E3: Sonic Rush Hands On

Article by Brian Langlois

Sonic Rush is the successor to the Sonic Advance series. It is a straight side-scrolling adventure in the classic Sonic mold. The interesting thing is that both of the dual screens are used to create a single environment. Sonic will move from the top screen to the bottom screen as he bounds through the air and races up hillsides. The sense of speed is good and seems even faster than the Sonic Advance games though there weren’t as many areas where you could go flat-out.

Sonic Rush’s platforming elements are strong with a lot of jumping and swinging. There is a new and energetic spin dash move that hurls Sonic into enemies with an electric blue glow. There are also 3D effects that crop up from time to time that resemble those of Sonic CD. As you pass through certain areas or do tricks the 3D will engage and the angle may change slightly.

The most impressive feature of Sonic Rush is that the Boss Battles are 3D with the boss in the background charging toward Sonic as he runs on a 2D plane. Sonic Rush is definitely a great old-school Sonic game for the Nintendo DS. Unlike the Sonic demo from earlier, there is no touch screen support, though the Sega representative said it was a possibility for the final release.

As a huge fan of Sonic I found Sonic Rush to be an extremely fun and fast adventure that will no doubt fill any DS owner’s need for speed.thank you