My review of the Sonic & SEGA All Stars Racing demo

Well, I downloaded the demo last night.

I must say, it's vary challenging! I really suck at the game, which is a good thing because then I'll play it more to improve. I also thought it was really cool that Banjo and Kazooie are in the 360 version (Which is why I would get that version). But of course, I played as Sonic because he's a vary well balanced player. Also note that you can only play as Sonic and Banjo in the demo. The game-play is great, it's been a while since I played a racing game so that's probably why I sucked so much. It does feel a little stiff at first, but that's because I wasn't using drift as much. When you use drift, you get a nice little boost by how long you were drifting. You also can get items, like boosting (You can get a power up that lets you boost one time, or one that lets you boost three times), and you can also get rockets (Just like boost, you can get a one rocket power up and a three rocket power up), also, you can get an "All star" power up, that lets go into all star mode, it's pretty much like the smash ball in SSBB. For Sonic, it lets you turn into Super Sonic. The demo only lets you play one track. The most annoying part of the demo though, is that when you go back to the menu, it goes through this annoying type of screen telling you to "Buy the game and play as more characters!!!". This lasts like one whole minute. It's vary annoying, but hopefully it's not in the full game. This game is pretty much like a mix between SEGA Super Star Tennis, and Diddy Kong Racing.

Overall I think you should get the demo. It's worth a try!

Hives wrote:The most annoying part of the demo though, is that when you go back to the menu, it goes through this annoying type of screen telling you to "Buy the game and play as more characters!!!". This lasts like one whole minute. It's vary annoying, but hopefully it's not in the full game.

I think it's pretty obvious that won't be in the full game, considering these stuff are in ALL demos.
But anyway, thanks for the impression, I'll go get the demo now.

XNinjaRed wrote:

Hives wrote:The most annoying part of the demo though, is that when you go back to the menu, it goes through this annoying type of screen telling you to "Buy the game and play as more characters!!!". This lasts like one whole minute. It's vary annoying, but hopefully it's not in the full game.

I think it's pretty obvious that won't be in the full game, considering these stuff are in ALL demos.
But anyway, thanks for the impression, I'll go get the demo now.

True.

Hives wrote:It's vary challenging.

If it varies that much, it must be.

loln00bs. I got 1st Place.

I can't leave a thread sitting with the last response being from that bundle of joy, so, thank you for the impressions, and I will download the demo to try for myself in a few moments.

Good handling, great graphics, returning characters...

Consider this already bought.

I have to say, I downloaded the demo on day 1 and it's taken over from Left 4 Dead 2 as most played game in my house. The difficulty is a little steep, but that's because the Xbox version of the demo is set to 'advanced'. You can change it by accessing 'settings' from the track select menu.

I like the challenge though, it gives you a real sense of achievement when you do well. My one gripe is the physics at points. If you crash it's very easy to get caught on things and be unable to move, and if you get hit by something and spin out when on your way off a ramp you still mostly accelerate enough to cover the gap. Heck, I've taken the 'island shortcut', landed on the island but in contact with the water, and been given the white screen of death and set back to before the jump.

That said, none of those problems are enough to ruin an otherwise very compelling experience. It feels like a game that actually rewards you for good driving, not just for being lucky with your power ups. The power ups are mostly well balanced. None of them are completely uselss (except the rainbow, as it doesn't really obsure the screen enough to be that useful), but none of them are overpowered either. I mean, in SaSASR, if you get your All Star move, you'd better have been doing ok beforehand (ie, be close behind any racers ahead of you) otherwise you'll still be doing badly by the time it finishes. In Mario Kart, 9 times out of ten if you got the Bullet Bill power up you'd gain 3 or 4 places. Not to mention the whole 'blue shell' thing. I personally don't think that a power up that automatically hits you if you've earned first place is particularly balanced. Ooops, went off on one about MK.

Basically, SaSASR is pretty awesome and, in my eyes at least, a must buy, well, if you like SEGA characters and very, very cheesy commentating :D Oh, and Alex Kidd is in it. That's enough for me.

well I'm off to Playstation store!