Review
Played on: Xbox Series X
Released: 2019
Setting aside the multiple Sega characters aspect of the Sonic Racing All-Stars series, Sumo Digital have focused on cooperative team racing in Team Sonic Racing. This series is Sega's answer to Nintendo's massively popular Mario Kart franchise.
I quite enjoyed the earlier Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed, review here, and finally decided to pick this one up on a tempting sale recently. There’s always some fun to be had drifting about as a favourite Sonic character while attacking your opponents with some weapon pickups.
Released: 2019
Setting aside the multiple Sega characters aspect of the Sonic Racing All-Stars series, Sumo Digital have focused on cooperative team racing in Team Sonic Racing. This series is Sega's answer to Nintendo's massively popular Mario Kart franchise.
I quite enjoyed the earlier Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed, review here, and finally decided to pick this one up on a tempting sale recently. There’s always some fun to be had drifting about as a favourite Sonic character while attacking your opponents with some weapon pickups.
Let's take a look at Sonic's latest racer!
The basic concept of Team Sonic Racing is that it’s a team effort to win the races. In other words, it’s the added points of the three racers placings at the end of the race that determines if you’ve won. So, one team might have first place, but the other two racers have bad placings, yet your team wins as it has 2, 3 and fourth place. It’s a cool way of focusing on getting the whole team at good placings, not so fun if there’s a gap of player skill within the team.
Added to the team effort is the style of each racer within a team. There’s one speed racer, one technique racer and one powerful racer. In Sonics team that translates to Sonic being the fastest, Tails is the manoeuvrable one, with middle ground speed, while Knuckles is the tank like characters that can push his way forward, but he’s also the slowest.
Cool idea, while not quite at the same level as Mario Karts Double Dash on the GameCube which featured one player driving and one player shooting as a super cool element. My gripe with Team Sonic Racing is its simple approach to pickups. There are only a few weapons available, they’re underwhelming to shoot and are far in-between on each lap.
Added to the team effort is the style of each racer within a team. There’s one speed racer, one technique racer and one powerful racer. In Sonics team that translates to Sonic being the fastest, Tails is the manoeuvrable one, with middle ground speed, while Knuckles is the tank like characters that can push his way forward, but he’s also the slowest.
Cool idea, while not quite at the same level as Mario Karts Double Dash on the GameCube which featured one player driving and one player shooting as a super cool element. My gripe with Team Sonic Racing is its simple approach to pickups. There are only a few weapons available, they’re underwhelming to shoot and are far in-between on each lap.
There's a super ability, which is powered up by teammates racing in the yellow race line wake of their teammate who is furthest ahead. When the super is activated, all three racers speed ahead and can knock into other competitors or drive past dangers on the road without consequences.
This may leave room for some serious tactics if you're three human players on one team, however, playing with the A.I. on your team, it’s a frustrating affair. Be it both bad placings by your teammates, or their non-tactic approach to using weapons. There’s something non-engaging about the team effort with A.I. teammates. You’ll often be annoyed that your teammates aren’t doing well or, even worse, tournaments where each placing will be added together as a total at the end.
Woven between races, needed to unlock progress of the main campaign, are cheaply presented story segments. Only presented with text boxes, missing the target young audience completely. The story hardly goes anywhere and is stupid at best.
The campaign races are tough, even on normal. Equally frustrating, are the extra events that don’t focus on racing at all: drifting for rings, speeding past score point gates or shooting robots on the track. These events are so brutally hard in their time schedule, I failed almost all of them.
This may leave room for some serious tactics if you're three human players on one team, however, playing with the A.I. on your team, it’s a frustrating affair. Be it both bad placings by your teammates, or their non-tactic approach to using weapons. There’s something non-engaging about the team effort with A.I. teammates. You’ll often be annoyed that your teammates aren’t doing well or, even worse, tournaments where each placing will be added together as a total at the end.
Woven between races, needed to unlock progress of the main campaign, are cheaply presented story segments. Only presented with text boxes, missing the target young audience completely. The story hardly goes anywhere and is stupid at best.
The campaign races are tough, even on normal. Equally frustrating, are the extra events that don’t focus on racing at all: drifting for rings, speeding past score point gates or shooting robots on the track. These events are so brutally hard in their time schedule, I failed almost all of them.
Sure, I may not be an expert Sonic racer, but damn, I’ve played a lot for racing games through the years and could hardly stand a chance against these. Please add an easy mode to a child orientated title like this, it's devastatingly hard. At least Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed had an easy option for each race.
Unlocking car parts, mods and new racers is an equally annoying affair of endless grinding. It’s an extremely mean unlock system, that most players will never be close to unlocking everything.
Visually it has a fair share of charming, Sonic-inspired, roadside detail and animations, with a really colourful palette, although somewhat cluttered. There’s a bit too much going on. The actual tracks have nice variety visually, although not much has happened since the last Sonic racing game, and sadly feature none of the transforming racetrack and racing vehicle stuff.
Unlocking car parts, mods and new racers is an equally annoying affair of endless grinding. It’s an extremely mean unlock system, that most players will never be close to unlocking everything.
Visually it has a fair share of charming, Sonic-inspired, roadside detail and animations, with a really colourful palette, although somewhat cluttered. There’s a bit too much going on. The actual tracks have nice variety visually, although not much has happened since the last Sonic racing game, and sadly feature none of the transforming racetrack and racing vehicle stuff.
Bonus points for it running at 60fps, it was optimised for the Xbox One X back in 2019. Naturally, no updates to the current generation of consoles, then again, it’s already 4K@60fps, so not really needed. Split screen is also 60fps, but 3 and 4 four player drops to a 30fps, just like Mario Kart 8.
I left frustrated and disappointed that a game that plays well, looks nice and features some neat Sonic designed levels and characters, could overall offer such a steep and ruthless learning curve. It could've been a perfect game for families, all collaborating for one team, yet it only punishes the less experienced players, and thus stopping people from progressing.
I left frustrated and disappointed that a game that plays well, looks nice and features some neat Sonic designed levels and characters, could overall offer such a steep and ruthless learning curve. It could've been a perfect game for families, all collaborating for one team, yet it only punishes the less experienced players, and thus stopping people from progressing.
In general, I found Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed just to be the better game, it's more varied, has more unique racetracks and transforming vehicles. Just overall the better game. On console Transformed looks quite rough these days though, but it's readily available on Steam for PC, supporting splitscreen too.
Is Team Sonic Racing about fun with family and friends, or some attempt at appealing only to hardcore racing elitists?
Is Team Sonic Racing about fun with family and friends, or some attempt at appealing only to hardcore racing elitists?
