Sonic Rush Adventure awaits DS owners
There's no big hurry: this sequel is not out until later this year
Last week we heard that Sonic is cosying up to Mario in an historic Olympic-themed love-in. But Sonic Rush Adventure looks like taking the Nintendo-Sega romance even further, at least if imitation is the sincerest form of, erm, copping off with.
Sonic Rush Adventure, the sequel to last year's underwhelming DS debut for Sega's spiky hedgehog, will set the company's blue mascot navigating the seas in search of treasure and fighting off pirates. Sort of like Nintendo's upcoming The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, we mischievously wonder?
Well, not really. Sure, there's ship-to-ship voyaging and battling promised. You'll get to control a fleet of up to five varied craft, including a submarine, water bike and hovercraft – managed via the stylus, naturally – that you'll send out across the ocean to search for rings, pull off tricks, and sink scurvy brigands in hedgehog-versus-buccaneer battling.
But just as Link turns to his typical RPG-ing once on dry land in the Phantom Hourglass, when Sonic's not sailing his platform-orientated 2D racing, looping and diving rises again. In your search for clues to the pirates' lairs you'll get to bounce, fly, swing, ride and run through seven levels including forests, a ghost ship, the inevitably snowy mountains, pirate villages, and a vast underwater sea cave.
Enemies will include skeleton warriors, pterodactyls and a robotic triceratops. Each level will end with a dual-screened 3D boss, with the game culminating in a showdown with evil boss Captain Whisker. (Eight out of ten Sonic fans will be looking forward to that one.)
Download Play and support for the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection rounds off the package, enabling you to compete with friends in wireless racing and mission-based battles, with the latter presumably including a bit of multiplayer warfare on the high seas.
Developed by Sega Studios, Sonic Rush Adventure will be available this autumn. X – or rather 'Track It!' – marks the spot to click to get more news on the game when we do.