Sonic Rush Adventure (DS)

Heavy on the rush, light on the adventure -- as it should be.
1/31/2008 12:00 AM | 0 Comments | Page 1 of 2

The Sonic the Hedgehog series has lost its way a bit in the decades since its start on the Sega Genesis. The blazing, split-second decision-making of the original 2-D adventures gave way to unnecessary RPG elements and slow, hard-to-control gameplay in the more recent 3-D incarnations. Luckily, Sonic Rush Adventure discards most of the detritus that has accumulated on the series over the years and brings back the focus on frenetic speed and thrill-ride atmosphere.

There is still a belabored plot, unfortunately. Sonic and Tails get sucked into an alternate dimension and find themselves forced to steal a magical scepter back from a robotic pirate with a ridiculously bushy white mustache. Along the way the story devolves into a largely incomprehensible mess of contrived and clich&eacure;d plot elements, complete with a cadre of largely disposable characters, including the playable Blaze the Cat and the largely comic-relief character Marine.

It's Marine that steals the show and somewhat redeems the mess of a story through some quality characterization. The irascible self-appointed leader of the group of heroes, Marine is at turns timid, adventurous, excitable, and foolhardy. Though there's no voice acting for Marine or any other characters, you can almost hear her cockney Australian accent come through in the quality writing. Her delusions of grandeur in the face of the amazing abilities of those surrounding her make the story sections a tad less interminable, though they still tend to drag on.

They're worth suffering through, though, because once you get to the gameplay it's pure Sonic like mama Sega used to make. Like the best games in the series, Sonic Rush Adventure is not about slowly exploring environments looking for hidden doodads. It's about running forward. Very fast. Occasionally the game can feel a bit like it's dragging you along a set path, with nothing more required of you than to hold down a directional button and watch the pretty flashiness. More often, though, you have to monitor your progress carefully and make the quick decisions -- a jump here, a dash there -- that make all the difference.

Continuing the tradition of the recent portable Sonic games, Sonic can perform spins and flips as he soars off springboards and grinds along ever-present rails. These tricks build up a dash meter that can be used to grant instant bursts of invincibility and speed, a necessary requirement for quick completion of a level. The trick system makes the game feel a bit like Sonic the Hedgehog meets Tony Hawk's Pro Skater at points, and adds another level of strategy to traversing the levels quickly and efficiently. Still, the trick controls are a bit simplistic and can get in their own way -- we can't count the number of times where trying to perform a mid-grind trick led to an unintended leap into a bottomless pit.

The high-energy pace of the main levels gives way to plodding bombast for the boss battles, though. Almost every one places Sonic on a small platform while a huge 3-D boss shows off his Nintendo 64-era polygons in the distance of the second screen. Besting these bosses is usually a matter of simply dodging repetitive attacks and then attacking exposed weak points. There's no real feeling of imminent danger or the direct give-and-take of a one-on-one battle -- it's all very sterile and removed, and not at all fitting for a Sonic game.