Sonic Team and Sega really seem to be pulling out all the stops to make Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds more than just an alternative to Mario Kart.
We recently got invited by Sega to play another hour with the game. While we already knew this game was big, after finishing, all I could think about was challenging my friends and family to some Sonic Racing when it finally drops next month.
When I first got my hands on a build at Summer Game Fest, I expressed a little bit of displeasure when I found out that the newly unveiled characters at the time, Hatsune Miku (Hatsune Miku), Joker (Persona 5), and Ichiban Kasuga (Yakuza: Like A Dragon) would not be playable. Sega PR were able to confirm to me right away that while Joker wasn’t in the featured build, Hatsune Miku and Ichiban were.
My eyes just lit up. And then I wasted time.
We had to give you a little bit of Shadow.
This build came complete with new characters, vehicle and profile customization, and a Circuit that included Kronos (Sonic Frontiers), Northstar (Sonic Superstars), and White Space (Sonic Generations). I don’t remember how much time I spent customizing Ichiban’s ride, which lets you spray paint so many different symbols on your car among other things, but I also must’ve done this new Circuit like three times trying to beat this rival racer in the story mode. I don’t know why I was doing that, but I was really having fun!
I don’t have much to report that’s new about the overall gameplay. As I stated in the last preview, when you’re playing through Circuit races, you go through three courses, and the final race in the circuit is a zany combination of the three that does a really good job keeping the action on the ground, in the water, or in the air.
As you probably assumed, I used Ichiban for all the races. The dude’s great, and what really makes his presence in the game awesome is that it feels like he both does and doesn’t belong there. At least for right now, there really isn’t anybody in the game that resembles a human, so Ichiban sticks out like a sore thumb. Seeing him in his kart exclaim and raise his arms as he rides off ramps is absolutely hilarious, and it made me interested in seeing how they handle all these other “CrossWorlds” characters.
As for why I believed I wasted time, the other new and most interesting feature in the demo was Race Park, and I really should’ve messed around with this mode first.
Kronos looks really good in CrossWorlds.
Aside from just racing, Race Park has seven different modes to play through that aim to give the game a different feel. Think about the balloon battles in Mario Kart — except in CrossWorlds, the rules get weirder in a good way. There’s Triple Team Ring Grab, Triple Team Tap, Double Team Shoot-Out, Extreme Match, Quick Match, and Custom Match. I only had time to play Ring Grab, Tap, and Dash Panel, and from what I played — those modes really felt like places I’d play around in outside of the standard game.
In Ring Grab, it’s pretty much a standard race, but you earn bonus points for collecting the most standard rings as a team. I was playing 3v3 with entirely CPU characters, and it was absolute carnage, especially considering the fact that rings get sent flying when you put the hurt on the other racers.
In Team Tap, you have to boost off your enemies, and I don’t know what it was, but I hardly did anything here. I’m not sure if I was supposed to boost into traffic or use a boost as I pass another racer, but this was not a win.
Some Big the Cat among others.
And then for the last mode I played, Dash Panel, it was about running over as many zippers as possible and catching all the wind I could. After all, Sonic is all about going fast, and I was enjoying the vibes.
Speaking of the vibes, I used Hatsune Miku during my time with Race Park, and she’s an absolutely hilarious character. Seeing her start singing as the car is sent into the air and having her do all sorts of idol/V-Tuber stuff as she shreds the CrossWorlds courses left a lot of charm, and as I stated, I’m just really excited to see what Sega ends up doing with the rest of their crossover characters.
During Gamescom last week, Sega announced a collab with Bandai Namco that’ll see Pac-Man become a racer in CrossWorlds (with Pac-Man-themed courses to follow). We won’t actually see the Pac-Man stuff in Sonic Racing until early next year, but it’s just an awesome way to celebrate the yellow sphere’s anniversary.
Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds is still on pace to release on pretty much every platform on September 25 (while the Switch 2 version comes out digitally this holiday season), but if you’re itching to get on the asphalt now, Sega will be hosting an Open Network Test this Thursday, August 28 until September 1. I’ll be at PAX West, but we might have another staffer do another write-up on those impressions. Until then, keep it on, SmashPad!
Sonic Team and Sega really seem to be pulling out all the stops to make Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds more than just an alternative to Mario Kart. We recently got invited by Sega to play another hour with the game. While…
Sonic Team and Sega really seem to be pulling out all the stops to make Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds more than just an alternative to Mario Kart.
We recently got invited by Sega to play another hour with the game. While we already knew this game was big, after finishing, all I could think about was challenging my friends and family to some Sonic Racing when it finally drops next month.
When I first got my hands on a build at Summer Game Fest, I expressed a little bit of displeasure when I found out that the newly unveiled characters at the time, Hatsune Miku (Hatsune Miku), Joker (Persona 5), and Ichiban Kasuga (Yakuza: Like A Dragon) would not be playable. Sega PR were able to confirm to me right away that while Joker wasn’t in the featured build, Hatsune Miku and Ichiban were.
My eyes just lit up. And then I wasted time.
We had to give you a little bit of Shadow.
This build came complete with new characters, vehicle and profile customization, and a Circuit that included Kronos (Sonic Frontiers), Northstar (Sonic Superstars), and White Space (Sonic Generations). I don’t remember how much time I spent customizing Ichiban’s ride, which lets you spray paint so many different symbols on your car among other things, but I also must’ve done this new Circuit like three times trying to beat this rival racer in the story mode. I don’t know why I was doing that, but I was really having fun!
I don’t have much to report that’s new about the overall gameplay. As I stated in the last preview, when you’re playing through Circuit races, you go through three courses, and the final race in the circuit is a zany combination of the three that does a really good job keeping the action on the ground, in the water, or in the air.
As you probably assumed, I used Ichiban for all the races. The dude’s great, and what really makes his presence in the game awesome is that it feels like he both does and doesn’t belong there. At least for right now, there really isn’t anybody in the game that resembles a human, so Ichiban sticks out like a sore thumb. Seeing him in his kart exclaim and raise his arms as he rides off ramps is absolutely hilarious, and it made me interested in seeing how they handle all these other “CrossWorlds” characters.
As for why I believed I wasted time, the other new and most interesting feature in the demo was Race Park, and I really should’ve messed around with this mode first.
Kronos looks really good in CrossWorlds.
Aside from just racing, Race Park has seven different modes to play through that aim to give the game a different feel. Think about the balloon battles in Mario Kart — except in CrossWorlds, the rules get weirder in a good way. There’s Triple Team Ring Grab, Triple Team Tap, Double Team Shoot-Out, Extreme Match, Quick Match, and Custom Match. I only had time to play Ring Grab, Tap, and Dash Panel, and from what I played — those modes really felt like places I’d play around in outside of the standard game.
In Ring Grab, it’s pretty much a standard race, but you earn bonus points for collecting the most standard rings as a team. I was playing 3v3 with entirely CPU characters, and it was absolute carnage, especially considering the fact that rings get sent flying when you put the hurt on the other racers.
In Team Tap, you have to boost off your enemies, and I don’t know what it was, but I hardly did anything here. I’m not sure if I was supposed to boost into traffic or use a boost as I pass another racer, but this was not a win.
Some Big the Cat among others.
And then for the last mode I played, Dash Panel, it was about running over as many zippers as possible and catching all the wind I could. After all, Sonic is all about going fast, and I was enjoying the vibes.
Speaking of the vibes, I used Hatsune Miku during my time with Race Park, and she’s an absolutely hilarious character. Seeing her start singing as the car is sent into the air and having her do all sorts of idol/V-Tuber stuff as she shreds the CrossWorlds courses left a lot of charm, and as I stated, I’m just really excited to see what Sega ends up doing with the rest of their crossover characters.
During Gamescom last week, Sega announced a collab with Bandai Namco that’ll see Pac-Man become a racer in CrossWorlds (with Pac-Man-themed courses to follow). We won’t actually see the Pac-Man stuff in Sonic Racing until early next year, but it’s just an awesome way to celebrate the yellow sphere’s anniversary.
Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds is still on pace to release on pretty much every platform on September 25 (while the Switch 2 version comes out digitally this holiday season), but if you’re itching to get on the asphalt now, Sega will be hosting an Open Network Test this Thursday, August 28 until September 1. I’ll be at PAX West, but we might have another staffer do another write-up on those impressions. Until then, keep it on, SmashPad!
by Danreb Victorio
