Sonic and All-Stars Racing Transformed blew me away. This decade-old kart racer absolutely holds up with the best of the best today, even if it does have a few shortfalls.
Upon jumping into grand prix, I was immediately floored by the gameplay. I’d expected a kart racer with basic transformations but did not expect the sheer impact of those changes. Taking to the skies and drifting while bending down on the Z-axis is a wild feeling. Dealing with the turbulence of waves and ripples while boating is a whole new ballgame as well. Yet enough control similarity transfers over that these changes don’t feel jarring. It’s a perfect match, and the transformation mechanic could keep things fresh on its own.
Adding to that freshness are the tracks. There are around 20 courses in this game, and a majority of them would be in my top 3 of any other kart-racing game. The courses themselves transform just as the karts do, with different stage effects and obstacles causing diversions and destruction as the race goes on. Shortcuts also abound, offering powerful item pickups and risky turns. It was surprising to me when two laps ended up on the same rails.
Character selection in this game is not just cosmetic, but offers different stats for each character. This might be frustrated for someone who feels like they’re being forced to play a football manager instead of Wreck-It Ralph, but I really enjoy this sort of thing. It gives unlocks meaning, and this game had better unlocks than most games I’ve played in the past ten years. It helps that the character roster is actually really stacked for a non-Nintendo roster.
The mandatory items in this game are… okay. There is some strategy to using them, and landing a well-placed snowball feels good, as does dodging a swarm of bees. On later stages in the game, though, the narrow tracks and plentiful items invite too much chaos. That on top of the impact of turbulence in the water can lead to games feeling like a crapshoot. I had to swap characters to up my ‘Handling’ stat as high as possible just to place in the top three.
Luckily, the race placement is balanced against all of the above, and even placing in fourth or fifth is not unrecoverable in grand prix. The balance isn’t perfect, but it’ll do. My time in matchmaking was also a negative. I’m not sure how people manage to go as fast as they do on these courses, and it makes me feel like I don’t understand the game. It didn’t help that the servers are very uncrowded. Quibbles aside, my complaints don’t mar one of the better kart racers I’ve ever played.
Verdict: Placed first in all grand prix (excepting the mirror mode versions), 3 hours played
Kyle Adams 