Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing DEMO First Impressions (360)

I had my reservations about Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing. I still do. It’s rather easy to write off anything featuring Sonic’s troubled mascot, but I’m pleased to report that, after playing the Xbox 360 demo (available now on Xbox Live), it may not be so easy this time. All-Stars Racing is actually pretty solid judging by the demo.

The demo gives access only to Sonic and Banjo & Kazooie as racers, but there will be a number of Sega characters in the retail product, including Ryu (Shenmue), Ulala (Space Channel 5), Beat (Jet Set Radio) and Billy Hatcher (Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg). I must say, it was really nice seeing all these favorites in one spot. I’ve heard that Toe Jam & Earl may even be included as downloadable characters (agreements with the duo’s creator pending). Everyone looks great and drives a themed vehicle.

The only open course, Lost Palace, is reminiscent of 16-bit Sonic games and looks absolutely terrific. The bright, vibrant colors are sure to catch anyone’s eye. The music was equally wonderful, and invoked childhood memories of playing my Sega Genesis. The course design was fairly decent, with some nice turns, an impressive loop, fun jumps and crab Badnik hazards. I’m willing to bet that this is an early or “easy” course as there wasn’t much action, but I enjoyed my time on the track.

All-Stars Racing plays a lot like Nintendo’s Mario Kart series, and I’m noting this not only as a point of reference, but also as a compliment. The track was littered with boosts, and more importantly, weapon bubbles which offer a random assortment of powerups, including Sonic’s shoes for a speed boost and spring-loaded boxing gloves for an offensive assault. I must say, I wasn’t terribly impressed with the selection of weapons. This may be the only complaint I can level at the demo, but they seemed so routine except for the All-Star weapon, which grants your racer a unique power. In the demo, Sonic’s All-Star item was a Chaos Emerald which gave him a speed boost, and Banjo & Kazooie’s was the magic wrench from Nuts and Bolts, which gave the bird and bear the ability to rain giant Jiggies all over the track.

Now, on the other hand, the demo didn’t seem as concerned with weapons as Mario Kart is. Surprisingly, the AI racers did not hail the most powerful of weapons on me every 20 seconds. Recovery time from being nailed is quick, and the effects are not typically devastating. I liked this change of pace. Instead, the game is more focused on driving well; using the L Trigger to drift and trick off jumps effectively to gain speed boosts is paramount. If you can’t race with the best of them, you might as well get the hell out of the way as the AI is very competent. It should surprise no one that racing games often “cheat” to keep things interesting, and I’m sure under the veneer, All-Stars Racing is no different, but after witnessing the AI racers running into obstacles, bouncing off guard rails and pegging each other with weapons, all the while remaining competitive, I’m not inclined to think that there is too much underhandedness happening here.

The controls are responsive, smooth and quick. This may seem like a simple thing to get down, but I’ve seen many racing games fold under terrible controls. To developer Sumo Digital’s credit, the game feels great.

After playing the demo, All-Stars Racing has moved from a curiosity to something I’m definitely considering picking up on or around its release of February 23rd. As a big fan of the Mario Kart series (and as someone who is incredibly disappointed in the series’ devolution into an exercise in rewarding the worst racers and punishing the best), I’m very much interested in Sonic & Sega All-Stars. I had fun with the demo. The game promises four player split-screen (thank you!), eight player online, tons of characters, 24 tracks, the possibility of downloadable content and a whole lotta nostalgia. In addition to the Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and PC versions, Sega is also publishing Wii and DS versions.