3/5 ★ – WoahItsFlug's review of Sonic Rush.

Sonic Rush is a fun pocket-sized game that introduced the boost formula very well before its translation to 3D. It's an underappreciated game in the series for sure, but it still has quite a few problems. First the good. As mentioned, the introduction of Blaze (although dubious in terms of canon) is a big plus and I like her little character arc she goes on here about learning to rely on others and not carry the world on her shoulders. It's pretty surface level and spelled out for the player (its a kids game after all), but it's nice and sorely missed in an era where these characters hardly ever learn or mature. This game created the boost formula, and even as someone who says Unleashed is his favorite game, the boost formula works better (in isolation) in 2D than it ever has in 3D. It feels like just the right balance of satisfying speed and flashy effects while not being a "hold x to win" button like in forces or too unwieldly like in Unleashed. This game also has a crazy underrated soundtrack. It's done in large part by Hideki Naganuma, composer of the Jet Set Radio soundtrack, and his style comes through here a lot. i don't love every track but I think most of them are winners. Back 2 Back even makes an appearance in generations with a great remix. This game still has a lot of problems though. For me, the biggest problem is its frankly terrible boss fights. With the exception of the final boss, they're all copy and pasted from one of 3 equally uninteresting templates, and range from absurdly easy and basic to drawn-out and unfair. They all have far too much health (they take 8 hits each, except the final one which in effect takes 12-16) and the timing on some of these is absurd. They're also the same between both campaigns, meaning you'll have to fight them at least wice if you go for 100%. Speaking of the two campaigns, the concept is very underutilized. Rather than just being able to switch between Sonic and Blaze, they have seperate campaigns. However, unlike in the Dreamcast era, these are not branching or converging storylines woth unique levels and stories. They're the exact same levels, played in slightly different orders, with the same exact story, just with minor changes made to fit the character you're playing as. Occasionally you'll get different dialogue or you'll see the other character's internal thoughts that you don't get to see in the other, but they are in effect the same game. The gameplay between the two is also almost the same, the only real difference being that Blaze has better control in the air and spins in a fire tornado rather than curling into a ball. By the time I realzed I was playing the same story twice, I was far enough in that I just sucked it up and played both. You do get a slightly more complete picture of the story by playing both, as well as an extra final chapter where you unlock Super Sonic, but it's easy to miss and to be honest isn't worth playing the game twice with minimal changes in my opinion.