Sonic’s first kart racing game was Sonic Drift on the Sega Game Gear in 1994
Team Sonic Racing
If onlySonIc had theIdea to get out and run...Justintowell
Publisher Sega / DeveloPer Sumo Digital / releaseDateout now / cost £34.99/$39.99
canalwaysbeslingshottingeach
othertowardsthewin.
Ofcourse,it’snotthatsimple.
Thereareweaponsin theshapeof
‘wisps’frompreviousSonictitles,
whichofferfamiliaroffensiveoptions
likehomingmissiles,speedboosts
andbombs,amongothers.Cleverly,
insteadofdiscardingweaponsyou
don’tneed,youcanofferthemto
yourteammates,andalsorequest
anitemif you’rein trouble,using
theB button.Thissystemworks
nicely,andthere’splentytoreward
cleverteamplay,likeultimateteam
boostsandspinrecoveryboosts
afterfriendlycollisions.Thewhole
systemcouldhavegonedeeper
withcharacter-specificteam-up
moves,butit’scomplicatedenough
tonewcomers,andkartracersneed
accessibilityaboveallelse.Asit is,
localmultiplayersplit-screenracing
is plentyoffun,evenif therather
ambiguouswispiconsmeannobody
knowswhatweaponsthey’reholding.Youarenotlooking
atSonic& All-Stars
Racing 3 , even
thoughit comesfrom
therightdeveloper
andlooksvery
similar.Insteadthisis a newracing
gamesetsolelyin theSonicuniverse.
Theprospectofspendinghoursin
thecompanyofSonic’sfriendsmay
soundlikehell,butactuallyit’sall
reasonablygoodfun,andthere’sa
nicemessageunderpinningit all,and
that’sthepowerofteamwork.
It takes the drift-tastic template of
the All-Stars Racing games and adds
in a new layer of boost moves based
around teams of three characters.
Whichever one of your team is leading
the group leaves behind a coloured
slipstream trail. Drive inside this and
your character stores up power, which
gives you a burst of extra speed when
you steer into clean air. Seeing as
someone is always leading your group
of racers, that means skilful teams
Children we gave it to did have a
great time, though one gave it 1/10
because they came last.
For all the Sonic references, there’s
very little nostalgic content, aside
from some older music tracks and the
appearance of Team Chaotix which
debuted on the 32X many, many
moons ago. Still, it’s definitely a less
fan-pleasing game, and the lack of
NiGHTS, Space Channel 5, Jet Set Radio
and the rest is very apparent. The
characters at least talk to each other
mid-race, referencing old rivalries
and friendships, and you hear more
soundbites as you try your hand at
different characters.Tails’ incessant,
“Acceleratingis exhilarating!”remarkis
dreadful,though.
While there are three different
vehicle types, their differences are
underplayed, making little difference
whichever character you choose. The
overly busy track design is nowhere
near as memorable as Sega All-
Stars Racing Transformed’s superbshort
cutwhatis it?
the third
Sega-themed racing
game from Sumo
Digital, althoughthis
one’sSoniconly.
what’sit like?
it’svery,verysimilar
tonintendo’smario
Kart 8, only with Sonic
andteammoves.
who’sitfor?
everyone likes a good
kart racer. But
younger, modern
Sonic fans will enjoy
this most.082 the officialxBox magazine
revIew