Review Sonic and Sega All-Stars Racing

Ever since taking a temp job in Gamestation over the Christmas period, I have developed an interest in games that are rated E for Everyone. Well, actually, it's an interest in good games that are rated E for Everyone.

Over these last few months, as adult or gamers in our late teens, we have had some brilliant games come our way such as Mass Effect 2 or Dante's Inferno. Yet here is Sega and their latest game; Sonic and Sega All-Stars Racing, to challenge the hoe slapping, drug taking and alien love making we have grown used to, with a game that is (legally) accessible by everyone and might actually be good. 

Sonic and Sega All-Stars Racing (Xbox 360 [reviewed], PlayStation 3, Wii, Nintendo DS)
Developer: Sumo Digital
Publisher: Sega
Released: February 23, 2010
MSRP: $49.99

The game itself does exactly what it says on the box. It is a racing game devoid of realism seen in games such as Need for Speed, that is packed with some of Sega's biggest and best known characters. From Samba De Amigos Amigo to Ulala of Space Channel 5, Beat from Jet Set Radio and if you are playing on the 360, your avatar or for the Wii, your Mii. Sega caters for all players pretty well. If you are a casual gamer only vaguely aware of who Sonic is then the fact that I feel the need to jump up and shout “SPAAAAAACE CHANNEL 5” when I win will be utterly lost on you, but it leaves me feeling pretty damn cool. It feeds my inner nerd.

Each character has one of three types of vehicle, car, motorbike or hover craft. Naturally each comes with positives and negatives depending on the track you are faced with. For example, the motorcycle driven by Ryo Hazukia is fast, but easily knocked around by the bigger kids like Dr. Eggman, who trades in speed for raw power. This balancing of characters helps to stop people from sticking to one favorite and dominating over the others. In true gaming style, a large portion of characters have to be unlocked by earning points while playing the game, easy enough to do and will certainly keep players with OCD busy for a while. Each character also has access to an 'All Star Move' -- a ridiculously powerful special attack that has the ability to trounce others and often throw you into first place ... or last if you are a victim.

The tracks themselves are bright, very bright (with one exception), an explosion of primary colours that in some instances can induce seizures if you forget to blink for long periods of time. The tracks are themed around Sega games that match with each of the characters available. Naturally there are many Sonic themed levels designed around the classic Emerald Hill, players can tare through Jet Set Radios down town Tokyo or attempt to traverse the utterly annoying tight corners of the Super Monkey Ball levels. The tracks themselves are really well designed, yet they lack a well polished look and can appear rough. As expected these tracks are littered with obstacles; robotic crabs from Sonic, trucks on the Tokyo streets or monkeys, in balls. The music is a mix of what sounds like utterly addictive but shameful Euro-trash dance but even I found myself singling along, especially on the Samba De Amigo level.

Throughout these tracks, and as seen in similar games there are speed patches that give the driver a short boost, large corners where 'drifting' is encouraged to earn further boosts and of course boxes containing power ups. These boxes provide the expected basics; rockets, bombs, speed bursts and of course the access to your 'all-star power up'. The majority of the power-ups contain very little originality and those which try are pointless or annoying, such as smearing a rainbow across your screen or turning everything up side down. Unlike similar games, getting hit by many of these objects causes you little problem as the recovery from a knock is pretty damn quick, to quick. Often meaning that those 3 rockets you have been saving will probably not have the impact on the rank that you hope it will. In the instances where you get a little to eager and drive off the side, instead of screaming at the television while you are slowly and gently placed back on the track, you appear almost instantly, past the corner/obstacle of your demise and all ready moving. In fact this is actually quicker in some instances than actually driving, something very exploited on XBL multiplayer and in time attack modes.

Besides just racing single circuits, racing for cups (earning the most points over four games) and mulitplayer, Sonic and All-Star Racing includes the obligatory Time Attack modes and 'missions'. There are 50 of these missions, each one unlocked by completing the one previous. These missions can be simple, such as driving as Amy and trying to beat Sonic or unbelievably frustrating as trying to drive Fat Cat around a lap without breaking any pots while timed. They give the game something different to do for a while, but when stuck it is to easy to simply ignore.

Sonic and Sega All-Stars Racing suffers from being compared to other comical racing games, like Mario Kart and is unlikely to become a higher preference, however it manages to bring enough of its own flavor through its design to make it feel like a strong competitor. This game is perfect for anyone of any age with difficulty levels being easy to adjust. Whether this is a game for yourself or for a younger gamer, this offers enough pick-up and playability to be a good, fun and exciting all round entertainer.

Score: 7.0 -- Good (7s are solid games that definitely have an audience. Might lack replay value, could be too short or there are some hard-to-ignore faults, but the experience is fun.)

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