Information--
System: Nintendo DS
Developer: Sonic Team
Publisher: Sega
Release Year: 2005

Introduction--
Sonic Rush came and despite Sega's worst year in a while completely redeemed Sega with its polished old-school feel. It's 2D side-scrolling at its fastest. It was this concept that made the original Sonic games such a hit and Rush is no different. With added challenges and large (both horizontally and vertically) levels there is something for both old and new Sonic fans to life. To acquaint you with the game here is a synopsis from Sega (http://www.sega.com):

Synopsis "Everyone's favorite blue dude with 'tude, Sonic the Hedgehog, blasts his way onto the Nintendo DS™ and takes high-speed action gaming to a whole new level … literally! Sonic pairs up with royalty - Queen, Blaze the Cat - from another dimension to save the universe from utter destruction. Sonic Rush™ takes full advantage of the dual screens on the Nintendo DS system to deliver a frenetic adventure with dizzying dives, near vertical curves, extreme jumps, brain-twisting loops and more!"

Gameplay-- 9/10
The gameplay in Sonic Rush is simple in concept yet complex in execution. The goal is to get through 7 Acts each with two levels and a boss battle. The goal of the levels is to go rightwards while slamming into enemies and traversing the complex and dangerous platform obstacles. The major difference from old-school Sonic would be some of the new level obstacles and the vertical level design. The vertical level design is thanks to the DS' dual screens and adds a lot of fast-paced up and down (in addition to the speedy rightward run) action. The levels are flawless in design as they are complex enough to not be mindless yet they are in beatable after a few tries for the average player. As for the bosses they are very different in appearance and attacks yet to beat them you usually have to figure out their weak spot and when in their attack you can hit it. Overall the only problem with the gameplay would be the lack of touch screen use. I am amazed that Sonic Team couldn't think of one level feature involving the touch screen. Other than that the game is delightfully old-school yet different enough to be fun.

Graphics-- 9/10
Sonic Rush has excellent graphics. The backgrounds are hand-drawn and look as glossy and stylish as ever. The characters are detailed polygons that give the game an updated look. The game has excellent blur effects to simulate speed so overall the gameplay graphics are very nice. Of course the token Sonic art style is present as well. As for cutscenes there are some limited FMVs that are nicely animated and do a good job of stringing the levels together. There isn't much to say about Sonic Rush's graphics and there is only one real complaint. The complaint is the lack of effects. There are only a few effects but I feel that the game should have more. Sonic Rush keeps the classic Sonic look and only changes it ever so slightly and of course for the better.

Sound-- 9/10
Sound is another area Sonic excels in. The sound effects are classic Sonic and there is no problem with them. The music is an interesting change for Sonic. The soundtrack consists of weird songs reminiscent of Jet Grind Radio. The game even features some minimal voice acting (basically sounds such as damage sounds like "Ahh!"). This is also an area where there isn't much to complain about. Sometimes the music in the level could get irritating or distracting. Sonic Rush has overall good sound.

Value-- 8/10
Sonic Rush is a great addition to the Sonic franchise yet it has a few issues with value. First of all the story is yet another spin-off that adds more clichéd characters to the already huge Sonic mythos. While some would call that value I believe that it actually takes more away. There are some unlockables in the game such as a sound room and some secret levels. There should have been more secret levels however as that is what Sonic is known for and I could have done without the sound room.

Tilt-- 8/10
I love Sonic Rush because it was the only good Sega game this year. After suffering through Shadow the Hedgehog I was amazed at Sonic Team for not being bad. I also love Sega and grew up on Sonic so this could factor into my tilt. I should also mention that I hate these more modern soap opera Sonic stories which this game had and so that is why my tilt is an 8 instead of 9.