Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing Review (360/PS3/Wii/PC)

Developer Sumo Digital has shamelessly aped the Nintendo Mario Kart formula for Sonic and Sega All-Stars Racing, but when crafting a mascot kart racer, perhaps there is no shame in learning from the best.

Featuring a cast of characters throughout Sega's history, including Sonic, Ryo Hazuki, Alex Kidd, Billy Hatcher, Ulala and Beat, as well as appropriately themed courses and music, All-Stars Racing is rife with great references and personality. It's a real treat to see all these great characters in one package. The Xbox 360 version also includes Banjo and Kazooie, as well as your Xbox Live Avatar, and in the Wii version, players can race as their Mii.

Most of the track designs are excellent, and have the right twists, turns and obstacles for a fun race. The weapon selection is a little on the generic side; punching gloves and rockets and traffic cones, but the weapons work well on a functional level, even if they do lack personality. The All-Star power up, though, grants a unique ability for each character, and it's a nice surprise to witness each new All-Star move. In addition to the weapons, races are won by effectively drifting and performing aerial stunts to gain speed boosts.

There's not much to complain about here. There's plenty to unlock, online and split screen multiplayer, as well as a mission mode, which has specific objectives to complete during races. All-Stars Racing has personality in spades, and charm to spare. It's great fun alone, or with friends, and I'd say it even goes toe-to-toe with modern incarnations of Mario Kart.

The 360, PS3 and PC versions of the game are largely the same, save for exclusive characters on the 360, and remarkably, the Wii version is quite similar to its bigger cousins, feature for feature. There is also a DS version of the game, although it does play a bit differently from the console versions.

Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing was reviewed using the Xbox 360 version.

Category:

Gaming

Tags:

• sonic
• and
• sega
• all
• stars
• racing
• ps3
• xbox
• 360
• wii
• all-stars
• sumo
• digital
• review
• footage
• game
• play
• gameplay

[Xpert74]

This game seems fairer than Mario Kart Wii is. Perhaps I should check it out.

[tvandlust]

@Xpert74 It really is more fair than Mario Kart. It's a nice change of pace.

[HesDaryl]

u can only get banjo on the 360?

[tvandlust]

@HesDaryl Rare owns Banjo and Microsoft owns Rare, so yes.

[master22988]

@tvandlust Although, even after they sealed the deal there was a Banjo and Kazooie game on the GBA, right? I guess because Microsoft don't have a handheld they had nothing to loose.

[tvandlust]

@master22988 Yeah, that was interesting. Rare actually put out a few GBA games as well as a remake of Diddy Kong Racing on the DS, but I think you're right; because Microsoft doesn't have a handheld, they only stood to make money on the proposition.

[vintagevideogamegeek]

Why does Sonic need a sports car?

[redhyper1]

@Sword7Movies totally, I think im ganna get it on steam. Its really cheap and it looks awesome fun. =)

[Sword7Movies]

God I hope the controls are good on PC. Its 5 bucks how can I say no?

[allanmhanson]

@crazyaadil this game has 24 and mario kart 32.

[TheRealMikeCharlie]

got this on mah 360 hard drive, hit meh up for a race: DBZWii09 (XBL)

[Xmen1312]

A buddie of mine told me this game was good so I may have to give a try.

[master22988]

@38rodboy39 ...Because they were a 2nd party Nintendo developer for the lifespan of the N64 (and SNES? I don't know) and was then sold to Microsoft around when the xbox came out.

[38rodboy39]

@master22988 there was a banjo game on the N64 too!

[dixiekongfan1]

Respond to this video... i love chuchu rocket but they suck.i mean zobio & zobiko got the same stats but with better speed and full turbo[this makes me mad] also YOU SOUND JUST LIKE SOME BODY I KNOW[HE IS 20 SO HE ISNT REALLY MY FRIEND I JUST KNOW HIM]

[crazyaadil]

mario kart wii has less stages this one has knockout king of the hill and so much more

[MrMMO97]

i own this on ps3 and ds

the ds game is the same exact game on the home ports except the graphic