Mario Kart is, to date, one of the most popular racing games and without a doubt one of the most accessible. It only seems right that other companies would try to imitate the not-so-serious formula and add a few twists. Rare tried it with Diddy Ko...
Mario Kart is, to date, one of the most popular racing games and without a doubt one of the most accessible. It only seems right that other companies would try to imitate the not-so-serious formula and add a few twists. Rare tried it with Diddy Kong Racing and did an admirable job, as did Naughty Dog with Crash Team Racing over ten years ago. However, several years on and we’ve had the market flooded with several terrible imitations including, but not limited to, Cocoto Kart Racer. One could argue that these experiences are all utilising some genuinely popular and enjoyable intellectual properties, and as such it’s a wonder it’s taken SEGA so long to release their own kart racer. Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing is a mascot racer that takes characters from a wide range of SEGA’s key franchises and pits them against each other Mario Kart style.
Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing isn’t really anything special graphically speaking. On one hand, the characters themselves are well modelled with some really nice environments detailed throughout the game’s different tracks, but on the other hand everything can get a bit hectic and slow down significantly during some particular sequences. Considering this is the only version of the title released that doesn’t run at a fluid 60 FPS either, it’s a bit of a let-down that the developer didn’t put as much effort into graphically polishing this Wii iteration. Thankfully, the game’s colour and diversity in environments really make it quite a sight to behold at times, despite its drawbacks brought on by the hardware it’s running on. In a rather disappointing move, when playing some tracks in multiplayer, the game “strips down” the tracks, assumedly to get them running at an acceptable level. While this is understandable, it’s extremely disappointing and really detracts from the game’s overall presentation.
The game itself plays how you would expect it to play – players choose a character and race across a track to the finish line, just like any other racer. Vehicles themselves are separated into three categories – cars, bikes and hovercrafts – with each vehicle having specific statistics to distinguish themselves from others. During the race, players have access to power-ups, similar to Mario Kart, which either help the player or hinder others. Power-ups are fairly generic, presumable because SEGA doesn’t have iconic mushrooms or stars to draw upon, but the crux of the power-ups comes in the All-Star move – a move unique to each character which is useable when a player falls too far behind and allows a quick catch up. These moves are incredibly, well, cheap in that they make it much easier than it should be. For obvious reasons, the All-Star moves are disabled for online play.
The control scheme in All-Stars Racing is very accessible too, with the control scheme being pretty much what you’d expect from a motion-enabled racer. While it’s quite a different system from Mario Kart, and you’ll definitely notice it when you first pick up either your Wii Wheel or Wii Remote, it’s something that really becomes second nature as you get used to it. The best way to summarise the game’s control scheme is that it’s not like Mario Kart, but it’s not exactly better or worse either. It just feels different, and players will understand this when they pick up their controller for their first race.
Upon booting up Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing, you’ll notice that there are five modes to play through with different objectives. Some of them are rather, well, standard, while others are a bit different to the norm. The game’s standard Grand Prix mode comes with four different tournaments to complete with adjustable difficulty levels for each too. Time Attack and VS. Mode are rather self explanatory, with VS. Mode supporting splitscreen mode too. Mission Mode and their challenges allow players to complete races while performing other objectives to earn SEGA Miles, a currency I’ll touch upon later. These are nice little missions that really add to the standard racing paradigm. Online mode was rather fun too, with little to no lag, however All-Star moves being disabled, while a bit of a fair move, makes the game feel a little less complete when competing online. Still, on a platform where online play isn’t really guaranteed, it’s a welcome addition.
Thankfully, those who are really into their SEGA franchises will really adore the soundtrack, which largely consists of tracks from older games with some nice new original tracks too. Thankfully, there’s a nice mix of musical pieces from different series that the game has representatives from, and the voice acting for the characters, although limited, sounds good enough to match their actual game counterparts. Unfortunately though, the game does get bogged down by a rather obnoxious announcer that really doesn’t do the game any favours with his overused puns. Upon hearing this horrid announcer I promptly visited the options screen of the game and was quite thankful to find that the announcer could be muted. A welcome addition indeed, SEGA.
The crux of All-Star Racing’s gameplay is unlocking stuff, and this is done with the accruing of SEGA Miles. Despite the name, these virtual currencies aren’t dependent on distance travelled, and are rewarded upon completion of races and major milestones (with an Achievement-like system known as Challenges also existing). There are a grand total of twenty characters, with only eight of them being playable at the beginning of the game, and the rest being unlockable with these SEGA Miles. Similarly, there are 24 tracks which are utilised across four different modes to create a bit of length for completionists. All in all, there’s quite a bit in the package, but nothing that really stands out as must-play outside of what you would usually do in a kart racer.
Sonic and SEGA All-Stars Racing is a bit of a mixed bag. On one hand I really enjoyed playing through it for its throwbacks to some of my favourite SEGA franchises that I’ve since forgotten, and provided a rather enjoyable experience that my whole family could really get into. On the other, it really does nothing special to further the genre. Definitely one to try before you buy, but also a heavy recommendation to those who enjoy Mario Kart and are growing sick of, say, Rainbow Road.
Some nice graphical details on both characters and environments, but a rather perplexingly watered down multiplayer mode really ruins the games overall visuals.
Its a little bit different to Mario Kart and generally a little bit more generic feeling, but overall, once becoming accustomed to the inner workings, its quite enjoyable.
A nice selection of tunes from all different franchises of SEGAs, but the announcer really ruins most of the gameplay. Thankfully, hes mutable.
Heaps of stuff to unlock, though some might not endure to unlock everything.
Playing through All-Stars with a couple of mates made it great fun, but everyone was itching to play Mario Kart shortly thereafter.
Magnets, always with the magnets.
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