Standard Kart fair, no more, no less.
What can be said about Sonic and Sega All Stars Racing that hasn’t been said about any other kart racer before it? In most ways it follows the blueprints laid out by Mario Kart, and while that isn’t inherently a bad thing, they take ballsy to a whole new level in terms of Just how close they followed this plan. If you’ve played Mario Kart, then you know what to expect from this game. Theres a power boost available for those with good timing at the beginning of every race, there are special power-ups littered across the track in similar fashion to other games, and the tracks are the racing equivalent to Carnival put-put courses. Standard fair across the board, so why then, did I find this game taking up so much of my time?
The answer lies in the games colorful and wonderfully designed tracks, shameless use of nostalgia, and tight controls. Despite the games lack of originality, it does what it intends to do well-giving Sega Fans and non-wii owners their turn at a nostalgic, light, and fun racing game. There are a variety of Sega characters to chose from, although some of them lean much farther to the obscure and the who gives a f*** then I’d like, and their vehicles are just varied enough in behavior to give you a change when you’re tired of playing as the same one after a few races. There are also a few multiplayer modes that you probably won’t enjoy much unless you have four friends to play them with.
Online multiplayer is here, but for all intents and purposes it is defunct. This is a real shame, seeing as there certainly is some value to the idea of 10 player races here.
Sonic And Sega All Star’s Racing, despite its overlong title, is not a bad game. Unfortunatly however, that’s about the best thing you can say about it. It’s fun while it lasts but after you finish the single player Tournaments and get all the unlockables, you’ll probably be ready to move on to something else.
