Sonic’s aptitude for speed makes him a perfect candidate for a racing game, but it’s fair to say his motorsport career has been through some highs and lows over the years.
Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds feels like a concerted effort to get the spin-off series back on course, and while it isn’t perfect, it’s probably the strongest kart racer from SEGA in a long time.
Before we get into the bells and whistles that make this game unique, we want to focus on the core driving. The racing itself is a lot of fun, and feels nicely pitched for all ages and skill levels to engage with the action.
The driving feels great pretty much across the board, with fun drifting you can chain together for larger boosts and a good sense of speed, even on lower speed levels. It’s best while driving on land; boat and flight forms can sometimes feel a little less responsive, but are generally decent.
At a fundamental level, this feels like a success to us, with races feeling nimble and chaotic in exactly the way you’d expect from a kart racer.
Higher speeds feel particularly good because they ask a little more from you than normal. You’ll actually have to take your foot off the accelerator to make it around certain corners smoothly, and bumping into walls and other cars robs you of some precious, speed-boosting rings, so clean, skilful driving is rewarded.
But as mentioned, CrossWorlds builds on its solid core with some neat additions that elevate it further.
The titular CrossWorlds gimmick sees the second lap of each race take place in an entirely different environment. The racer in first place chooses between two courses to warp to, and suddenly you’re transported somewhere else, returning to the original course for lap three.
It’s a fun idea that’s executed well. There’s a solid number of tracks based on Sonic games old and new, and the CrossWorlds aspect means even more are included, even if they’re not full circuits. While you will start to see repeats after a while, they ensure every race offers some variance.
Affecting the game more profoundly, however, is the extensive customisation, including a new Gadgets system.
The game doubles down on this aspect, giving you a ton of options for how you want your vehicle to look and behave.
Each character has their own specialisation and base stats, and beyond that, your choice of kart has a dramatic impact on these parameters. You can also choose individual parts, with each affecting your stats as well.
There are plenty of cosmetic customisation options too, but it’s the Gadgets that can really make a meaningful difference.
Gadgets are essentially perks you can equip, and each one has unique properties that change up the gameplay in all sorts of ways.
There are dozens to choose from, allowing you to create some interesting loadouts that lean into a particular play style.
For example, you can hone in on picking up rings, making it so collecting them gives you a small speed boost. You can speed up how quickly boost charges while drifting, prioritise specific weapons, make air tricks faster to perform, and so much more.
It’s a flexible system that’s worth experimenting with to find a set of Gadgets that works best for you. We will say that some feel much more useful than others; for example, after playing with one that gives you a small boost when you collide with other racers, we’re not sure we can go back.
The base roster is 23 Sonic characters, with more joining the cast in the form of free and premium DLC. These extra characters double down on the CrossWorlds theme; multiple non-Sonic racers from other SEGA franchises and beyond are coming post-launch.
It should make for a robust and diverse list once all is said and done. It is a shame that these characters won’t have any voiceover, especially as the Sonic cast is pretty talkative.
The rival system makes this more pronounced; before each event, you’re assigned a rival racer, who will pose a stronger challenge than the rest of the pack. What’s more, they’ll trash talk you even during races, motivating you a little more to claim first place. It’s a small thing, but gives you a fun secondary goal during a Grand Prix.
Speaking of which, Grand Prix is very much the core of the single player experience, offering a series of eight cups (with more coming post-launch). Winning them all on each speed level feels like a rite of passage in kart racers, and it’s satisfying to do so here.
Beyond that is the self-explanatory Time Trial as well as Race Park. Here, you can create custom races, even changing race rules and which items and CrossWorlds can appear, but there are also a series of interesting event types to explore.
Most of these divide the 12 racers into teams, and while racing is still the core, they add some extra objectives on top. For example, being the team with the most rings, or the team that hit opponents with weapons the most. These are fairly entertaining alternatives to just pure races, probably best suited for multiplayer.
When it all comes together, the result is a versatile kart racer that prioritises fun factor above all else.
Having said that, there are one or two things that let it down a little.
Firstly, the wide range of unlockable customisation options is somewhat neutered by the relatively slow pace at which you earn in-game currency. You earn tickets as you play, and you spend them on vehicle parts, cosmetics, and can even gift them to characters for even more rewards.
Unfortunately, the rate you get these feels quite slow. If you want absolutely everything, be prepared for a grind.
The other issue we have is with the visuals. By and large, the game looks good and runs perfectly well on PS5, running at a locked 60 frames-per-second in performance mode.
However, excessive amounts of blur can appear during races, and it seriously muddies the image quality. The game is already visually quite noisy, with so much going on around you at any given time, so throwing a thick layer of blur on top is a bit much.
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