After falling for Sonic Rush I intended to pursue its lineage through Rush Adventure and Colours DS, before finishing at Generations 3DS as the final evolution of the formula under Dimps. I had to move the schedule up though, for the Streetpass opportunities that my trip to Japan afforded me. Consequently I played through the 3DS version while over there, then followed it with the console version when I got back.
But enough boring preamble. The console version (hereafter referred to as White, as per its Japanese subtitle) showed me that 3D Sonic has a long way to go to win me over, even if the game itself had some advantages over its portable (or Blue) counterpart. I find Classic Sonic as represented in these games and in my dalliances with the actual Mega Drive instalments to be sluggish and frustrating, whereas the 3D gameplay on offer in White Modern was wild and slippery. The Rush games (including Blue Modern) seem to exist in a creamy, delicious middle ground, and while I got by well enough with the other extremes, I struggle to really love them.
That’s not to say I didn’t have a good time here. What I really wanted was a retrospective (and for me, introduction) to the breadth of history in the series, and for that it does a good job representing and re-interpreting “iconic” stages and setpieces from the main series of games. Often there’s also the novelty value of classic-style gameplay in new stage environments, and vice versa. I especially appreciated how both versions of the game have mostly unique content, even when pulling from the same source game (for example, White having Chemical Plant from 2 while Blue has Casino Night). All the boss fights are completely different too, and Blue’s newest era includes Rush as opposed to White’s Unleashed and 06.
The plot’s a decent excuse for this retrospective although the exposition is awkwardly contrived, not that it matters. In these matters White fares much better with its fully voiced and animated cutscenes, involvement from secondary characters, and the explorable hub world that reinforces the limbo-like void setting.
Playing through the main story is broken up by extra Missions; in White it’s mandatory to do some of these to unlock boss fights, while in Blue they are entirely optional and unlock after arbitrary milestones including story progression, Streetpassing, multiplayer play, etc., or by spending Play Coins. There’s less missions in White but the tasks are more varied, and sometimes involve Sonic’s friends helping out in their own ways which is a marvellous idea. Missions in general are a great way to elongate your game experience and encourage replayability, and they also unlock gallery gubbins. Blue has a wider selection of music, and its art gallery skews towards promotional artworks, while White has more concept sketches and such; I didn’t get them all though due to Blue’s annoyingly inscrutable (or Play Coin-steep) unlock system, and half of White’s being tied to Red Star Ring collectibles in the levels—which are a nice addition but tedious to gather completely.
One other feature White holds over Blue (apart from the neat but unnecessary unlockable ability to play Sonic 1) is its Skill Shop. Here you can spend points earned in Missions to acquire a set of passive skills to equip to each of Classic and Modern Sonic’s loadouts. It’s largely superfluous, and too fiddly to change for it to be useful. Oh well. In its place—and especially I think to make up for the lack of the progressive unlocks of elemental shields for Classic Sonic—Blue has Classic Sonic learn a mini version of the homing attack halfway through the story, which I appreciated as it’s just a straight upgrade that makes his sections a little more accessible.
On the whole I appreciated the spectacle of White, its polarity between Classic and Modern, the more interesting Mission structure, and the interactions with the wider Sonic cast (especially my main cat Blaze). But I had more fun playing Blue, even if the presentation is flat, its Mission progression is kind of a bust and Streetpass a dying feature… largely due to the solid, fast-paced but accessible 2D Rush gameplay. I also figured out a momentum exploit for Classic Sonic that made some of his levels more enjoyable too. Most of all I love that the two games can exist side by side and not step on each other’s toes too much. Chilli dogs and stuff!