Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing PC Review by Bluedrake

Do you like Sonic? Do you like racing? And do you like multiple Sega characters? If you like any of the two above, then Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing is a must have game of the week for you. Filled with greatest Sega character of all time, this game will rock your computer as you began ditching games like Need For Speed. So in the beginning, here's my first impression....

I thought Sonic's has the speed of light, how come he needs a bloody car to race then?? So I went and got the game from Steam to have a go. After installing and starting the game, I found out the game is actually quite fun and enjoyable to play. With more than 20 characters to play with, players will get a different vehicle for each different characters. Here are the list of characters in the game:

Racers name	From which game
Sonic the Hedgehog	Sonic the Hedgehog (Duh...)
Miles "Tails" Prower	Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (The fox with 2 tails...)
Doctor Eggman	Sonic the Hedgehog (I thought his name was Robotnick...)
Amy Rose	Sonic the Hedgehog CD
Shadow the Hedgehog	Sonic Adventure 2 (Total badass with a bike in the game)
AiAi	Super Monkey Ball
Amigo	Samba de Amigo
Billy Hatcher	Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg
Knuckles the Echidna	Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (Another badass uh... echidna?)
Big the Cat	Sonic Adventure
Beat	Jet Set Radio
Ulala	Space Channel 5
B.D. Joe	Crazy Taxi (They have taxi drivers in a racing game?)
Zobio and Zobiko	The House of the Dead: EX
Ryo Hazuki	Shenmue
Jacky Bryant/Akira Yuki	Virtua Fighter
Mobo and Robo	Bonanza Bros.
Opa-Opa	Fantasy Zone
Alex Kidd	Alex Kidd in Miracle World
Banjo and Kazooie	Diddy Kong Racing (Banjo) and Banjo-Kazooie (Kazooie)
Avatar	The New Xbox Experience
Mii	Wii

Some of the characters are well familiarized throughout the Sega franchise and some I have no idea who is it at all (those that I haven't commented are all unfamiliar to me...) The game format is seriously similar to the old classic mario kart 64 where the objective is to race to win and use dirty tricks to slow down your enemies. Even the weapon concept are similar to the original Mario Kart (just redesign the items and weapons image and they claimed it as their own. Shame on Sega...) However, Sega do have a few tricks up their own sleeve when they design the game's items. They have their own uniqueness in the end that can make it as their own originality as well I guess..

So here are the game review that I have made and come up with when I'm playing the game (Note, this is just my opinion and does not really affect the game, if you really want to experience it, you have to play it yourself)

Game filesize:
For a racing game, the filesize is certainly huge for this game. With the setup filesize racking upto 4gb the download and waiting was killing me... After the installation, it's around 4.8 gb+ which is around Need For Speed : Shift's game filesize which is 5 GB as well..

Game graphics:
For this game, I've set the game settings in between high and medium using Nvidia 8600M GT 256 ddr3 and managed to get this game running at 50-60 fps, so it's quite playable even with a 128mb graphic card( I hope...)

NOTE: I've installed the game into my external hard drive and therefore it has slowed down the gaming even more.

The game's engine, graphic and design is done amazingly well-ed to get the players into the gaming mood. With each stage in a different high detailed racing course, the players will not be seeing repetitive racing course for a while. (I guess this is one of the reason why the game is that big XD) The explosion, fire, water, water, sky effect are considered realistic for a 3D cartoon racing game and definitely up to satisfactory. :D

Screenshot taken from the video replay of my game :)

Audio:
The game's audio is awesome and totally fits the stages most of the time. Sometimes, I find myself humming to the rhyme of the game while I'm racing in the game which is quite addictive lately... And one of the best part about the audio in the game is the game announcer himself, With all the racing and chaos, it's good to know who is leading in the race and what is the rest of the racer is up to. Just like a football announcer when you are watching the tv, they will describe to the players about each of the racer's status and will usually focus back to you since you are the real racer in the game after all. This is just what a racing game should need compared to the other games I played. It makes you feel like you are really part of the racing game and the best part is the accuracy of the announcer, he doesn't use repetitive words or phrases and describes exactly what he says (I have played plenty of soccer games like FIFA 2010 and their announcer is totally horrible in describing things...) Besides than the announcer, the sound effects and voices are amazing as well. With each character with their own voice for taunting, cheering, and etc, the game is really focusing on making the gamers pleased.

Multiplayer, split-screen or LAN is a yes!:
There are various ways you can play with your friends in this game and one of the most convenient way is of course to use the split-scren feature where both players can use the same computer and race against one another. It's always much more fun to play with your friends than to play alone.
Racing course:
There is a total of 24 racing tracks that is available in the game with tight corners, short-cuts and tricks where players have to play a few times before being able to master them. Each of the course will be actually related to the sega games ( they will tell you this race track is based on what game before you start) so you will notice a lot of similarities to the original game itself. One of the most anticipated race course was the Curien Mansion (House of the Dead game) where racers will drive around the creepy mansion filled with zombies while trying to stay in the first place. The courses are just that fun to play with especially when the natural obstacles are actually from part of the game. Zombies from Curien mansion will walk around waiting for racers to run over them, flowers from the seaside hill will slow down racers upon being run over and etc.

Gameplay:
Though when I played the game first time, I have to admit that the controls are pretty awkward and unfamiliar but once you get the hang out of it, it's actually pretty fun to use. Or if you are a grumpy player, you can always change the game controls manually in the settings. Now let's talk about the difficulty. In the game there is the beginner, advance or expert. The difficulty is very far from one another actually compared to other games. In beginner mode, it's not easy NOT to get no 1 in the racing game. If you think it's too easy, then hop in to advance mode. I don't know if it's me or what but there is always bound to be 1 or 2 people that will beat me to the finish line before the race ends which makes it a whole lot more challenging to play. And the expert mode where only gods are allowed to play this mode (LOL me...) because in this mode, you are fighting not to get the last rather than getting the first, haha... And another cool feature in this game is the ability to drift. Drifting a car (or any other vehicle in the game) in any racing has always been my weakest part and if players like to drift in the game, then this will be an excellent choice for you

Shadow (played by me) as he drift and crashed into the flower's later on... (refer to my video gameplay below)

Characters:
With each different character, you will be able to drive different vehicles in the game though it will not make a difference regarding with the speed. All of the vehicle will be at the same speed, just that the size is different. The best part about the characters are the ability to taunt other players (And no, I'm not talking about how dota players are taunting people with their GTFO phrases....) It's actually represent the character's personality when you do it. For example, doctor eggman will stand on top of this transportation and make fun of the racers behind him while Shadow will do the "no way" sign language. Their expression will change when they get something cool from the random items. Some of the speech are quite catchy and some are very familiar


Items:
As I said earlier, the game's item concept is mostly based on Mario kart 64 so veteran users like me will realize it's the same thing after all. Items like KO punches are actually turtle shells from mario kart and their shield are exactly the same. However, they do include additional items like the ALL-Star item. Once taken by a racer, the character will turn into their ultimate form and blast through race course, trashing other racers that was in front of them. Though it does look like mario's star item but there is a difference in them. Based on the game rules, only racers that is almost the last will usually get the ALL-Star item, which makes it fair. And it can even shoot unlimited projectiles at your enemies once the racers activate it. Another fun item effect is that your opponent will get hit with a star and their screen will go upside down. For AI's, I don't think it will be a problem for them, but for us, it will look like this...


Overall:
The game is enjoyable to play with and it's a must have game for racing and sega fans. For the game rating, I will give it 8/10 (deduct 2 due to the unoriginal item concept) but for the rest of the game aspect, it's very fun and nice to play especially if you have your siblings to play with. Here's a video gameplay taken from my computer with the settings stated on top earlier, so you can decide if you want to get this game or not after watching this gameplay. Have fun watching :)

Reviewed by Bluedrake a.k.a. Shippoukitsune