If I asked you to tell me a video game in which you go fast, what would it be? Racing games, right? But once upon a time, there was a little blue hedgehog who ran very fast.
Back in the 1990s, that hedgehog was king. Sonic was on top. Four amazing 2D Sonic games - and Sonic CD - were released in just a few years. Sonic on the go, though? That would be awesome! Sonic has always had portable adventures, but they were not very.. good.
Cough cough, Sonic Pocket Adventure, cough cough.
However in the early 2000’s, SEGA nailed it with the Sonic Advance series. And that’s why today I’m talking about.. Sonic Rush. Logic, right? I will be covering the three games in the Sonic Rush ‘trilogy’ - Sonic Rush, Sonic Rush Adventure and Sonic Colors DS.
SONIC RUSH
In Sonic Rush, we are introduced to a brand new character, Blaze the Cat. In the game, she has travelled from her native dimension, the Sol dimension, to Sonic's world. Her world has Sol Emeralds, which are similar to the Chaos Emeralds, but have been taken by Dr Eggman, so she makes it her goal to look for them.
Sonic and Tails are searching for the Chaos Emeralds, which have been stolen by the Eggman of Blaze's dimension, Eggman Nega. After briefly encountering Blaze, Tails finds out that the two dimensions are merging somehow, and both will collapse into each other if the process is not stopped..
Sonic Rush is a 2D platformer and has all the traditional 2D Sonic fun; speeding through levels, collecting rings, defeating enemies, two acts and then a boss for each zone. The DS screens display the levels, and the characters move between them. You can play as Sonic and Blaze, who differ in terms of special abilities. Sonic has his traditional arsenal, while Blaze has fire powers.
There is also a new ability for both, the boost. To use the boost, the player must fill up the boost gauge by doing tricks and defeating enemies. The energy it generates allows the player to use boosts. Sonic also uses the boost to access special stages.
The characters travel through seven total zones, but in different orders. Said zones consist of levels like a colourful city where you platform on neon lights, a flooded palace that makes good use of the boost ability - so it doesn't play as bad as Labyrinth Zone, a not-so-boring factory level, and more.
In Sonic's story, there are special stages hidden throughout the acts in order to obtain the Chaos Emeralds. The special stages resemble Sonic 2's and use the touchscreen controls that inevitably show up in all DS games.
A new feature is a grading system that grades the player based on the time it takes to complete a level, similarly to the system found in the 3D games. The player is encouraged to replay levels for higher grades.
One problem with the gameplay is the level design. The game is rife with instant death bottomless pits, so you have to slow down and do careful platforming, which isn’t ideal for a high-speed game.
For visuals, the game does look quite pretty. The 3D sections look somewhat dated, but the 2D sections look amazing. The music is fantastic too. Seriously, look up the official soundtrack when you get the chance. Heck, why not listen to it now?
The controls are good. I mean, yes, touch screen controls are used in some areas, which can be annoying, but it’s a DS game, what did you expect? Controlling in special stages could be worse, though I would prefer if it just used button controls.
The story is basic at best. Eggman's doing something bad, Sonic and friends have gotta stop him. Seeing the characters interact with each over is super cute and cool. The only real problem I have with the story is the whole "power of love and friendship" cliché. To any writer reading this, that is the one of the lamest ways you could end a game or story. Please don’t do that.
The boost is Sonic's speed on... speed. It's so fun to use and running through a line of enemies and doing tricks are probably the most satisfying thing to do in this game. Blaze’s fire powers aren’t quite so fun to use, but they get the job done.
Like I said, the difficulty feels unnecessary. The reason why this game feels difficult at times is because of the poor level design, which is quite frustrating. The bosses are okay, but there's a lot of waiting around involved. Also one fight involves button mashing and - why are my hands on fire?
Sonic Rush feels like it was trying to live up to Sonic Advance and be a worthy successor to that trilogy, but unfortunately is weighed down by questionable design choices and unpredictable difficulty spikes.
SONIC RUSH ADVENTURE
On a stormy night, Sonic and Tails set out in Tails' plane after it detects a powerful energy signal. During their flight, they're struck by lightning and get sucked into a tornado, knocking Sonic and Tails out. They awaken on a remote island and meet an energetic raccoon called Marine, who longs to be a sailor.
Sonic sets off to explore the island for building materials, while Tails starts to work on Marine's ship. When the ship is complete, the gang head out to sea. While exploring, they encounter a band of pirates led by the robotic Captain Whisker, who are after an ancient artifact known as the Jeweled Scepter.
As Sonic attempts to stop Whisker from retrieving the Scepter, Blaze suddenly appears! She reveals to them that they have accidentally traveled to her dimension during the storm - again, and that she has been attempting to stop the pirates for some time. Whisker escapes with the Scepter, so Blaze and Sonic agree to work together and retrieve it.
Sonic Rush Adventure plays mostly like the first game, with some added bonuses. The game's setting is an archipelago in the Sol Dimension, known as Southern Island. This island’s main settlement, Windmill Village, serves as a temporary base for Sonic and the others.
Players can plot their routes to each level using the DS stylus and travel to one of the islands using one of the four ships, each of which uses a different touchscreen-controlled minigame. These ships are built using materials that are earned by completing levels.
At different areas of Southern Island, players can talk to members of Marine's Coconut Crew, who will offer Sonic tips and additional missions as the story progresses. The game features one hundred of these missions, with objectives such as completing a stage within a time limit or defeating a boss with only one ring.
Certain missions must be finished to progress through the story, while others offer bonus rewards upon completion, such as musical tracks the player can listen to or visual upgrades to Southern Island.
At Marine's house, players can talk to Marine to initiate missions, have Tails build new ships and equipment using materials gathered from stages to advance the story, or engage in multiplayer battles using DS Download Play or Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection.
Players can find hidden islands to explore and earn additional materials, as well as run into a robot pirate, Johnny. Finding Johnny will trigger a race between him and Sonic, with the player receiving one of the seven Chaos Emeralds if they are victorious.
Blaze can earn Sol Emeralds by completing a series of special missions, but who cares about them. If the player has reached the normal ending and collected all the Chaos and Sol Emeralds, an extended ending, featuring an extra boss, will be unlocked.
Usually I would now talk about design, controls, story etc. but with this game, it’s all kind of.. the same. I already talked about the story, and everything else is very samey. The controls feel fine, with touch screen controls once again making a notable appearance. The music is again very similar, though I feel like the first game’s soundtrack was more enjoyable to listen to. That may just be me.
Difficulty is much more fair here, and the level design is actually.. Good. I feel that Rush Adventure expands upon everything the first game sets out to do and is, for the most part, a more enjoyable experience.
Now that’s it for the Sonic Rush series, but I clearly mentioned another game at the start. Well, there is one last game that is widely considered the third game in the Rush series.
SONIC COLORS (DS)
Dr Eggman has opened an amusement park - in space!
Welcome to Dr. Eggman's Incredible Interstellar Amusement Park! Allegedly turning over a new leaf and making up for past ‘mistakes’, Eggman must be determined to make a theme park that no one can actually reach. The park is massive, being made up of several planet-sized attractions.
Suspicious, Sonic and Tails investigate. They meet Yacker, who comes from a species of aliens known as Wisps. After Tails invents a translator to communicate with him, they learn that other Wisps have been enslaved by Eggman, who plans to harness their energy for a mind-control laser that will allow him to take over Earth. Now Sonic is off to save this alien species from the doctor.
Sound familiar? That’s because that same story is used for the much more well-known Wii version of the game. They didn’t bother to change it at all. I guess the DS version is just another perspective of the game? I don’t know...
The game's main hub is Dr Eggman's Incredible Interstellar Amusement Park - that’s a bit of a mouthful - that consists of six small planets chained to each other. Sonic must be guided through these planets to destroy the power source at their center.
Unlike the Wii version, this game is 2.5D, much like the earlier Rush games. There are three acts per zone, unlike Wii’s five, and some boss battles differ from the Wii version. Exclusive to the DS version are touchscreen-controlled special stages (yay!), missions featuring various characters from the series, a competitive multiplayer mode, and an extra final boss.
The game features six Wisp types, with two being exclusive to the DS version:
- White Wisps allow the player to get a speed boost at any time.
- The Cyan Wisps turn Sonic into a laser that can bounce off solid surfaces and travel through power lines.
- The Yellow Wisps let Sonic drill through soft ground and water.
- The Orange Wisps give Sonic the ability to blast upward to tremendous heights.
- The DS-exclusive Red Wisps allow Sonic to turn into an epic fireball.
- The DS-exclusive Violet Wisps let Sonic suck up objects ‘n stuff - like a black hole.
Wow. Having flashbacks to Team Sonic Racing!
Out of the three games, this one felt like it was lacking the most. In the Wii version of Colors and in the Rush games you're able to do tricks in the air to fill up your boost gauge, but for some reason you can't do that in this game.
Also, the controls for some of the wisps are straight up trash. The Flame Burst is clunky, the Yellow Drill is janky, and the Violet Void is slippery. Not only that, but you're forced to play as the wisps in order to finish levels, unlike the Wii version where they are generally optional. Lame.
Some of the boss battles are literal jokes. They're not memorable or difficult at all! Colors DS reuses assets from the Rush games, primarily enemies and sound effects. This wouldn’t be a problem if the game did something new with them, but it doesn’t. It just merges them with the ideas from Colors Wii. The special stages are easy and feel like they drag on, when they could be a little shorter.
As for positives, the controls for Sonic are still mostly good, the soundtrack is alright, the visuals are nice - even if some are stolen, and the story is engaging - even if it is basic and VERY cheesy at times.
I have found it hard to even compare this game to the expectations set up by the first two, and personally I’d go so far as to say that this game drags down the entire trilogy slightly with its pure laziness.
Oh, and I used the ‘Colors’ spelling despite being british. You ‘mericans better be happy.
The Sonic Rush games are fine. If you want to add these games to your collection, I’d recommend Rush Adventure. As for Colors.. buy it if you're really bored - it's nothing special but it's not a downright bad game. You should probably stick to the Wii version though.
What I will recommend to you is the Sonic Advance trilogy on the GBA. They are a much more enjoyable experience, and I didn’t even talk about them in this blog.
Maybe one day.
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