Up until last week, neither Xbox 360 nor PlayStation 3 owners have had a quality kart racer. Sure, a few games have come out, but Madagascar Kartz cannot compare to Mario Kart Wii. Thankfully, Sega filled the void with Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing.
This enjoyable racer features characters, tracks and tunes from a number of Dreamcast and Genesis favorites, including Jet Set Radio, Space Channel 5, Samba de Amigo and more. Of course, since he appears in the title, you can expect plenty of shenanigans from Sonic the Hedgehog. (As a bonus, Xbox 360 owners receive the ragtag duo of Banjo and Kazooie, along with the option of using their Avatars.)
Diversity makes Sega All-Stars Racing lots of fun. There are a slew of great characters to choose from. We're talking long-lost favorites like the Bonanza Brothers and the Chu Chu Rocket gang, in addition to more bizarre faces like B.D. Joe (and his Crazy Taxi) and Jacky Bryant and Akira from Virtua Fighter, teaming up in the Outrun Ferrari, complete with squealing brakes. The tracks you race through are equally varied, from the jumping town in Samba de Amigo to a romp through Curien Mansion from The House of the Dead.
Like other kart racers, the goal is to get the lead and keep it. Granted, that isn't easy. Along with contending with seven other racers for the top spot, you'll also have to watch out for activated power-ups, jumps that can easily veer you off the road and other obstacles, such as robotic piranha in Sonic's stage or zombies in Curien Mansion. Most of the power-ups are routine, although there are a couple of cool additions. Stars twist your view of the road upside down, and force you to work the controls the opposite way for a few seconds. Then there are the All-Star power-ups, which give you temporary invincibility for a few seconds.
Even better, the game has several options. Along with quick races, there are championships, time trials, missions and an unlock shop, where you purchase new characters and other goodies. On top of that, the multiplayer mode is huge. You can race against up to four friends in local split-screen action, or hop onto Xbox Live or the PlayStation Network and jump into eight-player networked races. These work tremendously well, and you can hook up through quick play or with friends.
Visually, Sega All-Stars Racing is a triumph. The track design looks stunningly good, even though some of them are a little difficult to navigate, like the ones from Super Monkey Ball. We also like the character animations, even if some are dorkier than others (do Jacky and Akira need to high-five so much?). The game runs at a smooth pace, although there are times when slowdown enters the picture, particularly on the more complex tracks. It's nothing that stalls the fun, however.
The music is a trippy blast, consisting of everything from rockin' techno from Jet Set Radio Future ("Understand, understand!") to groovy Mexican tuneage from Samba de Amigo. You'll even have the option of buying extra tunes, should you feel like listening to them wherever you go. The character effects are well done (and not overdone, a first for this sort of game), and the announcer has plenty of humorous comments throughout (even though the timing is off).
While a more consistent frame rate and extra characters (where's Ristar?) would've made this a more comprehensive experience, we can't complain too much about Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing. The controls click almost perfectly, the multiplayer options are through the roof, there's plenty to do on the single-player front and the characters and levels are like a treasure trove of Sega history. As long as Sumo Digital keeps cranking out quality titles like this, we certainly won't turn away.
Review courtesy of GamePlayBook.
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