Being Sonic is pretty tough nowadays. You’re under constant criticism for your latest games, fans screaming for a fancier return to oldschool play; and when you finally do go back to that, they take a look at the first trailer and run off crying because it doesn’t “look right.”

If that wasn’t bad enough, the bosses want you to pull overtime playing sports with all their other properties. You know Mario has already done this — everyone knows Mario has already done this — but you have no other choice but to keep your mouth shut as the mediocre SEGA All-Star Tennis is released. Now they want you to get in a car for the first time since the Game Gear’s Sonic Drift. What’s a blue blur to do?

When it’s Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing, maybe you just slam the pedal to the floor and go with it. The ride may not be as bad as you expect.

Is All-Stars Racing a knockoff of the Mario Kart series? Absolutely; but what kart-style racer isn’t? It’s why the term “kart-style” even exists. All-Stars Racing doesn’t try to hide this fact. Expect speed boosts, drift boosts, green projectiles that travel straight and bounce of walls, red projectiles that home in on enemies… You can even expect to be traveling along rickety wooden planks on one track and boost across a conveniently-placed shortcut gap to appear on the other side right near the finish line. No ghosts, though. That would just be tacky.

No ghosts, but perhaps some zombies. BRAINS!

But even if a game possesses similarities, they can be forgivable if it’s done well and injects its own flavor. Thankfully, All-Stars Racing delivers on both fronts.

The game’s mechanics are well executed, with responsive controls and tracks that make you feel thankful for the fact without being overly technical. Drifting doesn’t always serve as an instant turn, with corners sometimes demanding you to feather or let go of the gas a bit to navigate through. You have to pay attention, making the game feel more involved and intelligent without taking away from the game’s arcade-like appeal.

Another intelligent move lies in the game’s use of catch-up tactics. There is an element that will often keep some racers close to you on the track, but there were extremely few times I was laid to waste right next to the finish line in what felt like underhandedly granted AI attacks. Also, while one or two computer-controlled racers tend to stay near the top of the rankings during a cup circuit, they do not constantly stay there, making you feel less like you have to dominate every
course for a chance to win. Overall, it’s challenging yet fair — much more than Mario Kart Wii can feel.

The 24 tracks are overall nicely designed, some giving a fly-by sense of speed that hearkens back to the tracks of the SEGA-made F-Zero GX. Yet while there’s not much to complain about the layouts, the choice in aesthetics is a bit odd. The tracks are spread out in threes across eight different “worlds.” That is to say there are three tracks based around Sonic’s Seaside Hill, three in and around House of the Dead’s Curien’s Mansion, three from Super Monkey Ball and so on. These individual tracks are different enough from their brethren to merit racing on them, but in a game that incorporates 20 different SEGA characters, why do the tracks not showcase more properties? There are three spacestation-looking environs from Eggman’s Final Fortress, but you can’t take Ulala through anything from Space Channel 5? There are three cityscapes from Jet Grind Radio Future’s Tokyo-to but you can’t run BD Joe’s crazy taxi through his own city? These are missed opportunities.

Filled with all sorts of your Sega favourites. Wait... is that Billy Hatcher?

The characters themselves, however, feel well represented, placed either in vehicles native to their games or in complementary creations. The vehicles have tangible differences in aspects such as acceleration, handling and time to build up a drift boost, which adds to the differentiation of the characters themselves. All the voices are there, although some characters’ lines do feel like they were lifted fully from their games. You could consider the in-game announcer his own character as well. At times cheesy, he’s still a fun addition to the game, providing some relevant information on what’s happening to racers on the track and often interjecting some personalized digs.

Perhaps the most fun addition to the game are the characters’ individual “all-star attacks,” items you tend to pick up while back in the pack that serve as racebreakers to regain position. The race music becoming drowned out by the theme of whomever’s been powered up and you’ll start checking the rear-view mirror to see whether, say, Amy’s coming up on you with a giant hammer or Ryo’s aiming to smash you with his forklift. It adds some frantic slapstick to the race without being overbearing.

Outside standard racing, a set of missions provides some additional single-player activities, although there are no rewards for them save “SEGA Miles,” the in-game currency. Miles are accrued through just about every form of play and can be used to unlock characters, tracks and music. In a nod to Smash Bros. Melee, all music is taken from other games, and newly purchased singles can be selected on the tracks for which they were meant to be played. However, there is no music outside of the games represented in course form. SEGA fans may also appreciate the separate in-game achievements with throwbacks to titles such as Afterburner and Streets of Rage.

Multiplayer options include online and splitscreen with several modes including standard race, knockout and battle. A few relatively nondescript arenas were thrown in as well, but seem somewhat of an afterthought.

So what I’m really trying to say is…
While Sonic’s forays into other realms may not always be successful, Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing stands out as a delightfully capable, good-looking and — most importantly — fun kart racer. The SEGA brand shines through well with the only real complaint being the want of more of it.

Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing was developed by Sumo Digital and published by SEGA. The game is now available for Wii, PS3, Xbox 360 and DS (DS version is significantly different from console versions). Review based on approximately 10 hours play with Wii version of the game. I don’t care what you think, SEGA — Big the Cat is not an all-star.