Day 347, Game 347 - Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed

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A reoccurring theme for this blog over the last year has been my disdain for racing games. Okay, so it hasn't been the only theme this year, not even close, but it's been one that I have tried to avoid as much as possible yet it still keeps popping back up at unexpected times. Trust me, going in to this year, I would have never expected a racing game to make an appearance in the final few weeks of this blog project, much less a Sonic racing game. But hey, that's how the cookie crumbles sometimes, right?

Despite my total and utter lack of interest in racing games, there is and always has been one type of racing game that I don't just tolerate, but actually enjoy thoroughly. Kart racing games are the cat's meow, as far as I am concerned, and more specifically, Mario Kart games. I have wrote about a couple of them, and I think they are always fun, from the very first one back on the Super Nintendo and every one after that. 

So when people I knew started talking about how this Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed game was something awesome and a lot of fun, I was skeptical at best. I couldn't tell if all the admiration for this game was because of the Sega characters in it, or the fact that it wasn't a Mario or Nintendo game. You know, some people actually do despise everything Nintendo related, as crazy as that sounds. There was an outside chance that this game was actually a good game, not because of who or what was or wasn't a part of it, but because they actually created something really cool and a worthwhile comparison to the long standing king of the karting mountain. 

Because of all the hype around me focused on this title, I had to finally give it a chance. I couldn't say I expected much going in to it, but I really wanted to see if any other company could put together a collection of its mascots into one quality game, a la pretty much every collection of characters game that Nintendo puts out. Needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised. 

Knowing there were alternative vehicles in this racing game, my first thought went to Diddy Kong's Racing, which was okay, but nothing to write home about. What I didn't think would happen would be how seamlessly you transition between vehicles in a race, as it never felt like a gimmick or just a way to make this racing gamer different, but actually added a nice balance to each race, as well as a lot more strategy. Drifting a big part of this game, like most racers, and although I usually suck at drifting, this one seemed to go fairly well for me. Not sure exactly why, but it all flowed pretty well, and to be honest, I actually found myself enjoying what I was playing, which is a bonus for this blog. 

Here's the thing, though. While I know most of the characters that are in the game, I don't have many long-standing connections with them. I've played or know of all the games they come from, for the most part, but I don't have deep-seeded memories of them from my childhood, like I would with a Mario Kart game. I just simply love the Nintendo characters, and while Sega did its best to represent the company with the characters they have to draw from, all it did was make me more excited to play the upcoming Mario Kart game for the Nintendo Wii U. 


So I liked the game, which was a surprise. And it's a good place holder for the time being, but in all reality, it's just not a Nintendo game. No fault to them, and I applaud them for making me enjoy what I played. But unless you are a long-standing Sega fan, or a racing game fan in general, I can't say it's the best one out there.  

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