After I played this, I wished all Sonic games would go back to 2-D!
You can play as either Sonic, or a new, mysterious charcter called Blaze, whose story unfolds throughout this game. The game, like most of Sonic's handheld adventures, reverts to the 2-D view of old, and feels very much like an old Sonic game, but there is some new stuff to keep it fresh and interesting. Even though the game is primarily 2-D, selected parts of the levels, Sonic, Blaze, and all the Robotnik bosses use the DS's simple 3-D capabilities to give the game it's own unique look. The 3-D parts of levels, are usually things you can interact with, and will bring the character really close to the screen. This could've been just 2-D, but Sega went the extra mile and made the game look exceptional. Also, you have fancy tricks you can pull off while in the air, which will fill up your tension bar. The tension bar is another new feature, and once it is filled, by performing tricks or beating bad guys, you can do a speed boost which is an invincibility of sorts. You can run straight into enemies without harm, though it you touch spikes, or fall into lava, or any other environmental hazard, that's it. This can get you out of some sticky situations, and gives the game that super speed feel. The game is very easy, and it won't take you long to rack up 99 lives, but this just makes the game less frustrating, and more fun in my opinion.
Another new feature, as mentioned before, is Blaze, a purple cat with fire powers. When she stumbles into our dimension, she is befriended by Cream, and they set off on their adventure. Blaze adds a little more life to the game, as you'll want to see what the heck she's doing here and her connection to the strange new bad guy, but her gameplay is not that different to Sonic, except that it's a bit slower, you play the levels in a different order, and you have different attacks. This is still fun though, and if you get sick of one character, you can switch for a while.
Another nice bit is the cutscenes. Of my few DS games, this is the first to have proper cutscenes. These are not common though, and only normally happen after every other boss, but when they do happen, it looks great, and if you can't hear the voices to well, there are subtitles. Despite this, there are still some parts in the game where it reverts to the simple speech bubble next to the picture method, but this is not much of an annoyance, and is probably for the best, as the cutscenes do take a little bit to load.
And finally, the other new feature is the updated boss fights. You still have to hit Robotnik's machine a few times, though the game goes into a sort of 2.5-D mode, where you can run on a track, but it goes around one central spot. The camera swings around appropriately, and is very well done compared to the camera in other Sonic games. The boss fights are fun, and even though through the DS's 3-D power has changed how the boss fights are presented, you still have the basic feel for the boss fights of the early 90's.
The sound is the kind of thing you'd expect from a handheld Sonic game, and is one of the things that brings it down. The voice clips in-game will become a little annoying after a while, and the music doesn't feel "fast" in some levels, if you know what I mean. This really brings the game down a notch, and hopefully they will have fixed it for Sonic Rush Adventure coming out September this year.
Sonic Rush is a great Sonic game, and is worth checking out for fans looking to indulge in nostalgia, or new DS owners, as it is a great first title.