It’s easy to create a kart style racing game. Toss a bunch of characters together, make the track colorful, add some power-ups and make the physics more cartoon-based. Often these games rely on a gimmick to set themselves apart, and Sonic And Sega All-Stars Racing Transformed isn’t above that. What it does offer, however, is a solid game underneath that gimmick, which in this case is a cast of characters from various Sega games and vehicles that transform according to the conditions of the race.
Courses aren’t all one thing – most kart style racers are wheel-based, with some taking place in the water or more rarely in the air. Sonic And Sega All-Stars Racing Transformed features courses that will feature all three elements and the vehicles will automatically change according to the course. This is done automatically, which only reinforces the “kart” nature of the racing.
A long list of characters is present, starting off with a bevy of Sonic related ones of course. Then we get B.D. from Crazy Taxi, Ai Ai from the Super Monkey Ball franchise, Nights, and even characters from games that have long been forgotten other than by older gamers still waiting for sequels such as Space Channel 5’s Ulala and Vyse from Skies Of Arcadia. Real life race star Danica Patrick and fictional game star (as in not actually a video game character, but one made up for a movie about a video game character) Wreck-It Ralph.
And now we get to my problem with Sonic And Sega All-Stars Racing Transformed. And it’s a big one. There are courses based on a number of different Sega properties. Sonic is naturally one of the inspirations for race courses, and I didn’t expect to see Panzer Dragoon but it makes sense. Of course Super Monkey Ball, Jest Set Radio and Outrun are also the basis for several tracks. What bothers me is the course based on House Of The Dead. This one items turns a kid-friendly game the whole family can play into something that most parents will not want their younger kids to play.
If you’re not familiar with House Of The Dead, the bulk of the franchise is a first person shooter where players go up against zombies. Plenty of blood and other gruesome images are on tap. These are great fun, and I really like the franchise, but it is inappropriate for a game such as Sonic And Sega All-Stars Racing Transformed. Sega made Typing Of The Dead and Pinball Of The Dead offshoots, both of which were solid. If Sega really wanted to create a racing game based on House Of The Dead, I’m sure it could have been done, but it just should not have been included here.
I should probably discuss the experience the characters get in order to increase their racing abilities over time. There’s also a silly slot machine type of reward thing for coins to collect to enter All-Star Mode or something. It’s just too complicated for what should have been a fun basic family friendly racing game.
Get it if you have older kids. Skip it if younger ones would be playing.