Curmudgeon Gamer
08 November 2007
Sonic Rush Adventure is Confused
Sonic Rush Adventure seems to have gathered itself a plethora of relatively encouraging review scores. I'm no mathematician, but I'm going to say that it gets about an 8/10 on average.
Which it sort of should, but mostly shouldn't.
It's actual levels are all fine. Running, jumping, smashing enemies open, it's all very Sonic. Classic Sonic, one might say. Let it be known at this point that I like Sonic, and I've played pretty much everything that Sega have churned out with his spiky blue face on the cover. Sure, most of them are utter guff, but that's besides the point.
I still don't understand why Sega feel a need to inject unnecessary peripheral garbage into the games. Sonic Rush had a nice balance, I thought. Enough story for Sega to congratulate themselves on creating something, but mostly just levels. Bosses were a bit of a bore, but you can't win them all and, thank god, at least it wasn't Sonic 360.
So, all well and good. Sega felt a need to create a sequel. First thing they did was add in another animal character for plot purposes. Nobody cares, Sega. Then they didn't get Hideki Naganuma to do the soundtrack, which is a shame. Then they put way too much focus on some drab stylus-based mini-game with a boat. Yawn.
I have to watch about ten minutes of cut-scenes before I can play some of the fun levels. Then I need to plot out routes with the stylus. I get why they're doing it; they're trying to justify the “Adventure” suffix they've slapped onto the game. Well, Sega, Phantom Hourglass has got that area covered. There's my adventure. I want some platform game, okay?
I feel a need to re-emphasise that the platforming part of Sonic Rush Adventure is great. But that's it.
Sega's problem with Sonic is that they fail to stick with one idea. Nintendo are very aware of Mario and, as such, games like New Super Mario Bros and Mario Galaxy are very polished, refined games that stick to the platforming. The Mario Party series has lots of mini-games. The RPG series caters for a more adventurous slant. Granted, we end up with a lot of Mario games, but at least they're not a confused mish-mash of wannabe genres like Sonic Rush Adventure.
Which it sort of should, but mostly shouldn't.
It's actual levels are all fine. Running, jumping, smashing enemies open, it's all very Sonic. Classic Sonic, one might say. Let it be known at this point that I like Sonic, and I've played pretty much everything that Sega have churned out with his spiky blue face on the cover. Sure, most of them are utter guff, but that's besides the point.
I still don't understand why Sega feel a need to inject unnecessary peripheral garbage into the games. Sonic Rush had a nice balance, I thought. Enough story for Sega to congratulate themselves on creating something, but mostly just levels. Bosses were a bit of a bore, but you can't win them all and, thank god, at least it wasn't Sonic 360.
So, all well and good. Sega felt a need to create a sequel. First thing they did was add in another animal character for plot purposes. Nobody cares, Sega. Then they didn't get Hideki Naganuma to do the soundtrack, which is a shame. Then they put way too much focus on some drab stylus-based mini-game with a boat. Yawn.
I have to watch about ten minutes of cut-scenes before I can play some of the fun levels. Then I need to plot out routes with the stylus. I get why they're doing it; they're trying to justify the “Adventure” suffix they've slapped onto the game. Well, Sega, Phantom Hourglass has got that area covered. There's my adventure. I want some platform game, okay?
I feel a need to re-emphasise that the platforming part of Sonic Rush Adventure is great. But that's it.
Sega's problem with Sonic is that they fail to stick with one idea. Nintendo are very aware of Mario and, as such, games like New Super Mario Bros and Mario Galaxy are very polished, refined games that stick to the platforming. The Mario Party series has lots of mini-games. The RPG series caters for a more adventurous slant. Granted, we end up with a lot of Mario games, but at least they're not a confused mish-mash of wannabe genres like Sonic Rush Adventure.
--Martin at 16:22
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