Sonic & SEGA's All-Star Racing

----------Table of Contents----------

I - Overview

II - Gameplay

III - Worth Noting

IV - Opinions

I. ----------Overview----------

Finally! A Sonic game where Tails is more dominate in the game! What could be better? Anyway; Sonic & SEGA'S All-Star Racing is a Kart game that shares a lot of similarities with Mario Kart. S&S:A-S features the well-known Sonic Cast and some of the not-so-well known SEGA Characters; including, but not limited to Sonic, Shadow, Knuckles, Amy, Tails, Eggman, Ryo Hazuki From Shemune, Big the Cat, Amigo, Aiai, and more. There are plenty of characters to choose from, each featuring their own unique signature move in addition to the items already available to you.

Like Mario Kart, you have several modes. Grand Prix, Time Trial, and so forth. Unique to S&S:A-S is the Mission mode and stores, which let you trade in "Sega Miles" for tracks and characters. Many of these characters are from some games you might not heard of, Like Beat from Jet Set Radio.

Tails With his own Title Screen? NO WAY!

Note that I am reviewing the PC version of the game. The Wii version has an extra character; the Mii to play as. The difference is purely aesthetic with the PC version featuring much better visuals and higher resolutions, at the expense of keyboard controls (which I'll cover later). The PC Version runs in the CryEngine; the same engine that runs Aion.

Each character has their familiar voice you're all used to, but what sets this apart from Mario Kart is the *AWESOME* Announcer. Not only does he annouce just about everything that's going on, but he keeps you up to date on who's in first, who's got what power up, and who's getting blown away. The things he says are comical, and it's quite hilarious to listen to him. The music in this game is a sample from various SEGA games (Green hill zone is noticeably missing here *sad face*). The music is upbeat and fast. Perfect for a racing game.

II. ----------Gameplay----------

Like Mario Kart, the object of the game is to race against 7 other characters and compete to the finish line. Helping you along the way are an array of dangerous and comical items. You collect items like you do in Mario Kart by "Running over" them. Some items include a spring-boxing glove, Homing missiles, Magnetic shields, Traffic Cone Land Mines (Think Bananas from Mario Kart), Bombs, etc.

Unique to this game is the "All-Star" Power up! This power up is unique for every single character. For instance, Amy pops out her Pico-Pico hammer and whallops anyone in her way. Amy is in it to win as even her poor unrequited love; Sonic isn't safe from her Pico-pico wrath! Players of S&S: A-S will immediately be able to pick up and play the game as the controls are almost identical to the Mario Kart Series.

Casino Park? You bet! Hey wait, is that Nights I see up there with the checkered Flag? So, this is a dream then?

Races start out like they do in Mario Kart. Pushing the acceleration button at the right time during the count down to start will give you a boost. This is crucial to master in the later difficulties. The game also has Mario Kart's Sliding system, which basically means you press the "Trick" button to cause your character to slide. Pressing the directional button in the opposite direction will give your character a boost. Three times and your character gains a super boost. just like in Mario Kart. Also making a reappearance from Mario Kart is the "Trick system" which let's you perform tricks in air time to gain a boost when you land. If you perform too many tricks, you risk wiping out when you land. Learning to master this and sliding is the key to victory.

Located throughout the courses are boost pads. These pads; when accompanied with the sliding boost can turn a 8th place loss into a 1st place victory.

Really, not much has changed from Mario Kart. It feels like you're playing the same game. Even the license system is almost identical, with the player choosing his origin and avatar from a list of SEGA and sonic characters (Or your Mii if you play on the Wii).

Another feature that makes its return is the "Rubber Band AI". Die-hard Mario Kart fans know what this means, but for all you people who don't, allow me to elaborate. To summarize it easier I will simply copy/paste Wikipedia:

"a term used to describe the situation where the AI has bonuses over the players, such as having more hit-points, driving faster, or ignoring fog of war. The use of advantages like this shows the limitations of the "intelligence" achievable artificially; generally speaking, in games where strategic creativity is important, humans could easily beat the AI after a minimum of trial and error if it were not for the bonuses."

I haven't tested this yet, but I think you can actually turn this feature "off". Rubber-band AI is a necessary evil; however, especially because this game has 0 Online for the PC Version, which is most likely due to piracy issues. There are multiplayer in here, but it's split screen with up to 4 people. This is fine if you hook your computer up to a TV, but just doesn't work on a PC monitor.

Basically, if you've played Mario Kart and enjoyed it, you'll enjoy this, unfortunately, it might be too similar to Mario Kart. Even the spring-loaded Boxing glove acts just as the Green Koopa shell from Mario Kart, and guess what color it is? Yes, that's right. It's a "Green" boxing glove. Also, the homing missiles are red. A throwback to Mario Kart or a cheap knock off? Also worth noting is the "Speed Shoes" which are your basic super mushrooms. items can come in a singe unit or sets of three. Also, another throw back to Mario Kart. Who the heck needs just "three" shoes anyway? And how does a single shoe give you a speed boost? *sigh*

Perhaps the most annoying feature lacking in the game is "Defensing"; a term used in Mario Kart where one "Drags" an item behind them (Like bananas and green/red shells) to protect them from other player's attacks. This was a huge let down. While it is possible to fire items behind you, without defensive protection, there's not much you can do to avoid attacks. It is possible to "Slide-boost" to avoid attacks as mentioned in the tips, but this isn't always an option as you may find yourself going off track which will cost you far more than being hit by a homing missile.

If you play the PC version, you will definitely need a gamepad if you wish to be any good at it. Unfortunately, the controls can't be configured easily. It's much easier to download a free joystick mapper, Like Joystick 2 Mouse 3 and map the keyboard keys to your controller like I did. The result is a smooth transition and much easier gaming.

III. ----------Worth Noting----------

• Colorful, fun and vibrant characters, coupled with a huge assortment of worlds based on SEGA/Sonic series means a lot of unique and crazy tracks to play on and characters to play with. From a Zombie filled mansion from Clock Tower to Amigo's all-day dance party. All the tracks are fun to play.. Except Aiai's monkey ball track >.> *DIE Aiai! DIE*
  
  
• Familiar controls allow you to easily pick up and play the game. All-Star Power ups make each driver unique other than just their "stats", which gives you more options than just picking the "Best" racer.
  
  
• Collecting cash to unlock characters and buying tracks makes it a lot more accessible, but also a bit too easy since earning money is as easy as winning a single player map over and over again.
  
  
• Mission mode adds a unique feature to the game. For instance, play as Amy Rose and try and catch Sonic and beat him to the finish line. Shower him in kisses! Or.. Beat him mercilessly with a hammer. You know, that's love for you, right?
  
  
• Awesome Graphics. Force Anti-Aliasing and you got a beautiful game.
  
  
• Gotta love the voice overs. Great job there!
  
  
• The Announcer. That guy is great. He really puts a lot of enthusiasm into it, too!

IV. ----------Opinions----------

All in all, I find this game more enjoyable than Mario Kart. No surprise there, as I'm the biggest Tails fan in the entire World; hands-down, but there's more to it than that. This game was released after Mario Kart so it makes sense they can improve upon the game, but I can't help but wonder why they didn't improve upon the popular things in Mario Kart like Defensing and Rubber-Band AI?

Still, I find myself quite enthralled by the game. Playing the Grand Prix is both fun and challenging and I love all the cool vehicles (Tails cheats because he has an airplane. Kiss my Tails, Sonic!), but still, I recommend this game to any kart fan. It's worth playing, even if for a bit. Sure, the PC Version only has single player, but chances are if you bought it for PC you were only going to play it for single player anyway.

Thanks for reading.

Miles "Tails" Prower out. Catch me if you can!

EDIT: Edited out a naughty word. Don't ban me!