Digital PS3 version played.
Got this yesterday and given it a fair bit of a playthrough, thought I'd post some early impressions. Note that I am not a kart racing connoisseur, I don't know how this compares with Mario Kart 7. I'm simply playing this as someone who loves Sonic and Sega games, and rather liked the original game.
So far, I think the game is excellent. Despite the 'Sonic' name in the title, this game is really for anybody who loves all things Sega. It's a massive piece of Sega fanservice that makes you wonder if you have to pass some kind of 'Sega fan' test to get a job at Sumo Digital. Everything suddenly makes sense when you get to the Panzer Dragoon-themed stage and you realise exactly who this game is made for. The game contains themed stages for everything from After Burner to Skies of Arcadia, complete with music remixed by Richard Jacques.
The game basically plays like the original game, although the influence of the new staff members from Bizarre Creations is clear - it plays like a happy medium between a kart racer, and the kind of arcade racers we've come to love from both Sega and Sumo. The twist is obviously the different transportation types - car, boat and plane. This makes for some extremely imaginative track designs, with each lap managing to be completely different to the last due to the way the track transforms.
Plenty here for the single player gamer like me. There is a massive World Tour mode where you gradually unlock levels and characters, and also gain XP for each individual racer as well as different handling customisations. This consists of various different types of event, from the standard racing to drift challenges and the like. There's also a Grand Prix mode that seems similar to the campaign modes in the Mario Kart games and is straight-up racing. I've not tested the game in mutliplayer, though the game supposedly supports 4 player local multiplayer (5 players in the WiiU version) using the 'Custom Game' mode. There's also the mandatory Time Attack and Single Race modes. The game is also surprisingly difficult in single player mode, you can't just cruise through the game expecting to get 1st place in every race.
The only real negative I can level at the game is the framerate, which appears to be capped at 30fps. Sumo have said that this is because of the water physics, and that's fair enough, but there are times when the game appears to be struggling to maintain 30fps, and screen tearing is present. It's not surprising - the game is throwing a crazy amount of stuff around the screen at once, and the game engine is clearly struggling. It is absolutely not game-changing, but it is very noticeable in this game (probably moreso than in other 30fps games). It'll be interesting to see if the PC version will be able to run at 60fps. I'm also not a massive fan of the boost mechanic, though I'm prepared to put this down to my own lack of skill. It is basically the same as in the original game.
Overall, it seems like an excellent game, a true example of 'blue skies' gaming. As a single player gamer, I typically find it difficult to justify buying a racing game, but this is a great.
Got this yesterday and given it a fair bit of a playthrough, thought I'd post some early impressions. Note that I am not a kart racing connoisseur, I don't know how this compares with Mario Kart 7. I'm simply playing this as someone who loves Sonic and Sega games, and rather liked the original game.
So far, I think the game is excellent. Despite the 'Sonic' name in the title, this game is really for anybody who loves all things Sega. It's a massive piece of Sega fanservice that makes you wonder if you have to pass some kind of 'Sega fan' test to get a job at Sumo Digital. Everything suddenly makes sense when you get to the Panzer Dragoon-themed stage and you realise exactly who this game is made for. The game contains themed stages for everything from After Burner to Skies of Arcadia, complete with music remixed by Richard Jacques.
The game basically plays like the original game, although the influence of the new staff members from Bizarre Creations is clear - it plays like a happy medium between a kart racer, and the kind of arcade racers we've come to love from both Sega and Sumo. The twist is obviously the different transportation types - car, boat and plane. This makes for some extremely imaginative track designs, with each lap managing to be completely different to the last due to the way the track transforms.
Plenty here for the single player gamer like me. There is a massive World Tour mode where you gradually unlock levels and characters, and also gain XP for each individual racer as well as different handling customisations. This consists of various different types of event, from the standard racing to drift challenges and the like. There's also a Grand Prix mode that seems similar to the campaign modes in the Mario Kart games and is straight-up racing. I've not tested the game in mutliplayer, though the game supposedly supports 4 player local multiplayer (5 players in the WiiU version) using the 'Custom Game' mode. There's also the mandatory Time Attack and Single Race modes. The game is also surprisingly difficult in single player mode, you can't just cruise through the game expecting to get 1st place in every race.
The only real negative I can level at the game is the framerate, which appears to be capped at 30fps. Sumo have said that this is because of the water physics, and that's fair enough, but there are times when the game appears to be struggling to maintain 30fps, and screen tearing is present. It's not surprising - the game is throwing a crazy amount of stuff around the screen at once, and the game engine is clearly struggling. It is absolutely not game-changing, but it is very noticeable in this game (probably moreso than in other 30fps games). It'll be interesting to see if the PC version will be able to run at 60fps. I'm also not a massive fan of the boost mechanic, though I'm prepared to put this down to my own lack of skill. It is basically the same as in the original game.
Overall, it seems like an excellent game, a true example of 'blue skies' gaming. As a single player gamer, I typically find it difficult to justify buying a racing game, but this is a great.
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