offerings.Indeed,you’llracealonga
beachtowardssomewaterandget
excitedforsomespeedboataction,
onlytodiscoverthesecarsare‘only’
carsandeithersinkorsplashthrough
theshallows.
In solomode,therearesome
familiarOutRun 2 -styleminigames
(thisis madebySumoDigital,afterall)
likebreakingribbonsbetweenmoving
obstacles,aswellasring-collection
challenges,lamppostslalomsand
bot-smashingexercises.It’sdecently
entertaining,butjustdoesn’thave
thesamelevelofdesignqualitythat
Transformedstillexudes.
Onlinemodeis strong,offeringteam
andsolomatches,andalsocomes
witha funvotingsystemattheendof
eachrace,whereplayerscanpraise
others’noteworthyracestats.
In solo, seasoned kart racers will
spend most of their time playing on
Hard, as Normal is just too easy, and
you need to finish each race on Hard
before you can unlock the faster
‘Expert’ class. Trouble is, the Hard AI
often zooms away from the start line
and it takes a lot of luck, or supreme
use of the team mechanics, to reel
them back in. And when there are
several Grand Prix series to complete
throughout the Team Adventure
campaign, each comprising four
races, progress through the game
can be very slow if you run out of luck
in the last race and have to start the
whole series again. Similarly, trying
to get a cumulative 225 rings over
four races for one of the additional
‘key’ challenges, only to lose 70 rings
just before the finish line, is soul
destroying. There’s lots to do here, but
it isn’t all enjoyable.
Very strangely, the game appears
to run less smoothly on Hard difficulty.
Maybe it’s because there are fewer
things in front of you on Normal, but
there is definitely a difference. Both
Xbox One X and the base Xbox One
suffer from frame drops in busy areas,
but when Xbox One X is attempting full4K at 60fps, it would have been nice to
see an optional 1080p mode where it’s
super-smooth all the time.
A slightly disappointing game, then,
but Team Sonic Racing essentially
delivers a decent kart racing
experience. But when Sonic And All-
Stars Racing Transformed has better
track design, more varied visuals,
better fan service, three vehicle
types to enjoy and a greater variety of
minigames, this does feel like a step
backwards. It isn’t All-Stars Racing 3...
but it arguably should have been. ■ModS vS
StockerS
You can earn
upgrades for your
kart, boosting its
stats and changing
its appearance. You
do this by buying ‘mod
pods’ with in-game
currency (thankfully
there are no
microtransactions
here), and each
successful race
awardsyouenough
creditsto buya fewof
them.that said, don’t
forget to visit the mod
shop every now and
then,or you’llendup
with150-pluspushes
of theabuttonto sit
through.and no, you
probably won’t notice
the difference each
mod makes to your
kart’s handling.“Stran el the
ame appears
to run less
smoothly on
Hard difficulty”
lefttailspulls
out of Sonic’s
slipstream.not
only does that
provide a boost,
it also fills
the team’s
ultimategauge.
Belowdodon Pa
is a new
character, and
one of gaming’s
few prominent
tanuki.But is
he in league
witheggman?oXMverDict
a decent but
forgettable kart
racerthat’slacking
thevarietyof
all-Stars Racing.7
far leftthere’s
an emphasis on
team play, and
working together
will grant you
speed boosts.More Xbox news at gamesradar.com/oxm the officialxBox magazine 083