Right off the bat I will say this. Saying that Sonic racing is a rip-off of Mario Kart is like saying Virtua Fighter is a rip-off of Street Fighter or Forza is a rip-off of Gran Turismo or the 2K sports games are rip-offs of the EA sports games. Mario Kart is a kart racer and Sonic All-Stars is a kart racer.

So with that out of the way, I think Sega has gotten it right with this game. There are several things I really like more than Mario Kart. First off, the control of the karts is exactly the way I want it. I like the cars or karts in any racing game to stick to the road with just a little bit of drift. Some games have too much and all the tracks feel like a sheet of ice. So I really felt like I had control and could really make the kart do what I wanted it to do to be competitive. You could have someone bump into you and not get shot off the course or into a wall.

The weapons are fun and all useful. I love the all-star weapon/power-up. You never know when you are going to get it till you do. Let me stop for a minute. Like Mario Kart, as you race there are weapon/power-ups that you can pick up that then tell you the item you have and then you can trigger the power-up. The all-star power-up does major damage and can usually push you to the front of the pack if you are behind. It’s also easy to see what power-up you picked up and all of them respond well.

The game also has your standard boost pads that do the job well and seem to be placed in good spots. I think this game has a great sense of speed. Some games seem slow till you hit a boost. Sonic/Sega ASR feels fast and then almost out of control fast when you hit a boost pad.

The graphics look great and for being on the Wii, the game performs well with a solid frame rate. The track design is fresh and colorful and many tracks are themed toward a character in the game. All the modes you would suspect are here including a battle mode. I played my wife via split screen and I thought the game still looked and ran great.

I think sound in any game is important. In racing games it is even more so. The karts all had different sounds and power-ups had a very distinct sound. All the music is happy and cute. There is an in race announcer that does just enough without being annoying. It all blends together for an immersive experience that’s not just a continuous humming noise.

So let’s talk online. The Wii doesn’t get much love for its online network but I have never had a problem with it. It works great and I haven’t really experienced any lag. So this game does online racing really well. The problem is I never had a full grid of online competitors. So it’s hard to judge how well the online could be and how much fun you could have. I really believe that the future of racing games is online, just like other sports games. But racing against 1 or 2 other racers made me think this game really best served by its single player or split screen.

BOTTOM LINE
I think Sonic/Sega All-star Racing is a great kart racer that not enough people will pay attention too. That’s a shame because this game would certainly scratch an itch if you love kart racers but don’t have a Wii (available on xbox360 and PS3) or if you have played “the other kart racer on the Wii “ to death. This is a great family game. Kids can have a great time with this game, playing with friends or mom and dad. There are a lot of racing games out right now, but check out Sonic/Sega All-Stars Racing.

Rating: 8