Why 2D will never die

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Flat gameplay shines on, even on next-gen machines

Sonic Rush (DS)

Sonic's first good game in ages stepped away from his disappointing 3D outings and returned to his 2D roots on DS in 2005. Sonic himself was drawn in 3D allowing for smooth rotation in all directions and the true 3D bonus stages gave us the sort of pipe runs we imagined we were seeing in 1992. But the core game was nothing of the sort.

Playing a lot like Sonic 2, but brought up to date with some cool special moves and point-scoring special skills, Sonic Rush is another game that shows some ideas simply work better in two dimensions. We'd love to see a next-gen side-scrolling Sonic. He could occasionally run into the screen for variety - that would be cool - but Sonic's always been best when he's curled up in a ball and travelling right very fast. It wouldn't be a step backwards - given the current market conditions, a 2D Sonic game would be a breath of fresh air. With Sonic Team currently looking closely at the blue hog's future, such a sideways leap is not out of the question.

Justin Towell
Justin Towell

Justin was a GamesRadar staffer for 10 years but is now a freelancer, musician and videographer. He's big on retro, Sega and racing games (especially retro Sega racing games) and currently also writes for Play Magazine, Traxion.gg, PC Gamer and TopTenReviews, as well as running his own YouTube channel. Having learned to love all platforms equally after Sega left the hardware industry (sniff), his favourite games include Christmas NiGHTS into Dreams, Zelda BotW, Sea of Thieves, Sega Rally Championship and Treasure Island Dizzy.