69. Sonic and All-Stars Racing Transformed (PS3)
I almost have to divide my experiences with the kart racer sub genre into pre-Mario Kart 8 and post-Mario Kart 8. That game not only set a very high benchmark for all kart racers, but just racing games in general with how much I have loved playing that game for the last 10-years. In fact, Mario Kart 8 is a top 10 game of all time for me. I first played Sonic and All-Stars Racing Transformed (SaASRT) way back in 2013, two years before Mario Kart 8 came out on the Wii U. My then girlfriend, and now wife, used to play local split screen and we did are best to unlock as much as we could in that game, as well as just enjoy playing SaASRT because it was an awesome game. I haven't played SaASRT since around that time and before playing Mario Kart 8 for the first time, which had me worried that MK8 was just so good that it would more or less ruin all kart racers I played before it. I am very, very pleased to say that not only did MK8 ruin SaASRT for me, but SaASRT is actually way better than I remembered! So much so, that it almost gives MK8 a run for its money, as crazy as that may sound.
In the same way that MK8 and the other MK games are a loving tribute to Nintendo, SaASRT is the same thing, but just with Sega. There are so many characters from so many different Sega franchises on tap to play as in this game, even including characters from lessor known, or somewhat forgotten franchises like Alex Kidd. The same is true for the stages in SaASRT, with entire levels lovingly themed after games like Burning Rangers and Panzer Dragoon, in addition to the Sonic or Nights themed levels. There are a few guest characters thrown in, one being Wreck it Ralph, which I thought was kinda cool, but the other is NASCAR driver Danica Patrick for some reason...yeah. But anyways...whether it's the characters or stages, they all possess their own unique charm with how lovingly created they were for this game. The visuals in general are just vibrant, bright, and so well crafted that its hard for me to fault anything about this game. However, saying the visuals are absolutely perfect would be a lie, as there are a few rough graphical elements, mostly having to do with the character models of the vehicles at times, as well as a few weird clipping or geometry bugs I ran into fairly often. Luckily, these issues do very little to distract from what is otherwise a very visually appealing game with a lot of variety in its tracks and racers.
This variety absolutely seeps over into the gameplay of SaASRT where all 15 or so tracks are constantly changing throughout the course of your race and between laps. A section where you had to drive on a road during the last lap may sink into a lake, or maybe is completely destroyed, requiring your vehicle to transform into a plane. This brings me to one of the main gameplay elements of SaASRT which is the actual transformation system. Every character's vehicle has a car, plane, and boat mode, which automatically change depending on the terrain you encounter in the various levels. All three forms control dramatically diffferent, as well as have unique quarks to them which require you to strategize differently depending on form your vehicle is in. This makes races feel very dynamic and interesting as it's not uncommon for your vehicle to change into all three forms within a single race. Speaking of races, there are many different stage modes throughout SaASRT's campaign and GP modes. These come in the form of your standard races, but also battle races, boost races, ring challenges, and traffic mode where you have to avoid hitting traffic obstacles before time runs out. These are just a few of the various race types throughout the game, which really keep things feeling fresh and interesting throughout the entire campaign. Personally, I enjoyed all these modes, except a couple, especially Pursuit races which have you fighting a tank enemy while it fires projectiles at you. Those race types flat out suck and I won't pretend they don't.
The backdrop to all this is every character having their own advantages and disadvantages when it comes to their stats. Some of this is negated by the fact that you can level each character up by using them, which allows you to unlock different stat layouts which can make certain tracks or race modes easier to complete. The entire progression system of SaASRT is based on unlocking more and more tracks, characters, stickers, stat modes for your racers, and various other things. This unlocking of content is part of what makes this game so fun; you always want to play a little more to gain enough stars to unlock a new character or new series of races. However, as you get to the Super Star races, which are the final set of races in the game, things get exponentially harder, especially if you try and complete races on Hard or Expert. Making the races more challenging comes with greater rewards if you win, but my God, some of these are just sadistically difficult, including the Star requirements to unlock the last few racers. Still, I'd rather have things this way than just make those final characters and stages be DLC of some other crap like that.
Everything described about makes SaASRT an incredibly dynamic, engaging, and fun kart racer, but not without its flaws. The biggest flaw in SaASRT is its item system. Like virtually every other kart racer out there, you can pick up items throughout the race that you can use to slow down opponents, defend yourself against other racer's items, or give you a brief burst of speed. SaASRT has all your standard fair kart racing power ups like this, including a really cool All-Star mode where each racer transforms into its own unique form, allowing your to go faster than the other racers while being able to inflict damage on them, all for a brief period of time. This might all sound well and good, but unfortunately most items are far less effective than I would like, and this is especially true in the flying portions of races where outside a couple items, you're pretty much not going to hit anything with an ice missile or blow fish. There is also no balancing to the randomness of these items, with it being just as likely you'll get the coveted All-Star power up in 2nd place as you will all the way back in 10th place. Aside from the issues with the items, there are some genuinely annoying sections of a few levels that are just poorly designed, and one stage in particular which is by far the worst in the game by a considerable amount. Like the issues with the visuals, these gameplay elements, while still a blemish, don't do a whole lot to distract from what is otherwise an incredibly well crafted game with tight, precise controls, and tons of depth to keep things interesting almost the entire time you're playing.
The only thing I haven't discussed yet is the audio of SaASRT. SaASRT's soundtrack is made up entirely of remixed versions of various songs from the various Sega franchises represented in both the characters and stages. While I really liked most of these remixed songs, I couldn't help, but wish Sega had just stuck with the originals instead since they are way better imo. Still, a remix of a good song is better than a bad song, and it definitely is nice being able to recognize some of my favorite Sega sounds as I'm playing through each stage. The characters in SaASRT are all voice acted and sound exactly as you'd want them to and expect them to sound. Sometimes, what they say during races...or I guess the odd noises they sometimes make when hit by an item or when slamming into a wall, can sound very strange and unlike anything you've heard come out of them in any other game, but it's overall not a big deal. Audio, could be better imo, but it's still great for the most part.
Beating SaASRT not only reminded me how amazing Sega can be when they create excellent games like this, but also reminded me how lucky I was to be a Sega kid back in the 90s. Sega as a company and many of their games are among the most special and nostalgic for me to this day. This game does such an incredible job of celebrating Sega's amazing legacy and translating it into an amazing racing game released well after Sega's glory days. If you love kart racers, I would go as far as to say SaASRT is ESSENTIAL! It is seriously that freakin good. It's almost tragic this game seems to have been mostly forgotten, which genuinely bums me out with how insanely fun it is. Definitely track down a copy of this game, or buy it on Steam (you get Ryo Hazuki from Shenmue if you do, which is reason enough to get that version lol). This game is absolutely incredible. (6/22/25) [43/50]
