Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing

[Adam Blue]

I know it's easy to talk shit about a Sonic game, let alone a Mario Kart clone - but the demo was fun. It is like they said, OutRun made into a battle-kart game (drifting). Despite some's reactions here before, it does work.

The graphics were pretty incredible for a family targeted Sonic racing game. The engine used for Unleashed was pretty amazing, so maybe that's what they're doing here. Unfortunately that meant some slow-down during some parts of the one track in the demo. It doesn't ruin the experience, but it's noticeable.

I know it's easier just to jump on the hate-train and hate on this, but don't miss out on a potential fun experience for you. Especially with others since it has 4-player split-screen.

[divinechaos]

There were some things that I didn't like but overall it was a lot more fun than I expected. I'll be getting it when it's as cheap as the Sonic Tennis game that game out.

[Adam Blue]

Just got the full game today. It is a lot of fun. I can't wait to do some multi-player.

[KamaItachi]

I really liked the demo, and this has been getting some very positive reviews. Sonic Tennis was a hell of a lot of fun local multiplayer and I can imagine this will be just the same. It's weird that I'm playing a sega game that really seems to capture a lot of the fun of their older arcade-ey-ness

At the moment I've just got too much on my plate to justify grabbing this now, but I'd really like to grab this in the near future.

[Adam Blue]

Okay, so I finally got to the demo level and the slow-down was not present. So, no slow down which is great to see a developer fix from the demo release. Although, it's bad for it to be in the demo.

I started with beginner, and by the 4th cup it gets tough. The level design gets tricky. There are also multiple 'things' to do within a race to make sure you stay on top. Get air for jumps and do tricks to earn boost, drift, and pay close attention....the game is very fast and may require a lot of last-minute thinking.

So far it's less about what item you have and more about your driving efficiency. The All-Star power-up will not get someone into first place, but it movies them up a bunch. And the AI is smart. It saved a power up to use on me when I was in mid air going over a gap. He followed me there, executing it which then sent me out of the map.

[Clark]

Do you think my daughter could play it? She's 4. She's quite good at Little Big Planet....

[Adam Blue]

Originally Posted by Clark

Do you think my daughter could play it? She's 4. She's quite good at Little Big Planet....

It can be tough... I'll be playing with a four year old tomorrow and I'll report back...after I make him write the second coming of axe cop.

[Adam Blue]

From Joystiq:

GameSpot (80/100): "Although the core of Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing is obviously pulled straight out of Mario Kart, this wacky racer can stand on its own four wheels. The tight controls and excellent track design ensure that head-to-head competition is always exciting, but it's so fun just to play around with these karts that it's easy to lose hours climbing the online leaderboards in Time Trial mode."

1UP (B): "Though it has some hiccups, unexciting party modes, and a questionable difficulty curve, All-Stars Racing is a respectable effort that makes a good kart racer at its core (and is at least much more cohesive than Sega Superstars Tennis)."

Nintendo Power (8/10): "It isn't quite the fan paradise it could have been, but it's a very good racer that makes great use of classic Sega franchises. We wouldn't mind a sequel with more franchises and tracks included."

IGN: (8/10): "It's pleasantly surprising to find out that the Nintendo Wii edition – apart from the lower resolution – gets similar treatment with close to the exact same features as the stronger hardware."

[Mike Kelehan]

Remember this was made by Sumo Digital, who made Outrun 2, which was fun.

[Ravenlock]

Those are solid scores. I played the 360 demo and found that there was really no way to even compete without constant drift boosting - even the strongest items weren't enough to rocket you to the top spots if you weren't hitting all your corners - and in general the AI seemed a little too aggressive to be fun to compete against (that may have been the way they were set for the demo, though, I don't remember seeing a difficulty slider). In Mario Kart, nonstop drifting is a way to get ahead of the pack; in this it's needed just to stay in contention.

Still, it's a well-crafted kart racer and I can see it being awesome in multiplayer.

[Adam Blue]

Originally Posted by Ravenlock

Those are solid scores. I played the 360 demo and found that there was really no way to even compete without constant drift boosting - even the strongest items weren't enough to rocket you to the top spots if you weren't hitting all your corners - and in general the AI seemed a little too aggressive to be fun to compete against (that may have been the way they were set for the demo, though, I don't remember seeing a difficulty slider). In Mario Kart, nonstop drifting is a way to get ahead of the pack; in this it's needed just to stay in contention.

Still, it's a well-crafted kart racer and I can see it being awesome in multiplayer.

Easy is easy. Even the staff ghosts don't drift. Drifting only works on corners. To drift any other time just slows you down, because you are essentially making the best of a turn in the road. So the whole Mario Kart drift boosting cannot happen here. Again, this game is pretty much Outrun 2. I found the demo to be more difficult, but I've only so far completed the Beginner Cup. There are two higher difficulties.

[Ravenlock]

That's good to hear. I'm a pretty experienced Mario Kart player, but I raced the demo race at least 6 times and only placed in the top 3 a couple of those, and never took 1st.

[Adam Blue]

Originally Posted by Ravenlock

That's good to hear. I'm a pretty experienced Mario Kart player, but I raced the demo race at least 6 times and only placed in the top 3 a couple of those, and never took 1st.

I found it to be tough too, but like Mario Kart, against the hardest racers I use to suck, then I would smoke them all.

[OldJadedGamer]

I think I'll pick this up today. I have $55 in EB credit from their 50% trade in deals and none of my friends are going to buy this so I won't be able to borrow it. Seems like the 360 version is the way to go with the extra character and use of the Avatars.

[Adam Blue]

Originally Posted by OldJadedGamer

I think I'll pick this up today. I have $55 in EB credit from their 50% trade in deals and none of my friends are going to buy this so I won't be able to borrow it. Seems like the 360 version is the way to go with the extra character and use of the Avatars.

Yeah...and I've been playing the crap out of it. There's a ton to do and it's done very good. There are 64 missions to do which add a lot of variety. It has a lot of multiplayer modes, but not as many options as I's like. It has Battle mode, capture the flag and hold the emerald type of thing among others. The arena maps are somewhat limited (though I haven't bought all the maps so maybe there's more to unlock), but there's already been talk about DLC which if priced right would be a great thing to get regularly.

Oh, and once you're friends see it they'll wanna stop by to do multiplayer. I mean the Wii is fun and all but this gave me more memories of N64 days.

For a Sega fan of the games, music, characters, etc, this game delivers above the gameplay.

[menage]

Mmm, I saw this for 30 Euro online somewhere. The cheapskate in me is going to wait until it drops some more, but it does seem quite nice.

Noy a must have though. I can see this being a weekends worth of fun.

[Adam Blue]

Originally Posted by menage

Mmm, I saw this for 30 Euro online somewhere. The cheapskate in me is going to wait until it drops some more, but it does seem quite nice.

Noy a must have though. I can see this being a weekends worth of fun.

It is. My gf's 4-rear old was over here and it's all we did. He never won a race but he was mesmerized by what was going on and that was good enough for him. Doing this earned me tons of Sega Miles that allow me to unlock stuff. Win/win.

[OldJadedGamer]

This game reminds me of the games that Sega first party would make back in the Dreamcast days.

[Adam Blue]

Originally Posted by OldJadedGamer

This game reminds me of the games that Sega first party would make back in the Dreamcast days.

Exactly. You can tell it's for Sega fans when one of the achievements requires you to play a track to each song you unlock.

Eurogamer's review is sad. I posted a critique of it on my site: http://www.bluegamer.net/2010/03/01/...racing-review/

Also, let me know if any of you have problems with any of the tracks. Some of them seem impossible at first, but eventually you can pass them perfectly.

For the start-boost: bikes, press the gas before 2 disappears. Big cars, before 3 disappears. Mid sized, right before or on two. I still don't know exactly.

Bikes can also do tricks by pressing up then down while drifting.

[Heretic Machine]

I've heard that it's a damn fun game, and if I had the cash to spare, I'd totally pick it up. Maybe a little ways down the line.