Difficulty:

Just Right

Time Spent:

10 to 20 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Just plain fun"

Sega's own take on the karting craze of the 1990s has been a long time coming. Sure, there was Sonic R for the Saturn and PC, but that was really a different kettle of fish to Super Mario Kart altogether.

Now 2010 is here, and Sega has taken it upon themselves to give their spiky blue hedgehog and companions their very own more conventional karting game. So what does this game offer that's new?

Not much, to be honest, but after the catastrophe that was Sonic Riders it's good to have something a little normal and down to earth. The game offers 20 characters (only a handful are available to start off with) and although there are differences in the way they handle, there is very little to differentiate one from the other. The exception to this are the so-called "All-Star" moves, which are revealed once in a blue moon and allow each player to cut a swathe of carnage through the pack whilst maintaining a constant high speed.

All-Star Racing offers 24 tracks to race on in 8 environments, and each route through each environment is sufficiently different from the others to provide variety. Each of the environments is based on a game from Sega's history, including Sonic the Hedgehog (specifcally Sonic Heroes), House of the Dead, Samba de Amigo and Jet Set Radio.

The visuals and audio are nothing outstanding, but they get the job done. While a little motion blur is used to get the feeling of speed across, there is little use of modern graphical techniques such as field of depth or bloom. The music is based on classic Sega themes, with the House of the Dead theme being particularly recognisable. The only point of complaint is the commentator, whose incessant screaming does grate after a while, but it is varied enough to stop you going completely mad, and it can be switched off.

Once you've got through the 64 missions and 18 cups (actually, 6 cups on three difficulty levels, but the three difficulty levels count separately), you have multiplayer to contend with, and it's here that the PC version disappoints a little. Or does it?

The PS3 and XBox 360 versions of the game were released sporting online multiplayer, enabling multiplayer play with gamers from across the world. This feature was sadly omitted from the PC version of the game. A frustrating omission, but as with many of Sega's games of late, it is more than likely that the servers will be empty in a few months anyway. The same fate befell Outrun 2006 and Sega Rally shortly after their release, so it's no real loss in my eyes. The best fun can be had by hooking up a couple of joypads to your PC and racing against friends in split-screen mode - it is, after all, much more fun to gloat to someone to their face!