Written by Steven Setser

We are back this week for another game review for Sonic and All-Stars Racing: Transformed for the Xbox 360.  This is a kart racing sequel to the 2010 game, Sonic and SEGA All-Stars Racing.

Depending on what type of system you have, you will play with about 25 characters from various SEGA games like AiAi from Super Monkey Ball, Gilius Thunderhead from Golden Axe, Team Fortress from Team Fortress 2 and of course Sonic the Hedgehog.

There are also some third party characters like Wreck-it Ralph and real life NASCAR driver, Danica Patrick.

Now this game does something different from other kart racers, although some would say they copied Mario Kart 7 or Diddy Kong Racing.  While you are racing the environment will change, so your vehicle will “transform” to adapt to the terrain.  This means you race on the track, water and skies making each track seem different but fun.

This may sound simple, but it changes everything.  In a car it is easy to drift and gain speed.  In a boat, you must use the water and splashes to your full advantage to gain speed.  The planes are really fun because you get extra boosts for pulling off cool tricks.  If you dodge a pillar, you will get a boost for not crashing.  It is really rewarding and will help you dramatically in races.

There are a number of modes, but the main mode is World Tour.  In this mode you will complete different missions to earn STARS to unlock new race tracks and characters.  Some of the missions include race, battle, traffic attack and ring race.  You will get more stars depending on the difficulty you attempt.

This game is hard!  The normal difficulty is kind of like the hard difficulty of the first game.  To unlock everything you must complete every mission on expert.  It was nearly impossible for me due to cheap computer mods and the traffic attack missions, but I like the fact that every track in the game has remixed music.

There are time attack and verses modes too. The online mode is also very good.   These are fun if you want to nail your skills and show off.

I have never had a problem with connections.  Also, the PC version does have an online multiplayer this time, unlike the first game.

Also, in any race your character will gain experience points.  This will help your character earn new mods to give them better skills like better speed or handling.  All missions can be completed with the standard mod though.

There have been updates to the game since I’ve finished. The difficulty has been toned down in the World Tour mode.  There were a number of glitches that would prevent a race from being completed, but they were removed thankfully.

Overall, this is the best kart racing game I have ever played.  The gameplay is so deep and interesting that you can’t help to play more and more to get better.  So much love for SEGA went into this game.  There are lots of Easter eggs if you are a SEGA fan.  And just so people do not think I am biased, my favorite kart racer before this was Mario Kart 64.

I give Sonic and All-Stars Racing: Transformed a 9/10.  It is available now on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii U, PlayStation Vita, 3DS and PC.  An iOS version will be planned for later this year.