Off-topic: Overshadowed by the US release of which title? Sonic Rush and Shadow came out on the same day in all countries, and even if Shadow is getting cinema trailers before Harry Potter and in between new Simpsons, Rush is sponsoring the new series of Sonic X. Both games are the most well advertised Sonic titles since... Sonic 2.
On-Topic: Well I've played it to death and fully completed it, and can make a pretty informed review as a jaded Sonic fan.
First thing to note is that the game IS short. Levels last anywhere between 2 minutes and 8 minutes and are done in typical Advance fashion of 2 acts and a boss on 7 stages with a final stage boss level.
There are only two characters to the game, no unlockables at all, and both Blaze and Sonic run on the same stages, fighting the same bosses, however the order is slightly changed.
Graphics are pretty nice ingame, screenshots don't capture just how nice the 3d models are when travelling at super speeds. The game's 2d graphics vastly improve upon the Advance series, showing how DIMPS is enjoying the less limited DS system, meanwhile the 3d graphics are only a few shades down from the current Sonic titles, the nearest example of what Sonic's model was based off would be Sonic Shuffle.
Action Stages are fast and furious as you'd expect from a Sonic game, with the addition of the DASH feature, this is often emphasised, however as the DASH is key to entering the special stage and the boost seems superfluous in most cases, it is a feature that will be widely ignored during the majority of the game. The speed is often obtrusive of progress when it comes to randomly placed enemies lining up at the bottom of a slope, anything bar pre-cognition will not be enough to suddenly get the attack in before your rings scatter. This is about the only huge flaw in the game going so far, levels are designed to match Sonic's moves and so following the set path will be easy enough. This doesn't suggest that there aren't multiple paths, the clich� water level returns and as always there is an above and below route and the 7th stage gives the S3&K Death Egg a run for it's money in huge and fun level design.
Many sections of the game cut from the typical set standard of run, spring, jump and put you into a scenario which halts your progress, a nice change but often obtrusive. In the pyramid stage there is a slow moving platform event when robots and rocks fall from the sky while you have to dodge them, also during the ever so annoying bottomless pit stage the game switches to 3d mode to allow you to float dodging obstacles on the hang-glider.
Special Stages are thankfully easy to get into, which after 2 Advance games worth of treasure hunts makes a refreshing change. Also they can be re-entered after a failure so long as your DASH meter is full enough to allow you to re-open the portal.
The special stages are the only part of the game which utilise the touch screen and stylus, recreating the Sonic 2 half-pipe oncemore, the aim is to gather rings using the touch screen to guide Sonic (Blaze does not enter Special Stages) and collect rings while avoiding bombs. Jumping is too akward to use during the stage, but aside from that minor complaint they are a fun addition to the game and not as difficult as predecessors. The final level does give a huge headache and truly requires Sonic like reflexes to manage, without all 7 emeralds the final story can not be accessed, this may niggle a few players who don't like Special Stages, but this is a running complaint which has existed as long as the Advance series and this is a peg down from the insanely difficult Sonic Advance 3 special stage.
Boss Battles are unique and inovative for a change, and very challanging without resorting to being cheap like Advance 2. The boss battle arena is fully 3d, the majority of which take place on a straight platform akin to that of the Egg Viper battle in Sonic Adventure 1, however level 2 and 3 have circles which you run around in. Difficulty gets pretty intense by the end of the game, especially the final boss which demands you to not get hit by a barrage of impossible attacks, such as 3 beams of electric pinning you to a spot, getting hit means he'll pull out another attack until you finally get an opportunity to hit him.
Blaze, the newcommer, is exactly like Sonic in almost all respects, except her R-Tricks have a bigger boost so she can reach higher areas and reach safer paths, most thankfully notable in the water stage. However she does not have a target attack (R+Forward) like Sonic does and this can become troublesome. Instead of a quick-shot attack forward she has a booster glide, which helps out greatly in the pitfall levels, however most players will probably be acustomed to Sonic's attack by the time they start on Blaze and would need to adjust. Aside from their R differences, there's nothing much which sets the two heroes apart.
Storywise, I wont reveal any spoilers, except to say that I noticed that whenever DIMPS introduce a character they grow on me by the end of the game and I end up loving them, whereas when Sonic Team introduce them I tend to hate them, Gamma being the only example in the past decade. However Cream and Emerl were both instant classics through their games and it seems Blaze and Eggman Nega are too. For the 3rd game out of the past 4 handheld titles, Cream's involvement has left a sweet "aww" filling satisfaction when the plot rounds up and proves her to be a valuable asset to the Sonic canon.
The scenes are charming and despite the fact that every other line is "friendship" they work very well. Blaze's character will grow on you by the time you reach the final story.
Only other thing I have to say about the game is this, level 7 is the best thing I've seen in a Sonic game since SA1, the level itself and the boss battle. Everything just works out right. Once again DIMPS proves that they can look into the Sonic franchise and realise why the fans like it and how the characters work.
Aside from the quick complete time, huge difficulty on some events, cheap pitfall level and the inability to predict enemies when you're travelling at full speed; Sonic Rush is an amazing game and deserves far more respect than it is likely to recieve.
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