Mario Kart has been an extremely popular series for quite some time, hitting originally on the SNES and almost every Nintendo Platform since. Thanks to its family appealing nature it spawned a popular genre with other kart racing titles such as Crash Team Racing mimicking the series’ style. Sonic and Sega All Stars Racing is the next installment of this addictive and compelling kart racing genre, but it may be too little too late.
So what makes Sonic & Sega All Stars Racing different from the 1999 classic Crash Team Racing or Mario Kart for that matter? Well the answer is drifting! SEGA have implemented a very simple but effective drift system, which with a touch of a button (LT) your car will start to drift, building up a turbo charge which boosts your speed after the drift is over ( you release LT ). As a result this obviously makes you try and drift as much as possible - this could make the game more enjoyable or just plain repetitive, it really is just down to personal preference. However that said, the games design is entirely focused on the drifting mechanic, it's quite simply the only way to be successful.
Drifting being the main feature of the game can mean one of two things; you will find the tracks extremely easy to pass resulting in them getting dull after a while, or you will find them frustratingly hard as you cannot get the hang of the drift feature, and therefore end up crashing into the side countless times. This could be down to player skill, but some tracks on the game seem near impossible to get a perfect drift round a corner and thereby getting the quickest possible lap time is also near impossible. A few examples of these are; Sonic's tracks are extremely wide and easy to drift round, whereas Monkey Ball’s consist of short tight angles which require quick exchanging of drifts causing them to be downright frustrating.
What you see in the races are pretty much standard to what you have seen from all other games of this genre - using powerups such as the green boxing gloves and red missiles to attack your opponents, or traffic cones which will stop your enemies in their tracks. Every character has their own ‘all-star move’ which allows them extra speed, power and the ability to ram and take out other racers. You can also get speed boosts by revving your engine at the right time when the race is about to begin, or by driving over the purple speed pads. All of these features feel like we've seen them all before and sadly nothing has been done to improve them.
There are three main game-modes to Sonic & SEGA All Stars Racing; Grand Prix, Time Trial & Missions. A Grand Prix consists of 4 races, as you progress down it you’ll end up racing on new tracks. There are three difficulty levels for the grand prix; Beginner, Advanced & Expert, these make the competition harder however the tracks stay the same. Time Trials have all the tracks in the game including the ones you have unlocked via the SEGA Store. You’ll be given your best's Ghost, a staff’s best ghost and a world’s best ghost, it also has a Live leaderboard system which is a nice touch. Lastly the missions are a little different, they give you challenges like chases, battles and knockout races - these seem interesting at first, but as you progress through the 64 missions you’ll find them to be very repetitive. They do throw in odd innovative missions but these fail to grab your attention as intended.
Multiplayer is very simple, but can be alot of fun. You can go against up to seven other racers online or four player co-op split-screen. The options are very limited when hosting, such as being able to change the track and number of laps, but disappointingly leave nothing else really to fiddle with. You can only do standard races which certainly hold the online portion back. SEGA have definitely let a major opportunity slip, as different online modes could have been a ton of fun!
Through playing the game you’ll be earning ‘SEGA Miles’ for all of your troubles - the games currency, which you can then go into the SEGA shop and spend your points for additional racers, tracks and music. This is a nice touch and helps to encourage the player to want to play more, gaining access to the additional tracks and even to get the achievements!
Overall the game is a lot of fun especially when played with friends, but sadly there is no real lasting appeal. SEGA fans will enjoy it, getting a buzz out of using all of the famous characters. However with a more robust online portion, the game could have been so much more. Sonic & SEGA All Stars Racing is a fairly well done kart game, but it feels as if it’s all been done before due to a lack of innovation over what we have seen previously from the genre.
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