The un expected suprise of the year, sega really pull off a magic trick with this brilliant and fun little kart racer.
Dont get me wrong i like sonic and Sega games, but ive bought almost every sonic games and more and more been burned by his gaming experiences.
So indeed there was a good chance this could turn out a mess. Since super Mario kart games have drifted in and out of vogue through the years, everyone's been involved in kart racing (even sonic himself on the gamegear) and on the whole there's two problems... they are no good and even when they are Mario still does it better.
And to an extent that's true here. Mario has done it better. Theres a lot to compare across the between the Sega and Mario karting games. Game world related weapons, mix of odd and interesting characters, speed up boost pads. so on.
But there are some distinct features that separate this from Mario kart. In a very good way.
Firstly this is much more about drift racing. You don't master your characters car and learn to drift then you will not do well. That's not to say its hard to drift or even a hard game in general. It's a very friendly game, anyone can dip in and have fun and success with no problems. yet there's depth to that game beyond its difficulty.
Another thing separating it from Mario kart, it's absolutely lovely to look at. The levels, especially the daylight sonic level, just sparkle with visual quality. You can almost get lost at in the sunny happy environments of the levels. Sound design is a little choppy in places, but still on the whole very nice.
The game also provides so much more to unlock, music levels and a good selection of Sega characters from the expected and predictable to the mad and retro. Theres so much to unlock you'll find yourself spending lots of time playing for more of the unlockable features.
offline the game supports multiplayer modes for split screen play, and has a good selection of modes in multiplayer. Solo play also has a wide range of things to do. solo race, gran prix, missions all provide a lot of fun. Missions are very good as an addition. The missions are a mix of basic races to collect the rings to drift around the track as much as you can to score to even a boss fight with a giant zombie.
These missions are fun and challenging without being unfair. Although it'll be a real challenge if you want to get all AAA ranks.
The big letdown is online. It's still very fun, but there's very little compared to offline multiplayer. Its only possible to play a race. battle mode and its variations (king of the hill, catch the chao) would have been a big welcome. The races are great fun, and there's very little lag or connection problems, but the lack of choice is a disappointment.
Overall the game is a very pleasant surprise and is more than a worthy rival to Mario kart.