cute charm about her. Maybe cute little raccoons using Australian slang just hits a cord with me, I don't know. Still, more often than not, she's pretty useless and adds little to the story. Captain Whiskers is your traditional pirate. Nothing more, nothing less. He has his amusing, bumbling moments, but nothing he said or did really stood out to me. While it's a nice change of pace to feature a pirate antagonist in a Sonic game, he's ultimately pretty forgettable. His sidekick Johnny is your typical sidekick. If you don't bother with the Chaos Emerald challenges, you won't be seeing much of him outside the beginning and end of the game, where he randomly appears to cause trouble. All of the characters have their charm, but I can't see SEGA or Sonic Team really getting any mileage out of them in future games (not that they won't try).

As for graphics, they've done little to improve them over the original. Not that that's a bad thing. The levels are bright and colorful, the character models are good for their sizes, and everything melds together well. If you've played the original, you know what to expect here.

Gone are the funky music pieces by Rush composer Hideki Naganuma, replaced by more traditional Sonic-cy music. Still, traces of funk remain, as composer Teruhiko Nakagawa tries to mimic his style in several areas, particularly the boss music, and it comes across quite well. All in all, if you're a fan of the original Rush's music, chances are you'll enjoy the music here. Sound effects are pretty average, if not a little annoying. I almost dreaded pulling off tricks in the original game; when you filled up the boost meter to its maximum, any other tricks you did gave off a really annoying blinging noise. Unfortunately, there are even more annoying blinging noises this time around, whether your gauge is full or not. As for voices, Sonic and Blaze use the exact same voice clips as they did in the first game. Tails and Marine are noticeably silent in the game (which might be a blessing, depending on just how annoying Marine's voice had the potential to be). Whiskers and Johnny both have several voice clips. Whiskers sounds just as a pirate would be expected to sound, and Johnny...well, he's a little high-pitched for my tastes, but his voice fits him.

The game plays exactly the same as the original: run really fast, blast through enemies using boosts, perform tricks to fill up your boost gauge. Hopefully you enjoy the levels, because if you don't get a good enough ranking, chances are you won't be able to move on to the next zone. To go from island to island, you'll have to build various watercrafts, each requiring various parts. Each zone offers different parts, and depending on how well you do, you can get 1, 2, or 3 parts per act. Did you find the original to not take enough advantage of the touch screen? Never fear. The four watercraft--a jet ski, a ship, a hovercraft, and a submarine--will give you all the touch screen action you could want. Each one of these mini-games plays differently, whether it be using the stylus to move the jet ski out of the way of obstacles, pressing it on enemy ships to blast them with the ship's cannons, pressing on the hovercraft to fire at enemies, or touching enemy subs in time with music to destroy them. All four "games" prove to be quite enjoyable without feeling gimmicky, and the varying environments keep them from getting old as you continue to play them repeatedly. Bosses are a step down from the original. Instead of the usual eight-hit Eggman mechs, we have "ghost" robots with life meters. You actually have to wear down the life meter by wailing on the boss, a la Sonic Heroes. Thankfully, it's not nearly as annoying and repetitive as said game, but after about two or three minutes, you're just about ready for the boss to explode already.

Replay value is quite high for a 2D Sonic game. Of course, there's the usual retrieving of the famed Chaos Emeralds, which is done by beating Johnny in jet ski races. Easier said than done; you have to find Johnny first, and the only way do do so is to search the high seas for him. Even if you encounter him, if your jet ski isn't up to snuff, chances are you won't stand a chance. To remedy that situation, you can go from island to island collecting certain materials by replaying levels and upgrading your watercraft. After you've collected the seven Emeralds, there's still a matter of collecting the Sol Emeralds, which is done by replaying certain bosses and levels. That leads to the next bit of replay value: you can search the high seas for hidden islands, each one a short mini-level, where you can gather more materials, and eventually gain missions. That's right, there's a mission mode, featuring 100 missions, from defeating harder versions of the bosses to doing a certain number of tricks in a level to gathering a certain number of rings. By completing missions, you can gain new "decorations" for the island, but in the end, they aren't really worth much more than adding to the scenery. If you have a wireless internet connection, you can race against friends online, or compete in time trials to see who is the fastest around the world. Be warned, though, there are some insanely good players out there. As you can see, there's plenty to keep one busy after beating the game. Even without all of this extra stuff, the game is such a blast to play, you'll likely find yourself replaying your favorite levels over and over again.

It's truly amazing how Dimps continues to vastly improve on every handheld Sonic game they make. Sonic Rush Adventure, simply put, blows all of the 2D games out of the water...er, so to speak. All of the fun of the original Rush is here and improved drastically, the end result being--in my humble opinion as a fan since the very first game--one of the best Sonic games of all time. I give it an easy 5/5.