Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed (2012)

This game would have been much better if they would have trimmed out some of the nonsense trash. Such as; the traffic dodging tracks and are needed to progress the game. Would have been such a solid game if Sega would have just made a "cup" system like Mario kart, instead of the linear progression of tracks. More time should have been spent on track flow, this would have greatly improved the overall feel of the game; as many levels seem clunky and hard to maneuver around. The "Star Power" abilities are boring and should have been made to be more impactful. Visuals are great on PC and it's fun to play despite it's issues.

I got this packaged with a PS Vita and expected it to be total crap ( we all remember Sonic R, right?). However, I was pleasantly surprised to find that this is a fantastic racing game. Now, I shouldn't be too surprised because Sega is also the only company to (in my opinion) make a good Mario Party copy (Sonic Shuffle), so I was very glad to see that they made a very good stand alone Sega copy of Mario Kart. There are some truly original modes like battle where you race, but everyone has three lives, a mode where you fight a tank, a slide race where you drift along lines to get extra time, a timed ring race (missing one ring doesn't get you a game over, it's great), and a beat the clock ghost race. Most of these modes are pretty inventive and I like them, except the last one. The ghost race feels cheap because you are expected to complete a better than perfect race in an insane amount of time, all while randomly gaining one or two seconds while your behind the ghost whenever the computer feels like it (you can lose some if you're in front, but good luck). All of the ghost races take place on tracks with shortcuts which you nearly HAVE to use (especially in 3-4 star mode) and I swear the ghost is going FAR faster than any car in this game should. I have noticed the computer cheating where they'll get hit and act like it didn't happen or you'll magically get hit by a projectile just as you hit the computer which constantly gets on my nerves. I've made it through most of the game just using Ulala, but I can feel it trying to force me to use a variety of other racers; I literally need to in order to win some of the BS races and I can't tell if this a good thing or a bad thing. Lastly, I was disappointed at the lack of levels, I started out being impressed when the first two cups had all different levels, but then got immediately disappointed when I learned that the 3rd cup and up were all repeats save for a few stages. What is also irritating is that they recycle the most mundane stages; instead of using the brilliantly lit All-Stars stage more than once it is only used one time, at the end of the game. The House of the Dead (while being a truly impressive stage) is only used twice and same can be said for the Burning Rangers stage and the Jet Set Radio Future stage. The level variety truly leaves something to be desired. The racers though are the high point of this game; I don't think there are enough from different series (there are too many Sonic racers), but I do like what variety they have. The racers stats can be modified by leveling them up and earning mods (including buying with stars earned from races console mods) and each racer has their own All-Star which is basically a super special that makes them faster, untouchable, and gives some a projectile; unfortunately, it seems Sega regrets their own decision because 98% of the racers have an All-Star rated of 1-3/5 which is kind of a boggling decision to me since this is something that this game has exclusively made on their own and I don't think it was bad one, so why make them crappy if you're going to include them? Overall, it's a fun game, if you can find for a decent price, get it and I think you'll have a good time.

Picked this up as one of my launch games for the Wii U. Initially there was a massive number of bugs/glitches, but after the first patch most of the issues were ironed out and great fun was all that followed.

There is lots to do from racing standard Grand Prix to the World Tour mode where you do individual events to gain stars and unlock playable characters. Both of these modes are fully playable in local multiplayer with up to 5 players.

The racing is tight, a bit closer to arcade racing than Mario Kart but along the same lines. Graphically the stages are nice and colourful, my only complaint was that I found the textures of the racers and their karts to be a little muddy. Sound, character selection and stage design are full of Sega nostalgia which was fantastic, though your average gamer is unlikely to recognize some of the more obscure games. Overall I've had a great time making my way through all the challenges this game has to offer. I've played through all of the events and am currently working on getting through them on Expert difficulty.

My wife and five year old son also greatly enjoyed this game. I don't know when the last time my wife and I spent so many hours working on a game together! My son, a junior gamer, has enjoyed this game immensely. Flying was tricky for him at first but the flight assist option was great!