Is this Sonic Racing game Super?
Race across land, sea, air, space, and time in Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds! Warp through Travel Rings into new dimensions where something new awaits around every twist and turn. Speed to victory solo or as a team in a variety of offline and online modes and compete against players from around the world. Build the ultimate machine to match your racing style, unlock gadgets to gain the upper hand, and unleash power-up items for the win!
What a time for kart racing fans. We got treated to Mario Kart World a few months ago and now we have a new Sonic Racing game to boot. CrossWorlds is different in a few ways to its rival, but can it take pole position?
The biggest change that CrossWorlds provides is mixing up the second lap with a random or chosen track, picked by whoever is in 1st place during Lap 1. When you first start playing, you’ll only get to pick 15 different CrossWorlds tracks this way, but once you complete the Grand Prix, random tracks can be literally any of the other tracks before crossing back in Lap 3 on the original track, though even then the 3rd lap does offer some differences like new shortcuts, portals, alternative routes or changing the appearance.
You can choose Rivals to race against, which upon beating all unlocks Super Sonic in Grand Prix mode. There are also Team races for those who miss the Team Sonic Racing mechanics, but these also have gimmicks like gifting bonus points to those who do things such as collecting the most rings, getting the most hits, using the most boost pads and so on.
There is also a Time Trial mode which is the biggest challenge to be found for trophy hunters. You will need to get A rank on every single course in two different speeds and mirror mode to boot. Each event you do will give you Donpa tickets that you can spend on decals, new car parts or if you give enough to an AI opponent, you’ll get a skin gifted to you.
The problem with this is the progression system. You’ll get roughly 10-30 tickets a race depending on certain parameters, while buying all decals will set you back over 7000 tickets alone. So, prepare for a lot of grinding if you want to earn that elusive Platinum trophy. Vehicles can be equipped with gadgets that act as perks that can improve speed, control or give you items at the start of races and everything in between.
The controls are easy enough to get to grips with, while there’s a decent variety of different events to do, alongside online and split-screen races. It would have been nice to have a Story mode like Team Sonic Racing did, but it’s not the end of the world not to have it. Future DLC will add new courses and racers from series’ like SpongeBob Squarepants, Minecraft, TMNT, Like a Dragon and Mega Man to name a few, so there’s a good amount to look forward to.
The visuals are simply superb with highly detailed tracks and character models. The game runs at a solid framerate throughout and I didn’t come across any glitches during my playthrough. Voice-acting is authentic with plenty of references and easter eggs for Sonic fans, while the soundtrack has some great tunes and even a new version of Super Sonic Racing to enjoy.
The Verdict
Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds mixes up the kart racing formula in an interesting way that works incredibly well. The transition from one course to another mid-race is seamless and afterwards, you’ll be wondering why every other kart racer doesn’t do this. The progression system could do with some tinkering, but other than that this is a perfect contender for the karting crown.