Sonic Rush

I was going to write about Mafia 2 today but I have to share the agony that Sonic Rush has been causing me.

The main reason I cannot play this game effectively is that when Sonic is in full flight I don't have time to react to whatever appears on the edge of the screen and Sonic is often knocked back, dropping his rings, and I'm left feeling hard done by.

I was caused particular pain today by the Water Palace section of this game.  Sometimes Sonic is underwater during the two Acts of this Zone and if he does not surface quickly enough he will drown.

Sonic on a moving platform in the hated (by me) Water Palace section.

The were several particular parts of the Zone that were frustrating but the very last part of Act 2 was the worst;  it was only made more annoying by the distinct sense that I was very close to the end, though I didn't know for sure that I was.

There was a series of five consecutive platforms to bounce across, all of which disappeared into deep water, leaving Sonic stranded and certain to die, about half a second after being landed on.  The last two of them were quite narrow so both precision and skill were required, and I am capable of neither.

It was possible to pause extremely briefly on each platform and I think that this was my downfall.  After each jump I would want to make sure that Sonic was where I wanted him to be and collect myself for the next one.  The problem was that after the last Sonic needed to jump both across and up and with no ongoing momentum this was impossible to achieve.  The last three platforms were all at the same height so on numerous occasions I tried using Super Boost to rush forwards from the third last then hitting jump in the hope that Sonic would get enough height.  Whether I timed it correctly would obviously be in the lap of the Gods.  The Gods were apparently in a bad mood with me because on the million occasions I tried this it did not come off once.

One plus was that I had eventually discovered that in this last section there was an extra life box so I could try this bit ad infinitum without having to repeatedly replay all of Acts 1 and 2; though I had done this plenty of times before the discovery.

Eventually I just bounced along the five platforms quickly and was astonished to find myself landing on the other side.  I hadn't planned trying to do this  - it was almost absent minded.  As I had suspected it was a short, featureless run to the end from there.  Thank God I got the Boss Battle first time, though I was on my last life and in possession of one ring (to rule them all) when I did it.

Like an idiot, and despite the pain in my left thumb, I am now going to try Zone 3, Mirage Road.

I started playing this game in the cafe at the supermarket to kill 20 minutes.  It looks like being my whole evening.