[Draugen]

Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing



General information:
Year of release: 2010
Available control type(s): Wii Wheel, Wiimote + Nunchuck, Classic Controller
Developed by: Sumo Digital
Published by: SEGA

When the kart racing genre as we know it was created by Super Mario Kart, cheap rip-offs were inevitable. The large amounts of success generated by Nintendo's mascot racer didn't just see the birth of a new genre, but the birth of a new milking cow. How hard could it be to cram some of your company's most well known mascots in a car and let them drive through courses designed after the games they originate from? This misconception spawned heaps of boring, uninspired, broken copycats trying to cash in on the appeal of their games' characters, as they didn't realise that creating a worthwhile kart racing experience is surprisingly tricky.

Over the years, though, a few rare gems managed to emulate or even elevate the quality of the Mario Kart series. Diddy Kong Racing was the first to beat Mario Kart at its own game. With an adventure mode, vastly superior controls, unlockables and the possibility to race in planes and hovercraft, Diddy Kong Racing managed to outrun Mario Kart 64 rather convincingly. A year later, the Playstation-exclusive Crash Team Racing was the second kart racing game to give Mario Kart a run for its money, despite it being a shameless copy of its 2 aforementioned competitors in terms of presentation ang gameplay. In the following generation, Mario Kart: Double Dash had to face some stiff competition from Crash Nitro Kart. The multiplatform sequel to Crash Team Racing was a surprisingly solid title that proved to be more durable than its rival. When Nintendo offered the most broad and complete version of the series with Mario Kart Wii, it seemed unlikely that any competitor would lap Mario in his own race. The brand new game Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing, however, does a very respectable attempt to outclass it, offering Mario Kart the fiercest competition it has had in years.

In Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing, Sonic and his colleagues jump behind the steering wheel and compete eachother in 24 different tracks carrying themes from various Sega properties such as Sonic, Monkeyball, and Billy Hatcher. One can't help but notice, however, the dominant presence of Sonic characters: 7 out of the 21 playable characters originate from the Sonic series. You'll also notice that this game is called 'Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing', like they wanted to go for a Sega racing game, but realised along the way that they didn't have enough recognisable characters to fill the roster with, installed some more Sonic characters in karts and put said hedgehog's name in the title. Of course there's characters such as Billy Hatcher, AiAi, and Amigo, but all of them are still relatively obscure compared to Sonic. Moreover, the vastly differing nature of the characters (just compare Shenmue's Ryo Hazuki to the cartoony Amy Rose) makes the roster feel a bit unbalanced from a cosmetic point of view. Luckily, though, this doesn't influence the gameplay itself.


You can race as your Mii as well, which means that you'll probably be facing Adolf Hitlers and Darth Vaders again online.

The amount of detail that went into the design of the characters and their vehicles can be noticed in the rest of the game as well, from the slick menus right down to the gameplay itself. The racing itself is as fast-paced as you would expect from a game featuring Sonic. Powersliding is relatively easy, and works in roughly the same way as the Crash kart games. The controls themselves are responsive and solid, with the some ambiguity between air tricks and sliding (both of which are triggered by the Wiimote's B button) being the only occasional problem. The Wii version comes with a free wheel, but it's also possible to control your kart with the nunchuck or the classic controller. Each control method works as fine as the others. The wheel does take a bit longer to get used to, although in Sonic Racing this control method is still easier to master than in Mario Kart Wii, due to the more arcade-like and straightforward nature of the gameplay.

The slick and easy controls are very much suited for the tracks, which are all equally chaotic. The courses are based on familiar and less familiar places from the Sega universe, and are creatively designed, though the heavy influences from Mario Kart Wii tend to be rather obvious at times. Most of the roads are quite broad, leaving you with enough room to slide pretty much constantly. The fast-paced nature of the gameplay makes the entire affair exciting and addicting. Every race is different, and you'll spend a lot of time trying to perfectionise your lap times in the worthwhile time trials. The tracks are all very varied, well-designed and original. Especially courses that appear in the last few cups, such as Monkey Target, Zero Highway, and Rokkaku Hill are truly unique.


The courses are original and challenging, which means half of the people you'll face online will probably fail on the more difficult tracks.

The best way to explore the tracks, though, is playing the grand prix mode, in which you compete against 7 computer-controlled contestants in a series of 4 races. It can be played in 3 different difficulty settings, but like with the rest of the game, they don't pose much of a challenge. When there aren't any friends around to play with, you can resort to other modes, such as time trial, single race, and a mission mode that consists of 64 different situational races. On top of that, there's an achievement system which lets you do some special tasks, such as finishing a race without colliding, or hitting three enemies with one weapon.

Then there's the online feature, which is simple but effective. The friend code system is still there obviously, and of course you can also race against random players from all over the world. The options are rather limited (there's no possibility to race in teams, for example), but the online experience is solid enough to keep you busy for hours at a time, although it can be difficult to find a decent host room at times.

From a technical point of view, Sonic Racing is not as polished as the rest of the game. On the Wii version, the graphics are utterly disappointing. Given, all of the tracks are incredibly detailed, but the blurred structures and sloppy backgrounds are just plain unnecessary. Even judging by Gamecube standards, the graphics would've been subpar. F-Zero GX, which had similarly detailed backgrounds and comparable artistic design (and was developed by Sega, by the bye), has much better graphics than Sonic Racing, and considering there's a 7-year gap between the 2 games, this is kind of embarassing.


Both F-Zero GX and Double Dash look better than this.

Luckily, the music is mostly interesting, though not overly impressive. The same basically goes for the voice acting, which seems to be intentionally over-the-top and cheesy at times, as proven by the commentator that enthusiastically describes the action on screen, as if it were a television broadcast. The commentary can be turned off in the audio settings, so those of you who are annoyed by such things, won't have to avoid the game because of it.

With a variety of modes, options, and unlockable content, Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing is a great alternative to Mario Kart Wii. Although the online mode is still a bit simple, and some areas could use a bit more polishing, Sega's new karting title is very solid, addicting, and just plain fun. You'll spend many hours on improving your times, unlocking new racers, tracks, and music, winning all cups, completing the challenges and achievements, and competing online. Both Sega fanatics and Mario Kart addicts will rejoice as the blue hedgehog regains some of his credibility in this smashing title.

Report Card:



Visuals: 6.5/10
The artistic design is worthwhile, but the graphics are quite embarassing for a Wii title. If this grade were only for graphics, a 5 would've been on the high side.

Sound: 8/10
Over-the-top voice acting and respectable music make this title a pleasure to your ears.

Gameplay: 9.5/10
Solid, responsive controls, lots of different game modes, and exciting, fast-paced races make this game a real winner.

Lifespan: 10/10
The content is overwhelming. With challenges, an achievement system, online gameplay, tons of unlockables, and addicting gameplay, this game will simply eat away hours at a time. If you don't have the possibility to go online, take a point off the score.

Pros & Cons
+ Fluid controls make for a refreshing racing experience
+ Great track design
+ Tons of content
+ Nice artistic design
+ Enjoyable online mode
- ...which lacks depth
- Bad graphics

Score:
90%