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In 2010, SEGA did a brave thing and put Sonic the Hedgehog, the fastest hedgehog on the planet, in a car. Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing was a fine alternative to the glory of Mario Kart, providing a sizeable roster of characters in incredibly quirky vehicles driving around tracks that were fast-paced, visually impressive and, most of the time, completely manic. It was a fantastic experience and - next to Mario Kart Wii - it was one of the best racers on the Wii. You'd be hard pressed to find anyone who wasn't happy at the idea of a sequel, and the news from E3 2012 of a Wii U version was music to our ears. As the first racing game to the field for Wii U, it automatically grabs the attention of racing fans, but we suspect this won't be the favourite by default when the competition comes around: it'll be the favourite because it's an excellent game.
Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed follows the tried-and-tested "fun racing" formula: it features 25 different tracks and more than twenty different racers, including your Mii character, as well as a variety of different items to pick up and use during races. It gives you a multitude of modes to choose from, including the usual grand prix, time trial and single race modes, as well as a World Tour mode - more on that later - and a few different online and local multiplayer modes. You'll start out with just a few different characters to choose from and a limited number of tracks to race on in the single-player modes (bar the Grand Prix mode), but by playing through the game you'll eventually unlock many more.
The game's main quirk is obviously the ability of each racer's vehicle to transform when needed. Each vehicle has three configurations - a car, a boat and a plane - and by passing through a blue transform circle, the vehicle will transform into whichever is most suitable for the current setting. For example, if you're about to leave the track for the water, it'll turn into a boat, or into a plane if you're about to hit nothing but fresh air. Some tracks have multiple routes or shortcuts, often designed to give you the option to transform earlier or later than the rest of the pack - which can be useful if you want some extra flight time, as the plane is the fastest of the three types of vehicle.
It's worth noting that, while you're unable to change your vehicle in any way (each racer has their own vehicle, so you can't pick and mix), each vehicle has its own unique setups - or mods - which alter the way it performs in races. A vehicle's performance is based on five stats - speed, acceleration, handling, boost, and All-Star (based on one of the game's items) - and each mod affects these in different ways. You can unlock more mods by levelling-up your racer, which you do by gaining experience points from winning races and taking part in events. Each time you level-up, you'll unlock a new mod for your vehicle, with seven on offer for each. It's a great way to find a setup you're most comfortable with, and if you want to unlock them all, it also gives you a good reason to try out each of the different racers while playing the game.
The main control option for the game is the Wii U GamePad, of course, and we're pleased to say it works very well. There are two button configurations for the GamePad, the main one using the ZR button to accelerate, which is far more comfortable than using the X button in the alternative setup. The ZL button is used to drift, which can gain you extra boosts if held long enough, and the right control stick is used to perform tricks while in mid-air, which can also give you boosts if they're successful. The X button is used in the main setup to launch items and power-ups, while the B button is used to swap pickups if the option is available in the mode you're playing.
If you're not too keen on using the GamePad, you'll be pleased to hear every other feasible option has been covered. You can use the Wii Remote, either with or without the Nunchuk - and since motion controls are supported in both setups, you can also use a Wii Wheel if you're using a Wii Remote on its own. Also available are the Wii U Pro Controller, Classic Controller, and Classic Controller Pro - though if you want to use any of these effectively, you'll need to check the control setups in the Options menu, as their control methods aren't listed in either the quick guide or the digital manual. Motion control is optional with the GamePad or with any Wii Remote setup, though it doesn't work particularly well with the GamePad, and even with the Wii Remote and Nunchuk it's more effective just to use the Control Stick to steer.
For the most part, the game controls well: finding the best vehicle/mod configuration is important, but it isn't difficult to get a comfortable feel for the game in any case. That said, we do have a slight issue with the way you don't bounce off walls or other racers as you should - the game just lets you keep going while slowing down, meaning some sticky situations can be very difficult to get out of. The car is often the easiest to control, especially with the right setup, while the plane requires a little less manoeuvring, mainly due to the amount of space available to it. The boat, on the other hand, will likely require a lot of time and patience, and many players will probably try to spend as little time with it as possible. It bounces around quite a lot, and unless you're a dab hand at drifting, corners can be very difficult too - mainly because, without a very small burst of drift, boats have a tough time cornering at all. Picking the right mod can make it much easier to control - excellent acceleration and handling can be of great benefit - but that comes at the huge cost of the vehicle potentially being slower and much looser to handle while in use as a car or a plane.
The game's single-player modes are held within the Career mode, and it's through this mode that you'll unlock new characters, mods and tracks. The main pull is the World Tour, which provides a wide array of different challenges including boost races (regular races with no items), versus races (in which you have to win a series of one-on-one races), standard races, and timed events such as drift challenges and ring races. By completing an event on a track, you'll unlock that track for use in time trials and single races if you weren't already able to access it, so in that sense tracks are fairly easy to unlock.
Each challenge in the World Tour has three different ranks for you to choose from: C-Class is the easiest, B-Class is slightly more difficult, and A-Class is the toughest. For each challenge you win, you'll earn stars - one for C-Class, two for B-Class and three for A-Class - and this is how you'll progress through the World Tour, as you'll need a minimum number of stars to pass through gates to access more challenges. Characters are also unlocked via the World Tour map and, as with gates, you'll have to have a certain number of stars before you can unlock them. Similarly, special "console mods" are unlocked in the same way, and these provide an entirely different setup to the vehicle mods you'll earn by levelling-up.
The World Tour is a big enough challenge to keep you interested in the game for quite some time, but don't discount the other modes: as far as they're concerned, there's some good gaming to be getting on with. The Grand Prix mode follows the usual formula of four races per grand prix, with points allocated depending on your finishing position out of the ten racers, and you pick from the same three difficulty levels as before. We do have a couple of issues with grands prix, though: for one thing, you'll start every race in tenth position, no matter where you finished in the previous race, which always seems to put you at a bit of a disadvantage. Secondly - and this applies to all races with items - you get the same pool of items to choose from no matter which you're position you're in, so whether you're first or last, you'll still get the same stuff. This is a minor quibble, though, as there are ten items in total and they're all suitably effective - save for the twister and the All-Stars item, which both turn your vehicle into an uncontrollable mess.
It's to be expected that the best way to get the most fun out of Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed is by playing the game's various multiplayer modes, which are split up into matchmaking (online) and custom game (local) events. In online matches, you enter a lobby with up to nine other players and can choose between three different event types - races, arena battles, or a mix of both. Arena battles are especially fun with lots of players, since not only do you need to land hits on other players, you also need to make sure to avoid them like the plague as well.
In local play - which can host up to five players, with the GamePad player using their own screen - you can pick between standard races, arena battles, battle races (a mix of the two), boost races (no items, so it's all down to your vehicle/mod choice and personal ability), and "capture the Chao", which is like capture the flag, but... well, with cute Chaos instead. There are also a couple of GamePad-specific minigames in which the GamePad player has to catch the others, but even with five players they're not the most fun you'll ever have in multiplayer. You can also partake in private online matches with other Wii U friends.
As the first high-definition racer on a Nintendo platform, you'd hope Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed looks the part, and it definitely does. The visuals in the game are absolutely stunning - the Shinobi-themed Seasonal Shrines track is gorgeous beyond words - and with not a single framerate issue, not only does it look amazing, it looks consistently amazing. At least, it does as long as you're playing on the television: we don't advise playing on the GamePad alone, as it looks like a lossless JPEG from the turn of the millennium. We'd hazard a guess that SEGA was well aware of this, since switching to GamePad play is so difficult if you don't know how - nowhere in the manuals or in the game itself does it tell you that if you want to switch to GamePad play, you have to swipe down on the touchscreen from top to bottom. We don't suggest it. Neither does SEGA, apparently.
If SEGA wanted to pull the racing crowd to Wii U, they've done it with Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed. The game improves on its sequel in almost every way possible, with stunning tracks and visuals, a very impressive selection of characters and vehicles, an excellent source of customisation in the form of vehicle mods, and stellar single-player and multiplayer modes, both online and locally. There are minor issues with vehicle handling at times, and the game's graphics are done a severe injustice on the GamePad, but this is trivial in the grand scheme of things. This is one of the finest - and most challenging - racers on a Nintendo platform in recent times, and one that'll keep many fans occupied for years to come.
