By Nathan Grayson on April 30th, 2012 at 11:00 pm.
Yep, kart racing’s still a thing. And on PC too, which is a mild surprise. Admittedly, Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed – an unwieldy, tongue-slicing mouthful of a name if ever there was one – sounds kind of interesting, if only because vehicles can go all Optimus Prime mid-race. And by that, I of course mean that you’ll (automatically) morph into a boat or plane during certain portions of each implausibly geographically varied map – not an exploding special effects robot. Also, the original was apparently a solid, if somewhat derivative spin on the candy coated roadrage formula, and since Mario’s probably not bringing his multi-sport playboy conga line through these parts any time soon, we’ll just have to settle for his blue nemesis/Olympic figure skating partner. Morph this post into whatever your heart desires after the break – assuming, of course, that your heart desires a Sonic trailer, the greatest of all human needs.
It’s out “late 2012.” Granted, this still fails to answer the question of why Sonic and pals – generally known for a need for speed that surpasses reality’s need for the laws of physics – would confine themselves to mere mechanical contraptions, but OK then. Even so, I quite enjoyed the part where Sonic disproved the widely held notion that the world’s round. About time someone put that “fact” through its paces.
30/04/2012 at 23:09 SoyBob says:
“Granted, this still fails to answer the question of why Sonic and pals – generally known for a need for speed that surpasses reality’s need for the laws of physics – would confine themselves to mere mechanical contraptions, but OK then.”
Because it’s a driving tournament.
30/04/2012 at 23:10 somini says:
The WUB WUB is unstopabble. We are doomed!
30/04/2012 at 23:13 Glen Moyes says:
Like disco, it will pass…eventually.
01/05/2012 at 01:50 Ruffian says:
I happen to like disco, and motown, and dubstep. Here’s hoping they never go away!!!
30/04/2012 at 23:22 Tim says:
I don’t really mind the wub wub as much as I mind the soundtrack from previous Sonic racing games.
30/04/2012 at 23:24 TechnicalBen says:
There is good WUB WUB. But that’s true of any music or art form. Sadly the majority is poor. Oh, and the good stuf I’d call dance, pop, euphoric etc, not dancestep. :D
[edit]
Actually, I love that tract in the video. There, I’ve admitted I like wubwub on the internet. :(
01/05/2012 at 00:24 wodin says:
dubstep
01/05/2012 at 11:42 Ham Solo says:
I think it’s Nero
30/04/2012 at 23:12 siegarettes says:
The first was the closest thing to a sequel to Outrun 2, one of my favorite driving games, and was handled by the same team as well. For the sequel they are even adding some devs from the studios that made Blur, and Split/Second.
The breezy drifts, cult characters from SEGA franchises of yesteryear, and the downright funky music in the first game made it one of the biggest pieces of SEGA fanservice I’ve ever played. The only game I think that would top it is Segaga, which we’ll likely never see in English speaking territories.
01/05/2012 at 00:06 HermitUK says:
The first game would have been one of the better kart games on PC, if they hadn’t forgotten to include online multiplayer of any kind.
01/05/2012 at 16:19 thinsoldier says:
But the first game did have split screen which is much more important when you kids want to play together or play with you.
30/04/2012 at 23:20 Livebythesword says:
That screenshot really reminds me of Slipstream 5000.
01/05/2012 at 00:08 LionsPhil says:
Such beautiful pixel art had that game.
01/05/2012 at 12:19 The First Door says:
Every time someone mentions Slipstream 5000 I get a happy, wistful look in my eyes. I don’t remember ever buying the whole game, but I played the demo over and over as a kid.
01/05/2012 at 00:33 Turkey says:
Isn’t this a bit like giving Spider-Man a hookshot?
01/05/2012 at 00:43 Shooop says:
…a Sonic trailer, the greatest of all human needs.
The snark is strong with you sir. I’m going to start making a point to read anything you write if you keep this up.
01/05/2012 at 01:19 Phantoon says:
The greatest human need is the need to go fast. Fast internet, fast plane, fast moon rocket.
The other part of that need is not being uncontrollably fast, or at least being able to tell what wall you’re going to splatter in to.
That is to say Tribes: Ascend is the greatest Sonic game ever made.
01/05/2012 at 01:16 Phasma Felis says:
I will buy a Sonic racing game when they make one with Sonic on foot and everyone else in cars.
01/05/2012 at 01:51 Ruffian says:
This /\ we need this /\
01/05/2012 at 05:21 jamesgecko says:
We had Sonic R, where the usual cast was on foot, with Amy and Robotnik in various vehicles. The handling and associated speed was brought over too. It was realistically imbalanced, and thus nobody ever played those two. By the time everything was unlocked, the only racers worth playing were Metal Knuckles and Super Sonic.
01/05/2012 at 01:26 Aerothorn says:
As long as it has Ryo Hazuki and his motorcycle-that-turns-into-a-forklift, I’m in.
01/05/2012 at 18:41 siegarettes says:
The first one already had that actually:
http://xbox360media.ign.com/xbox360/image/article/103/1032667/ryo-hazuki-returns-20091007064644024-000.jpg
It was his All-Star Super Move ;)
01/05/2012 at 01:29 Aerothorn says:
Also: Sonic in a car is almost as ridiculous as Jet Grind Radio guy not wearing skates.
01/05/2012 at 01:51 Ruffian says:
Was that the Crazy Taxi I glimpsed there? Ahhh, the warm memories of my youth – fruit rollups, lazy weekends, and ye olde Dreamcast.
01/05/2012 at 05:21 wazups2x says:
I thought Sonic could run so fast that he didn’t need a car and he could run on water… Looks like he’s getting lazy in his old age.
01/05/2012 at 05:58 Chizu says:
I liked the first Sonic & SEGA all stars racing.
I got a ps3 copy then later got a free PC version from comet or someplace.
If only the pc version had kept the multiplayer.
This one looks to be taking abit of a Diddy Kong racing thing of having land sea and air, but mashing them all into one track.
Which I approve of.
I hope they get teh plane handling down, as planes in Diddy Kong Racing were awesome.
Edit: btw, I don’t suppose anyone remembers what UK store started up a digital retailer and gave away free copies of Sonic & Sega all-star racing, along with a couple other games when you signed up.
I got it there and cant for the life of me remember where it was, as such I can’t re-download the installer if I need it :v
NVM it was Dixons :v
01/05/2012 at 07:27 Riaktion says:
Does the PC version sort out the console frame rate problems? I.e. does it run SMOOOOOOTH
01/05/2012 at 14:54 Chizu says:
It does for me at least.
Perfectly so.
if only it had the online.
02/05/2012 at 08:09 Riaktion says:
Ah that’s good news then….. I may pick it up in a sale one day then. The xbox version suffers from terrible slowdown, which for some reason really bothered me.. Thanks!
01/05/2012 at 10:03 UnravThreads says:
It was PC World, actually.
01/05/2012 at 14:54 Chizu says:
definitely Dixons on this one, maybe they did one too.
I logged into the Dixons site and re-downloaded the freebies they’d given me.
01/05/2012 at 15:48 UnravThreads says:
Well, that’s bloody bizarre. The Dixons group own PC World and they use the same system for selling games, except Dixons has different games on offer.
How bloody weird.
01/05/2012 at 07:26 Riaktion says:
I have the first one on Xbox, and if they sort out the frame rates and improve the feel and usefulness of the weapons / powerups, they’d be onto a winner.
01/05/2012 at 08:48 KDR_11k says:
So basically they saw Mario Kart 7 and said “we want to do that too”? Sonic Riders had vehicles that didn’t transform according to the track but according to the upgrades you installed so you could use vehicle-specific shortcuts.
01/05/2012 at 09:03 ChainsawCharlie says:
The first one was a great game
01/05/2012 at 10:51 Alexrd says:
I wish Sega would do a sequel or remake to Sonic R. The true Sonic racing game.
01/05/2012 at 12:19 Suits says:
mario kart 7 goes in the air and water, team sonic follows
01/05/2012 at 18:43 siegarettes says:
Actually, Sonic Team had pretty much nothing to do with this. It’s all those Outrun 2, Split/Second, and Blur guys.