Sonic & All-Stars Racing: Transformed

Today marks the second game to be reviewed for the Wii U on this website, and though it's available on other platforms, I thought it would be a suitable Wii U purchase. So without any further ado, here's what I think of Sonic & All-Stars Racing!

STORY
I suppose I have to give some kind of credit here: at least Sega didn't just tack on some nonsense story about why all these people are together and racing. But there really is NOTHING here in the way of motivation. Just race and race and race. Kart racers can have decent stories (see Modnation Racers and Crash Team Racing), so I don't see why a few minutes couldn't be set aside for writing something.

PRESENTATION
When I reviewed PS All Stars a while back, I mentioned that it's visuals and audio were a love letter to Sony's past. In that same vein is Sonic and All-Stars Racing: Transformed. The characters are all from beloved Sega franchises such as Sonic, Super Monkey Ball and Jet Set Radio Future, and their Karts look just like you would imagine them looking; B.D. Joe from Crazy Taxi drives a modified Taxi, whereas AiAi from Super Monkey Ball drives a Banana styled vehicle.

Each Kart's forms (Car, Boat, Plane) all look stunning, and the animations whilst transforming are smooth and fluid. Drifting and jumping all look natural, and theres a nice feeling of speed whilst racing.

The environments all look fantastic, with highlights being the Afterburner level, the Super Monkeyball temple and the waterfront sonic level from Sonic Heroes. Often, the landscape changes mid race, and the tracks continue to look fantastic in motion.

The music and voice acting all calls back to the many franchises on display. Sega fans are going to love revisiting these memories with the many audio and visual nods.

GAMEPLAY
I expected to pick up Sonic & Allstars Racing and find your stock standard Kart racing game, but to be honest, this isn't a cheap Mario Kart ripoff. Sure, everything handles like most other Kart games; you accelerate, you powerslide, you pick up weapons and use them against your opponents. It's all very familiar and it all handles really quite well.

The boost mechanics that come from storing a slide, doing stunts mid-air and driving over boost pads are the secret to winning, and luckily they work well, and they're easy skills to pick up and perfect.

The major difference between this and most Kart racers is the Transforming aspect. Often, you'll come across diverging paths in the track. A lot of the time, this will pass through a transform gate, forcing you to take to the skies or the seas. The Afterburner stage in particular is quite thrilling, as the action follows racers driving along the runway of an Aircraft Carrier, into the sky, then landing on another Carrier, only to drive off into the sea to navigate the waves back to the start.

Piloting through the skies feels natural, as does boating across the waves; each different transportation method is unique, and they all have their advantages\disadvantages. Flying is fast, featuring high handling levels. Sometimes it can be too touchy, and you may find yourself making a few mistakes. Taking to the water, however, is very unresponsive, but the track is often far wider, allowing for more freedom. And driving is pretty balanced comparatively.

My only gripe with this game is that on it's hardest setting, races can be damn near impossible. And to get all the unlock tokens that are available, you NEED to race on the hardest setting. It's honestly really damn frustrating.

The Wii U supplies a few different additions to this game as well. The gamepad can be used as a standard controller, supplying HUD details such as leaderboards and maps while the action is on TV. On the other hand, the action can be completely moved to the lower screen to free up the TV for other purposes.

REPLAYABILITY
This game features a number of game options, from battle modes, chao capture and boost races. If you tire of the standard racing fare, then these will definitely liven things up. Online multiplayer also makes an appearance, and local multiplayer works fine, with 5 players available on the Wii U (4 on TV, 1 on gamepad).

OVERVIEW
Sonic & All-Stars Racing: Transformed is far from the usual Mario Kart clone, with solid racing controls, racers and tracks that pull from beloved franchises and some unique transformed racing features. This game is a love letter to Sega fans. That said, the game is far from perfect. If you want to unlock everything, you're going to need a lot of unlock tokens. Playing on the hardest setting to get these can be downright impossible sometimes. Add to that the lack of context as to why these beloved characters are racing and you have a couple of reasons as to why I find myself thinking of the game as rather difficult to keep coming back to. It's by no means bad, but certain aspects of it just feel like no one even looked at the finished product.

Sega fans and Kart racing pros, get on this. Wii U gamers looking to expand their library should also look into getting this.
Well, that's all for this week. Next week, maybe Scribblenauts Unlimited. I don't know. Who knows? See you next time!