![]() It’s an amalgam of stuff you’ve seen before, but rarely has any of it been executed quite so well. SEGA have managed to pilfer all the best bits from the kart racing genre and all the best bits from popular arcade racers and combine them into something that’s a bit like Forza Ridge Kart 9: Green Hill Zone, complete with a big robotic voice shouting it at you. Unlockable stickers for your ‘license’, which acts as a sort of boast-card to show off your skills, and cart-modding will keep you hammering through online opponents, and the unpredictability of every race will see it stay fresh. Arena mode is a tense and frustrating deathmatch-style explosion that leans too heavily on luck for success but, due to the smart design of the tracks, online racing can feel new each play. With only simple racing and an arena mode to choose from, you’re not exactly spoiled here. Speaking of online races, the game’s multiplayer hits the spot, but the diversity of the modes leaves a lot to be desired. Collectible coins can be used to unlock warp gates to new tracks and tournaments, as well as being completely wasted in one-armed bandits to try and grab yourself a tasty bonus before Grand Prix and online races. Each event will line your pockets with XP, rewarding you with mods to alter how your car handles. It’s not all one-note racing though, there are drift challenges, boost challenges and showdown races to max out your skills. With only a few to play with, we would’ve liked to see transformation-specific weaponry or at least a more varied selection. Unfortunately, we were a little underwhelmed by the supplied weaponry. ![]() It’s all packaged together well – it can be an overwhelming, yelpy attack on the sense at times, lacking the simple graphical finesse of some of those other kart racers, but the track-design is clever, with alternative routes and transformation points making even each lap a new experience. Particularly when you equip yourself with a catcher’s mitt that’ll make sure anything fired at you won’t halt your progress. ![]() You can be caught up, and you can be beaten, but it won’t feel unfair. Sky-tiger swarms and fireworks blasting your butt can cause a similar downfall, but there’s no inescapable ace-card to scupper your clear lead. While a newbie could skulk into first place by sheer luck of the draw in other games, there’s no magic shell that will hunt the player up ahead. Unlike other popular racers that we won’t name here ( Mario Kart and Diddy Kong Racing, look, there we did it), skill plays a fairly decent role in your success with the game. You can’t pick and choose when to transform, but you don’t necessarily always have to take the route that ushers in the change, allowing you to speed alongside boats and jets in your cart if you decide. The ability to cruise up and down ushers in more chances for your opponents to sneak past, and fewer ways to skewer them with your weaponry. And doing so adds an extra axis to the proceedings. Without missing a beat, your wave-defying sea-vehicle snaps into a jet and you’ll be flying off the edge of a waterfall. But, it’s the seamless transformations that make it all worthwhile. Don’t worry, you’ll equal such prickery by doing the same to them. Opponents will do whatever it takes to slow you down, including smashing you with blowfish and snowballs, or racing ahead with artificial boosts. An additional press of the A will fire weapons that you can collect from boxes dotted around the tracks ( any similarities to other kart games is purely coincidental). Speeding around the tracks is solid fun in a kart the controls are intuitive and simple relying on two basic buttons – RT for acceleration, LT for stop/drift. These transformations happen automatically based on the tracks themselves, but change the pace and handling of the game dramatically. Only, this time, your vehicle will transform from a humble speeding kart into water-skidding boats and cloud-ripping jets. ![]() And, by Christ, does it do it well! You’ll choose between a variety of SEGA characters (and bizarre inclusions like Disney’s Wreck-It Ralph) to scoot around tracks based on games from the company’s back catalogue, like Sonic The Hedgehog, Jet Set Radio, After Burner and Golden Axe. It’s an explosive, loud and brash arcade racer that focuses on adrenaline and underhanded tactics to prevail, with skill coming a close second. It’s impossible to talk about it without comparing it to other -ahem – popular kart games and the similarities aren’t exactly subtle.īut there’s nothing about Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed itself that’s subtle. It’s not a name that’ll roll off your tongue, but everything else about the sequel to Sonic & SEGA All Stars Racing is pretty smooth going.
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