ShadowXP and other Sonic fans
I said this in a post at the gamefaqs board earlier today I think so I'll just cut and paste that...
As far as I can tell you with Sonic Rush it's basically back to the basics with perks. Essentially the game has even a major throwback to the last of the Genesis greats. Once as Sonic you crack open that first act and boss it unlocks the newbie Blaze the Cat. From that point on when you power through that title screen you can play either person on their own set of levels which effectively gives you BOTH parts of the story from each sides desires and obstacles in the quest. Each one just like S&K on Genesis have their own very common control setups, but each have unique talents too which may make some places harder/easier for one or the other in a stage. As you progress you will come across (somehow) the bonus stages which is a beefy throwback to the classic Sonic halfpipe which is really nice of them as it was their best effort by far. That aside the usual point/time/etc rankings of points is back as always but now also you get a grade rank for a stage. I can't do better so far than B's and C's on stages but I've got some nice S ranks on the few bosses I've hit up so far.
I can say enough that the game will take some time to at the least finish with one or both the characters, but to master it with better ranks and get those emeralds for the real ending will add quite a few more hours to the ticker. The title is solid, and while it did take a bit of time to get used to Sonic/Blaze going between two screens I got to where it's just like one big panel for me now so don't worry if that will ruin your fun...it won't. In the A/V department the game is rock solid with the usual fare, but they mix in some nice 3D for the moving objects, characters, and entire boss fights (though fought on a 2D plane thankfully) and the audio is the usual sonic fare but now with some voice samplings too which are pretty nice on the ears.
I guess you can call this a vague preview of sorts as I don't want to burn any bridges with Sega or the rest, but rest assured the 'real' Sonic the Hedgehog is back...finally.