Sonic and All-Stars Racing Transformed Bonus Edition

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List Price: $29.95
Sale Price: $20.23
Today's Bonus: 32% Off

I didn't expect much from this game. The last Sonic Racing title was fairly clunky, with a frame rate that chugged regularly. The items were weird and confusing and it just didn't feel right. I find this to be true, generally, about any non-Mario karting game... But I buy most of them anyway, such as ModNation Racers (which I love despite the load times).

Reviews kept coming in for this game, though, that made me suck it up and pay the $40. I kept reading that it was the best kart racing game in years, that the frame rate was solid, that it felt right. And with some apprehension, I bought it for PS3.

It's worth the money. It is one of the best kart racing games in years, arguably ever. I don't think it knocks the best of the Mario Karts off of their pinnacle (for what it's worth, I loved Double Dash and MK Wii, but didn't care for MK7), but it's easily in the same league. Unlike Mario Kart, it has a LOT to do as well. There's plenty to unlock, the career mode is robust, the game is challenging without feeling cheap and the online functionality is solid (I had no problem finding matches). Doing well as a character unlocks "mods" that adjust the kart's stats, so there's a good amount of replayability.

The SEGA fan service is wonderful too. Ristar holds the flag starting off the race, all of the tracks feature little touches. The transforming concept is put to great use and it's far more successfully realized than Mario Kart 7 (which doesn't come close). The first time you run the After Burner track, drive off a battleship and transform into a plane while jets are dogfighting all around you... Man. It's just awesome.

I'm sure many people have mixed feelings on DLC, but I generally welcome it for kart games. If you get the Bonus pack, you'll get the Outrun track and Metal Sonic to race with, both of which are great. I'm looking forward to maybe seeing more of these, if they're cheap enough. One of the biggest downers with Mario Kart was always that they'd generally release one game per system... DLC tracks can easily make up for that lull. It'd be awesome to see some more obscure ones, maybe Wonder Boy?

All in all, this is a GREAT game and completely worth the $40.

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This is not hyperbole. I have played every kart racer ever made. Sonic & All Stars Racing Transformed is the best kart racer ever. This game has the best graphics, the tightest controls, and a sense of speed this genre has never seen. The transform dynamic really enhances the game-play. This game deserves a 10 out of 10.

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After being bored/angered to tears by the bland F1 Race Stars I was weary about trying out another kart-racing game. Sonic & All Stars Racing Transformed thankfully manages to transcend the kart sub-genre and feels like a genuine racing game in its own right.

The game features familiar Sonic characters as well as characters, tracks, and tunes from other famous Sega games such as Jet Set Radio, House of the Dead, Golden Axe, Crazy Taxi, Super Monkey Ball, Shinobi, and Alex Kidd. Even Wreck-It-Ralph makes an appearance. I am annoyed that Sega, once again, missed a trick by not including anything from Lava Reef Zone from Sonic & Knuckles, as it is the best Sonic tune of all. And if they were cool enough to include Golden Axe (with an awesome new remix of the Wilderness theme) then why not include Streets of Rage also (a franchise they have all but disowned)? The tracks themselves are wonderful and exciting, with lots of blue skies and sunshine as we have come to expect from Sonic games. This limited edition even features Outrun Bay, but the music is a remix of Splash Wave, instead of the much more memorable Magical Sound Shower.

After the first tournament of career mode the game becomes incredibly difficult, and is probably one of the hardest Platinum trophies out there, so I just quit before it started to drive me mad. It requires hundreds of hours of gameplay, which I am not willing to give it. There are 51 trophies in total, and I managed 21 of them, which I am happy with. It's a great game, but the sharp difficulty curve might put you off too. Another minor gripe would be the lack of clear information within the game. The instruction manual contains virtually nothing, so you've got to figure out what everything means during gameplay, which is kind of hard as it doesn't make it obvious or make much of an effort to orientate you.

Graphics A

Sound B+

Gameplay B

Lasting Appeal C+

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To qualify I don't down any of the big name, "realistic" racing games. I go for the goofier, less realistic ones. However, I have downloaded many demos of the former. My experience so far is that most racing games SUCK with a six-axis. My take is that as games get more "realistic" (at least from a control point of view) and many of us are spending more on our gaming experience than ever before, with previously unavailable components (i.e. arcade brand/quality buttons and joystick in pro quality fight sticks), games are being tailored to those devices really as they should be. Problem is most developers aren't giving you input options that effect the play of the games. All that said, Sonic is a JOY to play with a six-axis. The graphics and levels and all that are great, but almost all games look and play great these days. But this game is an absolute joy to play and absolutely does not feel like you need racing wheel to play, which EVERY other racing game I've played does.

Get it. You won't be disappointed.

Only reason I didn't give it 5 stars is I do want to purchase a racing wheel at some point and since the game plays so well on a six-axis I don't know if it will translate over to the wheel. If it does, it gets a 5.

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I thought that it would be a clong version of maria kart. But it turns to be much more fun