“Sonic and Allstars Racing Transformed!” Shouts the title menu as I experience a rather more tolerable announcing voice than the last game. It pretty much sets up the belief that, right from the start this was going to be something with very little comparison to play. There’s nothing ‘Mario Kart’ left about it, even in the sense of ‘MK7’ in which the vehicle transformations in Allstars are better utilized and crafted; not digging at Mario Kart since it is the older brother of kart games, but Sumo and SEGA need credit where credit is due.

Often a cliché reviewer will point out that sonic doesn’t need a car to win the races, but as stated in the previous games manual (I admit I’m still sad enough to read character bios and manuals)  Sonic made it fair on the others, and well… in this one, unless he can fly he really does need the vehicle regardless of fair play. So just to get this out early, I will not be taking easy and/ or ignorant stabs at the supposedly obvious flaws which counterproductively mean nothing at all with this particular titles fun factor.

Okay, so the weapon system is completely different from before, The useless rainbow has been removed with a tornado attack which flips vehicle controls, and projectiles vary a lot more than just being homing and precision. A really cool move being the baseball glove, which absorb an enemy projectile and allow the receiver to send it back.

Boosting is no longer broken, whereas in the last game I exploited the ability to level 1 boost round a track and win, the boost requires more charge time and thoughtful use, partnered with an all knew trick system that flows through certain transform stages, boost can even be “Combo’d” up for greater speed and advantages. In fact this is where it gets better than Mario Kart, as the game is much faster and tracks are much tighter, requiring a greater attention span and overall fun factor. I’m not trying to dig at Mario Kart as I stated before, but parts of it just feel clunky and slow compared to Allstars.

Some tracks in Allstars Racing have an evolution to them in each lap, consisting of more and more changes to the layout as time goes by. The most notable to me being the stage from ‘NiGHTS’ where you enter various dream worlds each time; a close second to this being the ‘Burning Rangers’ stage where the base slowly floods more and more each round.

There’s even two levels that some would call a “Rainbow Road Clone” in there, but to be fair, starlight carnival was a level imagined for use outside of Kart racing, and the second potential offender is more likely to be an equivalent since it was Sumo made and inspired, but I couldn’t care less what any level is similar too; if we’re having more fun on it, then we shouldn’t care less what came first, as it’s obvious that the formula is an improvement; and that’s what a review should focus on.

So if you have one of the many consoles this game is on, buy it and enjoy it; I’ve played The Vita, 360 and PS3 versions personally, and there are barely any differences between any of them; there’s literally no loss to be made from purchasing this title, and though I’ve yet to mention the Allstar moves and online mode, I often believe the player deserves at least a few surprises round the corner. Especially if you’re looking for something other than Mario Kart; this game ticks all the boxes there.