Wireframe 2019

wfmag.cc \ 61

Review

Rated

Review

Does teamwork make the dream(cast) work?

hen you’re already the fastest

thing alive, putting Sonic in a

car is ironically the only way to

give other competitors a fair

chance in a race. As further

rebalance, Team Sonic Racing requires you race

in teams of three, meaning there’s more to the

game than simply crossing the finishing line first.

Of course, first place will still net a lot of points,

but it won’t secure victory if your teammates

end up eating everyone else’s dust. Fortunately,

developer Sumo Digital introduces some helpful

mechanics. Racers in the lead leave a yellow trail

their lagging teammates can

use as a Slingshot to catch

up, while simply driving past

a teammate who’s been spun

out by a rival’s dastardly item

is enough to propel them back

into breakneck velocity.

Speaking of items, these take the form of

Wisps from Sonic Colors, and can be offered to

another teammate – which in turn upgrade,

so a single rocket you give away may turn into

three rockets. Performing these team actions

also builds up your Ultimate meter, which when

activated gives your whole team a huge speed

boost and invincibility for a precious few seconds

• that’s enough to turn around a race.
  Complementing these team mechanics are
  the different racing types, and some well-
  considered course design, with wide lanes and
  multiple routes, that give you good reasons not
  to just pick a speed type like Sonic each time.
  For instance, terrain like sand or water won’t

slow down technique types like Tails, while power

types like Knuckles can smash through obstacles,

which in both cases open up new shortcuts.

If your teammates are following behind you, they

can also ride on the back of your Slingshot trail

to take advantage of these routes.

How well it all holds together is, however, at

the whim of the AI companions you’re trying to

manage. You might be driving ahead leaving a

perfectly straight line, only to check your rear

camera to find your teammate not making use

of Slingshotting at all since they’re driving on the

other side, and you can offer all the items you

can, but it’s out of your control

whether anyone makes any

effective use of them.

When playing with other

humans, text prompts and

audio cues do at least make

co-op easy to read without

the need for voice chat. You can even sack off

teams altogether and just play locally or online in

single races. But while this is perfectly functional,

gutting the teamplay means there’s little else to

distinguish Team Sonic from other kart racers.

The biggest disappointment is that unlike

Sumo’s previous racing entries, this one relies

purely on characters in the Sonic universe,

resulting in a meagre roster of 15 racers that’s

already scraping the barrel (Big the Cat? That

crocodile from Chaotix? Really?). Given the

welcome resurgence of Sega’s brand in recent

years, stopping the ‘All-Stars’ fan service ride is

a missed opportunity that its new emphasis on

teamwork can’t quite make up for.

Team Sonic Racing

W

VERDICT

A fast and fun kart racer

but its team-based novelty

won’t challenge Mario Kart

anytime soon.

60 %

GENRE

Racing

FORMAT

PS4 (tested) / XBO /

Switch / PC

DEVELOPER

Sumo Digital

PUBLISHER

Sega

PRICE

£34.99

RELEASE

Out now

Info

Review

Rated

REVIEWED BY

Alan Wen

HIGHLIGHT

While Mario Kart has been content

with just letting players race,

Team Sonic Racing at least

contains a story mode. Its branching

structure offers a good variety of

objectives such as time-based

challenges and a survival mode

where the last racers of each lap are

eliminated. The actual story may be

a load of hokum, but you can skip

these scenes altogether.

“How well it all holds

together is at the

whim of your AI

companions”

 Even without the new team

boosts, drift boosts and

performing flips in the air

are solid mechanics to keep

you in the fast lane.