A few added elements to spice things up a little say like a portal opportunity into the Special Zone for a shortcut chance, or some means to shooting obstructing zombies to earn a speed boost, would have worked wonders. Over repeat play, even with decent background variation, racing will get boring. In just about every course, each one is more or less a regular run on a standard looping track, with a few exceptions like Sonic’s loops, or Monkey Ball’s higher platforms. What is a little off, though, is how the track runs itself. Despite the low number of franchise representations, there is a wide range of different course designs to enjoy racing in, from the lush Green Hills and Casino stylings of Sonic lore, to the modern suburbs of Shibuya and the colour explosion of Samba Studio, and in this regard, in terms of the background design and theme there is little to complain about. Not to say that Sumo’s design is flawless, however, since when seeing courses from a broad standpoint, it would be easy to nitpick. The visuals themselves are also of high quality, with 3D surpassing even that of Nintendo’s mascot DS racer. For authentic karting feel, it is difficult to criticise Sumo on this one all racers handle fine, the drift mechanic, given a lot of use due to track designs, works just fine, and even the trick mechanic, whilst somewhat unnecessary at first, adds an extra bit of flair to the game.
There is an unclear weight class between characters, so each handles slightly differently, and each rides a vehicle based on their subsequent personality, so Shadow takes to the track on his infamous motorcycle, Eggman has his trademark machinery, AiAi uses a Banana-shaped Kart, and B.D Joe from Crazy Taxi makes use of his, erm, Taxi. Unique tracks, themed weapons, and the hectic flurry that results from them. Getting down to the racing itself though, Sumo Digital have completely nailed the feel of a great kart game.
Granted, Jet Set Radio, Billy Hatcher, House of the Dead, Super Monkey Ball and Samba de Amigo are very good choices for track variation, but given the extensive air-time of Sonic games in general, and the comparative lack of the others in nowadays' games, it would have been a big boost to the game’s identity to allow all of SEGA’s history a chance to shine, instead of just allowing the game to become a Sonic racer with extra characters.
Understandable that the Sonic stable would see the most headlining time, given that it is SEGA’s most popular and profitable one, and is one half of the game’s title, but it feels like a wasted opportunity when a third of the available courses and music tracks are taken directly from the Sonic Universe, and the remaining number are only from a few other franchises. In fact, there is such a large list of franchises embedded in one game, that it is a shame to see how such a high number of them see little viewing aside from their main characters. It’s quite an extensive list, and one any SEGA fan will drool over. Along with Ulala from Space Channel 5, the mice guys from Chu Chu Rocket, Amigo from Samba de Amigo, and many others too numerous to name, are Jet Set Radio, Crazy Taxi, Virtua Fighter, Billy Hatcher & The Giant Egg, House of the Dead. Keeping in line with the previous 'All-Star' games, retro-heads will be delighted to see Alex Kidd rear his over-sized noggin again, and the many who were wanting a trilogy conclusion will be heartened to see SEGA haven’t forgotten Shenmue with Ryo’s inclusion. It goes without saying that story is a completely minor part of this game, so minor to the point of being non-existent for whatever reason that even Sherlock would have trouble deducing, Sonic the Hedgehog has taken to the track in his own car racer to take on other big names from SEGA’s illustrious past.