Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed is a 2012 kart racing video game developed by Sumo Digital, published by Sega, and released for PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita, Nintendo 3DS, Wii U, Xbox 360, iOS, and Android.

Positives:

• Highly competitive
• Great multiplayer
• Good graphics
• Great music/soundtrack
• Ton of unlockables
• Diverse gameplay

Negatives:

Campaign:  Although the game lacks a story the campaign is immersive with a lengthy playtime.  The main campaign is Career Mode which is comprised of four modes including World Tour, Grand Prix, Time Attack, and Single Race, each with its share of challenges and achievements.  What makes the campaign even better is like in the days of old, up to four players can split-screen it and still progress through it.

Characters feel unique and each handle differently.  Some characters are better at drifting, others have better speed, and some have great boosts.  Some are better in the water, some are better in the air, and some are better on the land. Racing with each character in any mode earns them XP which unlocks modifications for the vehicles. (5 out of 5)

Gameplay:  The name of the game is racing and for any Mario Kart fans, the gameplay will feel extremely familiar.  Now, that isn’t to say that this is a Mario Kart ripoff. It has the same formula but it is its own thing with its share of rules. The racing vehicles have three transformations based on the track; transforming into a car on the ground, boat in the water, and an aircraft in the air.  The vehicle transformations are just awesome and only keep the racing diverse but also bring a level of complexity to the gameplay.  The different vehicle types handle differently as well.

The levels also change between laps which helps stop repetition and emphasize the different types of racing.  Also, each stage has branching paths.  Weapons are available to players and are scattered across the course.  Star tokens can be collected throughout the course or earned by attacking opponents.  The star tokens can be collected to unlock characters and mods, spent in the slot machine between events to earn random bonuses, and open up new branches during the World Tour mode.

Multiplayer is freaking awesome.  The game can be played both online and locally four player split-screen.  Playing online is a treat and the four player split-screen is great for players who’ve enjoyed it in past games. (5 out of 5)

Graphics: The graphics are just great.  The color themes are vibrant, level designs are creative, character designs are fun.  The level designs are freaking awesome.  They’re diverse, the terrain is challenging, and they’re active with so much going on on the track and off.  The loading screens have a lot of useful tips. (4 out of 5)

Score/Music: The soundtrack and sound design is freaking amazing.  Very fast paced for a very fast paced game.  The sound quality is high and gives the gameplay a lot of depth. (4 out of 5)

Replay Value: One of the best aspects of the game honestly is the multiplayer.  The fact that developers thought to implement online and local multiplayer should be commended.  Too often are game companies opting to just have the online multiplayer or have a limited local.  However, the local multiplayer allows up to four players split screen and that’s a great throwback to party games of old.  The online multiplayer is freaking fun and highly competitive.

Collecting stars in each race allows players to unlock content and there’s a lot of great content to unlock.  There are a lot of different stages, trophies, characters, and stickers.  The stickers themselves can be used to modify the licence.

There are a ton of great modes.  There’s the Grand Prix, World Tour, Single race, Time Attack, Matching Making and Custom Game.  The Match Making includes a Race Mode, Arena Mode (which includes Capture the Chao & ), and Lucky Dip which is a mixture of Race and Arena Mode. Also, there is a ton of racing challenges as well as different types of races.  There is the Battle Race, Versus, Drift Challenge, Ring Race, Boost Challenge, and Traffic Attack.  There is a lot to like about this game. (5 out of 5)

The Verdict: In the end, Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed is an absolutely great kart racing game that definitely brings some Sega favorites to the forefront.  There is very little to not like about this game.  It’s fun and challenging, the graphics and sound design are good, there is a ton of replayability, lots of unlockables, and the multiplayer is some of the best in recent years with the online and split-screen.  Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed gets 5 out of 5.