An improvment over Sonic's previous DS outing, and just the type of gameplay that fans demand of rather then the trash offered by Shadow's guns. It makes more use of the touch screen and sailing across the ocean world certainly works well. It's still as fast and frantic as ever, but my only complaint is that you still only play as Sonic and Blaze. Prehaps if you got to play as Tails, Knuckels or even the new Marine it would offer a bit more.… Expand

It's a geniunely good game. Good, not great, like every Sonic game. The controls are a little sloppy, the level design is also. The story is confusing, and unnessesary.

After Sonic Adventure I kind of fell in love with modern sonic and the whole 3d + great graphics + even more speed as well. Not to say I dont like the classical sonic, im a fan. So I bought this game not expecting much before a long train trip in Japan. It did impress me... the trip went by quickly cause it is indeed fun! I like the modern feeling they give to 2D portable sonic games nowadays and this is one of the best examples. Simply put: If you like sonic, you will like this game. If you are one of the gamers that USED to like Sonic, you will like this game as well. If you hate sonic... well.. I wouldnt bother. For me, though....Best surprise Ive ever had because I always think and search for info regarding games before I buy and this one I just picked up and had a lot of fun! Made me play sonic games again!… Expand

While not phenomeonal, it is a large improvement over the last few years of Sonic games and will please anyone who wants that retro feel.

The hype and spree of critical praise that briefly enshrouded Sonic Rush seemed not so much to do with its gameplay than with its breaking the chain of stale mediocrity that had bogged down the series for about the past half-decade. This feat, in retrospect, was far more impressive (Let's face facts; Shadow had a gun, for Christ's sake), but the truth is the game was simply decent to the Advance series' tepid. Its flaws were still there; in its buzzkill enemy placement, lackluster bosses, and of course, the abundance of bottomless pits. But some more-inspired level design, Hideki Naganuma-penned music, and higher bracket of half-baked plot helped the game feel a whole lot fresher than the shallow GBA trilogy. Well, Sonic Rush Adventure capitalizes on that freshness. In fact, it smacks the nail so square on the head that it really feels like the kind of game that should be made on the DS, instead of a lazy Genesis-glory-day-chase. Someone at either Sega or Dimps did their homework on those 90's titles and came out merely with enough inspiration to patch up the leaky spots of Rush. The result is an honest-to-God sequel. Anything and everything you liked about Rush's gameplay is in here, only difference is whatever rubbed you the wrong way is probably gone as well. Each and every one of the bosses (barring the first) is a delicious challenge because of the strategy required, (instead of the maddening necessity to avoid cheap auto-kill hits); the badniks are in the right spots (and much more interesting-looking than all that Egg Pawn inanity); and somehow surviving the plothole nexus of Sonic 360, Blaze reprises her role as the lone playable alternative, but save for some Sol Emerald boss-replay challenges, she's purely optional this time out. Meaning you only have to play the same game once this time. Sure, it's probably beginning to sound like a showcase of improvement, but if Rush Adventure has one fault, it's a refusal to say when. To pad out the skimpy seven-zone playtime, you have to access these levels by setting sail and steering some kind of vessel to each one. You'll start with a fun (but short-range) jet-ski and expand to a set of larger-range ships that seem to exist only to make you miss the jet-ski enough to not mind it's also the meat and potatoes of the special stages. It can be tedious—the map feels a lot bigger than it is when you have to sail through it all yourself—but the DIY-approach can also be rather rewarding (as in, "don't think Sonic Advance 3's painfully useless between-act lobby-labyrinths"). On top of the structured game, you've got to track down seven Chaos emeralds, hidden island levels that hold the trigger to the seven Sol emeralds, and don't forget a laundry list of unlockable replay missions. After beating the last level, the linear structure disappears, and it's a very open-ended quest to explore the map and fulfill an enjoyably large amount of replayability before you finally get the emeralds required for the obligatory super-epilogue. Whether or not you enjoy exploring the island is hands down the dealbreaker between whether Rush or Rush Adventure is the more entertaining title, but if you find a mode of transportation you like in addition to the addictive jet-ski, (may I recommend the submarine, in all its arrhythmic Elite Beat Agents-bastardizing glory) it shouldn't even be that much of a contest.… Expand

This game annoyed me, because while it forced you to replay the stages to progress the game, there are only two playable characters: Sonic and Blaze. Unfortunately, their capabilities are almost identical, making level replay tedious.

I never really got on with the first DS Sonic title, Sonic Rush, it started off well, but it soon became a case of dying without having any real control over what was going on. Even so, it was the best high profile Sonic the Hedgehog game we'd seen for a fair old while (by high profile I mean ignoring the Advance games which were pretty solid examples of a decent Sonic game). It did what we'd been wanting from Sonic ever since Sonic Adventure showed that the format really didn't work too great in 3D (with the exception of a handful of levels). Sonic Rush Adventure seems to be more of the same, but with the parts of previous Sonic games that were unwanted tacked on too. The core element of the gameplay is still running through levels as quickly as possible, collectings rings along the way. At the end of each level you break open a Treasure Chest, which awards you with some materials which Tails will use at various points in the game to create a new water based craft to aid in the adventure elements of the game. The adventure side of Sonic Rush Adventure basically boils down to this, each level (remember Sonic works on a basis of 3 acts per level, the final one including a boss) is on a different island. To travel to an island, you need some sort of craft. To start off with Tails builds you a waterbike, this is fine for short distances, but soon you need to travel further, resulting in another craft, then over ice resulting in another so you basically end up with four forms of transport to use between the various islands in the game. Once you have the craft capable of the task at hand, you plot your course on the map using the touch screen and your stylus, much in the same way as the tactical map elements of Star Fox Command, then choose to follow that course. The game then switches to a 3D mini game where you semi control the vehicle, or its weapons as you make your way to the island ahead, trying to shoot as many enemies or rings as you can while preventing your craft from recieving any damage. It's an incredibly tacked on way of Sonic Team attempting to add some depth to the franchise, something they've been trying to do for a fair while now with no real accomplishment. If anything, it affects the pace of the game, although not in so much a harmful way as the story does. Once again, Sonic Team have decided to tack on some sort of plot to a Sonic game, one thats not interesting in the slightest. Basically, Sonic and Tails are caught up in a storm in Tails' Typhoon plane. They're hit by lightning and crash, when they awake, they're on an island somewhere that they don't recognise, and they soon come across yet another annoying character addition to the series (as if Amy wasn't bad enough) in Marine, an Australian Raccoon who is somehow even more annoying than the aforementioned Amy Rose. Turns out that they're not just on some strange island inhabited by a bunch of Aussies, but they've somehow been transported to the realm or whatever where Blinx the Cat from Sonic Rush was from. A robot called Whiskers also turns up, and is the token bad guy for this instalment. He bares a striking resemblence to Dr. Robotnik/ Eggman (delete according to which generation of Sonic you started with), and you set out on a quest across these numerous islands to discover just what he and his pirate friends are upto. It's an awful plot, told in little scenes reminiscent of a Japanese RPG where you press the A button to cycle through what is being said. Its normally the same thing each time the characters pop up for a chat too. Well, not exactly the same, but it runs along the same line. Theres another way in which the materials and Adventure elements are attempting to try and add depth to this game that hasn't been mentioned yet. Whenever a new craft is needed, you can guaruntee that you won't have enough materials to give to Tails for him to build it. This forces you to play through previous levels numerous times throughout the game in order to collect the materials needed. While in the past, gamers have played their favourite levels of a Sonic game over and over again until they've perfected it, they've done that through choice, resulting in a more pleasurable experience. But Rush Adventure forces this upon you, and it doesn't even mean you can play your favourite level over and over again to get lots of materials as each different item is exclusive to a particular level resulting in you maybe having to play a level that you really didn't like. It's another way Sonic Team have tried to up the amount of time needed to finish the game, and it cheapens the experience more so. Thats not to say the proper Sonic elements of the game aren't bad, for the most part they're pretty enjoyable, but theres no particular level that really stands out amongst the rest like in previous instalments. A few also have really annoying parts like with Sonic Rush where you're not quite sure how you died or whats coming, a great example is Sky Babylon Act 2, one of the later levels, after running maniacally through the Act, your confronted with some baloon like contraptions which go up when you hang from them, you have to guide them through a verticle maze like area but its difficult to watch both screens to see whats near you and where you have to go next, plus it seems to want to drift towards the walls when you are changing direction. It makes for an annoying experience just as the game is getting to a point where its becoming fun, yet lightly challenging. Its too much of a sudden jump in difficulty and creates an air of poor design that seems to have been criminally overlooked. Fortunately, the levels aren't as long as those in Sonic Rush, with the longest clocking in at around 4 minutes in length. The games main redeeming element is in its boss fights, very similar in presentation to those of Sonic Rush, utilising a semi-3D playing field, they are rather inventive. One particular fight see's you facing off against a robotic whale, as its nose lands on the piece of ice you're stood on, you attack the red plate on its head. This stuns it, it opens its mouth and you jump inside. You're then taken to a mini level with a timer counting down from 30 seconds, the aim here is to attack some bombs to add more time to your timer, reach the end of the mini-level and attack the contraption at the end. the whale spurts you out of its blow hole, and you do it all again. The problem here is, do I reccomend Sonic Rush Adventure or do I condemn it? Whats left of my SEGA fanboyism says to do the former, but in all honesty, I feel those that love classic Sonic will be incredibly dissapointed with this instalment in the franchise. Its not that its a bad game, its just that its only just above an average experience, one that can be taken or left. It doesn't do anything worthwhile over whats already on offer in Sonic Rush, and is most definetly less of a game in terms of enjoyment than the 15 year old Sonic the Hedgehog 2 which you can now pick up for a fraction of the price on both the XBox 360 XBox Live Arcade service and the Wii's Virtual Console service.… Expand

Sonic Rush Adventure has a lot going for it; bright and vibrant graphics, a goofy plot-line with fun dialogue, fantastic boss battles... Heck, even the sections where you travel between the islands on a boat are well designed and fun to play. Unfortunately, the action stages (which should be the meat of the game) are simply bland and uninspired. You spend all your time zipping around through loops and tubes, never stopping to indulge in such fanciful things as, say, actual platforming. Of course, this approach isn't always wrong, as aptly proved by the excellent Sonic Advance series, but in this game it just feels... Tedious. This is doubly compounded by the structure of the game, which FORCES you to repeatedly play levels in order to gain the materials to build new items and boats. It's usually a pleasure to re-play stages in Sonic, but here they turn it into a chore that hampers progression. There are a ton of great Sonic games. This isn't one of them.… Expand