Sonic All Star Racing Transformed (2012)

[moosegrinder]

Quote

Publisher Sega will release a sequel to Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing this holiday season,Kotaku has learned.

Toys associated with the franchise were displayed in a booth at the Toy Fair in New York this Sunday, where an attendant confirmed that Sega is making a sequel to the franchise-crossing kart racing game. There will be new characters and vehicles revealed later this year.

http://kotaku.com/58...s-racing-sequel

Salt pinched, what we really need is S0L in here right now to tell us what the fa-diddly o is. I enjoyed the shit out of the first one, so a sequel would go down a treat for me.

[Paulando]

I fucking loved the first game. Really great game. Great news if true.

[Kayin Amoh]

I'd hope so, the original was great.

[toythatkills]

I'm another one that loved the original, so yeah, I'm up for this!

More Billy Hatcher music, plz.

[Paulando]

A bigger variety of track designs this time, too. And I'd rather have tracks pulled from Sonic's heyday than from Sonic Heroes.

[Epcotman]

Really enjoyed the first one but was slightly ruined by glitchy Acheivements. I got them all expect the Acheivement for getting all other Acheivements. Yes, annoying,

[Qazimod]

I didn't play the original as much as I should have but it was amazing fun. Things like the Samba and JSR tracks were just amazing, and it'd be nice to see new courses themed around other games...

[moosegrinder]

I need to pick it up again. I've got it on Pc but it's not the same, somehow.

[Broker]

Excellent, my kids love the first one and it's been a great way to introduce them to other Sega characters and franchises.

[Majora]

Did they ever fix the frame-rate in the first one? The frame-rate in the demo put me right off the game.

[Harsin]

I hope they sort out the netcode, it killed the original dead for me despite how solid the base game was.

[DarhkFox]

Did they ever fix the frame-rate in the first one? The frame-rate in the demo put me right off the game.

Yes they did, it was a while back .

[moosegrinder]

No news, I just want to bump this so I can try and guilt S0L into giving us a "No comment " or a "They didn't ask us to do it " or a "I'm not tellin' you nuffink! " or something similar. Come on, S0L, give us a nugget.

[SozzlyJoe]

Really enjoyed the first one but was slightly ruined by glitchy Acheivements. I got them all expect the Acheivement for getting all other Acheivements. Yes, annoying,

LOL, annoying indeed. 'Earn every achievement in the game, including this one'. INCEPTION STYLE HEADFUCK!

Anyway, glad to hear there is a sequel in the offing. Or it might be a half-sequel for 3DS/Vita?

[Liquid Myth]

Excellent game, miles ahead of Mario Kart Wii. The sequel needs more music tracks and less Billy Hatcher, tia.

[NEG]

Why is Sonic in a car? Etc etc

[Super Craig]

It's been rumoured for a while. Apparently it's only going to be available for 3DS, Vita and Wii U.

[moosegrinder]

It's been rumoured for a while. Apparently it's only going to be available for 3DS, Vita and Wii U.

if this is true there's going to much gnashing of teeth from me.

[Paulando]

It would also make no sense! Unless the 360/PS3 versions really sold fuck all.

[Elseb]

I bought the PC,DS and Wii versions of the original. Obviously when they had all dropped in price. The original was great fun though, hope the sequel is released for the 3DS.

[toythatkills]

It would also make no sense! Unless the 360/PS3 versions really sold fuck all.

I thought they'd done okay. They held their prices for ages, which is basically unheard of for Sega.

Unless they had tiny print runs

[moosegrinder]

They sold enough to earn their place on the 'Classic' range on Xbox. I need to play this again.

[Judgement]

Really enjoyed the first one but was slightly ruined by glitchy Acheivements. I got them all expect the Acheivement for getting all other Acheivements. Yes, annoying,

I got them all. It turned out some of the acheivements, lets say 16 of them relocked. I did like the game enough to get them again.

[S0L]

Sorry chaps, can't confirm or deny anything. All I can say is we're due to announce some of the things we're working on in the not too distant future - and that I'm sure it will make some folk happy

---

S0L

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[moosegrinder]

Good enough for me

[Harsin]

It's been rumoured for a while. Apparently it's only going to be available for 3DS, Vita and Wii U.

Sega must really hate money.

Actually thinking about it most of their decisions nowadays lead to that conclusion.

[Goemon]

Really enjoyed the first one but was slightly ruined by glitchy Acheivements. I got them all expect the Acheivement for getting all other Acheivements. Yes, annoying,

Is it definitely the case that the achievements were glitched...?

I think it's more the case that the achievements are linked to game saves and don't save on the fly.

So that means you have to finish races otherwise what you've just done isn't saved.

I had the same issue and had to repeat about 3-4 achievements because I'd been quitting/restarting instead of completing races.

Would like to see another one of these but want more diversity in tracks and music.

[Yartek]

I searched for a thread on the original, but couldn't find it, even using search, so I'll just post here. Picked the original up on Games On Demand last night and lving it. It's rare I have to pause a game due to an uncontrollable laughing fit, but the Chu-Chu's all-star move did it. i also can't get Samba De Janeiro out of my head now. Fingers crossed for a sequel.

[MaffewE]

http://uk.xbox360.ig.../1223896p1.html

Confirmed! Click through for screenshots and more details, but here's the highlights of the article:

Any developer working on a mascot kart racing game knows that there's one title their game will always be compared to. That isn't to say that Mario Kart is untouchable; merely that it represents the genre benchmark, the standard that all others have to aspire to. Sonic and SEGA All-Stars Racing made a decent fist of taking Nintendo head-on two years ago: though it fell just short, the game proved popular enough for its struggling publisher to bankroll a sequel. SEGA & All-Stars Racing Transformed is its name, it's coming later this year, and we spent a bit of time putting it through its paces at Sumo Digital's Sheffield home.

If the game was unlikely to escape Mario Kart comparisons in the first place, its new central mechanic makes it impossible not to discuss the similarities. As with Mario Kart 7, Transformed doesn't just restrict its vehicles to the track, instead sending them skidding across water and soaring into the sky. Sumo's game had already been conceived before Nintendo's E3 conference, and the developer watched in horror at the airborne and aquatic sequences in the trailer. SEGA had been all but gazumped by its former rival.

In practice, however, the two games play quite differently. In fact Transformed has the edge in one very obvious regard. In Mario Kart 7, plunging beneath the waves made little meaningful difference to how the game played; this was merely a cosmetic change. Similarly, gliding, while more involved than underwater racing, wasn't so much about flying as falling with style. Hit the water here, however, and you'll immediately notice tweaks to the handling – it's closer to something like Hydro Thunder Hurricane than a land-based arcade racer. And on the occasions you zoom above the track, there's a fully-fledged flight model, as you guide your now-winged vehicle through floating boost gates. Better still, there's a brief pause and satisfying mechanical whirrs and clunks as your kart morphs into its new form, in a manner reminiscent of a certain Hasbro toy franchise. Robotniks in disguise, anyone?

Whether you're travelling across land or sea, or through the air, there's a robust and convincing physics model that generates a sense of weight all too rare among racers of this kind. Handling is still that same blend of Mario Kart and OutRun, but with a little more heft to it – perhaps down to the involvement of lead designer Gareth Wilson, who worked on Blur and Project Gotham Racing during his time at Bizarre Creations. The water may not cause you as many problems as in something like Wave Race – in fact, occasionally you'll be able to trick off waves for a boost - but you'll still need to watch out for whirlpools that can slow you down or drag you under.

The two stages we played through were packed with shortcuts and alternative routes. A Panzer Dragoon-themed course naturally has you spending a fair bit of time in the air, while the Monkey Ball track allows you the choice of winding, narrow, barrier-free strips of track up above, or the wider stretches below that are slower but easier to negotiate. One particularly neat touch is a shortcut which sends you leaping onto a numbered target lifted from the Monkey Target mini-game. Sumo has been careful to ensure that the tracks fit the IP, though in the case of Monkey Ball, the studio had to get special permission from SEGA Japan to include water, before then entering into discussions about how water should behave in the Monkey Ball universe. It's heartening to witness that kind of meticulous focus on fine detail, and Sumo's near-fanboyish enthusiasm for the characters and worlds featured here show that these SEGA favourites are in safe hands.

As for the soundtrack, popular composer Richard Jacques has contributed a number of tracks that remix classic SEGA tunes from yesteryear, while some players will be delighted to learn that the polarising commentator from the first game has been removed. Instead, an announcer only occasionally interjects to relay the most important race information, while crowds clap, cheer and chant the name of their favourite racer.

Which brings us to the character roster, and there are a few surprise names on there. Naturally, there are some familiar faces, too – Sonic obviously returns, though this time he's driving a Koenigsegg-style supercar, part of a conscious decision by Sumo to make the vehicles a little cooler. But Dreamcast owners will be particular thrilled to see Skies of Arcadia's Vyse, in a vehicle based on the Delphinus. Golden Axe's Gilius Thunderhead – who was originally planned for inclusion in the original – gets to ride a Ray Harryhausen-esque bronze creature that morphs into a turtle and an eagle. We're sworn to secrecy on the later stages, but suffice to say anyone who didn't think the first game was enough of a SEGA love-in is in for a treat. The fan service here is phenomenal, and the final unlockable in particular is one that will delight long-term Sega acolytes.

[JLM]

Yes! Yes to this.