Hands-on Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed

Listening to Sega’s PR-spiel about its absurdly long-titled Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed, it’s abundantly clear that they want to emphasise this is NOT a Mario Kart game. After introducing some of the new characters, including Wreck-it Ralph from the much anticipated Disney movie of the same name, the new weapons are discussed.

The balance of these weapons is the focus, and Mario Kart’s infamous Blue Shell gets a special mention, its unfairness being something Sega didn’t want to burden its fans with.

After spending some time with the game, it’s hard to see why Sega has such a Mario-sized monkey on its back. Mario Kart will always be the pinnacle of kart racers, of which no game has come close to matching, but Sega has what is already a pretty well-established series, and this new entry looks like it could be another fine entry, if a little chaotic.

The racing now takes place on air, sea and land, with race cars transforming into planes and speedboats at different points of the track. Sumo has taken advantage of the new transform mechanic by adding great creativity to the racetracks, which change with each lap. It helps that the game’s a beauty too. The bright and colourful scenery means the game is both a joy to play and watch.

When the race hits the water, it tends to slow down quite considerably, which makes the race feel a little disjointed. The track also opens up, leaving racers to choose from multiple different routes to navigate through and get back to land. This takes away from the frantic action on the road, there were many times I was unsure what position I was in because of how open the course was. The air-racing is much better, with a clear sense of direction and a much smoother speed, though it is still slower than the track racing.

The AI felt challenging and aggressive. I never experienced sling-shot moments (another issue Mario Kart is notorious for), and constantly felt like I had to earn a victory. The well balanced difficulty settings means any player can jump in and still have a good time, and the option to take your local four-player split-screen play online with other players is a real bonus.

I also got the chance to try the Wii U version, which uses the GamePad’s screen as a live mini map of the events on-track. You can follow the position of every other racer via the screen, as well as keep an eye on any weapons you or your opponents throw.

By holding the GamePad in front of you, a rear-view mirror will appear on the top half of the GamePad, giving you the useful option to check who’s behind you without having to change the camera angle on the main screen. But the best function was probably the small “reaction cam” that appears on the bottom-right of the screen after you hit enemies with weapons, allowing you to see the effect it had. The problem is, the racing requires so much concentration, I rarely found myself glancing down to the second screen, and the times I did often left me crashing into a wall or being pummelled by projectiles.

Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed is great fun. Is it better than Mario Kart? No, but it doesn’t need to be. It separates itself from the pack sufficiently enough, and gives you that “one more race” feel that it needs. With Sonic All-Stars being a day one release for the Wii U, and no sign of a Mario Kart game coming in the near future, it stands as the perfect game for kart racing fans picking up their sparkly new Wii U.

Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed will be relased in the UK on 16th November for PlayStation Vita, Nintendo 3DS, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC.