Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed

Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed may have the most unfortunate name in gaming's recent history, but that doesn't stop it from being truly fantastic. This is easily my favorite kart racer of the generation, slightly outdoing its predecessor in both form, and sheer content. Sega fans will love it. Kart racing fans will have a blast, and gamers in general should really appreciate the love poured into this game. The price is right, the game is fun and anyone who enjoys a good time should definitely check out this amazing racer.

Transformed should not be missed by anyone who truly values a fun, exceptionally well crafted racing game.

Sumo Digital has managed to create a cart racer that steps out of the shadow of Mario Kart and proudly stands beside it as an equal. The character gallery might not be as strong and sometimes the difficulty is almost too high, but Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed is without a doubt the best cart racer of the year and one of the best additions to the genre of all times.

I can look at it from any angle I want. I can detract that SEGA fan bonus, I can play this with people who have no idea what a Dreamcast is and this still is the pinnacle of what this sub-genre has to offer. Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed reaches new heights, challengingly smiling down on Mario Kart.

Devilishly hard, but also very rewarding. Sharp controls, sugary colours, plentiful fan service and for the most part highly successful track designs combine to make one excellent arcade racer. [Jan 2013]

Despite its goofy title and questionable marketing tie-ins, Sonic and All-Stars Racing Transformed deserves to be taken seriously... just not too seriously. It's a fun, challenging, and easily enjoyable racing game that uses a lot of familiar mechanics and ideas but knows well enough to try and do its own thing. And it does that thing pretty well.

Yes, this game retails for $40ish instead of the typical $60 of other big-budget titles, and that's a fantastic deal for a game that, despite a few personal quibbles, would have been well worth the full price of admission.

It's a balanced and entertaining racer, then, but above all else, Transformed is incredible fan service.

Here are all of the great songs and stars, flush with bright colors and silly in-jokes. It's all of my fond memories without any of the overwhelming disappointment of actually revisiting them.

Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed is a remarkable title that takes three types of racing genres and somehow successfully combines them in such a way that your heart will vigorously pound with excitement, while your adrenaline enriched soul will never tire of the lush environments and epic races.

Dethroning Mario Kart is an amazing achievement in and of itself, and in that Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed succeeds. It does this as a gorgeous homage with big and small characters from SEGA's franchises, with great courses and gameplay. It's not hard to be impressed by this lovingly crafted, expansive arcade racer.

If you're looking for a karting game that seriously goes beyond Mario Kart than Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed ticks all the right boxes and enhances the genre considerably. It's just a fun game that contains a strong single-player mode and some great online options. The levelling system works but more importantly, the gameplay is almost flawless.

Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed doesn't depend on your nostalgia to be enjoyable. The core of the gameplay, the racing, is fast, fun, and easy to get into.

Is Racing Transformed perfect? Not by a long shot. But it's every bit as engrossing and addictive as many of the Sega classics it mines for inspiration, and that's a phenomenal accomplishment in itself.

With good looking visuals, solid sound, and gameplay that manages to buck the trend of "boring" or "childish" as it offers up challenge and reward, All-Stars Transformed is a game that many should not overlook as you'd be crazy to ignore all the good that it brings.

It's manages to show its own personality, and offers loads of content supported by a great gameplay. Highly recommended if we want to play with friends or family, and on the top of that, its reduced price is something many players will appreciate.

A great sequel packed with action. [Jan 2013, p.70]

The Sega style is clearly visible in Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed, both graphically and gameplay-wise, which stands as a solid example of arcade kart racing. Even with some imperfections in the power-up organization and the track design this remains maybe the best choice among the Mario Kart adversaries.

Transformed is one of the best fun-racers in recent months and a classy alternative to Mario Kart, whose dominance is crumbling away. Without the frame-rate problems during split-screen races the speeding hedgehog might even have outpaced the racing plumber.

Delivers huge value at a generous price: $40. If all you want is racing, you might be disappointed when you learn everything that awaits you, but it's easy to appreciate the wealth of multiplayer options, the smart gameplay and design, and how well it all comes together.

A gorgeous arcade racer with loads of characters, circuits and options to choose from.

A brilliant sequel that compares favourably to Mario Kart in the mascot racer stakes, Sonic & All-Stars Racing: Transformed might be hard as nails, but it's a kart racer that's all kinds of fun in multiplayer and proves a rewarding romp played alone. Sharper than a cyber razor cut, to be this good takes AGES.

Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed respects and reproduces its source material with such precision that it'll leave Sega fans desperately clinging to the foolish belief that we'll get proper Nights or Burning Rangers sequels one day. On its own merits Transformed is a competent racer with a great drift mechanic, and the dynamically shifting carts and tracks are a solid contribution to an otherwise homogenous genre.

Out of three recently released karting games – other two being F1 Racing Stars and LittleBigPlanet Karting – this is the best one, especially if you look at them through the eyes of a real gamer. [1/2013, p.70]

Finally a real strong competitor to Mario Kart outside of Nintendo platforms: Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed joins a simple and very intuitive control system to a varied and always entertaining gameplay, with great characters cast and inspired track design.

A great little racer with some excellent track design and a pretty unique feel to its racing. It's just a shame it's a tiny bit too punishing in places, with a multiplayer that doesn't quite match up to its single player.

Sumo Digital has done a superb job creating a kart game that works. It may suffer from a lack of originality, but the game is definitely worth your attention. Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed could have been another mediocre attempt at a kart racer, but its solid controls, plethora of modes and unlockables, and iconic characters allow it to shine on its own podium.

Transformed is the perfect arcade racer for those that feel left out by Forza and Need for Speed's latest open-world, multiplayer focused outings. Sega has cherry-picked the best elements of kart racers and applied it to the best arcade racing games to create a sleeper hit that's great fan service and great fun.

Does Sonic's latest racing romp transform the genre? Not really. But it is an enjoyable mishmash of many elements, and a delightful treat that does much more with the Mario Kart template than even Mario Kart itself has managed to do in a long time.

Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed is a great variation of the kart-racing theme, and it holds its own against the Mario Kart series. I'd recommend it to not only the few remaining die-hard Sega fans out there, but also anyone who's itching for a more fantastical approach to arcade racing.

A game that celebrates the HD-era Sega rather than the old, forgotten one. Good job it's such a blast to play, then.

A big bonus to Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing Transformed is that up to ten players race against each other online, either in arena game modes or your usual races.

Blue skies, great control and a real challenge - Transformed has all the hallmarks of one of the classic Sega games it brilliantly celebrates. Still, the less devoted may find it too playful for a hardcore racer, or too hardcore for a playful one. [Issue#93, p.81]

Sonic once again tries to race against Mario with this fun and interesting kart game. Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed comes very close to his rival, thanks to a cartoonish graphical style, an astounding gameplay and some brilliant ideas. Unfortunately some minor issues slow the game down.

Anyway, SASRT can be dug if you're charmed by the casual racer subgenre, and if you're a Sega fan especially. Ah, and I've forgotten to address the last word of this game's damn long title. Your rig can change into a boat or a plane once you go through the right rings. I'm only addressing this because I have to. It's done well and adds a nice layer of complexity (especially since you can seek out these rings early on for an advantage). Does it really transform the game? Sure. More importantly, Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed could have stood alone without it and still be a fun $40 ride.

Despite badly thought through bonus items and tedious parts of the stages with boats, this is an improvement over the previous game in every single way. This is highly recommended multiplayer madness for both offline and online gaming.