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IGN Review of Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing
Character racers have been a staple of the videogame industry ever since Nintendo pretty much created the genre with Super Mario Kart. Many publishers and developers have attempted to imagine the kart racing design with their own style and intellectual properties, but to this day Nintendo continues to hold the crown for the kart racer. But Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing gives Mario Kart a run for its money with a design that has a lot of depth and tons of single and multiplayer features.
There's absolutely no question that Sumo Digital looked at Mario Kart Wii, as nearly every part of All-Stars Racing is nicked from Nintendo's design. I say that with all due respect: if you're put to the task of building a racing game that revolves around a company's franchises, you're going to benefit from looking at the one game that's considered the best in its class. And SEGA's game may not have too much it can claim as "original" to the franchise, what the developer does in All-Stars Racing it does it very well, turning a "me-too" project into a tightly developed racer with a lot of charm and character of its own.
Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing has no back-story nor does it put into context why characters from all walks of SEGA life – from Sonic the Hedgehog to Shenmue to Chu Chu Rocket – decided to have a race through environments based around the games they star in. It doesn't need it: just like Nintendo's Super Smash Bros., All-Stars Racing is a celebration of all things the company represents. There are very, very few publishers in the videogame industry that can get away with designing a game around a legacy of recognizable franchises and characters across multiple decades. And it never feels like egotistical back-patting here, either.
I wouldn't say that that SEGA's racer is as in-depth to the company as Nintendo's fighter: as plentiful as the roster of characters and courses are in All-Stars Racing, the developer had to draw the line somewhere. Games like Golden Axe, Altered Beast, and Streets of Rage don't get any representation outside of a mere mention in the game's Achievement system (Golden Acts is one of the game's reward goals, for example), and fans of SEGA games like Zaxxon and Virtua Cop won't see any references at all.
But even with certain unfortunate omissions, it's great to drive around tracks based around Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg with Alex Kidd or the Fantasy Zone ship, so there's at least some obscure references integral to the Sonic & SEGA All-Star Racing design.
The driving control is tight, the action's fast, and the tracks are a lot of fun with some great designs. Breaking down the specifics of All-Stars Racing's gameplay would be like pulling out the Mario Kart design document. The powersliding technique, where you'll get a jolt of speed the longer you hold your drift, is nearly identical to Mario Kart Wii, and nearly a hundred percent of the offensive and defensive weapons you pick up in this game have a Mario Kart equivalent: instead of turtle shells it's boxing gloves and rockets; instead of boosting mushrooms it's Sonic's sneakers. Banana peels? Nah, in All-Stars Racing they're traffic cones.
The console versions of Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing are on equal footing with identical designs. The Nintendo DS version was clearly developed by a different team at Sumo Digital, but it still keeps with much of what was done on the Xbox 360, PS3, and Wii versions. The DS version has a similar roster of racers and track designs, but a few changes were made in the move to the portable version. The controls are the same but the car behavior and handling is slightly altered, with the drifting mechanic feeling a bit more "slippery" than it does on the console. It's not bad, it's just different.
I'm actually kind of glad that the DS version plays not like a clone of the console version – it's nice that the handheld gamers get their own take on the SEGA kart racer. The DS game looks great – in fact, it's running at a smoother framerate than the console version does. The strategies to fight off opponents is a little weaker on the DS as you have very little time to react to an alert before you're nailed by a rocket.
The multiplayer focus is here too, but it's really made for local players with their own copy of the cartridge. Single cart is restricted to two players and a single race before killing the connection, and the online multiplayer over the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection is oddly supported with a hugely restrictive track list and, at least in my playtime, huge pockets of lag. The full multiplayer support – which includes Battle Mode – is only available when you link up local systems with multiple cartridges.
©2010-02-23, IGN Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved
There's absolutely no question that Sumo Digital looked at Mario Kart Wii, as nearly every part of All-Stars Racing is nicked from Nintendo's design. I say that with all due respect: if you're put to the task of building a racing game that revolves around a company's franchises, you're going to benefit from looking at the one game that's considered the best in its class. And SEGA's game may not have too much it can claim as "original" to the franchise, what the developer does in All-Stars Racing it does it very well, turning a "me-too" project into a tightly developed racer with a lot of charm and character of its own.
Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing has no back-story nor does it put into context why characters from all walks of SEGA life – from Sonic the Hedgehog to Shenmue to Chu Chu Rocket – decided to have a race through environments based around the games they star in. It doesn't need it: just like Nintendo's Super Smash Bros., All-Stars Racing is a celebration of all things the company represents. There are very, very few publishers in the videogame industry that can get away with designing a game around a legacy of recognizable franchises and characters across multiple decades. And it never feels like egotistical back-patting here, either.
I wouldn't say that that SEGA's racer is as in-depth to the company as Nintendo's fighter: as plentiful as the roster of characters and courses are in All-Stars Racing, the developer had to draw the line somewhere. Games like Golden Axe, Altered Beast, and Streets of Rage don't get any representation outside of a mere mention in the game's Achievement system (Golden Acts is one of the game's reward goals, for example), and fans of SEGA games like Zaxxon and Virtua Cop won't see any references at all.
But even with certain unfortunate omissions, it's great to drive around tracks based around Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg with Alex Kidd or the Fantasy Zone ship, so there's at least some obscure references integral to the Sonic & SEGA All-Star Racing design.
The driving control is tight, the action's fast, and the tracks are a lot of fun with some great designs. Breaking down the specifics of All-Stars Racing's gameplay would be like pulling out the Mario Kart design document. The powersliding technique, where you'll get a jolt of speed the longer you hold your drift, is nearly identical to Mario Kart Wii, and nearly a hundred percent of the offensive and defensive weapons you pick up in this game have a Mario Kart equivalent: instead of turtle shells it's boxing gloves and rockets; instead of boosting mushrooms it's Sonic's sneakers. Banana peels? Nah, in All-Stars Racing they're traffic cones.
The console versions of Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing are on equal footing with identical designs. The Nintendo DS version was clearly developed by a different team at Sumo Digital, but it still keeps with much of what was done on the Xbox 360, PS3, and Wii versions. The DS version has a similar roster of racers and track designs, but a few changes were made in the move to the portable version. The controls are the same but the car behavior and handling is slightly altered, with the drifting mechanic feeling a bit more "slippery" than it does on the console. It's not bad, it's just different.
I'm actually kind of glad that the DS version plays not like a clone of the console version – it's nice that the handheld gamers get their own take on the SEGA kart racer. The DS game looks great – in fact, it's running at a smoother framerate than the console version does. The strategies to fight off opponents is a little weaker on the DS as you have very little time to react to an alert before you're nailed by a rocket.
The multiplayer focus is here too, but it's really made for local players with their own copy of the cartridge. Single cart is restricted to two players and a single race before killing the connection, and the online multiplayer over the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection is oddly supported with a hugely restrictive track list and, at least in my playtime, huge pockets of lag. The full multiplayer support – which includes Battle Mode – is only available when you link up local systems with multiple cartridges.
©2010-02-23, IGN Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved