Sonic Rush

Sonic Rush is my favorite Sonic game. I recently returned to it to replay through the story and to S rank all the stages and I loved the challenge of reacting to the fast paced platforming and obstacles to maximize my speed and complete the levels as fast as possible. Achieving all the S ranks was extremely rewarding and some of the most fun I've ever had with a Sonic game, the differing gameplay styles of Sonic and Blaze with Sonic's midair dash kick and Blaze's more vertical movement abilities are addicting each in their own way. The story itself is simple and to the point and introduces my favorite sonic character, Blaze the Cat, to the series masterfully. Blaze's arc, while short, is endearing and her learning to accept help due to Sonic's carefree nature and the support of his friends. The game's soundtrack by Hideki Naganuma is also a masterpiece of it's own right with some of my favorite tracks from the whole series such as What U Need, A New Day, Bomber Barbara and Vela-Nova just to name a few. In addition Blaze's stages have their own unique mixes of the level themes created with the assistance of Teruhiko Nakagawa which gives a little more uniqueness to her side of the story campaign.