Rather than racing on your own, you instead have to choose your character from one of four teams (plus one secret one) - the usual suspects of Sonic, Tails, Knuckles the pink team of Amy Rose, a car with four Chaos in, and our hero, Big the Cat the 'who?' unit of Silver the Hedgehog, Blaze the Cat, and Vector the weird buff crocodile thing and one final one made up of Sonic's rival Shadow, Rouge the Bat, and E-123 Omega, a kind of spiritual successor to Sonic Adventure's E-102 Gamma. Developed instead by Sheffield-based Sumo Digital, the studio behind the original (and in our opinion, still the best) Sonic All Stars Racing, and its slightly disappointing sequel, Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing Transformed, Sonic Team Racing is a kind of 'third time lucky' approach for the studio, where the gimmick this time is (you guessed it) all about teams.Īnd if nothing else, it's actually a pretty cool idea. That doesn’t mean you can’t still have fun with it, and there are some interesting new ideas, but in the race to win gamers’ hearts this struggles to even get on the podium.Despite what the title might suggest, Team Sonic Racing actually has nothing to do with Sonic Team. Team Sonic Racing is not only a poor man’s Mario Kart, it’s a poor man’s Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing. Apart from the driving itself Team Sonic Racing is a backwards step in almost every regard, and all for no obvious gain – other than presumably little kids don’t know what Golden Axe or Shenmue are. That goes for the characters as well, not to mention the transforming kart gimmick from Transformed. This is all a particular shame because the previous two games had stages based around other Sega franchises, which made them all seem much more distinctive. In Team Sonic Racing they quickly start repeating and you’re left trying to remember whether this is a new one or one you’ve seen before. Mario Kart’s Grand Prix races may be unimaginatively structured but at least you know you’re getting four different courses in each one.

The level design suffers similarly, as while each one is inspired by elements of famous Sonic games and stages too much of it is just generic roadways or biomes that would appear in any game no matter the branding – from snow to desert. GTA 6 needs to grow up and it sounds like it’s going to - Reader’s Feature There are 15 race types in total and while they’re not all winners the variety they offer is very welcome. The story campaign is thankfully more engaging though, as you work your way through a variety of single races, Grands Prix, eliminations, and bonus stages. We blanked out on the story halfway through the first talking heads cut scene, so we’ve got no idea what the plot is about. Why Sonic would want or need to drive a car is something that, predictably, is not dwelt upon, or at least we don’t think it is. Team Sonic Racing is exactly what you’d expect of a Sonic-themed Mario Kart, including the fact that, while it’s perfectly in keeping with the Sonic aesthetic, a lot of the time you end up driving around upside down or on the walls, just like Mario Kart 8. There have been many Sonic The Hedgehog racing games over the years, from the straightforward Mario Kart clone Sonic Drift to the bizarre Sonic R (both of which are referenced in this new game).

Team Sonic Racing doesn’t have any Sega characters in it that aren’t related to Sonic The Hedgehog, but what it does have instead is a genuinely new idea. As the spiritual successor to the same developer’s Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing and Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed, the basics are very similar. Team Sonic Racing was going to come out either way though. But thanks to the success of the Crash Bandicoot remakes Crash Team Racing is about to enjoy a comeback and all of a sudden it feels as if there’s a mini-renaissance going on for Mario Kart clones. Mario Kart today is still as popular as it ever was, but nowadays cheap mobile tie-ins are the format of choice for those who want to promote their brand in video game form.

Team sonic racing vs mario kart