Sonic & Sega All-Stars RACING

When I first heard about this game at E3 2009 my first reaction was what on earth were they thinking. Unfortunately there were so many games at E3 to look at that I simply did not give “Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing” the time of day and simply ignored it. Now that the game has recently been released I can say that I regret not playing it at E3 simply because this is one of the best Kart-Racing Games I have ever played on any console… ever!

Developer SUMO Digital have taken the best parts of games like Mario Kart, Diddy Kong Racing and even Viva Pinata – Party Animals and thrown in all the classic SEGA characters we all love and grew up with like Sonic, Tails, AiAi, Amigo, Billy Hatcher and exclusively on the Xbox 360 are Banjo & Kazooie and even your Xbox Live Avatar. Each character has their own pimped out ride being a car, monster truck, bike, aeroplane and more. To top this all off they each have a specific All Star Move that they can pull off during each race.

If you have played any racing game before you will be right at home. It’s pretty simple and we have seen it many times before. But what makes All-Star Racing unique is the presentation, sound, easy controls and that it is surprisingly a lot of FUN. During each race there will be several Items and Weapons that you collect throughout the course. There’s the High Speed Shoe, Rocket, Mine, Shield and my favourite the Pocket Rainbow. Some weapons can even be launched backwards which requires some skill to master. The “All-Star Items” are actually very useful and always rewarding when activated. For example Banjo & Kazooie will wave Mumbo’s magical Wrench, which will cause Golden Jiggies to crash down from the sky. The most technical thing to learn about the game is mastering the drift, as this is the best way to get extra boosts and make your way through some very tight turns. Finally you can gain extra boosts by performing mid air ticks which requires the right timing to pull off correctly.

The graphics in All-Star Racing are absolutely outstanding and all running in High Definition. There are some amazing tracks based on games like House of the Dead, Samba De Amigo and obviously Sonic the Hedgehog. All have lot of variety and never get boring and even have some very well placed shortcuts. This is a perfect example of what a fun kart-racing game should look like as everything has so much depth and detail to it. Even the character animations are fantastic to watch and feel very real. The only negative would be that every now and then there are framerate issues. This does not ruin the overall gameplay experience but it is noticeable and possibly could be fixed with an update.

The sound is also top notch with the vehicles, weapons, characters and music all very well put together. If you have a good surround sound system then you will appreciate the amount of work that has been put into everything. Even the Commentary is done very well and reacts to the way that you play during each race. Personally I would have like to have had even more music tracks to choose from and unlock. That being said the collection that is available will not get old or repetitive and you can always enjoy the game with your own MP3 collection.

The best key features are the inclusion of Banjo & Kazooie and of course your Xbox Live Avatars making this game the closest thing we have to the not yet released “Joy Ride” for XBLA. Surprisingly both fit really well in this game and look fantastic. The fact that there are so many familiar and some not so familiar characters (22 in total) from Sega’s entire history is great to see in the one game.

The “Missions” Campaign has a lot of depth with each of the many missions having very specific goals in mind. You are then ranked from E to AAA after completion. The Multiplayer is very well thought out and offers everything that you would expect from any big budget racing title. You can play via Xbox Live with up to 7 players from around the globe. For those of you not connected to Xbox Live you will be happy to know that the game supports 4 Player Split-Screen.

At the end of the day SONIC & SEGA All-Stars Racing is an absolute pleasure to play with its simple controls, awesome track designs and hours of replayability. This game can be enjoyed by all ages whether you enjoy using the Xbox 360 controller or the Steering Wheel. Since the release of the Xbox 360 console there has not been a game like this at all that offers so much fun and variety and addictive gameplay. If you are a fan of Kart Racing then you must buy this game.

Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing – Game Detail Page