The Blue Blur has re-entered the racing scene in a brand-new type of chaotic kart-racer competition that will leave you feeling the rush of excitement and get your adrenaline pumping before you cross that finish line. After the fun but ultimately disappointing last racing outing in Team Sonic Racing, released in 2019, does Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds improve on the foundations of the Sonic Racing series, offering more thrills, excitement, and replayability than ever before? Or will it be forgotten about once the dust settles like its predecessor?
Arcade racing with a twist
On the surface, Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds looks and plays exactly as you would expect if you’ve played any other kart racers. Racers participate in three-lap races as their favorite characters set on tracks based in the Sonic the Hedgehog game universe, using power-up items to attack and slow down the competition and attain victory. Drifting around corners is also critical to charge up a drift gauge that will provide you with a boost of a varying three levels, and the same goes for performing mid-air tricks. Vehicle transformation gates from Sonic and All Stars Racing Transformed have returned this time, enabling your ride to drive across water in boat-form or soar through the skies like a plane for segments of the track.
It’s all very familiar at first, but Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds aims to stand out amongst its contemporaries with its new “CrossWorld” gimmick. On the second lap of every track, a giant portal gateway opens ahead of the starting line, transporting every racer driving through it to an entirely different and unique CrossWorld track. Where you end up is determined by the selection of the lead racer, picking either the option of the track that is given or a completely random one. Upon reaching the end of a CrossWorld track, a gateway will take you back to the starting line of the course you just raced on during the first lap. Entering the final lap of that initial track, elements of said track have now changed to shake things up considerably, another idea pulled from All Stars Racing Transformed. Suddenly, previously stationary objects like dinosaur skeletons in a museum will come to life and become road hazards, or the track layout will have been changed entirely, putting your water driving and flight capabilities to the test in some instances.
The CrossWorld mechanic is brilliantly executed and makes no two races on the same track identical. Despite only doing a single lap on them, the CrossWorld tracks are a blast to drive through, and things can become even more thrilling and hectic when an event called Frenzy kicks off during your visit to a CrossWorld track, offering what are essentially temporary race modifiers such as receiving a very fast drift charge or infinite supply of boost items. The very namesake of this game does indeed live up to the hype surrounding it. Furthermore, when you have made enough progress in the game, the regular racetracks will be added to the random CrossWorld track option, giving you a greater variety of tracks to take the second lap to. Each of the game’s Grand Prix utilizes the CrossWorld feature further by having the fourth and final race of the set take you through each of the preceding three tracks, making for a dynamic three-lap tour.
The Grand Prix and Race Park modes will provide players with formidable opposition in the form of Rivals. Rivals are computer opponents that are a step above the rest of the competition. At higher difficulty levels, they will generally always be ahead of the pack and drive ridiculously fast. Racing with them can become very heated, yet the challenge is always exhilarating as they push your skills to their limits and never let up until the end. Even still, they can have a run of bad luck and fall far behind when the other computer racers continuously pelt them with items.
While you are playing in all the modes this game has to offer, you are rewarded for your performances and reaching certain milestones with Donpa Tickets, the currency of this game used to unlock things such as vehicle parts, decals, and character-specific items that you invest in.
Express yourself
Another big new feature to change up the gameplay that this game introduces is Gadgets. Gadgets are skills unlocked through gameplay that you equip on what is called a “Plate.” The better the gadget, the more slots it takes up on a Plate. The number you can equip is low at first, as you have to unlock more slots through playing the game, with a maximum of six. Having them equipped to your assigned Plate can change up your racing strategies, provide stat boosts and other bonuses, power-up specific items, and more. This system adds an even greater layer of depth to gameplay, allowing you to create multiple different builds to benefit varying playstyles, and give you a much-needed edge against hard Rival opponents or to improve your records in Time Trials. They seem mostly balanced based on my experience, too, and can all be used online. My one gripe with this customization is that you can’t name your Plate loadouts for easier management.
Returning from Team Sonic Racing, an enhanced vehicle customization allows you to completely alter the appearances of vehicles with the wealth of options provided to you. There is a wide range of color and decal options complete with precision placement, and you can mix and match parts from other vehicles that share the same type of class. Like the Gadget Plates, you unfortunately can’t name your creations, which would have been appreciated. On the subject of vehicles, one type you can use is the Extreme Gear, the air-powered hoverboards of the Sonic Riders series. Their long-awaited return is a welcome one, and they offer a more slick and lean style of play compared to the cars.
Of course, what is a kart racer without its characters? This game presents the biggest playable roster of Sonic the Hedgehog characters seen thus far. Almost every major character from the Sonic series’ history is here, with a couple of lesson-known ones, and it’s overall a superb selection.
I absolutely adore the interactions the cast have with their Rival challenger at the start of a Grand Prix. It has provided the opportunity for some of these underutilized characters to meet and speak with others for the first time, usually resulting in humorous trash talking. Characters will quip with each other and comment on their surroundings during races, too, but I found both dialogue types to be uncommon. It’s a shame this game doesn’t have a dedicated single-player story mode, but these interactions almost make up for it.
A treat for the eyes and ears… with a few caveats
Graphically, this game’s environments are spectacular and beautifully detailed. Tracks are comprised of familiar levels from Sonic the Hedgehog games as well as completely original settings to this game, such as a car factory, a city that looks like an underwater seabed, and a Chao-themed amusement park. The CrossWorld tracks maintain this same graphical achievement and choice of new and old environments. Sonic Racing games have always relied on past titles for racetrack inspiration, which pleases long-time fans such as myself, but it’s great to see more original content.
The soundtrack is overall incredible. Not everyone will vibe with some of the arrangements, and some of the melodies will take some getting used to, but it really does grow on you. The final lap variants of the track music always kicked things into fifth gear and got me pumped on certain courses. You can also change the music with a selection of default and unlockable albums of other Sonic games, although this option isn’t exactly perfectly executed.
This is a minor criticism, but this game also continues one of the trends of recent Sonic games; re-using a lot of environmental and model assets from past games, which has stunted creativity for development studio Sonic Team. Despite this, the constant reuse of assets allows more great content to be included in the game, but I hope it’s not something Sonic Team will rely on too heavily in future titles.
When you’re ready to take on the world, you can play online with random players and friends around the world, regardless of their platform thanks to crossplay. From my experience, online play has no issues. I do question why you don’t stay connected to the same lobby of players after finishing a race, like most other games with online multiplayer, but it thankfully did not take long to connect to a new lobby each time. As your ranking increases while playing online races, you can unlock Gadgets. These Gadgets are exclusively locked behind online, it seems, and some may have issue with that, especially console players who don’t want to pay for online-play subscriptions.
A more-than-worthy contender
Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds is an incredible game, and easily the best Sonic racer ever made. I had always considered the Sonic Racing series to be a great series of games forever looming in the shadow of Mario Kart and not quite reaching the same heights in terms of their presentation, longevity, and playerbase. CrossWorlds, however, has finally proven that Sonic go toe-to-toe with the portly plumber’s immortal kart-racing series, and even surpasses it in some respects. The CrossWorld gimmick and Gadgets enhance an already solid racing foundation, and the game’s personality shines through with its graphical and musical presentation.
With a plethora of single-player content, challenges, and an engaging online mode, you will be playing this game for a long time if you want to see everything it has to offer and get your racing fix from time to time. With new free characters and vehicles being promised every month, along with future paid DLC, you may find yourself coming back periodically to see what’s new.
My criticisms with the game are so small that they don’t matter in the grand scheme of things. Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds maintains the goodwill and positivity of Sonic the Hedgehog’s recent return to form in the gaming space and is essential for both fans of kart-racers and the blue hedgehog’s legendary franchise.
Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds is available now.
The Review
Superb
