Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed (Xbox One)
yes, I took this idea from you Winstein
I've unlocked the AGES Console Mod, which requires the player to get all of the stars, which requires the player to complete to play every mission in World Tour in S-Class, which I'll consider as completing the game. I have still have the Classic Cup and the Mirror Cups in Grand Prix and almost of the Time Trials left to get 'S' on, but as there aren't any rewards for that I'll consider the game complete.
Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed is a Kart Racing. I want to get that out of the way first. It's not a Mario Kart rip-off or clone, it's a Kart Racing game, Kart Racing is sub-genre of Racing, get it right people.
I assume you all know the standard mechanics in Kart Racing games, Mario Kart is the best selling spin-off of Mario after all. You race on tracks, and grab items to hit your opponents. Basic stuff. Most games in the genre step it up with Drifting and Tricks, which allow you to get boosts (most games does not include Diddy Kong Racing). Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed is unique in how it handles these to mechanics, with Drifting you can briefly let go and change directions to continue charging your boost from it's current level. You can also release the acceleration button while drifting to slow down and make your turns tighter. Tricking is even more unique, compared to Mario Kart series where you perform a trick on a ramp to get a boost, in Transformed you can perform a trick as long as you're in mid-air, this means you can perform multiple tricks, which allow you to get a bigger boost when you touch the ground. You have to be careful though, if you collide into something during the trick it fails and you'll lose all of the boost you gained. It's also important to note there are two types of trick, rolls and flips. Rolls move you left or right depending which direction you inputed, but have a smaller vertical hitbox then flips, which don't move you. Both have their uses, so make sure to use the right one in the right situation.
Drifting and Tricks tie back into a major mechanic, which is boosting. Simply put, whenever you boost your speed increases for a brief period of time, however if you gain a boost while you already boosting, then you'll go even faster until one of the boosts end, then you'll just have the other boost. You can do this with multiple boosts to go even faster. This is what makes the game so enjoyable to play, chain together multiple boosts to go as fast as possible is fun. It's not easy to master, but once you do it's a lot of fun.
Of course there's the main gimmick of the game, transforming. During a race your vehicle can change into a Car, a Boat or a Plane. These mostly share the same gameplay features and mechanics, the only exception is the Plane, which can't Trick. Instead it can perform a dodge, which allows the player to reposition themself in mid-air. It can still give a boost as well, by dodging out of the way of an obstacle (such as a wall or enemy) at the last second, you'll get a boost. Most flight sections are built around this, and give you plenty of opportunities to get 'Risk Boosts' as they're called. All of the transformations have their own style of track design in fact, Cars are the standard linear races, Boats often have multiple path to choose from and switch between, and the aforementioned Planes are wide open areas with a variety of paths and hazards to come across or avoid. Each vehicle has it's own feel as well, Cars control smoothly emphasising the Drift mechanic, Boats are little more chaotic, with ramps and waves giving more emphasis to Trick mechanic, while Planes are the fastest but are stiff to control, making the dodge mechanic and Risk Boosts even more important. They're all a blast to control, and only serve to make racing better.
It's not just the vehicles that transform however, because the tracks Transform as well. In Dragon Canyon, you'll be Driving across bridges and through caves one lap, then you'll be sailing across a river after a tree fell down on the next, and then on the final lap you'll flying through the canyon the river is in after a dragon destroys a bridge. Not all of these changes are as dynamic as this track, or even appear in every track, but they appear in most tracks, and those ones are far more exciting and interesting to play because of it.
Speaking of tracks, let's talk about them. These are brilliantly designed, with a variety of themes, layouts, and hazards to avoid. No track feels like the last. One of my favourites has to be Burning Depths, based on Burning Rangers. Each lap the water rises, with the first lap being in car, and the next two striking a balance between Car and Boat. Each turn is tight, and one slip-up can meaning bashing into a wall and losing your speed, but it's still so much fun. Adder's Lair, based on Golden Axe, is another good one, expertly tying together all three transformations into one course. Race of AGES is an original location, where the player races through a futuristic location full of holograms that showcase the history of SEGA. Midway through a lap, the player must choose between a Boat and a Plane, the former is a chaotic section, full of hazards waves and ramps, while the latter is a long hallway full of boosts and hazardous walls. The tracks are a ton of fun to play, and compliment the gameplay very well by giving the player lots of opportunities to use the mechanics of the game. If I had to choose a least favourite, then it would Graffiti City. It's not a bad track, but it's where the buggy physics are most prevalent, and has barely any opportunities to use the mechanics to go faster.
As this is a kart racer, there's going to be items. There's a variety of items in this, such as a Firework Rocket, a Swarm of Wasps, or a Pufferfish. Each is unique, and only a few can be compared to items in Mario Kart. The Firework Rocket is a fast projectile that moves in a straight line and bounces off walls, it's similar to the Green Shell, but as it moves quickly it much more suited to the ever satisfying sniping players. The Drone chases down the opponent in front of you, once it gets close, it slows down a bit, and it's only a matter of time until it hits them. If your on the receiving end of this then there's no need to worry, as a boost or projectile can stop the Drone. Ice comes in packs of three, while weak by itself if all three hit a player it Freezes them. Pufferfish can be placed behind you, or fired in front as slower moving Firework Rocket. Boosts are what it says on the tin, they gives you a boost. Hot Rod attaches a Hot Rod to your vehicle, which will increase your speed until it explodes. Unlike a similar item in Mario Kart Wii, this item can exploded early for a boost and damage to anyone nearby, and the later you manually explode, the more powerful it becomes. The Tornado chases after the player in front of you and reverses their controls if it hits them. The Glove blocks and any items that hit you, and then gives you that item to use. Finally Swarm sends a swarm of in front of the player in first, these Wasps then appear as hazards on the track, which most be avoided. The Game also features a special type of item, the All-Star ability. This item puts you in flight mode, gives you a speed boost, and makes you invincible. Alongside that you can press the item button again to attack, the attack depends on the character, ranging from a pathetic blast around you, to three homing fireballs that you will learn to fear. The All-Star is disappointing, unlike the first All-Stars Racing game it's just flying instead of a unique transformation (Big rides Froggy, Sonic turns Super, AiAi get into the Monkey Ball), and lacks balancing.
The Soundtrack is composed and arranged by Sonic series veteran, Richard Jacques. He also composed the music for Sonic R, which sneaks it's way into Ocean View and Sanctuary Falls with arrangements of Super Sonic Racing and Back In Time respectively. The music has an electronic style leaning towards trap/dubstep, which is most noticeable in the DLC track OutRun Bay. A majority of the remixes are brilliant, with my personal favourites being Carrier Zone, Seasonal Shrine, Rogue's Landing, Adder's Lair and Burning Depths. Burning Depth has lyrics, and is the best song in the game. All of the songs are good however, and I can't think of one that I don't enjoy. As this is a crossover game, it features songs from many different franchises, and it even got me to check out the soundtrack for Panzer Dragoon and Skies of Arcadia. An important part to note about the soundtrack is that sometimes the music will change when the vehicle transforms, making the music a little more dynamic. Most of time it turns into a completely different song, for example in Graffiti City, the song will change from an arrangement of That's Enough, to an arrangement of Everybody Jump Around (a song that was composed by Richard Jacques). It's not just the tracks that have music as well, the pre-race overview of the track has music unique to each track, and each characters has a unique arrangement for their All-Star ability. Overall the soundtrack is amazing, and just helps to make a brilliant game even better.
The main mode of the game is World Tour, a single player mode which acts as an adventure mode. You select a stage, a play it. Each stage is a different mission type on a different track, these missions can range from a standard race, to shooting down a tank. My personal favourite has to be ring race, where the player must go through a path of rings as fast as possible, this normally provides a new perspective on an old track. Meanwhile my least favourite is pursuit, it's slow, and drags on for far too long with not enough variety, it just goes against everything that I enjoy about the game. Pursuit is the only one like this however, and as there's only three Pursuit mission, World Tour remains as a fun mode, which is good because almost everything is unlocked by playing this mode (besides Dr. Eggman and the Mii/Avatar).
There's also Time Attack, which is this games equivalent to Time Trials. In this mode, the player must complete a lap of a race alone as fast as possible. It's a bit of a disappointment, as you can only race on one of the laps, meaning you can't get full practise on the tracks that change between laps.
Overall, while the game is brought down a bit by sometimes poor hit detection and physics, it's a fantastic game with fast and fun gameplay, which is helped by well designed tracks, and an amazing soundtrack. If you enjoy Mario Kart but have yet to play this game then urge you to give it a go. It's on
Steam for $15 which is a great price for what is not only one of the best racing games I've ever played, but one of my favourite games.
