sonic all stars racing transformed characters

#Sonic all stars racing transformed characters full#

The 'host' ultimately declares when the race will begin - at which point participants vote to choose between two random tracks - and in our experience they were incredibly impatient, irritating individuals.Īs the game bizarrely assigns you a random character when you go online - rather than, say, the one you used most recently in single player - you have to select your character before the race starts. On the one hand the small group of players hanging around the servers are matched up very quickly, which is particularly welcome on 3DS, yet the developers made the mistake of giving the gamers complete power over when the race starts. Online multiplayer is key, of course, and it offers a distinctly mixed experience. While it's nice to include the option for those without the game to try it out, in this case it feels mean-spirited and rather irrelevant, especially as it won't even throw in some bots to fill out the roster.

#Sonic all stars racing transformed characters full#

Local multiplayer is included with a full mode for those that own the game, and a borderline pointless Download Play option - the latter only allows one track to be played over and over-again, with no choice of characters. All of these activities, and various acts in races, earn XP for the character you're using, which in turn opens up new pre-sets to focus your racer on speed, handling, acceleration etc the chase to the next level for your favourite character undoubtedly serves as motivation to ace all of these modes and options.Īs would be expected of a title such as this, multiplayer is an important feature. That'll take around half a dozen hours to blast through, and there's then the standard racing fare of five Grand Prix tournaments to defeat and unlock - for those that just want to race without any special rules - as well as Time Attack and Single Race modes Time Attack picks up lessons from its peers, with staff ghosts to race and defeat.

While the sheer volume of rounds sees you revisiting tracks multiple times, the different requirements and adjustments to rules - from racing with single items to speed-boosting against a time limit - keep things fresh. Three difficulty levels determine how many stars you win, and only those that master the hard difficulty on all tracks will ultimately collect every unlockable character - for those less-skilled, progress to the end of the 5th world can be made with a mix of normal and easy completions. World Tour is perhaps where most single players will spend their time, an enjoyable progression along branched paths in the quest of completing challenges and earning stars. When you include a broad range of characters - many to be unlocked in the World Tour - along with a couple of slightly peculiar cameos, you have the foundations of a terrific racer. The track design truly is a triumph in most cases, with almost all being themed to classic - and occasionally more obscure - SEGA franchises, so that fans of the spiky-one's studio can rejoice in all of the loving references being thrown their way.

We have a substantial range of single player modes and those thoroughly enjoyable tracks, where switching from car to boat to plane is an exciting idea that's - for the most part - excellently done. Unfortunately, round pegs have been forced into square holes for this 3DS iteration, with disappointing results.Īside from menu layouts, the similarities with the Wii U version are striking. Yet the gulf in technology is such that re-creating the same experience on the 3DS should be considered a mistake, and a greater focus should go on utilising the handheld's strengths. The console versions of this title, including the one on Wii U, did a wonderful job of combining healthy portions of fan service with thrilling racing action. Sonic & All Stars Racing Transformed on 3DS has a tough job, as it's following up on what some may regard as a surprise commercial and critical success.