Sonic Rush: Hands-On

Our latest impressions from Sega's fantastic double-screened Sonic outing for Nintendo DS.

With so many Sonic games previewed earlier in the year - and with more on the way - Sega's speedy Erinaceidae is going to be a pretty busy boy these coming months. We recently had an opportunity to check out more of Sonic Rush, Sonic's first outing on Nintendo's dual screen portable (bar 2004's Sonic-themed tech demo), and came away quite pleased indeed.

Sonic Rush plays a lot like the 2D Sonic games of old, which is most definitely a good thing. Navigating the lush greenery and collecting golden rings while engaging in plenty of platforming play, the gameplay features the typically speedy sidescrolling action-platforming mechanics of its 16-bit predecessors while utilizing the DS' dual screens to display the action on both screens.

It's a neat, albeit slightly confusing setup at times, especially when your eyes are focused on one screen only to lose track of the little blue hog after jumping up or dropping down to another platform and appearing on the opposite screen in the process. The faster-paced areas with dizzying loops, spiraling water slides, and funky gizmos and contraptions propelling Sonic over large distances at a high rate of speed will no doubt test the ability of gamers to keep up with the action happening on both screens.

It goes without saying that the action in Sonic DS is pretty fast paced, with solid controls all around. You can run, jump, double jump, spin dash and perform your typical jumping attack moves on the enemies you'll encounter throughout the game. Sonic is also equipped with some sort of charging attack move where he rushes at full force in any number of directions and can smash through enemies, as well as use the momentum to propel himself up to areas that his more restricted single jumping style can't get him to. While the charging attack move renders Sonic temporarily invulnerable, it's limited by a meter that gets depleted whenever the move is used, and automatically replenishes itself when not in use.

Graphically, Sonic Rush looks pretty nice on the DS' dual screens, showcasing a pretty solid mixture of 2D and 3D graphics with a lot of smooth transitions occurring between the two at various points throughout the game. The boss battle we experienced showcased this effect in fine form, as the viewpoint switched from a sidescrolling 2D view to a 3D viewpoint and back again while battling the polygonal, mechanical snake-like boss.

While battling it on the 2D plane, we had to constantly evade its attempts to smash Sonic and then tag the weak spot on top of its head with jumping attacks while it was still down trying to recover. Things then shifted over to a cool-looking 3D viewpoint where we had to run for our lives from the mechanical menace and dodge it as it attempted to roll over Sonic. The graphics, especially the 3D transitions during the boss encounter, look pretty spiffy, and the character animation is smooth.

The game's sound design also appears to be shaping up nicely. Some of the BGM themes offer upbeat tunes that fit the game's fast-paced action like a glove. Unsprprisingly, sound effects are also well-done with a variety of distinct sounds used throughout the game.

When Sonic Rush graces the DS in a few short months, players will be able to play as either Sonic or Blaze the Cat, a royal figure from another dimension who teams up with Sonic in order to save the universe from - you guessed it - total destruction. With the disastrous events occurring within both parallel universes, Sonic and Blaze's adventures will intertwine at some point and players will be able to experience more than one outcome to the storyline when playing as both characters.

Along with that, the game will also feature wireless multiplayer modes, where up to four players can compete against each other for the best record time in the Chao Racing Mode, as well as a two-player Battle Mode where players can race against each other as Sonic and Blaze. While this build didn't feature any touch screen activity, brief hints suggest that there just may be some included in the final game, so be flexing those stylus muscles just in case...

Stay tuned for more on Sonic Rush as we approach its November release date.

Joseph Jackson
Executive Editor, Kikizo Games