Sonic Racing: Crossworlds Review: Super Sonic Racing Reborn

Sonic Racing: Crossworlds doesn't reinvent the wheel but it's a damn good racing game.

With tough competition from Mario Kart World and the soon-to-be-released Kirby Air Riders, Sonic Racing: Crossworlds needed to choose its battles carefully if it wanted to pull ahead of its fellow racers.

The way it does that in my humble opinion is through embracing competitive play and putting players through their paces if they want to cross the finish line before anyone else. Even on the lower speeds Sonic Racing: Crossworlds will have you slamming your foot down and keeping an eye on that rear-view mirror.

After selecting one of countless iconic Sonic characters, as well as choosing your preferred vehicle, the game will present you with a rival for the duration of the Grand Prix. Sometimes it'll give you the choice of two rivals, one of which will be a higher level and therefore more of a challenge. On higher difficulties these rivals seriously pushed me to my limit, not only taking each turn with flawless drift technique but even taking advantage of shortcuts, and using every item available to them as efficiently as possible. Fortunately if one level is proving too much for you, you can decrease it before the Grand Prix begins, or raise it if you're a masochist.

Many players will know this from the Network Test and free demo but I love, love, love the unique interactions the characters have before and during a race. Whether it's Sonic and Jet The Hawk excitedly hyping up their long-awaited rematch, or Big The Cat asking Omega if he wants to go fishing with him. They provided an entertaining prelude to what would be another exciting fixture.

SEGA

They say variety is the spice of life and while that can definitely be said for Sonic Racing: Crossworlds’ character roster, it can also be said for both its vehicles and track-selection.

Vehicles are broken down into different categories, such as those for speed demons, those that favour power over pace, or those who want to relive the glory days of Sonic Riders on Extreme Gear... No class is better than the other in my experience, it's purely down to personal preference. What will really set you apart from other racers is how you customise your ride. Admittedly I think this part of the game is a bit lacking. You have a select number of parts to choose from, more of which can be bought with in-game currency or unlocked through gameplay, but there wasn't as much variety as I'd hoped for. You can personalise them quite heavily with colours, stickers and auras, but I'd have liked to see more. I'm also gutted the Extreme Gear have returned after so many years only to have no distinct features or playstyle. The next Sonic racing game better be a Sonic Riders sequel or I'll be having words…

Track-selection on the other hand is impressive. As its title implies Sonic Racing: Crossworlds sends players across space and time, mid-race, always on the second lap of a track. At first the enormous, golden travel rings will send you to a pre-selected pool of bonus tracks, with the lead racer choosing where you'll be transported. After claiming enough trophies though every track in the game will become a crossworld track, which keeps things interesting on replays.

The tracks themselves take inspiration from Sonic The Hedgehog's long history of platformers, as well as some wider SEGA history such as Two Point Museum. You've got representation from beloved games like Sonic Adventure 2, to the lesser known Sonic And The Secret Rings, and newer titles like Shadow Generations.

Speeding through these tracks was a lot of fun but it came at a cost. As I said before Sonic Racing: Crossworlds is a much more competitive racer than Mario Kart World. While I adjusted quickly to this change of pace the design does feel flawed in some areas. For instance the item boxes disappear for just a second too long when a racer in front of you collects them. Unlike Mario Kart which replenishes the item boxes quickly so everyone gets a chance at receiving an item, Sonic Racing: Crossworlds seemingly punishes you for staying too close to the competition and there were several moments where I couldn't equip myself at pivotal points in the race, all because the timing was off. The biggest offender though is how much momentum you lose when hit by an item. Your recovery time is agonisingly long, and combine that with my previous point and it becomes a tedious struggle to regain your lost position. For those who are seriously struggling I'd suggest switching on assisted steering.

SEGA

This is remedied by the Gadgets. These are equippable upgrades that drastically change your playstyle, such as increasing the chances of getting a certain item from item boxes, giving you a small boost from bumping into other vehicles or, best of all, decreasing the time you're stunned when hit with something. You can create a wide variety of builds with this system and while I don't think it'll make a world of difference in singleplayer I can without a doubt see this dominating the online scene.

So, all in all I think Sonic Racing: Crossworlds is a fantastic racing game. It's tough to say if it's better or worse than Mario Kart World because both games offer completely different experiences, and will appeal to different types of players. If you're looking for a competitive racer that'll keep you engaged, and possibly enrage, this is it.

Pros: Speed of sound races feel engaging and competitive for the whole Grand Prix, switching tracks mid-race keeps things interesting, impressive roster of worlds and characters, Gadget system adds that little bit of extra individuality especially online

Cons: Lose way too much momentum when hit, making it difficult and frustrating to make a comeback

For fans of: Mario Kart World, Team Sonic Racing, Kirby Air Ride

9/10: Exceptional

Sonic Racing: Crossworlds launches on, PC, PS5 (version tested), Nintendo Switch/Switch2 and Xbox Series X/S on 25 September. A review code was provided by the publisher. Read a guide to our review scores here.